Difference

"Ootaka... Ootaka!"

"Wait, Ms. Amano, you can't go near him right now..."

After seeing Ootaka Kazuhiro's body, they finally understood why the officers had called them over. At the same time, Shiraishi and the others learned that Ms. Amano Tsubame was the victim's girlfriend.

Washinuma Noboru, who had also gone to the restroom, was Ootaka Kazuhiro's friend. Along with Tachikawa Chizuru, who had not gone to the restroom, the four of them had set off together for a vacation in America...

"Wait, you weren't just on vacation, were you? I just heard you talking about negatives and selling them for money! That's dangerous business, isn't it?" Ukai Tsuneo, the middle-aged man in the next seat, immediately exposed them.

When the plane had taken off earlier, Ukai had exchanged a few heated words with the victim because the adjacent seats had been too noisy.

"As expected..." Megure looked at the victim's three companions.

They did not try to hide it either...

"Indeed, Ootaka took scandalous photographs of the American Congressman who previously came to Tokyo, so we were planning to sell them for a good price..." Washinuma Noboru said. He then added, "It isn't exactly a secret. Plenty of people in the industry know about it."

At the same time...

Shiraishi Kuro had already put on gloves and asked, "I need to inspect your personal belongings. Any objections?"

Without a Search Warrant, they technically had the right to refuse a body search and inspection of their belongings, but...

Setting aside how suspicious that would make them look, they took one look at Shiraishi Kuro and all three nodded.

Only the white man looked as though he did not understand.

"Damn, we need to find an interpreter..." Megure said helplessly. His Spanish was completely hopeless too.

However...

"Gibberish, gibberish." Shiraishi gave Edward no chance to pretend he did not understand, nor did he give Shinichi a chance to show off. He simply communicated with the man in fluent Spanish.

Not only was Shiraishi a genuine University of Tokyo master's graduate, but he had specifically leveled up his [Spanish] skill years ago to make investigations easier—though only to Lv6. Still... it did not apply to just one language, but to all forms of "Spanish," allowing him to read, write, and speak them normally!

Even if the other party spoke in rural slang, he could communicate without issue.

Edward still wanted to refuse, but Shiraishi Kuro gave off immense pressure... Helplessly, he could only nod in agreement.

"Brother Shiraishi..." Megure called out to Shiraishi, who had already turned away.

However, when Shiraishi turned back with that serious look in his eyes, Megure could only say, "Then I'll leave it to you..."

He had already realized that Brother Shiraishi had another objective.

And indeed, that was the case!

What Shiraishi Kuro had been investigating was the Minister of Justice's suspected control over Violent Organizations, resulting in numerous serious cases where civilians had been made scapegoats and wrongful convictions deliberately manufactured...

As for the wrongful imprisonment cases, most had not occurred in Tokyo, so Shiraishi Kuro had no way to trace them back to the source. He could only approach the matter from other directions.

For example...

Cutting off the source!

He had discovered that the operating funds for these Violent Organizations mostly came from international money laundering involving American Congressmen, arranged through the Minister of Justice.

The so-called "scandal" Ootaka Kazuhiro had photographed appeared to show an American Congressman engaging in indecent behavior with a woman in Tokyo. In reality, however, the woman was also the Minister of Justice's mistress and the wife of a Violent Organizations leader. This was not merely a "scandal," but sexual bribery!

Although the investigation had already been halted, and Shiraishi Kuro had been ordered to take leave after openly arguing with his superior, he had not given up pursuing the matter.

Shiraishi Kuro believed that as long as he could firmly establish that the Minister of Justice had improper ties with Violent Organizations and American Congressmen, he could at least force his superiors to reopen the investigations into those wrongful cases...

At the same time, Shiraishi said to the flight attendant, "Inform the captain. A murder has occurred on board. To prevent the killer from fleeing overseas, turn the plane around immediately!"

"Huh? That... requires an application to change the flight route..."

"Then submit it immediately! As long as I'm here, I will not allow this plane to continue toward The Americas. The only question is how we turn back. This case involves important classified matters, and it is not impossible that there may even be a bomb intended to silence us!" Shiraishi Kuro threatened casually.

"Th-That... understood."

Shinichi: ...

Shinichi had wanted to say that he could find the killer, so there was no need to go through the trouble of returning the way they came. However... he vaguely sensed that Officer Shiraishi was deliberately looking for an excuse to make the plane return!

Wearing gloves, Shiraishi Kuro first found Ootaka Kazuhiro's luggage. From the way he searched through it, it was obvious he was not looking for forensic clues, but deliberately searching for something specific!

And then...

Shiraishi let out a regretful sigh.

Sure enough, just as the passenger beside them had said, Ootaka Kazuhiro had carried the negatives on his person. Moreover, the body had clearly already been searched!

Shiraishi Kuro immediately began going through Edward's luggage...

He had already noticed from Edward's microexpressions that the man definitely understood Japanese. He had simply been pretending!

With [Psychology] Lv8 and [Insight] Lv10, Shiraishi Kuro's grasp of microexpressions was such that... unless the target was a highly trained agent or had [Mental] Lv8 or above, it was difficult to hide anything from him without revealing some clue.

Shiraishi was certain that Edward's identity as a journalist was most likely just a cover. In reality, he had come to handle matters for the Congressman.

If Edward had killed Ootaka Kazuhiro, the negatives were very likely still with him...

Megure's side would conduct the body searches. Shiraishi Kuro believed the negatives were more likely to be in the luggage... Unfortunately, he still found nothing.

At this point, Shiraishi Kuro's face was full of regret...

"Officer Shiraishi, the other three could also be the murderer..." Shinichi said helplessly. Wasn't your real purpose far too obvious?

Still, Shinichi could not exactly step in and search things himself. After all, Megure was not accompanying him now, nor was that seemingly indecisive rookie from Search Division One. Instead, it was Inspector Shiraishi, whose face practically screamed not someone to mess with!

"Mm." Shiraishi Kuro looked toward the other three people's seats.

"Hmm?" Shiraishi immediately noticed something.

He reached out...

From the gap in Amano Tsubame's seat, he pulled out a black fragment of film. At the same time... his expression turned livid.

Shinichi was stunned at the sight. He had not even started searching, yet he had spotted that in the seat gap right away? What kind of eyesight was that?

"Inspector Shiraishi..." Seeing Shiraishi pinch the fragment so hard he was about to crush it, Shinichi hurriedly reminded him.

Only then did Shiraishi let out a slight breath, take out an Evidence bag, and place the fragment inside.

"This is already strong evidence... Judging by that woman's demeanor, a little interrogation should yield results," Shiraishi Kuro muttered unwillingly.

Although he did not know why, it seemed that...

Ootaka Kazuhiro's murder had nothing to do with the scandal photographs. He had been killed by his girlfriend!

And to throw people off the trail, the negatives had already been cut into pieces. The remaining fragments had probably been flushed down the restroom toilet. After an hour or two, they had surely become part of the "sky ice." Trying to find them now would be like looking for a needle in the ocean.

The film fragment in the seat was probably brought back after accidentally sticking to her clothes.

"Wait, Officer Shiraishi, we still haven't found the murder weapon or confirmed the method of murder..." Shinichi immediately said.

Shiraishi looked at him as though he were an idiot...

"The police are different from detectives. This was something the victim carried before his death, and it appeared at the seat of someone suspected of murder. There are clearly residual fingerprints on the film fragment, which contradicts her earlier account of her actions...

"With this alone, we can make an Emergency Arrest. After that, we only need to get the things you mentioned out of her within the forty-eight-hour detention period." Shiraishi had no time to play detective games about deducing murder methods with him.

Judging from Amano Tsubame's temperament, pressure from evidence like a "film fragment," combined with Lv5 interrogation, would be enough to make her confess the details of the crime. Search Division One had plenty of talented people in that area, including no shortage of Lv7 and Lv8 interrogation experts!

Even if she were stubborn enough that Lv7 or Lv8 interrogation could not crack her, it would not matter. Once they had established the direction of the investigation, they could thoroughly investigate her living environment, determine her motive, and apply further pressure. Breaking through her psychological defenses would become much easier then.

Hearing Shiraishi say that, Shinichi could not help feeling greatly disappointed. However...

Remembering Shiraishi's earlier actions, Shinichi's eyes shifted as he said, "Inspector Shiraishi, if she is the killer, don't you want to know who touched the body again after the crime?"

That was right. Judging by the misplaced bloodstains on the wall and the dried water stains on the victim's trouser pockets, someone else had searched the body for something after the victim died!

After seeing the film fragment, Shiraishi had already given up on that lead—who had touched the body... It was probably Edward, nine times out of ten. After all, he had a motive to find the negatives, and would not hesitate to search the corpse for them.

Only, the negatives had already been cut up and flushed away, so Edward must have found nothing...

However, after hearing Shinichi's words, Shiraishi Kuro suddenly realized something!

Since the killer had cut up the negatives, while Edward had searched the body afterward, then... he likely did not know the negatives were already gone. He would only think someone else had obtained them!

"What you said... makes sense." Shiraishi put away the evidence, looking as though he had no intention of taking it out again right away.