Confession

"Some said that during idle chat, they heard from another, more gossipy intern that Mr. Shiba was quite popular with women and had many female regulars," Amaki said.

"Mm, that isn't surprising. He's good-looking, after all. It's perfectly normal for him to have admirers." Shiraishi nodded.

"But this time, we also heard that—Mr. Shiba was only able to open his shop because his wife's family provided the money, so he's somewhat afraid of his wife," Amaki continued.

While Narcissus went off to add services, Amaki hadn't been idle either. He started with Yamamoto, who was easier to coax information from, and learned quite a few things.

"I see. Sounds like he might be living off his wife." Shiraishi said disdainfully.

"And Mr. Shiba's wife is also rather... well, sensitive. She and Mr. Shiba have argued several times over the female customers at the shop, sometimes even right in front of the employees."

"That makes sense—but if his work puts him in contact with a large number of women, it's difficult to maintain boundaries while also keeping friendly relationships. One wrong move, and there could be trouble." Shiraishi nodded, feeling a little sympathetic, then asked, "But if she doesn't give him even a shred of dignity in front of his subordinates, does that mean their marital conflict is pretty serious?"

"That's right. Mr. Shiba has always been too afraid to argue with his wife." Amaki nodded.

If Shiraishi hadn't told them to take another look at the Massage Parlor today, they had no idea when they would have noticed these things—

After all, while they had handled plenty of murder cases involving emotional disputes before, it wasn't the Shibas who had died this time, so naturally they hadn't paid attention.

And because Shiba had previously seemed honest and proper, they had