Everyone's an Actor

The roller coaster loading area.

The amusement park guards and staff had arrived and cordoned off the area.

Shu Yunwen, Tsukamoto Kazumi, Hitomi, and the others who had ridden the roller coaster were all held back and temporarily forbidden to leave.

Shu Yunwen and Tsukamoto Kazumi each had a bottle of water. They kept drinking some, then spitting it out. Tsukamoto Kazumi also took out two pieces of gum and handed one to Shu Yunwen. "H-How could something like this happen? It's s-so terrifying."

"Heh... It's all that Kudo Shinichi's fault..." Shu Yunwen casually pinned the blame on him.

Tsukamoto Kazumi looked surprised. "W-What does this have to do with Kudo?"

Shu Yunwen replied offhandedly, "Haven't you read the papers lately? If you had, you'd have noticed that wherever that guy goes, a case is sure to happen!"

"..." Tsukamoto Kazumi fell silent.

What kind of logic was that?

Shu Yunwen said nothing more. Instead, he studied the orb in his hand, visible only to him. With a thought, he watched the soul of the man named Kishida inside it get engulfed by the "Judgment" spell and turn into streams of pure energy. The energy entered Shu Yunwen through his nostrils, and he absorbed it.

Tsukamoto Kazumi noticed Shu Yunwen's odd posture and asked, "Yunwen, a-are you all right?"

"I-I'm fine." Shu Yunwen shook his head. "Just thinking about something."

Then Shu Yunwen slowly began refining the energy that had entered his body.

Kishida probably hadn't been a good person in life. The energy Shu Yunwen had drawn from Kishida's soul was twice what he'd gotten from Yamazaki Akiji's soul the previous night. This soul had been an incredible bargain.

After a while, the police from the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department's First Investigation Division finally arrived.

Inspector Megure led the team. He had just ordered them to investigate the scene when Shu Yunwen approached and greeted him. "Good day, Inspector Megure!"

"Y-You? Shu?" Inspector Megure looked surprised. "Were you caught up in this accident too?"

"Yeah..." Shu Yunwen hesitated, then smiled and scratched his head. "Looks like I'm not very lucky."

As he spoke, Shu Yunwen told Kazumi to stay where she was, then hurried over to the culprit—the woman named Hitomi—and asked with a smile, "Excuse me, miss. Could I speak with you privately?"

Hitomi, who was still wiping away tears, replied, "Huh? I don't believe we know each other, sir..."

Shu Yunwen smiled. "I want to talk to you about the victim. I noticed something strange while we were on the roller coaster..."

Hitomi's body stiffened noticeably. Only then did she agree. "O-Okay, sir."

"Hitomi..." The woman beside her, Reiko, wiped away her tears.

Hitomi bowed slightly. "Reiko, I'll be right back."

Hitomi followed Shu Yunwen a short distance away. He got straight to the point, lowering his voice. "Miss Hitomi, why did you kill Mr. Kishida? Was it just because of your relationship?"

"N-No, I didn't..." Hitomi jumped, looking extremely nervous as she hurriedly shook her head.

Shu Yunwen smiled. "Hitomi, if I'm talking to you, it's because I have solid evidence..."

"No! I-I didn't want to kill him, but I couldn't lose him! I gave him almost everything I had. Then, after we broke up, he even used those compromising photos of me to extort money. Even now, I have to embezzle money from the company where I work part-time just to give it to him..." Hitomi burst into tears.

He'd threatened her with photos and made her steal money for him? It was clear now: the dead man had been a complete scumbag!

Shu Yunwen glanced around. Hitomi's crying had drawn the attention of quite a few people, including Inspector Megure. Tsukamoto Kazumi was also walking over, apparently to ask what had happened.

Shu Yunwen shook his head and spoke again. "Hitomi, it looks like we can't continue this conversation. Of course, if what you've told me is true, I'll help cover it up."

"Yunwen, is something going on here?" Tsukamoto Kazumi had come up behind them and asked.

Shu Yunwen turned with a smile. "No, of course not. I was just trying to comfort Hitomi. She seems to be grieving terribly, though."

"Is that so?" Tsukamoto Kazumi looked curious, glancing between Hitomi and Shu Yunwen.

After returning to Ran, Genta, and the others, Shu Yunwen looked at Hitomi, who was still crying, and gripped the camera in his jacket pocket more tightly.

When you thought about it, Hitomi, the killer, was really just a pitiful woman. Kishida had been a scumbag anyway. He was dead, and that was that. He was just a scumbag, after all. There was no need for poor Hitomi to go down with him...

If Kudo Shinichi, who was so determined to uncover the truth, had been here, he would have exposed everything. But Shu Yunwen wasn't so obsessed with the truth. Helping the culprit get away with it didn't seem like a big deal.

Inspector Megure and the others gathered evidence at the scene. After a while, Inspector Megure came over to Shu Yunwen and asked, "Yunwen, you were sitting in the row in front of the victim, correct? Did you notice anything about the culprit?"

"Well..." Shu Yunwen scratched his head and gave an awkward smile. "Sorry, Inspector Megure, why are you asking me?"

Inspector Megure replied, "Because you're a pretty capable detective yourself, aren't you? And you were sitting in front of the victim. Of course, in my opinion, this may have been an accident."

"An accident?" Shu Yunwen paused, then smiled. "That's right. Maybe it really was an acci—"

Before Shu Yunwen could finish, an officer standing beside Aiko suddenly shouted, "I-Inspector Megure! We found a bloodstained knife in this woman's handbag! It may be the murder weapon!"

The words rang in Shu Yunwen's ears like a thunderclap. He suddenly realized something and looked at Hitomi, who appeared uneasy. But this time, he saw hatred—and... murderous intent—in her eyes!

Hitomi wanted to frame the woman named Aiko and have her killed!

In an instant, Shu Yunwen understood. He cursed silently—

Damn it! He'd almost been fooled by this woman!

If she'd only killed Kishida because he'd threatened her and she'd been forced to fight back, she could have just killed him and left it at that. Why deliberately put a bloody knife in Aiko's handbag and frame her?

The story about being blackmailed with the photos was almost certainly just a smokescreen! Hitomi's real plan was to kill Kishida and frame Aiko for the crime!

As Shu Yunwen was still mulling it over, Hitomi suddenly said, "Huh? Aiko, I thought you and Mr. Kishida were in love..."

Hitomi looked utterly astonished. If Shu Yunwen hadn't already known she was the culprit, he would have been fooled too!

Damn, another great actor!

But now that Shu Yunwen had heard Hitomi make that blatant accusation, he no longer had any intention of helping her cover up her crime.

If a woman like her wasn't sent to prison for life, Shu Yunwen might end up becoming one of her targets for revenge.

As he thought about it, Shu Yunwen's expression turned cold.

Help her cover it up? Forget it!

A woman like her didn't deserve any sympathy!