"Uzo" looked at Suzuki Sonoko and nodded approvingly.
"Mr. Akashi braved the heavy rain to go to the Tennis Court in order to find an eyewitness like Ms. Jodie, so he could obtain testimony that 'the deceased died by hanging himself.'
"Otherwise, if he carried out this plan alone, then when the police arrived, all they would see would be an ordinary hanging scene. Not only would this method fail, but the marks around the deceased's wrists would instead deepen suspicion toward Mr. Akashi himself—because he would be the only living person at the scene."
Jodie glanced at Suzuki Sonoko from the corner of her eye, then looked at the murderer thoughtfully. "If we hadn't come today, you wouldn't have killed anyone?"
The tennis coach sighed. "No. Even if you hadn't come, I still would've taken the risk and done it."
Inspector Yamamura's ears twitched. "Hm? You admit you killed him?"
The tennis coach: "?!" Damn it, these people had been playing off each other and trapped him before he knew it... Cunning Tokyo people, cunning Americans!!
Jodie was inexplicably glared at by him. "???"
Jiang Xia waited until Killing Intent belatedly rose from him for a while before using Uzo's puppet to comfort him. "Actually, the evidence of your murder isn't hard to find. That Hemp Rope should have been bought recently. The material is fairly new and its surface is relatively smooth, making it easy for you to leave fingerprints when you weren't paying attention—especially around the knots. And then there's the section of lamp cord you cut off and hid..."
"...No need to say that. I wasn't planning to deny it." Akashi Hiroto secretly rejoiced that his mouth had not been fast enough for him to start arguing.
He continued from where he had left off. "Today