Officer Takagi failed to notice the strange gaze beside him. He lowered his voice and said to Jiang Xia, "I was just thinking that perhaps the killer was actually one of Akiha and Fuyu, while that unlucky Mr. Koumoto was only a decoy... But I contacted Immigration just now, and their records show that a Mr. Koumoto Takashi really did return to Japan a week ago!"
"We found the hotel where he stayed, but by the time we arrived, he had already checked out." Officer Takagi sighed. "Fortunately, he left behind quite a few belongings. After examining them, we successfully found his fingerprints."
Jiang Xia took a sip of coffee and, imitating the composed manner of elderly police officers in tv dramas, asked steadily, "What were the comparison results?"
"They matched the fingerprints left at the death scenes of Mr. Haruyama and Mr. Natsukawa. He should be the killer." Officer Takagi pulled out another photo. "Also, we retrieved the hotel surveillance footage—this is the image of Mr. Koumoto when he checked in."
Jiang Xia lowered his head and saw an elderly white-haired man intently filling something out on the registration form.
"He's that old?" Amuro Tooru was somewhat surprised. He looked at the photo, then at Fuyuki Ryusaburo in the distance. "Wasn't he supposed to be your classmate? He looks twenty or thirty years older than you."
"He really is the same age as us." Ms. Akiha exchanged a glance with Mr. Fuyuki and walked over to inspect the photo as well.
Seeing the "old man" in it, the two of them had mixed feelings. "He always looked older than his age, but we never expected that after his hair turned white, he'd end up looking like this..."
Officer Takagi sighed. "According to the hotel staff, Koumoto mentioned in casual