Officer Sato had worked at the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department for many years, and with a single sentence, she laid bare the current situation.
The three passengers exchanged glances, their eyes immediately turning wary. They had originally shared a certain sense of camaraderie as fellow unlucky souls hauled away by the police. But now that they knew the murderer was very likely among them...
The fragile friendship between these comrades in misfortune instantly fell apart. The way they looked at the other two now carried a few more traces of scrutiny.
After a brief silence, the Tokyo resident was the first to support the police investigation. He sighed. "My name is Iwakuni Tatsuro. I was sitting in this seat before."
He pointed at the train diagram spread across the table. "I was listening to the horse racing broadcast at the time, but I don't know what happened. There was suddenly a commotion in the aisle behind me.
"A bunch of people gathered there, buzzing away so loudly that I couldn't hear the horse racing commentary at all, so I had no choice but to move to a quieter car."
"?" The other two passengers found something strange about this story and looked at him suspiciously. "There was a disturbance right beside you, yet you didn't go see what was happening or ask around? You just switched cars to listen to the broadcast? That sounds pretty fake. You really didn't put any effort into making up an excuse—Officer, it has to be him. Arrest him already!"
"What do you mean, 'switched cars to listen to the broadcast'? You've clearly never followed horse racing. A live broadcast of such an exciting event is far more important than gawking at some commotion!" The Tokyo passenger snorted.
"Besides, what's so interesting about a commotion?