Amid the police officers' strained expressions as they racked their brains, Jiang Xia thoughtfully continued, "In a room this cluttered, even with the lights on, Officer Takagi tripped twice just walking over here—and when the murderer struck, the living room lights were off. Yet the murderer somehow made it to the sofa without a sound, then left without a sound."
Officer Takagi's old face flushed red. "..." I tripped so discreetly. How did you see that?!
He hurriedly cleared his throat, praying that Sato Miwako beside him had not heard, while swiftly steering the conversation back to the case. "If that's the case... Right! If the murderer never had to 'walk over' or 'escape,' then he wouldn't have made any noise in the dark!"
With that thought, he flipped through the notes in his notebook and looked at the young brown-haired man. "Mr. Suishima, I remember that aside from the victim, you were also catching up on sleep in the living room at the time—and you were sleeping on another sofa not far away."
Inspector Megure nodded thoughtfully as well. "There are no signs whatsoever that this apartment door was pried open. In other words, we can rule out an intruder breaking in to commit the crime."
The more the young brown-haired man listened, the more he felt that things were heading in the wrong direction. Cold sweat trickled down his face, and he hurriedly interrupted, "I didn't kill anyone! I was asleep the whole time. Furumura suddenly screamed, and that was what woke me up! Besides, besides, I may be renting this place, but I'm not the only one who has a key!"
He pointed outside the window. "This apartment is close to our workplace, so it's convenient for us to come here to rest or have meals together.