"Could it be that, deep down, I really think the bomber's death had something to do with the person on the other end?"
Sato Miwako pressed a hand to her chest, as though she stood at both ends of a forked road. "If that's the case, should I pretend not to know anything when the time comes, or should I act like a police officer and take him back for questioning?"
She didn't know either.
If this had been two days earlier, Sato Miwako felt certain she would have chosen the latter.
But today's experience, and the emotions that had collapsed in an instant when she came face-to-face with the bomber, had made her feel as though she had seen a brand-new, unfamiliar version of herself.
Still, those thoughts could be put aside for now.
It was rare for the person on the other end to agree to meet. Where should they arrange it?
Somewhere crowded...
Sato Miwako suddenly remembered something and lowered her head to look at the two tickets Inspector Megure had given her.
"Here, then."
She had never been particular about such things. Since a venue had practically fallen into her lap, she might as well go there.
After agreeing on a time and place, Jiang Xia stuffed the phone into Noah, took one last breath of fresh Fireworks Cake, then stubbed out the burned Ghost Mint in the Ashtray.
Matsuda Jinpei was startled by the movement. Remembering the things he had done today that did not fit "Uzo," he forced himself to confess that he had pulled Sato Miwako back when she fired her gun.
And also...
That, in his haste, he had rushed over and thrown aside an old classmate who had nearly gotten a buy-one-get-one deal with the bomber.
"That doesn't fit Uzo's