Another Suicide

Chapter 21: Another Suicide

"Don't worry, Shinichi,"

"I know what I'm doing."

Mouri Ran eventually calmed down.

But her determination to "draw her sword and help" remained firm, as she was naturally endowed with a pure sense of justice.

Mouri Ran would never stand by and do nothing when she saw something unjust like school bullying.

Even if she didn't use her fists, she would definitely step forward and advise those two vicious bullies to correct their mistakes in time.

Of course, whether they would listen was another matter. If they didn't listen to reason, responded with insults, or even resorted to violence at the slightest provocation, then…

Hopefully, nothing bad happens to anyone. 🙏🙏

"Alright,"

Kudo Shinichi sighed helplessly.

"Just don't let anyone die."

No sooner had he spoken than, before Mouri Ran could even reply—

From the very back of the group, the tall, slender high school student called Aoki suddenly said with a look of horror:

"Ish-Ishikawa, look!"

"On the roof of the department store across the street, that guy standing on the edge of the rooftop—that can't be that kid, can it?"

"Uchida, that guy… he seems to have…"

Muttering the name of the bullying victim, Aoki's face was clearly pale.

"He seems to have gone to jump off the building!"

"Huh?" Ishikawa was slightly stunned.

He immediately followed Aoki's finger and looked across the street.

At the same time, Lin Xinyi, Kudo, Mouri Ran, and Miyano Shiho also subconsciously looked towards the roof of the department store opposite.

One look was enough to know that Aoki wasn't joking:

At that very moment, on the roof of the department store across the street, there was indeed a person standing high up.

He was wearing a black high school uniform, the same style as Ishikawa and Aoki, and a coffee-colored baseball cap.

The wide brim of his cap obscured half of his face, and he stood with his head bowed on the edge of the rooftop facing the street, silently looking at the ground beneath his feet.

The distance was quite far, so no one could see his face clearly, let alone read his expression.

Everyone could only see that this male high school student was inching forward, appearing to be at risk of leaping off at any moment.

"Hey, hey…"

Ishikawa's face immediately changed.

At this moment, all his usual arrogance and swagger as a school bully had vanished, replaced by utter horror.

"No way, is he serious?"

"That kid… he actually went to commit suicide?!"

The air in the immediate vicinity suddenly became tense.

Aside from Miyano Shiho, who only furrowed her brows slightly, everyone else's expressions underwent a very noticeable change.

Among them, Lin Xinyi was utterly shocked by the scene unfolding before his eyes.

"What the hell? Another person committing suicide?"

"Am I cursed by the Grim Reaper today?"

Encountering three suicides in one day—he had never seen such a situation even when he worked for the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department.

And now, no matter how shocked Lin Xinyi was by this bizarre reality, the faceless male high school student standing on the opposite department store roof had already slowly walked to the edge of the rooftop…

Half of his foot was practically off the edge, about to fall. He clearly wasn't there just to enjoy the breeze from up high.

Seeing this, the delinquent high school student named Ishikawa was visibly flustered.

"Don't joke around…"

"If that kid jumps, we'll be in big trouble!"

He cursed exasperatedly, even his cigarette butt trembling and dropping to the ground.

"Y-Yeah…" Aoki also said, his face pale.

"He went to jump after we beat him up…"

"The police will definitely come to investigate us, and maybe even reporters will show up!"

"…" Ishikawa fell silent for a moment, then shouted with a tense expression:

"Hey! Uchida, get down from that rooftop now!!"

"Calm down!"

"We won't beat you up anymore, okay?!"

Ishikawa roared at the rooftop across the street, his voice so loud it echoed down the entire road.

Immediately, pedestrians stopped in their tracks.

They all looked up at the department store rooftop, where a high school boy named Uchida stood at the edge, head bowed, half his face hidden by a baseball cap.

"Look, there's someone on the roof!"

Suddenly, the street was filled with gasps from passersby.

Hearing that someone was about to jump, everyone couldn't help but stop.

But just then, after everyone had looked up, Uchida at the edge of the rooftop took two steps back.

He instantly disappeared from the sight of the people on the ground.

It seemed Uchida had given up on suicide, retreating step by step.

And because their view was obstructed, Lin Xinyi and the others on the ground couldn't see him at all now, nor did they know what he was doing after retreating back onto the rooftop.

But regardless, the crisis of Uchida attempting suicide seemed to have been temporarily averted.

"Phew, he didn't jump."

Ishikawa let out a long sigh of relief.

Then, recovering from his shock, he couldn't help but curse:

"I knew that kid didn't have the guts to jump!"

"He probably just ran upstairs to scare us."

He was only halfway through his self-consoling words.

From across the street, in the deserted alley beside the department store, a dull thud of something heavy hitting the ground suddenly echoed.

Bang!

The sound was like a heavy drum, making everyone's hearts lurch.

"Wh-what?!"

Aoki, standing nearby, turned pale with fright:

"Ishikawa, that… that kid couldn't have…"

"Changed direction and jumped from the side facing the alley, could he?!"

A silence fell over the scene.

Although no one had seen Uchida's body leap down with their own eyes, everyone knew in their hearts what that dull thud had just meant.

"Go check, quick!!" Ishikawa shouted frantically.

Without a moment's hesitation, he dashed out, sprinting across the street towards the department store.

"Wait for me, Ishikawa!"

Aoki reacted belatedly, quickly turning pale and chasing after him.

Kudo Shinichi's eyes flickered, his face showing an emotion called "concern."

Then, he also followed Ishikawa without hesitation, hurrying across the street.

Mouri Ran naturally followed her childhood friend instinctively.

And Lin Xinyi, as if by instinct, also strode towards the crime scene across the street.

But just then, someone called out to him: "Wait."

He turned around to see Miyano Shiho gently tugging at his sleeve.

"Why are you going over there?" Her icy voice held a hint of confusion: "To watch the show?"

"Because someone died, of course I have to…"

Lin Xinyi answered instinctively, but his words caught in his throat halfway through:

Indeed, he had forgotten that he was no longer a forensic doctor.

He no longer had to deal with bodies no one wanted to approach, or endure the unbearable filth and stench that ordinary people couldn't tolerate.

Someone might have died right now, but it had nothing to do with him.

Moreover, he had now easily obtained a good job—easy, stress-free, and high-paying—something he had once hoped for.

Compared to rushing to the scene immediately, taking care of Miss Miyano was what he should be doing now.

"Right, then let's just go…"

Lin Xinyi wanted to stop.

But somehow, the words "let's just go" just wouldn't come out.

"Are you concerned?"

Miyano Shiho keenly sensed Lin Xinyi's emotions.

But at the same time, she found it hard to understand:

"Why would I be concerned?"

"It's just an ordinary death."

"Besides, people like us…"

As she spoke, Miyano Shiho's words became unfathomable, as if she had thought of something:

"People like us can never claim to be good."

"We're not qualified to mourn a life we don't even know."

As always, Lin Xinyi didn't understand what she was saying.

He just assumed that Miss Miyano's literary angst was acting up again.

That was understandable, like the dark, non-mainstream trend popular years ago, or the later overused phrase, "I'm sorry for being born human." Young people, who hasn't gone through a chuunibyou phase?

However, stripping away the unnecessarily profound pronouncements, what Miyano Shiho wanted to express was actually completely correct.

This matter truly had nothing to do with the current Lin Xinyi.

He had no need whatsoever to meddle in it.

"Someone else will naturally handle this matter."

"And right now, I'm just an ordinary citizen; all I need to do is trust society, trust the police… ahem."

Lin Xinyi's mouth twitched slightly:

The investigative skills the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department displayed this morning are truly untrustworthy.

And, despite trying hard to forget, the image of that high school boy desperately pacing at the edge of the rooftop still lingered in Lin Xinyi's mind.

Speaking of which, throughout his years of work, feeling immense pressure, he had indeed thought about resigning and changing professions.

But every time he received a call about a crime scene and saw a deceased person's body, his body would instinctively move.

After this case, I will definitely resign next time.

He thought this every day.

He kept procrastinating, from a rookie to a seasoned veteran.

If it weren't for this sudden transmigration, he would probably still be at the dissecting table.

"Miyano."

"Please wait for me."

Lin Xinyi sighed softly, his gaze turning serious:

"I think I need to go to the scene."

"Why?"

Miyano Shiho became even more confused.

"Who knows…"

Lin Xinyi looked across the road, to where the high school boy had jumped:

"Perhaps, there's someone waiting for me to speak for him there."