Bullying, Murder

Chapter 22: Bullying, Murder

Lin Xinyi chased after Kudo and the others across the street.

Miyano Shiho watched his retreating figure thoughtfully, then finally started after him at an unhurried pace.

Before long, following the direction the sound had come from, they arrived at the alley beside the Department Store.

Ishikawa, Aoki, Kudo Shinichi, and Mouri Ran, who had gone ahead, were already standing at the entrance to that alley.

Looking inside carefully:

The alley was narrow, and it was a dead end.

It was completely empty. Aside from an iron fire escape welded to the outer wall of the Department Store, stretching from the ground all the way up to the fourth floor, there was nothing else in the alley.

That fire escape leading to the fourth floor looked extremely old and worn-down.

Its steps were covered in mottled rust, and its railings had been corroded beyond recognition by time.

Even the iron door on the fourth-floor exterior wall of the Department Store—the only door connected to the fire escape—had been completely claimed by rust. It was probably rusted shut long ago and could not be opened.

Clearly, this neglected fire escape had not been used in a very long time.

And this dead-end alley, with nowhere to go except the fire escape, was obviously not a place pedestrians would enter.

Compared to the bustling main road outside, this silent, deserted alley seemed like an entirely different world.

And now, in this uninhabited alley that was isolated from the world despite being in the middle of the city,

The male high school student named Uchida, who had just been standing on the rooftop, lay motionless on the ground.

"Uchida!"

"Hey, hey, Uchida!"

Ishikawa and Aoki cried out in panic.

They seemed to have finally realized the terrible consequences their bullying had caused, and both looked extremely nervous.

They stood there stiffly, their faces pale as they stared at Uchida's corpse in silence, not knowing what to think.

Then Lin Xinyi moved.

As if by instinct, he rushed to Uchida's side at top speed.

Lin Xinyi quickly crouched down and carefully turned the motionless stranger over.

Uchida's face was exposed before everyone's eyes.

His cheeks were covered in extensive abrasions and contusions, while his forehead bore a horrifying, sunken fracture.

That youthful face no longer held any trace of the young man's former smile. There was only mangled flesh, gruesome wounds, and eternal stillness.

His skull has been crushed out of shape...

Lin Xinyi's heart sank. He knew such injuries were more than enough to be fatal.

Not caring that he was not wearing gloves, he immediately reached out to check Uchida's breathing, then lifted his eyelids to examine his pupils.

His breathing had long since stopped. Both pupils were dilated, and there was no light left in his eyes.

There was no pulse at his wrist, and the muscles in his arms had already gone slack.

"How is he?" Kudo Shinichi stepped closer.

"He's dead." Lin Xinyi frowned tightly, his tone complicated.

He had certainly seen plenty of dead bodies, but this was the first time he had encountered someone dying right in front of him while simply walking down the street.

Being notified beforehand to examine a body at a scene and unexpectedly witnessing death in everyday life were completely different experiences.

Lin Xinyi could not help feeling a little emotional.

In comparison, Kudo Shinichi was much calmer.

Watching someone die before his eyes, the high school student was even more composed than the former forensic examiner.

It was as though he had long grown accustomed to such situations.

And after hearing that Uchida had been confirmed dead, Kudo Shinichi immediately entered his focused great-detective mode.

He observed and thought with utter concentration, like an actor stepping onto a stage or a student sitting down for an exam.

"Suicide by jumping... This alley is a dead end, and the fire escape is rusted like that. Hardly anyone probably comes here normally."

"If so, then most of the items on the ground should be related to today's falling victim."

With that in mind, Kudo Shinichi began carefully examining the ground near the body.

First, he spotted a brown baseball cap.

It was the baseball cap they had seen on Uchida's head earlier.

Only, it was no longer on the victim's head. It lay beside the body, having most likely fallen off during the fall.

Then Kudo Shinichi spotted several ordinary broken bricks on the ground.

Other than that, the only thing he could find was

A rust-covered section of iron railing.

"Did this railing fall off the fire escape?"

Kudo Shinichi raised his head and looked at the fire escape welded to the exterior wall of the Department Store:

Sure enough, at the very top of the fire escape, in front of the fourth-floor iron door, a large section of railing was missing.

"The fire escape has fallen into disrepair, so part of the railing fell off?"

"Or did the victim knock this section of railing loose while falling?"

Kudo Shinichi frowned slightly.

The baseball cap, several broken bricks, the fire escape built along the exterior wall and reaching the fourth floor, the broken railing at the top of the fire escape...

Every clue at the scene converged in his mind.

"Could it be..."

"Was it that kind of situation?"

Kudo Shinichi's eyes lit up. He understood something.

Then he abruptly turned, his sharp gaze fixing on the two delinquent boys who had remained silent the whole time:

"Ishikawa. Aoki."

"Is that what I should call you?"

Neither Ishikawa nor Aoki answered. They continued standing silently to one side.

"Uchida, the one who died after jumping, was the classmate you two bullied, right?"

"When did you separate from him? And where did you beat him up just now?"

Kudo Shinichi asked bluntly.

"Uh..."

Ishikawa froze for a moment, and hostility immediately appeared in his eyes.

"W-Why are you asking me that?"

"Are you a cop? Why should I tell you anything?"

"Besides, besides..."

He swallowed, craned his neck, and shouted with false bravado:

"So what if we beat up Uchida?"

"We didn't hit him that hard, and we definitely didn't beat him to death."

"He ran off and jumped himself. You guys, and all those passersby, saw it."

"So his death has nothing to do with us!"

"At most, all we did was bully him. The police will just lecture us a little, and that'll be it."

The more Ishikawa spoke, the more confident he became, as though his bullying were nothing more than a trivial matter.

He even said righteously to Lin Xinyi, Kudo, Mouri Ran, and Miyano Shiho, who had arrived afterward:

"Oh, and you guys, don't leave just yet."

"You're eyewitnesses. You all saw Uchida jump off the building himself."

"Uchida's death has absolutely nothing to do with us. When the police get here, you'd better make that clear to them."

"..."

A brief silence followed.

Lin Xinyi quietly watched the body and paid him no attention.

A meaningful smile appeared at the corner of Kudo's mouth.

Miyano Shiho, who had arrived later, could not even be bothered to speak. She had no interest in this matter at all.

Compared with the murder case, Lin Xinyi, who was seriously examining the body, drew her attention far more.

Finally, the only person to break the silence was Mouri Ran:

"You... you two bastards!"

Her fists clenched until her knuckles turned white, and the indignation she had been holding back finally erupted:

"You drove Uchida to jump off a building."

"Don't either of you feel even the slightest bit of guilt?"

The male high school student named Aoki lowered his gaze evasively, not daring to meet Mouri Ran's eyes.

But Ishikawa was the exact opposite. Not only did he show no remorse whatsoever, he snapped back viciously:

"What do you mean, we drove him to jump?"

"He had a weak mentality and came here to kill himself. How, how can you blame us for that?"

"If you've got the guts, tell the police!"

"Let's see if they'll arrest us over this!"

"You?!" Mouri Ran was furious, an extremely rare sight.

She saw Uchida's lifeless corpse, and she saw the savage expression on Ishikawa's face, completely devoid of guilt.

The stark contrast between the dead and the living made her anger nearly impossible to contain.

"Calm down, Ran!"

At that critical moment, Kudo Shinichi stopped his childhood friend once more.

"Shinichi!"

Mouri Ran clearly did not want to stand by and watch the two bullies continue acting arrogant in front of their victim's body.

But Kudo Shinichi's attitude was extremely firm. "Punishing criminals is the police's job."

Mouri Ran slowly lowered her fists. She knew Shinichi was right; she should not fight violence with violence.

But she still found it impossible to accept:

"The police won't do anything about this..."

"No one ever cares about school bullying."

Mouri Ran looked despondent, grieving over the injustice the victim had suffered.

"No, this time is different."

Kudo Shinichi spoke very seriously into Mouri Ran's ear:

"Didn't you notice?"

"Mr. Lin has been examining the body ever since we got here. That look in his eyes is the same as before."

"Huh?" Mouri Ran froze, suddenly realizing something. "You mean..."

"That's right."

"Mr. Lin must have seen it too."

Kudo Shinichi nodded lightly, his gaze incomparably sharp:

"No one cares about bullying, but murder is different."