Lock Down the Scene

A short while ago.

Suzuki Sonoko could feel that the man of her destiny had finally arrived—

Although the young lady thought that every time, and the results were never very pleasant, it was clear that these repeated setbacks had not made her lose her fantasies about true love.

With expectations for a beautiful romance in her heart, Suzuki Sonoko walked lightly to the edge of the underground platform.

On the wall beside the platform was a wide doorway with a "Restroom" sign hanging above it. Beyond the doorway was a crosswise corridor, with the men's and women's restrooms connected at either end.

But as soon as Suzuki Sonoko arrived, she saw a conspicuous sign standing in front of the wide-open doorway:

"Restroom facilities under repair. Do not use."

Clearly, the restroom was currently closed.

That was precisely why, while the platform outside was bustling and noisy, the restroom inside was completely empty and unusually quiet.

But after thinking it over, Suzuki Sonoko still walked inside:

She was only here to use the restroom mirror to put on makeup anyway.

Even if the facilities inside were damaged, it would not affect her.

"This handsome guy is such a good man that even Ran praised him. I have to put on a gorgeous, decisive look and win him over in one go!"

"Once he falls hopelessly under this young lady's charm and confesses to me on his own, oh-ho-ho-ho..."

Suzuki Sonoko showed none of a wealthy young lady's restraint. Instead, she laughed like a wolf plotting an elaborate sheep-catching scheme.

As she thought about the flirting techniques she would use later, she walked through the wide doorway, stepped into the short corridor, and headed toward the women's restroom on the right.

The women's restroom door was tightly shut. It was quiet inside.

Suzuki Sonoko pushed open the door and took two steps inside. Then—

"Blood?!"

The moment she entered, she saw blood spread all over the floor in front of the sinks.

And lying motionless in that pool of blood was a fashionably dressed woman.

The clothes over her chest had been dyed crimson with blood. Her eyes were wide open, and the pain she had felt before death was still frozen in her colorless pupils.

Suzuki Sonoko instinctively wanted to scream.

But at that instant, a "shadow" suddenly darted out from the corner behind the door, where she had not noticed anyone at all.

Sonoko heard hurried footsteps suddenly sound behind her, but it was already too late.

She had no time to turn around, no way to dodge, and could not even let out a scream—

The shadow swiftly struck from behind with a knife-hand blow, hitting the back of Suzuki Sonoko's neck hard.

Suzuki Sonoko clutched her neck in pain. Her head swam, and she staggered to the floor.

Seeing that Sonoko seemed to have been knocked unconscious with a single blow, the shadow paid her no further attention.

He hurriedly turned around, pushed open the women's restroom door, and rushed outside.

"Ugh... that hurt."

Sonoko quietly opened her eyes through the pain.

She had not actually been knocked unconscious by that blow. She was only afraid that he might panic and commit murder to silence her, so she had quickly come up with the idea of pretending to faint.

Now, only after hearing his hurried footsteps recede into the distance did she dare cautiously open her eyes a crack.

But Sonoko had opened her eyes too late.

The murderer had already run out of the restroom. She could only vaguely see a shadow flash past the doorway and disappear.

"Damn it..."

"Was that the murderer?"

Suzuki Sonoko clutched her neck and staggered to her feet.

She looked at the corpse collapsed in the pool of blood behind her, and instinctive fear appeared on her face.

But even so, she gathered her courage, turned her head, and looked in the direction the murderer had just vanished.

"The murderer has not been gone long..."

"And there are so many people on the platform outside. Ran is there too."

"If I call for help now, maybe we can block the murderer's escape."

With that thought, and without caring that the murderer obviously had not gone far, Suzuki Sonoko raised her voice and shouted:

"Help! M-Murder!!"

The restroom and platform were separated by only a wall and a corridor.

Suzuki Sonoko's scream quickly rang out, echoing through the underground train platform.

"Murder?!"

The waiting passengers looked at one another, and the noisy platform immediately fell silent.

Everyone stopped talking and turned their gazes toward the restroom from which the scream had come.

Then, before everyone's eyes, Suzuki Sonoko emerged in a hurry, clutching her neck tightly.

"There's a body inside the restroom!"

"And the murderer just ran out of here!"

"What?"

The waiting passengers were deeply shaken by the news.

"Someone died in the restroom?"

"And the murderer just came out? Then... then doesn't that mean..."

"That person is still here?"

Some quick-witted passengers had already understood what Suzuki Sonoko was trying to say.

They immediately looked suspiciously at the strangers standing around them. It seemed as though every person nearby could be a brutal killer who had just committed murder.

But Kudo Shinichi reacted faster than the waiting passengers.

His gaze swept across the surroundings one by one, and the layout of the underground platform quickly formed in his mind.

"There are only three ways out of this underground platform: an employee passage, an escalator, and the staircase built beside the escalator."

"The next train has not arrived yet, and the employee passage is locked. That means the escalator and stairs are the only ways to leave the platform."

With that in mind, Kudo Shinichi swiftly said to Mouri Ran and Lin Xinyi beside him:

"Ran, Mr. Lin Xinyi, let's hurry and block the staircase."

"As long as we get there in time, we should be able to keep the murderer, who has not yet escaped, trapped on this platform!"

"Understood!"

Mouri Ran reacted immediately.

"Uh..." Lin Xinyi, an adult, was actually slower to react than a schoolgirl.

After all, a murder had suddenly occurred right in front of them, yet Mouri Ran was not even shocked.

The moment Kudo spoke, she immediately began helping lock down the scene.

A female high school student was more capable than even officers from the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department.

How should he put it? Practice made perfect?

At this moment, Lin Xinyi finally began to believe the mystical setup he had just heard about.

Without drawing attention to himself, he moved a little farther away from Kudo, the "lone star of calamity," then followed Ran and quickly blocked the only staircase leading off the platform and up to the upper level.

"Wait. You cannot leave yet."

Lin Xinyi stepped forward and stopped several passengers who were preparing to go up the stairs.

"Why not?" The passengers immediately objected. "Why can't we leave?"

"A murder has occurred here. The scene must be sealed off now."

Lin Xinyi tried to speak in a calm tone.

"What the hell does that have to do with me?!"

One impatient passenger glared at him in dissatisfaction.

"I'm not the murderer, and I didn't kill anyone."

"Why are you stopping me?"

"Yeah!" Several passengers planning to leave chimed in. "What does a dead person have to do with us? When does Beika Town ever go a day without someone dying?"

"Please try to understand."

"After all, no one knows whether the murderer is mixed in among you."

Lin Xinyi's tone remained calm and gentle.

But unfortunately, his restraint did not earn the passengers' understanding.

They did not feel obligated to cooperate with the investigation. They were only annoyed that their schedules had been delayed.

"Hey, hey, we're all in a hurry here, okay?"

"If we get stuck here and have to wait for the police to investigate, who knows how long this will take!"

"What if they cannot figure it out? Are we supposed to be kept here forever?"

"Think about it. Why should so many people waste their lives for some dead person they do not even know?"

The passengers shouted even more loudly.

"Move aside! We want to go up the stairs!"

"Yeah, move!"

"You're not even police officers. Why are you meddling in this?"

Lin Xinyi frowned deeply.

After thinking for a moment, he stopped wasting words and simply turned back to Ran.

"Miss Mouri Ran, show them that move from yesterday."

"Which move?" Ran paused in slight confusion, then belatedly understood Lin Xinyi's intention.

She calmed her breath, steadied her stance, gathered her strength, and threw a punch at the wall beside her.

Bang!

A dull boom like a drumbeat rang out.

The hard wall immediately sank in by more than an inch, and spiderweb cracks rapidly spread from the depression.

Only after Mouri Ran slowly drew her fist back to her waist did the broken stones and rubble finally come clattering down from the wall.

"..."

The passengers who had been so insistent on leaving all shut their mouths.

In the silence, the crowd's civic awareness rapidly improved, and their attitude toward cooperating with the investigation became much more positive.