Chapter 71: Daijo Noriyoshi: A Minor Case

"Wail——!"

Night.

Police cars converged at the foot of the Yomiuri Telecasting Corporation building.

In the small conference room on the fourth floor, after the forensics team finished taking photos and gathering evidence, Inspector Megure stepped inside with his protruding belly to inspect the crime scene.

"The victim is Suwa Michihiko, a 37-year-old producer at Yomiuri TV..."

"The murder weapon was a silenced pistol. A single shot hit him squarely in the head, and the bullet passed right through the window glass."

"A total of four shots were fired at the scene: apart from the window, two hit a poster, and one struck the clock..."

"Four spent shell casings were found in the room, and there is only one exit... It seems he was shot down as he fled toward the window."

The layout of the crime scene was not very complicated: one door, one window that opened by sliding vertically, a conference table in the room, surrounded entirely by broadcast monitors.

The portable video camera on the conference table was aimed directly at the corpse and the window.

"To actually broadcast footage like this live, it really is..."

Megure leaned in front of the camera.

"Just what is up with this camera? Did the perpetrator deliberately use it to film this?"

"Ah, no, the camera was set with a timer," explained a summoned production crew member, "precisely a few minutes before our broadcast went live."

"Actually, it was Suwa and Matsuo's idea; originally, it was supposed to air a suspense short film."

The expressions of several staff members present were extremely grim, and some were too frightened to look at the murder scene.

"At first, we thought Suwa was just acting out a bit, but then..."

"Did no one see any suspicious individuals?" Megure turned around to continue questioning.

"No, because Mr. Suwa dismissed everyone and stayed here by himself..."

"There's no need to go looking for the culprit, Inspector."

Ogami Shuzhen twirled his upturned mustache, returning to the crime scene with a trace of arrogance, his sharp gaze suddenly locking onto Matsuo Takafumi, who was breaking out in a cold sweat among the crowd.

"The victim was on the phone with them just before the show started, which means the time of the murder was between the start of the broadcast and the preset timer recording. I more or less know who the culprit is. The perpetrator of this case is no outsider—it's someone inside the television station!"

"What?"

"He's figured it out already?"

"It's that gourmet celebrity detective..."

Ogami Shuzhen's declaration sparked a wave of exclamations.

Megure's mood instantly plummeted to the bottom, especially when he noticed a pack of TV reporters swarming in from outside.

This Ogami fellow had always looked down on the police force.

Now, just as the investigation was barely beginning, he claimed to know the identity of the culprit, openly slapping them in the face.

"That's right, the culprit is you, Mr. Matsuo Takafumi!" Ogami Shuzhen declared proudly in front of the reporters outside and the camera lenses.

"W-What are you talking about?" Matsuo Takafumi, suddenly thrust into the spotlight, protested agitatedly. "How could I possibly be the culprit? I was up in Studio 9 the whole time!"

"The only ones who knew the victim was in this conference room were the production crew, and the only one who deliberately orchestrated for him to stay here alone is you."

Ogami Shuzhen sneered with confident deduction.

"You left the studio during those few minutes before the broadcast went live, didn't you?"

"I did step out," Matsuo Takafumi said, his face pale, "but I just went to the restroom because my stomach wasn't feeling well... It was less than five minutes, how could I possibly have run all the way here to kill Suwa? There are security cameras in the elevators..."

"What about the stairs?" Ogami Shuzhen's tall frame possessed an overwhelming presence. "Talk about a coincidence: the security cameras covering the stairs from the 5th to the 7th floors happen to be undergoing maintenance today... Word is you were sweating profusely at the time. Ran up the stairs, didn't you?"

"Is that true?"

Megure began to suspect Matsuo Takafumi as well. Putting aside his urge to chase Ogami Shuzhen away, he hurriedly turned and ordered his officers to investigate.

"Call everyone from the production team into the next room... Hey, hey, can you stop filming? The police will make an official announcement regarding this case afterward..."

Just as he was speaking, Megure suddenly noticed a familiar mustached figure in the crowd behind him.

Another group of reporters was hounding the small-mustached man with questions.

Naturally.

"What a nuisance... Why are you here again?"

"My partner and I came to participate in the program, Inspector Megure." Kogoro Mouri greeted him out of habit, conveniently launching into an explanation of the case's backstory.

Gao Mo followed quietly behind, his gaze sweeping across Ogami Shuzhen and Matsuo Takafumi, who were surrounded by reporters in the hallway.

Faint, glowing text hovered above both of their heads.

Above Ogami Shuzhen were the phrases: [Quickly find the treasure to resolve the debt crisis] and [Severely humiliate the amateur detective duo to further boost my fame].

Above Matsuo Takafumi was: [I really didn't kill anyone]...

There was a high probability this guy wasn't the murderer.

Gao Mo thought deeply.

As the basis for his tasks, these projected words were rarely false, reflecting the targets' genuine information and psychology.

They hadn't steered him wrong yet.

"Hah!"

Gao Mo shifted his gaze to the accompanying female assistant.

[Become the host of "Detective Agency"]

This woman...

"I really didn't kill anyone!" Matsuo Takafumi shouted in despair amidst the flashes and live camera lenses. "It really wasn't me! I... I have no motive to kill him!"

"Mr. Matsuo," the female assistant said with a downcast expression, "how could you do something like this? Mr. Suwa indeed wanted to replace the host and add some sex appeal... But still, you shouldn't have..."

"That's right, Matsuo," the other members of the production team looked at Matsuo Takafumi with a trace of fear in their eyes. "The meeting to restructure the program had already been decided, and you..."

"That's not it!"

Sweat poured from Matsuo Takafumi under the strange gazes of his colleagues. He anxiously scanned the circle around him, then pleaded desperately toward the live broadcast camera.

"Believe me! A few days ago, I talked with Suwa, and he said that if this special episode achieved record-high ratings, he would let me keep hosting!

"That's why I went out of my way to invite celebrity detective guests... If I really wanted to kill him, why would I invite celebrity detectives here?"

"Hmph, what else could it be?"

Ogami Shuzhen shattered Matsuo Takafumi's last shred of hope.

"I've seen plenty of guys like you. Committing murder right in front of us, and even broadcasting the moment of death live... It's deliberate provocation! You're no longer satisfied with writing scripts and filming short films; you wanted to use your hatred for Suwa to bring your criminal methods into reality, right? What a pity, you're still a far cry from those high-IQ criminals abroad."

"Officer!" Kogoro Mouri couldn't bear to let Ogami Shuzhen hog all the spotlight, so he quickly chimed in with accusations. "I hear Matsuo has frequently traveled abroad to practice shooting lately and reached a professional level... You should check that gun first."

In the glare of camera flashes, Matsuo Takafumi's face turned even paler. His lips trembled as he took a few steps back to lean against the wall, entirely losing the stage-presence he usually commanded while hosting his show.

"The gun... the gun is indeed mine, but I really didn't kill anyone!"

"You admitted it yourself..."

"That gun was just something I collected privately! Really!"

Matsuo Takafumi was almost choking for air.

He had no idea how things had reached this point; it felt as though an invisible giant hand was gripping his throat.

"Someone must have stolen the pistol to frame me!"

"Very well, we'll continue investigating the details," Megure realized at that moment that the television station was still broadcasting live, and he had no desire to bicker at the scene any longer. "Please come with us."

Even a silencer was involved, yet he had the nerve to claim it was a private collection.

"The culprit is actually Matsuo..."

"As expected of a celebrity detective!"

The surrounding TV reporters and staff members held nothing back, shoving their cameras right into Matsuo Takafumi's face.

Far from being troubled by the outbreak of a murder case, the station executives expanded their broadcast permissions even further, grinning ear-to-ear over the skyrocketing ratings.

Continuing the live broadcast despite the risks had been the right call!

That fellow Matsuo had ultimately made a tremendous contribution to the production team.

The host of a mystery show murders the producer and stages a real-life performance...

"Quickly, have the other programs cut in with live real-time coverage!"

"Get an interview with Ogami Shuzhen!"

"1.5 million was such a bargain!"

"Mr. Ogami..."

"Nothing much to say. Just a casual look and it was obvious—there was no real trick to it at all."

Ogami Shuzhen shared the spotlight with Matsuo, acting as though he had solved a trivial little case. Confidence, arrogance, and a faint contempt showed on his face, leaving the sidelined small-mustached man deeply depressed.

"We've been reduced to stepping stones for this guy... Damn it! I should have stepped forward first..."

"Swish!"

Gao Mo lowered his head slightly, activating his hawk-eye vision as he rapidly swept his gaze across the female assistant and the crime scene the police had begun to pack up.