Tokyo Detective Chronicles

That evening.

Fushimi sat at the table in the hotel room, with Hoshino Mayumi's cell phone in front of him.

The screen is broken, but it still works.

This was obtained from Hayakawa Chiho under the pretext of contacting various parties and handling procedures, but some applications have independent secondary passwords.

He plugged in the computer and started retrieving the data.

A few minutes later, he dialed the number of the information vendor.

"Do me a favor."

"..."

Half a minute later, Hoshino Mayumi's phone password was remotely unlocked.

Fushimi sat in his hotel room, going through the messages one by one: call logs, text messages, social media chat logs, browsing history…

Most of it is normal content.

Work-related communications, casual chats with colleagues, online shopping records, news notifications...

Fushimi continued turning the pages.

Until he saw the ticket information for Hoshino Mayumi's return to Tokyo.

For some reason, a strange feeling came over him, something was wrong... He opened the photos of the scene that the information broker had sent him earlier.

The scene of the Shinkansen train explosion.

The train carriage was blown to pieces, the seats were twisted and deformed, and there were charred marks everywhere. Rescue workers were moving bodies, some in bags, others just carried.

One of the photos clearly shows the epicenter of the explosion.

That was the window seat in the middle of the carriage.

The seat completely disappeared, and a large hole was blasted into the surrounding metal wall, with its edges charred and curled.

Fushimi zoomed in on the photo and stared at that spot for a long time.

Then he opened Hoshino Mayumi's ticket information; she had purchased a reserved seat, carriage 7, 12D.

The spot where she was sitting, which was also where the body was found, was surprisingly not far from the epicenter of the explosion...

Fushimi frowned slightly.

How could she have left such a complete body?

The entire carriage was blown to pieces. How could someone sitting not far from the center point only have their clothes burned and some burns on their face?

Fushimi's fingers tapped lightly on the phone screen.

He pulled up the investigation report sent by the intelligence broker and started flipping through it.

The above shows that the train's surveillance cameras malfunctioned five minutes before the incident.

Fushimi walked to the window, gently drew back the curtains, and looked across the street at the funeral home...

……

Early morning, at the funeral home, in the mourning hall.

Hoshino Mayumi's body is still here; it will be cremated tomorrow.

The funeral hall was quiet, with only the faint sound of burning incense sticks. The woman in the portrait smiled as she looked at the empty room.

The door was gently pushed open, and Fushimi slipped in.

He was dressed in dark clothes and moved very lightly, making almost no sound.

After confirming that no one else was around, he walked up to the body.

The white cloth was still covering it, only revealing that face.

Fushimi stood there, looking at that peaceful face, then reached out and lifted the white cloth.

The body was dressed in burial clothes, which were provided by the funeral home. The burial clothes were loose and covered most of the body.

Fushimi began examining the body.

Let's start by looking at it from the outside.

There were burns on my face, but they weren't serious.

There were some wounds on his arms and body, but none of them were fatal. He gently pressed on the body and found no signs of fractures, indicating that it had not been affected by the explosion.

He realized that Dr. Hoshino's cause of death was not the explosion at all... the wounds were caused by the flames after he died.

No...or rather...

Only now did Fushimi realize something he had been ignoring all along.

As one of the high-ranking members of the Creation Cult... is Hoshino Mayumi a possessor of spiritual abilities?

He immediately turned on his phone and contacted information brokers on the black market, asking them to collect information on psychic events related to the bombing over the past forty years, as well as information on other victims on the Shinkansen train.

And the train's surveillance footage from the time Hoshino Mayumi boarded the train until the surveillance system malfunctioned.

The other two will take more time.

However, the surveillance footage was quickly sent over from the black market, totaling more than an hour, which Fushimi watched repeatedly at fast forward and double speed.

In the scene, Hoshino Mayumi is sitting by the window.

She was wearing a beige trench coat, her hair was tied back, and she was holding a paper bag.

The train was moving smoothly.

Other passengers entered the carriage one after another. Although they did not behave abnormally, their eyes would still occasionally glance at Hoshino Mayumi.

Then, she opened the paper bag, took out a loaf of bread, and began to eat.

Everything was normal at first, but after she finished the last bite...

Fushimi, however, keenly noticed that she did not make any obvious swallowing movements... Shortly after that, the surveillance footage cut off, and the picture turned into static.

He looked at it repeatedly to make sure he wasn't mistaken.

"..."

Fushimi looked back, then got up and went to Hoshino Mayumi's body.

He reached out, trying to pry open the corpse's mouth.

The body was stiff, causing the teeth to clench tightly, requiring some force to pry open even a small gap.

Fushimi simply stuck his finger in.

He fumbled around in his throat, making a series of thumping motions, until his fingertips touched a foreign object.

He pinched it between two fingers and gently pulled it outwards.

He took out a small object wrapped in a plastic film, mixed with liquid and food residue.

It turned out to be a note.

After carefully unfolding it, there was a six-digit number written on it that at first glance seemed to have no pattern... Other than that, there was nothing.

Fushimi frowned... What is this?

Password? Coordinates? Key to a specific account?

He looked at it for a while, but couldn't figure out what it was.

It's getting late.

Fushimi had no choice but to put the note away and then begin to erase the traces of his presence. He forcefully closed the corpse's mouth again, covered it with the white sheet again, and everything was restored to normal.

He turned and walked towards the door.

Grasp the doorknob.

Open the door...

A person was standing outside the door.

Fushimi's breathing paused for a moment.

Under the dim streetlights, the person was wearing a thin white nightgown, with long hair draped over their shoulders, and their face was so pale it was almost transparent.

Those empty, expressionless eyes stared at him.

It's Hayakawa Chiho.

"Senior."

Her voice was very soft: "Why are you here?"

……

My heart skipped a beat.

Fushimi looked at her, and after a few seconds said, "The things were left in the mourning hall."

Hayakawa Chiho looked at him.

There were no further questions or doubts; he simply nodded.

"Did you find it?"

"Um."

Hayakawa Chiho remained silent.

She just stood there.

The light from the corridor shone from behind her, casting a long shadow over her.

Fushimi looked at her.

Looking at her pale face, empty eyes, and thin nightgown.

There was no need to keep watch tonight, but she just couldn't sleep. The thought of her mother being cremated tomorrow made her want to stay with her one last time...

She simply looked at Fushimi's face.

Then she stepped forward, reached out her arms, and hugged him...

Fushimi froze.

He could feel her body temperature, which was very cool, and he could feel her breathing, which was very shallow.

She buried her face in Fushimi's chest, as if listening to his heartbeat.

She didn't say anything, she just held him like that.

A long time passed.

"Senior."

Her voice came from her chest, muffled.

"Thank you."

Fushimi remained silent.

"Thank you for being with me these past few days."

"Without you, I really don't know what I would do..."

At this moment, Hayakawa Chiho... really, really, really wants to cry.

She deserved to have a good cry too.

She was already feeling so bad, so why couldn't she cry? Why... She even began to feel that the sadness and pain in her heart were fake, that she was just pretending.

Gradually...

Even Hayakawa Chiho herself began to doubt whether she was truly grieving for her mother's death.

Her throat trembled, and she closed her mouth again, unable to speak, unable to process, her heart overflowing with unspoken emotions.

"Senior, am I... cold-blooded?"

"My mother died, and I can't even cry. Do I... have no heart at all...?"

Fushimi lowered his head.

Looking at her head buried in his chest, and her slightly trembling shoulders.

He raised his hand and gently placed it on her head, then stiffly embraced the girl.

No.

He said, "You're just feeling really bad."

"I feel so uncomfortable that I don't know how my body should react."

This was the first time he had spoken to comfort the girl since Hoshino Mayumi's accident, and it was also the first time the girl had opened up to him about her feelings.

Fushimi's purpose in staying here was clearly not as pure as the girl thought; the main reason was still the Creation Cult.

Hayakawa Chiho didn't say anything, she just hugged her a little tighter.

Fushimi stood there, letting her hug him.

……

After a long while, Hayakawa Chiho released her grip and took a step back.

She looked up at him, but his eyes were still empty, devoid of any light.

Then, Chiho offered a forced smile: "Senpai."

"Um?"

"The trip we promised each other..."

She paused for a moment: "Does it still count?"

Fushimi looked at her face, her empty eyes, her slightly trembling lips.

"certainly."

Hayakawa Chiho nodded.

"After the funeral... could you come for a walk with me?"

"..."