In crossover anime, who isn't a childhood friend?

"Because I didn't actually talk to her; I just happened to follow behind and saw her talking to Rikka..."

Gen Chiya recounted in detail to Hattori what had happened in the corridor the day before.

It makes one sigh at how unpredictable life truly is. The person who was speaking to you yesterday could be murdered without warning the next day, dying a tragic death.

He thought about Rikka's feelings and decided it was best not to let her know about this.

"In that case, the man and woman you saw accompanying the deceased at that time, Qianye, the man was very likely her relative or lover, and the woman was her friend."

"Judging from the tone they used when they stood up for that woman and criticized Rikka, that's definitely the case."

Hattori Heiji's eyes sharpened: "And now, not to mention the woman, the man who lives with her is not even in the house."

The two huddled together next to the body, and based on the clues found at the scene and the existing information, they quickly and clearly outlined the basic contours and contradictions of the case in just a few words.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

After the initial investigation and discussion concluded, the two left the room and returned to the corridor.

Hattori Heiji gave Minamoto Chiya a wink, then turned and strode quickly toward the hotel front desk. He needed to confirm the information and whereabouts of the relevant personnel as soon as possible.

Gen Chiya nodded, took a deep breath of the relatively fresh air in the corridor, and then walked to the door next to the crime scene and knocked gently.

A short while later, Hattori Heiji returned from the front desk and met up with Minamoto Chiya, who had just finished questioning him.

Yuan Qianye spoke first: "I knocked on the door. The room to the left of the crime scene is empty and no one is living there. The room to the right is occupied by a family of three from Tokyo. They said they slept very soundly last night, did not wake up in the middle of the night, and did not hear any strange noises or movements."

Hattori Heiji nodded, his expression serious as he synchronized the information he had received.

"I confirmed with the front desk that the victim's name is Matsui Yuki, and she is 27 years old."

The man who checked into the room with her was named Kento Matsui, and he was 29 years old.

The registration information shows that the two are husband and wife.

The woman who accompanied me was named Arisu Shinju, and she was twenty-five years old.

She booked a room by herself, located on the east side, not far from my and Kazuha's room.

The front desk clerk recalled that the three of them checked in together yesterday, and subsequently entered and exited the hotel together on several occasions, appearing to have a very close and harmonious relationship.

"Are those two still at the hotel?" Yuan Qianye pressed for the key question.

"They're all here."

Hattori affirmed.

"Regarding Kento Matsui, according to the front desk, he booked a massage room alone in the hotel's SPA area around 11 p.m. last night. The registration shows that he has not yet checked out, so it is very likely that he rested there last night."

As for An Jinju, I had the front desk try to contact her by phone in her room. She answered just now, and it sounded like she had just been woken up.

I briefly explained the situation to the staff and asked them to come over immediately; they should be here soon.

No sooner had Hattori Saheiji finished speaking than hurried footsteps echoed from the other end of the corridor.

When Gen Chiya looked back, Matsui Kento and Arisu Shinju, whom she had met briefly yesterday, were running towards her, their faces pale and panting.

Matsui Kento's hair was messy, and he was wearing a yukata provided by the hotel with a jacket over it.

Yuan Zhenzhu was wearing pajamas with a cardigan over them, his face showing the bewilderment of just waking up, but more so the fear brought on by an ominous premonition.

When they ran closer and saw what was inside the open door, all the color drained from their faces.

Matsui Kento remained silent for a moment, then immediately knelt down.

Ayumu Shinju immediately covered his mouth tightly, looking like he was about to cry at any moment.

Upon seeing this, the shop assistant who was with the two stepped forward and offered words of condolence.

Gen Chiya and Hattori watched the deep affection between the two, their solemn expressions remaining unchanged.

At that moment, the police finally arrived.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Japan is a country where police resources are constantly strained.

In the years when the economy was still relatively good, the profession of police officer in Japan was not particularly attractive.

However, in recent years, with social development and changing attitudes, the salary and benefits of working as a police officer in Japan have increased slowly, and social evaluation and professional honor have declined significantly, resulting in fewer and fewer young people willing to join the police force.

In addition, the increasingly serious problem of low birth rate, the high intensity, high risk and heavy pressure of the work of the Japanese police... all these factors combined have led to a shortage of young and middle-aged police officers, especially local police officers.

In large cities such as Tokyo, Osaka, and Kyoto, this problem is not particularly prominent due to their large size and relatively abundant resources.

However, in a small city like Miyako with a permanent population of only around 60,000, this gap is particularly noticeable.

You'll understand once you see the Japanese police who arrived in the first place.

Both Japanese police officers were wearing neatly ironed but obviously worn uniforms. Their hair was already gray, and their faces bore the marks of years of grassroots work and fatigue. They looked to be over fifty years old, and possibly even close to retirement age.

They belonged to the nearest branch office to the hotel, which was the local police station.

Their main and most frequent job is to patrol the neighborhood on bicycles, help residents resolve conflicts, help elderly people cross the road, and provide directions and lost and found services to residents and tourists.

For them, serious criminal cases like homicides are rare occurrences and they lack experience in handling such major cases.

However, they did manage to fulfill their responsibilities, at least for the time being.

They cordoned off the scene, located the store clerk who first discovered the crime scene, and after learning about the situation from Minamoto Chiya and Hattori Heiji and recording it, they called the Criminal Investigation Division for support.

From conducting on-site investigations and interviewing witnesses to finally catching the criminal, that's the job of criminal investigators.

Just like in the kitchen, the kitchen helper is responsible for washing and chopping vegetables, while the chef is responsible for cooking delicious dishes, they only need to provide some basic assistance.

After the cooperation was over, Hattori Heiji wanted to say more about his findings to the two police officers.

But they were politely dismissed and told to go back to their room and wait, and that more professional criminal police officers would come to question them later if needed.

There was no way around it; despite his dark skin, Hattori's youthful high school face made it hard to believe.

Unless he brought up his father's name, but this case was too obvious and straightforward, even the most incompetent detective should be able to solve it easily, so he didn't say anything more.

So now, he can only go back with Yuan Qianye for the time being.

Before leaving, Yuan Qianye turned around and took one last look.

Matsui Kento's face remained gloomy, while Ayumu Shinju kept his head down and his body was still trembling from time to time.

"Let's go, Qianye. Let's not add to the workload of those two uncles. We can tell the detectives about our discovery later."

"Ah."

During the journey, Yuan Qianye instructed, "Don't tell everyone about the deceased for now, especially Rikka. After all, she spoke to the deceased yesterday. That child is sensitive, and if she finds out, she will inevitably have unnecessary associations and feel guilty."

Hattori Heiji nodded in agreement and couldn't help but smile, "You're such a good older brother."

The two returned to their room.

Those who had only gotten a rough idea of ​​the situation from Yukino gathered around.

After being comforted by the women, Kazuha's complexion had improved considerably from the fright she had just experienced. Although a trace of lingering fear remained in her eyes, she was no longer trembling.

Everyone sat down at the table again. Saeko poured water for the two of them, and Gen Chiya gave Hattori Heiji a brief overview of the situation.

They're not going anywhere until the detectives finish their work today.

The girls huddled together, lamenting the unpredictability of life. However, since the victim was not someone they knew, they didn't feel much of a connection to the tragedy. Their kind nature, however, made them feel immense regret and sadness for the victim.

Yuan Qianye used the phone in her room to call the hotel restaurant, ordered some breakfast, and had it delivered directly to her room.

Although we were asked not to leave the room at will, we still had to eat.

After dinner, the girls gathered in front of the television, trying to dispel some of the oppressive atmosphere with lighthearted TV programs.

Meanwhile, Minamoto no Chiya and Hattori Heiji each held a cup of tea and walked to the spacious floor-to-ceiling window.

Outside the window is a meticulously maintained dry landscape garden, which appears tranquil and elegant in the morning sunlight.

The two people sitting cross-legged both looked out the window, but their eyes were somewhat unfocused, clearly their minds were not on the scenery.

“Hey, Chiya.” Hattori Heiji broke the silence first.

"Ah."

Hattori Heiji lowered his voice: "What are your thoughts on this incident?"

Yuan Qianye was silent for a moment before slowly speaking, "It's a bit strange."

"Oh?" Hattori Heiji turned his head to look at him, a sharp glint of approval flashing in his eyes: "What's strange about it?"

"The traces at the scene are too obvious." Yuan Qianye's gaze remained fixed on the window.

His focus seemed to move across the courtyard and back to the blood-soaked room.

"The window was open, bloodstains pointed outside, wallets, phones, and jewelry were missing... All these traces at the scene pointed to a story that was too clear and too logical: a story about outsiders breaking in, killing, robbing, and then escaping through the window."

But this actually felt somewhat off to me. It was like a meticulously crafted suspense drama where the director didn't want the audience to rack their brains too much, so they placed every clue in the most conspicuous position, just waiting for the audience to easily discover them and connect the dots.

Hattori Heiji nodded, his gaze burning as he looked at Minamoto Chiya. He was growing to admire this man more and more.

"I feel the same way. If it really was an outsider who broke into the house to rob and then killed the victim, not to mention the mess and noise in the room, there's no need to kill the victim so many times."

The victim had so many fatal wounds, any one of which could have rendered him powerless to resist, allowing the murderer to escape. Yet the murderer did exactly that, giving the impression that the murderer harbored a deep-seated hatred for the victim and wanted to utterly destroy him.

There's clearly more to the story... uh!

Hattori Heiji suddenly stopped speaking because he noticed that behind him and Chiya, the girls, who were no longer focused on the television, had quietly gathered around and were eavesdropping on their conversation.

…………

Volume 2: Chapter 135: Do they really think we police are idiots?

Gen Chiya turned around as well, and tapped Rikka's forehead, who was closest to him, speechless: "Hey, what are you trying to do?"

Rikka chuckled sheepishly, "Well...we were just a tiny, just a tiny bit curious! Really, just a tiny bit!"

"Is this something you should be concerned about? Is the TV show not good or the games not fun?"

"But, this has already happened! You only gave a general overview, something about someone being murdered and the police arriving... It's making everyone uneasy and concerned, so we can't relax and watch TV or do anything else!"

"So?" Yuan Qianye raised an eyebrow.

Rikka smiled even more innocently: "So just tell us, we can't go anywhere right now anyway. Once you explain it to us, our curiosity will be satisfied and we won't overthink things."

Gen Chiyo glanced at Eriri and Kazuha, who were being led by the hand by each other.

She tilted her head and glanced at Shiyu, who was leisurely watching TV and seemed completely uninterested. She held her tea and watched Saeko with a smile, as well as Yukino, whose gaze met hers for a moment before quickly looking away.