I am in Mihua, and the ladies all like me

"Four victims, three crimes committed, and parts of a flute were found at each crime scene, from the body to the tail pipe to the head pipe."

"According to the final results of our police investigation, the four deceased have one thing in common, in addition to being the first graduates of the Domoto Music Academy, the biggest thing they have in common is that they are all friends of Soma Hikaru... No, although they were friends in the past, it would be more appropriate to describe them as enemies now."

"Sōma Hikaru?"

Serabel tapped the table with his knuckles. He had heard Sonoko mention him during the rehearsal. He seemed to be Miss Akiba's original fiancé or something.

Inspector Megure nodded and pulled out another photo from the file. The portrait printed on it was of a young man with a teardrop mole on the left corner of his left eye, wearing a suit and holding a flute in his hand.

"He is Hikaru Soma, the first graduate of Domoto Music Academy. He is a flute player and used to be good friends with the four deceased. But one time, after they had a dinner and drank together, Hikaru Soma got drunk by the other four and drove after drinking. He eventually fell off a cliff and died."

"Oh?"

Serabelle looked at the man with the teardrop mole in the photo. Although she already knew his name, this was the first time she saw the photo. Yet, she felt that he looked familiar for some reason.

Inspector Megure didn't notice his strangeness and continued, "So, based on our current judgment, we believe that the person most likely to have committed these three crimes is Miss Akiba Reiko. Her purpose is naturally to avenge her fiancé, and the flute parts left at the scene each time are a message of revenge. As for what you said, brother Sera, it is very likely that she was covering up her own revenge actions."

Serabelle thought for a while and felt it was a little unbelievable: "By the way, does this Soma Hikaru have no other possible targets for revenge, such as his parents at home?"

"I don't think that's possible."

Inspector Megure shook his head.

"According to the household registration information obtained by the police, Guang Xiangma has been born in a single-parent family since childhood. His mother passed away a few years ago, and he doesn't even know whether his father is dead or alive."

"Excuse me..."

Just as Serabelle was lost in thought, Inspector Megure seemed to suddenly remember something and pulled out a piece of printed paper with photos and information of Fu and Takumi from the bottom.

"By the way, Gao Mu and his team have also found suspicions about Fu and Jiang, but it's not a big deal. It is said that Fu and Jiang are just dissatisfied with the daily lifestyle of the four deceased people, and it should be far from the point of killing them."

"Um……"

Serabelle continued to ponder in silence.

And when his eyes inadvertently moved from the photo of Soma Hikaru to the photo of Puhe Takumi, an inexplicable flash of inspiration came to his mind and the boy hummed with a rising tone.

Qiaodou Madai, what do these two people look like? ?

Chapter 383 Miss Qiu Ting is broken

At the same time, at Reiko Akiba's home.

With Serabelle's departure, the house, which had been temporarily lively, returned to a quiet state again.

In the bedroom at the end of the corridor from the living room, Reiko Akiba, who had already taken a shower and changed into clean pajamas, sat on the bed with her arms around her knees under the quilt.

There was no light on in the room, and judging by the time, it was her usual nap time.

But Reiko Akiba did not lie down, cover herself with the quilt and sleep peacefully.

The bedroom window was slightly open, and the wind that blew in from time to time outside the window seeped into the gap and turned into a weak airflow, blowing up a corner of the curtain slightly.

The afternoon sun shone dimly through the curtains onto the wooden floor, and a faint sigh was heard in the room.

Ah……

Reiko Akiba released her hands and stretched her legs, completely relaxing the muscles from her waist to her legs, and as if letting herself go, she lay back on the pillow, her right wrist resting lightly on her forehead, her eyes fixed on the ceiling above, which was so familiar that it couldn't be more familiar. Her long black hair spread out in a fan shape on the bed behind her.

She rarely felt so uneasy.

In fact, ever since her fiancé Mitsuru Soma fell off a cliff and died while driving under the influence, Reiko Akiba felt as if she was freezing day by day. Although she still works, lives, eats and sleeps normally every day, it is more like a survival instinct rather than a regular life. She does this to avoid starving to death or sudden death.

As for emotional fluctuations, they are very rare, almost to the point of non-existence.

After all, no one will feel sad or happy because of someone who has nothing to do with them.

Of course, the main reason for this is probably due to Reiko Akiba's own personality problems.

She has a rather cold personality and is not particularly honest in her dealings with others. She can basically be considered quite dishonest.

Although her talent in music has brought her her current fame and social status, to be honest, the people she interacts with in her daily life are just her musical partners.

In Reiko Akiba's opinion, since everyone is gathered together for work, the only thing that can be communicated is work-related content.

Besides, to put it bluntly, everyone in this world is very busy. Although Sasuke in the early part of Naruto had a sour face every day and was still admired by countless girls, if it were put in reality, no one would be willing to take the initiative to pay attention to him.

We are all human beings for the first time, so there is no need to say that one person must pamper another.

The ultimate result of factors such as her cold personality and focus on work is that Reiko Akiba is portrayed as a high-class flower that can only be admired from afar... To put it bluntly, she has no friends at all.

Of course, from Reiko Akiba's own perspective, she really doesn't need friends.

If you stay alone for too long, you will take the initiative to go out and find new friends. This is something only children who are afraid of loneliness would do.

But why do I always feel like something is missing?

Reiko Akiba tried to close her eyes, and immediately her mind flashed back to the scene of Serabel appearing at the door of her room in the morning, and then going out with her, taking the bus to the forest park together, and then being chased by armed weirdos together. She was also hit in the shoulder by a bullet, so she disinfected and bandaged him after returning home.

The once unchanging life has long made Reiko Akiba too lazy to remember the small details that happened in daily life. After all, every day is the same, so it doesn’t matter whether she remembers it or not.

But today she actually took the initiative to ask Serabelle to come here again tomorrow to change the medicine, adding something called "concern" to the monotonous daily routine.

“…I must be broken.”

After muttering to herself in a low voice, Reiko Akitaba turned over in her bed.

Still not sleepy at all.

……

Time came to the next day.

It was almost noon, and we were still at Reiko Akitani's home.

As the sound of the range hood emanated from the kitchen, the aroma of the ingredients filled the entire living room.

Having just finished frying the last dish and waiting for the soup in the casserole to be cooked, Reiko Akiba put the still scalding spatula into the sink, turned on the faucet and let cold tap water flow into it to soak it, glanced at the rice cooker to confirm that it was in keep-warm mode, then turned off the range hood and left the kitchen.

I went to the living room, took off my apron, and glanced at the time on the wall clock.

It was already ten forty, but Serabelle still hadn't arrived.

Didn’t I clearly tell him to come over at the same time today?

Reiko Akiba frowned, thought for a moment and realized a possibility, then walked to the dining table and picked up the mobile phone that she had left outside the kitchen before cooking to prevent it from being splashed by boiling oil.

Open the phone book, find the top one, and click to dial.

beep--

The phone was connected after just one ring, and a calm and slightly puzzled boy's voice came out.

"Hello? Miss Akita?"

"……it's me."

Reiko Akiba paused for a moment and adopted her usual queenly tone.

"I should have made an appointment with you yesterday to come over at the same time today. Where are you now?"

"Come over now?"

Serabel on the other end of the phone was obviously surprised.

"Ms. Qiu Ting, have you already had lunch? I originally planned to come over after lunch..."

"Come here now."

Akiba Reiko's tone brooked no room for rebuttal.

"Since I told you to come at the same time, then come at the same time. I didn't explicitly or implicitly ask you to come after 'lunch'."

This is a rather firm statement, emphasizing the phrase "I don't care what you think, I care what I think."

But if you analyze it carefully, you will find that this can be explained word for word using the tsundere dictionary, especially the second half of the sentence "There is no explicit or implicit request for you to come back after 'lunch'."

Translated it means - I'm counting on you to come over for dinner.

"Ah... then I'll come over now."

Said Serabelle on the phone.

The two parties' residences were not far from each other, so a quarter of an hour later the black Audi stopped at the door of the apartment building.

Serabelle had just entered the dust-falling area and had not had time to take off her shoes when she smelled the fragrance in the air in the living room and could not help but sniff.

"It smells so good. Did Miss Qiuting cook anything delicious today?"

"I made beef brisket and mushroom soup."

Reiko Akiba, who had opened the door and turned back to the kitchen, just walked out with a casserole full of beef brisket soup. She turned around and saw the young man who had changed into slippers and was walking towards the dining table. The lines at the corners of her eyes couldn't help but soften a little.

"Okay, sit down and eat first. I'll change your medicine after dinner."

"Oh, here we come."

The two sides exchanged only a few words since they entered the door, but Reiko Akita could clearly feel that something in her heart seemed to come alive.

Sure enough, something was broken about her.

Chapter 384: Reiko Akitani: Add an hour!

In fact, if she had to say it, Serabelle didn't really want to come to Akiba Reiko's place for dinner.

It’s not that the food is not to my taste, but Akiba Reiko... is just too silent.

Especially when eating, she was just like the noble lady in ancient times who perfectly adhered to the rule of "don't talk while eating and don't talk while sleeping", and she didn't say a word.

Imagine this: dining is supposed to be a relaxing and enjoyable experience, but you go to someone’s house to eat and as soon as the other person sits down at the table, they eat in silence until they finish.

In that situation, even the most calm person would feel a little uncomfortable.

And that was how the whole lunch process went yesterday.

In comparison, although Serabelle herself doesn't talk much, to be more precise, she doesn't talk much nonsense. She tends to express emotions in a calm manner. She won't scream and shout when she sees something new like Majun and Sonoko and Ran.

But even such a person can be considered a chatterbox compared to Reiko Akiba.

But since I'm here, I might as well just take it. At worst, I can just change the medicine and leave.

With this thought in mind, Serabelle sat down at the dining table.

"…By the way, Serah-kun, have you ever heard of 'absolute pitch'?"

Before she even put her food into her mouth, Serabelle heard the voice of a female singer from across the table.

Absolute pitch?

Serabelle shook her head with a question mark on her face.

"Never heard of it, what is that?"

“It’s a talent that allows you to capture every syllable with complete precision.”

Reiko Akiba started explaining while holding the bowl and chopsticks.

"Some world-renowned musicians and tuners actually have this ability, including me. Specifically, they can accurately judge whether a certain note of a certain instrument is adjusted properly during a concert... So I think, Serah-kun, you may also have this ability."

"I?"

The question mark on Serabelle's forehead grew even bigger.

"That's unlikely. I've never studied music. I don't know anything except the Do-Re-Mi method, and I don't have any experience in playing any musical instruments."

“No, this is not a talent that only musicians have.”

Reiko Akiba seemed to smile.

"This can only be considered a talent in terms of hearing. Although the words 'absolute pitch' sound impressive, scientific research actually shows that this talent can be developed through acquired experience, and whether or not one can become a music master has nothing to do with whether or not one has absolute pitch."

"Oh……"

Serabelle was a little surprised.

After all, he was complaining in his heart half a minute ago that the other person was like a taciturn person and didn't say a word during dinner yesterday, so how come he suddenly became so talkative today?

Akita Reiko naturally didn't know what he was thinking, and continued, "Actually, the reason why I think you, Serah-kun, also have absolute pitch is because when we were in the forest park yesterday, you know, the sounds of nature are very complex, especially in the mountains and forests. Although there were no cicadas in winter, you were able to accurately capture the sound of the gun bolt being pulled among the sound of the mountain spring, the friction of the leaves, and the sound of our footsteps. This basically reaches the realm of absolute pitch."

Wow~ No wonder it is said that it can be acquired through training.

Serabelle understood now.

In fact, there are also some firearms experts in MI6 who can accurately determine the model and modification of a gun based on the sound of a gunshot, and then quickly obtain various data such as magazine capacity, range and rate of fire.