Chapter 22 Section 22

Go up Kagura Hill Road from Iidabashi Station, turn left shortly after passing Bishamonten, and then climb a steep slope. The building he wants to reach is on the right. Kusanagi walked into the building from the main entrance. The walls on the left were lined with signs engraved with the names of each office, and "Oak Publishing" was on the second floor. Although there was an elevator in the building, Kusanagi took the stairs.The stairs were full of cardboard boxes and it was difficult to walk.This kind of behavior violated the fire protection law, but he was too lazy to pursue it today.

The office door was wide open.Looking around, I saw a few employees working hard. A female employee closest to him saw Kusanagi, got up and walked towards him. "What's the matter with you?" "Is Mr. Sasaoka here? I called him just now." At this time, he heard someone beside him say "Ah, hello", and a slightly fat man showed his face from the counter.He seemed to have been squatting before. "Are you Mr. Sasaoka?" "Yes. Uh..." He opened the drawer beside him and took out a business card, "Hi, thank you." Kusanagi also took out a business card to exchange with the other party.The business card handed over by the other party read "Kunio Sasaoka, Chairman of Oak Publishing".

"This is the first time I've received a business card from a criminal police officer. I can keep it as a souvenir." Sasaoka turned over the business card in his hand and said "Oh", "It also says 'To Mr. Sasaoka' and Today's date. This is to prevent others from impersonating others." "Please don't mind, this is just a habit of mine." "No, no, it's always good to be careful. Well, are you going to talk here or find another café?" "Just here." "yes?" Sasaoka brought Kusanagi to the simple reception in the corner of the office.

"Sorry to bother you in your busy schedule." Kusanagi said while sitting on the black artificial leather sofa. "It's okay, our place is different from those big publishing houses, and our work is relatively leisurely." Sasaoka said with a big grin.Doesn't look like a bad guy. "I also told you on the phone that I came to ask you about Ms. Junko Tsukui." The smile disappeared from Sasaoka's face. "I was directly responsible for her work at the time. It is a pity that she was so talented during her lifetime." "Have you ever worked with Ms. Tsukui for a long time?"

"I don't know if it's too long. We have published two of her works here in a little over two years." Sasaoka stood up and took two picture books from his seat. "That's the two." Kusanagi said, "Please lend me a look", and reached out to pick up the picture book.The titles of the picture books are "The Snowman Has Fallen" and "The Adventures of Poodle Taro". "She liked to use pre-existing images such as snowmen and poodles as protagonists. I remember that she also used Sao Qingniang in a work." "I know that work, is it "Let's Rain Tomorrow"?"

Mashiba Yoshitaka promoted Tsukui Junko to design the web anime image after watching that work. Sasaoka nodded, eyebrows drooping. "Through the hands of Ms. Tsukui, those commonplace images will shine and become alive. Her early death is really regrettable." "Do you remember when Ms. Tsukui passed away?" "Of course I remember, after all, she left me a letter." "Really? I heard from her family that she left last words to several people before she died." Junko Tsukui's hometown is in Hiroshima, and Kusanagi called her mother before.According to her mother, Junko Tsukui committed suicide by taking sleeping pills at home, and three suicide notes were left at the scene.All the suicide notes were written to people related to her work, and one of them was for Sasaoka.

"She said in the letter that she suddenly left work in this way, and she was really sorry. Because I asked her to create the next work at that time, maybe she felt a little bit sorry." Sasaoka recalled the situation at that time.He frowned, with a sad look on his face. "Didn't her suicide note mention her motive for suicide? "Yes, I just wrote a few words of apology like I'm so sorry." The content of the suicide note written by Tsukui Junko at that time is actually not the only one.Before committing suicide, she wrote a letter to her mother. Her mother was taken aback when she saw the letter, and called her daughter quickly, but the phone didn't go through. Her mother immediately called the police.The local police rushed to the apartment after being notified and found her body.

In her letter to her mother, she did not mention the motive of suicide, but filled it with gratitude to her mother for giving birth to her and her apology for ruining her precious life. Her mother cried bitterly on the other end of the phone, saying that she still does not understand what is going on.Until today, two years later, time has still not been able to dilute her grief of losing her beloved daughter. "Mr. Sasaoka, do you have any clue about Ms. Tsukui's suicide?" After hearing Kusanagi's question, Sasaoka pursed his lips, then shook his head. "The police also asked me this question at the time, but I really didn't know anything about it. I saw her two weeks before she committed suicide, but I didn't feel that she was suicidal at the time. Maybe I was too suicidal. It's dull."

Kusanagi didn't think it was because Sasaoka was too slow, he had also seen two other people who received the suicide note, and they both said they didn't notice it at all. "Did you know that Ms. Tsukui had sex with men before?" Kusanagi changed the question. "I've heard of it before. But I don't know who the other party is. Nowadays, if you ask such questions recklessly, you will be accused of sexual harassment." Sasaoka said with a serious face. "So besides her boyfriend, do you know anyone who has a close relationship with her? Female friends are also fine."

Sasaoka crossed his stubby arms across his chest and began to recall. "The police asked the same question at the time, but I really didn't expect it. She can be said to be a person who prefers to be alone. I think she belongs to the family as long as she can stay in her room and draw quietly. The type who feels happy and doesn’t like socializing very much. So when I heard that she has a boyfriend, I was surprised.” Kusanagi thought to herself that she was the same as Ayane in this respect. Although Ayane had assistants like Hiromi Wakayama by her side, and her childhood friend who could go to the hot springs with her when she returned to her mother's house, she basically lived alone. My life consists of sitting on the couch in my living room sewing quilts all day long.

In other words, maybe Mashiba Yoshitaka prefers this type of woman. wrong-- There is still a slight difference, Kusanagi denied his own inference. He recalled what Tatsuhiko Inokai had said to him. "He doesn't pay much attention to it. For him, even if a woman who can't have children sits on the sofa, he will only feel like a decoration." The reason why Mashiba Yoshitaka chose this kind of withdrawn woman was because he only regarded her as a tool to have children.Maybe he thinks that things like tools don't need complicated interpersonal relationships. Sasaoka opened his mouth and said "excuse me". "Why have you come to investigate her suicide again now? Although the motive is unknown, the police didn't seem to have done much investigation at that time because there was no possibility of being involved in any case." "It's not because there are doubts about her suicide, but because Ms. Tsukui's name appeared when we were investigating other cases, so I came to you." "Oh, that's the case." It seemed that Sasaoka still wanted to know what case he was investigating, so Kusanagi interrupted the topic quickly. "I'm sorry to disturb your work, and I take my leave." "Have you finished asking? Oh, I even forgot to serve you tea." "No need. Thank you. By the way, can you lend me these two books?" He picked up the two picture books on the table. "Please go ahead and give it to you." "is it okay?" "Well, anyway, even if these two books stay with me, they will have to be disposed of sooner or later." "Really? Then I won't be polite." Kusanagi stood up and walked towards the door, and Sasaoka followed. "Having said that, I was really shocked at the time. When I heard that she passed away, I never thought that she committed suicide. After learning that she committed suicide, my colleagues and I speculated about the reasons. Some people also suspected that she was actually killed. Although it sounds a little irresponsible to say this, she died after drinking that kind of thing." Kusanagi stopped in his tracks, looking at Sasaoka's round face. "That kind of thing?" "Yes, poison." "Didn't you say sleeping pills?" Sasaoka pursed his lips and waved his hand. "No. Why, don't you know? It's arsenic." "Arsenic?" He was taken aback. "It's the one used by the murderer in the Curry case in Wakayama." "Arsenic?" "Ah, that poison seems to be called by that name." Kusanagi's heart skipped a beat, he said "Farewell" and rushed down the stairs. He called Kishiya on his mobile phone and ordered Kishitani to go to the police station under his jurisdiction immediately to transfer information about Junko Tsukui's suicide. "What's going on? Senior Kusanagi, are you still concerned about the picture book writer?" "I have already obtained the consent of the section chief. Don't talk nonsense. Hurry up and transfer me here." He hung up the phone, took a taxi that happened to pass by, and told the driver to go to the Meguro Department. Several days have passed since the incident, but the search has made no progress.Although the influence of the inability to find out the route of poisoning is also great, it is also one of the reasons that no matter how many investigations, no one with the motive of killing Mashiba Yoshitaka can be found.To say that the only one with a motive to kill was Ayane, but she had an impeccable alibi. Kusanagi emphasized to Mamiya that someone must have been to Mashiba's house on the day of the incident, and at the same time asked him to allow him to investigate Junko Tsukui, Mashiba Yoshitaka's ex-girlfriend. "But isn't that woman already dead?" Jian Gong asked. "That's why I feel strange." Kusanagi replied, "If the reason for her suicide is Mashiba Yoshitaka, then there are probably people around her who hold a grudge against Mashiba." "You mean someone avenged her? But she committed suicide two years ago. Why didn't the murderer do anything before?" "I don't know about this. Maybe the murderer felt that if he didn't take revenge after a period of time, the police would immediately link this matter with Junko Tsukui's suicide." "Assuming this reasoning is true, then the murderer should be a very persistent person with deep grievances. He has not been able to forget the hatred in his heart for two years." A skeptical expression appeared on Mamiya's face, but he still approved the request to investigate Junko Tsukui. Therefore, Kusanagi has been collecting detailed information since yesterday, calling Tsukui Junko's hometown, and visiting the person who received her suicide note at that time.And the contact information of her hometown was obtained from the responsible editor of the "Let's Rain Tomorrow". But among the people Kusanagi visited before, no one mentioned that her suicide might have something to do with Mashiba Yoshitaka.Not only that, no one even knew that she had dated Mashiba Yoshitaka. According to her mother, because there was no sign that a man had entered and exited Junko Tsukui's room at the time, she still does not think that the reason for her daughter's suicide was a broken love. The waitress at the black tea store first met Mashiba and Tsukui Junko three years ago, and Junko committed suicide a year later. If she had already broken up with Mashiba, it would have made sense. Assuming that even if the reason for her suicide is to break up with Zhenchai, if no one knows, no one will hold a grudge against him.Rarely, Mamiya approved his search operation. Unexpectedly, the search seemed to be about to hit a rock soon. But at this moment, he heard someone mention poison again. If he had transferred the information on Tsukui Junko's suicide case from the police station under his jurisdiction in advance, he would have noticed this earlier.But because he chose to call her hometown first, and inquired about the specious situation from her mother, it turned out to mess up the basic order of his search.At that time, he looked down on the police station under his jurisdiction, thinking that since they classified the case as a suicide, it is estimated that they would not be able to find any useful information from them. Unexpectedly, the poison turned out to be arsenic—— Of course, there is also the possibility of pure chance.Since the Wakayama poisonous curry case, more and more people have realized that arsenic is a highly poisonous substance.Of course, the number of people who thought of using it to commit suicide or murder also increased. But if the victim also died of the same kind of poison that his ex-girlfriend used to commit suicide, it would be too coincidental.Perhaps it is more appropriate to think that this is a deliberate arrangement by someone? Just when he was thinking about this, the phone rang.The caller ID is from Yu Chuan. "Why, when did you start to like calling like a high school girl?" "I have something to tell you. I was forced to do nothing. Can I meet you somewhere today?" "I can see you, but let me tell you what's the matter with you first. You have already found out the method of poisoning and killing people, have you?" "It is not appropriate to say 'find out', although it has not been proven, but the expression 'found a feasible method' can still be established." Kusanagi held the phone tightly, thinking, this guy always talks in such a roundabout way.When Yu Chuan said this, it indicated that he had roughly found the correct answer. "Have you told Neihai?" "No, not yet. By the way, I don't intend to tell you at this time. So if you think I came to see me to explain to you, then you will be disappointed." "What kind of plane are you doing? Then let me ask you, what exactly do you want to say to me?" "I want to give you some suggestions for future searches, because I want to find out whether the conditions for the implementation of the method are fully met." "You mean, instead of telling me the method, you want to get information from me? I think you should know that it is strictly forbidden to tell irrelevant people the information obtained during the search." After being silent for a few seconds, Tang Chuan replied: "I didn't expect that you would still come up with this trick with me now. Well, there is a reason why I didn't tell you the murderer's method of attack. I'll see you later for the reason." I'll explain it to you later." "Aren't you trying to be tricky? I'm going to the Meguro Office first, and then go to your school. It's probably going to be eight o'clock." "Then call me when you arrive, I may not be in the research room then." "Understood." After hanging up the phone, Kusanagi realized that he was getting nervous.What kind of poisoning method did Tang Chuan think of?Of course, Kusanagi didn't feel that he could figure out the content right now and here. What he was worried about was that if the truth of the poisoning method was revealed, what would happen to Ayane's position. If the poison killing method envisioned by Yukawa can really overturn her impeccable alibi—— Then there is no escape, Kusanagi thought.It's not Ayane's, but his own way of retreat is about to be cut off.This time, he will eventually be forced to look at Ayane with suspicion. Where would Yukawa start talking about it?He had been looking forward to this moment with all his heart before, but today was different, he felt an invisible pressure approaching him step by step. In the meeting room of the Meguro Bureau, Kishitani was already waiting for him with a fax paper. It is said that the report about Junko Tsukui's suicide had been sent from the police station under his jurisdiction, and Mamiya was also beside Kishitani. "I understand what you want me to do. Is it because of the poison?" Kishitani said and handed him the paper in his hand. Kusanagi quickly scanned the report.It said Junko Tsukui died on her own bed at the time, and on the table next to her was a glass half filled with water and a plastic bag filled with white powder, which was arsenic trioxide. Commonly known as arsenic. "The report didn't say how she got that thing at the time? Could it be impossible to find out?" Kusanagi asked in a low voice. "It's probably because they haven't investigated it." Mamiya said, "No matter how you look at it, this case is a suicide. The police station under its jurisdiction is not free enough to investigate the source of arsenic that is readily available. " "But having said that, the fact that his ex-girlfriend committed suicide by taking arsenic is strange. Kusanagi-senpai, you will do a great job this time." Hearing Kishitani's tone, he was a little excited. "I don't know if the police still keep the arsenic from that time?" Kusanagi said. "It's been confirmed, unfortunately, it's gone. After all, it was a case two years ago." Mamiya said regretfully. If it is still kept, it can be compared with the arsenic used in this case to confirm whether it is the same. "Speaking of which, the police didn't seem to tell her family what kind of poison it was." Kusanagi felt strange. "What do you mean by that?" "At that time, they told Junko Tsukui's mother that her daughter committed suicide by taking sleeping pills. I was wondering why they said that. Maybe it was a misunderstanding?" "It's not impossible." But he began to wonder again whether the mother could really get the question of what poison her daughter took to kill herself wrong. "Besides, Neihai said that again. It's only now that I feel that the search has started to move forward step by step." Kusanagi raised his head when he heard Kishitani's words. "Did she say anything else, Neihai?" "Ms. Galileo seems to have given her some advice." Mamiya replied, "He said that he wanted to thoroughly investigate the water purifier installed on the water pipe of Zhenchai's house. By the way, what is the name of that facility?" "spring 8." Kishitani said. "Yes, that's the name. I heard that Mr. Yu Chuan asked us to investigate, even if we asked them to. I guess Utsumi is running around in the headquarters right now, busy with various procedures." The so-called spring 8 is the world's largest radiation research facility owned by Hyogo Prefecture.Since the autumn of 2000, it has been used in the field of criminal investigation because it can analyze the composition of extremely small amounts of data.It was also used for identification in the case of poisonous curry, and its effectiveness has attracted the attention of the world. "In other words, does Tang Chuan think that the murderer poisoned the water purifier?" "I heard from Neihai that this is the case." "But that guy probably hasn't found a way to poison him yet..." Halfway through speaking, he was suddenly taken aback. "how?" "It's nothing, I've already made an appointment with that guy to meet up later. He said he had already solved the mystery of the method, so I thought, the method he was talking about was probably poisoning the water purifier..." Mamiya nodded and said: "Utsumi said similar things before, saying that the teacher seems to have solved the mystery. But it seems that he didn't tell her the most important content. The teacher's mind is quite bright, but his temper is always like this. Stubbornness is really a headache." "He doesn't seem to be going to tell me either." There was a wry smile on Jiangong's face: "Forget it, after all, he is helping us for free. Anyway, he specially called you over, probably to give you some effective advice. Go and listen carefully. What the hell is he going to say?" It was past eight o'clock when Kusanagi arrived at the school.He called Tang Chuan, but he couldn't get through, so he called again. After several rings, someone answered the phone: "I'm Tang Chuan." "Sorry, I didn't hear the phone ring just now." "Where are you now? Laboratory?" "No, I'm at the gym. You remember the place?" "Of course I remember." He hung up the phone and walked towards the gym.Enter the main entrance and turn left, and you will see a gray building with a dome.Kusanagi came here more often than he went to the classroom when he was in school, and it was here that he and Yukawa met.Both of them were very thin at the time, but Yu Chuan is the only one who still maintains a good figure today. When Kusanagi was walking towards the court, a young man in training uniform was walking out with a badminton racket. Seeing Kusanagi, he nodded to him. Yu Chuan was sitting on the field wearing a windbreaker.Pulling the net in the center of the court, it seems that he has just finished practicing. "I used to think that many university professors live a long life, and now I finally understand the reason, because you can use the facilities in the university as your own free gym. "After hearing Kusanagi's sarcasm, Yu Chuan still didn't change his face. "It's a misunderstanding that you said that you only use it for yourself. I came after making an appointment according to the regulations. There is also a problem with your point of view that university professors live long lives. It takes a lot of time and energy to become a professor. That is to say , If you are not healthy enough to live a long life, you will not be able to be a professor, you have reversed the result and the cause." Kusanagi gave a dry cough and looked at Yukawa with his arms crossed. "What do you want from me?" "Why are you so impatient? How about playing a game first?" Tang Chuan reached out to pick up the two rackets beside him, and handed one to Kusanagi. "I'm not here to play with you." "If you can insist that your time is precious, then you are amazing. But I have always wanted to say that no matter how underestimated your waistline has been in recent years, it has increased by at least nine centimeters. It seems that because of the investigation, It doesn't do much to keep you in shape." "Would you like to try?" Kusanagi took off his shirt and reached out to hold the racket he handed over. It has been a long time since he confronted Yu Chuan on both sides of the court.The feeling from more than twenty years ago was revived. However, the feeling of controlling the ball when holding the racket is gone forever. Not only that, he also deeply felt the weakness of his physical strength.As Tang Chuan said, after just ten minutes, he was out of breath and could no longer walk. Seeing the opponent slam the ball into the dead corner, Kusanagi slumped down on the court weakly. "It seems that I am also old. I won't lose to those young people in arm wrestling." "Wrist-wrestling mainly uses explosive power. Even if it weakens with age, it can be recovered quickly with a little exercise. But endurance is not so easy to return to the original level, and cardiopulmonary function is also the same. Same. I suggest you to exercise more honestly." Yu Chuan spoke in a calm tone, without any sense of shortness of breath or disorder.But Kusanagi was still not convinced. The two sat down side by side against the wall.Yukawa took out the kettle, filled the lid with water, and handed it to Kusanagi.Kusanagi took a sip, only to realize that the glass contained a very cold sports drink. "Now it's like going back to my school days. My golf skills have also regressed a lot." "If you don't keep practicing, your golf skills will gradually decline like your physical strength. I have been practicing all these years, but you haven't, that's all." "Are you trying to comfort me?" "No, why should I comfort you?" Seeing Yu Chuan's surprised expression, Kusanagi could not help but smile wryly.He returned the lid of the kettle to Tang Chuan, and said seriously, "Did the poison be put in the water purifier?" Tang Chuan gave a "hmm" and nodded. "I also told you on the phone. This matter has not been confirmed yet. But it is estimated that there will be nothing wrong." "So you asked Neihai to bring the water purifier to Spring 8 for investigation?" "I bought four of those water purifiers, filled them with arsenic, rinsed them with water several times, and tested whether they could still find the ingredients contained in them. The experiment that can be done in our school is to use induced binding plasma analysis law." "Induced bonding... what is it?" "It doesn't matter if you don't understand, you can just treat it as a high-tech analysis method. I tried four water purifiers, two of which were able to detect arsenic, and the other two cases could not give a clear answer. That kind of water purifier uses a very special ingredient, even fine particles are difficult to attach to it. I asked Utsumi-kun to inquire about it, and I heard that the atomic absorption analysis method was used to identify the water purifier of Mashiba. , Compared with the method I used, the accuracy of this analysis method is lower. So, I asked her to get spring 8 for analysis." "Since you've covered this point, I guess you're already confident, right?" "I can't say it's absolute, but it's the only possibility right now." "Then how did you poison it? I heard from Neihai that you should have given up on the inference of poisoning the water purifier before?" After hearing Kusanagi's question, Yukawa held the towel tightly with both hands without saying a word. "Is this the poisoning method you said before that you couldn't tell me?" "I've already told Nekai-kun before, you can't be prejudiced now." "Whether there is prejudice in our hearts, does it have anything to do with the poisoning method itself?" "It has a lot to do with it." Tang Chuan turned his head to look at Kusanagi, "If the murderer did use the method I imagined, then it is very likely that there will be traces somewhere. I asked Utsumi to take the water purifier Going to Spring 8 is precisely to find traces of poisoning. But even if no traces are found in the end, it does not prove that this method must not have been used. This method is so special.” "Have you ever used it?" "Suppose I tell you the specific method now, and then you only need to find the trace. But what if you don't find it? Can you reset your thinking at that time? Aren't you still sticking to the poisoning method?" "Well... Maybe what you said is right, after all, we don't have evidence that the murderer didn't use that poisonous method." "I'm a little conflicted about that." "What's the meaning?" "It means that I don't want to focus all suspicious eyes on a specific person without evidence. Because in this world, there is only one person who can use this method." Kusanagi stared at Yukawa's eyes behind the lens: "Is it Mrs. Mashiba?" Yu Chuan blinked slowly, and it seemed that the answer was yes. Kusanagi let out a heavy breath. "Forget it, I will continue my frontal offensive search. And I finally found some clues." "looks?" "We have not only found Mashiba Yoshitaka's ex-girlfriend, but also found a common point in this case." Kusanagi told Yu Chuan that Tsukui Junko committed suicide by taking arsenic, and he firmly believed that Yu Chuan would not tell others. "Really? Such a thing happened two years ago..." Tang Chuan raised his head and looked into the distance. "Although it seems that you are quite confident in that method, I don't think your direction is wrong. It is not so simple to say that this case is the wife's revenge against her husband who had an affair. , there must be something else hidden." Yukawa looked at Kusanagi's face and burst out laughing. "What the hell, it's scary. Do you think I'm wrong?" "No. I was thinking, if I had known this, I wouldn't have to call you here." Kusanagi didn't understand what he meant, and frowned, Yu Chuan nodded, and then said: "I came to you, and this is what I want to tell you. The root of this case is very deep, not only the situation before and after the incident, you It’s better to go back to the past and investigate everything. What you said just now is even more interesting, and arsenic appeared at that time.” "I don't understand you. Didn't you always doubt Mrs. Zhenchai? If so, do you still think those past events are important?" "Important, extremely important." Tang Chuan picked up the racket and sports bag, stood up, "I'm a little cold, let's go back." The two walked out of the gymnasium and came to the main entrance, where Yu Chuan stopped. "I'm going back to the lab, what do you do? Let's have a cup of coffee together?" "Is there anything else you want to tell me?" "No, I have nothing more to say." "Forget it then. I have to go back to the police station to do what I need to do." "Alright then." Tang Chuan turned and walked away. "Yukawa." Kusanagi stopped him. "She once made a jacket out of patchwork for her father. In order to prevent her father from slipping and twisting his waist in the snow, she also put a cushion on the waist of the dress." Tang Chuan turned his head: "And then?" "She is not the kind of person who will act rashly. Before she does it, she will judge whether it is appropriate to do so. I don't think she is the kind of person who would kill someone because of her husband's betrayal." "Is this your intuition as a detective?" "I'm talking about my personal impression of her. Like Utsumi, you also think that I have special feelings for Mrs. Mashiba?" Yu Chuan lowered his eyelids for a while, then looked at Kusanagi again and said, "Even if you have a special affection for her, so what? I believe you are not a weak detective who will distort your beliefs because of personal feelings. One more thing ,” he continued, raising his index finger, “maybe what you said is right, she is not stupid.” "Don't you suspect her?" But Yu Chuan didn't answer any more, raised a hand and waved it, then turned and walked away.