Chapter 475

At this time, the scene was already around midnight, and Uesugi Muneyuki's original plan to spend the night with Mai Xuejie had fallen through.

However, he was not treated as an outsider by the Metropolitan Police Department's Investigation Division 1 officers, and he quickly joined the conversation.

Although there was no corpse, and although no actual harm had been done, Uesugi Muneyuki seemed useless, but Inspector Shiratori still communicated his findings with Uesugi Muneyuki.

Although masked, Maho Yamaguchi still discovered who the two attackers were.

They were the notorious theater extreme sasaeng fans, Takei Masanori and Kakimoto Hirotomo, both around 30 years old, known for their extreme sasaeng behavior and violent tendencies, and whenever they appeared, idols would feel frightened.

Sasaeng fans refer to those who are not satisfied with merely interacting with idols through screens, stages, or even handshake events and fan meetings, but who like to intrude into idols' (and all entertainers') private lives; among them, the moderate faction might try to harass idols near their apartment residences, block them in underground parking lots, or follow them on their days off to see what they buy and do daily, even taking private photos.

The extreme faction, well, these people will try to sneak into idols' homes, rummage and search for things they like, hide under idols' beds and sleep together with them, use their freshly washed but still sticky hands to shake hands with idols, and even more extremely, they will try to harm and sexually assault the idol themselves (because this way, only they can possess the idol).

Sasaeng fans are also an old problem in the fan community, and the issue lies in defining what exactly constitutes harmful sasaeng fandom, which is very difficult to fully delineate; entertainers inherently have less privacy than ordinary people, and if the other party merely stalks from afar, frequently shows affection up close, and has "chance encounters" beyond that without doing anything else, entertainers basically cannot sue over such matters, and it would also hurt the hearts of ordinary mass fans and damage public relations, which everyone should understand.

However, many times it is unclear whether they are moderate or extreme sasaeng fans before they actually get the opportunity for zero-distance contact with idols, and this cannot be determined in advance.

According to Maho Yamaguchi, these two extreme sasaeng fans have caused trouble multiple times, but the management has always tolerated them, repeatedly removing them from the blacklist, and the reason is very simple—they are too good at blowing up! And those wash-foot maids and theater old bulls without off-site activities or terrestrial broadcasts desperately need this kind of core fan to blow up big time!

Uesugi Muneyuki thought for a moment and said: "Regarding what Miss Yamaguchi mentioned, the possible existence of an internal information leaker—"

Inspector Shiratori's expression became solemn. He pondered for a moment and shook his head.

"Let's put that aside for now." He lowered his voice and said to Uesugi: "Miss Yamaguchi's accusation is currently based only on speculation,

with no substantive evidence. The other party is a large idol group, involving its management and other members; without solid evidence, if we rashly go door-to-door to investigate, we are very likely to trigger a major public relations backlash, or even be bitten back and hinder operations. This requires more careful handling."

Uesugi Muneyuki nodded upon hearing this, his gaze shifting,

Although Inspector Shiratori and Kashiwagi are both in the Career Track, their work styles differ greatly, but this does not warrant harsh criticism of him; everyone has their own style, and Shiratori's style is steady and solid, not rash, proceeding step by step; he is in the Career Track, promoted on time, and does not want to take risks.

Inspector Shiratori approached Maho Yamaguchi, his tone as gentle as possible but carrying official helplessness: "Miss Yamaguchi, regarding the issue of possible internal information leakage you mentioned, we have understood it, and this will be treated as an investigative direction. However, for now, our primary task is to apprehend the two suspects who committed the violent act. As for the management company and other members, the situation there is more sensitive, and we need more sufficient evidence before we can conduct inquiries. Please understand."

He looked at the girl before him, who had just experienced trauma and longed for all justice to be served, and added: "Tonight, you should rest well and receive some psychological counseling. Tomorrow, after we catch those two people, we can discuss further plans, okay?"

Although these words were reasonable and well-founded, they undoubtedly doused the indignant Maho Yamaguchi with a bucket of cold water.

"Maho, this place is no longer safe; you should follow them to the Metropolitan Police Department for now and make do there." Uesugi Muneyuki furrowed his brow and said: "The Metropolitan Police Department has a temporary female dormitory."

"Sakura-chan, come with me." Sakura's apartment is actually also nearby, just across the street, Mai Xuejie thought for a moment.

"Okay!" Sakura looked completely unfazed by her teammate's assault, even seeming quite excited.

Can I go sleep with Mai-sama? Great!

Uesugi Muneyuki and Shiratori Sho exchanged a glance, sighing inwardly.

Although they are members of the same female idol group, the treatment between the Top Tier and the wash-foot maids is completely different; previously, Maho Yamaguchi barely had any connection with Miyawaki Sakura by relying on a golden time slot placard girl role, but now there is already a sad, thick wall between them.

After discussing for a while, since this is not considered a major malicious incident, and given that it is already very late at night, the Metropolitan Police Department dispatched several patrol teams to investigate and then returned to the Metropolitan Police Department to retrieve the files of these two individuals.

Uesugi Muneyuki also returned to Sakata Bridge to rest, preparing to follow up on this case the next day.

For some reason, he always felt vaguely that this matter was not so simple.

The next morning at eight o'clock, YKC Theater Headquarters, Operations Office.

To avoid negative impact, the Metropolitan Police Department merely notified YKC48 to assist in the investigation, so the operations supervisor first received the document from the Metropolitan Police Department, and upon hearing about Maho Yamaguchi's assault, the operations supervisor felt a vague unease.

The lost documents, Maho's assault, and the Metropolitan Police Department's involvement gave a feeling of impending storm, wind filling the tower.

YKC could only notify the Metropolitan Police Department, waiting for Imazaki to come to work,

However, by ten o'clock in the morning, Imazaki still had not appeared,

"Imazaki still hasn't come? Can't even get through on the phone?" he asked the assistant beside him, his tone clearly impatient. Imazaki Hiroshi, responsible for the morning radio show follow-up, needed to confirm, and the two small idols, one by one Nakai Rika and Iehara Riko, had their morning vocal training inexplicably absent, and their phones were similarly forwarded to voicemail.

This collective loss of contact is highly unusual.

The idol industry has strict discipline, especially for a large agency like YKC48, where unexplained absenteeism is unimaginable. The supervisor tried contacting their roommates and possible friends, but found nothing. A vague sense of unease began to spread,

At this time, the Metropolitan Police Department had already been waiting a bit impatiently, Inspector Shiratori Sho thought: "Are you messing with me? Still not at work by ten o'clock?"

YKC48 had no choice but to disclose Imazaki's manager's address to the Metropolitan Police Department.

Thus, around eleven o'clock in the morning, Inspector Shiratori Sho of Investigation Division 1, accompanied by several detectives, arrived at Imazaki's manager's apartment.

According to the address provided by AKS, they came to the apartment building where Imazaki Hiroshi lived. They rang the doorbell for a long time, but no one answered. They asked the manager, who said he had not seen Mr. Imazaki since yesterday evening.

"Mr. Imazaki? He is usually quiet, rarely brings people back, let alone girls." The manager muttered.

A professional sense of alertness made Inspector Shiratori heighten his vigilance. After obtaining the manager's consent, they decided to use the spare key to open the door. The "click" sound of the door lock opening was exceptionally clear in the silent hallway.

As the door was pushed open a crack, a mixed smell of cheap perfume, alcohol, and a faint, indescribable, sweetly cloying yet decaying odor assailed them, causing several detectives to instantly furrow their brows.

"Hey! Anyone there? Police!" they shouted loudly, cautiously stepping into the room.

Inside the apartment, the curtains were tightly closed, the light dim, everything in disarray. Empty alcohol bottles, snack bags, and scattered clothing were everywhere. The living room showed nothing unusual; the eerie silence came from the tightly closed bedroom door.

Inspector Shiratori felt something was off, he signaled his companions to stand guard, and with one hand gripping his pistol, he slowly pushed open the bedroom door.

Time seemed to freeze at that moment.

The scene in the bedroom left several veteran detectives of Investigation Division 1 as if struck by lightning, instantly frozen in place, their pupils contracting sharply.

On the disordered double bed, three pale, naked corpses were entwined in an extremely unnatural, twisted posture.

They were the missing Imazaki Hiroshi, Nakai Rika, and Iehara Riko.

Their skin showed a postmortem grayish-white with waxy yellow, lips slightly purple, expressions frozen in a strange blankness that was neither pain nor joy. The young female bodies intertwined with the male body, which should have been full of youthful vitality, now only left a chilling deathly stillness and rigidity. Scattered pills and overturned empty alcohol cups lay on the bedside cabinet, silently narrating a story that seemed absurdly decadent on the surface.

The sweetish odor of death in the air grew even stronger.

The younger patrol sergeant of the Second Division felt his stomach churn violently, clapped a hand over his mouth, and rushed out of the room, while Inspector Shiratori's face turned deathly pale, he endured the discomfort, his hand gripping the walkie-talkie trembling slightly, as he had never seen such a bizarre, so impactful scene before.

".. —Headquarters! Headquarters! This is———This is Inspector Shiratori Sho of the Second Division! Repeat, this is Inspector Shiratori Sho of the Second Division!" His voice, shaken by shock, became somewhat distorted, almost shouting into the walkie-talkie: "This is Room XX, Apartment XX, X-chome X-banchi, Setagaya Ward!

Three corpses discovered! Situation abnormal! Immediately request the Forensic Identification Division, medical examiner, and large-scale support! The scene—scene requires complete lockdown!"

"A major criminal case has occurred!!!"

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