Chapter 685

In the early hours, Yamagata North Rest Area was cordoned off by rows of police cars.

Since it's a rape and murder, the search scope is much smaller!

Inspector Yamanaka's order was issued at 6:25 a. m.: "Immediately contact the idol agency to confirm if any member matching the description is missing." Duty Detective Nakamura dialed the emergency contact of YKC48's management committee, one by one, reaching Suoh Hinata. The phone rang seven times before being answered, and a voice thick with sleep and irritation came through: "Hello? Who is this? So early..."

"Hello, this is Yamagata Prefecture Police Headquarters. May I speak with the person in charge of YKC48's operations? We have an urgent situation that needs verification." Suoh Hinata's voice instantly cleared somewhat, but her tone remained cautious: "I am Suoh, the operations committee chair. What's the matter?"

Nakamura followed instructions, describing the situation as calmly as possible to avoid panic: "We found a young woman at a rest area in the suburbs, in poor condition, approximately 17 years old, fashionable attire, with a heart-shaped water diamond hair clip on her person. May I ask if your group has a member matching these features... who is currently unreachable?"

The other end fell silent for three or four seconds.

"... Officer Kuwabara." Suoh Hinata's voice carried a deliberately controlled calm: "Do you know what we went through yesterday? First, our guest 'disappeared' at Uesugi Shrine—though it turned out to be a false alarm—and then ACE member Kawabe Mayu went missing due to low blood sugar—also returned by a kind stranger. Now it's 6:30 a. m., and you call to say another 'poor condition' young woman has been found? Moreover, some of our members disbanded yesterday, and others must rush back to NHK today for Kohaku Uta Gassen rehearsals!"

His tone was full of suspicion: "Is another 'kind stranger' picking up our missing member? Or is this another prank call from some tabloid? I need more concrete confirmation; otherwise, this is Kohaku Uta Gassen! And we need to sign confidentiality agreements for our show recordings! If something goes wrong, causing ratings to drop or sponsors to withdraw... who will bear the responsibility?"

Sure enough, upon hearing this, the police side immediately felt immense pressure and hurriedly explained: "Suoh-san, this is absolutely not a prank. We found her in the public toilet of a rest area along the national highway, and the situation... is extremely serious. We need to confirm her identity immediately, as this relates to a criminal case."

"A criminal case?" Suoh Hinata repeated the word, her voice sinking.

But soon, he said: "I need to see photos or more definitive evidence, Officer Police, not that we're unwilling to confirm, but the traits you mentioned are too vague—17, fashionable clothing, heart-shaped hair clip—dozens of young girls in our troupe fit this description. I cannot wake everyone up over a single phone call, causing unnecessary panic. How about this: I'll send someone later to your stated location to liaise with the police for confirmation; please give me the specific address and contact person. For now, trouble yourselves to investigate first—if it can be confirmed as unrelated to us, all the better; if it can be confirmed as related to us... please inform us again."

His attitude was reasonable—having experienced two previous "false alarms," anyone would be cautious.

Nakamura, helpless, could only relay the location of "Yamagata North Rest Area" and Inspector Yamanaka's name.

After hanging up, Suoh Hinata sat in the darkness of the inn room, a icy curve flickering at the corner of her mouth, she raised her eyebrows slightly and lowered her head to murmur a name.

"Akimoto Yasushi (unrelated)? You???"

At the rest area scene, police put down the phone and shook their heads toward Inspector Yamanaka and others: "Operations said they'd send someone over later to confirm, and... it seems similar missing-person incidents occurred before, and whether it's 48 or 46, many members have disbanded and returned to Tokyo—there are dozens of them. Announcing this now would easily cause panic, and they still have to appear on Kohaku..."

"Tsk, Tokyo folks are all about money and affairs, nothing else," Kawabe Forensic Expert suddenly interjected in a standard Kyoto accent. "Mainly, it's the early hours—after all, we police are funded by taxpayers' money. If this stirs up a business worth several billion and involves the Kohaku Uta Gassen, and we get it wrong, none of us can bear the blame, after all, not everyone is Uesugi Muneyuki, who solves every case, and still has a Superintendent General as father-in-law and a Management Officer as wife." Inspector Yamanaka said somewhat impatiently.

Under Japan's direct tax system, citizens can see daily from pay slips and wage statements what taxes they pay, naturally fostering a strong taxpayer consciousness. Compared to some countries where police are in a more disadvantaged position, as Suoh Hinata said, if panic and commotion arise, affecting our Kohaku appearance and program recording, leading to massive losses, who will bear it? Can a Yamagata Prefecture Police Headquarters bear it? Just then, time reached 7:00 a. m., and the 4846 operations side still had no one arrive, but the scene investigation had already entered the second phase at the rest area, with forensic work proceeding under harsh white lighting. Forensic Expert Mikawa Tou had completed the preliminary external examination, her brow furrowing tighter and tighter.

In the temporarily erected inspection tent, the forensics division reported preliminary findings to Inspector Yamanaka, their voice tinged with professional confusion:

"Inspector, several contradictory points."

"First, sexual assault traces are clear, but biological evidence is abnormal. The extracted semen shows extremely low activity, and DNA degrades at an abnormal speed—like... exposed to extreme conditions for several days, yet the corpse clearly died within hours. This will affect subsequent matching success rates, possibly even preventing a complete profile."

"Second, the decapitation wound. The cut's smoothness exceeds the ordinary; under the microscope, the bone fracture shows almost no debris, and the contraction pattern of muscle and blood vessel ends... does not match typical hacking injury characteristics. More like an instantaneous, extremely high-energy separation. But the weapon? Not found at the scene, nor in nearby searches."

"Third, mixed micro-evidence." Forensic personnel pointed to some samples in the evidence bag: "The victim's clothing and skin bear spores and pollen from at least three different environments. One is local pine, normal; but there's also a temperate broadleaf forest spore-pollen, which should not appear this season or at this altitude; strangest of all is the third... somewhat like tropical or subtropical fern spores, which I've never seen in this prefecture. Additionally, there are various chemical fibers and mineral dust, distributed irregularly, as if the corpse had been dragged in a short time across multiple entirely different climatic and geological environments."

"Fourth, that symbol." Mikawa pointed to the photo: "Written in blood, already sampled. But the test shows only human blood, no additives. The symbol itself... I consulted a folklore professor at the prefectural university, who said the photo resembles some extremely obscure Shinto kegare markings used in certain harae rituals, but not quite. More like... a clumsy imitation or a casual doodle."

"Inspector, the scene is truly filthy—thousands upon thousands of people's DNA lurk in the various urine and feces, making it impossible to tell who is who!" Inspector Yamanaka's face darkened.

These contradictions let the case deviate from the regular track from the start. No clear weapon inference, no reliable biological evidence pointing to anything, and even the traces on the corpse tell contradictory stories.

"Then what about the time of death?" he asked.

"This... based on rectal temperature and early rigor mortis, combined with environmental temperature, estimated between last night 10 p. m. and 2 a. m. But cold environments may delay certain changes, so the error could be larger than usual." Mikawa replied: "Also, when the body was stuffed into the pipe, it should have already been dead for a while, with partial rigor formed, so the insertion process may have caused additional bone fractures and soft tissue injuries, requiring autopsy confirmation."

No eyewitnesses, no direct surveillance evidence, and even the forensic evidence is full of contradictions.

Reports from various teams came in continuously over the radio of the command vehicle:

"Search within 500 meters of the rest area completed, no suspicious weapons, clothing, or related items found."

"Inquiries to businesses along the nearby national highway: night shift staff noticed no abnormal vehicles or personnel." Said the owner of a truck driver's canteen operating overnight.

"The convenience store's surveillance only showed various parked trucks, freight drivers, and some passing vagrants; we searched the seven registered vagrants nearby, found nothing; as for all the drivers... if you search like this, are you serious?"

All police on scene had faces as dark as iron.

Each report increased the anxiety of the police on site.

Clues were too scattered, like mercury spilled on the ground, impossible to gather.

Weapon missing, evidence contradictory, motive unknown.

The confidence police initially had when mobilizing large forces—believing they could quickly pin down the suspect—was rapidly being worn away by cold reality. The atmosphere in the command post was heavy. Young detectives whispered among themselves, while veteran detectives silently smoked.

This case feels off, very off.

Just then, the officer in charge of information sorting suddenly looked up: "Inspector! I found out! Someone's on duty at Fuji TV! They said the ones coming here to record are Fuji TV's 'Hand of God' program team, recording a New Year's prayer SP for Hand of God!" "What?" Everyone in the police force was startled.

Someone immediately reacted: "So that means... that person is also here?!"

"Who?" A newly recruited junior patrol officer hadn't reacted yet!

"Uesugi Muneyuki! Chief Forensic Expert of the First Investigation Division, Metropolitan Police Department!"

"He's right here!"

That name was like a lightning bolt splitting the command post's heavy air.

Case error, Uesugi Gu?