Chapter 912

Cat food~cat food~cat food~

Yeah, where did the cat go?

Uesugi Muneyuki squatted in the corner of the apartment living room, checking the cat food.

Kashiwagi Misa leaned by the window, her phone still raised, the camera lens pointed at the pink plastic cat bowl; on the other end of the video call, Kashiwagi Jin's breathing came through the megaphone, steady and focused.

Old Ren repeated the information he had learned on his end.

"It's unlikely to be the ex-husband brother; first, the Hyogo Prefecture Police have certainly already investigated him thoroughly, and if the ex-husband brother had any issues, he would have already been arrested; second, he has a very solid alibi, naturally, he could have hired a killer, but... considering he already has two of his own children... and his Kuroda company is large and prosperous, so it's also unlikely." Kashiwagi Jin said in the video call. Kashiwagi Misa put down her phone: "Inspector Okada's message. He said the ex-husband is Kuroda Kenichi, the top figure in Kobe Wagyu beef wholesale, president of Kuroda Industries Co., Ltd. Two years ago, he bumped into Souda Sosuke and Yamada Rinka just after they finished their affair, rushed over and started a fight, but lost. Divorced, paternity test showed the son wasn't his, the three daughters weren't tested, but even if they were, the law wouldn't recognize it. Monthly alimony is still paid."

Ikeda Erena leaned against the wall, her tone three parts confused, seven parts confirming, like someone watching a detective drama and seeing an unreasonable twist: "He has money, he has ability, he has resources, been cuckolded this badly, and still has to pay that woman every month... if it were me, I would have already hired a killer. How could he endure for two years?"

Uesugi Muneyuki put his hand into his coat pocket, pulled out his phone from the pocket and put it back: "Someone like him, reputation matters more than life. If he really hired a killer, even if no one catches him, those people in the Kobe business circle would spread rumors, and his reputation would be ruined." Ikeda Erena tilted her head slightly, the angle of the tilt not large, like lifting a big stone and finding nothing underneath, dust rising a little: "Then why didn't he take revenge back then?"

"Because back then he was still young. Now he has a new life, his own children, that hatred has faded. This ex-husband brother type, when doing things, first considers gains and losses. Back then he didn't act, because the cost of acting was too high. Later he didn't act, because the meaning of acting no longer existed." Uesugi Muneyuki laughed: "This type of person, especially those in high society, cares most about reputation and dignity; if things come out, no matter what, even if he is in the right, his and his Kuroda company's reputation would be ruined."

"Haha, I know I know, probably just that later everyone buying Kuroda company's Wagyu always feels the beef has turned green?" Kai Toru said with a wicked smile: "President President, why is your beef turning green? President replies: This is pure Kobe Wagyu simmered with vegetable juice! I'm a graduate of Osaka University, would I still lie to you?"

"Is this Wagyu or pig meat? Wagyu with hex-tech beef paste applied?" Uesugi Muneyuki's face showed black lines.

Ikeda Erena's gaze swept over his face, the trust in that gaze unconditional, deep to the point of not questioning, not scrutinizing. "You say that, then it is so."

Uesugi Muneyuki did not look at her: "Master thinks it's like that?"

"You're right." Ikeda Erena's answer had not a hint of hesitation.

Kashiwagi Misa felt a bit envious, thinking that Muneyuki and Erena's relationship was really good, she casually took a close-up of the cat bowl with her phone, changed the angle, took another, and sent it to Old Ren.

She and he are master and disciple, and my role as the linker must be played well!

"If Kuroda Kenichi hired a killer, he wouldn't wait two years. His hatred is explosive, not latent. Explosive hatred is strongest at the time of the event, once that window passes, it's forever missed. He could wait until today and still not act, showing he has already passed that window." Kai Toru followed up: "Is that the reasoning?"

"Yes, generally speaking, after having one's own children, past things truly become past."

"Eh eh?" Kashiwagi Misa moved her phone away from her eyes, raised her head to look at Uesugi Muneyuki: "If so... Uesugi-san, I am saying, I am just raising a hypothesis, after all, like me and Eto Miyabi, we are both married women... my meaning is that Eto Miyabi might also be thinking this way?" "?" Uesugi Muneyuki's finger stopped inside his coat pocket.

His gaze lifted from that cat bowl, fell on Kashiwagi Misa's face: "What did you say?"

"I say, will Eto Miyabi also be the same? Could she have possibly known long ago that her husband was cheating? She might have been waiting for the best opportunity, waiting for the window most favorable to her to appear, before exposing this matter."

üの」

￥？？？」

」ⅠⅠⅠⅠ」」

"Misa, you've found the blind spot!" Uesugi Muneyuki immediately pulled his hand out of his pocket, walked out of the apartment.

The air in the hallway was colder than indoors, his breath condensed into white mist in the winter morning light, he turned and walked into the stairwell of the fire escape. The stairwell was very quiet.

He took out his phone, found Eto Miyabi's number, and pressed it.

The phone rang a few times, then connected.

Eto Miyabi's voice came from the handset, with a deliberate lightness: "Uesugi-san? Why are you calling me? How is the case?"

Uesugi Muneyuki did not exchange pleasantries: "You already knew Souda Sosuke was cheating, right? You already knew about him and Yamada Rinka, you were waiting for the best opportunity, waiting for a moment that could blow everything up, you took advantage of my verbal sparring with him, took advantage of the God's Hand hype reaching its peak, before releasing the news about him and that female PR! You knew this would happen? You knew he would come to Yamada Rinka to borrow money, right? Because at that time he had a match, he had to go to Kobe, he had to come here, right?"

"Uesugi-san, I don't know what you're talking about?" Eto Miyabi's voice clearly stalled.

"Answer me! "ookingmyeyes!" Uesugi Muneyuki shouted into the phone: "Tell me! Don't keep thinking about deceiving people!" Obviously, Souda Sosuke only told him part of the truth, and Eto Miyabi is also only telling part!

These two people both want to use me!

The other end of the phone fell silent for a moment. Eto Miyabi's voice lowered: "He knew that woman from before marriage, from before marriage he never stopped. When he married me, he said I was the most important person in his life, said he had already cut off all previous people. I believed him. Later I found out he hadn't cut off, and even intensified it—every time he went to Kansai for a match, he would go see her. I waited at home for him to come back, he came back, like nothing happened, and said to me 'How did today's match go?' He thought I didn't know. I know everything."

"Yes, I really want money." Eto Miyabi said somewhat self-mockingly: "Women living in today's materialistic society, without money how can we get by? And he was the first to wrong me! I gave birth to his children, I..."

"Did you hire a killer?" Uesugi Muneyuki interrupted her, until Eto Miyabi clearly would be a standard "female lead revenge narrative," he had heard too much, already had no interest in empathizing.

"Hire a killer? How could that be?" Eto Miyabi completely hadn't expected Uesugi Muneyuki to say this, she said in astonishment: "I didn't hire a killer. I didn't know Yamada Rinka died, I only knew that after his cheating was exposed, society would side with me, if I filed for divorce I would win, he would lose part of his reputation and money, as the price for his betrayal of me, so he must negotiate separation, he must give me a large sum!" Uesugi Muneyuki held the phone, listening, his fingers lightly tapped twice on the stairwell handrail.

"So you're all using me, you want me to think you're innocent victims, want me to sympathize with you, want me to think Souda Sosuke brought it on himself, want me to side with you. You don't want me to know you're also calculating?"

"I, I just..." Eto Miyabi was about to explain he is he, you are you, I just wanted to get a good role from you to ride a wave of heat, set it on fire, but it seems someone came.

Footsteps, not just one person's footsteps, Eto Miyabi's voice came from the handset, this time her voice changed, no longer that of the Eto Miyabi who remained elegant after her scheme was exposed, but of a person frightened by a suddenly appearing reality.

"Uesugi-san, someone has come..."

Uesugi Muneyuki did not hang up, he put the phone to his ear, carefully listening to the sound from the other end.

The footsteps grew closer, carrying a rhythm that could not be refused.

Then came many voices.

Someone was speaking, using Kansai accent, pronunciation correct and tone round, but each word carried that unneeded politeness certainty: "Ms. Eto Miyabi, we are from Investigation Division 1, Hyogo Prefecture Police Headquarters. Souda Sosuke has already confessed to you. Please come with us."

Eto Miyabi's voice came from the handset, urgent and panicked: "Uesugi-san! Uesugi-san! I didn't kill anyone! I know nothing! I didn't kill her! Please..."

The phone cut off.

Uesugi Muneyuki stood in the stairwell, listening to the busy tone from the phone. He took the phone from his ear, looked at the screen showing "Call ended" four characters.

What an extreme couple.

The husband in Kobe was kept awake for dozens of hours by Kansai police, the wife in Tokyo was arrested across jurisdictions by Hyogo Prefecture Police.

The husband's infidelity was exposed, the wife's scheme was revealed.

One wanted to kill but didn't, one wanted to destroy the other but didn't want anyone dead.

As a result, both were swept into the same storm.

Uesugi Muneyuki put his phone back in his pocket, pushed open the stairwell door.

This couple, neither is clean.

But at least Uesugi Muneyuki believes what they say is true.

Souda Sosuke didn't kill anyone, Eto Miyabi didn't kill anyone.

On the things they did wrong, what they say is true, so likely on the things they didn't do, what they say is also true. But if Eto Miyabi didn't kill, Souda Sosuke didn't kill, and the ex-husband brother isn't the killer either, then who really is the killer?

Uesugi Muneyuki only feels ten thousand thoughts in utter chaos, this case, becoming more and more complex.

He always feels like he missed something.

But, what is it?

There is something he missed.

Uesugi Muneyuki went over the entire case again.

Ex-husband Brother Kuroda, baseball player Souda, missing Yamada Rinka and the four children still unaccounted for, as well as Eto Miyabi, whose heart is full of scheming, and the strange apartment crime scene.

Huh?!

Uesugi Muneyuki suddenly recalled a previous case, as well as another possible hypothesis from Old Ren.

Could it be?!