The house that Mizuo Harutaro lives in is very suitable for him. It is a Japanese-style mansion with cherry blossom trees and cypresses planted in the yard. It can be seen that the cost of garden pruning every month is not a small amount of money.
After being led by the domestic helper to the room used as the reception room, Fujiwara Yu noticed that there were five Noh masks of different styles hanging high up in the house, including not only the Buddha style, but also the Prajna mask. If he came to this room at night,
It's actually a bit scary.
Mizuo Harutaro smiled and asked everyone to take their seats. He asked the helper to make tea, then folded his hands in his kimono sleeves, knelt down and asked:
"Officer Takaji, Mr. Hattori, I wonder what happened to you? Hmm? Mr. Hattori, are you injured?"
Apparently Hattori Heiji, who was still wearing a white bandage on his forehead, was too conspicuous. He nodded and replied:
"Well, this wound is also the reason why I came here. When I left the tea house last night, I was attacked by someone who was suspected of murdering Mr. Sakura. If Kazuya hadn't been there, I might have died there."
"Huh? You were actually attacked?" Abbot Long Yuan looked confused. He didn't expect the murderer to attack a high school student. This was somewhat puzzling about the murderer's purpose.
"Because the prisoner who attacked me was wearing a Noh mask of an old man, we took the liberty to come here and wanted to ask Mr. Mizuo for his alibi." Hattori Heiji did not beat around the bush and chose to ask directly, looking at how many of them there were.
Reaction.
Fujiwara Yu's eyes fell on everyone's hands, trying to find the connection between them and archery and kendo. People who practice regularly will definitely have calluses or scars on their hands. These are inevitable marks.
Just like him, sometimes when practicing Iaido, a little carelessness can cause wounds on one's own tiger's mouth.
"The mask of the old man?" Mizuo Harutaro thought seriously for a while. He roughly guessed that the murderer wanted to frame him, so he simply told him his whereabouts last night: "When I left the teahouse yesterday, I went directly home to sleep.
But because I am still single and my mother is some distance away from my room, my alibi is not valid."
Fujiwara Yu observed carefully and did not notice any traces of practice on their hands. He raised his eyes to look at the two people in front of him and asked:
"So, Mr. Ryumaoka and Mr. Saijo, what did you two do after you left the teahouse?"
"My situation is the same as his, because I live alone on the second floor of a shop on Teramachi Road." Saijo Taiga tugged on his collar and replied with a natural expression.
"After I read scriptures in the main hall for a while, I went back to my room to sleep, so I have no witnesses."
None of the three people had alibi, and Ms. Chiga Suzu, who was not present, was also a serious suspect. After all, there were marks on her hands from practicing kyudo.
Seeing that none of the three could rule out suspicion, Hattori Heiji simply changed the question:
"Then I would like to ask, are you three practicing archery?"
The answers of the three people were different. Taiga Saijo said that he had never practiced kyudo, Harutaro Mizuo had drawn the Azusa bow on the Noh stage, and Abbot Ryuumao had imitated the experience of drawing a bow to exorcise demons.
Fujiwara Yu and Hattori Heiji looked at each other. Judging from their answers, none of them met the characteristics of the murderer who was good at archery.
This is absolutely impossible, unless the murderer is Chiga Suzu... But if Chiga Suzu is the murderer, there must be an accomplice.
Because before Sakura Masazo was killed last night, Chika Suzu left the room on the second floor only once, and that was when Mizuo Harutaro went to the toilet. She accompanied him there because she was worried about an accident with the drunk Mr. Mizuo.
Just as the two of them were thinking, a girl's voice came from the door. Their eyes glanced over and found that it was a kimono woman they had never seen before.
Fujiwara Yu turned his head to look at Mizuo Harutaro who was sitting on the main seat in confusion, and said curiously:
"Is this your girlfriend? Did our sudden visit disturb you?"
"No, Officer Takaji, she is Miss Chika Suzu!" Mizuo Harutaro waved his hand quickly.
Fujiwara Yu and Hattori Heiji were stunned. They didn't expect that the difference between the geisha after taking off her makeup was so big. She was completely different.
However, when he was sitting down, Fujiwara Yu's face couldn't help but darken. It wasn't Chika Suzu's movements that caught his attention, but that of another person. He clearly said that he had never practiced kyudo, but why would he ask half a question? foot?
He did not tell Heiji Hattori about the contradictions he discovered. After all, this guy was still injured. It was better to keep him out of dangerous things. Taking him along to track down the case was already the limit.
After the visit, Fujiwara Yuu was thinking about how to separate from Hattori Heiji. He had no choice but to place his hopes on Kudo, so he slowed down and took out his mobile phone.
[I don’t want to work overtime today]: Kudo, where are you now?
[Disciple of Holmes]: I'm at Sannou Temple, and the police are discussing the case here.
[Holmes' Disciple]: Speaking of which, where did you take Hattori?
[I don’t want to work overtime today]: It’s okay, we’ll be back soon.
Because he was not familiar with Kyoto, Fujiwara Yu saw Chika Suzu walking in the same direction as him and asked:
"Miss Chika Suzu, can you tell me how to get to Sannoji Temple?"
Chika Suzu was wearing wooden clogs and walked slowly. After hearing the question, she recalled the children's song with her fingers, and started singing as she spoke:
"Sanno-ji Temple is on Rokkaku Road. What we are passing now is Igawa Road... Maruzuke Yiji, Oshigoike, and Sister-san Rokkaku, so Sanno-ji Temple should be on the sixth road."
"What song was that just now?" Fujiwara Yu asked curiously.
"We locals call it the ball song, which is a song that compiles the names of Kyoto's roads from north to south."
Chiga Suzu sang this ball song a cappella, and indeed sang out all the roads in Kyoto, and also told them that children in Kyoto would use this song to remember the names of the roads.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! "Um, Miss Chika Suzu, may I take the liberty to ask you your age?" Hattori Heiji suddenly asked.
"Huh? I'm 19 years old, what's wrong?"
Hattori Heiji had already determined that the Chika Suzu in front of him was his first love whom he fell in love with at first sight when he was a child. He didn't expect that he would finally see him again, but his heartbeat when he was young... seemed to have disappeared without a trace as time went by.
Already.
He realized that it was impolite to ask his age rashly, so he quickly pushed Sosuke Takaji on the back and said:
"Ah, it's nothing. Let's go in the direction of Ochigo Pond and say goodbye."
Fujiwara Yu looked at Chika Suzu's leaving figure. He stared at Hattori Heiji with his half-moon eyes, and asked angrily:
"You don't think she is your first love, do you?"
"It's definitely her. She's a native of Kyoto, she's the right age, and she can also sing this song! But the lyrics are a little different from those back then. My first love sang 'Bride Rokkaku', and she sang 'Sister Sanjo'
, but it’s not a big problem, I finally saw her!”
Seeing Hattori Heiji's excited look, Fujiwara Yu was too embarrassed to pour cold water on him, because Chika Suzu's suspicion has not been ruled out yet.
He took out his wallet from his pocket, took out two banknotes and put them into Hattori Heiji's hand, and said:
"You go back to Sannou Temple to meet Kudo first, and I'll go look for Ayanokouji."
"okay."
After confirming that Hattori Heiji took a taxi and left obediently, Fujiwara Yuu hired a taxi to go to Teramachi Road. Saijo Taiga had just mentioned the address of his shop. If he guessed correctly, he should be the murderer.
It’s just that we don’t have the evidence yet, so we can only find a way to visit his home.