Half an hour’s drive on a nationwide freeway from the burned metropolis middle reveals an unchanging panorama of nation roads.

It was an space made up of both rice paddies, or in any other case mountains and scattered residential areas. A abandoned diner and a decaying vacationer data signal.

The succession of landscapes that appeared like they have been simply randomly generated patterns in a lazily created online game mirrored the truth of the countryside alongside the nationwide freeway.

The sound of the tires of the automobile detectives was driving, pounding alongside the asphalt in a gentle rhythm, feels prefer it’s steadily lulling its passengers to sleep.

[Even so, they said it was a new University-Launched Venture, but don’t you think this place is rather remote, Manda-san?]

Maybe bored of watching the identical surroundings for a while, his accomplice, the younger detective Nagai, broached the topic.

Glancing at his accomplice, Manda thought younger detectives these days have good communication expertise.

In his days, younger detectives used to maintain quiet till their superiors opened their mouths.

[Yeah. Well, you can’t really open up an industrial waste-related company in the middle of the city.]

It will be troubling if he have been to go to sleep on the wheel and trigger an accident throughout a sequence of all-night investigations, so Manda simply determined to associate with the lighthearted dialog.

Even the higher administration, who’s on edge of their seek for the offender within the arson and homicide case that led to the large hearth, would in all probability agree with him for this.

[I understand that, but it would have been nice if they had an office in the city center. Because of this, we had to come all the way to this remote place to get information.]

[What, Detective Nagai isn’t satisfied with the drive with me? If that’s the case, you can go back to your desk job, you know?]

[No! That drive is fun! ……It’s just, the company we’re interviewing today, that Mass Clean something technology? I don’t think it’s very likely that the President of that company had anything to do with the murder……]

MCTBH <Mass Clear Expertise Black Gap> is a College-Launched Enterprise Firm that was just lately established by a neighborhood college to undertake waste therapy utilizing a brand new know-how.

Based on the scraps of native newspapers that they had gathered beforehand, a College Professor with a pleasant face claimed that he began the corporate to contribute to the local people and the worldwide setting, and in reality, stated firm did a number of work within the aftermath of the latest large-scale hearth.

[Well, yeah. However, I found the name of the President of this company among the remains left behind in the office of Kaneda, a moneylender, after the fire. We can’t just ignore it, can we?]

Daiki Gomi. Age 34. College Graduate. After working for a significant buying and selling firm, he established a recycling store in his hometown. This yr, he switched to the waste therapy enterprise. He partnered with the native college to begin a brand new know-how waste administration enterprise. By no means married. No felony document.

He isn’t significantly attention-grabbing, only a man with a traditional profession.

The explanation why such a person’s title was left within the stays of the fireplace is unknown.

It’s potential that it’s simply one other individual with the identical title.

[But you see…… That Kaneda was a moneylender and a landshark. He was also quite the flamboyant one, wasn’t he? There must be a lot of people who have a grudge against him…… Seems to me that that yakuza named Hougi is much more suspicious than him, don’t you think?]

Kaneda had taken the difficulty to print out a listing of his purchasers and saved it in a fireproof wall protected.

On the investigation headquarters, a few of those that had recognized circumstances have been listed excessive on the checklist.

Along with the shopper checklist, Kaneda additionally saved a pocket book, and the names of Gomi and Hougi have been discovered among the many burned pages.

[The Anti-Boryokudan department would get information from that Hougi guy. Our department will have our turn after that.]

[However, would someone who starts a company with a University Professor really do something like killing a moneylender…… He should be considerably wealthy, right? If there’s no reason for him to borrow money, there would be no reason for him to get into financial trouble with a moneylender.]

[Well, that’s true……]

[I really think it’s Hougi who really did it. Like, he’d get a big payout after they’d done to him, or something like that.]

[Oi, Nagai, don’t let your prejudice affect the investigation. In the field work, you just do as you’re told. First, we need to interview this Gomi guy.]

[I understand. Ahh, I can already see his place now.]

Transferring his gaze farther, via the entrance glass of the automobile, Manda started to see a website surrounded by tall galvanized iron partitions looming across the agricultural lands.

★　★　★　★　★

When a detective visits with out an appointment, even when that they had nothing to cover, extraordinary folks often get shaken.

Nevertheless, the younger man who answered the door, seemingly one of many staff, didn’t appear to be significantly feeling timid, and saying “Please wait within the workplace. I’ll name him straight away.”, he urged them inside.

[……Seems like my face had lost some of its impact huh.]

[I guess?]

Within the workplace to which they have been ushered, a number of younger male staff have been doing difficult-looking calculations on a pc, but it surely was an empty and slightly drab workplace.

A big couch for guests and a big monitor on the wall have been the one curious issues on this place.

[That’s a big monitor, isn’t it? Do you use it to manage your work?]

[Ahh, that one is for the President’s hobby.]

When Manda casually inquired about this, a younger worker responded to him.

[Heehhh……]

“So his pastime is watching motion pictures huh……”, thought Manda. He began imagining how intense motion pictures have to be, watching them on this huge monitor.

Pondering that President Gomi was starting to appear an increasing number of like an extraordinary man, Manda’s shoulders slumped on the prospect that their go to may need been a wasted one.

[Ahh, the President is back.]

Listening to the entrance door slide open, Manda turned to see a middle-aged man sporting a unclean jumpsuit coming in.

[I’ll go wash my hands and change, so please wait a moment.]

Briefly informing them, Gomi disappeared into the door in the back of the workplace.

Holding his breath, Manda stared at Gomi’s again.

★　★　★　★　★

The interview itself took just a few minutes.

To start with, a number of folks, together with staff, testified that the individual in query was the workplace and had an alibi on the day the fireplace occurred.

He additionally had no motive for the homicide.

[Speaking of which, some months ago, Kaneda-san came to my office with a yakuza-like person to screw me into processing the illegal waste from his company. Well, of course, I refused. If we had accepted such illegal waste and had our business license taken away, we would have lost our means of livelihood. He might have some resentment towards me because of that.]

Gomi’s personal testimony additionally revealed why his title was listed in Kaneda’s pocket book together with Hougi.

[I guess it really was a miss huh, Manda-san.]

Nagai spoke to him as they drove house, however Manda remained silent.

After some time, after they entered the town middle, Manda lastly opened his mouth.

[Nagai, what did you think of that Gomi guy?]

[What I think…… Just an ordinary guy…… Ahh, but he had a great body, didn’t he? Did he play rugby or sports like that?]

He had a median construct, however he was tall and had a well-developed muscular physique that could possibly be seen even from exterior of his jumpsuit.

[You’ve read his background, right? He didn’t do any sports in college.]

[Then, does he go to the gym? I heard it’s all the rage for executives to go to the gym and do muscle training.]

[Was that all there is to it?]

[Was that all…… Manda-san, what did you think?]

Listening to the query being returned to him, Manda didn’t reply instantly, however modified the topic.

[Nagai, do you know the condition of this victim’s corpse?]

[Yeah…… I heard that he was torn apart with great force, having bite marks on his body…… He was apparently caught in the collapsing building and his body was probably gnawed off by a dog or some other animal.]

[Those bite marks…… They said the body was gnawed on before it was burned. A colleague who joined the agency at the same time as me, working in forensics, told me.]

[Ehhh……?]

[When Gomi came in, I locked eyes with him. I’ve been a detective up to this age and I’ve seen a lot of different people. I’ve stood in front of con artists and murderers. However, his eyes were different from any of them……]

[……How is it different?]

Nagai’s query made Manda shake his head.

[I don’t know……]

[You don’t know, you say……]

Nagai was puzzled by his reply, however Manda solely murmured.

[However, there’s one thing I’m sure…… I don’t like his eyes……]

From that time on, Manda saved his mouth shut and ignored Nagai’s makes an attempt to talk to him.