Chapter 30: Just Keep Lying
"Officer Kishida, sorry to keep you waiting."
Kagehara Tetsuya had arranged to meet Kishida Masayoshi at the villa. He didn’t want to wear his school uniform when visiting ĹŚshima Mana, so he changed his clothes first.
The outfit he chose was mainly designed to hide his figure. The brown pleated midi skirt was to cover his legs, the black top helped conceal his bone structure, and a pair of black leather boots with the right size.
"Anyway, let’s get in the car first," Kishida said, glancing at him briefly before turning away and stubbing out his cigarette in the ashtray. "We can’t keep ĹŚshima-san waiting too long."
Tetsuya got into the passenger seat, fastened his seatbelt, and took a look around the car. This was likely Kishida’s personal vehicle, as the interior, while not luxurious, was clearly customized. The back seat was cluttered with items—umbrellas, cigarettes, bottled water, and some yogurt and bread that might or might not be past their expiration date.
It seemed like Kishida used the car as some kind of a mobile storage unit.
As the car started moving, Tetsuya asked, "Officer Kishida, don’t you have any documents you want to show me?"
"Huh? What documents?" Kishida pretended not to understand.
Tetsuya replied with a hint of sarcasm, "Documents about the ĹŚshima Masaki murder case, of course. For example, the relationship between Hasebe Koichi and ĹŚshima Masaki, or possible hiding spots for Hasebe. Don’t tell me the police haven’t investigated these things at all?"
Kishida had no choice but to dodge the question at first, then admitted, "Of course we’ve investigated. I just didn’t expect you to be interested in these details."
"We’ve interviewed members of the biker gangs and street racers who were acquainted with both ĹŚshima Masaki and Hasebe Koichi. It seems the two of them got along quite well. Recently, no one has seen them arguing or clashing, so we can’t determine Hasebe’s motive for the crime yet."
"As for Hasebe’s hiding spots, we’ve checked two abandoned buildings that were known hangouts for his gang. But after the incident, Hasebe hasn’t been seen at these places, so we still don’t know where he’s hiding."
At this point, Kishida decided to share an additional piece of information to show his sincerity: "According to the forensic report, ĹŚshima Masaki died from potassium chloride poisoning. Potassium chloride is a medication primarily used to treat hypokalemia, but in large doses, it can cause cardiac arrest."
"Hasebe likely ambushed ĹŚshima Masaki, then injected him with a large dose of potassium chloride while he was unconscious."
Tetsuya was somewhat surprised. While most people might not know about potassium chloride, they would understand if it was mentioned in the context of lethal injection.
Intravenous injection of potassium chloride can kill a person in seconds with just 100 milliequivalents.
Lethal injections typically involve anesthesia followed by an injection of potassium chloride.
"Have you investigated the source of the drug? This is a controlled substance used in executions, right?"
Kishida looked surprised. "You even know that potassium chloride is used in executions?"
"Well, I happened to watch a documentary about lethal injections and euthanasia not long ago," Tetsuya said without batting an eye.
Kishida didn’t seem to suspect anything. "It’s relatively easy to obtain potassium chloride. The key point is that injecting potassium chloride is extremely painful. Even when used in medical treatments, patients often experience severe pain. So, if someone uses potassium chloride to kill, they need to restrain the victim first. But if that’s the case, injecting other substances could also kill, even injecting air into the veins would work, though it would take longer."
Tetsuya nodded. "That makes sense. If it were Kagehara-kun who bought the drug, he wouldn’t have done so without any disguise, so this lead is essentially useless."
Then he asked, "Does Hasebe Koichi’s social circle include any girls around my age?"
Kishida was clearly caught off guard by this question. "Girls around your age? Why do you ask?"
"Officer Kishida, don’t tell me you haven’t investigated this? In the Makeup Hunter case, if Hasebe Koichi knew any of the victims or their friends, wouldn’t that make sense?" Tetsuya asked this mainly to learn more about senpai’s accomplice. According to the inn staff’s description, the accomplice was likely a high school girl or a recent college student.
In Hasebe’s social circle, someone in that age range would be a suspect.
Kishida thought about it and found it quite reasonable. The friends of the nine victims also needed to be questioned. "I’ve only interviewed the families of the nine victims. None of them seemed to know Hasebe Koichi. As for the victims’ friends, I hadn’t considered that. I’ll have to look into it later."
"In situations like this, Officer Kishida, you should say—'We just haven’t had time to investigate yet.' That would be more in line with your role," Tetsuya said, delivering a cutting remark while flashing a bright smile.
Mocking and belittling foolish detectives was one of his hobbies, though such opportunities were rare.
Kishida grumbled, "Stupid and stubborn is just a stereotype. You’ve been influenced too much by fictional works."
"Who knows?" Tetsuya didn’t argue. "But if you really want to investigate, wouldn’t it be more efficient to focus on the women in Hasebe Koichi’s social circle?"
Kishida had to nod again. "That’s true. It would be more efficient."
Tetsuya continued to fabricate reasons to make Kishida work for him. "I think that since Kagehara-kun was able to uncover that Hasebe Koichi has clues about the Makeup Hunter case, the woman in Hasebe’s social circle who might have provided him with these clues probably isn’t much older than Kagehara-kun—maybe four or five years older at most. That’s the only way Kagehara-kun would have noticed her, right? So women in that age range should be the focus of the investigation."
In other words, the target’s age would be between 15 and 20.
In reality, the logic in this statement wasn’t entirely coherent. If scrutinized carefully, flaws would emerge. But Tetsuya wasn’t worried. After all, this was just his "speculation."
As with his core method of deceiving Kishida, he didn’t need to craft an elaborate lie. At critical moments, he just needed to say what the other person wanted to hear.
"Did Kagehara Tetsuya tell you this?" Kishida took the bait.
"No, this is just my own guess. Take it or leave it," Tetsuya said, deliberately denying it at first, then added, "If you can compile a decent set of documents, maybe I can help you analyze it."
"I’ll investigate first," Kishida said as they arrived at ĹŚshima Mana’s apartment building. He parked the car and pulled himself together, then reminded Tetsuya, "When we’re questioning her later, don’t say anything. Leave everything to me… Hey, wait, I’m not done yet!"
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