Chapter 12: Fanatical Justice

Chapter 12: Fanatical Justice

Outside the hospital ICU ward.

Matsumoto Ken, the vice principal of Shoujitsu Private High School, looked at his wife, who had nearly cried herself into a tearful mess, his expression like a sky covered in dark clouds.

“Wuu, wuu, wuu, I only have this one nephew. How could this happen... how could this happen!”

“Hello, may I ask if you are Yamazaki Jihei’s family?”

Just then, two police officers in uniform, one man and one woman, walked up to Matsumoto Ken.

The man was probably in his thirties, with a calm and cold expression and a square face.

As for the woman, even Matsumoto Ken’s eyes lit up at the sight of her. She had a tall figure of around 1.75 meters (~5 ft 9 in).

Her dense black long hair was coiled behind her head.

Although she was wearing a formal police uniform, not some specially altered fetish outfit, it still looked especially charming on her.

Especially that coldly beautiful yet seductive face. It really was a bit too much of a pity for her to be a police officer.

If not for the current situation, Matsumoto Ken might already have found a way to get her contact information, then used his power to obtain an opportunity to enjoy her charms in the shortest time possible.

But the timing was not very suitable right now. The one who had met with trouble was his own nephew.

Moreover, the other party was a police officer... and she seemed to be of a fairly high rank, the troublesome kind. So as soon as such a thought appeared, he directly dismissed it.

“I am his uncle by marriage, the vice principal of Shoujitsu Private High School, Matsumoto Ken.”

The man nodded. “We are police officers from the Shoujitsu jurisdiction police station. My name is Ando Shunichi. This is Morita Chinatsu. We need to ask you for some information regarding Yamazaki Jihei.”

When the woman sitting there sobbing heard this, she abruptly raised her head and walked toward them.

She shouted herself hoarse, “Please help us! My nephew definitely would not commit suicide, and it absolutely was not an accident! Please, catch the murderer. Someone must have wanted to harm him! Wuu, wuu, wuu, how could this happen... he was clearly such a good person who had never done anything bad. Why would anyone want to hurt him!”

Ando Shunichi frowned. “Ma’am, do you have any evidence for saying that?”

Seeing this, Matsumoto Ken immediately pulled his wife away and said apologetically, “I’m sorry, my wife’s emotions are somewhat unstable right now. He was our only nephew. You can ask me anything. Let us talk alone.”

“All right.”

The three of them came to the stairwell of the emergency passage.

Ando Shunichi first began asking about the other party’s occupation, age, lifestyle habits, and daily social contacts.

Matsumoto Ken answered each question truthfully.

Ando Shunichi then asked, “Your wife seems very certain that he was murdered. To be honest, according to our investigation at the scene, before he fell from the building, he had consumed quite a lot of alcohol. No other person’s DNA was found at the scene. There also seemed to be no traces of anyone breaking in. So the possibility of him drunkenly falling from the building is very high. Do you have any other clues to add?”

Matsumoto Ken hesitated for a moment, then took out a pack of cigarettes and tried to offer one to Ando Shunichi and Morita Chinatsu, who seemed to be coldly watching from the side. But both refused.

He lit one for himself and started smoking, then said.

“Mm... actually, this nephew of mine is very young, and he is still somewhat hot-blooded and impulsive. It is normal for him to have conflicts and clashes with people in life and at work. He was indeed not that perfect, but I still know some of his lifestyle habits. That kind of possibility is not very likely. Besides, you have seen his apartment, right? You also know that even if someone was drunk, as long as they were not insane, it would be very difficult to climb over that balcony and jump down, right?”

“And he also does not have a habit of taking drugs, unless you found some other drugs in his body.”

Ando Shunichi and Morita Chinatsu exchanged a glance.

Morita Chinatsu looked over coldly.

“How did he become a teacher at Shoujitsu Private High School at such a young age?”

These words made Matsumoto Ken’s hand tremble slightly, then he gave a helpless, bitter smile. “My wife and I only have one daughter, and we treated him like our own son. So as the vice principal, I naturally hoped the child could take fewer detours.”

“So with his qualifications, it would actually have been very difficult for him to enter this nationally top-ranked high school with such strong teaching staff. And he was so young and fairly good-looking. Were there never any rumors about him and students?”

Whether it was because Morita Chinatsu’s question was too direct, or because her angle was too sharp.

For a moment, Matsumoto Ken found it somewhat hard to speak.

He smoked a few mouthfuls before answering, “I think his professional ethics should not be so poor as to make him do such a thing...”

Morita Chinatsu was about to continue asking, but Ando Shunichi coughed, interrupting her.

Then he looked at Matsumoto Ken and said, “Of course, we will not determine so quickly whether this was an accident. Without evidence, we also cannot determine it as homicide. So further investigation is still needed. I hope you can provide me with a list, including his friends, colleagues, and people he has recently been in contact with. If we investigate his phone and computer, I also hope you will not mind.”

“Of course I can understand that. It is just, on the school’s side...”

“What about that side?”

“It’s just... sigh, to be honest. The school does not want this matter to involve the school. After all, in their view, my nephew fell from a building at home and ended up in this state. They do not want any public opinion or conspiracy theories to affect the school’s reputation, so I may not be able to make the school give you full cooperation for the investigation...”

Matsumoto Ken looked extremely troubled, even heartbroken.

The corner of Morita Chinatsu’s mouth curled into a cold smile that no one noticed.

Ando Shunichi nodded. “We understand the situation, but if there really is evidence pointing to homicide or murder, then whether or not to cooperate will not be up to the school. All right, if there are any further questions, I will contact you again. We will leave first.”

“Sorry to trouble you both. Please, you must investigate the truth. I beg you.”

After the two police officers left the hospital.

Matsumoto Ken threw the cigarette butt onto the ground and stepped on it to put it out.

He tugged at his collar somewhat irritably.

He looked viciously at the sky outside the window.

“What an ungrateful wolf. Even after failing to die, he still has to drag me down! That whole family is nothing but a bunch of jinxes!”

“Senior, do you think it was homicide or an accident?”

After leaving the hospital, downstairs.

Morita Chinatsu held a cup of cold brew iced coffee with a five-pointed star logo and asked coldly.

Ando Shunichi shook his head. “I do not know. I checked. Recently, he really has not had any conflicts with anyone. And committing the crime without leaving the slightest trace, without even any sign of breaking in, is very difficult. It is very hard to classify it as homicide.”

Morita Chinatsu had the aura and figure of a model. When she wore sunglasses, even in a police uniform, she was often mistaken for a celebrity filming a scene.

No matter where she stood, she seemed to become a unique scenic view.

She said in a low voice, “Don’t you think it is very strange? Why did all the cameras in the apartment building where Yamazaki Jihei lived malfunction precisely that night, recording nothing at all? And why did he specifically open a brand-new bottle of Yamazaki 12 that day and drink heavily alone on the balcony? He had even eaten a bowl of ramen and drunk a bottle of beer earlier.”

“Was there something that made him especially happy that day? Or something that troubled him?”

“And I checked. Before Yamazaki Jihei came to Shoujitsu Private High School, at the middle school where he worked, there had been an incident where a girl jumped off a building. That girl who jumped was his student. Although no evidence ever linked it to him, there were plenty of private rumors. Yamazaki Jihei had once spoken and chatted alone with that girl.”

Hearing Morita Chinatsu say this, Ando Shunichi could not help laughing.

“Are you fantasizing about some superhero story of meeting violence with violence again? We do not have Batman here. This is Shoujitsu, not Gotham. Perhaps so-called highly intelligent criminals really do exist in this world. But leaving no trace at all is impossible. And the people he came into contact with in his daily life were either teachers or students. Who do you think would have that ability and mentality?”

“Maybe. After all, many mystery novels have said it before. If those seen as weak under people’s conventional understanding become criminals, they are naturally advantaged in escaping legal sanctions and attention. For example, those students.”

Ando Shunichi frowned.

“You think the problem is at the school?”

“A hunch.”

“You cannot rely on hunches as a police officer... And those methods of yours from before, if used on students, can easily cause problems, you know?”

Morita Chinatsu indifferently curled the corners of her cold mouth.

“Of course I know. But sometimes, for the sake of justice, we must take some special measures and think in some special directions, right?”

Seeing her smile, Ando Shunichi inexplicably felt somewhat uneasy.

“If we cannot uncover any evidence in the next few days, this can only be classified as an accident. You have no authority to enter the school to investigate.”

“I know. That is why we have to seize the time over the next few days, right? Then I will leave the scene investigation side to you, Senior.”

After saying this, Morita Chinatsu walked toward the car.

Ando Shunichi frowned. “Where are you going?”

“To the school.”

“Starting now?”

“Of course. Time waits for no one.”

Looking at the beautiful yet unreal smile on Morita Chinatsu’s face.

Ando Shunichi thought for a moment and said, “It is good for young people to be driven, and there is nothing wrong with remaining suspicious. But are you really doing this for so-called justice?”

Morita Chinatsu took off her sunglasses and looked at him strangely. “If being a police officer is not for justice, then what is it for?”

“... Mind the procedure. Do not act recklessly.”

“I know. Goodbye, Senior.”

The car roared down the main road.

In the driver’s seat, which Ando Shunichi could no longer see.

The young policewoman, who had taken off her sunglasses, stared fixedly at the long road before her. She was not merely watching the road.

In her eyes, there was an indescribable fanaticism.

She murmured to herself, her tone rising along with the tachometer.

She had a marvelous hunch.

“I hope you are the kind of person I think you are.”

Ando Shunichi’s unease was not wrong.

She was not entirely doing it for justice.

She only hoped to smell the scent of her own kind.