Chapter 8 Suspect Yamamoto Hiroshi, killing people and destroying their hearts (asking for monthly tickets at the end of the month) 11:00 AM, Shinjuku Police Station. Aoyama Hidenobu folded his arms across his chest, leaning against the table as he watched the surveillance video of Paradise Karaoke from three days ago. The surveillance images these days are blurry and cannot record sound, which makes them extremely tiring to the eyes. Asai Aya excitedly talked about her discovery, "Look, Aoyama-kun, Yamamoto Hiroshi did enter a private room. Not long after he left, another person came out of the room. He must be the friend he mentioned." "About ten minutes later, Yamamoto Hiroshi came back in a hurry. He also had a conversation with the manager. I asked the manager, and he said that Yamamoto Hiroshi claimed that he had lost something very important. The manager arranged for someone to help him look for it, but in the end, they didn't find it. Everything was just as Yamamoto Hiroshi said." Asai Aya's eyes became brighter and brighter, and her tone became more and more excited. "But! Yamamoto Hiroshi said that there were a lot of people at the karaoke bar at that time, but from the surveillance video, there were not many customers that day. The manager also said that business was very quiet during the day, and only at night would there be more people." "Could it be that he just wanted to reduce his responsibility for losing the gun, so he lied and said that there were a lot of people and it was chaotic in the karaoke bar at that time?" Aoyama Hidenobu said lightly. "No!" Asai Aya stared at him, the corners of her mouth rising slowly, "It is possible, but as you said, he should have been upset and terrified after losing his gun, but he still had the mind to clean up the house and make it so tidy. Combining the two, he must have deliberately wanted to hide something more important when he lied about the karaoke being crowded." "It seems you are not as stupid as I thought." Aoyama Hidenobu smiled and turned off the video. Asai Aya suddenly became annoyed and puffed out her chest in displeasure to defend herself, "I also passed the national civil service examination in one try, okay? I'm not stupid at all, I just lack experience."

"Yeah, yeah, you're right." Aoyama Hidenobu nodded perfunctorily, then told the information he got from the Nohara family and gave a conclusion, "Now we can confirm that the suspects are Noguchi Kai and Yamamoto Hiroshi." "Yamamoto Hiroshi? Do you suspect that he staged and murdered Nohara Nohara?" Asai Aya was shocked and stared at Aoyama Hidenori in disbelief. She just thought that Yamamoto Hiroshi was hiding something, but she didn't think that he was the murderer at all. "Just as you said, Nohara's wife said that Nohara Nohara didn't know Yamamoto Hiroshi! Since the two parties didn't have any contact, why did Yamamoto Hiroshi go to such great lengths to stage such a play to kill Nohara Nohara?" Without waiting for Aoyama Hidenobu's response, he continued, "I think Noguchi is more suspicious. After all, he has a motive, and it's not uncommon for gangs to kill people for profit." "And why did Nohara go to the area near Nishitoyama High School alone so late at night? That's not his way home. He must have been invited there by someone, and the Noguchi Association, who was in a cooperative relationship with him, was able to do this." Although the "Countermeasures Act against Violent Groups" was introduced at the beginning of this year to help them to restrain themselves, violent groups are called violent groups because they are good at and accustomed to using violence. So it is not impossible to commit crimes against the law. "Mrs. Nohara didn't say for sure that Nohara and Yamamoto Hiroshi had no contact, she just said that she was not sure." After Aoyama Hidenori finished speaking, he paused for a moment and said, "In that case, let's use the process of elimination. Check Yamamoto Hiroshi first. At least we need to find out what he is hiding, which will also help solve the case." "Hi!" Asai Aya responded and then reacted, muttering, "Obviously, I'm the boss." Aoyama Hidenobu ignored her complaints. In the afternoon, Fujimoto Ryoichi came back, and Asai Aya called a meeting of all those involved in the shooting. "Director Fujimoto, have you discovered anything today?" Asai Aya looked at Fujimoto Ryoichi. Fujimoto Ryoichi shook his head with an unpleasant expression and said in a deep voice, "It was too late that day and there were no witnesses in that area. We plan to expand the scope of the visit tomorrow and check the surveillance cameras of several other streets." "Detective Aoyama and I do have some clues." Asai Aya motioned for him to sit down, then looked at Aoyama Hidenobu, "Detective Aoyama, go ahead and tell us." Fujimoto Ryo immediately looked at Aoyama Hidenobu. "Hi." Aoyama Hidenobu stood up, looked around at everyone and said slowly, "Today I..." After hearing his words, there was an uproar in the conference room and everyone started talking to each other. "This is ridiculous speculation!" Fujimoto Ryoichi could not deny it, and sneered, "Do you suspect your colleague is the murderer just based on this? Detective Aoyama's reasoning is really sloppy. According to Mrs. Nohara, he didn't know Nohara Takeshi at all, so why did he want to kill him? What's the motive? Well! Even if this was a premeditated murder, if it was premeditated, why did he have to take such a big risk and use his own gun?" He paused for a moment, and said earnestly and sarcastically, "Detective Qingshan, I know you are eager to return to the Metropolitan Police Department and make contributions, but since you have been demoted for making mistakes, you should reflect on yourself and do your work down to earth. Don't always think about solving the case and getting rewards, or even use your colleagues' innocence as a stepping stone!" The atmosphere in the conference room was somewhat depressing. Everyone could feel Fujimoto Yoshiichi's dissatisfaction with Aoyama Hidenobu. It was not surprising. After all, Fujimoto Yoshiichi had never been nice to Aoyama Hidenobu since he came to the Shinjuku Police Station. "Director Fujimoto!" Aoyama Hidenobu raised his voice and called him. He said calmly, "I am just making inferences based on the clues. As for why Yamamoto Hiroshi killed Nohara Atsushi and why he had to use his own gun, isn't that what we need to investigate? If it wasn't him, then our investigation will clear his name!"

"Heh, it's Director Fujimoto, you overreacted to my reasonable suspicion. I might as well have thought you and the suspect, Hiroshi Yamamoto, were accomplices." Although it is a taboo to contradict superiors in Japan, today he even contradicted the department head, Aya Asai. Is he afraid of a vice-minister, Ryoichi Fujimoto? "Baka!" Fujimoto Ryoichi was furious and stood up and shouted, "You rude guy..." "Bang!" Asai Aya slammed the table angrily, "Shut up! Detective Aoyama and I found the clues together. We speculate that we did it together. Director Fujimoto, are you questioning him? Or me?" "I dare not!" Fujimoto Ryoichi lowered his head quickly. "Hmph!" Asai Aya snorted, and swept her cold eyes over everyone. "Next, we will focus on secretly investigating Yamamoto Hiroshi. Precisely because he is a colleague, we must eliminate his suspicion as soon as possible through investigation!" "Hi!" Everyone responded in unison, lowering their heads. "Let's adjourn the meeting." Asai Aya turned and left. Everyone quickly stood up and bowed to see him off. "Inspector." Fujimoto Ryoichi glanced at Aoyama Hidenobu sinisterly and quickly chased after her. He followed her to the office and took out two movie tickets. "Inspector, there's a new movie coming out tonight. Let's go watch it together. We should relax properly after work so that we can better investigate the case." "Sorry..." Asai Aya was about to refuse. At this moment, Aoyama Hidenobu's voice came from behind: "Take it, I really want to see it." Asai Aya and Fujimoto Ryoichi turned around at the same time and saw Aoyama Hidenobu walking towards them with a smile. Facing Aoyama Hidenobu's eyes, Asai Aya certainly didn't want to do that, but she didn't dare to go against his will. She could only take the two movie tickets from Fujimoto Ryoichi and bowed politely to express her gratitude, "Thank you for your kindness, Mr. Fujimoto." Fujimoto Ryoichi's thoughts were in disarray and he looked confused. "Think about it on the bright side. She finally accepted your gift, Mr. Fujimoto, didn't she? Even though she wanted to accompany me to watch the show, you bought the tickets, so you can have a sense of participation." Aoyama Hidenobu smiled at Fujimoto Ryoichi, then left side by side with Asai Aya. The main theme is revenge and killing people to destroy their hearts. Ryoichi Fujimoto still stood there with the gesture of handing out movie tickets, staring at the two people's backs with a dull look, and then he became furious, his face twisted with anger. "idiot!" He kicked over the trash can in the corridor. The sound of "clang" attracted people who had not yet left work in the offices on both sides of the corridor to stick their heads out. Ryoichi Fujimoto picked up the trash can again in dejection. His back teeth are almost broken, why! Why is it that what I want but cannot get is easily available to Aoyama Hidenobu, whether it is a woman or a career? Is it just because I’m not in the professional group? The inferiority complex due to his background and the differential treatment he received as a result have made his psychology somewhat distorted. (End of this chapter)