"What's strange about it?" Minamoto Tamako asked.

"I can understand him killing his lover, after all, Ichikawa Akiyuki did blackmail him first; but why would he kill his wife?" Fushimi Roku intertwined his fingers, resting them on his knee, and asked, "If it was for having an affair, he was already having one openly, so why take the risk of murder?"

"This..." Minamoto Tamako was stunned.

"Secondly, the motive for Kujo Hikari killing Ichikawa Akiyuki also seems questionable," Fushimi Roku continued, "We deduced from Ichikawa Akiyuki's abnormal income that she blackmailed Kujo Hikari... then, from another perspective, what secret of Kujo Hikari's did Ichikawa Akiyuki hold that could make her extort so much money?"

Minamoto Tamako hadn't really thought much about this question; she wasn't good at guessing others' motives for committing crimes. After much thinking, she still had no conclusion, so she straightforwardly asked back, "What do you think?"

Fushimi Roku didn't answer but sighed, "It's a thirty million mansion, you and I personally sent Kujo Hikari to prison, ruining his great life, yet each only got twenty-five million... what secret forced Kujo Hikari to commit murder to silence someone?"

Minamoto Tamako's curiosity was piqued; she couldn't care less about drying her hair, with a towel on her head, she instinctively reached for her pipe and started thinking, "Could it be that Kujo Hikari killed someone before? And Miss Ichikawa knew about it and used it to blackmail him?"

Fushimi Roku asked back, "How could Miss Ichikawa know such a thing? Even if she knew, without evidence, what good is just words?"

Minamoto Tamako found it reasonable and guessed again, "Could she have been pregnant with Kujo Hikari's child?" But before Fushimi Roku could respond, Minamoto Tamako denied the guess herself, "Impossible, just an illegitimate child wouldn't warrant murder to silence someone."

She then listed three or four more guesses, each either refuted by Fushimi Roku or seemed unreasonable even to herself.

The more Minamoto Tamako thought, the more annoyed she became. She rubbed her head with the towel, "Ah, it looks like there are still doubts in this case, it shouldn't have been closed so hastily; we must continue investigating!"

Saying this, she stood up, planning to change clothes and rush to the police station to interrogate Kujo Hikari to find out his motive for murder; otherwise, she wouldn't be able to sleep well tonight.

Fushimi Roku suddenly said, "I have a guess, one I thought of on the way back."

Hearing this, Minamoto Tamako sensed a familiar scenario, yet she couldn't help but take the bait again, "What's your guess?"

"It's not confirmed, I won't tell you." Fushimi Roku stood up, "Alright, I'm going to take a bath."

Minamoto Tamako almost felt like smashing the hairdryer in anger; she quickly grabbed Fushimi Roku and said, "No way! Why keep it a secret? Just say your reasoning! Everyone brainstorming together is the spirit of the detective team!"

Fushimi Roku squinted, "Are you sure you want to hear it?"

Minamoto Tamako nodded, "Of course!"

Fushimi Roku thought for a moment; in the past, he wouldn't have told Minamoto Tamako anything. But times have changed, and Minamoto Tamako's trust level in his heart had climbed to the top; if he didn't tell her, he had no one else to confide in.

Just to be safe, Fushimi Roku prefaced, "Just saying, this is just my 'personal guess', purely subjective, and not reliable at all."

"Okay, okay, just say it." Minamoto Tamako wholly ignored his warning.

Fushimi Roku crossed his arms, resting his chin on his hand, and said, "I think Kujo Mutsumi ordered his son to kill."

"?"

A gigantic question mark appeared over Minamoto Tamako's head.

Even if you beat her to death, she couldn't follow the train of thought behind those words— "Kujo Mutsumi ordered his son to kill"— the amount of information in those nine words almost made her brain crash.

"Wh-why?" Minamoto Tamako's first reaction was that Mr. Deer might have an upset stomach: "If it was my grandfather's idea, then why did he commission us to investigate this matter?"

Seeing her puzzled face, Fushimi Roku realized he was saying it in vain and shrugged it off, saying, "I can't explain it to you, figure it out yourself."

Then, he quickly went to the balcony to grab his change of clothes and went to the bathroom to take a bath.

Minamoto Tamako had to temporarily give up pressing on; she sat on the tatami drying her hair, listening to the buzzing of the hairdryer, her mind continually pondering, unable to come up with an answer.

Why on earth?

No, that's not it!

Mr. Deer just said it was merely a guess, and guesses don't need logical facts... but again, why would he think that way?

Minamoto Tamako planned to drag Fushimi Roku to Sapporo Police Station for interrogation after he finished bathing.

Now that Kujo Hikari's charges were confirmed, the detention time would naturally be extended, and even a top lawyer couldn't help, so they naturally had time to slowly interrogate.

"Are you done yet?"

Minamoto Tamako, having finished drying her hair, urged from the bathroom door.

Bathing was supposed to soothe the mind and the hot water allowed the capillaries to relax. As Fushimi Roku soaked in the bathtub for a while, leaving all the messy things behind, his mood slightly improved, when he heard Minamoto Tamako's urging outside the door.

"What? Haven't you finished bathing?" he shouted from behind the glass door.

"Hurry up and finish, then let's go interrogate Kujo Hikari together at the police station!" Minamoto Tamako replied.

"What will you do if he doesn't talk?" Fushimi Roku asked back.

"I, I could..." Minamoto Tamako actually had no good solutions, but she had a good partner: "I can let you conduct the interrogation! You definitely have a way, right?"

Fushimi Roku thought to himself 'What interrogation!', he'd already exceeded his workload for the day and needed a good rest: "No way, it'll be pointless, Kujo Hikari won't cooperate with us."

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