Tokyo: Rabbit Officer and Her Evil Partner-Chapter 828 - 494: The Only Flaw (Part 2)

"Or perhaps it’s because a certain owner, over the years of holding the gun, left a fingerprint on the handle due to the corrosion from sweat on their fingers..."

"This isn’t a wild guess, but rather a simple deduction."

"The handle has been cleaned, with no other fingerprints on it. So where did this single fingerprint come from? Why could the police extract this one clear fingerprint, but no others?"

"Eliminate all other options, and whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth!"

"That’s right, the fingerprint is originally from the gun handle itself."

"The possibility is extremely slim, yet not zero."

...

Mori Na echoed Sherlock Holmes’ classic line, bringing a hush over the entire hall.

It was a perfect deduction, explaining all the doubts, clearing Mr. Fushimi of suspicion, preserving Nagono Kawai’s reputation, and lessening Ishizuka Yoshio’s culpability.

The only problem is, it’s too far-fetched.

"How could it be such a coincidence?"

Minamoto Tamako emotionally wants to accept this answer, yet her rational mind remains skeptical:

"With Mr. Fushimi’s skills, how could he have gotten a head injury?"

"After the head injury, he just happened to become disoriented without losing consciousness, just happened to call Mr. Ishizuka to explain the circumstances, yet muddily followed instructions, finally just happened to lose that portion of his memory..."

Minamoto Tamako, clutching a smokeless pipe in her mouth with arms akimbo, furrowed her little eyebrows: "Could it really be that coincidental? One coincidence might be an accident, but two coincidences definitely suggest something else!"

Mori Na held firm to her deduction, but she was tongue-tied, unsure how to counter.

Fushimi Roku fittingly chimed in from the side: "Life is composed of countless coincidences; the chance of a single sperm successfully fertilizing an egg in natural conception is about 0.0000002% to 0.0000005%, meaning about one in 500 million sperms succeeds... Both you and I are the result of 500 million coincidences, is that too a conspiracy controlled by humans?"

He patted Minamoto Tamako on the shoulder: "Life itself is a miracle, so nothing is impossible. We’ve eliminated all other possibilities; this is the only answer."

His argument sounded reasonable, prompting the guests to nod, yet Minamoto Tamako felt something was off, though she couldn’t put her finger on it.

She pondered briefly, finding no logical loopholes, and continued to inquire: "Then what about the remaining cases?"

"The Sugamo Apartment massacre, as the case report states, was caused by gang warfare." Mori Na asked back: "Miss Minamoto, may I ask why you think the Sugamo Apartment massacre and the hall shooting are linked by the same perpetrator? Just because of the ’Heavenly Punishment’ blood writing at the scene?"

"Yes, the handwriting is quite similar..." Minamoto Tamako realized the issue.

Mori Na went on: "Maybe that is just another coincidence; there is no evidence at the scene proving the one who wrote the ’Heavenly Punishment’ blood writing is the perpetrator."

"There’s another possibility, after the perpetrator committed the crime, a second person appeared and wrote the blood writing on the wall."

"A Sword Master at least needs a sword, yet the weapon found by the police was a fruit knife, hence the theory of a single perpetrator is clearly unrealistic. The police investigation’s result is correct; the Sugamo Apartment massacre was a gang silencing."

"Perhaps it was the gang who left the blood writing on the wall, or maybe it was a second person... This is unrelated to the truth, isn’t it?"

Mori Na looked at Minamoto Tamako, who turned her gaze to Fushimi Roku.

After an eerie silence, Minamoto Tamako nodded: "Indeed."

Finally, Mori Na recounted the snowfield ’Heavenly Punishment’ case and the unidentified female corpse case, the former being a copycat crime, the latter unsolvable, essentially repeating Aoshima Harano’s words verbatim.

The assembly was reasonably satisfied with this outcome.

A story’s ending must always leave some foreshadowing, like the easter egg at the end of a movie: a dazed protagonist suddenly opens eyes, a mysterious character smirks evilly, a deceased villain resurrects in the grave... The last two unsolvable ’Heavenly Punishment’ cases serve perfectly as such an easter egg, allowing novelists to unleash their imagination in creation.

Minamoto Tamako also approved of this deduction, fulfilling her promise by publicly handing over a check for 25 million yen to Mori Na.

Thunderous applause filled the hall as the five-day wedding reached its climax, with the bride and groom leaving behind their past obsessions, stepping into the temple of marriage under the witness of all.

The organ played the solemn melody of the "Wedding March," with guests seated on long benches on either side of the hall, criminal police extracting the Bible, donning priestly robes, standing on the altar awaiting.

Kujo Mutsumi, persistently, finally had Minamoto Tamako don the shiromuku.

With candlelight flickering, the groom stood on the altar in anticipation. Kujo Mutsumi led his granddaughter down the red carpet, devoid of the aura of a terminally ill person.

Kensaka Takataro and Mori Na sat side by side on the bench, each experiencing different feelings watching this scene.

"Each of us gets 12.5 million yen," Mori Na wrote another check, passing it over: "Let me cash it first, as I don’t have enough in my account otherwise."

Kensaka Takataro didn’t take it: "Is this the satisfactory ending you spoke of for all parties?"

"Yes." Mori Na replied.

"What if Mr. Fushimi is indeed the perpetrator?" Kensaka Takataro asked, "Wouldn’t you have become an accomplice in letting him go unpunished?"

"As you said, it’s ’if’." Mori Na shrugged: "That’s the truth in your eyes, not necessarily the fact."

"Did Mr. Fushimi receive a call earlier, was it you who called?" Kensaka Takataro asked.

"Yes." Mori Na admitted again.

"What kind of deal did you make with him?" Kensaka Takataro pressed further.

Mori Na didn’t answer directly but instead posed a question: "Didn’t you notice? There’s a critical flaw in all my deductions."

"What?"

Kensaka Takataro was taken aback, feeling lost if not discussing evidence, having detected no issues.

"Miss Minamoto didn’t get a satisfactory ’truth’." Mori Na commented.

Kensaka Takataro pondered for a moment, questioning: "Isn’t this truth the best for her? She finally moved on from the past, cleared her fiancé of suspicion, what’s unsatisfying about it?"

"What’s best for her isn’t equal to what she wants."

Mori Na, with her keener insight into human nature compared to Kensaka Takataro, would often observe passersby while honing her writing, drafting their characters’ vignettes: "Compared to truth and facts, she desires an honest partner more."

Kensaka Takataro reminisced briefly, contemplating with arms crossed: "It’s a pity, but no man discloses all truths. I could tell that the groom is hiding something."

"Yes, I noticed that too." Mori Na nodded.

"Then why did you..." Kensaka Takataro turned his head, about to question her when he saw the check in Mori Na’s hand, swallowing the rest of his words and shifting topics: "We digress, you still haven’t answered my question, what deal did you strike with him?"

"I made him promise to be honest in his vows." Mori Na earnestly declared: "In exchange, I cleared his suspicions."

"Ha!" Kensaka Takataro couldn’t help but chuckle drily: "If he truly is the perpetrator, that promise wouldn’t matter at all... Trust me, he’d lie to the bride without batting an eye."

"Want to make a bet?" Mori Na was about to retract that check, but Kensaka Takataro pinched it, drawing it away, then asked: "What’s the wager?"

"Let’s bet if Mr. Fushimi will lie at the altar." Mori Na suggested: "You could be considered wealthy, so let’s bet 500,000 yen, how about that?"

"Sure."

Kensaka Takataro felt it was an easy gain; in his view, wedding vows themselves are the biggest lie.

The bride, holding her grandfather’s hand, ascended the altar. The priest opened First Corinthians, instructing the couple, ’Love is patient.’

Then, he formally announced the couple could now recite their marriage vows.