Chapter 3.6 (1/2)
Two days had already pa.s.sed when Kujou returned to the house at night.
“That is all for the local report regarding the abandonment incident of Jedi Aoki’s corpse.”
After he finished hearing Kujou’s explanation, Yui placed the report onto the table and drank the lemon tea which had become slightly warm.
“Has Mr.Gen said anything?”
Akira poured the warm black tea into Kujou’s empty teacup with his awkward technique.
“He said that ‘The DNA of the skeleton found in Fuji matched up with the DNA found in his house. Of course, we will pay more attention to this case and continue the investigation.’”
“Then, what about Arieru?”
“The DNAs and teeth also matched up.”
“Then the items buried with them actually belonged to them, right?”
“Yes.”
Akira poured the black tea into Yui’s teacup, who crossed her arms and was worried.
“By the way, what was the cause of death of Jedi?”
“We can’t really tell the cause of death from a completely skeletonized body, but from the fact that there weren’t any evidence of injury from blades on the bones and the fractured hyoid, he probably died from suffocation due to the pressure on his neck similar to Miss s.h.i.+mizu. Of course, there’s the possibility of poisoning or illness, but it would be hard to tell from a skeletonized body. ”
Even Kujou was distressed. He closed his eyes and leaned into the chair.
“The two offenders are similar. Both had peaceful families and were eighteen year old high schoolers who were well liked by people in the surrounding areas and schools. They had no history of delinquency or crime and no evidence of people hating them. Although they were buried in different places, they were both buried under unknown cherry blossom trees.”
“There arre a bunch of similarities!! Also, both of their names were weird!!”
After hearing Yui’s conclusion, Akira said these words with an air of importance.
“Listen to me, Akira. In this case, the offenders had too many similarities that we have the problem of focusing on one of them.”
“U~m, I see… Ah! Then!! Did Arieru and Jedi know each other?”
Kujou answered Akira’s optimistic question curtly with his eyes closed.
“Their respective friends were investigated; however, they only knew this case from the news and did not know anything about the other victim. In the first place, regarding to Mr. Aoki, he was thought to be murdered when he disappeared two years ago. Also, considering they were living two different places, there is a high possibility they did not know each other..
“I see… ”
Akira made that suggestion because he thought that they might come up with some new discoveries, but he missed the target and stared at the teapot with discouragement. He stood still.
The atmosphere was heavy.
Kujou turned to another topic with a cheerful tone in order to drive away the gloom.
“Kid, how was the world during the time I was out? Were there any new discoveries regarding the case?”
“… Umm, there was nothing in particular related to the case. The TV stations and magazines were, if anything, enjoying the investigation as best as they could, saying things like ‘How does the criminal look like?’ or ‘Who is the offender according to profiling?’”
Saying that, Akira realized something and quickly turned his head up.
“Oh! Yeah!! I realized something!!”1
“Your head?”
“Of course not!!”
“So, what happened?”
“Don’t continue that arbitrarily!!”
Yui’s facial expression became milder because of the conversation between the two with sharp mind.
“Well, although the case is on the news as well, it’s out of control on Twitter right now. Wasn’t the second corpse found under a cherry blossom tree? Because the founders said they saw the Tweets on Twitter and they actually found one, so the people trying to dig under cherry blossom trees with the intention of treasure hunting are increasing now. There are also increasing Tweets about ‘There is a corpse buried under a cherry blossom tree somewhere.’”
“Seriously, there are too many tasteless fellows.”
Saying that, Yui sighed with dissatisfaction and anger.
“… Akira… Good job.”
Realizing something, Kujou praised Akira.
“Although I focused too much on cherry blossom trees… It is Twitter. I remember that the news regarding the discovery of the corpse of Mr. Jedi said something about that… That means there is a high possibility for the offender to send messages on Twitter.”
“If the offender is using Twitter, can we track him from there?”
“Exactly as what Miss Yui said, but the offender probably used a prepaid phone and created an account without leaving any evidence.”
“And there are countless secret ways to do that.”
“Although people are not necessary imitating, there are people who spread the fake Tweets for fun. Are we going to find the real ones out of the fake ones!? Isn’t that impossible? ”
What Akira had said was exactly on point.
It was extremely difficult to find the real Tweets out of all the fake ones that had spread after all this time.
“Well, I will ask Mr. Gen to see if he can search the logs. Akira, focus on Twitter completely. There will probably be more people who want to dig corpses out just for fun. If that happens, tell me immediately. I have a premonition that this case will affect a wide range of areas. Although this is against my will, I have to entrust you to be the hero for now”
“Ok, I got it. I will focus on Twitter!”
Akira hit his chest vigorously.
Kujou was satisfied by the answer and smiled.
Then.
“Akira, I need more tea.”
“Oh! Here!!”
While saying that, Akira tilted the teapot in his hand and poured the warm black tea into Kujou’s cup.
Kujou nodded while checking Akira’s reaction. He said with a smile:
“Butler Akira. You are in the right shape.”
During the two days Kujou was away, Akira had read through the manual and put all his efforts into being a butler. He had reflexively poured the black tea into the teacup that was placed out.
“Eh?… Ah–!!”
Having realized what Kujou had said, Akira placed the teapot down violently.
“Ku, Kujou, since you are back now, this is no longer my job! Pour it yourself!!”
Answered reflexively like a dog, Akira became embarra.s.sed by his own action. His face flushed and became sulky like a kid.
Kujou and Yui laughed at the Akira’s adorable action.
The next day.
The morning news program urged the audience to stop hurting and digging the cherry blossom trees for fun in addition to the report of the case regarding to the corpses under the cherry blossom trees.
“Seven cherry blossom trees were dug up just yesterday… Oh, seriously?”
After saying that, Yui put the scrambled eggs that overflowed with the scent of b.u.t.ter into her mouth.
“However, there were no corpses found under those seven cherry blossom trees. Also, according to Akira’s report, there are over one thousand of Tweets that say ‘There are bodies buried here.’”
“By the way, how is Akira?”
“Today is a weekday, so he is probably in school. He said he will come in the evening. Thanks to him, we can enjoy a tranquil breakfast. ”
Kujou put some of the green salad into his small plate, topped it with onion dressing, and tried to fit it into his mouth.
However, a call from his phone interrupted him.
He slowly put down his fork and tapped the “Answer” b.u.t.ton.
“Hey~~~ Kyuu!! How are you~?”2
The energetic voice leaked out from the speaker furiously in the morning.
Kujou gave out a huge sigh exaggeratedly and put the phone next to his ear.
“You are so energetic in the morning, Mr. Gen. Are you drinking?”
“What~ Sighing in the morning is such a boring action. By the way, I’m not drinking!!’”