“Were you deliberately saying it wasn’t related to make the culprit slip up? What a nasty personality for a detective.”
[Guh! A trap to catch the culprit by deliberately not mentioning fishing line! As expected of a great detective!]
(No, I was just being mean because I was annoyed, and I simply didn’t know the word ‘fishing line’…)
Who would have thought my malice and ignorance would work so well together? I was more surprised than anyone.
Meanwhile, Butler Hanzawa, who was even more “what the hell” than me, was greatly flustered.
“N-no! It wasn’t me—I-I mean, it wasn’t me! B-besides, I don’t have a motive! This woman who’s involved in inheritance is way more suspicious!”
“Wh-what do you mean ‘this woman’! You’re just a servant!”
“Cough-ho!”
Butler Hanzawa was now spouting abuse without any attempt to maintain his facade. Both Hitomi-san and Ayashi-kun were angry.
Finding this unbearable to watch, I shook him up to explore his “motive.”
“No motive… is that really true?”
“There isn’t any! I-I mean, there isn’t, yes.”
[There’s no way they’d remember! Just some hired president of a subcontractor’s subcontractor who got laid off! I disguised myself as an old man, used eyelid tape to make double eyelids, and bleached my hair white!]
(Revenge for being laid off, huh… but eyelid tape, really.)
So I decided to turn to the beauty modification expert present.
“Um, Hitomi-san, excuse me.”
“Wh-what?”
I encouraged her, who was still in the midst of being shy, to take a good look at Butler Hanzawa.
“Hitomi-san, you run a business dealing with wigs, nails, and cosmetic surgery… is there anything you notice when you look at Hanzawa-san?”
She stopped looking at her nails and turned her gaze toward the butler.
Then she began carefully examining his eyes, skin, and hair.
“…This is the first time I’ve looked at his face seriously, but that’s eyelid tape, isn’t it? And you’ve bleached your hair? Your skin has good elasticity too… huh? You’re younger than I thought, around forty or so.”
“Wh-what?!”
As expected, professional Hitomi-san accurately identified the eyelid tape, bleaching, and real age.
Butler Hanzawa was shaken by being so easily exposed. Perhaps because he opened his eyes so wide in shock, the eyelid tape came off and one eye became single-lidded.
Seeing him looking obviously unnatural, Ryosuke-san seemed to remember something.
“That single eyelid! You! Aren’t you the director who committed all sorts of fraud at my wife’s company and got fired?!”
“Guh, guhhh…”
The flustered Butler Hanzawa… or rather, so he was committing fraud. What petty revenge.
Now completely cornered, he realized he could no longer deceive anyone and collapsed to his knees in dejection.
“That’s right! I did it! I wanted to mess up the lives of the family of the guy who ruined my life!”
But just when he seemed to have collapsed to his knees, he suddenly stood up and, with that momentum, lunged at me.
“—And it’s all because of a little girl like you!”
[This brat! I’ll punch her! Then I’ll escape from here by car! I prepared an escape car just in case!]
“Seriously?! You’re going to punch me?! Dangerous!”
Whoosh! A loud sound of cutting air. Butler Hanzawa’s fist grazed over my head as I ducked.
“What?! You dodged my surprise attack?!”
Unfortunately for you, I can read minds. If you thought I was a weak maiden, you’re sorely mistaken. My IQ might be weak, though.
But he had made escape plans… After gracefully dodging his punch, I shouted to those around me in a desperate voice.
“He’s trying to escape! Please apprehend him! Watch out for car escape too!”
I couldn’t let him get away at this point. I loudly called for attention from the people around me.
“O-oh! Apprehend him, apprehend him!”
Inspector Gori shouted in confusion at being suddenly given orders.
Just then,
“Cough-ho!”
“Oh! Owaaah?!”
Before the police officer could tackle Butler Hanzawa, Ayashi-kun, furious upon learning who the culprit was, tackled him with incredible force.
“Nice, Ayashi-kun.”
“Coho!”
[This is for my mother, you bastard!]
READ THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATION AT LOCALIZERMEERKAT.PAGES.DEV
The culprit was taken down by the bloody bandaged man’s angry tackle, and this case was settled for the time being.
“We just received word from the hospital that Futsuko-san has regained consciousness!”
As Butler Hanzawa was being led away, a detective who entered the room brought good news. Apparently, because the ice was made from easily melting salt water, it didn’t cause fatal injuries.
(In the end, there was no point in me being called here… no, it’s good that we caught the culprit before he could escape.)
I was happy about the victim’s safety. Upon hearing that news, both Ryosuke-san and Hitomi-san showed expressions of relief. Ayashi-kun’s expression was unclear, but he made a gesture of patting his chest in relief.
“Sorry for doubting you. You really live up to being called a great detective!”
The master, Ryosuke-san, shook my hand firmly. He must have been really happy because it was a bit painful.
The eldest daughter Hitomi-san, who had only been looking at her nails, finally made eye contact and spoke to me.
“Sorry for saying harsh things. I’m a bit shy with people…”
“Yes, I knew that.”
“Eh?”
[How did she know?!]
(Ah, I messed up.)
Having accidentally blurted out information I learned from reading minds, I tried to cover it up somehow.
“I-it was just intuition. I’m good at reading people.”
I laughed self-deprecatingly, thinking I really don’t have good judgment – after all, I was deceived by an evil scientist and turned into a cyborg… well, thanks to that I gained cheat abilities, so it worked out.
“I see, as expected of a great detective.”
Hitomi-san bowed respectfully, and then Ayashi-kun tapped my shoulder from behind.
“Cough-ho!”
[Thank you! Thank you!]
The bloody bandaged man approaching me from behind… honestly, it’s bad for my heart, I almost said, but held back.
“No, no, it’s just my job.”
Ayashi-kun repeatedly coughed his thanks.
(But I should be the one giving thanks.)
If he hadn’t tackled the culprit, he might have escaped by now. For such an Ayashi-kun, I decided to return the favor a little.
“By the way, Hitomi-san.”
“Ah, yes, what is it?”
“This is a change of subject, but do you like animals? Especially cats?”
Hitomi-san answered somewhat hesitantly.
“Um, I don’t dislike them.”
[I actually love them so much, but people say it doesn’t suit my face and cats run away from me, so I don’t have good memories. I really do like them though!]
(I thought so.)
Peeking into her mind, I understood. She, who is often misunderstood, seems to have trouble expressing her true feelings. It’s probably because her stern face has become a complex, causing her shyness too.
Having heard that information, I turned toward Ayashi-kun.
“This is meddling from a great detective, but why don’t you talk to your sister about the cat? I’m sure it’ll be fine.”
“C-cough-ho?!”
[Eh? How does she know about the cat?! I see, there was cat fur on my coat… this person saw through everything – that I was secretly keeping a cat and got scratched! Amazing, great detective!]
(I’m not amazing… yeah, even with these cheat abilities, I’m barely managing.)
Humbly thinking to myself, I, the great detective (lol), left the Ichiwada residence.
Then Inspector Gori called out from behind.
“Hmph, I’ll thank you for now, Oba Kanako!”
[That gallant departing figure is so cool! This is what a great detective is! Please work with us again! Today I’ll invite my subordinates for a celebratory drink.]
(Inspector, aren’t you just looking for an excuse to drink?)
Worrying about Inspector Gori’s liver, I said “Good work” and left the scene.
“I’m exhausted.”
Yes, this is my daily life as “Mind-Reading Detective – Oba Kanako.” Receiving requests from a Police Superintendent who has dirt on me, desperately solving mysteries at crime scenes… I can immediately identify the culprit, but without evidence, I struggle greatly.
“I should have chosen an easier job.”
“You can read minds? Then you can become the detective you’ve always dreamed of! You’ll be the future Sherlock Holmes!” – cursing my own stupidity for thinking so simplistically, I trudged home to my office with heavy steps.
TLNOTE : All of the name in this chapter are a pun btw (Hanzawa=mr.culprit, Ayashi=Suspicious, etc)
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