Gori shrank under the sheer force of Ryōsuke’s fury. Right, he mentioned donating a ton to the police. Piss him off, and those donations might stop—career over.
Since Gori couldn’t push further, I took over.
“Um, just for reference, could you tell me what everyone was doing after breakfast?”
Hitomi answered with visible irritation.
“Father and I were chatting in the parlor. Hanzawa was washing dishes, then cleaning. Ayashi was… doing something in the garden the whole time.”
“Ah, thanks… And the mistress—what was she—”
Perhaps because he had been asked this question multiple times the husband, Ryōsuke cut me off, clearly fed up.
“Enough! Must we repeat ourselves?! My wife was working in her room! Out of respect, no one went near it after breakfast! That’s all!”
As he fumed, he turned his glare toward the butler.
“She might’ve just fallen, but you had to call an ambulance and the police…”
“I-I’m sorry! I just thought it best to be cautious—”
Unable to watch the poor old man get berated, Gori hunched his broad shoulders and looked at me.
“There. Happy, great detective?”
“Ah, yes, thank you.”
“Honestly, the world’s gone to hell if this is what passes for a genius high school detective.”
He roughly scratched his short hair with thick fingers, then jabbed one at me.
“Listen up. Just ‘cause the Superintendent recommended you doesn’t mean I won’t kick your ass if you slack off.”
“Yeah, yeah, I know.”
A stupid-looking face… Even when told that, I wasn’t angry at all.
──Because it’s actually true.
From elementary through middle school, being at the bottom of my grade was my regular spot. My high school admission was called a “miracle.”
I hate to say it myself, but I have plenty of stupid episodes too. Until recently, I believed that internet joke about “Tsukigime parking lots are run by a guy named Tsukigime-san who has expanded nationwide.”
Of course, I also believed in Santa Claus until a classmate told me the truth… No wonder when I wrote on paper that I wanted a magical girl costume, there was a judo uniform inside instead… Just remembering it brings tears to my eyes.
Despite being stupid to that level, there’s a little reason why I’m called a great detective.
I have one “cheat skill” that no one else can imitate.
The name of that skill is── “mind reading.”
That’s right, I can read people’s minds.
“Hurry up. I don’t know if you’re a great detective or what, but if you’re not going to solve this case, I’m leaving.”
“Understood, please wait just a moment longer──”
First, I focused my consciousness on Ryosuke-san, the irritated master of the mansion.
“Good grief, calling a detective is ridiculous!”
[I’m not the culprit! So let me go to my unconscious wife quickly! She’s my precious wife!]
(This person is innocent. His mouth is foul, but he’s the type who cares about his family.)
Yes, this is how I can read people’s inner voices. No matter how good their acting or how skilled they are at lying, it’s meaningless in front of me.
Even if they’re the culprit… you know.
Next, I turned my attention to the eldest daughter, Hitomi-san, who kept looking at her nails.
“Eldest daughter Hitomi-san, have you noticed anything unusual?”
Hitomi-san answered irritably to my call.
“T-there’s nothing like that. Are you suspecting me!?”
[A-a stranger is talking to me again! This is really tough for someone as shy as me! I don’t know anything and I’m not the culprit either!]
(This person is also innocent… Ah, she was looking at her nails because she’s shy.)
Being able to discover unexpected sides is also a feature of this skill. The gap between looking strong-willed but being shy is quite moe.
I straightened my grinning face and continued by talking to the nervous butler, Hanzawa-san.
“Butler-san, do you have any ideas?”
“N-no, I haven’t noticed anything in particular…”
[Shit! Why did a detective come!? Don’t deduce that I’m the culprit!]
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(Ah, this guy’s the culprit.)
I felt relieved that I found the culprit for now.
And just to be sure, I spoke to the eldest son, Ayashi-kun, who had bloody bandages wrapped around him.
“Um, do you have any ideas?”
“Cough… wheeze… unforgivable…”
[What should I do? I got scratched up bloody by a cat I was secretly keeping in the back yard without telling my animal-hating sister, so I’m definitely being suspected. I’m worried about mother too, and I can’t forgive my bad timing…]
(…a cat, huh.)
He was just a cat lover. Extremely misleading, but when someone’s this suspicious, they’re usually not the culprit – that’s a common pattern in detective stories.
Just as I finished reading everyone’s minds, Inspector Gori with his stern face spoke to me.
“Hey, can you figure out the culprit with such carefree questions, great detective!?”
[Yo! Great detective! You always help us out! Please solve today’s case with a bang too!]
(This person is like this too…)
I pressed my forehead and let out a small sigh.
Inspector Gori… You’d never imagine it from his face and behavior, but he’s actually an extremely friendly person.
He’s verbally harsh to me as an outsider, but in his heart he’s incredibly caring… what you’d call tsundere. It seems he’s forcing himself to be strict due to his police position and in front of his subordinates.
“Damn, I don’t want to see your face.”
[I’m indebted to her every time, so I’d like to treat her to a meal sometime… But expensive places are difficult, so maybe the one in front of the station──]
(He’s already fully planning to treat me… Being too nice is also problematic.)
Setting aside Inspector Gori’s tsundere behavior, I looked toward butler Hanzawa, who was acting like a timid old butler without knowing he’d been found out.
“Ah, why would such a wonderful lady… sob“
[Hehehe! Even if she’s a detective, if I act worried like this, she won’t think I’m the culprit. If only she couldn’t read minds!]
(Sorry, I can read them.)
While quietly apologizing to butler Hanzawa’s inner voice, I confirmed that he was the culprit and began taking light deep breaths.
──Now you’re probably thinking the familiar detective scene of “you’re the culprit” will unfold.
(But you know, that’s impossible… seriously impossible…)
Yes, in this day and age… that alone won’t solve the case.
Because──
(There’s no evidence! No evidence!)
That’s right, even if you know who the culprit is, it’s meaningless without evidence. The premise of the signature line “you’re the culprit” – the part about “all mysteries have been solved” – is completely missing.
Of course, “I read their mind” can’t be evidence. Even if we forcibly arrested them, they’d be released for insufficient evidence.
To make them confess their guilt, physical evidence or something to make them confess is essential…
I pressed my forehead with a sigh, facing this same situation every time.
(This is where the real battle begins… Who was it that thought being able to read minds would make detective work all praise and easy money… oh right, that was me.)
After my internal self-retort, I got to work on evidence gathering with renewed determination.
The work of finding evidence that even the culprit hasn’t noticed, or interrogation work to make hidden evidence surface in the culprit’s mind.
(Sigh… Even though I possess the cheat skill of “mind reading,” what I end up doing is mental “investigation.”)
Honestly, it’s not much different in difficulty from examining the crime scene… no, because I have to choose my words carefully, this might actually be more exhausting.
Usually I have a reliable assistant, but they’re absent today. I have to solve this with my own power…
—
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