This tombstone doesn't look like a tombstone, but rather a monument to a scenic spot.
Combined with the vibrancy of the tributes, which were both appropriate and inappropriate, it appeared as if the people were looking forward to their own futures rather than honoring the memory of a deceased person.
Akai Shūichi's eyes fell on the artistic inscription that looked like a vine pattern on the headstone, and paused for a few beats to hear Jodie's suspicious voice, "Mr. Akai?"
He looked up without changing his expression, "What is it?"
The projector was still casting the cell phone screen, which showed Ichijō Mirai and Jodie chatting, and in a few moments, they were already talking to each other.
At least, just by looking at the chat, they were talking to each other.
Ichijō Mirai replied to Akai Shūichi's question, even though he expressed his displeasure as if it were a joke.
He answered option 2 first, in chronological order of the case, and answered where Akai Shūichi received the card: a school, Bronx High School of Science.
The victim was characterized as a sweetheart with long hair like gold.
And the time of the murder: tomorrow night at 9:00 pm.
[I look forward to your performance, and I hope you still save her like a goddess of battle.]
[But it's okay to fail, I won't have to look for the next criminal to replace Mr. Akai's second greeting card.]
Jodie and Akai Shūichi's two cards are the first in a series of two.
A series of three cards totaling three cases to be committed by a single murderer.
If the murderer is solved when the first Akai Shūichi card is solved, the next two cases will not occur, and Ichijō Mirai will need to find other murderers who will be committing crimes in the near future to fill in the gaps.
That was the case with Jodie's card.
Ichijō Mirai answered option 1 again, answering the second murder clue in Jodie's series: [Park, three days later, young woman with long black hair.]
[I hope it's you, dear Ms. Jodie, who's disguised as the victim.]
[The implication is: although Akai Shūichi has long black hair and Jodie has short blonde hair, please don't be brave enough to offer yourself up to frighten the criminals, Mr. Akai.]
It's a not-so-subtle jibe, at least most of the FBI didn't pick up on the emphasis on 'long black hair' and just assumed that Ichijō Mirai only meant for Jodie to show up.
[Looking forward to your performance...]
[:)]
Unwittingly or unwittingly, he didn't answer option 3.
Akai Shūichi saw the flirtation, but his expression didn't even change, as if he didn't realize it, and his eyes rested on the smiley symbol that Ichijō Mirai replied with at the end.
His eyebrows twitched.
"I don't know what you guys exchanged during the happy race," Jodie looked sideways as well and shrugged, "but he seems to have a problem with you."
She bit down on the 'Happy Race', a not-so-gentle, ghostly reminder of Akai Shūichi's own pain in the ass when it came to policing public opinion.
"It's not 'seems'," Akai Shūichi looked away, pretending not to have heard the reminder, "but he does seem to have a problem with me."
"Probably because it's a little uncomfortable to realize that I'm a dangerous guy, enough to touch his core secrets."
Jodie immediately scanned over.
She pondered for a moment, not asking Akai Shūichi what he'd sensed and how he'd discovered Mr. Criminal's core secret, but just started another topic in a flat tone after glancing at the others: "There are a lot of students at Bronx High School of Science, but there are very few with 'hair like gold', so we'll be able to vet the list in the morning and get the suspected victims down to two or three." She said.
"How's your injury? Are you going to join the operation tomorrow?"
Asked Akai Shūichi about his injuries from the accident.
He shook his head, "Nothing serious."
But: "No."
This was a bit of a surprise to Jodie, "Huh?"
She was expecting Akai Shūichi to take part in the operation.
"Having been grabbed by the wings and dragged down once, he won't be observing the situation from a high vantage point close by for a long time, but will only be gathering information from a distance," Akai Shūichi said lightly, "With his ability, he can see the outcome and some of the details as clearly as if he were watching the course of our actions by simply broadcasting a bit of the information on the news or by going to the vicinity of the scene of the crime afterward,"
"Since he didn't show up, there was no need for me to go."
The most important thing is: "My failure to appear is an anomaly."
"I'm giving him a friendly reminder."
He gazed at the smiley symbol on the screen, and smiled slowly, like a shark keenly sniffing for blood in a vast ocean, "I'm about to bite him in the wing."
This time, instead of just tugging on the great Savior's wing and pulling him down to talk, he's going to bite the wing with his razor-sharp teeth and rip out a lot of wounds and blood, delivering the killing blow.
Jodie: "..."
Her eyes flicked around Akai Shūichi's body a few times, probing the dangerous guy's origin and purpose of joining the FBI, "OK, so,"
"Should I ask him why he didn't answer 3?"
＊
Option 3: Hint to find me.
Looking at the text message, Ichijō Mirai adjusted his posture.
He was sitting in the middle of the church.
It was past two in the morning, the church had already closed, the seats and altar were empty, there were no devout believers or priests, only a great Savior sitting in three or four rows of seats.
The reason why it is three or four rows is because Ichijō Mirai sat in the fourth row with his elbows against the third row.
"Hint," He pondered, his head in his hands, "what's the best thing to give?"
Identity clues are not easy to give, it's easy to give too much information, and it's easy to give too little information.
Ichijō Mirai sighed, "Alas, at times like these, people who have no place to live are often hurt by the fact that they can't tell others where their family lives,"
He added, "People who have too many houses in their name are also hurt."
"It's a pain in the ass, if I was a little lazy and didn't earn so many houses, but only had one, then I wouldn't have to struggle so much."
System: [...]
It was tempted to advise Ichijō Mirai to be more precise in his speech, not 'diligently earned a lot of houses', but 'diligently committed a lot of crimes and rightfully claimed the victim's house as his own'.
Ichijō Mirai, however, sensed that he was in a period of relaxation and boredom after having a good time, and didn't dare to venture out for fear that he would be played by the hand if he ventured out.
Ichijō Mirai turned his cell phone around, absently tapped the chair with his watch, and finally made a decision among the many choices, "Tell her the address of my current residence, and what's the code word for that?"
"'My present home is a church'? 'The good Mr. Priest has given me a church'? 'Thanks to the gift of nature, I have captured a wild church'?"
While talking nonsense without changing his expression, he edited the text message and sent it.
[Every morning, I wake up to the sound of bells and sigh with emotion at the kindness of the Savior.]