Okuno Yasuharu glanced at her and, recognizing her but not making anything of it, went straight to the point, "The patrol man broke down the door and entered the room, only to find everything was normal; no blood stains, no victim tied up and tortured on a chair, and even the room itself was neat and tidy, very hard to explain."
Kiyomi Liuli was greatly disappointed, "What's there to explain? It's obvious the person who reported the crime was dead drunk and made a false report!"
Okuno Yasuharu sighed, "At that time, the patrol leader at the police box thought the same, and he was so angry that he dragged the reporter back to the police box and handcuffed him to the heating pipe to sober up. But the reporter kept shouting, insisting he'd seen someone breaking in and committing a crime, and claimed that when he fled, someone was definitely chasing after him. In the end, the patrol leader had no choice but to roll him up in a blanket and hang it outside the house."
However, after the reporter slept off his drunkenness, he still didn't change his story. Feeling wronged, he kept making a scene, forcing the police box officers to take him to the local Town District Autonomous Committee to inquire about the house. The result was..."
"What was the result?"
Okuno helplessly said, "The result was that both the Autonomous Committee and the police box couldn't find anyone; the homeowner indeed had disappeared without a trace. Therefore, the case was escalated to us at the Public Safety Division, as at least we need to figure out where the homeowner has gone, and whether they really encountered any danger."
After pondering for a moment, Kiyomi Liuli said, "That being said, it's possible that the reporter wasn't making a false report, and it's very likely that the criminal was discovered, and to cover up his crime, quickly cleaned up the traces at the scene and took the victim away as well."
Okuno shook his head, "We thought of that possibility, too, but after our investigation at the scene today, we've found it to be virtually impossible.
The location of the incident isn't too far from the police box; it would only take the reporter about three minutes to run there. The patrol leader also responded very quickly, arriving at the scene in roughly three minutes as well, and with the reporter explaining the situation, the total time used was at most seven or eight minutes."
According to the reporter, there was a large amount of blood on the floor at the time, and it looked like a fight had taken place inside, with tables and chairs knocked over. It's hard to imagine how, in just seven or eight minutes, someone could clean up the scene so thoroughly as if nothing had happened, and also manage to take the victim away."
Pausing, he added, "We brought an ultraviolet light and scanned the entire room and yard, but we found no trace of blood. To clean up the crime scene so perfectly in seven or eight minutes is definitely not possible."
Kiyomi Liuli was also baffled, "Maybe it was just a coincidence that the reporter had auditory hallucinations due to his drunkenness, and by chance, the homeowner had left home. Is that why we have this farce?"
Okuno and Hidaka nodded at the same time, "For now, that's what we are thinking. We are about to go back and issue a search notice to all the police boxes. However, just as we ran into Nanahara, we decided to ask for his opinion."
Having said that, both men turned their gaze toward Nanahara Takeshi; the gesture of "asking for his opinion" seemed peripheral, as what they really seemed to want was for him to go "sense" the "spiritual energy," like the previous night, to find the person.
Nanahara Takeshi stroked his chin and thought for a moment, "If it's searching for someone, I don't mind taking a look but..."
Okuno Yasuharu excitedly asked, "But what?"
Nanahara Takeshi bluntly asked, "Who's going to pay?"
Okuno and Hidaka exchanged looks, finally remembering that Nanahara Takeshi was a "for-hire" spiritual medium, not a volunteer—asking for his help would require compensation. But paying for such things; trying to get reimbursed later would be impossible!
Would they put "Spiritual Medium Hiring Fee" on the expense report?
Wouldn't their boss smash their heads for such a thing?
Or should they pay out of their own pockets? But the search fee apparently started at fifty thousand yen, increasing over time... With a monthly salary and allowance of just over two hundred thousand yen, it was unthinkable to spend a week's or even a month's wages on a single case—they had to eat, after all!
The two of them were hugely disappointed and had no choice but to seek an alternative, "Does Nanahara have any ideas?"
Nanahara Takeshi shook his head, "I can't be much help without seeing the situation for myself."
"I see, well... sorry to bother you then."
Okuno and Hidaka sighed, left their contact information, and said their goodbyes regretfully, looking ready to proceed with the original plan, returning to mobilize the patrol officers from each Police Box to search for the missing person. Whether or not that would be effective remained to be seen.
Kiyomi Liuli reached out to stop the two detectives but lacked the standing to do so, after all, they weren't there to see her. She turned to Nanahara Takeshi urgently, "Someone is missing, you could help, why won't you go?"
"I have to eat too. How can I go without money? Are you going to support me?"
"I'll support you, I'll just...," Kiyomi Liuli, driven to the brink by anger, was about to agree rashly. Thankfully, being the so-called "Higashitama Town Intelligence Support," she had some smarts and stopped herself just in time, preventing a major disaster—although they had only known each other for a short time, she felt she already understood Nanahara Takeshi's nature well. If she dared to agree, he would definitely bankrupt her.
"So you're all heart, why don't you pay the fee then?" Nanahara Takeshi suggested again.
Kiyomi Liuli held her breath. Although her family's financial conditions were quite good, as a first-year high school student, fifty thousand yen was still a significant amount for her, beyond her reach—five thousand might've been doable, but fifty thousand was too much. There's no way her mother would let her have that much money.
"So, you want to use my time for your moral satisfaction, huh?" Unable to squeeze money out, Nanahara Takeshi instantly became a spiritual medium on the spot.
Kiyomi Liuli was furious, "I'm not! If I could do it, I would've gone myself and wouldn't ask for a single yen!"
"That's because your parents are supporting you!" Nanahara Takeshi said flatly, "I have to support myself."
Kiyomi Liuli was utterly at a loss for words, silently following Nanahara Takeshi home, feeling depressed and aggrieved—a case had been laid before her, and she couldn't get involved. It would've been better not to encounter it at all!
Not encountering it would've at least spared her this pain!
As they continued on, Nanahara Takeshi glanced at her sideways and asked in confusion, "You're not mad anymore, why are you willing to go home with me again?"
Mad? Yeah, I'm still mad. I even swore not to deal with this guy anymore!
Coming to her senses, Kiyomi Liuli shouted in a mix of embarrassment and anger, "It's just on the way, who wants to walk with you? I don't even want to know you!"
"I didn't speak up for you this morning just because you said in school that I could catch thieves with my deductive skills. I don't want that kind of reputation; it's harmful to my work. And I really can't guarantee whether you went to the Police Box after leaving or maybe you went to play pachinko—you have no reason to be mad at me."
"I'm blaming you, and I'm breaking off with you. Don't even greet me if you see me; we're strangers!"
Kiyomi Liuli shouted and hastened her steps, ready to ditch Nanahara Takeshi, the annoying pest. However, just then Okuno and Hidaka came back in their car, and Okuno leaned out of the door holding a bunch of colorful tickets and said, "Nanahara, we've given it some thought, how about we use this as a reward instead?"