"Wangcai?"
Reiko was still puzzled by the dog's sudden frenzy when Shuichi reacted, sprinting toward the payphone booth.
Just as he'd suspected, he found Mr. Fujimori slumped against the phone, his expression vacant.
Shuichi had intended to restrain him, but seeing the old man's state, he instead helped the red-nosed, balding figure to a nearby public bench.
"Retribution… it's all retribution…"
Mr. Fujimori suddenly let out a crazed shout, followed by a manic laugh.
Startled, Reiko instinctively ducked behind her brother.
Worried the old man might truly lose his mind, Shuichi grabbed his shoulders and shouted, "Mr. Fujimori!"
The yell snapped the old man out of it, his eyes gradually clearing.
"Hayashi-san, it's you…" he murmured with a bitter chuckle. "You were right up on the roof. I did kill Miura. Do you know how I did it?"
"You knocked him out first," Shuichi said slowly, "then tied a thin cord to the water tank on the rooftop, looping the other end around his neck. You propped him up at the edge, his upper body leaning out."
"The cord kept him from falling right away. You secured the other end in the gap of the security door. With the strong winds up there, his body swayed, making it look to those below like he was struggling, debating whether to jump."
"When someone opened the security door, the cord came loose. His already unbalanced body, no longer held back, plummeted instantly."
"You set up the trap, then went to the first floor to fetch those guards. One, to create an alibi, letting them 'witness' that the jump had nothing to do with you. Two, to recover the cord while they were distracted."
"Am I right?"
"Heh, as expected of Hayashi-san. You got it all," Mr. Fujimori said with a nod of approval. "I saw you on the news before. Your deductive skills are impressive."
"As for why you killed him…"
Shuichi glanced at the payphone, recalling Mr. Fujimori's words from the izakaya last night. It wasn't hard to piece together.
"Your friend was swindled out of a fortune by that man and ended up in the hospital. You came to Tokyo to get the money back. But when he refused, you were consumed by rage and decided to kill him."
"Mostly correct," Mr. Fujimori said, nodding slowly. "But I lied to you last night about one thing."
"That person wasn't my friend. She was my sister—and my wife."
"You…"
Shuichi froze, momentarily thrown by the thought of an unethical marriage, but quickly realized, "You married your cousin?"
Under Japan's Civil Code, marriage is prohibited between direct relatives or those within three degrees of kinship, but first cousins, being fourth-degree relatives, are permitted.
Reiko, quicker on the uptake than her brother, showed no surprise, clearly having already figured it out.
"Yes," Mr. Fujimori said, leaning back on the bench, lost in memories. "We were childhood sweethearts, grew up together, and when we came of age, we naturally got married."
"For over fifty years, our love never wavered. Even at our age, when no one was around, she'd still call me 'Onii-chan'…"
"We never had children, but we were happy."
"I thought that life would go on forever. But two weeks ago, she got a phone call."
"The caller said she'd won a grand prize—one hundred million yen! To claim it, she needed to pay ten million yen in taxes first."
"That's obviously a scam!" Reiko exclaimed. "How could she fall for it?"
"Child, the countryside isn't like the city," Mr. Fujimori said with a sigh. "What's common knowledge to you city folk is still novel to us rural people, especially us old-timers."
Shuichi nodded in agreement. In this era, without the internet, television and radio alone couldn't bridge the gap between urban and rural awareness. Even decades later, with the internet widespread, such disparities would persist.
"She believed the call without a second thought," Mr. Fujimori continued. "She withdrew our entire retirement savings and rushed to Tokyo."
"It's my fault, too. I was out fishing with friends that day. If I'd been home, we could've talked it over, and maybe…"
He slapped his knee in regret, tears welling in his cloudy eyes. "By the time I got home, she'd already left for Tokyo, leaving just a note explaining everything."
"She called me from Tokyo, saying she'd met the guy and was handling the prize paperwork. She was so sure of it, I started to believe we'd really won. I was already dreaming of taking her on trips, living out our golden years in leisure."
"But two days later, she came home broken, her spirit crushed. The first—and last—thing she said to me was, 'I'm sorry, Onii-chan…'"
"Then she collapsed. I rushed her to the hospital. The doctors said acute stress caused severe cerebral hemorrhaging. No one could say if she'd ever wake up."
"As her brother and her husband, I'd never abandon her. But the hospital bills were astronomical. In just two days, our remaining savings were gone."
"I begged the doctors for a few days' grace, then came to Tokyo alone, following the information she'd given me, determined to find that swindler and get our money back."
"I staked out the place where she'd met him for days until I finally spotted someone matching her description."
"But I couldn't be sure it was him. I was afraid if I confronted him and he denied it, I'd lose my chance to find him again."
"Luckily, yesterday, I saw him meeting another elderly person. After they left, I approached the old man and learned he'd also gotten a call about a prize and had come to Tokyo to claim it."
"He and the swindler had arranged to meet today at that office building to finalize the claim."
"I told the old man about my wife, warned him not to fall for it or deal with that man again. Then I went there myself…"
(End of Chapter)
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