Hearing this, Ruri Ujijo's pupils contracted sharply.
"Yuu-kun, do you really know everything?!"
Yuu Hoshimiya spoke, his warm breath hitting Ruri's small ear, sending goosebumps across her skin.
"Earlier, when you suddenly invited us outside at the corner of the corridor, I faintly sensed something was wrong."
"I suspect you saw something in the mirror on that door, and that's why you called us out, right?"
"The most likely scenario was that the culprit had just opened the door, saw a group of people outside, and immediately retreated back into their room in a panic."
"And that person happened to be someone you know, which is why you subconsciously helped cover for them."
"Later, you went back to that breakroom alone, only to find the body on the floor."
"Among the three people without an alibi, there is only one person you know well and would be willing to help."
"If I'm not mistaken, it's the veteran actor, Akira Nagumo!"
The moment the name was uttered, Ruri couldn't help but take a few steps back.
Yuu said in a low voice, "Miss Ujijo, Akira Nagumo is actually your biological father, isn't he?"
Ruri's expression changed once again.
"I learned from Aunt Eri that you grew up in a single-parent household and took your mother's surname, Doigaki."
"Later, when your mother married into the Ujijo family in Kyoto, you changed your name to Ruri Ujijo."
"Your biological father must be that Akira Nagumo!"
Ruri's voice trembled significantly. "Yuu-kun, how did you find out?"
Yuu sat down on the sofa, offering a casual explanation.
"Your tone. The way you told him to stop smoking earlier, and Akira Nagumo's reaction."
"I had the suspicion instantly, and now your reaction has confirmed it completely."
Ruri let out a sigh. "I never expected such a small detail would allow you to see through it."
"It's true. Akira Nagumo is my biological father."
"Two years ago, while I was singing the theme song for a play, I reunited with my father."
"He recognized me at a glance, saying I was the spitting image of my mother."
"I went home and asked my mother, and only then did I find out he was my dad."
"But when I invited everyone out just now, I didn't see him at all!"
As she said this, Ruri's face was filled with determination.
It seemed she was set on protecting her biological father.
Yuu looked up at the big star and couldn't help but sigh.
Tsk, women...
"Miss Ujijo, the fact that I came to find you means I already hold the truth."
"Protecting him is useless, and frankly, he doesn't deserve your protection."
Ruri refused to believe him. "You're lying. I've been watching you; you barely investigated at all. How could you know the truth?"
"Did you find the ten-centimeter-long murder weapon? Without a weapon or witnesses, how can you convict anyone?"
As expected of someone filming a mystery drama, she had some understanding of criminal investigation.
Yuu put on his gloves and pulled out the lighter from the crime scene.
"Actually, everyone was too obsessed with the forensics report saying it was a ten-centimeter blade."
"In reality, that weapon can be shortened and hidden."
"Did you know? The blade of a utility knife can be snapped into small fragments with your bare hands."
"The murder weapon was actually a utility knife blade, and the fragments are hidden inside the inner tank of this lighter."
As he spoke, Yuu gripped the bottom of the lighter, pulled out the inner tank, and tapped it gently on the table.
Before long, several fragments of the blade, large and small, shook out and fell onto a clean white handkerchief.
Ruri's eyes widened in sheer disbelief.
Yuu continued, "The process was likely as follows: the killer first wrapped the base of the blade with tape to act as a handle."
"Then, while Yoshiteru Kazama was fast asleep, they slit his throat directly."
"Afterward, they snapped the blade into tiny pieces and hid them inside the kerosene lighter."
"Then they stuck the tape back onto the floor. Since there is tape on the floor to guide the actors' positions during filming, no one would ever notice it."
"With the weapon hidden, they took off their coat and gloves and quietly left the scene. That is the entire trick."
"However, removing the inner tank of a kerosene lighter and inserting the blade fragments is precision work; it can't be done while wearing gloves."
"Even if the outside of the lighter was wiped clean of fingerprints, there will definitely be prints on the inner tank and the blade fragments. So..."
Ruri walked up behind Yuu and hugged him from the back, her breasts pressing firmly against his spine.
Her small hands covered Yuu's mouth as she pleaded with tearful eyes, "Please, Yuu-kun, don't say anything, okay?"
"I finally found my father."
"Hehe, when I first met him, I couldn't help but scream at him for abandoning my mother and me."
"I thought I would never acknowledge him, but later, he actually cried in front of me. He looked so pitiful."
"I only found out then that he had a painful reason for leaving my mother, and only then did I forgive him."
"Yuu-kun, can you help me? Keep this a secret in your heart forever, I'm begging you, okay?"
"If you agree, I'll do anything you want!"
"Miss Ujijo, are you trying to seduce me right now?" Yuu asked, his emotions unruffled.
"Are you trying to use your body to buy my silence?"
Ruri spun around and sat directly in Yuu's lap, grabbing his large hand and boldly pressing it against her breast, her face flushed crimson with shame.
"If you agree, I can even be your secret lover."
With that, Ruri pressed her lips against Yuu's in a kiss.
Yuu sensed the famous singer's amateurish kissing skills while looking at her flushed face and flickering eyes.
He could roughly guess that Ruri wanted to use the excuse of asking for help to "kill two birds with one stone."
Originally, Yuu didn't have the intention of taking advantage of her distress, but since the superstar had delivered herself to him, what else could he do?
Yuu immediately took the initiative, pinning her body down on the sofa and unleashing his masterful kissing skills.
The inexperienced Ruri felt as if she had been hit by a heavy blow.
However, generally speaking, Yuu was still a man of principle; he wouldn't actually resort to something that looked like "deception for sex."
Mainly because it wasn't necessary.
He finally managed to release Ruri's mouth, panting as he said, "Miss Ujijo, can you please let me finish the deduction? I never said your dad was the murderer."
But Ruri didn't seem to hear him, wriggling her waist and still looking for more kisses.
It wasn't until Yuu repeated the sentence a second time that she froze.
In her heart, she didn't know how many "curses" she wanted to hurl, her mind full of resentment.
She even had the blasphemous thought: It almost worked! Dad, why couldn't you have just killed someone?!
The ridiculous thought flashed past, and Ruri quickly regained her composure.
Although her face was bright red, she feigned calmness and asked, "Yuu-kun, what did you say? After saying all that, weren't you trying to get me to convince my father to confess?"
Yuu gave her breasts a lingering squeeze before withdrawing his hand from her evening gown. Ruri pretended not to feel it.
Yuu looked down at the female singer, remaining in that ambiguous position to explain.
"Akira Nagumo was indeed in the breakroom, but I never said he was the killer! The true culprit is someone else."
Ruri looked nervous. "Who?"
"It's the actress playing your daughter, Kasumi Namihara."
"How is that possible? Yuu-kun, I clearly saw my father. How can you say the killer is Kasumi Namihara?"
Yuu said gravely, "Because of the lighter."
"I don't know if you noticed, but Kasumi Namihara uses one of those refillable metallic kerosene lighters."
"Akira Nagumo, however, uses a disposable plastic lighter."
"The inner tank of a disposable plastic lighter cannot be removed, and there is no space to hide a blade."
"The reason was explained by his son, Nobuharu Nagumo. Because his wife doesn't allow Akira to smoke, he can't smoke at home and has to do it secretly outside."
"In that case, Akira naturally wouldn't buy a refillable metal lighter. If his wife found it on him, it would cause chaos. So, your father only buys disposable plastic lighters."
"Your father just buys a plastic lighter when he wants to smoke; he naturally wouldn't have thought of hiding a blade in the tank of a metal lighter."
"So the only person who would think of hiding a blade that way is Kasumi Namihara."
"Because Yoshiteru Kazama was asleep in the breakroom, even a woman could easily slit his throat."
"And the way she desperately tried to push the suspicion onto you after the crime also speaks volumes."
Ruri's eyes were full of confusion.
"But why would Miss Namihara kill Yoshiteru Kazama? Just because he called her 'slutty'? Surely that's not enough?"
Yuu chuckled. "It depends on just how slutty she was being. Miss Ujijo, do you remember the last thing Yoshiteru Kazama said?"
"He said to your father: 'Don't think I don't know about you meeting with your little mistress. Hehe, if I let that out, imagine how much fun it would be!'"
"When you heard that, did you think he was talking about your father meeting you? Did you think your father killed him to protect your reputation, and that's why you tried so hard to protect him?"
Ruri nodded.
"But everything was wrong. Those words were actually directed at two other people present."
Hearing this, Ruri's expression changed drastically, her pupils contracting.
A playful glint flashed in Yuu's eyes. "Mmm. Those words were actually meant for your father and Kasumi Namihara. In reality, the ones having the secret affair were Akira Nagumo and Kasumi Namihara."
"But Kasumi is also Nobuharu Nagumo's girlfriend. In other words, your father committed 'raking the ash'—he hooked up with his future daughter-in-law."
Ruri's eyes went round, and her red mouth remained agape for a long time.
"Or rather, Yoshiteru Kazama was right. Kasumi Namihara is a woman who is slutty to the bone, taking both father and son. Once the news got out, it would cause a massive scandal in the entertainment industry. It truly would be 'great fun'!"
"Therefore, both Kasumi and Akira were incredibly nervous after hearing those words."
"The rest is simple. Both of them wanted to find Kazama. Kasumi secretly prepared the weapon and was the first to enter the breakroom to commit the murder, but she ran into Akira Nagumo who appeared afterward."
"Because of their secret and intimate relationship, Akira had no choice but to help conceal the evidence. However, you ran into him as he was leaving. That is the entire process of the incident."
The deduction ended, and the room fell silent. Ruri's eyes were glazed with shock.
Dad was cheating with his son's girlfriend?
She couldn't help but feel a wave of nausea.
However, after a long time, Ruri still couldn't believe it. Her eyes filled with tears as she shook her head frantically. "I don't believe it, Yuu-kun! My father isn't that kind of person!"
Yuu cupped her face with his hands to steady her. "Miss Ujijo, wake up."
"Although what I'm saying is cruel, it is the truth. Your biological father is not nearly as good as you think."
"Did you know? Back when he was performing in the theater troupe, he abandoned his wife and daughter because he hooked up with the troupe leader's daughter—who is now his wife, Nobuharu's mother."
"He even became the theater troupe leader because of that marriage, leading the troupe everywhere."
"But due to poor management, the troupe went bankrupt several years ago. Consequently, Akira Nagumo lost his stable job, falling from a lead actor to a mere extra in the theater—until he met you."
"The daughter he abandoned back then has grown into a great beauty and a famous star and singer. That's why he begged for your forgiveness with tears in his eyes; he wanted to rely on you to make a comeback."
"You're too soft-hearted, and you forgot that he is an actor by trade. Performing a crying scene is easy for him. You were easily deceived."
Yuu showed Ruri a webpage on his phone introducing Akira Nagumo.
"Miss Ujijo, look at his performance credits below. They only increased in the last two years; there are no records for the years before that."
"Let me ask you, every time he met you, did the conversation eventually turn to work? And then he would start crying about how hard life is, so you would help find him jobs?"
Hearing this, Ruri was stunned.
She began to recall, and it was indeed so. Moreover, most of those performance credits on the phone were projects she had pulled strings for.
In other words, her biological father had been using her all along.
Yuu continued operating his phone. "This is the private database of the newspaper owned by Yoshiteru Kazama's father, which I hacked into. Take a look at these photos."
Turning the phone slightly, Ruri saw the images on the screen.
It was Kasumi Namihara's apartment. The curtains were open, and the photos had been taken through the window.
A series of photos—from the corridor to the room, from kissing to undressing, to having sex on the balcony. The entire process was captured.
Scrolling down, there were similar photos of Kasumi with his son, Nobuharu Nagumo.
Father and son sharing one woman—it was all captured in secret.
After seeing the photos, Ruri couldn't help but toss the phone aside. She grabbed Yuu's waist, pulled him down, buried her head in his chest, and sobbed uncontrollably.
Listening to Ruri's cries, Yuu felt his shirt quickly becoming soaked.
He gently stroked her hair, knowing why Ruri was so heartbroken.
Having grown up in a single-parent home, Ruri deeply yearned for a father's love, which was why she was so easily manipulated by Akira Nagumo.
Now, knowing that her father had been using her all along and was a despicable man cheating with his son's girlfriend, the sense of betrayal was naturally intense.
She was truly devastated!
However, Yuu didn't feel he had done anything wrong; short-term pain is better than long-term suffering.
That sleazy old man was clearly no good. Even if he was Ruri's father, exposing his true face was truly for her own good.
Otherwise, Ruri might eventually be fleeced of every penny by that old man.
In the room, Yuu continued to comfort Ruri.
He finally waited until she stopped crying.
Looking at her swollen eyes, Yuu reached out to gently wipe the tear stains from her cheeks.
He spoke gently, "Miss Ujijo, although what Akira Nagumo did was despicable, I told you all this first because I remembered he is your father."
"My original intention was to have them both confess, but I'm more than willing to leave that decision to you."
"If you truly don't want me to say anything, I will bury everything that happened today in my heart as per your wishes and never speak a word of it."
Hearing this and looking into those gentle eyes before her, Ruri's heart was deeply touched.
The man she fell for at first sight, the nationally renowned police consultant, was actually willing to violate his professional ethics and the truth he upheld just for her sake.
If anyone found out, his reputation would be ruined.
How could he be willing to pay such a price?
Ruri could no longer control herself, pressing her lips against Yuu's and clinging to him like a koala.
As they kissed, Ruri's tears fell once more. She buried her head on Yuu's shoulder, laughing through her tears.
"Thank you, Yuu-kun! Thank you!"
Ruri planted another kiss on Yuu's cheek.
"But it's okay. I've made up my mind. I will convince my father—no, Mr. Akira Nagumo—and Kasumi Namihara to turn themselves in. Thank you so much, Yuu-kun!"
Yuu nodded, saying no more.
In reality, Yuu wasn't carrying as heavy a burden as Ruri imagined; it wasn't the first time he'd covered for a criminal.
He had even personally eliminated enemies himself.
But there was no need to say that out loud.
Actions matter more than intent, after all.
...
Yuu and Ruri returned to the main room and found an excuse to send the others away.
To prevent the scandalous couple from doing anything desperate, Yuu stayed with Ruri.
He didn't want her to become a second victim if the persuasion failed.
Ruri, Akira Nagumo, and Kasumi Namihara spoke in a corner.
Ruri did most of the talking, while Akira and Kasumi's expressions shifted constantly.
They went from denial to fury, then their faces turned pale, followed by breaking into a cold sweat, and finally looking grim.
They glanced at Yuu, who was standing guard nearby, and the malicious thoughts in their hearts vanished in fear.
Now that the truth and the evidence were known, they had no way left to argue.
Furthermore, Ruri was constantly weighing the pros and cons for them.
If they confessed, there would be a lighter sentence. She would also find a way to get a lawyer to fight for further reduction, making the price they paid smaller.
But if they didn't confess and the scandal of their affair was exposed, they would never work in the industry again, and it would deeply hurt Nobuharu Nagumo.
Public outcry might even influence the judge's ruling, resulting in a heavier sentence.
After thinking and discussing it to the end, both let out a sigh of despair.
Unless they could immediately silence both Yuu and Ruri, there was no escaping justice.
Akira Nagumo still held onto a sliver of hope and began to plead in a low voice, "Ruri, my daughter, can't you help your father?"
"Go talk to your Consultant Hoshimiya! Ask him for a favor! Your father is so old; how can I survive in prison?"
As he spoke, Akira began to cry. The veteran actor's skills were indeed superb. Seeing this, Kasumi Namihara joined in with her own pleas.
Ruri, having been warned by Yuu, felt only amusement looking at their faces.
She said coldly, "Don't call me your daughter. You are no longer my father."
"To tell you the truth, Yuu-kun only gave me the chance to convince you to confess because I am his friend. There is no way he will cover for you."
Akira cried out, "Daughter! I only have you! Consultant Hoshimiya is so good to you; he must really like you."
"How about this? You sleep with him for a few nights. Men are all the same. If you make him happy, won't he be more forgiving?"
Hearing this, Ruri trembled with rage.
Are those the words a father says?
To save his own skin, he would ask his daughter to sleep with another man? How could he even say that!
How could there be such a father in this world!
Ruri finally saw her biological father's true colors clearly, and tears welled up in her eyes once more.