Takato walked into the study and picked up the photo frame.
In the photo, the original body, Mitarai Kyosuke, and Miyano Shiho, both smiled at the camera, but they weren't close to each other, just standing side by side, with about an arm's length between them. The background behind them looked like a school building, with the words 'Experimental Building' written in English on the plaque by the entrance. The timestamp in the bottom right corner matched the date on Kosuke Mitarai's graduation certificate.
Speaking of which, according to the timeline, Miyano Shiho's return to the country was exactly four years ago, which means the original body and Miyano Shiho were schoolmates?
No, that's not what should be considered now. If the original body knew Miyano Shiho, then his current self might have encountered the worst-case scenario.
He had been pondering the cause of the original body's death, but now, if the original body knew Miyano Shiho, a new possibility emerged — death without a detectable cause, no toxins found in the body, a perfect crime that leaves no trace — APTX4869! The original body might have died from taking this drug!
In this case, why the original body was killed could also be explained, after all, knowing a Black Organization member is in itself an extreme danger! Perhaps, the original body was even an Organization member!
A person who might have been killed by the Organization with a drug is now alive and well in this world. Takato felt a chill to his bones, then suddenly rushed out of the room, constantly looking around, worried if someone was still monitoring the place — no, if someone was still monitoring, he would have been discovered the moment he woke up!
Soon, Takato stopped this meaningless behavior. If the above deductions were true, the killer likely only left after confirming the original owner was dead. After all, this place looked quite remote, with houses not built adjacent to each other, more like a scattered village. The murderer would have had enough time to wait for the original body to die from the poison.
Returning to the study, Takato began to examine it carefully.
The bookshelves were filled with a dazzling array of books, covering various fields. A quick scan revealed nothing worth noting.
He sat down at the desk, about to open the desk drawer, but his gaze was drawn to a rectangular mark on the surface. The original body probably didn't often wipe the table, and there was a slight layer of dust on the surface, but this rectangular mark was a very obvious dust-free area. Clearly, something had been placed there all along. Judging by its size, it looked very much like a laptop computer, and there was also a network cable port next to the desk, but there was no cable in the port now, so it seemed to have been taken away.
Opening the drawer, he finally found a wallet containing a stack of banknotes, several bank cards, and some of the original body's common identification documents. According to the information on the driver's license, the original body was exactly twenty years old.
With no further clues, Takato opened the door to another room.
Upon entering, Takato saw an ancestral shrine. On the shrine were two black and white photos of a middle-aged couple. Below the photos were memorial tablets, inscribed with the names 'Mitarai Taro' and 'Mitarai Aya'. Judging by their appearance in the photos, they bore some resemblance to the original body, Mitarai Kyosuke. It seemed these were the original body's parents.
In other words, the original body was already an orphan.
Walking to the shrine, Takato smelled paint. He looked closely and found that Mitarai Taro's memorial tablet was newly made; the smell of paint had not yet dissipated, indicating he had passed away recently. Mitarai Aya's memorial tablet, however, clearly looked much older.
There were very few furnishings in this room. Takato searched several times but found no other clues, so he returned to the study.
Sitting in the chair, looking at the photo on the desk, Takato fell into deep thought.
The original body knew Miyano Shiho and was suspected of having contact with the Black Organization. The missing laptop was probably related to this, and the cause of death was most likely being force-fed APTX4869 and dying from its effects.
A hellish start!
Takato couldn't help but sigh. Transmigration was incomprehensible, but his current situation was precarious. To be safe, this identity could no longer be used.
But if he considered this, how to make Mitarai Kyosuke completely disappear from the world was a major difficulty, after all, facing a potential murderer from the Black Organization, he couldn't show the slightest flaw!
Just then, a transparent window appeared before Takato's eyes.
"Deduction complete, closing case."
"Overall Case Evaluation: S"
"Logic: S"
"Knowledge: S"
"Observation: A"
"Settlement complete. Overall rating reached S. Issuing additional reward. Please choose:"
"Reward One: Hidden Clues from this Case"
"Reward Two: Defense Skill"
"Reward Three: special item"
Looking at this floating window, Takato was at a loss for how to react. He was all too familiar with these text descriptions; it was the settlement screen of the mobile game 'Bounty Detective' that he played before bed!
As a player ranked in the top ten in the region, Takato's routine was to play the game and rack up points before going to sleep every day. This game involved immersing oneself in different cases, using one's intellect to solve crimes and catch culprits to earn bounties. Players with higher total bounties had higher rankings in the game. If the final evaluation level of a case reached S-rank, they would also receive small items as extra rewards. These items could be used in different cases to facilitate crime-solving.
Now, this game's settlement screen, after he had summarized his current situation, actually appeared before his eyes! Could his transmigration be related to this game!
He went to the bedroom on the first floor again, took out a mirror, and saw that the floating screen directly in front of his line of sight was not reflected in the mirror. Takato understood that this was a screen only he could see!
His tense nerves began to relax; he wasn't without recourse!
But if this were true, did it mean his deduction was correct, and the original body's death was indeed related to the Black Organization!
Looking at these three rewards again, this choice was extremely important; whether he could break free from this predicament depended on it!
Reward Two was self-evident; if facing the Black Organization, even the most powerful Defense Skill was no match for guns and cannons. While Reward Three was intriguing, even in the game, special items only allowed players to grasp case clues a little faster.
It was Reward One, combined with the 'Observation' category in the evaluation system being only A-rank, that made Takato realize he must have missed a very important clue.
After weighing his options, Takato finally chose "Reward One," and new text appeared on the interface.
"You noticed that Mitarai Taro's memorial tablet was newly made, realizing that Mitarai Taro's passing was recent, but you did not find any related materials for cremation at home. In the open space behind the house, you discovered a patch of disturbed earth under the lawn."
Reading this text, Takato's heart couldn't keep calm. For the first time since his transmigration, he felt excited, and the corners of his mouth began to curl up uncontrollably! There is always a way out — Takato cried out in his heart, making his choice.
In the early hours of the morning, the natural gas pipeline in the Kitchen hissed, the television in the office was on but showed static, and the candlelight before the ancestral shrine slowly burned — suddenly, a huge explosion echoed through this remote rural village, and the two-story Mitarai Family house was instantly engulfed in flames. As the houses here were not adjacent, the fire did not spread to neighboring homes.
The next day, when someone discovered the Mitarai Family house in a remote village in the Shikoku region, nothing was left but ashes. After the police arrived, they found a charred male corpse in the ruins. Since all the elders of the Mitarai Family family had passed away long ago, the local police did not conduct a more in-depth investigation. This male corpse was identified as the sole son of the Mitarai Family family who still lived in that house — Mitarai Kyosuke!