"Their posture, or perhaps their physique."
Fujino placed his hands on the table, thinking for a moment before looking at Officer Sato Miwako. He replied earnestly, "Actually, Officer Sato's disguise had no flaws; it was even quite impressive. However, certain physical characteristics simply can't be hidden. If someone knew you, they'd still recognize you at a glance."
"Posture and physique, huh?"
Officer Sato looked down at herself, feeling that made sense.
Even though she was wearing clothes drastically different from her usual style and a wig, her body shape remained the same. Without seeing her face, it would indeed be easy to recognize her.
However… does Fujino usually pay such close attention to other people's bodies? Officer Sato pondered, a thoughtful expression on her face.
"Disguise is actually a profound art, involving many key points. From concealing one's appearance to altering walking movements or even voice—all of these can be hidden with careful effort."
Fujino noticed Officer Sato's contemplative look, assuming she was thinking about disguises. He then offered an example: "Kaitou Kid is incredibly successful at disguises. Whether it's a man pretending to be a woman, or a man pretending to be another man, he can do it. But even he can't completely hide his physique. He usually avoids direct confrontation and seeks out targets he can genuinely impersonate."
"A man pretending to be a woman?"
Takagi's expression was a bit strange. "How would you even do that? Aren't the physical differences between men and women quite significant?"
"You can compensate for physical differences with makeup," Fujino said, looking at Takagi. After a moment of thought, he added, "If it were possible, I could even disguise you, Officer Takagi, as a woman."
"Huh?!"
Officer Takagi was startled, his face looking odd. "Wouldn't that just turn into Kabuki?"
"Officer Takagi, you could give it a try," Fujino stated seriously. "As they say, the greatest, most enduring, and most universal art in the world is a man dressing as a woman..."
"Ahem."
Inspector Megure, who had been quietly listening, cleared his throat. He couldn't help but picture Officer Takagi in a skirt.
"But I never would have thought," Officer Sato said, somewhat surprised, "that Fujino, you actually know about makeup."
Fujino explained, "Well, I am a detective, after all. I often have to go undercover. With enough practice, I've become quite proficient."
With his current abilities, he could indeed disguise Takagi as a woman. With his knowledge of makeup and a good makeup kit, he could absolutely pull it off. He thought it was actually quite simple. If there's no chest, you pad it. If you're like Vermouth, you can bind your chest and add height to alter your physique. However, when disguising oneself as someone with a vastly different body type, even the most skilled disguise artist can't achieve perfection. Even with his 'cheat' ability, he couldn't saw someone's legs off to make them shorter.
"Being a detective really isn't easy; it seems you have to know a bit of everything…" Officer Sato pondered for a moment, finding Fujino's explanation quite reasonable. She quietly mused to herself, then looked at Takagi and teased, "But Takagi disguising himself as a woman… maybe it's worth a try, don't you think? Then I wouldn't have to be the bait all by myself anymore."
"Officer Sato!"
Takagi looked on the verge of tears. Was Officer Sato really going to make him pretend to be a woman? Although he'd probably agree, it would be far too embarrassing...
"I was just kidding," Officer Sato said with a light chuckle.
"By the way, Inspector Megure," Fujino suddenly interjected, "I just heard Officer Sato mention that you're staking out a suspect who's been attacking women. Could you tell me exactly what's going on?"
"Officer Sato already told you about this?" Inspector Megure was surprised and turned to look at Officer Sato.
"Officer Sato did tell me about it. She said there's a perpetrator who targets fashionable women lurking around here lately," Fujino continued after a pause. "But she didn't say much at the time, so I was hoping you could tell me more about what happened."
"Takagi, show Fujino a picture," Inspector Megure motioned to Takagi, then explained, "This guy appeared recently, specifically targeting young women. From the victims' descriptions, the culprit might be an adult male around 150 centimeters tall…"
"These are the photos of the victims," Officer Takagi pulled three photos from his inner jacket pocket and handed them to Fujino.
The first victim was a girl named Mizutani Ryoko. She had long brown hair, wore a fluffy coat, and her skin was dark, almost like a "nigga" from Africa, similar to Heiji Hattori. Her eyelids and lips were lightly made up. She was waiting at a red light when someone rear-ended her. As she got out to argue, the person hit her with a blunt object, knocking her unconscious.
The second victim was a girl named Endo Hitomi. She had short blonde hair and similar makeup to the first victim, with equally dark skin. She was hit from behind with a blunt object after leaving a public park restroom.
The last victim was Kuroishi Michiko. Her skin was also dark, but noticeably lighter than the previous two. Her attire and makeup were similar. She was attacked in a phone booth.
So far, aside from their fashionable attire, the three had no other common characteristics. Of course, their dark skin wasn't considered significant by the police, simply because it was a popular trend at the time.
Inspector Megure looked at Fujino expectantly. After all, in his mind, trust in Fujino meant solved cases. As long as Fujino was present, cases would be resolved quickly.
"I don't see anything either," Fujino shook his head helplessly. "Aside from them all being Shibuya gals, there's no other commonality."
"Even you don't see anything, kid?" Inspector Megure sighed, feeling a bit disheartened. If even Fujino couldn't find a connection, then this case would certainly be much harder to investigate...
Actually, Fujino wasn't entirely clueless. Shibuya gals, also known as 109 gals or "black-skinned foreign girls," typically tanned their skin with UV rays, wore fashionable mini-skirts, had light brown hair, applied exaggerated eye makeup, and wore platform shoes—though they were all girls.
If he remembered correctly, the recurring link in this case was the platform shoes. About a year ago, the culprit's son was hit and killed by someone in a department store. The culprit was a "Shibuya gal." At the time, that gal was wearing platform shoes. Perhaps due to the platform shoes, she couldn't stop in time, and although the parking lot speed wasn't high, it hit a vital spot.
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