One hour and fifteen minutes passed, and still no traces of the murderer. Taro began investigating beside the victim for a few minutes. Vincy and Ema, meanwhile, were discussing the murderer's identity.
Then, Vincy exclaimed suddenly:
"Aw man, this is really hard!"
"Nothing is helping at all," Ema replied. "We literally have the weapon, but it's useless since we can't check for the fingerprints."
"Even if we could, the murderer ain't that stupid to kill without gloves," Vincy said.
"What do we do, then?" Ema asked. "Do we randomly pick between the brother and the wife?"
"I don't think that's a solid plan," Vincy disagreed. "We might pick the wrong one. Besides, I'm not sure yet if the others were lying or saying the truth."
"Yeah, we better not judge a book by its cover," she replied.
Vincy remained silent for a while, then declared:
"Well, all we know is... the murderer was killed, not a suicide. The stab was in his back, so there's no way he could stab himself. Plus, he was already chatting normally with his brother. At least... the teacher said there's only one murderer, which made it easier."
Ema paused, then asked:
"Do you think the brother killed him before heading to the bathroom?"
"I don't think so," Vincy disagreed.
"Why not?" Ema asked, surprised.
"The maid would see him before entering," Vincy responded. "According to the stab, I'm pretty sure the blood would drop on his clothes. That's why... I started to feel he was innocent. Only if the bathroom story wasn't a lie."
"Whoa! Since when you were that smart, Vincy?" Ema exclaimed.
"That's because I was watching too many detective shows," he answered.
After that, Ema asked:
"So, do we remove the brother from the suspects' list?"
"Umm... yeah, I guess," Vincy answered. "He'd be an idiot if he killed him anyway."
"Now, who else?" Ema asked.
"I think the maid is not the murderer, since she had no time to kill," he responded. "Plus, there's no blood on her clothes."
"Then, Yukiko is innocent," Ema declared.
"Yeah, sadly," Vincy replied. "Now, we have three suspects."
After a few minutes, Taro joined their conversation silently. Vincy told him that both the brother and the maid are innocent, explaining the reason again. Taro paused to think for a while, looking at the victim.
Suddenly, after a few minutes, Taro smiled.
"Whoa! That smile!" Vincy exclaimed.
"Did you discover the murderer, Abodo?" Ema asked.
Not yet... but we will find out soon, he thought, smiling.
After that, Taro grabbed a notepaper and passed it toward Vincy. He wrote some questions that suspects should answer.
First, Vincy went to the wife and asked:
"Did you leave your room before the victim was killed?"
Suzie picked her paper and began reading. Then, she answered:
"No, I haven't left my room since my husband's brother visited."
"I see... thanks for your answer," he replied.
Next, he went to the victim's friend and asked:
"Did you ever enter the room? At least once?"
"I didn't enter at all," the friend responded. "I only did it after his death."
"So, you didn't approach the victim at all?" Vincy asked.
"Right, I was the last one," he answered.
"Okay, good," Vincy replied. "Thanks for your patience."
Finally, Vincy went to the neighbor.
"What were you doing before hearing the scream?" He asked.
"I was watering the flowers and lowering the grass," he answered.
"Which means you weren't even there, right?" Vincy asked.
"Right!" The neighbor answered.
"Okay, done," Vincy replied.
Vincy returned to Taro and explained everything. Taro paused to think for a while.
Suddenly, Steve said, raising his hand:
"Teacher! Can I go to the toilet?"
"No, Steve," the teacher refused. "You can't."
"Why not?" Steve exclaimed. "You let Abodo enter!"
"He was useless," he responded. "Besides, you might ruin the scene."
"Aw... then hurry up, guys," Steve replied. "I can't keep it much longer."
"SHUT UP, STEVE!" Vincy shouted. "BE A SILENT VICTIM AGAIN!"
Minutes passed, and still nothing. The teacher checked his stopwatch, finding ten minutes remaining.
"Seems like the detective gave up," he declared. "Which means... the winner is-"
"Shoto matti coco sai!" Someone interrupted.
It was Vincy, standing confidently and smiling awkwardly.
"OI, KISAMA! WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU!" Yukiko shouted. "IT'S KODO SAI! KO-DO-SAI!!"
"SOROSAI! YOU'RE ANNOYING!" Vincy yelled, misspelling again.
"Ahem!" The teacher interrupted. "What do you have to say, detective?"
"Ladies and gentlemen, we got the killer!" Vincy exclaimed.
Everyone except Ema and Taro were surprised. Then, the teacher asked:
"And who is that killer?"
Vincy raised his finger high, then instantly pointed toward the murderer.
"The murderer... IS RIGHT HERE! THE VICTIM'S FRIEND!"
Everyone was shocked, since he was the least suspect of them all.
"IMPOSSIBLE! STOP LYING!" The friend shouted.
"Why do you think he is the killer?" The teacher asked.
"RIGHT! IT MUST BE THE BROTHER... OR THE MAID!" He shouted. "THEY WERE THE NEAREST!"
"Oh really? And how did you know they were the nearest?" Vincy asked, smirking. "I don't remember exposing any information like this. Didn't you say... that you arrived after his death?"
"T-That because–" He began.
"I'll tell you the reason!" Vincy interrupted. "Because you killed him! And before I explain anything... I'll start by clearing other suspects."
Then, he began:
"First, the brother. I bet almost everyone suspected him for being the last one with the victim. However, if he really killed him, he'd not go to the toilet. But even if he was the killer, he would be caught by the maid. Speaking of the maid, she can't be the killer. The reason is... there's no blood in her clothes. Besides, she was already holding some plates. I mean... she has only two arms, you know. And without considering the fact that she would be caught by the brother."
Then, he continued:
"Now for the wife, she is not the killer, because she was not near the room. She'll take a long time to return without getting caught. Yet, that's not everything, because that's impossible for her anyway. The way he got killed... was by muting his mouth and stabbing his back at the same time. Of course, her weak body can't do any of that."
After that, he finally added:
"Last but not least, the neighbor. He can't be the murderer. He declared that he was watering the flowers and removing the tall grass. Well, he was not lying. Look at his clothes, you can see some traces of grass over his pants and shoes. Nice details by the way, teach!"
"That doesn't make any sense!" The friend exclaimed. "Look at my clothes! There's no blood! And nobody saw me!"
Vincy paused with a sneaky grin, then replied:
"Now I'll tell you how you killed him. First of all, the living room of the mansion was on the first floor, so anyone could easily enter. But before you had done that, you went to the kitchen first to grab your weapon... the knife. The maid wasn't in the kitchen yet... probably taking the victim's orders or something. After you grabbed it, you returned to that specific window and waited for the brother to leave. Then you seized the chance, and killed him like I mentioned before. Oh, and about your blood? You were wearing a plastic coat or something that covered you, in addition to the gloves. Finally, you got rid of them later."
The friend paused, then shouted:
"W-WHERE IS THE EVIDENCE?! I DEMAND A PROOF!"
"Oh, sure buddy, I have two," Vincy mocked confidently. "First, under one of your shoes... there's a tiny red liquid. Come on, show your shoes!"
He slowly showed under his right shoe, and found what Vincy described.
"Yep, that's the ketchup... or the blood," he replied.
"I-I was eating a burger on my way!" He declared.
"Okay then, I won't consider this one," Vincy replied. "Even though the liquid matches the missing area on the ground. Hang on a second, didn't you say the victim called you for a visit?"
"Y-Yeah," he answered.
"Oopsie! I don't see your name anywhere!" Vincy exclaimed sarcastically. "Not in the missed calls... nor the received... or anything. The last time he called you was... two months ago?! I don't think someone will accept an invite after two months. Don't tell me the victim was so cruel that he deleted your call history."
The friend froze, unable to continue any longer.
"Fine... I admit it! I killed him!" He exclaimed.
"Why would you kill him? Isn't he your friend?" Ema asked.
"Because... because... hold on, let me read my text," he responded. "Because he... won a golf match?!"
"Oh great... another goofy reason!" Vincy commented.
"Another?" Ema repeated.
"Yeah, it's always the same silly reasons that people kill for," he responded.
After that, the teacher clapped for them, saying:
"Excellent, detective team! All of you did a great job, except for TaroAbodo... he was useless."
"Ahaha... thanks, can I speak again?" Taro asked, smiling faintly.
"You just did," the teacher responded. "Now that the activity is over, you can return to your home. Your results will show up tomorrow."
On their way back, Taro and the other trio began discussing.
"Sheesh, that was fun!" Vincy said.
"You did a great job there, Vincy," Ema replied. "Since when you were that smart?"
"Told you because of the detective shows," he responded.
"I hate that television," Yukiko whispered aggressively.
Then, Vincy added:
"Besides, I wasn't the one who solved it."
"What?! You didn't?!" Ema asked, surprised.
"Yeah, Taro was the one," he answered, pointing with his thumb.
"H-How?!" Yukiko and Ema asked, shocked.
"The teacher said I can't speak, but he didn't say I can't help," Taro explained. "So I began writing for Vincy on the notebook. However, I didn't write all of what Vincy said. Which means... Vincy solved around eighty percent of the crime case."
"You two never fail to surprise us," Ema replied.
The next day...
They went to pick their results.
"Oh yeah, full mark!" Vincy exclaimed.
"Nice, higher than me in something for the first time," Ema replied. "I've got eight out of ten."
"Seven out of ten," Yukiko added. "What about you, Taro?"
Taro, meanwhile, was shocked with a nervous smile.
"Y-You've got to be kidding me," he said.
"What's wrong, pal?" Vincy asked.
"U-U-Useless out of ten..." Taro responded, smiling awkwardly.
"Whoa! Seems like you need to ganbare!" Vincy replied.
Vincy and Ema laughed, while Yukiko whispered with an unimpressed stare:
"You finally said a correct word, baka!"