"Perhaps your reasoning is flawed?"
The fruitless search led Inspector Megure to say, "Perhaps when President Masaka threw the pen, the cap just happened to hit the ground, retracting the nib? That's also a possibility, right?"
"That's true enough."
Shinichi, chin in hand, said calmly, "But how do you explain the indentation on the paper?"
"Maybe the culprit made it when tearing it off the sticky note? Then wrote the name…"
Inspector Megure voiced his thoughts, though he himself felt the idea wasn't very plausible, so his voice trailed off.
"Wait… name."
Shinichi paused, then slapped his head hard. "Am I an idiot? Why am I only noticing this now…"
After speaking, he frantically scratched his hair, instantly turning it into a bird's nest. "Name! The name!!!"
Inspector Megure was utterly bewildered. He said cautiously, "Kudo-kun… have you discovered something?"
"Ah… yes."
Though Shinichi had made a discovery, he wasn't happy about it at all. "The name… handwriting. We just need to compare the handwriting on the sticky note with that of others. That way, we'll know who wrote the name."
"Damn it… I was completely misled."
Shinichi was very annoyed that he only realized this now. "If I hadn't been so fixated on that pen… I should have been able to catch the culprit sooner!!"
Inspector Megure ignored Shinichi's complaint. He immediately instructed his men to have the suspects write the characters for "Kubota" and send them to the forensics department for handwriting comparison.
Half an hour later, the handwriting comparison results came back. Director Ochiai's handwriting had a 90% match with the message on the death note, confirming that the note was written by him.
Director Ochiai hadn't expected the police to investigate the handwriting. He could only confess to his crimes without reservation.
Seeing that the culprit had been caught, Shinichi had no desire to stay at the art museum any longer. After saying goodbye to Inspector Megure, Shinichi hurriedly left the museum.
As a result, he found it was already dark outside when he went out.
Shinichi took out his cell phone and saw that Ran had sent another message, just half an hour ago.
[Shinichi, you have a date tonight, right? We're hungry, so we're going to eat first. Be careful going home tonight!]
"Damn it… I should have just not made an excuse."
Shinichi was filled with regret, then he decisively called Ran. After getting through, he said, "Ran… where are you guys?"
"The date… ah, something came up, so it was canceled… Okay, okay, Asakusa Imahan? I'll be right over. Could you please order for me?"
After hanging up, Shinichi quickly hailed a taxi.
Chapter 28
In the cafe.
This made him feel quite unhappy, always feeling that the goddess of luck was siding with Ran and Sonoko.
Especially Ran, whose luck was exploding. From the start, she only had two cards left in her hand after throwing the poker cards.
Then, in the first round, she drew the matching card from Sonoko's hand, successfully escaping, and the remaining joker automatically fell into Lin Yi's hands.
Sonoko also repeatedly avoided the joker, successfully escaping.
Once might be a coincidence, but Lin Yi had encountered this situation several times, and in the end, he was always the one holding the joker.
As a loser, he had to unconditionally answer the questions raised by Sonoko and Ran!
Since it was Truth or Dare, they would definitely ask some private questions, questions that the other party wouldn't usually answer. That was the essence of Truth or Dare.
Sonoko naturally wouldn't be coy. She asked all the questions she usually wouldn't ask in one go!
"Lin Yi, what kind of girl do you like the most?"
After the question came out, Sonoko stared straight at Lin Yi, eagerly awaiting his answer.
Oh ho!
Answering this question couldn't be easier. Whoever asked it, just describe them in their image. It was practically a free point question!
Lin Yi said, "A girl who smiles a lot… and is relatively lively!"
Lin Yi was very greedy. He wanted both, so he only said these two points and stopped there.
Because Sonoko and Ran both fit these two points very well. If he continued to say more, he might make a mistake, so it was better not to say it.
As soon as these two points came out, Ran and Sonoko both subconsciously matched themselves to them.
Sonoko showed her happiness on her face, laughing happily.
Ran, on the other hand, slightly curved the corners of her mouth, trying to hide her smile.
It was Ran's turn to ask a question. She asked, "Lin Yi, why did you suddenly transfer to our school?"
This question… needed to be answered carefully.
With a turn of his eyes, Lin Yi quickly had an answer. He said, "Because Teitan High School is one of the top high schools in Japan. I want to get into a good university, and the learning atmosphere is better, so I transferred here."
After Lin Yi knew that he had the Memory Bread, he had considered adding a "genius student" persona to himself.
However, he was worried that if people asked about "CNKI" in the future, he would have a black question mark on his face, and his persona might collapse.
So he gave up. If he couldn't be a genius student, it wouldn't be a problem to be a hardworking poor student, right?
"Speaking of which, Lin Yi, you are indeed very serious during class."
Sonoko had been paying attention to Lin Yi during class. "You've been diligently taking notes while the teacher is lecturing."
That's not taking notes… it's formulating a strategy plan for you guys…
"I'm not very good at studying…"
Lin Yi gave them a warning in advance, lest his grades be a mess on the next exam, and it would be difficult to explain.
As for the Memory Bread… Lin Yi would rather use it to learn languages than waste it on coping with exams.
Unless he could draw another pack of Memory Bread.
This was the first time playing Old Maid, and the question Lin Yi had to answer after losing.
After losing the second time.