Chapter 16
“Why is everyone staring at me?”
Fan An, chewing on a sandwich, bathed in the scorching gazes of the crowd, unsure if she should continue.
She grew alarmed. “Is the food poisoned?”
The business license of Café Poirot was on the line. Amuro Tooru had to step forward to clarify.
“How could it be? Eat with confidence… wait, no, this is no time to be focused on eating!”
The downsides of having too many part-time jobs were becoming apparent. Public Security officer Furuya Rei wanted to facepalm. Café Poirot waiter Amuro Tooru felt a complicated emotion: Does she really like my cooking that much?
To keep chomping down even when she’s being accused by everyone. She loves it.
“This isn’t the time to be discussing sandwiches, is it? My celebrity was attacked by her!” The blond’s agent stood up, pointing an accusatory finger at Fan An.
“You have no proof. Don’t make baseless accusations,” Amuro Tooru frowned. “Put your hand down.”
The agent, stunned by the warning in his eyes, fearfully lowered his arm.
“But- but it could only have been her,” the agent stammered. “On the whole set, she’s the only one who had a conflict with my celebrity.”
Amuro Tooru: “What conflict?”
The agent froze.
He had plenty he could say. For example, the role Fan An was cast in was one the blond had wanted for a long time but couldn’t get. Or how the blond was so jealous he was buying hit pieces and online trolls to smear her across the entire internet. Or how the negative trending topics he’d paid for were completely overwhelmed by gossiping netizens, his private messages filled with mocking “hahahas,” how he had tried to steal a chicken only to lose the rice, making his head explode with anger…
But could he say any of that? Today, even if the blond died, the agent was determined to nail him to the cross as a victim!
“She maliciously intimidated my celebrity,” the agent insisted. “Male Lead #3, as a senior, was kind enough to run a scene with the rookie actress An, but she maliciously intimidated him in front of the camera, making him look like a fool! It was vicious!”
There was evidence of this. The entire crew had seen it.
“Besides, Fan An isn’t innocent to begin with,” the agent said, having found his target, and went on a tirade. “The evil spirit murder case where twenty-four people were wiped out overnight was clearly her doing! She’s the real killer!”
“I don’t know what methods she used to bribe the police department, making them cover for her and release her without charge! The world is so unfair!”
“Who else would have attacked my celebrity?” the agent questioned loudly, his voice growing higher and shriller. “She’s a criminal! She can’t control her criminal desires! She likes hurting people!”
POW!
A fist smashed into the agent’s nose. His nose was knocked to one side, and blood splattered.
“Keep talking.”
Amuro Tooru’s face was expressionless. He beckoned to the agent with his finger, the veins on his forearm standing out. “Whether it’s slandering the police or insulting her, keep talking.”
The agent, who spent his years in the gym and was tall and muscular, was knocked to the ground by a single punch. He scrambled up, furious and embarrassed. “Don’t think I won’t fight back…”
A hand from behind patted his arm.
The agent, his nerves on high alert, reflexively threw a punch at the hand reaching from behind him.
He punched nothing but air. The shift in his center of gravity made the man stumble forward, his eyes looking at the ground.
A snake-like rope fell around his neck.
“Tying someone up requires skill,” the dark-haired girl said. “If you’re not careful, the pig will break free—don’t worry, my technique is good.”
The hemp rope from the props department was of good quality, too.
“You attacked me first,” Fan An said, effortlessly tying the agent up. She grabbed his hair, her eyes looking down to meet his. “I was acting in self-defense. You can understand that, right?”
She asked in a reasonable tone.
The girl’s jet-black pupils seemed to suck in all the light. Even his reflection was swallowed by the darkness.
Fear seized the man’s limbs. He suddenly understood why the third male lead had shown such a pathetic, broken-down state in front of the camera.
So scary… so scary… I’m going to be killed… I’m going to be killed!
Fan An tilted her head, puzzled.
She hadn’t kicked the agent’s knees. Why had he knelt down on his own?
“Am I that fierce?” An’an asked, uncertain. “I think I’m quite friendly.”
She hadn’t even fought back, just tied him up. Although she had used a pig-tying technique, An’an was a professional.
“Mr. Amuro,” the girl said, stepping around the unidentified object on the floor. “There’s blood on your knuckles. Can you claim compensation from the agent?”
“Probably not,” Amuro said, wiping the blood from his hand and shrugging. “This is his blood.”
Fan An: But it’s a nosebleed! You can claim compensation for someone giving you a nosebleed! You can sue him for indecent assault!
She personally thought that with Amuro’s looks, his chances of winning a lawsuit were very high.
Amuro thanked Fan An for her kindness and firmly refused.
“The crime of insulting others is enough to get him in hot water,” he said. “Slandering the police is also a serious crime.”
Fan An’s release was a joint announcement by the Public Security Bureau and the Metropolitan Police Department. It involved the Black Organization, and the waters were terrifyingly deep, not something an ordinary person could touch.
Besides, the person who had signed off on the police department’s announcement was Inspector Megure. To offend Inspector Megure in Tokyo… did this man have a death wish?
Speak of the devil, and he shall appear.
“Mr. Amuro?” Seeing a detective at the scene of the crime, Inspector Megure breathed a sigh of relief and began his routine procedure.
“Is the person tied up over there the suspect in this case?” Inspector Megure pointed at the agent.
Amuro Tooru: “Well, about that…”
“No,” Fan An raised her hand honestly. She was a truly honest person. “The suspect is still me, An.”
Inspector Megure: I’m not surprised in the slightest.jpg
Following the rule that wherever Conan appears, there must be a murder case, and wherever there is a murder case, Conan must be there, a new crime compass for Beika Town was born.
She and Conan would be responsible for Inspector Megure’s entire annual workload. Listen to him say, thank you, because you have warmed all four seasons…
Inspector Megure: Someone, bring Miss Fan An’s dedicated police report file.
Officer Takagi opened the thick file and began to write.
The victim, the blond, had disappeared during lunchtime. The entire crew had searched for him for about half an hour. Finally, the prop master found the victim in the storage room. He was lying in a pool of blood, and his last words before fainting were: “Someone attacked me.”
During the half-hour search for the victim, Suspect An had no alibi. According to her own statement: “I was hiding and eating alone.” The girl held up the mango mousse container, scraped completely clean.
Amuro rubbed his temples.
Could he say it? He was already used to it. Having no alibi was an inherent attribute of Suspect An.
Inspector Megure questioned everyone one by one. He concluded, “On the entire set, besides Miss Fan An, everyone has an alibi.”
The agent grew agitated, writhing on the floor. “What did I tell you!”
Untie me quickly and bring Suspect An to justice on the spot!
“Not so fast,” Amuro stopped Officer Takagi from untying the agent. “Who said everyone except An’an has an alibi?”
“There’s one other person who doesn’t.”
The blond Public Security officer’s gaze shifted downwards. “What do you say, Male Lead #3?”
The blond, unconscious on the floor, didn’t move, as if he had lost all sense of the outside world.
The agent sneered. “My celebrity is the victim. He’s passed out from blood loss. How can he answer your question?”
“Blood loss?” Amuro’s fingertips lifted the third male lead’s blood-stained shirt. “Does prop blood count?”
“As for being passed out…” The blond young man’s tone was playful. He beckoned to Fan An, gesturing for her to come to his side.
“Let me show you something fun.”
Amuro took the girl’s wrist and guided her hand to cover the back of the third male lead’s neck.
“A little harder?” he suggested.
Fan An complied, using her pig-butchering strength.
The blond lying on the floor let out a blood-curdling scream, like a pig being slaughtered. “IT HUUUURTS!”
The scream was full-throated and powerful, completely unlike his weak accusation of being attacked earlier.
“A self-staged farce,” Amuro said, annoyed.
The third male lead wanted to continue playing dead, pretending it was just a final burst of energy.
But it hurt! It hurt so damn much!
The palm on the back of his neck was cool and soft, like a piece of jade pressed against his skin, giving him a momentary illusion of comfort and pleasure.
But then, a force like an iron clamp bit into his flesh like sharp claws. For a moment, the third male lead thought his skull was being pried open!
Holy crap… The blond was dazed. How many years would he have to lift weights in the gym to have this kind of strength?
Fan An: Practice in a slaughterhouse for eighteen years, and you can too. (confident_thumbs_up.jpg)
“Staging a crime, wasting police resources,” Inspector Megure said, displeased. “You, and your agent, are coming with us.”
Don’t you know how busy I am? Inspector Megure had to rush off to Edogawa Conan’s next scene later. He worked all year round without a break. To dare to file a false report and waste his time… You scoundrel!
“A rotten little man,” Director Kawamura gritted his teeth in anger. “I get it now. He was definitely planning to get you kicked off the set and steal your role. Ptooey.”
The third male lead’s plan wasn’t without a chance of success. Although Fan An had been released by the police, the label of “Suspect An” was still firmly stuck to her, impossible to tear off.
Some people, because of this label, pursued her with fervor.
For example, Director Kawamura, the curious onlookers online eagerly awaiting the next development, fans of the bizarre, lovers of villains, and other directors on the lookout for an excellent villain-type actor.
Naturally, there were also those who feared, opposed, and suppressed her because of this label.
“A brainless fool,” Director Kawamura sighed. “This is Tokyo, a city with a 100% case-clearance rate.”
If Fan An had joined the cast earlier, when they were filming in the previous city, the third male lead’s chances of success might have been higher.
Director Kawamura slapped his forehead. I almost forgot. The last city was Yokohama.
Edogawa is everywhere.jpg
“He should have waited,” Director Kawamura shook his head. “Wait until the crew’s next filming location. Maybe he wouldn’t have been so unlucky.”
In any case, he would definitely expel this despicable little man from the cast. Immediately!
As Director Kawamura instructed his assistant to handle the termination of the third male lead’s contract, he thanked Amuro Tooru. “Mr. Amuro is truly an excellent detective. The next time we film in Tokyo, we will definitely order from Café Poirot again.”
“Not at all, you praise me too much,” Amuro said politely. “Is the crew changing filming locations?”
Hearing something related to work, Fan An poked her head over. “Where are we going? For how many days?”
She had come to work today and left Hiro at home. If she was going to be away from Tokyo for several days, she would have to bring Hiromitsu with her.
“About a week,” Director Kawawsamura said. “The destination is Nagano Prefecture.”