The short-lived commercials aired quickly, and the live broadcast continued.
After a while, during a four-minute ad break, the host excused himself to go to the bathroom.
He had already killed Suwa because Suwa had planned to replace him and let a beautiful star host the show to boost the ratings.
As soon as he was out of sight of the staff, the host rushed up to the seventh floor. On the way, he pulled out the cell phone and gun he had hidden earlier, called Suwa, and lied, saying he was going to jump off the building.
At that moment, Suwa was on the fourth floor.
Upon receiving the call, Suwa opened the rotating window and leaned out, looking up.
But instead of seeing someone preparing to jump, he saw the black muzzle of a gun. Behind it, the host smiled and pulled the trigger.
The bullet struck Suwa in the temple. His body slipped, pressing against the window, which quickly shut itself.
Before the window was fully closed, the host dropped the gun inside the room.
So, it appeared as though someone had broken into Suwa's room, forced him to the window with a gun, and shot him.
And since the four-minute commercial break wasn't enough time for the host to travel back and forth from the ninth floor to the fourth, the host had an alibi.
The host smirked, packed up his props, and headed back to the studio.
He returned to his seat as if nothing had happened and gave a casual, apologetic nod to the others.
The broadcast continued without delay, and no one said anything, though the young detective couldn't help but glance down at his own leg.
The host felt guilty—he was clearly nervous, and after Jiang Xia looked away, he too surreptitiously checked his trousers.
"Phew, it's clean. Nothing suspicious here."
The host sighed in relief and resumed hosting the show.
…
After the live broadcast ended, more people started looking for the producer, and Suwa's body was soon found.
The police team arrived, and as usual, they spotted Jiang Xia in the crowd immediately.
Megure's expression became a little complicated for a moment.
"…Brother Jiang Xia has been at this for too long."
And the frequency with which Jiang Xia stumbled into cases, especially ones involving tricky criminals, seemed to be much higher than that of Brother Kudo.
…
There were many people in the building, but very few weren't under suspicion, which made solving the case tricky.
Fortunately, the time of the crime was fairly clear—during the live broadcast, the host had asked the staff to find Suwa. At that time, Suwa was still alive, so the murder must have happened sometime within the last 40 minutes.
Inspector Megure scratched his chin thoughtfully.
After a minute, he gave up: "Brother Jiangxia, what do you think?"
Jiang Xia didn't disappoint.
His reasoning was as straightforward as ever: "The murderer should be Mr. Matsuo."
As if he thought someone might not know who "Mr. Matsuo" was, Jiang Xia pointed at the door and added, "That host."
Host: "..."
The host paused for a second before becoming furious. "How could I kill my friend?!"
Tears streamed down his face as he spoke.
Regardless of his actual hosting abilities, at least his acting skills were up to par.
However, several police officers who had witnessed Jiang Xia's reasoning began to grow cautious and subtly surrounded the host.
Seeing that his emotional appeal wasn't working, the host switched to logic. He glared at Jiang Xia: "When Suwa was killed, I was in the studio the whole time. Didn't you just sit next to me?!"
Jiang Xia nodded. "But you left for four minutes during the ad break."
"That's impossible!" the host argued.
The host was confused. Why was Jiang Xia focusing on him? Normally, someone who had been so close and watched his every move like Jiang Xia would have been the easiest to fool.
That's also why the host felt so confident today—out of all the famous detectives invited to the show, Jiang Xia, who had solved very few cases, was the one he thought would be the easiest to deceive.
But things were going completely differently than expected. The other detectives at least talked about evidence, but Jiang Xia had been sure from the start that the murderer was him. What went wrong?!
The host, seeing the police getting closer, started to panic. "Four minutes isn't enough! From the 9th floor studio to here, it takes at least six minutes to go back and forth on the nearest route!"
Everyone fell silent.
Yoko Kinoshita, having read countless mystery novels since meeting Jiang Xia, seemed to think more like a detective herself.
She hesitantly asked, "How do you know that so well? Have you tested it yourself?"
Host: "..."
But the host, being the quick thinker he was, quickly improvised. "I was seven minutes late to a meeting. I ran while checking my watch. When I arrived, I made it just in time, so I'm very familiar with the time it takes…"
His reasoning was shaky at best.
Inspector Megure appeared convinced.
To verify the round-trip time, he pulled out a stopwatch and looked at Jiang Xia. "Would you like to take a run?
*Goal #1: Top 200 fanfics published within the last 30 days by POWER STONES.
Progress: 3/50(approx) for 10 BONUS CHAPTERS*