On the stage, looking at Miss Yamahara Akisato, who had already lost her life, and the distorted expression left on her face, Takato couldn't help but frown slightly.
Then, he looked at the other few audience members who had also drunk champagne and were at a loss on the stage, noticing that they showed no signs of poisoning. Could it be that only Miss Yamahara Akisato's glass contained poison?
Thinking this, Takato looked at Ooyama, who was standing nearby. At this moment, this young man also looked flustered, holding an empty tray in his hand, and looking at the people on the stage with innocent eyes, as if begging for protection.
But, at that time, Miss Yamahara Akisato had randomly taken a cup from the tray to drink. How was it ensured that she just happened to pick the poisoned one?
However, one thing was certain: the culprit must be among those currently on the stage!
Then, after some thought, his gaze turned to Ms. Atsuko, who had just walked out from backstage—no, to be precise, she should also be included as a related person.
It was just that, although there was a time interval between Miss Yamahara Akisato drinking the wine and the poison taking effect, for death to occur so quickly, what kind of poison was used?
Puzzled, Takato knelt down to the shattered glass and gently sniffed the spilled wine on the stage. After careful discernment, he detected a faint, bitter almond-like smell—it was cyanide!
But if it was cyanide, wasn't the speed of the poison's onset a bit slow?
However, since there was a bitter almond smell in the wine spilled from Miss Yamahara Akisato's glass, it clearly indicated that her glass had been poisoned. And now, the other few audience members who drank champagne were not poisoned, so it seemed the wine they drank was not poisoned.
Regardless of the speed of the poison's onset for now, how did the culprit manage to make Miss Yamahara Akisato pick exactly this poisoned champagne?
"How is it? Have you found anything?"
Seeing that the situation at the scene had been brought under control, Yukiko walked up to Takato and asked.
"cyanide."
Takato said, "It's just, why was it only in this one glass of wine?"
Upon hearing Takato's words, Yukiko generally understood what was going on. She looked down at the exhibition stand, then walked to the front of the stage and negotiated with the reporters holding cameras, borrowing a few cameras that had recorded the previous scene.
Takato took the cameras borrowed by Yukiko and operated the buttons on them, immediately playing the footage he wanted to see.
Ooyama, carrying a tray with several glasses of champagne, came to the front of the stage. Miss Yamahara Akisato took one of them—the one slightly to the right of the center. Her action took only one or two seconds; she did not appear to be carefully choosing.
He watched the footage from several other angles consecutively, and the scene was always the same.
"She didn't even glance."
Takato said with a frown.
"She didn't choose with any care at all."
Yukiko also said gravely, "Do you have any ideas?"
"Currently, I can only think of two possibilities."
Takato pondered and said, "Either someone randomly poisoned the champagne, a random killing, and Miss Yamahara Akisato unluckily chose that cup. Or the culprit used some method to ensure Miss Yamahara would pick that specific cup."
Soon, Inspector Megure arrived with Police Officers and took over the scene.
"Oh! Isn't this Ms. Yukiko? And Brother Akechi. Why are you two here?"
Seeing Takato and Yukiko at the scene, Inspector Megure asked in surprise.
"Ah, Inspector Megure, long time no see!"
Smiling, Yukiko greeted Inspector Megure.
"Since Ms. Yukiko is here, then Yusaku?"
Inspector Megure said, looking around.
"Actually, it's like this: Yusaku couldn't make it this time, so I invited little Takato to participate in this commission with me."
Yukiko explained.
"Commission? Could you explain in detail?"
After Inspector Megure finished speaking, Yukiko and Takato explained everything that happened today to Inspector Megure.
After listening to their narration, Inspector Megure had a Police Officer call Ooyama over and questioned him about the threatening letter.
Ooyama's full name was Ooyama Kei. Because the scene of Miss Yamahara Akisato's death right before his eyes was too shocking, he held nothing back when questioned by the Police at this moment, admitting that he had sent the threatening letter to Miss Yamahara Akisato.
"Then did you put poison in the champagne?"
Inspector Megure asked sternly.
"No!"
Somewhat flustered, Ooyama Kei vehemently retorted, "I just followed Mr. Horii Ryosuke's instructions and brought the champagne onto the stage!"
"Then why did you send the threatening letter?"
Inspector Megure pressed sternly.
"Because that woman had an improper private life! She's not worthy of endorsing 'Fusae'!"
Facing this question, Ooyama Kei shouted loudly, startling everyone present.
"Why do you say that? I haven't found any related reports, have I?"
Takato was somewhat puzzled by this.
"Because I've seen it! At the company, although I didn't see who the man was! But it's definitely true!"
Ooyama Kei said with certainty.
At this moment, the Forensic Doctor had already conducted the most basic tests and informed Inspector Megure of the results.
After listening, Inspector Megure had a Police Officer take Ooyama Kei away first, then looked at Takato and Yukiko.
"The Forensic Doctor just conducted the most basic examination of the deceased and confirmed that the victim died of cyanide poisoning. The technical department also examined the scene and the wine spilled from the victim's glass, indeed detecting components of cyanide, while no cyanide was detected in the other glasses. It can be confirmed that the victim died from drinking poisoned wine."
"So, the problem is indeed still with the criminal method."
Takato said upon hearing this result.
In that situation, no one at the scene could influence Miss Yamahara Akisato's choice to make her pick the poisoned wine. So who, and by what method, accomplished the poisoning?
"There's a technique called 'forced choice'."
Yukiko said at this point, "It feels like one's own choice, but it's actually guided by someone. This is often used in magic."
"But in that situation, who could have psychologically induced Miss Yamahara?"
Takato shook his head, not agreeing with this statement.
"Or perhaps there was some feature on the cup that made Miss Yamahara want to take that particular cup."
Yukiko pondered and suggested another possibility, but it was also denied by Takato.
"In the footage shot by the reporters, no markings were seen on the cups."
At this moment, many of the onlookers below the stage had already left, but Hirota Masami and the short-haired girl with brown hair were still at the scene.
Hirota Masami looked at the Police at the scene and said with some concern, "Shiho, maybe we should go back first."
"It's fine."
The girl rested her right hand on the side of her face, with her elbow propped on her thigh, an indifferent expression on her face. "It'll be fine once the 'Fusae' new products go on sale later."
"I see."
Faced with the girl's reply, Hirota Masami didn't know what to say. "But it's rare for us to go out and have fun together, and then something like this happens."
Hirota Masami said, looking at Takato and Yukiko on the stage.
"Speaking of which, those two have been in control of the situation up there since the incident began. Are they Police Officers too?"
The girl, however, did not speak. She looked at the two people conversing with the Police Officer on the stage, focusing on the man in the blue trench coat who was deep in thought. She sighed, thinking to herself:
As expected, he's struggling with the problem of choosing the cup, isn't he? But to me, the time of the poison's onset is even more concerning!