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Y/n POV:
"—So, where did the perpetrator get the envelope and the manuscript? The answer's simple. He killed and stole it..." Ranpo starts.
"From the author himself," I finish, watching a few sweat drops fall down Mushitaro's face.
At this point, I see Ranpo pull out his phone out of the corner of my eye but I can't see what he's doing with it. I decide to not bring any attention to it though, assuming that he wants whatever he's doing to remain unknown.
"The evidence destroyer and the murderer are the same person? Don't you think that's a bit of a stretch? The manuscript could have been obtained by someone other than the murderer," Mushitaro explains.
"We have evidence," Ranpo says as he pulls out a folded up piece of paper. "This manuscript." Ranpo unfolds the paper to reveal the original manuscript of the last page of the novel.
"You seem to recognize it, huh?" I observe, watching his more obvious reaction to seeing the manuscript.
"It was folded up like this and hidden away," Ranpo says while folding the paper back up, "at the gift shop on the second floor of the observation deck. We checked inside the envelope as soon as we got it. And for some reason, just the last page was a photocopy. Was it so they could keep the original? No. In that case, they would have copied all the pages."
Ranpo paused for a moment before continuing, "That's when I realized... Maybe they printed it out in a hurry, right before it was handed off. So we checked a stationery shop nearby. And just as I expected, it was the same paper. In other words, the attacker was in a hurry to swap out the original with the copy. Why? If the content was an issue, they could have just thrown out that page. They didn't do that because there was a specific reason to hand over all the pages. If that's the case, the last page of the manuscript wouldn't have been thrown out. But they couldn't risk being searched so they hid it somewhere."
"And so you found the hidden manuscript?" Mushitaro asks.
"Yup. I've got a pretty keen eye, especially for things out of the ordinary," I say, answering his question, a double innuendo hidden in my words.
"As soon as we found it, we became certain the same person was behind both incidents. By the way..." Ranpo pauses before asking him: "What's your name?"
"Oguri Mushitaro."
"Thanks. Now we have all the information we need. You're the one behind both of the incidents, Oguri Mushitaro-kun," Ranpo states.
Suddenly, the car comes to a screeching stop, our bodies jutting forward slightly from the backlash of the sudden stop. Just then, the driver turns to face us and points a gun straight at my head. Despite this fact, I stayed as calm as I could, because I knew that that's what Ranpo would want me to do—I had to stay strong for him.
'Typical man, aiming for the woman first.'
"There are three types of cargo that I hate: cargo that talks too much, cargo that brings trouble, and cargo that doesn't pay. Anything to say for yourselves?" The driver asks both of us.
"I've got nothing to say. He does, though," Ranpo answers, pointing towards Mushitaro.
"Put the gun away, getaway driver. Don't give the detectives any excuses. There is no direct evidence that will lead to our impeachment. They never stood a chance to begin with. Unless you threaten them in plain sight, that is," Mushitaro explains.
"He has no use for excuses when I've got a gun pointed at his girlfriend's head. Get out of the car. I don't want to get my seat dirty," the driver says, motioning with his gun for us to leave.
YOU ARE READING
A Series of Mysteries ~ Ranpo x Reader
FanfictionY/n L/n never knew her biological parents nor did she ever really care to know them. She had loved her adopted parents and that was enough for her. But one day, when she decided to visit her parents and adopted brother, she discovers that he's gone...
