Chapter 12: The Dead Angle of the Night Sky

"I understand now! The perpetrator behind the exchange event must be the problem!"

Officer Jenny snapped out of her thoughts about the delinquent woman's motive for murder, her sharp instincts zeroing in on the crux of the issue.

"From the current evidence, the victim wasn't someone who would abuse Pokémon! Although the Liepard bore marks of battle injuries at the time of the incident, there were no signs of severe abuse. Moreover, the victim's Pignite had once fought valiantly to protect its former trainer. If the college student had truly been a sadistic person, such a thing would have been impossible."

"There are many explanations for Pignite's behavior," the detective interjected critically. "Recent behavioral psychology suggests a theory—what's it called?—about how some kidnapping victims develop peculiar feelings toward their captors. This emotional phenomenon can lead victims to feel fondness, dependence, or even to assist their captors."

"You think this phenomenon exists in this case?" Jenny faltered, cautiously probing.

"In fact, no. I also lean toward the victim being entirely innocent." Hugo, leaning against the staircase railing, spread his hands, earning Jenny's clenched-teeth frustration.

"I agree with your assessment of the victim," Hugo continued, addressing the officer. "But as for who framed him and why, I haven't figured it out. One thing is certain, though—this incident conceals an even greater crime."

"Your intuition? Do detectives really rely on such things?"

"It's a subconscious judgment honed through years of criminology research… Fine, you can call it intuition."

"Alright, then listen to my theory!"

Jenny seized the moment to take the reins of reasoning. "Here's my hypothesis: the real culprit, the one who wanted the victim dead, is the perpetrator of the exchange event. They intentionally provided misleading information to the delinquent the day after the exchange, inciting her to kill out of rage, using her as a pawn to eliminate the victim. How's that for a theory?"

The officer eagerly awaited the detective's reaction but found Hugo lost in thought, muttering incomprehensibly in the dim staircase, "Perpetrator… exchange… photo… conflict…"

"Ugh, I can't connect it all!" he suddenly burst out in frustration.

But at this moment, Jenny's anger far surpassed his, and with a loud shout of "Hey, listen to me!" she delivered a swift kick to Hugo's knee.

The detective, caught off guard, instinctively leaped.

Unfortunately, he had been leaning against the staircase railing, and as both feet left the ground, his balance shifted backward. Under the pull of gravity, his body tilted headfirst toward the stairs below.

Horrified, Jenny lunged to grab Hugo's flailing legs as he desperately struggled to maintain balance midair.

With Jenny and the horizontal railing as his only supports, Hugo narrowly avoided a headfirst tumble down the stairwell.

"Heh heh… Ha… Hahaha!"

Hugo, dangling precariously like a gymnast on a balance beam, let out an eerie, almost manic laugh.

"Hugo, it was my bad for kicking you! If this upset you emotionally, let's talk about it, okay? Don't do anything drastic now… Don't move! I'll pull you back slowly… Good boy, good boy, you're completely safe. No need to panic…"

Jenny found herself reverting to her earlier work in the public security division, trying to calm a distressed individual and prevent a potential suicide.

"Your reasoning is illogical, Jenny," Hugo said, as if oblivious to his precarious situation. "If the perpetrator truly wanted the victim dead, relying on a convoluted method like this would have been far too unreliable. They couldn't completely control the actions of those attending the exchange event. And if they had exerted more direct influence, the delinquent, now confessing her crimes, would surely have implicated them to lighten her own charges. Since she hasn't done so, it suggests that her plan to kill was entirely her own."

Hugo's voice seemed to emanate from a realm between heaven and hell—or worse, the abyss outside the stairwell railing.

"Y-yes, yes! You're absolutely right!"

As Hugo teetered again, Jenny clung tightly to his legs and began pulling him back, though the detective made no effort to cooperate. Instead, he maintained his "balance beam" stance and continued his incessant theorizing.

"So, what was the perpetrator's goal in inciting the delinquent? What benefit did they gain from having her kill the victim? At this point, we can consider the problem from another angle."

Hugo, lying horizontally, gazed up at the layered staircases and the square ceiling at the top of the shaft. His suggestion to "consider a different perspective" sounded absurdly appropriate, given his position.

"Their goal wasn't simply to have the victim killed. Nor was it just to have the delinquent commit murder. The perpetrator's true aim was chaos!"

"Chaos?" Still holding onto his legs, Jenny finally focused on Hugo's deduction.

"To create conflict, escalate tensions, and sow chaos—that was the exchange event perpetrator's real purpose. Ha!"

Hugo executed a sit-up maneuver to bring himself face-to-face with Jenny, his sudden proximity nearly eliciting a scream from the officer.

"Remember what's happening at the police station today?"

"As if I could forget," Jenny groaned, finally letting go of Hugo's legs with a deep sigh and a bitter expression.