Chapter 43 "Packaging"

"From Nishihara's perspective, if we want to ensure that the police don't suspect him, we must do three things."

"One is to sever the connection between the murder weapon and him."

"The second is to cut off the contact between the deceased and him."

"And third, there must be an alibi for the time when the deceased was determined to have been killed by the police."

Akikawa Kyousuke compared the rope in his hand to the strangulation marks on the deceased's neck.

It was determined that this rope was the murder weapon that caused the person before him to be strangled to death.

Because Akikawa Kyousuke concluded that Nishihara Koichi didn't act impulsively,

It's impossible that Koichi Nishihara would leave any trace on the murder weapon.

The second matter is his connection to the deceased.

The relationship between this unfortunate victim and Nishihara Koichi can only be one of two situations.

Either the relationship was very bad, or there was no contact at all.

In the first case, the police would only need to investigate the deceased's interpersonal connections to suspect Nishihara Koichi.

Thus, Akikawa Kyousuke prefers the latter.

As for the final point.

Akikawa Kyousuke also made a judgment by observing the deceased—

Nishihara Koichi intended to use the time he was on stage

to let the more than 1,800 audience members and staff present provide a perfect alibi for him.

After identifying Nishihara Koichi's modus operandi,

Akikawa Kyousuke's next step is to dismantle it piece by piece.

Then, he would "package" it into a new gift and return it to Nishihara Koichi.

Akikawa Kyousuke noticed that rigor mortis hadn't appeared on the deceased's body, and there were no cadaveric stains.

The Imperial Theater's central air conditioning maintains a comfortable temperature at all times.

At this temperature, cadaveric stains would appear on the body within half an hour to an hour.

Therefore, the deceased's time of death must have been within the last half-hour.

Akikawa Kyousuke also noticed fresh swelling and a crack on the deceased's head.

Moreover, even though he was strangled, the deceased's fingers showed no scratches.

Therefore, Akikawa Kyousuke deduced that the deceased had also suffered a severe blow to the head and lost consciousness.

Subsequently, while unconscious, Nishihara Koichi strangled him with a hemp rope.

"Nishihara went on stage in the fourth act, and I was called to the laundry room halfway through the second act."

"Consider that Saihara begins gathering with the crew on set halfway through the third act."

"This means that within half an hour, Nishihara will have an alibi."

"At this time, he would certainly create any excuse to send someone to the laundry room to find the deceased."

"On the other hand, I'm safe until he goes on stage."

In Akikawa's opinion, Nishihara Koichi's modus operandi was quite rough.

Apart from the strangulation marks not aligning with the attack posture arranged by himself,

Another issue is the risk of not waking up until the police discover him after being struck so hard.

Therefore, the intensity of the attack was poorly controlled.

This caused me to wake up earlier than expected,

giving me enough time to proceed with the following steps.

Akikawa Kyousuke took out the small bag Itakura Misaki had previously given him.

This bag contained mouthwash, wipes, and scripts.

Akikawa Kyousuke carefully wiped away the remaining hemp fibers from the strangulation marks on the deceased's neck with a wet wipe.

He also tucked the hemp rope used as the murder weapon into his clothing.

As for why Akikawa Kyousuke wasn't worried about the rope's blood staining his clothes,

It was because Akikawa Kyousuke's clothes were already stained with the deceased's blood when he woke up.

Needless to say, this was naturally Nishihara Koichi's doing.

Clothes stained with the deceased's blood are no different from murder weapons. The key is this student uniform, which only he can wear in the entire Imperial Theater.

Nishihara Koichi must have considered this from the beginning, so he deliberately let the deceased's blood stain his clothes.

Anyway, they had to deal with it together later, so Akikawa Kyousuke didn't mind the bit of blood on the hemp rope.

Akikawa Kyousuke took out the play's script from his bag again.

Using the pages of the script, he trimmed the fingertips of the deceased.

After doing this, Akikawa Kyousuke suddenly made additional discoveries as he examined the deceased's mouth.

There was a considerable amount of blood in the deceased's mouth.

Akikawa Kyousuke tilted the deceased's head and allowed the blood in his mouth to spill out.

Then Akikawa Kyousuke discovered a large wound on the deceased's tongue.

Simultaneously, the muscles inside the deceased's mouth still showed signs of contraction and spasms.

This indicated that the deceased's tongue was injured while he was still alive.

Upon discerning this, Akikawa Kyousuke held the deceased's head, raised his foot, and kicked towards the corner of his jaw and jaw body.

Ordinarily, Kyousuke Akikawa's strength wasn't enough to break the mandibular angle of an adult male.

Let alone the mandibular body, which is thicker than the mandibular angle.

But for Akikawa Kyousuke, who possesses professional fighting skills, precisely kicking someone's mandibular angle with his hard-soled leather shoes wasn't difficult.

When Akikawa Kyousuke attacked the mandibular body, he targeted the depressed area at the bone's center.

This is a vulnerable spot on the mandibular body.

So breaking the deceased's jaw was easy.

In this way, the deceased's mouth was essentially separated from his body.

Akikawa Kyousuke used the deceased's upper and lower gums to sever his tongue at the tongue wound.

Then, before blood could emerge, he closed the deceased's mouth again.

In addition,

Akikawa Kyousuke found two types of laundry detergent for sensitive and non-sensitive skin in the laundry room.

He took some non-sensitive skin detergent powder and put it in his bag.

Akikawa Kyousuke then returned to the deceased, pressing down on the crack on the deceased's head, causing blood to flow.

He stretched out his hand, allowing the blood from the deceased's mouth that had pooled on the floor to cover his palm.

So far,

the removal of the deceased's body was complete.

Akikawa Kyousuke walked over to the central air conditioner switch installed in the room, turning it off with a wet wipe.

Then he grabbed the door handle inside the laundry room with his blood-stained hand.

After opening the laundry room door,

Akikawa Kyousuke confirmed no one was there, then opened the door and exited.

He didn't bother to open the inner handle of the door, which bore his bloody fingerprints.

But he wiped the outside door handle of the laundry room with a wet wipe.

Akikawa Kyousuke simply left the laundry room door wide open, then entered the room next to the laundry room where clothes, wigs, and other props were stored.

Opening the door with his sleeves, he took out a long black wig.

Akikawa Kyousuke used his bloody hands to smear the deceased's blood, then tucked it into his clothes.

Then, Akikawa Kyousuke went to the nearby bathroom.

After confirming no one was inside, he entered the bathroom and closed the door.

He removed the clothes stained with the deceased's blood and took out the wig and rope.

The rope chosen by Koichi Nishihara was a two-ply hemp rope with less resistance than nylon rope and lacked elasticity.

This traditional natural fiber rope is highly absorbent.

But its resistance also weakens due to water absorption.

Akikawa Kyousuke kept the rope's front end and soaked the rest in the toilet water.

After taking it out again, he could feel that the hemp rope's weight had noticeably increased due to water absorption.

Then Akikawa Kyousuke used his fingertips to separate the two strands of hemp rope that hadn't been soaked in water.

He bit one with his teeth and pinched the other with his fingers.

When Akikawa Kyousuke exerted force with his head and hands simultaneously, the two hemp strands separated immediately.

This step's purpose was to effectively reduce the rope's size to prevent it from clogging the toilet when flushed into the sewer.

After disposing of the two strands of rope used as the murder weapon,

Akikawa Kyousuke removed his clothes again, soaked them in the deceased's blood in the toilet water, and simultaneously poured in the laundry detergent he took from the laundry room.

Now comes the most crucial step.

He needs to eliminate any remaining deceased's blood from his body.

Cold water can prevent blood proteins from coagulating, and the non-sensitive skin detergent contains protease that can break down blood proteins.

In a few moments,

Akikawa Kyousuke rubbed out the bloodstains on his clothes.

But this alone wasn't enough.

Because although protease can break down blood proteins, it has little effect on DNA.

To be foolproof, Akikawa Kyousuke must ensure that no trace of the deceased's DNA remains on him.

For this step, he needed another tool—

3% or higher hydrogen peroxide solution.

Apart from specially acquired products,

some household disinfectants, mouthwash, bleach, and contact lens solutions can contain hydrogen peroxide.

And these items are different from laundry detergent and aren't something he could easily obtain in the theater right now.

But—

"I have to thank Miss Itakura."

Akikawa Kyousuke thought to himself:

He then lowered his head and looked at the mouthwash that his agent, Miss Itakura Misaki, had prepared for him, sitting quietly in his bag.

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(End of Chapter)