𝐁𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐒𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐬

file 033 | the lost treasure of hideyoshi toyotomi

"Inspector Otaki, you sure are busy," Kogoro commented sheepishly. "Two murders in two days."

Otaki smiled at him. "Well, it's my job." His face became serious. "It's amazing though. How did you know the victim's name was Kato Yuji?"

"I looked at his badge," Kogoro answered.

"His badge? You mean the crest on his chest?"

"That's Hideyoshi's crest, the Goshichi paulownia. As soon as I saw it, I knew he was the Hideyoshi character from their group, so I had them come and identify the body," Kogoro explained, gesturing toward the tour group.

"What do you mean about Hideyoshi character?"

"As part of the tour's entertainment, we have each member act as a famous person from the Warring States period and also have a penalty game," Fukushima explained as he stepped forward. "For instance, I'm Mitsuhide and Kasuya-san is Ieyasu, Wakisaka-san is Nobunaga, and Katagiri-san is Nene. And Kato-san over there was Hideyoshi."

Otaki blinked. "I see. That sure sounds like a lot of fun." He stood up. "But I don't understand how you could lose track of one of your tour members and let him end up like this."

"Well..."

"He disappeared so suddenly and we were looking for him all this time," Kasuya interrupted.

"He was wearing a flashy fleece outfit, so we figured we could spot him right away," Wakisaka added.

"Who'd have thought he'd fall from there in a ball of fire," Katagiri said.

Kogoro leaned forward slightly. "By the way, can you think of a reason why Kato-san would commit suicide?"

Wakisaka shook his head. "No. I don't have the slightest idea."

Otaki raised an eyebrow at Kogoro. "How do you know it was suicide?"

"First of all, it's raining so hard. No one would go out there on the roof. And then, he was wearing clothes made of fleece, which is very flammable. That proves he went out on the roof himself and set himself on fire."

"But you sure do come across a lot of murders, don't you? Maybe you're cursed or something?" Otaki suggested with a sheepish smile as Kogoro's eyes narrowed in sudden irritation.

"Oi, we're not having this conversation," he muttered, reminded of how Suzume got her 'Shinigami' nickname. "Besides, the chief of police's son comes across them more often."

"What? Is Hei-chan here, too?"

Kogoro looked up. "Yeah. He and Suzume went inside the castle just a little while ago," he replied.

~ — — — ~

Suzume carefully stepped down onto the angled roof, Heiji holding onto the other end of the rope that was wrapped around her waist. She crouched down so her hands and feet were on the roof for a better grip.

"Be careful, it's slippery up there from the rain," he warned her with a worried frown.

"You don't need to tell me that," she murmured under her breath with an eye roll. She pulled out a small flashlight, lit it, and held the end of it between her teeth as she looked around the roof. She paused when she noticed something.

"Did you find something?" Heiji asked, keeping a close eye on her.

"Bunch of tiny pieces of something here," she responded. She looked to her left and furrowed her brows. "Is that a lighter?" She grabbed it with a cloth. Is this the lighter he used? It doesn't make any sense, though. Why is it here? Her eyes widened when she looked back at where she found the lighter. There was a small spot where the stone was lighter than the rest. What's that mark?