After becoming a chaotic daughter

The aroma of coffee and milk mixed together, permeating the small reception room.

Sitting under him is a soft sofa, with warm milk in his hands, and even the light falling from above his head is much softer than in the interrogation room. On the low table in the corner is a vase with brightly colored fake flowers." "Blooming" in a white porcelain bottle, the essential oil dripping from the petals exudes a pleasant aroma, which makes people feel relaxed.

This is the first time in four days that Nanako has left the detention area that controls the "suspect".She was still wearing a loose prison uniform, which was already the smallest size, but she still had to roll up the sleeves and trousers so as not to hinder her movement. Such crude clothes, and this clean and tidy reception room It seemed so out of place, like a piece of Tetris dropped abruptly in the "wrong place".

Sitting opposite her was a young man who claimed to be from the military and police force, but couldn't look at him.

"Sure enough, a room like this is more pleasant." The man put down the coffee in his hand and said with a smile on his face, "That's full of dust, sweat, no ventilation for a long time, and only simple and rude use of disinfectant. A cramped room that is cleaned regularly is a real torture to the senses.”

Nanako didn't speak, just sipped milk with her head down, like a young deer sipping clear water by the stream, her dark round eyes didn't have much light, and it took a while before she "remembered" to blink.

After she pressed the call bell, the guarding policewoman appeared outside the iron door of the interrogation room in less than ten seconds. After holding the western knife, the expression on his face changed from vigilant to relaxed, with a little respect.

The man only said to her, "Give us a better place to talk." The guard showed some hesitation, but after reporting to his superiors through the walkie-talkie, he quickly changed the place for them. They were brought together into this reception room.

[Should be a big man with a high status. 】

Nanako guessed this in her heart. Although she didn't know this man, she vaguely felt that he looked familiar. She might have seen this face somewhere, such as in newspapers or some documents of the detective agency.

"Do you like to drink milk?" The man, Joye Caiju, asked Nanako with a warm smile, his head was slightly tilted to one side, and his body was leaning against the back of the sofa in a very relaxed sitting posture, as if they were just Simply drinking afternoon tea and chatting.

Nanako pursed her lips, held the milk, and didn't really want to talk to him. Although in fact, in the past few days of interrogation, no matter which policeman, she didn't want to talk to him, but the man in front of her was nothing like It's a policeman, which makes Nanako think he's a bit strange.

Don't talk to weird people - this is something to remember no matter the time of day.After all, "strange people" can easily become "dangerous people". If you can stay away, it's better to stay away as soon as possible.

But now she is being "interrogated", even if this is the reception room, it does not change the fact that she is not sitting here as a "guest", but as an "interrogation object", so she sits in the policeman's room. in front of.

Not only could Nanako not run away, but she had to open her mouth to answer his question.

"... so-so." Nanako gave him a shriveled answer that looked like a walnut.

"But as far as I know, whether it's the detective agency or the Edogawa family's apartment, they buy a lot of fresh milk every week." Jono looked at Nanako with a smile, and there was a harmless smile in his voice I mean, "Although the original intention was to investigate the gun reserves and contraband possession of the detective agency, but I found this by accident, which really makes people very concerned. I have to buy [-] boxes of fresh milk every week, which is obviously extremely vicious. The criminals are surprisingly simple in this regard."

"Is that the milk I bought for you?" Tiao Ye Caiju asked, holding the handle of the coffee cup again with his fingers in pure white gloves.

Nanako didn't know what he was going to say, it was almost all the milk she drank, and it seemed pointless to deny it, so she nodded her head, but she didn't make a sound.

She heard Tiao Ye Caiju suddenly chuckle.

"...That's why stupid people always fail to grasp the important points right in front of their eyes." The young man raised his coffee cup and held it with his hands with pure white gloves, but he didn't drink it, "This It's the difference between a 'hound dog' and a 'regular cop'."

"Compared to endless interrogation, I can't see the slightest effect. For you—"

"Obviously there is a better way to 'use' it."

He leaned comfortably on the sofa, "gazing" at Nanako's direction with his closed eyes, his hearing was so sensitive that he could clearly hear the girl's subtle breathing, and her quiet voice An overly steady heartbeat.

"For example," he said with a smile, "if you are used as a hostage to coerce the detective agency to show up, if they don't show up for a day, then I'll cut off one of your fingers, and ten days have passed and you still haven't seen it." If it appears, then cut off your left hand, then your right hand, arms, ankles, calves..."

"Draw blood on your face, and let the detective agency listen to your screams and cries. If you do this, the detective agency will not be able to help you from throwing a net or robbing you in the next few days. gone?"

As if he was telling a story, he said such bloody and cruel words leisurely in a "speaking" tone, waiting to hear the light breathing stop abruptly because of fear, waiting I heard the weak heartbeat like a snare drum, which became rapid because of tension.

Tiaoye Caiju "watched" the girl in front of him.

But after two seconds of silence, he was quite surprised to find that the girl in front of him was still breathing lightly and her heartbeat was steady, without any change.

If his words were a pebble, then when this "pebble" was thrown into the hearts of others, most of the time, it would cause extremely high splashes, making it difficult for the entire water to restore calm for a long time.However, when this "stone" was thrown into Nanako's heart, it seemed to be thrown into a piece of quicksand, and the fine sand "flowed" slowly, swallowing the "stone" that was thrown in silently, even Not a speck of dust was raised.

In the quiet reception room, there was only the sound of Nanako sipping milk.

"Don't you think this is a good idea?" Jono Caiju threw the words to Nanako.

He first heard the sound of swallowing milk, then the rustling of cloth, probably the girl wiped her mouth with her sleeve, and finally heard the girl's flat, unwavering voice:

"...You can't find my father again."

Nanako felt that the man in front of her seemed a little silly.

He can't even find her father, so how can he threaten? How can he tell the whole of Japan with a 24-hour scrolling broadcast on TV, "Armed Detective Agency, if you don't surrender yourself, we will tear up your votes!"--this insistence Relentlessly screened for a week?

If they really do this, then this country is obviously going to be over, to the extent that a citizen who has a TV in his home has to emigrate by plane overnight.

Jono Caiju, who fully understood what Nanako said: "..."

Thinking about it this way, he also realized that his casual threats just now seemed very thoughtless, so thoughtless that he wanted to treat what he said just now as non-recyclable garbage, and stuff it into the mouth of his colleague Mo Guangtiechang, and let the other party do it for him. swallow.

"...Indeed." Tiao Ye Caiju maintained his smile, as if he had deleted the threat he just said from his life, and even emptied the recycle bin, "The Armed Detective Agency is really worthy As for the dangerous elements who have been dormant under the eyes of the government for such a long time, so far, apart from the clerks, the president, and relatives who stayed in the agency when the incident happened, only Osamu Dazai, who has been arrested now, has entered Prison, but the investigators who were the main culprits in the murder of important officials are still missing."

"There must be someone helping them secretly, like the port mafia and some guys... the stray dogs wandering in the gutters are really annoying."

Unlike the policemen who came to question him before, Joye Caiju didn't seem to follow the principle of "not speaking". Although he felt that he was a bit talkative, but knowing a little about the situation of her father and the others, Nanako didn't think it was too talkative. annoying.Holding the milk, she sat on the sofa motionless, staring at Tiaoye Caiju and listening to him, but he only said a few words, so he stopped talking and suddenly turned to Nanako. asked:

"Do you know what crimes the detective agency has committed?"

—I don't know, but I think you all seem to know quite well.

Nanako didn't say anything, just answered in her heart.

Tiaoye Caiju also seemed to know that no one had ever told Nanako about these things, so he patiently told them one by one:

"There were victims, soaked in a highly poisonous caustic fluid, dying of pain."

"There were victims, who were injected with compressed gas, like inflated balloons, and their bodies exploded to death."

"There were victims whose skin was peeled off alive."

"There are victims, unable to bear the pain of the poisonous weed, committing suicide by hitting the wall with their brains scattered."

"There are victims who have been torn apart by chainsaws and died beyond recognition."

"..."

"There are so many things. It's just a rough estimate. There are more than a hundred known victims who died because of the detective agency."

Tiaoye Caiju spoke slowly, and he asked Nanako, "What do you think?"

This is the first time in four days that someone has clearly told Nanako about the "crime" of the detective agency, and it is also the first time someone has asked Nanako what she thinks.In the previous inquiries, the police officers who questioned her just kept asking her "what did she do", "what relationship did she have with whom", and "do you know what the detective agency did".

Asking over and over again, Nanako became numb from the questioning. Sometimes, Nanako would even have a moment of trance, forgetting why she was in the detention center and why she was being questioned. Her brain seemed like The jammed gears, rattling, sluggish and labored.

——What do you think?

Tiaoye Caiju asked her this.

This is the most "complex" problem Nanako has faced in the past few days. Her somewhat dull brain, coupled with her poor language organization ability, made it take her a while before she finally opened her mouth. , answered Tiao Ye Caiju's words.

"...Father, they didn't do these things." She stumbled a bit before finishing the sentence.

Her heartbeat still didn't change, but she held her breath for a few moments, not because she was "lying", but rather - Tiaoye Caiju judged it this way:

The act of "opening your mouth to answer questions" made her feel a little strenuous.It is like a student who is facing a difficult problem. Because he is entangled in how to write and solve it, his thoughts are more focused on "thinking", so that "breathing" is deprived of a little attention.

"But the evidence is convincing." Jono spread his hands, his smiling face unchanged, "The detective agency is the murderer who killed the officials - no matter how hard you struggle, it won't help, at least dozens of people have witnessed this scene. Are you On what basis did you say the brazen words 'the detective agency is innocent'?"

Because if the detective agency really did this, at the very least, they should take her to run with her in advance, instead of letting her be caught on the way home after shopping——Nanako thought so, But this answer is obviously unspeakable. If you say it, it will feel bad.

So she thought for a while, and then answered Tiaoye Caiju: "Dad said, the police in Yokohama are useless."

Jono: "?"

Jono Caiju failed to understand what Nanako was trying to express.

This sentence sounds like provoking the police. Isn't it more true that "detective agencies are dangerous elements"?

But he soon heard Nanako continue to speak at a very slow speed. The girl's speech was slow, reminiscent of a small snail crawling slowly on the leaf, but the words were very clear and hardly blurred. How to read evenly, each syllable can be clearly distinguished.

"Without him, nothing can be solved, so he said that the police in Yokohama are useless. ...Although Dad himself is useless."

Nanako's answer to Tiaoye Caiju was already finished, but she didn't know why, so she added the last sentence.

...Maybe it's because the emphasis on "useless" may make Dad farther away from being suspected of being a "dangerous element".

Although what she said was very strange and sounded more like "provocation", Jono Caiju felt very subtly and felt that she understood what Nanako actually wanted to express from a certain angle.

The police in Yokohama are so useless that the criminals cannot be brought to justice, the truth of the case cannot be revealed, and the victims cannot receive the comfort they deserve.Although it sounds like "provocation", on the other hand, if someone on the side of "justice" said such words, it is more likely that justice is "late" or even "absent" repeatedly. Expressed dissatisfaction with the "incompetence" of the police.

It's "You guys are so useless, thank goodness I'm still here", not "You guys are so useless, you can't find my crime at all".

Joye Caiju tilted his head slightly, silently listening to Nanako's quiet heartbeat.Using "quiet" to describe a sound is a very contradictory statement, but Nanako's steady and gentle heartbeat can only be described by Joye Caiju as "quiet", like a silent night The sound of dew falling.

Nanako's heartbeat remained unchanged.

"In the Armed Detective Agency, there is a foreign boy who is a few years older than you, right?" Tiaoye suddenly asked, "A boy named 'Gogol'."

【…】

Nanako didn't know why he suddenly mentioned Gogol. Gogol hadn't been seen for several days, and she didn't know where Gogol was doing, but the man in front of her suddenly mentioned Gogol. , Nanako felt that it probably wouldn't be a good thing either.

She thought of what Tiaoye Caiju said before. Among the people who were arrested, it seemed that Gogol was not mentioned, but Gogol seemed to be classified as a "relative" of the members, which made Nanako not sure. Has Gogol been arrested?

But Tiaoye Caiju didn't tell Gogol's whereabouts, he just raised his eyebrows, closed his eyes and said with a smile: "...this boy has quite excellent abilities."

"...?" Nanako's dark eyes revealed a hint of bewilderment.

Tiaoye Caiju paused imperceptibly for a moment when she put down the coffee cup.

The girl in front of her, who hadn't reacted all this time, had a slight change in her heartbeat just at that moment.

[い,いの... what is excellent? 】

It seemed to refer to some kind of ability, Nanako took a moment to realize that the pronunciation of this word seems to be a bit similar to the pronunciation at the beginning of "Supernatural Secret Service Division".

Although she knew Uncle Ango and Grandpa Taneda who worked there, she didn't quite know what kind of organization the Supernatural Secret Service was.Japan's agencies are messy. Nanako only knows that the Secret Service and the detective society have some cooperation. It seems that they usually arrest criminals. It may be a special department similar to the police agency, but it must be more confidential.

Nanako has never seen any documents related to this agency in the detective agency, probably because they are all files that need to be kept secret, so they are sealed up after they are printed out.

Tiaoye Caiju: "..."

From Nanako's reaction, he felt a subtle sense of disobedience.

When he came to the detention center this time, he naturally didn't come to chat with the little girl because he had nothing to do—although he also had the intention of "scaring the little girl to have fun physically and mentally", but at present, it seems that the calculation is completely in vain ——The members of the detective agency who were arrested were locked up in different detention centers, but the interrogation work has not progressed. Both the clerks and the former members who have resigned all insisted that "the detective agency is innocent."

It would be convenient if they could be interrogated. Although I thought so, there are differences between detention centers and detention centers. Some are under the jurisdiction of the military and police, while others are under the jurisdiction of the city police.

And very "unfortunately", in several detention centers where members of the detective agency are detained, the military and police do not have the power to take people away at will.

[The deputy director of the Metropolitan Police Department, Yasui, is not a simple guy either. 】

Thinking of this, Tiaoye Caiju also sighed without sincerity in his heart.

With the power of the "Anti-Detective Agency", he made a decisive decision in just one hour. It seemed that he had arrested all the relevant personnel of the Detective Agency, but in fact everyone was under his "care" down.

The president Fukuzawa Yukichi was able to use the reason of "too dangerous" to let the leader of the hound, Fukuji Sakurachi, go out and pick up the person himself, and lock him in the detention center near the military and police base, but the rest of the people are just People like "clerks", "relatives", and "former members" who are at least not a big threat on the surface, it is impossible for the military and police to take them away one by one. If they do that, it is tantamount to beating the city police. face off.

But for Tiao Ye Caiju, "asking" information from other people's mouths does not necessarily have to be through "torture".

He has five senses that are far superior to ordinary people, and he can judge the other party's mental state by listening to the other party's heartbeat and breathing sound. Tension, relaxation, anger, fear, all emotions, no matter how well the face is concealed, cannot escaped his ears.

Deduce the other party's emotions, then manipulate the other party's psychology, and finally destroy the other party's spirit - the spirit has collapsed, so naturally any information can be easily obtained from the mouth.

This is the usual method of picking chrysanthemums.

However, Nanako Edogawa didn't seem to be very effective, and even the first step was difficult.

If destroying doesn't work, then it's a pity to replace it with "induction", using casual dialogue to make her let go of her guard (although Jono thinks that this girl doesn't seem to be very wary, it's more like she simply doesn't want to care about him), and then guide the other party to tell the information they want to get on this trip——

[What kind of abilities does the boy named Gogol have?]

However, the current situation is that the desired information has not been obtained, but he seems to have made some unexpected discoveries.

"Do you know your father, Edogawa Ranpo—what kind of abilities does he have?" Jono Caiju asked the girl sitting on the sofa opposite him, with the spherical tassel earrings hanging on her earlobes, Following his movements outside, he swayed slightly.

Nanako: "...?"

Nanako was at a loss, she didn't know what the man in front of her was talking about.

But this time she clearly heard the words spoken by the man. It was very strange, but familiar. Occasionally, in rare cases, she also heard someone say the pronunciation casually in the detective agency. similar to other words.

——【Different Ability】

The author has something to say:

The difference between the [original work] and [this article] that can be revealed at present:

1. [Original] Huadai was not detained, but was guarded at home and could not go out, and there were no electronic devices to use

【This article】Because Nanako went to the flower bag too frequently, as a former member, the flower bag was still closely related to the detective agency, so she was also detained. This is also one of the reasons why Nanako was detained. I have delivered information or stolen goods, so I always ask how Nanako and Hanako get along during the interrogation

2. [Original] On the way to escape from the hunt, Kunikida chose to die with Suehiro, who was chasing him, and blew himself up. In the end, he was arrested and his life was not lost, but his hands were blown off (he was healed by Yosano later) )

[This article] Kunikida was not among those arrested

3. [Original work] did not mention the situation of the clerk and Naomi

[This article] Privately set up police officer Yasui to use the hands of the opposition to "clearly grasp and protect" the detective agency.On the surface, he is still fighting with the opposition with the appearance of "insisting on the release of innocent people". In fact, he arranged the detention center to prevent the military and police from intervening. For example, Nanako has Officer Aoki here. Side stupid × but actually because Aoki stared at him dead, he couldn't have actual abuse towards Nanako, even the long interrogation from the next day couldn't work