A woman with long black hair slowly rose from the blanket in front of the TV and hid behind Kamikawa Tadai.
The two pairs—man and woman—confronted each other from a distance, and the atmosphere grew tense.
If this were a TV drama, it would have been a scene where a man and woman were caught red-handed by the "Cheating Alliance." Unfortunately, this wasn't a scripted drama. The situation was much more serious—they were interrogating a suspect.
"Excuse me, let me ask you straight," Tang Ze said, his gaze sharp as a knife. "Miss, you are the one who killed Asamiya Kiriko, aren't you?"
"Huh? What did you say?" Kamikawa Tadai reacted angrily. It wasn't clear whether he was upset about the police framing his girlfriend or because Tang Ze had mentioned Asamiya Kiriko in front of her.
Tang Ze ignored him and turned to the woman behind Kamikawa Tadai. "You may seem like you have no connection to this case, but now that we know about you, we'll quickly find out the truth."
"What the hell is going on here?!" Kamikawa Tadai shouted, his voice rising. "Don't accuse me without evidence. Where's the proof?"
Tang Ze held his ground. "Of course, we have evidence. Since you asked, let me walk you through it from the beginning." He turned his attention to Kamikawa Tadai. "Although I can't accuse you directly, everything—every origin, every responsibility—stems from your actions."
The incident began when Kamikawa Tadai's real girlfriend accidentally discovered the spare key to his apartment. She began to suspect that the key might open the door to his mistress's home.
Intrigued and jealous, she started gathering information and eventually pinpointed a woman named Asamiya Kiriko as the owner of the key.
Then, on the day in question, while Kamikawa Tadai was out fishing with his friends, she took the spare key and headed to Asamiya Kiriko's apartment.
At around 6 p.m., she waited outside, watching Asamiya Kiriko leave the apartment. Once the coast was clear, she used the spare key to enter and snoop around.
At first, she may have only wanted to see what kind of place her boyfriend's other woman lived in. She assumed Asamiya Kiriko wouldn't be back for a while. However, things took a turn when the victim unexpectedly returned home.
Unaware that someone else was inside, Asamiya Kiriko didn't notice the shoes by the entrance. Her surprise was met with panic as the woman hiding inside rushed to escape. But she was trapped.
In the next moment, an even more shocking development occurred—Asamiya Kiriko crawled into the bedroom, still wearing her boots.
Realizing she had been caught, the woman snapped. Fueled by a mix of panic and rage, she grabbed a rope from the closet and attacked Asamiya Kiriko in a desperate fit of anger.
"Wait, is that really how it happened?" Sato Miwako asked, stunned by Tang Ze's reasoning. "If she crawled into the bedroom, that would explain why the victim was still wearing her boots."
"Exactly," Tang Ze said, nodding. "And here's how the rest fits together. According to the weather forecast, it was expected to rain across the Tokyo area yesterday."
"Oh, you mean Miss Asamiya saw the forecast after she went out and hurried back to collect her clothes?" Sato Miwako pieced it together.
"Yes," Tang Ze confirmed. "Although it didn't rain heavily, the sky was overcast, and Miss Asamiya likely rushed home to grab some clothes in case the rain started. Not wanting to take the time to remove her boots or slippers, she chose to crawl into the bedroom instead."
He continued, "The landlord's testimony supports this. The 'hello' she greeted him with wasn't a casual hello—she was in a hurry to get back inside. And the footsteps the college students heard were of her rushing up the stairs in panic."
As Tang Ze spoke, the woman behind Kamikawa Tadai, now pale, started to look more and more frightened. Her earlier bravado faded as she realized she had been cornered.
Tang Ze, seizing the moment, took out a bag containing the victim's hair and placed it on the table. "We have the evidence right here. You can voluntarily give us your hair for comparison, or we'll get a warrant."
"No need," the woman said, her eyes wild. "I killed her! It was me!" She grabbed a fruit knife from the table and pointed it at everyone, her hand trembling in rage.
Sato Miwako was quick on her feet, pulling Kamikawa Tadai behind her and taking a defensive stance. She stared at the woman with a serious expression, ready to react.
Tang Ze, equally alert, stood firm, but his heart raced. Facing an out-of-control suspect was no easy task.
"Why did you do this?" Kamikawa Tadai murmured, standing behind the others in shock. His eyes were wide, unable to comprehend the scene unfolding before him.
"Why?" The woman—Hirako—turned her furious gaze on Kamikawa. "Why? Let me tell you why! If that woman had been a beautiful, wealthy daughter, maybe I could have forgiven you. But she was just a woman living in a garbage dump! And that's what drove me over the edge!"
Seeing Hirako on the verge of losing control, Tang Ze acted quickly. He rushed forward and yanked at the blanket in front of him, pulling it with force.
"Ahh!!"
The blanket jerked, and Hirako lost her balance, crashing to the ground. The fruit knife slipped from her hands.
Sato Miwako was right there, seizing the opportunity to snatch the knife and subdue her at the same time.
"This can't be real..." Kamikawa Tadai whispered, staring at Hirako with lifeless eyes, his voice barely audible.
Tang Ze glared at him, his tone cold. "This is the reality, and you're the cause of it."
He turned his gaze toward Kamikawa Tadai, now filled with disgust. "You and Miss Asamiya never actually broke up, did you? Her pride shattered when she realized you were still involved with her, and that jealousy ultimately led to this tragedy."
Tang Ze's eyes locked onto Hirako, the woman who had once been delicate but had now succumbed to rage. "You couldn't stand being outdone by a woman you thought was beneath you. When you entered the apartment, your anger flared, and when Asamiya Kiriko came home unexpectedly, that panic, combined with your fury, caused you to snap."
The truth of the situation was laid bare, and the tragedy of jealousy and revenge became apparent in the aftermath.