日本語 101
Japanese 101

Baka 馬鹿 means Stupid / Idiot 
Chan ちゃん means little one, an honorific usually reserved for children or people who are close friends or family members
San さん means Mr, Mrs, A universally to address people out of respect 
Maa まあ means Well...
Matte 待って means Wait
Dorama ドラマ  means Japanese Television Drama

 

Kindaichi Hajime tried to hide his smile at the sight of Aoyama Sho wandering aimlessly within the investigating office of the Yokohama Police First Division team, flipping and throwing the different case files around, “Sho-chan, try not to mess up their office too much.”

“They are already a mess on their own, I don’t think I have seen anyone more stupid than them,” Aoyama responded unconcernedly, ignoring the glares of all police officers on her.

“What do you mean by that?” Detective Akechi growled at the blunt insult on his team, while he might have shared similar thoughts about his team ability often, but as a team leader, Akechi Kengo will not allow this kid to belittle his team in any way, “You can’t go around criticizing people without any proof.” 

With a sneer directed towards Akechi, Aoyama Sho was ready to back up her findings with a ready example, “You really shouldn’t challenge someone who is obviously much more superior to you.”

“Oh really?” Detective Akechi glared back at the show of disrespect to him with the support of his equally angry teammates behind him, but Aoyama Sho hardly showed any sign of acknowledging them at all.

“Sho-chan,” Kindaichi Hajime called out warningly, the way Aoyama had purposely provoked Akechi and his team may have been amusing to watch but worrying for him nevertheless, as he could see some of the officers, rubbing their fists in anger, “we spoke about not talking in such manner before.” 

“Are you a Baka?” Ignoring Kindaichi’s warning, Aoyama Sho proceeded to snatch a file from a detective rudely to read the investigation footnote written by the detective before throwing the file back at the detective with a look of disbelief, “you dare conclude this as a suicidal case? I am amazed at your stupidity and total blindness. ” 

“Aoyama-san!” Even Inspector Kenmochi was feeling the tension in the office and was ready to jump in to warn the seemingly uncaring young girl, “Please watch your words.”

“I know, I know, people like you all are hopeless!” Aoyama Sho rolled her eyes at the growing angry crowd and showed them a crime scene photo of a woman with a bottle of poison rolled out of her hand, “You guys can’t even see your own stupidity right? It is amazing how stupidity has no limit here. Why do I have to be around such a bunch of Bakas who can’t even see the most obvious mistake right in front of them?”

Walking over quickly to Aoyama’s side to add some distance between the angry police officers and the young profiler, Kindaichi Hajime took the photograph from her and studied the photograph carefully before uttering, “How unusual.”

“Isn’t it?” Aoyama nodded happily at Kindaichi’s comment, among the group of police officers in this office, Kindaichi was probably the only one she knew would see her point.

“The fact that the bottle of poison had rolled out of her hand is not surprising,” Detective Akechi took a quick look of the photograph and replied smartly to Aoyama, “human has no control of their muscle when they become unconscious, hence the lady has no hold over the bottle once the poison took effect. I would imagine a genius like you would have thought of it before making such a comment.”

“Matte,” Aoyama put up her hand to signal a stop, “You are thinking in the mode of a suicidal case, ignoring all other possibilities again. What are you? A blockhead? Haven’t I just told you not to be narrow-minded?”

Kindaichi Hajime nodded at Aoyama’s comment and continued her explanation, “this is possibly a planned murder case because the glass bottle containing the poison is obviously planted evidence.”

“You’re right, Kindai-Baka,” Aoyama grinned back at Kindaichi with a bright grin, pleased that he has not disappointed her.

“But her cause of death is poisoning, and lab test has verified that it’s the same poison as contained in the bottle,” Inspector Kenmochi tried to clarify his doubts; his confidence in Kindaichi’s ability has allowed him to trust Aoyama’s analysis as well, but something about Aoyama’s explanation was lacking.

Jumping off the desk and grabbed a bottle of mineral water off the counter, Aoyama Sho walked up to Kenmochi offered the bottle to him, “Let’s pretend that this is the bottle of poison and you are the lady drinking it, starting now.”

At the nod of approval from Detective Akechi, Inspector Kenmochi opened the bottle of water slowly and started drinking from it.

“Baka!” Aoyama rolled her eyes and smacked the back of Inspector Kenmochi with a file she snatched off the desk, “I did say that to pretend that it’s a bottle of poison didn’t I? What do you think you are doing drinking as though you are drinking a bottle of water?”

“Eh?” Inspector Kenmochi rubbed the back of his head confused, “how else should I drink it?”

“Burning,” Kindaichi Hajime remarked smilingly with a sudden look of understanding, “the poison would have burnt its way down the throat because of its acidic nature. You would have felt pain， it would be as though you are drinking acid.”

“So it burns like acid?” Inspector Kenmochi looked at the young detective for more information, knowing perfectly well that he would probably be insulted again if he directed the question to Aoyama Sho instead, “What does that mean for us? If she is determined to die, she would still drink it, wouldn't she?”

“Your hands should have been holding on to your throat in response to the pain. It's a natural reflective reaction.” Detective Akechi breathed in sudden enlightenment, “and the pain would have stopped you from finishing the whole bottle of poison because as determined as a person can be, it is impossible to endure all the pain and stop natural reactions altogether in order to drink in all the poison. But yet the bottle is completely emptied and the lab has verified that there is a large amount of poison in her bloodstreams, so it proved that she has drunk it all.... despite the seemingly impossible...” 

“Finally, you grew a brain, and there I was thinking how on earth did you become a team leader,” Aoyama smirked in approval, “but you missed another major point or two to be exact. First, I must say that it is not impossible to finish the bottle of poison if someone forces it down your throat. Look inside the surface of her cheek muscles, I can bet you that there will be signs of straining muscles or bruises among them. If it isn't too late, relook at the body again. Some internal bleeding and bruises only appear the day after the incident, which is why it's called a dying message. Whoever this perp is, you are dealing with a pro because he knows how to hide these medical facts. A doctor maybe or someone in the law enforcement. In case you are about to stupidly asked why the perp is a he, I have to say it is obvious because of the strength required to force the poison down and the fact that the lady was dressed to impress. You don't dress that nice at home, so he must be someone she is hoping to impress by dressing up. They could be going on a date, or returning from one if the scene of the crime is confirmed to be her house. Also, look carefully at the bottle. Judging from the way it reflects light, it is made of glass. And if it was really a case of suicidal, it would have dropped to the floor with signs of shattering at least when the poison took its effect on the victim. But in this photograph, it rolled right off the right hand of an obviously left-handed lady. Based on the few points mentioned, I would conclude that this is obviously a murder case.”

“Left-handed and dating?” Inspector Kenmochi smacked his forehead in his dismay of being showed up again by the young profiler, “How did you pick all that out from one photograph, Aoyama-san?”

“Her watch was worn on her right hand and it is one of those special watches made for left-handed with its turning knot on the left,” Aoyama sighed disappointedly at the obvious question, rolling her eyes at Inspector Kenmochi, “there is also a slight ink smudge at the side of her left hand. With these two obvious hints, surely you will be able to tell that she was a left-hander just by looking at the photo? And dating, surely you have gone on dates before? Experience that feeling of wanting to impress the other party? Or are you all stupidly buried in work and not experienced any of these before?”

Every police officer looked at each other helplessly at Aoyama’s declaration, once the young profiler has mentioned it, it did seem silly of them not to be able to pick those little facts from the photograph. 

Staring at the photograph in his hands, Detective Akechi noted that the young profiler was once again correct in her assessments of the lady. It was then Detective Akechi had to admit to himself that the rumour about the ability of the young profiler was true after all, the fact that her speed of thought is thought to be the same as the speed of light.

“Itada, relook into the case again, make sure you don’t miss any more details,” Detective Akechi commanded with a frown, obviously displeased with Aoyama’s 'I-got-you you Baka' haughty look.

“Maa… Sho-chan, let’s look at the information of the heartbreak murderer together,” noting the signs of displease rolling off Detective Akechi, Kindaichi Hajime has sensibly pulled the young profiler to the desk displaying all printed out reports of the past suicides. As good as Aoyama Sho is good at reading people and dead bodies, it has appeared to Kindaichi Hajime that the young profiler knew nothing about reading the emotions of people.

The displease of having his pride crushed so completely in front of his troop had sent Detective Akechi staring fixedly at the ignorant girl with a look crossed between admiration and hatred. A familiar look which Kindaichi had once received from the said Detective when he was a high school boy.

Spotting the scowl on Detective Akechi's face, Kindaichi struggled not to laugh because it was the first time he had ever witness anyone being able to push his buttons or him reacting so un-cool. Coughing to cover his grin, Kindaichi Hajime tried to be serious by fixing his strongest stare upon Aoyama Sho, but was equally amused by Aoyama's what did I do? response back at him by rising of an eyebrow.

Lifting his head, Kindaichi Hajime lost that sense of amusement when his eyes fell upon the pile of data he was previously sorting out before Aoyama's arrival.

According to Aoyama’s stated requirements in her report, the young profiler has narrowed the victims to being ‘female school teacher between the age of 23 to 27 years old who committed suicide by jumping off an old or abandoned building,’ hence Kindaichi had been digging through the Yokohama Police Database for similar cases reported and was making a list the possible victims of such cases for Aoyama to determine.

"Sho-chan, I have printed out all the past cases of suicides which match your requirements and looking from the number of possible cases, I think we can safely say that we are looking at a serial murderer," Kindaichi Hajime frowned as he made eye contact with Aoyama, serial murderers are the worst kind of perp that a detective would want on their hands.

Not to mention the big fuss it would make once the media heard about it, "Undetected Serial Murderer Roaming Streets Under the Pretendance of Suicides," the headline itself is enough to send his head spinning. 

Taking a look at the reports on display, Aoyama Sho made a noncommittal sound and proceeded to grab a few of the reports before pushing those selected cases to Kindaichi, Detective Akechi and Inspector Kenmochi for reading.

“What are you staring at blankly, Bakas? Go through the class registers of these classes which were taught by the selected teachers before their deaths. I won’t be surprised if they have the same student. It would be the link you are looking for between these murders.”

“You suspect a student did it? That’s impossible!” Inspector Kenmochi questioned Aoyama’s instruction as he did not think that the murderer can be a student.

“No, the teachers Sho-chan has chosen are all nursery or pre-school teachers from different schools in Yokohama,” Kindaichi looked at the profile of the victims and noted the link between the different cases Aoyama had chosen, “the perp must have been an adult related to a young child. Is there a reason why you selected the teachers of young school children instead? The personality of the teachers perhaps?”

Aoyama stopped her action to offer an impressed look before answering his question, "Kindai-Baka, you're on the right track, they will be more easily impressed and navie in terms of personality compared to the rest of the other teachers. Plus, having a young child in the picture would have been the perfect harmless decoy for the crime. The perp can always draw the victims' attention to him, by simply appearing late to pick up the child. As the victims spend more time with the chil