No. 492010.1.13
<<The Story So Far>>
One day late at night, a murder case occurred at the Future Lab in Shinagawa. The victim was Tetsuo Takahashi (age unknown). He was hit heavily on the head and was found face down at his desk the following morning and remained unconscious. Confidential material was carried away.
The detective “Yamamoto” who was about to grasp the true picture of the case was also……by an unidentified assailant. At that dreadful site, two letters written in blood were left as the last clue!
Takenaka:
“Yama…Hey YAMAAAA!!”
Nagamatsu:
“Ya, Yama. Boss! YAMA is…!”
Takenaka:
“YAMAAAAA! I can’t believe you are sleeping in somebody else’s company! Why don’t you work, you fool!”
Nagamatsu:
“Uh!? Oh, no, he isn’t sleeping!”
Takenaka:
“What! Oh, no, th…this must be! YAMAAAAA! Come on!”
Nagamatsu:
“AAAgh! Boss! Letters in blood again!”
[ : Uchida]
Takenaka:
“It’s ‘ ’ (Nikuda)! (*Translator’s note* ‘ ’: Niku = meat) Must be Nikuda’s work. How dare you do this to our Yama! I won’t forgive you! Hey! Judo!”
Nagamatsu:
“Hai-yaa! I’ll go out to have some Meat time!” Slam! Clump clump…
Detective Nagamatsu dashed out…
Nagamatsu:
“Nikuda! Nikuda! Niku-da, Niku-da, Niku-da, niku, niku, meat, meat!”
Slam.
“MEAT!! Give me a big-size beef bowl with two eggs on top…Oh?”
?:
“Ho ho ho. You must be Detective Nagamatsu.”
Nagamatsu:
“I’m starving! Uh? You, if I’m not mistaken, you must be from the Future Lab…”
Uchida:
“Yes, Uchida. You guys must be busy dealing with consecutive hideous cases…Ho ho ho.”
Nagamatsu:
“Oh, hello, Mr. Uchida. …U…Chi…Da…?
Uchida…UCHIDA…!?”
<<Oh…no way…it can’t be…that wasn’t Nikuda…it was Uchida, instead…?>>
Uchida:
“Hmm, what’s wrong, Mr. Nagamatsu? You’re gazing at me with such a pale look.”
Nagamatsu:
“Oh, no, nothing. Mr. Uchida! Please tell me what you were doing on the day Tetsuo was killed and yesterday when Detective Yamamoto was poisoned. From the morning, step by step in a timeline!”
Uchida:
“!? Ho-ho-ho. What’s going on all of a sudden? Oh, hey your beef bowl came. It’s my treat. Oh, let’s see, I’ll sprinkle Uchida’s special-toxic, I mean, Uchida’s special hot pepper over your beef bowl.”
Nagamatsu:
“What? Your treat? Thanks! Yahoo!”
Munch munch…
Uchida:
“Well, I’ll go now. I still have some work left at the company. If you ever need me, you could ask for me later. Ho-ho-ho. See you then.”
Nagamatsu:
“Mmm, Eh, Oh yes. I will. Gosh, this beef bowl is so good!”
…
……UGH! AAAGGGHHH! Thud.
Shop Attendant:
“H, Hello!? Are you okay!!??”
Detective Takenaka back in the Future Lab around the same time…
Takenaka:
“Nikuda… Who the heck is he…?”
Uchida:
“Phew, gosh, Oh, you’re still here. Thank you for your hard work.”
Takenaka:
“Um? Oh yes, you are, Mr. Uchida, aren’t you? Gosh, you, too. You went back to the company to work this late.”
Uchida:
“Oh no. Compared with what you detectives do, this is nothing. But it’s just that I have got one thing I haven’t done here…
……By the way, you must be tired. Would you like to have
My Special Tea? I’m sure you feel refreshed.
Oh, how about you, too Mr. Maeda?...hee-hee.”