Chapter 85: Do you believe in love? This is a copycat crime!

Aya Asai did not return home until midnight. Upon arriving at the door, she saw that the living room light was off and finally felt at ease. She had stayed out so late because she knew her father and elder brother were upset, so she dawdled until they had rested before going home. A good night’s sleep would make tomorrow much better.

Aya Asai took out her key and opened the door. To avoid waking her elder brother, she didn’t dare to turn on the lights. After closing the door, she tiptoed in the dark, preparing to sneak upstairs.

“Clatter!”

The next second, with a crisp sound, the living room instantly lit up like daylight.

As if pressing the pause button, Aya Asai froze instantly in place. She saw her elder brother and father sitting side by side on the sofa, staring at her expressionlessly. An invisible aura made her feel suffocated.

“Swallow~” Aya Asai’s pretty Adam’s apple bobbed. She forced a smile worse than crying on her face. “Dad, brother, why not turn on the lights at home?”

“Scared that you’d see the lights on and run out without coming in,” Yukihiko Asai said coldly.

Like father, like daughter. Zekki Asai couldn’t hold back anymore. With a belly full of anger, he slammed the table and glared at Aya Asai angrily. “Shouldn’t you give us an explanation?”

Yukihiko Asai was also waiting to hear Aya Asai’s defense.

“...” Aya Asai fell silent for a moment, pursed her tender red lips, and asked tentatively, “Dad, brother, do you believe in love?”

Zekki Asai looked at her like she was a fool.

“I originally didn’t believe in it, but after you did all these stupid things, I believe it a little!” Yukihiko Asai was more angry that she was hopeless. After saying a few sentences, the fire in his heart grew stronger, and he slammed the table again. “You were a good, obedient child since you were little, but now you dare to use the family’s connections and networks behind my back for an outsider like Hidenobu Aoyama. How dare you!”

For the Asai family, the connections and favors accumulated over generations were the most precious wealth, and this kind of thing decreased with each use. Much less using it for an outsider.

“Dad, maybe, perhaps, it’s love that makes people blind,” Aya Asai could only portray herself as love-blinded. After all, she couldn’t admit she was forced. After saying that, she added, “Moreover, didn’t you promise our engagement? Then Hidenobu-kun isn’t an outsider. Rounding it out, this favor is still used on the Asai family.”

“You’re really quite eloquent now,” Zekki Asai laughed in anger and sarcasm. “Young lady, don’t drop your face!”

Aya Asai lowered her head guiltily and remained silent.

“Aya, Dad doesn’t consider from the family’s interest but from a father’s point of view for his daughter’s happiness. Hidenobu Aoyama is good, but not a match! This person is ruthless, does anything without regard for means, and will do anything. Would you really marry him?” Yukihiko Asai said earnestly.

“Yeah, Dad, you also know that bastard is ruthless and would do anything. I have a handle over him, so I wouldn’t dare not marry him, right?”

Aya Asai was also desperate and helpless, but on the surface she looked like she had love poisoning in her bones. She said firmly, “Dad, I love him. In this lifetime, I won’t marry anyone but him. Otherwise, otherwise I would rather die!”

“Have you thought about it? He doesn’t love you at all. Approaching you is just because he wants to use the Asai family.” Yukihiko Asai said with heartache.

Aya Asai thought her own dad was really sharp-eyed, seeing through Hidenobu Aoyama’s bastardly nature at a glance, but she had to maintain her love. “Dad! Hidenobu-kun is not that kind of person. I can feel that he loves me deeply.”

In fact, every time she felt it was very deep, and she had to crouch down and hold Hidenobu Aoyama to let him take his time. Or perhaps she was as shallow as her name suggested?

“Dad, she’s beyond saving. I don’t know what kind of drug Hidenobu Aoyama fed her,” Zekki Asai sat back on the sofa with a thud, staring at Aya Asai with a black face. “If Hidenobu Aoyama wants to marry you, then let him first return the one hundred million he cheated from me.”

A hundred million was not a small sum for him.

“What one hundred million? Elder brother, I don’t understand what you’re talking about,” Aya Asai played dumb. After all, that hundred million was her betrothal gift; it was her money!

Zekki Asai was furious. “Look at you now, he’s ruined you…”

“Enough! Stop embarrassing yourself!” Yukihiko Asai interrupted with a scold. He said unhappily to Aya Asai, “Let him come to the police station to see me tomorrow.”

With those words, he went upstairs without looking back.

Things had come to this. Since the daughter was determined not to turn back, there was nothing else to do.

“Hi!” Aya Asai bowed and responded, then said to Zekki Asai, “Brother, sleep early. Good night.”

After that, she hurriedly went upstairs too.

Leaving only Zekki Asai alone in the living room, cursing at Hidenobu Aoyama like a resentful woman.

…………………………

Same time, Iwanomachi 3-chome.

The Sunset Apartment, the apartment where Masako Sanjo lived, stood in the darkness, a bit taller than the surrounding buildings, like a giant ghost shadow.

The apartment door was like an open blood-filled mouth.

“Clack~ clack~ clack~”

Accompanied by the sound of high heels colliding with the ground.

A young woman dressed sexily, heavily made up, with some alcohol on her body, carrying a bag entered the apartment, then took the elevator to the 18th floor.

“Ding~”

The elevator doors slowly opened. The woman inexplicably felt a bit cold. Looking at the dark corridor, she accelerated her steps in fear. A few days ago, Masako Sanjo had died on the same floor, and for some psychological reason, she always felt the corridor was eerie.

Someone seemed to be following her from behind.

She didn’t dare to turn back, her steps getting faster.

The crisp sound of high heels made the sensor lights flicker on and off, adding to the terror. By the time she reached the door, she was completely panicked. She took out the key, opened the door, rushed in, then slammed the door shut, leaned against it, closed her eyes, and panted heavily.

The woman’s hunch was actually correct. There was indeed someone following her on the corridor earlier, a thief who acted on impulse seeing the color. But he was a step slow, and could only watch helplessly as she entered and closed the door. He cursed hatefully in a low voice and went to find the theft target for tonight.

In the room, the curtains were drawn very tightly, no light leaking in. With no lights on, she couldn’t see her hand in front of her face.

After regaining her composure, the woman opened her eyes, reached for the wall switch, pressed it, and with a “pa ta,” the light on, she saw a pale, gloomy-faced man standing in front of her, grinning.

Her whole body instantly contracted pupils. She wanted to scream but was muffled by a gloved hand, slammed hard backward against the door. Then a kitchen knife slashed at her. One cut, two cuts...

Splattered blood sprayed on the white walls.

The woman finally stopped struggling. Ryohei Beinomiya pinned her down, carefully recalling the details of killing Masako Sanjo, then dragged the woman to the bedroom, leaving a long blood trail on the floor.

Then he took the gold necklace from the woman’s neck and put it in his pocket. With the kitchen knife, he hacked and slashed irregularly at the woman’s neck. Scarlet blood was everywhere. After chopping until only a layer of skin connected her head and neck, he placed her in exactly the same pose as Masako Sanjo’s death.

Ryohei Beinomiya’s physical condition wasn’t great. After doing all this, he was already panting. He simply sat down on the bed with a thud, looked down at his masterpiece, and a satisfied smile appeared on his face.

He believed that the police would immediately think that this case was done by the same killer as Masako Sanjo’s murder.

He wanted to tell the world that he hadn’t been caught yet!

After resting a while, he felt a bit hungry. He took the kitchen knife to the kitchen to wash the blood off his hands, changed into spare clothes, then opened the fridge and found there were still vegetables. He simply cooked in the kitchen.

With the sound of oil sizzling, the aroma of food filled the whole room. He took a bottle of cola, returned to the living room, turned on the TV, ate while watching. And the original owner of the house was lying in the bedroom’s blood pool at this moment, staring blankly at the ceiling with wide eyes.

At 3 a.m., Ryohei Beinomiya left the woman’s house after eating and drinking his fill. On the roadside, he burned the clothes and tools used in the crime, then returned home.

He slept until morning. He went to his company to work as usual. He was a plumber.

“Everyone, good morning.”

Seeing him come in, the people who had been chatting and laughing together just now instantly fell silent and dispersed to their own tasks. No one paid attention to him.

Ryohei Beinomiya thought he was already used to being isolated by colleagues, but this scene still made him a bit uncomfortable and embarrassed. He smiled awkwardly and returned to his workstation.

When he went out to repair the pipe during work, just as he stepped out the door, he heard the conversation in the office behind him resume.

A surge of resentment filled his heart inexplicably.

When Hidenobu Aoyama received the news that another murder had occurred at the Sunset Apartment while eating breakfast, it was just one dead person, nothing big. He hung up the phone and ate unhurriedly before driving over.

When he arrived at the scene, he saw many people gathered outside the corridor. Pushing through the crowd into the room, he found that Aya Asai had already brought people to investigate inside.

“Time of death seven to nine hours ago. The method of the crime is exactly the same as in the case of Masako Sanjo’s murder. Even the position at death, movements, and expression on the face are the same.”

After seeing Hidenobu Aoyama, Aya Asai walked over to introduce the situation to him. Then, frowning, she said worriedly, “The killer left a note at the scene, saying he hadn’t been caught yet. He will continue to kill. Could it really be…”

“This is obviously a copycat crime!” Hidenobu Aoyama interrupted her, defining the case.

Aya Asai was stunned. “Copycat crime?”

“Exactly!” Hidenobu Aoyama said seriously, nodding. “This killer chose to commit the crime on the same floor as Kinoha Kitano. Even the method is exactly the same. What is this if not imitation? The deliberately left note is just to be mysterious!”

Looking at Aya Asai standing there dumbfounded, he couldn’t help but laugh. “You wouldn’t really think he’s the killer of Masako Sanjo’s murder, would you? Then what about Kinoha Kitano who has been sent to prison to serve time?”

Hidenobu Aoyama knew that most killers of women were the real killer of Masako Sanjo, who expanded confidence after escaping justice and deliberately provoked the police. But he had to classify him as a new copycat criminal.

Otherwise, wouldn’t that mean he had arrested the wrong person?

How could he be wrong? He couldn’t be wrong!

“I was overthinking it,” Aya Asai patted her forehead, then said, “The killer even cooked a meal in the victim’s house after killing them, obviously more perverted than Kinoha Kitano. Indeed, it doesn’t seem to be the same person.”

Hidenobu Aoyama secretly thought: This shows that the killer became more calm and arrogant after the first murder. There will definitely be a third one next.

“By the way, when I just came, I saw several police cars parked downstairs,” Hidenobu Aoyama suddenly remembered this. They clearly didn’t have that many police here.

Aya Asai explained, “There were several households in this building who were away last night and were burgled. Two police cars are from the robbery series. It’s both homicide and breaking and entering. The feng shui of this building isn’t great.”

Hidenobu Aoyama nodded in agreement.