Chapter 118: Be as Ruthless as an Autumn Breeze Toward Enemies
Hearing this voice, everyone quickly turned around. Oher side, a man in his fifties, sp a beer belly and slicked-back hair, was walking over with a cheerful smile.
“Detective Ooishi.”
Seeing the man approach, Mion Sonozaki frowned slightly, then stepped forward to greet him.
“Thanks for helping again this year.”
“It’s nothing; this is part of police work. But I have to say, what this young man said is quite iing.”
As he spoke, Ooishi looked over at Alex, a sharp glint in his otherwise smiling eyes.
“Everyone here believes it’s Oyashiro-sama’s curse. Don’t you believe it, young man?”
“If this had been happening sint times, every year without fail, then maybe I’d believe it was a curse. But if it’s only been happening for four years, it seems more likely that someoaking advantage of the situation.”
“Oh?”
Hearing Alex’s response, Ooishi stepped closer and put a cigarette to his mouth.
“So who do you think the culprit might be?”
“At the very least, I don’t think it would be the vilgers here… or rather, not those devout vilgers.”
“That’s quite an iing perspective.”
With the cigarette in his mouth, Ooishi’s gaze grew serious.
“You know, your opinion is the opposite of the police theory. We’ve been thinking the culprit might be someone in the vilge using the legend to cause trouble.”
“I don’t think so. If someone were a true believer in Oyashiro-sama, they wouldn’t do something like this. If someoruly cursed or targeted by Oyashiro-sama’s wrath, then it should be the deity handling the punishment directly. For a believer to take matters into their own hands wouldn’t be a source of pride. Of course, I ’t rule out the possibility of a fanatic stirring things up, but… a deranged person wouldn’t be able to it a crime ued for four years in a row. So I believe the culprit might be someone who doesn’t care about Hinamizawa’s beliefs.”
As he spoke, Alex gnced briefly at Miyo Takano.
“Because they ck reverehey hide behind the guise of a deity to pull off stunts like this… cases like these are not unon.”
“Hm… that’s quite a fresh angle.”
Detective Ooishi, too, had lost his earlier nont demeanor and was now thoughtfully smoking his cigarette.
“Indeed, it seems we may have fallen into a bit of a rut in our iigation. If we sider your viewpoint, a lot starts to make sense… haha, I didn’t think this was something a regur teacher would think up.”
“My name’s Alex.”
Not hesitating in the face of Ooishi’s probing, Alex extended his hand.
“I just got back from studying in America. While I was there, I studied criminal psychology, so I know a little about these things… Of course, these are just my personal opinions. I’m only speg based on rumors I’ve heard, so please five any offense.”
“No, I should be thanking you. Our search area has been a bit too narrow all this time… thank you for providing a new angle.”
As he spoke, Ooishi extended his hand to shake Alex’s.
“By the way, young man, if you have some time, would you be ied in sulting for the police? We could really use someoh your insights.”
“If I have time, I’ll sider it.”
Alex didn’t reject Ooishi’s invitation. Knowing the storyline, he uood that Ooishi was a good person, though not the most petent police officer. Generally speaking, a police offieeds evideo narrow down suspects. But Ooishi often jumped to clusions without any proof, freely sharing his guesses with the public—well, sidering he was stationed in a rural area like Hinamizawa, maybe his skills were what you’d expect.
At least he was dedicated.
Yes, at least.
“But don’t you think there might be people who feel Oyashiro-sama has been insulted and would want to elimihe threat?” At this point, Miyo Takano couldn’t hold bay longer and stepped forward. Though she still wore a cheerful expression, Alex could see a slight look of disdain in her eyes.
Ah, so you’re finally showing your true colors. I was w if you were pnning to keep up this i act forever.
“Religious faith does iend to be exclusive, but most people wouldn’t it a crime because of it. Of course, there are cases where individuals might act out due to real-world or psychological pressures, but that isn’t necessarily due to faith. What we should be fog on is the mental state and psychological profile of the criminal.”
Alex replied casually, then looked at Miyo Takano with a faint, knowing smile.
“Speaking of which, I once read a paper during my studies in America, written by a certain Hifumi Takano. He actually attributed certain human behaviors to brain-trolling parasites… that theory retty wild and hard to accept.”
“———!!!”
In an instant, a ghostly killing i burst forth from Miyo Takano. Though she tio smile at Alex, her eyes now revealed an urained murderous i.
“Oh? So, Mr. Alex, you think that theory is baseless?”
“Of course it is.”
Alex retorted without hesitation.
“The examples cited in that paper are entirely meaningless. Psychology offers tless cases proving that in simir enviros, people tend to exhibit aggressive and harmful behaviors that defy normal expectations. Bming all of that on parasites is pure fantasy. People feel pain, ay, and eveance when under pressure. This is a natural protective and exclusive response of the mind. There are tless examples of this worldwide, s to dismiss the inner psychological aal struggles humans face with some baseless theory about brain-trolling parasites is just ughable.”
“Me?”
At this, nearly everyone, except Alex and Miyo Takano, looked puzzled, having no idea what the two were discussing. Rika, however, cast a meaningful g Miyo and then curiously looked up at Alex.
“Teacher, what do you mean by this? Did that Mr. Takano write something strange in his paper?”
“Simply put, Mr. Takano suggested that the emotions you feel when wronged or overwhelmed by stress aren’t really yours—they’re caused by brain-trolling parasites. Acc to him, the reas we have to the outside world aren’t actually our own but are trolled by parasites… Holy, it would make a good novel, but as sce, it’s ughably absurd.”
Patting Rika’s head, Alex gazed at Miyo Takano and added another subtle jab.
From the momearted pying the game, Alex had disliked this woman. No amount of backstory could redeem her. Whatever wrongs she had suffered were her own to bear, but sughtering aire vilge just to prove her theory was something Alex could never five. He po utterly destroy her—mentally, physically, and spiritually, wiping out her beliefs and soul along with her.
If it weren’t for the world’s will proteg her, Alex would have already left her in a state of torment, uo live or die. But… this works too.
I’ll destroy everything you hold dear.
Miyo Takano ched her teeth, fists so tight that her nails dug into her flesh. Even her lips were bitten until they bled, but she restrained herself from shing out at Alex.
“Miyo?”
“I’m sorry…”
At the sound of Rika’s voice, Miyo was silent for a moment before relutly speaking.
“I’m not feeling well… Sorry, I think I o go rest.”
With that, Miyo turned a without looking back. Watg her departure, Alex narrowed his eyes, a cold smile f on his lips.
sider that my little gift to you, Miss Takano.
I hope you enjoy it… because this is only the beginning.
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