A vicious looking face turned even more vicious due to anger, as Delta approached Yuugo.
Yuugo was not intimidated, responding while looking directly at him.
“It’s simple. Remember what you said to Melt when she was trying to convince Ehn to not run away? ‘If testimony from someone they don’t even know they can trust and some lame magic item that can barely be called evidence is enough to make you a criminal, you might as well run, right!?’
Isn’t that what you said?”
“What’s weird about that? Are you saying I’m wrong!?”
“If we don’t count the fact that Ehn running away would definitely turn her into a fugitive criminal, no, you weren’t wrong. But that’s not what I mean.”
Yuugo grabbed the evidence… The communications device that he dropped the previous day.
He showed it to Delta, and asked a question while looking straight at him.
“Delta, how do you know this is a ‘lame magic item’?”
“Ah? Ah…!?”
Delta seemed to not understand Yuugo’s point at first, but… He realized his gaffe, and at the same time, his expression betrayed what was going on in his mind.
After seeing that reaction, it was Jinba, not Yuugo, who explained.
“This item was dropped in the crime scene by the criminal, but at a glance, it just looks like a compact. Even Rommelo, who didn’t really investigate it, and I, didn’t think it could be a magic item until it was explained to us.
And yet, you didn’t hesitate to call it a lame magic item just by looking at it… Yuugo’s right, it is unnatural.”
“And let’s be clear, you’re the only one here who referred to it as a magic item. Melt and the owner said it was mine, but they never called it a magic item. So how come you knew? Can you give us a good explanation?”
“Gu, guuh…!”
Delta was clearly shaken, and stammered with an anguished expression.
The vigor he had was pulled back, but even though he could do nothing but groan, Jinba continued to put on the pressure.
“Yuugo, can I ask something? You said you got here right after the guards arrived, but… Did these two come in after that?”
“No, not that I noticed…”
“So basically, they were here before you. But as you can see, there are no customers here, so it would be easy to spot them. When exactly did they arrive?”
“…Did they come here with us? No way! We would notice them right away if they snuck… Ah!?”
Rommelo tried to deny what Jinba was saying, but turned pale upon reaching a conclusion.
Jinba nodded, and stated what he had in mind.
“This is just a theory, but it makes sense. If they managed to disguise themselves as guards, they could use that to disguise themselves as the suspect, Ehn, as well.”
“T-then… They were responsible for the muggings, and were trying to pin the blame on Ehn!?”
“Or rather, to draw the suspicion of the guards and make her go back to them.
Rommelo, you were playing right into their hands. If you actually did a good investigation rather than assume Ehn was the culprit from the start, it wouldn’t have gotten to this point…!”
“G-guh…!?”
Rommelo groaned with his face turning red, as his mistake was made clear.
The fact that the prejudice and narrow mindedness unfitting of a police investigator were used by criminals left him speechless.
And in the meantime, an incredulous Ehn turned to Delta.
“Did you two… Really do it? You mugged people just to make me go back? You couldn’t stand me leaving that much…? Answer me, Delta…!!”
“…N-no Ehn! We didn’t… Eh?”
There was a dull sound.
Delta was trying as hard as he could to respond to Ehn, but he looked down after hearing that sound… And saw blood dripping from his clothes, along with a blade piercing his flank.
“D-Delta…!?”
“Guh, ah…”
Delta collapsed in front of Ehn, who was unable to understand what was happening.
The person who stood behind Delta then looked down at him while speaking with a tone of disgust.
“…Useless. I was almost there. Just a bit more, and Ehn would’ve stayed with me forever…!”
“Cross…!? Do you know what you just did!?”
“I do. I do, Ehn…! I can’t let you leave me. I like you. I want to stay with you. So…”
Cross, the meek, frightened sounding young man seemed to be revealing his true colors, as his eyes shined with madness behind them.
He had stabbed Delta with the now bloodstained blade he was holding, and after a throaty laugh, he spoke again with a serious expression.
“I’m going to destroy anything that gets in the way.”
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Makes you wonder how some of these a******s get to higher positions in the guard, dont they do psych evals?