Soil 10

Soil, Volume 2, Chapter 10 (pp. 59~82)


<59>
=So yeah, I have like, the worst boss ever...

=Sexual harassment is the only thing that comes out of his mouth, and he smells his own odor like sniff sniff sniff...
=I just can't stand him! I started getting rashes 'cause of him...

=I can't tell if he even cares about his work. He just slobbers on and on and on...

=Oh, and my coworker...
=He can't get anything right.


<60>
=He's actually kinda handsome, but he acts like a kid, you know?
=He's such a big slouch.
[x2]=SHUFF

=But he somehow manages to get the job done, so he's a detective. Even though he's younger than me... Hum hum.

=Wow, don't know what your job is, but...
=Sounds like you've got it pretty tough.

=Hey, we should talk this out when we meet up.
=Maybe grab some dinner on the way.
=Oh... No, that's a little...

=...What. You a shill or something?
=N-No... It's just...

=You weren't thinking about meeting me in the first place, were you!?//Don't use online dating if you're just gonna complain, bitch!!

=BLICK


<61>
=*sighhhhh...*
=What on earth are you doing, Onoda...

=TRRR

[x2]=SHUFF
[x2]=TRRR

[x3]=TRRR

=BWHIP
=G-Good day, sir!
=Sergeant Yokoi!


<62>
=You better not be slacking off just 'cause the investigation's all stalled up, Onoda.
=No sir! I'm not slacking off, sir!

=You're probably wearing sweatpants and a Pipo-kun t-shirt, huh? Aren't you!?
=I-I-I am not, sir!
[note]Pipo-kun; Popular mascot of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department.

=Besides, Pipo-kun's for the Metro Police Department.//Kamikawa Station's got Bibitto-kun, isn't that right?
=B-But that one's not as cool-looking...
=You think you're gonna get promoted with that kinda attitude?

=A-Anyways... Why are you calling, sir...?

=We finally got a dead person.
=Huh?


<63>
=The council president is dead.
"Video Tape"

=FLAP FLAP FLAP


<64>
=H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-
=Hello everybody!

=One stab in the abdominal region with a kitchen knife.
=He's been dead for about a week.
=The heat's caused the body to decay rather quickly.

=SWUP

=WHIP


<65>
=The weapon was left behind!//The key was left open!
[x2]=WHIP
=Meaning there was no intent to conceal the crime!

=The culprit must have been in a state of derangement, possibly due to deep resentment...

=Mr. Katakura was so surprised he slipped and hit his head...

=Ohh—Man...//I don't know what's going on anymore...

=Onoda!


<66>
=C'mon up.
=Lemme show you something interesting.

=Wha...!?


<67>
=What in the world is this...?

=It's a surveillance room, can't you tell?
=Guess the council president had a pretty nice hobby going for him.

=I went and checked, sir...

=There's surveillance cameras attached to the telephone poles...

=Looks like they were plugged directly into the power lines.


<68>
=Maaan I'm tired.
=I was just about to take a bath and go to bed.
=THUD

[letter]To the cItizEns Of soiL NEw ToWn

=S-So this is the...!?
=Yup.
=It's the ransom letter that was sent to the town council.

=Fucking assholes...
=The whole town was trying to keep it under wraps.


<69>
="COllEct 30 MIlliOn yEn frOM aLl tHe toWn's CitIZEns..."
=Could this be Mizuki Suzushiro's handwriting...?

=And this nail... Looks like it was torn off from the base.
=Probably the toenail from the pinky...

=So this was all just a kidnapping for ransom, huh?
=I feel stupid for thinking so hard.

=...Which means, the target is somewhere within the town limits...?
=Is there any connection with the council president's murder...?

=How do we investigate from...

=OH


<70>
=S-S-S-S-S-
=Sergeant Yokoi...!!


<71>
=GARUCK

=What a lifesaver.
=He really did have a nice hobby going for him.

=S-S-S-S-S-S-S-
=So this... W-W-W-Will...

=This will clear up everything, sir!!!


<72>
[x2]=WHIIISH

[x4]=ZZZT


<73>
=ZZZZZZZT

=UCK!

=UHH...
=ULEH...
=UCK...

=ULEHH...

=UHH...
=EE...
=ULEH...


<74>
=ULEH...
=ECK...
=UHH...
=ULEHHH...
=UCK...
=ULEH...


<75>
=Somebody informed the police about the ransom letter, and...
=They found his corpse...

=I thought I hadn't seen him around these past few days...

=Now we won't be able to hide it any longer...

=The "business..."
=All of it...

=But why the council president...?

=And who...?


<78>
=It's Kento Miyahara, sir.

=You sure about that?
=Yes, I saw his picture in the school yearbook...

=Hmph. The mother's the council president killer, and the son's the kidnapper, huh.


<79>
=...He was definitely the one who sent in the ransom letter, but...
=A 14-year old boy abducting Officer Ichinose and a family of three...?

=Oh well. There's no point in racking our brains anymore.

=It's all in here somewhere.

=Hey, you find it already?
=The one we're looking for?
=Give us a break...


<80>
=There's this many of them!
=We finally got those other ones done last night...

=Geez... They brought 'em in all randomly so they're totally unorganized...
=And there's no labels or anything, so we just gotta look through 'em one by one...

=I-
=I-
=I got it—!!!

=This is it! The tape from the night of the blackout!
=The angle from the Suzushiro residence!?
=Yes!


<81>
=Wow...! Th-This is amazing...!
=Now we'll know everything that happened that night...!
=Huh...? What's everyone looking at?
[x2]=WOBBLE

=Whoops...

=20:32!
=When did the blackout occur?
=I-It was 20:59!

=All right... Got it!

=It's all in this ta...


<82>
=PLICK

=Huh?
=What's wrong?