"Off?"
"Yes, but I can't quite pinpoint what was off about it. Anyway, it just looked very wrong!"
"Alright, then I'll trouble Oshima to send him off. I see this friend isn't looking too well. As for me, I still need to go down, so I won't accompany you."
"Mr. Thoma, please go ahead with your work. I'll take care of things here!" Oshima patted his chest. It's just helping this young man to Hanamizaka, what's the big deal!
After seeing the two leave, Thoma checked his Wind Glider, confirmed it was in good condition, then put his hand on the railing and flipped directly off the bridge.
Whoosh!
His Wind Glider opened, and after a short glide, Thoma successfully arrived under the bridge, where two Shuumatsuban ninjas were already waiting.
Ninjas, of course, also use Wind Gliders. Just as the Kujou Clan has its own ninjas, the Yashiro Commission also has the Shuumatsuban. However, this is a department recognized by the Shogunate, and of course, it also has Vision wielders.
For example, these two in front of him, one of them actually has a Hydro Vision.
"Mr. Thoma, we have already processed the scene. After piecing it together, we can barely make out what the person looked like."
"The deceased is female, estimated to be sixteen to eighteen years old based on pelvic size. There is no family crest on her clothing, so she should be an ordinary person, not from a prominent family."
"Also, no trace of a Vision was found, but there is a ring on her left middle finger, indicating that this person was engaged."
The two ninjas briefly analyzed the situation. Basically, the identity of the deceased could already be confirmed.
"It seems the identity of the deceased will be known soon, but I have one question: engagement is clearly a happy thing, so why commit suicide by jumping off a bridge?"
Thoma recalled what the passerby had said. A numb expression meant that something bad might have happened to her, but this didn't match the current situation at all?
'As expected, I'll have to find out the deceased's identity before investigating further?'
The cause of death was certainly determined to be suicide, but there must be a reason for suicide, right? Who would suddenly jump off a bridge when they had a perfectly happy life ahead of them?
Whether it's depression or bankruptcy, there's always a reason for death. It's certainly not possible to commit suicide for no reason at all.
Suddenly jumping off a bridge, wouldn't that make it an accident?
"Pack up the body and take it back. After her identity is confirmed, notify the deceased's family to claim and bury her."
After Thoma finished speaking, he turned and walked towards Hanamizaka. Although it was a hundred meters from the bridge, it was actually about the same height as Hanamizaka.
Of course, it must be a bit lower, after all, this is a beach.
It would take about half an hour to walk from here to Hanamizaka. This time would be enough for the passerby to go to the Sangonomiya Detective Agency, find a painter, and have the deceased's appearance drawn.
Sure enough, when Thoma arrived at Hanamizaka, the passerby and the worker Oshima had already walked out of the Sangonomiya Detective Agency, holding a drawing.
"Mr. Thoma, this is the portrait of that girl."
Thoma took the paper and looked at it. The girl's appearance couldn't be described as stunningly beautiful, but it was very pleasant to look at. However, combined with this numb expression, she looked lifeless.
"Alright, I understand. Here's fifty thousand Mora for you. The extra is for emotional damages."
"Thank you, Mr. Thoma!"
The passerby didn't expect to earn an extra ten thousand Mora just by taking a walk, but to be honest, he didn't want to earn this kind of money from the dead.
Thoma took the portrait to Komore Teahouse. After taking a picture with his Camera, he rolled the portrait into a small paper tube, then took out another piece of paper, wrote a letter, and also rolled it into a paper tube.
'Little guy, I'll trouble you to deliver these to the Yashiro Commission!'
Thoma rubbed the carrier pigeon in the cage, then tied the paper tubes to its leg.
Flap, flap!
The carrier pigeon was released. It would safely arrive at the Yashiro Commission in less than an hour, and the Shuumatsuban ninjas would cross-reference it with population information to find the deceased's identity.
Population census has always been done by the Yashiro Commission. Anything related to the populace is basically handled by the Yashiro Commission.
This is why, even though the Yashiro Commission's tasks aren't difficult, Kamisato Ayato is always busy, because there are simply too many of them.
Even if he delegates to his subordinates, the documents that eventually reach his hands are still piled up like mountains.
After releasing the carrier pigeon, Thoma took out his Camera again and carefully observed the girl in the portrait. He had to admit that the painter's skill was excellent; from just a few words, he could vividly capture the deceased's expression.
He could even see a look of resistance in the portrait's eyes… Wait? Resistance?
Thoma suddenly sat up straight. Why would she resist? What was she resisting?
Could this be the reason the passerby felt something was off? That's right, if someone who is contemplating suicide has a numb face, then why would there be resistance in their eyes? Isn't that contradictory?
Thoma felt that this suicide incident was not that simple, but there were too few clues right now. He still had to wait for the deceased's identity to be revealed.
At that time, he would ask the people around the deceased one by one, and he would surely find something amiss.
Putting the Camera back into his Vision, Thoma left Komore Teahouse and returned to the Thousand-Armed, Hundred-Eyed God Statue, continuing to oversee the dismantling of Visions.
However, at the same time, a maid in the Kujou Manor suddenly ran frantically into the street.
Since the Kujou Clan had already declined, most of the staff in the manor had left. The reason this maid remained there was because she had grown up in the Kujou Clan since childhood and had developed feelings after working for many years, so she decided to accompany the Kujou Clan through their final days.
But just a short while ago, when she went to clean the mistress's room, she found Hitomi Hanatani lying on the ground, and the skin on her limbs looked as if it had suddenly aged decades, wrinkled and shriveled.
The original Kujou Clan certainly had dedicated doctors, but now… it was already good enough to have her, a cleaning maid.
Running breathlessly to the medical clinic, the maid grabbed the apprentice's hand and quickly said, "Doctor, do you have any available doctors now? My mistress has fainted!"
"Uh, miss, please don't rush. My master is currently busy. You can sit here and wait for a while."
"And by the way, briefly tell me about your mistress's condition so I can make a record," the apprentice said, taking out paper and pen.
"Okay, okay, no problem." The maid nodded, then told the apprentice everything she had seen and heard.
"This… I do know a few causes of fainting, but I've really never heard of that kind of aging-like symptom you mentioned."
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