Chapter 20: 20

Chapter 20: The toilet bowl has been kidnapped

“Tanimoto, you should stay here tonight,” Shimizu said as he got ready to leave. “I have another case to follow up, so I’ll leave for today. They allowed us to continue using the tatami room for the investigation. It is quite late already. You should sleep here tonight.”

Tanimoto: “Wait. What are you saying?”

Shimizu: “It is the famous Rainy Mansion after all. You might find more clues during nighttime.”

“The team from Mihara Police Station…” Tanimoto looked at the others hoping that he could drag them along.

The men forced a laugh to cover their unwillingness. “Well, since the Prefectural Police Department are here, we shouldn’t intrude much. Besides, Takamura-san personally asked the favor from the Prefectural Police Department to investigate the case, right? I think he prefer for you guys to take charge of the investigation. Oh, I’m waiting for a call so I’ll be outside. The signal is extremely poor here,” Taira spoke ambiguously before he ran away.

* * *

Phew, what a busy day.

Ayano felt tired after running around helping the police with their investigation. She helped the housekeepers to lock the door and windows before she went to bed.

When she went to the corridor behind the toilet where Satoshi was in, she saw the light was on. It seemed someone was using the toilet, so she just said goodnight to Satoshi in her heart and locked the window.

Ayano returned to her room and climbed onto bed, but she was unable to fall asleep right away. She was thinking about Yamamura’s spirit that still hadn’t appeared in the mansion. She thought maybe he hadn’t realized yet that he was dead.

While she was immersed in her thought, Ayano noticed her bedroom door was slightly opened and someone was peeking through.

“…You’re not going to come in?” she asked. However, the person disappeared and she heard sound of footstep went down the stairs.

Not again… Ayano sighed silently.

When she looked at the bedroom door, it was closed. It looked as if no one had opened it in the first place.

* * *

After waking up in the morning, Ayano helped the housekeepers to open the curtains before she went to visit Satoshi which was her daily routine.

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She stood at the corridor behind the toilet and peeked through the frosted glass window to make sure no one was using the toilet. She pulled up the window while saying, “Satoshi-san, good mor—”

* * *

A while later, Takato saw Ayano standing in a daze in the corridor behind the toilet. “What’s wrong?” he asked.

Ayano turned to look at him and whispered, “Takato, the toilet bowl[1] is gone.”

“Huh?” Takato looked at her with a stupid face.

“The toilet bowl is gone,” Ayano repeated her words.

Takato went closer to Ayano and peeked through the window. He saw only the bare pipeline was left while the toilet bowl was gone. However, at this moment, Takato was more concerned about the scent from Ayano’s hair at the tip of his nose.

“Maybe the forensic staff took it back for investigation purposes.” Takato tried his best to speak in a calm tone so that she wouldn’t notice his fluttering heart.

“Huh? Why?” Ayano replied. “It’s not like Uncle Yamamoto was beaten to death with a toilet bowl?”

How come the first thing that came to her mind is beaten to death with a toilet bowl? Normally, shouldn’t you think it was drowned to death? Well, nothing can be considered normal with the current situation, Takato thought to himself.

Soon after, Tanimoto joined them after hearing the commotion. He wore a troubled look when he heard the toilet bowl was gone.

Takato saw his reaction and realized that the police were not involved in the missing toilet incident.

Tanimoto: “Why is the toilet bowl missing? Did someone steal it?”

Ayano looked at the bare pipeline inside the toilet and gravely said, “Hmm. This is not good. Tanimoto-san, this is a kidnapping case.”

Tanimoto: “Huh? But the thing that is missing is a toilet bowl… right?”

[1] Most Japanese used Toto brand toilet. Since they mentioned they used latest model, most likely they are using one-piece type washlet which mean the whole fixture (toilet bowl, flush tank, washlet) is gone. Most family apartment in Japan has toilet and bathroom in different rooms. So, when I use the word ‘toilet’ here, it refers to the toilet room. And I will use the word ‘toilet bowl’ to refer to the actual fixture. 

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