Loups-Garous Read Online Free PDF Page B

circumstances.”
    â€œYou’re twisting the words.”
    â€œHey, hey, Fuwa,” the head assemblyman said, stroking his hair back in an awkward gesture. He scratched his head, but his hair flopped back into place. It was depressing. Memory-hair transplants were truly one of the most regrettable innovations of the age , Shizue thought. If you’re going to grow hair like that, at least don’t try to make it move. He probably wasn’t held enough as a child.
    â€œYou’re overreacting, but we understand that. That’s precisely why we’ve organized this conference, so if you could just bear with us.”
    â€œYou’re saying you’re suspecting children now?”
    They think they’re gonna get the last word here?
    The assemblyman dropped the end his sentence and just flapped his mouth.
    â€œYou believe that there is a killer among these children at the center, do you?”
    â€œIt’s a possibility.”
    â€œThey’re under suspicion then.”
    â€œEnough, Fuwa. C’mon—”
    â€œThey are,” Ishida said matter-of-factly.
    â€œThe victims are minors and have to be within shooting range. Of course we haven’t narrowed it down that far yet, but we need more information to do just that.”
    Relationships.
    There was no age limit on friendships. If they were communicating via monitors, there was no saying what age or sex their associates were. It had nothing to do with anything. If anyone were having frequent inperson exchanges there’d be no need for communication sessions.
    I know what you want to say , Ishida said as if reading the look on Shizue’s face.
    â€œWe’re not just assuming that because they’re minors their friends are all the same age. The police are well aware of the reality. We’ve studied the monitor histories of these victims, and we’re in the process of filtering their public records. The victims all seemed to be fans of cel-based animation and seemed to be corresponding frequently with other fans. Of course, the age, sex, and nationality of their friends is all scattered. If anything, the average enthusiast shows to be older. However…”
    Ishida looked briefly at his own monitor.
    â€œIn murder cases like this, it’s almost always the case that the victim and the culprit will have had physical interaction. You already know this. It was not poison or explosives used in these killings. Because the victims sustained physical damage, we know for a fact the killer was in personal contact.”
    He did not have to explain all this again. She understood.
    Ishida looked around.
    â€œSince we’re talking about kids who aren’t just passing information around, since we know there was real physical interaction involved, the investigation is terribly limited. In any case, children these days don’t interact with people. Their only interactions are through communication labs. Learning levels and counseling notwithstanding, classrooms are divided strictly by age, after all.”
    â€œYou’re right,” Ishida agreed.
    He didn’t want to answer.
    â€œNone of the victims had siblings. Other than their counselors, these kids had no physical interaction with anyone but groupmates and children in other groups they might have seen at their local centers.”
    â€œThat’s not necessarily true. It’s difficult to be certain as the police don’t yet have all the information on these kids, but the kids do have some interaction with society.”
    â€œRight. So we’d like for you to share that data with us,” Ishida said directly at Shizue.
    They probably thought that if Shizue relented now they could end this conversation. By settling one argument when confronted with two, the police side of the room was able to circumvent the original issue of the appropriateness of police requests for extreme lawful diligence.
    Shizue was a scapegoat.
    Who are