Chapter Twenty-Seven: Points of Doubt

Shiraishi was not entirely certain if he could truly nail that brat Tsubokura so easily, so he began scrolling through the blog that was supposedly detrimental to him. And then...

After scrolling up a dozen or so posts, Shiraishi suddenly noticed two spots on the screen "light up"!

It wasn't the laptop screen itself that was glowing, but rather a highlight triggered by his [Evidence Gathering] ability—visible only to him.

To the other three in the room, it simply looked like Chief Shiraishi was continuously clicking "Previous Post," only to suddenly pause and study the screen intently.

The two glowing spots were the ramen in the shared photo and... the date of publication!

[The ramen at this place is as delicious as ever, and the seasonal toppings are fantastic.]

"This is a disaster... Those fools at the Public Prosecutor's Office actually kept this from us!" Shiraishi muttered, directly disparaging the prosecution. The three others in the office stood by awkwardly, not daring to chime in.

Fujii, however, asked out of curiosity: "Chief, did you find something?"

"Look at this post..." Shiraishi said, showing it to the three of them.

"This... is there something wrong with it?" Akasaka stared for a long time but couldn't spot any issues.

"Are there... a lot of toppings on the ramen?" was all Fujii could discern.

"Yes, there are plenty of toppings, but the main thing is... I recognize this ramen. It’s the signature 'King Enma Ramen' from the Ogura Ramen shop in the neighboring Haido Town."

As he spoke, Shiraishi used "Ogura" as a keyword to search through the woman's blog. Sure enough, this wasn't her first time visiting the Ogura household.

Seeing that the three were still confused, Shiraishi clicked on another blog post that mentioned "Ogura Ramen" and featured a photo of the storefront. He turned the laptop toward them and pointed to a sign in the corner of the photo.

"See here? It's written, right? Because the owner is the only one making the ramen, they are closed every Tuesday. Now, look at the previous post... July 19th!" Shiraishi said, showing them the calendar on his phone—it was a Tuesday!

"There is no way she could have eaten at the Ogura Ramen shop on July 19th, so her blog's publication time is unreliable," Shiraishi concluded.

Honestly, because his system's functions didn't directly influence his thoughts, Shiraishi hadn't immediately realized the problem when the "ramen in the photo" and the "publication date" lit up. However, with such a clear hint, he thought for a moment and realized the bowl looked familiar, eventually grasping the "contradiction."

In truth, other blog posts he had just scanned might have had similar issues, but because they didn't create a "point of contradiction" with Shiraishi's own memory, they weren't highlighted—even with a high [Evidence Gathering] level. The Ogura Ramen post was flagged only because Shiraishi had been there a few times and knew about the "closed on Tuesdays" policy.

"July 19th... Ogura Ramen... As expected of the Chief..."

Akasaka, who rarely flattered anyone, sighed in admiration.

Aoki and Fujii were equally stunned—how could he react to that so instantly?

"Then this is bad... Although this doesn't prove that all of this blogger's posts are fake, but..." Aoki pushed up his glasses.

If even one part was fake, the blog alone could not serve as evidence. Unless the blogger could clearly recall that her September 3rd post was indeed taken on that day and contained no falsehoods, it couldn't be considered credible witness testimony.

Even then, the credibility of the evidence would diminish, and perhaps...

"I'm afraid it will be very difficult. So much time has passed, and this lady seems to be a freelancer who spends her days eating, drinking, and playing. People like that often have fuzzy memories of dates. If she frequently posts with incorrect timing, she herself likely won't be able to confirm if it was truly that day. With a sharp lawyer on the other side, she most likely won't be able to testify," Fujii analyzed.

Exactly. The worst-case scenario they had to prepare for was that she wouldn't even count as a witness.

A formidable lawyer would use cross-examination and relentless questioning to make the witness afraid to say anything she wasn't certain about.

Once this lady felt guilty or shaken under pressure, she would be completely silenced.

"Chief, should we notify the Public Prosecutor's Office?" Aoki asked for instructions.

This witness had a massive weakness; if they were caught off guard...

After a brief hesitation, Shiraishi said, "Not yet. You continue the investigation. It would be best to definitively prove or disprove Tsubokura's alibi!"

Aoki and Akasaka were still puzzled, but Fujii seemed to have grasped Shiraishi's intent.

"When you investigate, be careful not to leak information about this witness... Currently, we don't know about her in theory, and the defense attorney doesn't either. Even though there's a huge loophole, if the prosecution suddenly presents it, it can at least catch them off guard and buy time for supplementary investigations. We only have 30 hours until the trial begins!" Shiraishi explained.

Without this evidence, they might lose on Friday, with the other side winning an acquittal, leaving no time for further investigation.

However, with this new evidence, the opposing lawyer wouldn't "crumble at the first touch" and would certainly fight for more time for supplementary investigation.

Regardless, they could not allow a final verdict to be reached while the truth remained unknown.

"It is indeed necessary to buy time. After all... 'double jeopardy' exists, and the Public Prosecutor's Office is under immense public pressure right now." Fujii had understood the Chief's meaning from the start.

Double jeopardy—one of the legal principles the Eastern Island Nation had adopted from the United States.

Once an acquittal is obtained for a crime, and the trial has completely concluded without an appeal, even if new, vital evidence surfaces later—or even if the defendant were to step forward and confess—they cannot be tried again!

In essence, this principle was established to prevent law enforcement or wealthy, powerful plaintiffs from abusing their power to harass an acquitted defendant indefinitely.

However, to this day, even the Western Island Nation where it originated, and many of its former protectorates, have applied patches—as long as the case is serious enough and decisive new evidence is discovered, a retrial can be initiated.

But...

The United States and the Eastern Island Nation still executed this principle without any room for maneuvering. No matter the circumstances, once a final acquittal is declared, the defendant can never be tried for that crime again!

Even if Tsubokura were to stand up later and show everyone a video of him committing the murder, the Public Prosecutor's Office and the courts could do nothing about it.

Therefore, while the truth remained unclear, Shiraishi needed a "delaying tactic." Otherwise... this case had already been remanded by the Supreme Court, and given the current public opinion, if the prosecution lost, they would likely abandon the appeal, and then everything would truly be over.

Shiraishi didn't necessarily have to convict Tsubokura; after all, he wasn't even sure if Tsubokura was guilty.

He simply didn't want to let Tsubokura go entirely without getting to the bottom of things.

In the end, it was all the fault of Shirai and the Public Prosecutor's Office. If Shirai hadn't been in such a rush to file the charges, or if the Public Prosecutor's Office had spotted the loopholes and remanded the case for further investigation, time wouldn't be so tight now, and they wouldn't be so passive, unable to even question the suspect and key witnesses!

Since the Public Prosecutor's Office was playing coy with the "new evidence," Shiraishi would pretend he didn't know about it and let those "cannon fodder" subordinates drag out the time.

Once they had concrete evidence, he would either set things right or hammer this cunning criminal into submission...

After hearing the report, Shiraishi prepared to return to his apartment to rest—although it was already 10:00 PM, he had no intention of making do in the police station's lounge.

After all, the beds were too small and too dilapidated; not only would Shiraishi not get a good rest, but he might also cause those flimsy dormitory beds to "retire" permanently.

Just as Shiraishi used anti-surveillance techniques to evade two reporters who were "ambushing" him, he suddenly realized that someone else—not a reporter—seemed to be waiting for him as well...