"Nanahara-kōhai, this is the book you wanted."

After a phone call, Okuno Taiji, Hidaka Tsukasa, and Nanahara Takeshi arrived at the Shōchiku Drum Art Museum almost at the same time. On the way, they also visited the Matsuchi family and took a book from Matsuchi Yūto's study. Since its purpose was unclear, they put it in an evidence bag and handed it to Nanahara Takeshi.

"Thank you." Nanahara Takeshi thanked and took the book, glanced at the title, and then turned to Nakano Eri with a serious expression. "Miss Nakano, we can conclude this case now."

Nakano Eri glanced at him. She had asked Nanahara Takeshi what he had discovered earlier, but Nanahara Takeshi had said that the props and characters were not complete yet, and it would be too much trouble to explain. He kept saying "wait" and it made her want to beat him up with Kiyomi Ruri. However, after a few days of contact, there was some level of trust between them, so she didn't say much and led the way to the art museum.

This was the official arrest. As long as the crime was confirmed, they could put Uchii Tatsuo in custody until the trial, after obtaining an arrest warrant. Nakano Eri's aura became noticeably fierce, revealing the dominance of the national violence machine. They walked in with the team, scaring away the museum staff.

"What happened?!" Uchii Tatsuo quickly came out, accompanied by a bank representative.

Nakano Eri adjusted her glasses, and a sharp white light flashed on the lenses. She gestured for Okuno to interrogate him and said calmly, "Uchii-san, you are under arrest. Please cooperate with the police and refrain from doing anything unnecessary."

Nanahara Takeshi stood behind her, closely following his stab-proof vest, and reminded in a low voice, "And also 'The Four Scrolls of Chōjima,' we need to take them with us."

Uchii Tatsuo remained calm, but the bank representative couldn't accept it and stopped Okuno Taiji, excitedly asking, "Wait a minute, what is your reason? Are you crazy? The auction is going to take place in three days, and now you want to take 'The Four Scrolls of Chōjima'? Do you know how much damage this will cause us? Or is it because of that journalist? What evidence do you have?"

Nanahara Takeshi stood behind Nakano Eri and smiled. "Sir, please calm down. Your heart condition isn't very good, and I'm afraid you might have a heart attack. If you want to say something here, you can. Take out 'The Four Scrolls of Chōjima,' and I will prove it to you. I guarantee that you won't care whether we take those four paintings or not. Otherwise, you can complain about us later."

The bank representative hesitated for a moment, seemingly realizing a possibility. His expression instantly turned pale, and he couldn't control himself as he turned to look at Uchii Tatsuo. Uchii Tatsuo remained calm and walked towards the basement, saying calmly, "Please come in!"

He wanted to die with clarity. The safe was quickly opened, and 'The Four Scrolls of Chōjima' were once again spread out on the table. Nanahara Takeshi leaned down to examine them closely and sincerely exclaimed, "It's really impressive. Almost perfect and flawless. Even if Ichinose Hajime were resurrected, he would have to reminisce about whether he painted these."

The bank representative became more and more convinced of the possibility. His lips began to tremble, and he even had a hint of purple on his face. He trembled as he spoke, "Is this a forgery? What is the evidence?"

As he spoke, he subconsciously curled his fingers, as if he wanted to grab something and stab Nanahara Takeshi to prevent him from saying anything else. The bank he represented was just a local private bank in Hirano, and it had just suffered a lot of bad debts due to the bursting of the bubble. If the 170 million yen that had just been loaned out, plus the additional 40 million yen invested in the auction, couldn't be recovered...

The consequences would be extremely serious, even causing the already anxious depositors, who were already worried about the continuous bank failures, to panic again. They would completely lose confidence in the bank and transfer their funds to escape. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that the consequences would be fatal.

The bank representative was almost scared to death. Nanahara Takeshi didn't care about the bank's life or death. The bank hadn't given him a single yen. He directly took out an antenna pen, flicked it to turn it into a teaching whip, and pointed at the Autumn Scroll, saying with a smile, "Everyone, please look here. This section records the scene of Chōjima residents catching sakura shrimp overnight during the traditional shrimp-catching season in November. It's very realistic and vivid, a beautiful poem depicting the sweat of ancient laboring people. But that's not the point. The point is the brilliant starry sky displayed on the vast sea surface.

Please look, this is the constellation Hydra, and the constellation Ophiuchus intersects with it. It is large and wide, extremely prominent in the November night sky, after all, it corresponds to the solar term 'Da Xue' (Major Snow). Therefore, the painter used the 'brush and ink' technique to depict all the main stars, almost identical to what we can see with the naked eye.

Of course, there's nothing strange about this. Nearly four hundred years is a long time for humans, but it's just a moment for stars. They shouldn't change. If there are any errors, it can be directly determined as a forgery. So, at first, I didn't notice any flaws here until I was... um, until I was eating lamb ribs and got inspired. I suddenly thought of a book in Matsuchi Yūto's collection."

Nanahara Takeshi reached this point and took out the evidence bag, showing the title of the book to everyone. "Please look, this is the work of German astronomer Kepler, 'A New Star in the Foot of Ophiuchus.' You can infer something from the title. Kepler observed a sudden burst of supernova in Ophiuchus in October 1604..."

"Wait!"

Kiyomi Ruri knew that the overall situation was important, but she couldn't help it. And now she truly understood why some people were not kind and would wantonly deprive others of their lives. Because she really wanted to stab Nanahara Takeshi, that bastard, with a knife—damn lamb ribs, it was my achievement, and this despicable guy stole my credit and showed off here!She asked with a dark face and gritted teeth, "Didn't you say that supernovae are difficult to observe with the naked eye? What's going on now?"

"Good question!" Nanahara Takeshi praised her and glanced at her, saying with a smile, "Throughout human history, the number of supernovae observed with the naked eye is indeed very few. The most recent one that could be observed with the naked eye was the 1987A supernova. However, its brightness was very weak. It is possible for ordinary people to be blinded by it. It's not a problem for painters to not include it in their paintings. But the Kepler supernova SN1604, or 1604A, is completely different. It erupted within the Milky Way and is very close to Earth, only about 13,000 light-years away. For celestial bodies, it is really very close.

Among the recorded supernova eruptions in human history, its brightness ranks in the top three. For example, the Chi Lupi 1006A supernova, as recorded in Chinese historical books, was described as 'shaped like a crescent moon with radiant angles, shining brightly and capable of reflecting objects'. In other words, you can even read a book at night by the light of this supernova eruption.

So here's the question: Tokugawa Ieyasu unified Japan and established the Tokugawa Shogunate in 1603, and through a large number of Ichinose Hajime's notes, we can clearly know that the "Four Seasons of Oki Island" was created by Ichinose Hajime over a period of two years in 1604 and 1605. He died in the winter of 1605. When he was creating the "Four Seasons of Oki Island," the Kepler supernova was hanging in the night sky, and it was very bright, even brighter than the Chi Lupi constellation itself. Why didn't Ichinose Hajime include it in the painting? In this painting in front of us, he even circled several strokes around the not-so-bright Beta Chi Lupi."

Except for Uchii Tatsuo, who looked at the painting in silence, the others took a long time to digest this series of information. However, they all looked at the painting speechlessly, unable to find any words to refute.

This is really an inexplicable flaw. It doesn't make sense logically. Unless the person who painted this painting had conducted a careful investigation on Oki Island, had roughly figured out the contents of Ichinose Hajime's friend's notes, and even rigorously studied the daily life of the common people during Japan's Sengoku period, but they didn't see the same night sky as Ichinose Hajime. The Kepler supernova 1604A only lasted for a little over two years, and the forger was born too late to witness it.

The forger has done everything possible to achieve perfection. They didn't make the same mistake as a detective novel author and didn't draw any extra stars. It's just that they didn't study their natural science lessons well and forgot about the existence of supernovae. They didn't check any books, resulting in the omission of the most prominent celestial phenomenon in the night sky of 1604 and 1605. They left behind a negligible flaw, which can only be said to be a small oversight.

The representative from the bank was not only trembling with his lips at this moment, but his whole body was also starting to tremble. His assistant quickly went out to find a phone and planned to find an astronomer. If there really was a prominent supernova eruption in 1604, the possibility that this painting was a forgery would skyrocket. Not to mention four hundred million yen, even selling it for four million yen would be uncertain.

The bank was really taken advantage of this time!

Nanahara Takeshi finally turned to the culprit, Uchii Tatsuo, who still had a calm expression. He waved the "New Star Under the Chi Lupi Constellation" in his hand and shook his head, saying, "Proving that the painting is a forgery, even if it's just suspected of being a forgery, there's nothing more to say. The reappearance of the 'Four Seasons of Oki Island,' which disappeared for 121 years, in Hirayano is also a big deal for the art world. Matsuchi Yūto, as a journalist specializing in art columns, went there specifically to interview and had a pleasant conversation with you. When he returned home, he immediately started writing the article. And as you said, he is a person with great enthusiasm, just like a mountain whale, very eager to achieve some results. He immediately started researching Ichinose Hajime's life in detail, wanting to write a perfect article.

But unfortunately, his hobby is reading. He has read all sorts of miscellaneous books. From the fact that the Tokugawa Shogunate wanted to recruit Ichinose Hajime, which led to his excitement and sudden death, to many handwritten notes that recorded the process of creating the 'Four Seasons of Oki Island,' he associated it with the time point of 1604 and thought of the book he had just read, 'New Star Under the Chi Lupi Constellation.' Perhaps he wanted to take it as a good example to praise Ichinose Hajime's realistic depiction and show off his own knowledge. When he casually compared it with the photo of the painting, he discovered this small flaw and deliberately told you. I even believe that he blackmailed you... Isn't that right, Uchii-san?"

Uchii Tatsuo looked at him, and the corner of his eye twitched slightly, but he still maintained a calm expression and didn't say anything.

Nanahara Takeshi didn't care whether he spoke or not and continued, "You satisfied him once because he was happy. He apologized to his wife when he returned home. They were originally in a cold war. But the 'Four Seasons of Oki Island' is really important to you. It's a turning point in your career, a chance you bet everything you have, including your reputation, to seize. You couldn't accept him being as greedy as a mountain whale and quickly regretting it. So he tried to blackmail you for the second time because you were also out of money. As a result, making him shut up forever became your only choice.

You are also a person in the art world. You can figure out the workflow of a magazine without making a sound. On the night of the magazine's layout, you made an appointment with Hiradate-san in advance and invited him to have a drink together. Then you suggested relaxing in a bath together. When handling valuable items, you casually adjusted his watch by ten or twenty minutes, or maybe half an hour, and pretended to be drunk to deceive him into coming to your house. You let him continue drinking, and even added some sleeping pills to make him get drunk faster and sleep more soundly.Hiradate-san thought he would sleep a little past 10 o'clock, but in reality, he closed his eyes around 9:30 in the guest room. During this short time, you quickly rushed to the Matsuchi family's courtyard, where you had already set up an ambush according to the previously observed route. You launched a sudden attack, quickly killing Matsuchi Yūto, and then returned home to adjust Hiradate-san's watch back to the correct time, finally feeling at ease.

Of course, it didn't matter if you failed that night. You had the patience to find another opportunity. So Matsuchi Yūto was almost certain to die.

Your wife is also your accomplice. When Hiradate-san came, she pretended to be ordering takeout on the phone. Even the takeout was fake. According to your personality, you had prepared a tape in advance, simulating the sound of knocking on the door, the conversation between the delivery person and your wife. In reality, the food you ate was the leftover takeout from the day before, which your wife had just reheated before you returned home. It was only a little past 9 o'clock when she called Yudaneya again and placed another order, waiting at the door and picking it up directly.

Hmm, Yudaneya is a decent shop. The lamb cuisine mainly emphasizes tenderness and freshness. But Hiradate-san said it was too salty and too fresh. It's probably because the lamb was a bit old, and your wife reheated it for too long.

Nanahara Takeshi said this and looked at the expression on Uchii Tatsuo's face before continuing, "Of course, I also know that you can do it more perfectly. You chose such a simple and direct alibi because you have confidence that you won't be the main suspect of the police. After all, the flaws in the painting are really small. I spent more than a day looking for them with the intention of finding me. Your alibi is just to avoid the police interfering with your preparations for the auction. After all, if the auction fails, you will go bankrupt, which is no different from being arrested.

And at this moment, you should indeed be arrested. Before Matsuchi Yūto died, he pointed to the sky, wanting to point to the constellation Ophiuchus. At that time, his throat was cut, and he couldn't say anything or think clearly to find another way to identify you. He could only hope that someone could find his hidden books through this clue, then find you, whom he had recently contacted, as well as the "Four Volumes of Chong Island," and then focus on you as a suspect. But the timing was wrong, and everyone was confused by the starry sky, associating it with monsters."

At this point, Nanahara Takeshi finished speaking and paused for a moment before softly reminding, "Alright, Uchii-san, it's your turn to speak. I don't think you need me to discuss evidence or other boring things with you. It doesn't matter to you anymore. Just admit defeat and get it over with. You almost won, but you didn't. I won."

The basement fell silent for a while. Uchii Tatsuo slowly walked towards the "Four Volumes of Chong Island" and touched it with his hand, calmly saying, "5 million yen."

Nanahara Takeshi didn't respond, and Kiyomi Ruri was puzzled, asking, "5 million yen... What does that mean?"

Uchii Tatsuo didn't even look at Kiyomi Ruri, just earnestly touching the "Four Volumes of Chong Island" and feeling the exquisite texture that was carefully crafted. In a calm tone, he said, "It was the amount I first paid Matsuchi Yūto. It was all the cash I could squeeze out at the time, and he promised to keep the secret for me. But it only lasted for a day. He proposed a new condition. He wanted 25% of the auction proceeds for these four paintings."

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At this point, Uchii Tatsuo chuckled softly, "He was still generous, saying that if he could sell for over 400 million yen, he would only need 100 million yen. He would never ask for more and would take this secret to his grave. So I also showed him my kindness, staring into his eyes, comforting him, and letting him leave this world without much pain."

He continued to stroke the long scroll, with a reluctant look in his eyes, as if reminiscing about the difficult process of starting from scratch and building a successful career, "And I also overcame my own fears and insisted on completing the public exhibition, continuing with my original plan. It was just a little bit... just a little bit away from success. I didn't expect this unexpected encounter with you, but it's too early to say that you've won!"

The person he resented the most now was Nanahara Takeshi, followed by the creator of the forgery, and Matsuchi Yūto ranked third.

Proving that the "Four Volumes of Chong Island" were forgeries, just as Nanahara Takeshi had said, he was finished. His good life, beautiful house, the career he had worked hard for, and his complete trust in his wife, everything was over. In theory, no one should have been able to think of so many things at once, and no one should have been able to find such an inconspicuous flaw in such a short time. But unexpectedly, a high school student appeared out of nowhere, as if it were a divine punishment.

At this point, even if his determination was strong, he didn't dare to believe that he could make a comeback. His life was truly ruined. He had become a prey defeated by a high school student. As he spoke, he suddenly lunged towards the spot where Nanahara Takeshi had made his grand declaration. Even if he became the prey, he wanted to leave a few scars on the hunter, leaving an unforgettable impression.

But to his surprise, the moment he pounced, Nanahara Takeshi had silently moved to the position of the door. Seeing that something was wrong, he twisted his body to go outside, and at this moment, Kiyomi Ruri was the first to react. Without thinking, she pounced on Uchii Tatsuo, her knee hitting him in the waist, preventing him from chasing after that bastard Nanahara Takeshi.

She only realized afterwards that Uchii Tatsuo was trying to fight back like a trapped beast. Acting on instinct, she applied a little pressure with her small hand, overpowering his tenfold strength, suppressing Uchii Tatsuo's instinctive counterattack. She directly rushed into his personal space, using the base of her palm as a support, and launched her decisive move. Her beautiful big eyes shone like cold stars, full of determination and unwavering resolve. She exhaled and uttered a single word, "Die," causing the basement to buzz as she delivered a powerful tiger strike from bottom to top, directly hitting Uchii Tatsuo's chin, causing him to stagger backward, his brain rattling, almost losing consciousness on the spot.Well, Uchii Tatsuo's physical condition wasn't weak, but he was just too unlucky. His eyes were only on Nanahara Takeshi, completely unprepared for Kiyomi Ruri, who looked like a delicate high school girl. He was attacked from the side by her and got the upper hand, being beaten so badly that he couldn't fight back and directly knelt down.

"Bastard!"

At this time, Okuno Taiji and Hidaka Tsukasa also rushed up, cursing loudly and directly knocked Uchii Tatsuo down. They took out handcuffs and cuffed him up, successfully arresting the murderer of the "Bonkawa Town Murder Case".

Meanwhile, the bank representative, pale-faced, clutching his heart, collapsed to the ground, causing a commotion. It was unknown whether he would blame Kiyomi Ruri for scaring him into a heart attack with her delicate shout afterwards.