Tokyo, Bunkyo District, Hongo Nana-chome.
Located here is the renowned Tokyo University, famous both domestically and internationally.
It is commonly abbreviated as Tokyo University.
Morimoto Chiyoda had not returned since her graduation. As she stepped onto the campus after a long absence, a flood of her student memories swirled in her mind.
The most memorable for her was the hundred-meter Ginkgo Boulevard leading from the main gate to the Yasuda Auditorium.
During the ginkgo bloom, she loved to walk down the boulevard with a book in hand, experiencing the romantic feeling of strolling through a poem.
"I really miss this."
"Yeah, thanks to you, during those four years, the Ginkgo Boulevard was always crowded with people."
Okayama Buji said with a smile as he reminisced about the past, "A lot of female students were secretly complaining about you behind your back, blaming you for making the path crowded."
"Really?"
Morimoto Chiyoda blinked, a naive expression on her face. Back then, she had only committed those beautiful scenes to memory.
As for the throngs of male students, she hadn't intended to remember them from the start, so naturally, there was nothing to forget.
"Hey, we're not here for you to reminisce about the good old days of your student life! It's work hours now!"
Emily, standing behind them, interrupted their conversation, sounding annoyed. "Hurry up and take me to the office of Anda Hiroshi, the expert in history and folklore studies, before it starts raining again. Damn it, I hate the rain."
"Of course. Katerina is too tall to hold an umbrella for you, and you're too lazy to do it yourself."
"Morimoto!"
Emily's face was expressionless.
Morimoto Chiyoda shrugged, deciding not to provoke her further, and said with a laugh, "I don't think there's any need to rush. The method for Dio to ascend to Paradise might not be hidden in those books. Human books cover a vast array of subjects; it could also be hidden in philosophy."
"Don't say such despairing things."
Emily took over the conversation. The sheer volume of knowledge from myths and religious scriptures was already overwhelming.
Combining that with other books would vastly increase the task force's workload.
Just the thought of it terrified Emily.
The only consolation was that Emily had not only pushed the task force to investigate diligently but had also reported the information to Jack of the CIA.
"Strange," Emily said, entering the office. "We made an appointment, and the person we just spoke to also said the doctor would be inside." She walked straight to the desk, looked at the overturned teacup, then at the open window, and muttered, "This is the fourth floor."
Okayama Buji frowned. "Did someone try to abduct Doctor Anda to find out how Dio ascended to Paradise?"
"Unlikely. We just wanted to ask him a few things and wouldn't have revealed Dio's name or asked him to keep it confidential. If someone really wanted to inquire, they would have done so after our questioning, not before. That would just expose them."
Emily said this, looking helpless. "It seems the doctor ran into some trouble of his own. Morimoto, Okayama, you two are in charge of the investigation. Katerina and I will go talk to the next professor."
"What a hassle," Morimoto Chiyoda muttered and turned to walk outside.
「At noon, at a barbecue restaurant outside Tokyo University.」
Morimoto Chiyoda was spreading meat on the circular grill while casually updating Emily, who sat across from her. "This Doctor Anda is quite a character. At sixty-one, he's still remarkably energetic and has been involved in several inappropriate incidents with his female students. If a female student didn't refuse his advances, his actions would become progressively more audacious, leading to affairs that went beyond a typical teacher-student relationship. He also drinks heavily and likes to gamble."
Emily, massaging her temples and not wanting to think any further, said bluntly, "I'm not interested in his character. I just want to know who might have taken him. Jumping out from the fourth floor isn't something an ordinary person could do."
Morimoto Chiyoda flipped the meat and replied, "The preliminary suspicion is that his disappearance is related to a recent female student, Shimakawa Ryoko. She was a history student who, unable to bear his harassment, apparently developed severe depression and jumped from the top floor of her dormitory. She died from a head injury on impact. Tokyo University used its influence to suppress the incident. If she were an ordinary person, that would probably have been the end of it. The problem is that Shimakawa Ryoko's brother is Shimakawa Masao, an important member of the Daiheki Group. He didn't want his sister to follow in his footsteps, so he invested in her education, hoping she would be successful. With his background, finding someone capable of abducting a person from the fourth floor wouldn't be very difficult."
Emily lowered her hand and said with a stern face, "Morimoto, we only need his knowledge; we don't need to make any judgments about his character. You haven't arranged for someone to find Shimakawa Masao of the Daiheki Group, have you?"
"Don't worry, I've already tasked Okayama with finding him."
Morimoto Chiyoda shrugged, picked up a slice of meat, dipped it in sauce, and said, "The only thing is, we're not sure if Anda Hiroshi is still alive. You should know that revenge is an emotion that doesn't follow any logic. After all this time, I think it's best not to expect him to still be alive."
"Damn it! He could have at least waited until after I questioned him to die," Emily grumbled, also picking up a slice of meat.
BEEP BEEP. Her phone rang. Morimoto Chiyoda picked it up and answered, "Hello, how's it going?"
"Shimakawa Masao has disappeared. According to the Daiheki Group, they haven't been able to contact him since last night."
Morimoto Chiyoda wasn't surprised by this news.
Considering the timing, he might have started planning Anda Hiroshi's abduction last night.
"Check Shimakawa's recent account activity. Look into his real estate and any known hideouts. Get the Daiheki Group to cooperate. If they don't, they shouldn't blame us for frequently showing up in their territory and disrupting their business."
"Got it," Okayama Buji said from the other end before hanging up.
Emily turned to Morimoto Chiyoda. "I'll leave this matter entirely to you. I have to meet with another professor, Doctor Kakuda, this afternoon."
"How did your talk go with the one this morning?" Curiosity flashed across Morimoto Chiyoda's face.
Emily's expression was somewhat gloomy as she responded, "No progress. According to Griffith, Dio's ascension to Paradise requires the souls of sinners, but that guy spent the whole morning explaining the profound meaning behind the eight-character phrase 'lay down the butcher's knife and immediately become a Buddha.' He rambled on and on, and I just can't see how any of this is related to Dio ascending to Paradise!"
Emily almost wanted to flip the table to express her frustration.
She knew nothing about theology; she was a complete novice in the subject. Being force-fed all sorts of knowledge by a doctor of that caliber, with its endless terminology, was enough to make her head explode.
"Maybe Dio's method for ascending to Paradise involves taking a bit from here and a bit from there, then piecing together a complete plan."
Morimoto Chiyoda's words plunged Emily into deep thought. She was already straining to digest the doctor's knowledge and had no mental capacity left to consider other matters.
Now that she thought about it, perhaps Morimoto Chiyoda was right. It wasn't necessarily about strictly following the methods of Buddhism or Taoism, but rather extracting the essence from various sources and piecing together a way to Paradise.
"Morimoto, that's a good idea. I'll keep that in mind."
Emily was self-confident about her intelligence but didn't consider herself omniscient.
No matter how clever a person is, their ideas can have omissions that need others to fill in.
Emily's mood brightened considerably. She picked up a piece of meat and declared with renewed determination, "Let's eat up and get back to work!"
「Meanwhile, on the rooftop of the teaching building at Brilliant high school.」
Aozawa swallowed the last small piece of pork cutlet, not leaving a single grain of rice in his bento box.
Wasting food is disgraceful.
Hojo Tetsuji crouched beside him, endlessly sucking on an already empty coke can, like a malfunctioning robot.
"Haven't you figured it out yet?"
"Well, the young lady told me not to be completely honest about my creative process, afraid it would scare Little Sayuri. But when it comes to lying to Little Sayuri, I just don't know what to say."
Hojo Tetsuji scratched his head. He was terrible at lying; everyone always saw right through him.
Aozawa closed his bento box and smiled. "Since you're so troubled, I'll give you an idea. You don't need to specifically lie. Just say you drew it for 'a certain person.' As for who 'that certain person' is, as long as you don't reveal it, Little Sayuri won't feel comfortable assuming it's her. At least, she won't admit it, either aloud or to herself, so you won't have to worry about scaring her."
This was like a sudden ray of light for Hojo Tetsuji. He quickly stood up, exclaiming excitedly, "Aozawa, you're a genius! That's exactly what I should do! By using 'a certain person,' it won't count as lying to Little Sayuri, and the ambiguity can pique her curiosity about who this 'certain person' is. Maybe she'll pay more attention to me, wanting to find out if she's that 'certain person'!"
Seeing his ecstatic expression, Aozawa waved him off. "You keep dreaming. I'm going to find a place to nap."
Hojo Tetsuji looked puzzled. "You nap every day. Are you that tired at night?"
"It's called 'health preservation,'" Aozawa said, waving his hand dismissively without looking back as he headed for the stairs. He decided to take a stroll outside the school to see if anything interesting was happening.