Trolley Matchmaking Party

Are you okay?" The man sitting across from Aoi Shirakawa struck up a conversation with her. Meanwhile, the train starts.

A blind date party planned by the city youth group is about to start on the train. 11 pairs of men and women sit facing each other, each with 5 minutes of free time to talk.

Aoi was embarrassed to find out that she knew the person across from her. She answers the question, "A police officer still attends these parties?"

The encounter with criminal police officer Keiichiro Mori made Aoi feel worse than bad. Four months ago, when Aoi found her mother lying in her home covered in blood, she cried out in fear, and the first person to arrive at the scene was this officer, Mori. The police investigated the scene and initially decided that it was not a burglary. Judging from the fact that the victim had been stabbed dozens of times, the murderer must have been full of resentment.

"Have you regained your composure?" Officer Mori asked again.

"Well," Aoi nodded vigorously, "my mother's wish before she died was that I get married, and I promised to find a partner quickly at her grave. I was brought up by my mother alone, and this is the last filial duty I should do."

"So that's how it is. My parents have been nagging me about getting married all day long. It's the first time I've ever been to a party like this."

"You're 28 years old?" Aoi glanced at the other party's resume, "I'm already 37 and have been to all kinds of dating parties. Recently there was also a kind of matchmaking party where only parents are allowed to attend."

"It seems it's not hard to find a suitable person."

Aoi smiled a little blushingly but immediately looked grave again.

"It feels a bit inappropriate to inquire on such occasions though ...... How is the investigation of that case going?"

"I'm sorry!" Officer Mori lowered his head, "We have searched for the murderer with all our might, and so far there has been no progress ...... but there is one thing I always have doubts about."

"What is it?" Aoi moved her face closer with slight excitement.

"The flowers in the kitchen."

"Flowers?" Aoi recalled, "Was it the flower that was placed on the dining table?"

"That flower is a late blooming plum blossom, of the Hakkaga variety, a tree of white flowers when in full bloom, and the flowering period lasts until late March."

"What is your question?" Aoi asked.

"There was a vase next to the plum blossoms, and also, the hanging scroll was taken out, so I think it was being prepared for flower arrangement. Did your mother buy that flower?"

"Does this have anything to do with the case?" Aoi felt incredulous, "I was not at home that day ...... However, my mother likely bought them. She likes tea ceremonies and won a prize for tea performances. She used the room with niches in the house as a tea room and often met friends with tea."

"That's why I have doubts, if the plum blossoms are used for flower arrangements in the tea room, there is no need to prepare so many. If you use a large vase still makes sense, but the vase is prepared and particularly small."

"According to your analysis, the plum blossoms were not bought by my mother?"

"The nearby florist did not enter this kind of flowers, perhaps from neighbors or a guest at home, the guest brought a gift."

"There is something I mentioned to other detectives," Aoi's voice was slightly agitated, "I saw a woman in her 50s coming out of my house before I found out my mother was killed, it's possible she was the killer."

"I know about this, we share information in the Interpol."

"But I don't know that person, did she send the plum blossoms?"

"It's possible, in which case we can make another speculation." Officer Mori raised his index finger and said, "The case happened just as April entered, and if you go to a florist to buy flowers, you would usually choose something like cherry blossoms, which represent spring. The plum is often used as the seasonal word for early spring in haiku, and to buy late blooming plums at this time of year is too lacking in sentiment. It's possible that they grew plum blossoms in their yard and cut them down as a gift."

"Makes sense." Aoi praised from the bottom of her heart.

"But," said Inspector Mori, "then there's a problem. If the flower giver is the murderer, then why did she leave the flowers at the scene?"

"I can guess this," Aoi's expression was serious, "the murderer did not want to attract attention, holding flowers, after all, was too conspicuous. If she had plum blossoms in her yard and came home with a large bouquet of plum blossoms in her hand, she would have felt unusual if someone she knew saw them, so she left them behind," Aoi said with a sudden understanding, "assuming the flower giver was the murderer, she would have left fingerprints, but there were none on the plum blossoms. If the flowers were wrapped in newspaper, there might be fingerprints on the newspaper."

"Right. The kitchen knife is missing and it is considered a murder weapon, so it seems very likely that the crime was not premeditated. Check the home where the plum blossoms were planted and check the owner's fingerprints, and you may be able to identify the suspect. You still can't think of anyone to suspect now?"

Aoi shook her head in confusion, "My mother never invites hatred."

"Yeah." Officer Mori's face suddenly lit up, "Just now you said there was a kind of matchmaking party where only parents were allowed to attend, so maybe you messed with someone there. The man's parents liked you, and your mother was not satisfied with the other party, and afterward, they were very concerned about their son's rejection, so they harbored a grudge, investigated, found out your home address, then visited, asked the reason for rejection, and suddenly became furious. Aoi, the strange woman you saw in her 50s is the one your mother met at this kind of matchmaking party."

The tense muscles on Aoi's face relaxed and a smile gradually emerged, "It seems like we're about to find the murderer."

"Please wait a moment." Someone suddenly interjected loudly. A man in his early 30s, fit and red in the face, stood up in the seat behind them. He walked across the aisle and came up next to them.

"I overheard your conversation, so I couldn't stay silent anyway. The result of the discussion between you two identified the murderer as a woman in her 50s, and I'm afraid you're referring to the family mother. I have plum blossoms growing in my yard, and my mother cut them to go to her house, yes, but my mother did not harm her mother."

"Why do you say that with such certainty?" Officer Mori asked calmly.

"As you guessed, my mother and her mother did meet at a matchmaking party attended only by parents, but her mother did not reject my mother, on the contrary, they had the same intention and exchanged contact addresses. This you can find out in more detail by asking the organizer." The man took a long breath, "Contrary to your speculation, it was me who refused to go out, the family mother showed me her picture, I refused, to convey my meaning, the family mother went to her house, the plum blossoms were sent at that time. The family mother had no reason to get her mother killed. If anyone invites hate, it would be me."

"Why did you refuse to go out with her?"

"I've been going to dating parties for a long time, and I've seen her at many of them, so ......"

Aoi couldn't help but stand up and yell, "Are you trying to say that I can't get married?" The voice was so dull that even Aoi herself was surprised, "Yes, I'm not married yet, but how is that caused? If you want to say I'm stagnant, don't make such jokes! I focused on my studies and cultivation and tried to make myself into an attractive woman. I also had several opportunities, even to the point of talking about marriage, which ended up falling through because of my mother. She casually rejected them because she didn't like them and got involved in everything, making marriage further and further away from me, and my failure to get married was purely her fault."

Officer Mori slowly spoke: "So that's how it is, I'm surprised that a mother and daughter who are seen as having a good relationship are so hostile. Is this the motive for your crime?"

"Nonsense, don't you talk nonsense." Aoi glared at the man who crossed the line, "This man is lying."

"No, he's not lying," Officer Mori spoke in a calm tone, "He's telling the truth, the police have verified it. This blind date party today has given us unexpected cooperation."

"What are you talking about?"

"I've just said some of it, do you remember there was a hanging scroll in the tea room that day?"

"Well, remember." Aoi nodded, "It was supposed to hang in the center of the niche, but it was placed on the tatami."

"When entertaining important guests, the tea room should be hung with a hanging scroll, which should be hung before the guest arrives and taken down after the guest leaves. However, your mother did not intend to use the scrolls at all, so the fact that your mother took them down after the guests left is purely untrue. In other words, your mother was still alive and well when his mother left your house. Then Aoi you came back, the relationship was rejected, the mother endlessly counted, you listened and lost your mind all of a sudden as you just did." Officer Mori shook his head uncontrollably, "I'm sorry, according to this logical analysis, Aoi you became the murderer. After witnessing the woman in her 50s leave, you returned home, had a violent confrontation with your mother, and finally lost your mind and wielded a kitchen knife ......"

After listening to these words, Aoi fell to the ground like a deflated ball.