Detect-er Aster
Ep.#01 - Safe Theft Case
Written by: CS-Masyet
I'm Aster, 17 years old, and a detective. Long ago, there was a famous detective named Flash Lite. He was able to solve any case he took. Until one day, he wasn't able to solve a case. After that day, no one ever saw him again. So I became a detective in hopes of finding him.

I got a note back after sending a letter to the head policeman about becoming a detective. This is what it said:

Aster,
I suppose you could come help us out if you want to that badly. We are short-handed, so we could use all the help we could get. Come by The Press Studio at noon tomorrow to help with a case.
- Head Officer Ovice

Since I got this letter yesterday, that means the case is today. So I went to the place he asked me to go to. It's right by my house, so I walked there. The Press Studio is the place where the newspapers are printed in my town. But why is the case being held here?

Day: March 23 / Time: 12:00

Ovice (Age: 41): "Um, are you Aster?"

"That's right."

Ovice: "You're a little younger than I thought, but I'll give you a chance. I'm Head-Officer Ovice."

"I know. You're on TV a lot."

Ovice: "Okay, then moving on..."

"Wait, can I ask you something?"

Ovice: "Yes?"

"Why isn't the Head-Detective here?"

Ovice: "Um, remember when I said I was short-handed? I meant that we don't have any detectives in our staff. Not anymore, anyway. We've been a bit short-handed ever since that detective disappeared."

"I-I see... Anyway, let's get on with the case. Can you tell me about the case and who the suspects are?"

Ovice: "Certainly. This woman's safe was broken into and all the money was stolen."

Ruth (Age: 26): I am Ruth, head of the the Press Studio.

Fundo (Age: 15): I'm Fundo, the co-head.

Sachi (Age: 14): I'm Sachi, Fundo's assistant and childhood friend.

Ovice: "These three, including Ruth, were the only ones present around the time it happened. So it had to have been one of them."

"Why's that?"

Fundo: "There's a security camera at the entrance. If someone came in during that time it would've seen something."

"I see... So it had to have been one of these three."

Ruth: "But why would I steal it? It was my money after all! It was obviously Fundo!"

Ovice: "She has a point there..."

"Not exactly."

Ovice: "Hm?"

"She could have stolen it herself to frame Fundo. It's not very uncommon."

Ruth: "W-what? But why would I do that?!? If I wanted to get rid of him that badly, I'd just fire him!"

"Co-heads need to be paid more than regular employees, correct?"

Ruth: "Yeah, but..."

"But if he were to do something like this, you could fire him without having to pay him at all."

Ruth: "B-but... It wasn't me..."

"Relax, I was only stating a possibility."

Ovice: "Alright, how about you all tell us what you were doing the night of the theft."

Ruth: "I was just deciding the pay for my employees. Then I left at 23:30."

Ovice: "So you were present when the crime took place!"

Ruth: "Y-yes, but I didn't do it!"

Fundo: "Mind if I go next?"

"Go ahead."

Fundo: "Alright, it was around 23:00 when the theft happened, right? Sachi and I were just organizing the old newspapers that night."

Ovice: "Organizing? Don't you just throw out all the old ones?"

Fundo: "That depends. For important events we keep some of them. This was by instruction of Ruth herself."

"Is this true?"

Ruth: "Yes... A lot of people request to look at old newspapers for historic events in town. Mostly high school students."

"High school students?"

Ruth: "For research papers and stuff like that. We've been doing this even before my father gave control of this place to me."

Ovice: "Aster, aren't you also a high school student? You don't know about this?"

"I've never heard of people doing this before, no. Anyway, Fundo continue."

Fundo: "Alright. After that, I was tired so I decided to leave early. I told Sachi to lock up for me and left. That is all I did that day."

Ovice: "I see..."

"What time did you leave?"

Fundo: "About 15 minutes before 23:00."

Ovice: "Ah, so you weren't here when the theft occured..."

Fundo: "That's correct."

Ovice: "Well, now we're getting somewhere! There are only two suspects now."

"Um, he could be lying..."

Ovice: "Oh right, my bad..."

Sachi: "But he's not lying! Everything he said is the truth!"

"Alright Sachi, you're next."

Sachi: "Hm?"

"Could you tell us what happened after Fundo left?"

Sachi: "Okay. After Fundo left, I finished organizing the newspapers. Then I locked up and turned off the lights, just like Fundo told me to..."

"Um, when did he ask you to turn off the lights?"

Sachi: "U-um... I thought if he wanted me to lock up then he wanted me to turn off the lights too..."

Fundo: "But Ruth was still there at the time..."

Ruth: "So that was you? You idiot!"

Sachi: "I-I'm so sorry!"

Ruth: "Because of you, I couldn't see Fundo commiting the crime on the other security camera!"

Fundo: "You still think I did it...?"

Ovice: "W-wait a minute! What other security camera?"

Ruth: "T-there's another security camera placed near the door of my office..."

Ovice: "Why didn't you tell us about it before?!?"

Ruth: "W-well, it was dark, so..."

Ovice: "We might be able to get some clues on this case even it's dark! Let's check out that camera, Aster!"

"(Hm... Because Sachi turned off the lights, no one could see the culprit...)"

Ovice: "What's on your mind?"

"Just thinking about what everyone's said so far..."

Ovice: "Put your thinking on hold; let's check out the camera footage."

We all go into the camera room.

Ruth: "I'll play back the time someone entered my office that night. The only time, mind you."

"That would have to be the person who stole your money then..."

Ruth: "Exactly."

The footage displayed around the entrance to Ruth's office. The culprit headed for the door, but went in another direction first. Then after a few seconds, went back to Ruth's office.

"The culprit sure was acting strange..."

Ovice: "Is there a room in the direction the culprit went?"

Fundo: "The writing room. It's where all the computers are to write the newspapers."

Ovice: "And where were you during this time, Ruth?"

Ruth: "T-the writing room..."

Ovice: "So the culprit is you!"

Ruth: "N-no, I never left the writing room until 23:30..."

"Why were in the writing room anyway?"

Ruth: "Like I said before, I was deciding the pay for the employees. I was checking the computers to see how much work they'd been doing."

"Couldn't you do that in your office?"

Ruth: "If I could have, I wouldn't have been in the writing room..."

Ovice: "Point taken..."

"(I should talk to the other two to get more information...)" I go up to Sachi.

"Sachi, can I ask you something?"

Sachi: "Yeah, what is it?"

"Do Ruth and Fundo not get along very well?"

Sachi: "Yeah; they fight a lot actually..."

"Do you know why?"

Sachi: "Well, Ruth's father used to run this place. Ever since we were little, Fundo would always visit this place. He liked him a lot. Ruth thought him visiting was annoying, though..."

"But then why would she hire you two, then?"

Sachi: "A year ago, Ruth's father retired. But before that, he made Ruth the head and hired Fundo and made him co-head."

"I see... Well, thanks for all the info."

Sachi: "No problem. ...you know Fundo didn't do it, right? Ruth did!"

"Why does it have to be one of them? You're a suspect too, you know...."

Sachi: "B-but I would never do something like that!"

"I'm just saying..." I go talk to Fundo next.

"Fundo, you and Sachi are childhood friends, right?"

Fundo: "Yeah, that's right. What about it? Do you need proof or something? Here." Fundo gives me a picture.

"This isn't necessary, but thanks..." In the picture, there was one kid defending another from a bully. There was also another kid on the ground behind the bully, all beat up.

"U-um..."

Fundo: "I know you're thinking. It's an odd picture, right?"

"Who would take a picture of something like this?"

Fundo: "That bully got away with everything. So someone took a picture to prove he did bad things."

"Oh, I see... So I'm guessing the one defending the other kid is you, Fundo."

Fundo: "Correct."

"And the one being defended is Sachi...?"

Fundo: "No, the beat up kid is Sachi."

"Then whose...?"

Fundo: "That's Sachi's twin sister, Aijou..."

"Sister? She looks like a boy..."

Fundo: "Sachi and Aijou liked to dress up the same way... They thought it was fun confusing themselves with each other..."

"Why do look so sad when you talk about Aijou?"

Fundo: "...she died... Two days after this photo was taken..."

"W-what?!?"

Fundo: "Their house burned down. Aijou didn't make it out in time..."

"I-I see... I'm sorry..."

Ovice: "Hey Aster, there's something I want you to look at! Come on!"

We all go back to the crime scene. Ovice points to something on the ground near the door to Ruth's office.

Ovice: "What is this thing?"

Ruth: "It detects any man that passes through. I put this here just in case Fundo or Sachi tried to steal anything from my office."

"I've never heard of a machine like that..."

Ruth: "That's because I made it myself."

Ovice: "Interesting... But then shouldn't it have gone off when the culprit passed through?"

Ruth: "They must have broken it..."

Ovice: "Hm..." Steps on the detecter, and sets it off. "W-wha!"

Fundo: "It's working now, Ruth..."

Ruth: "B-but..."

"This means Fundo or Sachi couldn't have done it, I suppose..."

Sachi: "Which means Ruth had to have done it!"

Ruth: "W-wait a second...!"

"..."

Ovice: "What's the matter, Aster?"

"This seems too easy... (Wait, what if it was like that...?)"

To Be Continued...