I see. So you didn’t know… You seem to be fearing the worst – that he is the culprit for this specific incident. He claims he doesn’t remember anything after entering the cafe with you.
We also found a decomposing body not far from there. It was slightly scorched – the clothes at least – and looked like it had been there… well, at least since the incident. Hattori-kun claimed to not know him, but the location of the corpse and the condition seem to suggest he was at the scene of the fire while it was still burning. So… that gives us a witness to the fire.
“No, I wasn’t aware of the building’s demise.” Hakuba scrolled through his phone with one hand, tapping buttons and screens, while reaching for his teacup with the other.
“Doesn’t remember our interaction… found singed body… Hattori’s injuries…"
The detective took a sip of tea, then finally glanced back at Kyouko.
"When I visited Hattori-san in the hospital on the insistence of one of our mutual friends, I did show him the lighter, which seemed to cause him some amount of distress. Whether he was the cause, or the corpse, or someone/thing else entirely… I feel somehow responsible.”