Chapter 66
The next day, Usuha Izuki saw Hagiwara Kenji appear with two huge dark circles under his eyes.
Usuha Izuki felt a bit guilty: "Are you okay?"
"I'm alright." Hagiwara Kenji yawned. "By the way, about yesterday's design diagram—would you be willing to let Explosive Ordnance Disposal make a model for training?"
Usuha Izuki readily agreed: "Sure, I can design a few more for you."
Hagiwara Kenji suspected Usuha Izuki spoke without thinking: "...Actually one is enough. Too many would be hard to all claim came from America..."
"Whatever works." Usuha Izuki didn't care, or rather, it would be better for him if everyone knew these bombs were his designs—it's just that Hagiwara Kenji would definitely stop him, so he didn't fight for attribution.
As for whether there might be problems if design diagrams leaked even during police internal training—this wasn't high-tech. Designing bombs was like being an exam maker—if you wanted to make things difficult, there were plenty of methods. Whether bombs were hard to defuse or not, most police encountering bombs would just detonate them.
But bomb disposal experts still needed to keep up with the times. Many situations unsuitable for detonation required them to act, so encountering rare designs always needed study to avoid falling into traps.
Hagiwara Kenji's disagreement was mainly concerned that others might ask who exactly designed it, adding to Samukawa Shinryu's already unclear reputation. But since Matsuda Jinpei was confident about finding excuses to cover it up, letting everyone at Explosive Ordnance Disposal learn more was fine—maybe they'd see through similar traps in the future and save lives.
"I'm thanking you on behalf of everyone at Explosive Ordnance Disposal." Hagiwara Kenji smiled.
After this good news reached Matsuda Jinpei, he eagerly went to request materials from his supervisor to make the model.
To avoid exposing Usuha Izuki, he recopied the design diagram himself before showing it to his supervisor.
The supervisor glanced at it: Seems like something.
After a few more looks, the supervisor's gaze sharpened.
"What pervert designed this?"
Matsuda Jinpei irresponsibly made up stories: "A case from America. A friend knew I liked this kind of thing and helped me inquire about it. I reconstructed it based on intelligence."
The supervisor expressed doubt: "How come I haven't heard about it? If such a bomb appeared, shouldn't it be famous already?"
Matsuda Jinpei insisted: "It's from America."
The supervisor didn't pursue it further. After all, the design diagram was real—maybe the information source was inconvenient to discuss. The adult world was full of unspoken understanding. They could just tell others it came from America.
"We should indeed make a model for everyone to train with... Sigh, anyone who can draw such a design diagram probably has bomb defusal skills too. Do you think this person could join our Explosive Ordnance Disposal?"
Matsuda Jinpei looked accusingly at his supervisor: "Please don't fish for information, okay?"
The supervisor didn't mind, just felt very regretful: "Seems like they can't... With this design as foundation, even if they don't join, being an advisor would work!"
Matsuda Jinpei curled his lip.
That person looked down on Explosive Ordnance Disposal—they wanted to go to the front lines... Speaking of which, that Samukawa guy should be starting his Mobile Investigation internship about now, right?
Just as Matsuda Jinpei guessed, as the new week began, Police Academy students were sent out for internships in various locations.
Generally they went to local police boxes, since most would work at local police stations after graduation. Only a few would be directly promoted to Metropolitan Police.
There were several exceptions, like Usuha Izuki, who went to the newly reorganized Mobile Investigation Unit, reporting on Monday.
Regarding having a Police Academy student come for internship, Kikyo Yuru, the captain of Metropolitan Police Criminal Investigation Department's First Mobile Investigation Unit and Fourth Mobile Investigation Unit—the first female captain—had told team members about this a week early, but everyone was busy then and forgot after hearing it.
Captain Kikyo herself was busy to the point of near unconsciousness. Only now on Monday did she suddenly remember: "Who was supposed to take the newcomer... Shima? Was it you?"
Officer Shima frowned and looked up: "I'm already training a newcomer."
"Ibuki doesn't count as new anymore." Captain Kikyo said. "Aren't you two getting along well? Plus you have experience training newcomers—wouldn't it be easier with you and Ibuki training one together? It's just until the internship ends. After becoming permanent, we'll arrange a new partner... Try to keep him. We really need people."
Officer Shima's frown deepened as he strongly resisted: "Squad Leader Jinma also has newcomer training experience."
"That's different." Captain Kikyo said. "This one coming seems to be another problem child too. You can even handle Ibuki, so please take care of the new one too."
Officer Shima: "............"
So next he'd be training two problem children... Couldn't these be distributed to other groups?!
He asked without hope: "What kind of problem child this time? Bigger problems than Ibuki?"
"Uh." Captain Kikyo recalled, "Have you heard rumors about Onizuka Class? From Onizuka Class, honor student."
Officer Shima, who had indeed heard rumors, looked grave: "I understand."
Troublemaker, disobedient, accident-prone, right...
Officer Shima prepared to meet a second Ibuki Ai.
Thinking of Ibuki Ai's road rage-like confrontations, scrapping a car in two days of work, pretending to threaten criminals with gunfire, and over-trusting intuition while treating criminals as innocents, even though these cases had satisfactory conclusions and they'd worked well together now with Ibuki being relatively obedient, Officer Shima still got a headache.
He took the materials Captain Kikyo handed him.
Opening them, he fell silent.
In that small photo, the dark-haired, red-eyed youth coldly gazing ahead was someone he'd met recently.
This wasn't just an ordinary problem child anymore!!!
Seeing Officer Shima's mouth twitching, Captain Kikyo coughed: "Though he might look somewhat unfriendly, Instructor Onizuka swore to me that this Samukawa-kun is very capable. Don't judge by appearance, Shima."
"Indeed quite capable." Officer Shima said expressionlessly. "The Police Academy student who defused bombs on scene the day before yesterday was this guy."
Captain Kikyo: "......"
"What what? Is it that person?" Ibuki Ai rushed over to look at the materials, adjusting his glasses. "Whoa, it really is—Samukawa Shinryu. I remember that the Explosive Ordnance officer angrily shouted this name... Good thing I didn't actually hurt him then, or this would be so awkward now."
"You shouldn't have rushed up then! If his hand had slipped we'd all be flying!"
"Couldn't help it! Opening the door and seeing him like that, I couldn't control myself! Didn't you misunderstand too?! And I went after seeing the countdown stop!"
Officer Shima was speechless.
True.
They happened to be patrolling nearby when they heard the emergency call, so they arrived first on scene.
Based on the emergency report, they went to the second floor and found the mall security anxiously pacing outside the restroom. They showed their police IDs, and the security guard said with relief:
"You came so fast—I just finished calling... Yes, someone locked this restroom from inside and I don't know what they're doing. The person looked scary, so I didn't dare use my key to open it..."
Ibuki Ai was confused: "Huh? That's not the emergency report we received—we heard there was a bomb here."
The security guard panicked: "...Ah? A bomb?!"
Officer Shima explained: "We can't confirm yet—someone just reported it. It might just be an ordinary package. We're here to verify if it's actually a bomb. If so, you'll probably get an evacuation notice from the manager soon..."
"Then there definitely is one!" the security guard immediately said. "That person might be installing the bomb!"
"Theoretically, when the bomb was reported, it was already installed. No need to go now..."
"Not necessarily!" the security guard insisted. "I've seen movies—first install part of it, then bring hard-to-transport parts in batches for assembly... Officer! What should I do now?!"
Officer Shima sighed: "Give me the key. You stay far away."
Since someone had locked the door directly, regardless of whether they were criminals, they'd definitely been alerted. Officer Shima simply called out at the door: "Hello, is anyone inside?"
Unsurprisingly, no response from inside.
Only then did Officer Shima use the key to open the door.
Worried about bombs at the entrance, he opened it carefully and hid behind the door panel, fearing violent retaliation from inside.
But soon, cries for help came from within.
"Is someone there? Help..."
Officer Shima: "......?!?!"
So there wasn't just one person inside?! Right, the security guard hadn't said the person drove everyone out before locking the door... This might not be just a bomb incident—it could involve revenge and mutual destruction.
With lives at stake, just as Officer Shima was about to emerge from cover, his partner Ibuki Ai had already rushed in.
Soon he saw what was happening inside.
Someone appeared coerced, holding a bomb flashing with countdown display with a fearful expression, while another person methodically held some tool reaching into the bomb's control box, apparently adjusting something.
Instantly, countless speculations flashed through Officer Shima's mind—how brazen! Making hostages hold bombs to threaten police?!
Why didn't the caller mention this!
Wait, could the bomber have called police themselves to enjoy watching police helplessness?!
Hearing movement at the entrance, the suspected bomber glanced this way.
Under night sky-blue bangs, those blood-red eyes showed no emotion as he said indifferently: "Don't come over."
Perhaps his shifted gaze caused problems with his work—Ibuki Ai keenly noticed the countdown on the bomb's control box had gone out. Trusting his instincts without considering whether misjudgment might kill him, he directly charged forward.
The dark blue-haired youth stepped back two paces, distancing himself from the hostage. Officer Shima quickly moved forward to support the person and get them away from the battlefield: "Are you okay? Do you know each other?"
The hostage sobbed: "Thank you! Thank you, officer! We don't know each other!"
Officer Shima quickly glanced at Ibuki Ai's battlefield, then reached to handle the bomb. Only then did he discover many cut wires inside the bomb's control box.
If that person really was the bomber, why would he cut these wires? This was clearly bomb defusal!
"Wait!" Officer Shima sensed something wrong and quickly asked the hostage: "Was he defusing the bomb just now?"
The hostage cried messily: "I don't know! Maybe! I don't understand bombs! I bought this from someone!"
Officer Shima: "......?!?!"
Ibuki Ai also realized, stopping his restraining moves: "...Ah? You planted this bomb?"
"Wah wah wah, I just wanted to threaten the mall manager, make him regret firing me... I was observing fine from nearby when this guy suddenly grabbed me... insisted on defusing it with me holding it... said if my hands shook we'd all die together... wah wah wah..."
The two officers fell silent: "............"
Officer Shima slowly looked toward the person who looked much more like a criminal than this guy.
The dark-haired, red-eyed youth casually put the small knife in his hand into his coat pocket, gazing coldly at the real criminal with inorganic indifference.
"I just thought he should learn a lesson."