Chapter 72
The Mobile Investigation Unit's duty time was 24 hours, so even when normal office workers were getting off work, they still had to drive around the streets on covert patrol.
Of course, their meal times were also different from others.
When they returned to base earlier, Usuha Izuki and Ibuki Ai had both eaten, but only Officer Shima, due to that damn phone call, hadn't had time to eat anything.
Therefore, when his stomach suddenly started growling, the other two didn't mock him.
Ibuki Ai suggested: "There's nothing going on right now anyway. Go eat something, or how will you make it through the night? We two can wait in the car for headquarters communications. Don't worry."
Officer Shima certainly wouldn't plan to starve until 9 AM the next day, but hearing "don't worry" now made him inexplicably anxious.
He carefully thought about the source of this unease and felt it might be because once he left, only Ibuki Ai and Samukawa Shinryu would remain in the car.
Imagining these two people together with no one to stop them, free to do whatever they wanted... Officer Shima couldn't help feeling a heavy burden on his shoulders.
No way! He absolutely couldn't let these two people leave his sight simultaneously!
"I'll order delivery."
Officer Shima didn't dare leave even for the time it would take to go to a nearby convenience store to buy a bento, afraid that while he was paying, he'd see their car drive away through the window. When asked, they'd say headquarters contacted them and they had to hurry without him...
This kind of thing seemed very likely to happen!
Although ordering delivery while in a car was a bit strange, Officer Shima had clearly done this before and very skillfully called for food delivery. When giving the address, he said it was the melon bread van at the XXX intersection.
A very conspicuous landmark. As long as there were no emergency cases, he could stay here until the delivery arrived.
It was already dark, and the dim orange-yellow streetlights had come on. The three people in the car were bored waiting for delivery and chatting casually.
They say not to chat while driving, but long-distance truck drivers all relied on talking to people to stay alert. For their 24-hour shifts, sitting in deathly silence like attending a funeral wasn't good either. Now that the car was stopped, they definitely needed to chat.
"Twelve more hours until we get off work—"
Ibuki Ai directly opened the door separating the driver's compartment from the back compartment, propping himself on the driver's seat and sighing: "If something happens now, we might not have time to solve the case before handing it over to others... Ah, I'm not saying I don't trust Samukawa-kun! I just think not every case can be solved that quickly."
Officer Shima said coldly: "Cases being solved quickly is indeed good, but it's best if there are no incidents at all."
Usuha Izuki was typing an email with his head down, not joining the conversation. Ibuki Ai enthusiastically tried to pull him into the group chat: "Who's Samukawa-kun emailing? Is it the first day of work—are you sharing your experiences with friends?"
"...My friend already knows and is currently interrogating me." Usuha Izuki sped up his typing.
This strange answer attracted even the mentally exhausted Officer Shima. He asked puzzledly: "Why would they interrogate you?"
"You should ask senpai about that." Usuha Izuki's tone was subtle. "What exactly did senpai tell my friend?"
Officer Shima was very confused: "Where would I tell your friend—oh! I know, it's Assistant Instructor Hagiwara, right?"
Being a former Investigation Division One elite, Officer Shima instantly deduced who the other party was talking about.
So Assistant Instructor Hagiwara was Samukawa Shinryu's friend!
No wonder he was lying with his eyes open, desperately making excuses for Samukawa Shinryu!
This counted as favoritism, right?!
Ibuki Ai was very interested in this topic: "Eh? You and your Assistant Instructor are friends? How did you manage that? Teach me!"
Officer Shima was also very curious.
He had previously thought the Police Academy wanted to shirk responsibility, so they spoke well of Samukawa Shinryu. If they were friends, that was another matter entirely.
Especially with Samukawa Shinryu's aura... making friends really wasn't easy, let alone with a Police Academy Assistant Instructor. To make someone ignore the dangerous feeling of standing beside him and befriend him—there must be some reason, right?
At this moment, Officer Shima's thoughts uncontrollably went toward mind control, brainwashing...
When he realized what he was thinking, Officer Shima slapped his forehead.
—Wake up! No matter how suspicious Samukawa-kun seems, he's still your colleague! Even suspicion should have limits!
Ibuki Ai looked strangely at Officer Shima, who had suddenly slapped himself, and urged Usuha Izuki: "Come on, tell us."
"Nothing much to say." Usuha Izuki answered lazily. "When I was acting heroically, I incidentally saved his and his teammate's lives."
Ibuki Ai was greatly shocked: "Is being a Police Academy Assistant Instructor that dangerous now?"
"This was before he became an Assistant Instructor. He used to be in Explosive Ordnance Disposal. There was a bomber who wanted to detonate remotely. I happened to pass by and caught the guy."
"Wow!" Ibuki Ai was very supportive. "Amazing! No wonder he became your friend!"
Only Officer Shima felt something was wrong when he heard "Explosive Ordnance Disposal": "Just to ask... who did you learn bomb disposal from?"
Usuha Izuki was silent for a moment: "It wasn't Kenji who taught me."
Officer Shima: "......"
Excellent! What do you call trying to cover up by denying? It was this Hagiwara Kenji who taught him, right?!
At this moment, Officer Shima's hands were a bit itchy—he had exchanged contact information with Hagiwara Kenji, originally intending to communicate more about Samukawa Shinryu's problems, but now he wanted to ask what Hagiwara Kenji was thinking!
Teaching Police Academy students bomb disposal—what was he trying to do?!
Just as Officer Shima was about to have a stroke, someone knocked on their melon bread van's door.
Someone outside asked: "Good evening, do you have any melon bread?"
Officer Shima opened the car window, showing an awkward but polite smile: "Sorry, we're sold out."
The person was somewhat displeased: "If you're sold out, why are you still parked here? Seeing you parked here so long, I thought you were still open."
"Uh... we're waiting for delivery." Officer Shima's gaze swept over this person's delivery uniform, somewhat regretful that this person wasn't here to deliver his food.
The passerby's gaze swept over Officer Shima and landed on Usuha Izuki, who was looking this way from behind. His expression suddenly froze.
Officer Shima sensed something was wrong. He turned around and found the newcomer was looking up and down at the person outside, his dark red eyes particularly oppressive in the night.
He quietly turned back around, blocking their line of sight, then smiled as he said goodbye to the passerby in delivery uniform: "Sorry, but this is indeed a place where we can park. We'll leave once we get our delivery."
"Ah, oh... alright." The other party awkwardly stepped back two steps and got on his bicycle.
After confirming that this delivery person who wasn't delivering his food had left, Officer Shima complained: "Don't be so fierce to innocent passersby!"
"I was just observing normally."
Officer Shima quietly rolled his eyes: "So what did you observe?"
"Mm..."
Usuha Izuki had bought many skills for the [Samukawa Shinryu] identity, including investigation, psychological profiling, micro-expression and micro-movement analysis, and other skills useful for undercover work. Though he wasn't undercover anymore, they were also useful as a police officer.
Like that delivery person just now...
"That guy seems to be casing the joint."
Officer Shima's window-closing motion suddenly froze, and his growling stomach seemed to instantly lose its hunger.
As if reminded by this statement, his mind flashed to the phrase "seeing you parked here so long," and he became alert too.
But he still cautiously inquired: "Are you sure? How did you tell?"
"He wasn't hungry at all and didn't want to buy melon bread. He'd been observing us for a long time. When he approached, his eyes kept looking into the car. The probability of a melon bread van still selling at this time while parked on the roadside is very low, but he insisted on coming to talk to us. Plus, when he asked when we'd leave, he was more serious than when asking if we had melon bread... because buying melon bread wasn't his purpose. He probably just wanted to find out why we were parked here and when we'd leave, so he has something he wants to do here that we're interfering with."
Countless details assembled and combined in Usuha Izuki's mind: "Delivery workers have no conflict of interest with cars parked here, but wearing delivery clothes to move through streets and alleys means even if he appears frequently, the probability of being noticed is low. Passersby would only label him as 'that delivery guy' rather than himself..."
He was too familiar with this. His main body dressed so flamboyantly for this same purpose—most people would only remember his weird outfit combination and not really notice his appearance. Later, changing to plain clothes, 90% of people who'd only met him once or twice wouldn't recognize him.
Even Vodka and Morofushi Hiromitsu, who were quite familiar with him, if he changed clothes, hair color and style, wore contact lenses, and spoke more steadily, their first reaction would probably just be thinking they'd met someone who looked similar...
Hairstylists' claim that changing hairstyles was like becoming a different person wasn't just empty talk.
Usuha Izuki was too lazy to explain bit by bit and directly said: "I suggest checking if there have been recent theft cases that haven't been solved. It might be group crime, with someone responsible for impersonating delivery workers—or actually registering as delivery workers but not taking orders—responsible for casing joints, and someone else responsible for the crimes."
Ibuki Ai made a sound of amazement: "Amazing! Just from that short time, you discovered all this?"
"Most of it is speculation. If you just saw wrong or thought too much..." Officer Shima was verbally critical but physically honest as he reached for the communicator.
"Then let's see what he does next."
Usuha Izuki pondered: "Most likely he'll choose to eliminate unstable factors and commit crimes when everyone's attention is focused elsewhere."
"What do you mean?" Officer Shima was a bit puzzled but had indeed picked up the communicator, wanting to ask headquarters about recent theft case information. After all, he felt that while Samukawa Shinryu was suspicious, his brain really worked well, and now he was also a bit suspicious of that person.
But before he could start calling, headquarters called first.
"First Mobile Investigation calling Fourth Mobile Investigation. Near XX district XXXX street XXXX intersection, someone reported seeing a suspicious vehicle, described as a melon bread-selling van. The caller claims the car might contain yakuza members. License plate number is..."
Ibuki Ai: "...Huh? Isn't that our current location? It sounds a lot like our car too..."
Usuha Izuki said very calmly: "That guy is eliminating unstable factors. Looks like we really did interfere with the theft gang's work."
Officer Shima: "...This is Mobile Investigation 404. The suspicious vehicle the caller reported is our car."
He now just wanted to catch that suspicious guy and question him.
—You're a thief calling the police! Why are you acting according to Samukawa Shinryu's predictions?! Don't you have your own brain?!