Chapter 93
"This won't do—you need to rewrite it."
Hagiwara Kenji held Usuha Izuki's self-criticism report and mercilessly evaluated: "Especially this part—what is this? 'If Sumiyoshi Group members had arrived successively, it would have become a group battle. To avoid greater disturbance, firing only warning shots perfectly aligns with Criminal Affairs Department Director Wagasubo Mameharu's statement that ‘saving the majority is our duty’... Do you have some grudge against the director?"
Before Usuha Izuki could speak, Matsuda Jinpei complained first.
"He's obviously dissatisfied! Isn't that obvious!" Matsuda Jinpei nearby shouted. "This is called self-criticism? His supervisor will be even angrier reading this!"
Hagiwara Kenji's expression faltered: "Uh... probably not, because Captain Kikyo also doesn't seem very satisfied with Director Wagasubo's theories."
Matsuda Jinpei: "......"
Hagiwara Kenji coughed and turned back to continue educating Usuha Izuki: "But regardless of the supervisor's preferences, as a self-criticism, this is clearly unqualified... You should be grateful you're in the Mobile Investigation Unit. If this were Criminal Investigation Division One, Section Chief Odakiri wouldn't let you off so easily. Captain Kikyo just having you write a self-criticism is already very lenient."
Although Hagiwara Kenji had long been mentally prepared, knowing Samukawa Shinryu's internship probably wouldn't remain peaceful for long, when he suddenly received Officer Shima's call telling him Samukawa Shinryu had fired a gun during today's mission, he was still startled, almost thinking the internship period wasn't even over yet and Samukawa Shinryu would be forced to quit.
Fortunately, because Samukawa Shinryu hadn't fired the police-issued gun where every bullet's whereabouts had to be reported, but rather the Sumiyoshi Group's gun, and hadn't injured anyone, plus he was considered the biggest contributor to this mission, it could barely be considered borderline and handled leniently—but a self-criticism was unavoidable.
Officer Shima had called him because he'd heard he was Samukawa Shinryu's friend. Some things he as a superior who'd only known him for a few days couldn't say conveniently, so he hoped Hagiwara Kenji as both instructor and friend could pay more attention to Samukawa Shinryu's mental state recently.
Hagiwara Kenji had originally thought Officer Shima was overthinking, but after reading the self-criticism, he found that Little Shinryu really seemed a bit annoyed about this incident.
Matsuda Jinpei hadn't seen the self-criticism—he'd come to watch the excitement after hearing Samukawa Shinryu had fired a gun. Knowing Samukawa Shinryu wouldn't be expelled, he was now relaxed and had time to ask questions: "So what exactly happened? You fired a gun, then what?"
Usuha Izuki thought: "They were very shocked, looked at me like I was a traitor, then asked if I was from the Tatsui Group."
Matsuda Jinpei: "...They'd rather guess you were from the Tatsui Group than guess you were police?"
Usuha Izuki couldn't always guess others' thought processes either—after all, the [Black Screen Aura] effect was too random, fluctuating with the person's imagination.
He'd also thought at the time that after talking with police like that, even the stupidest Sumiyoshi Group members should understand he was police.
But this group stubbornly contributed another wave of suspicion values, with one person even looking at him like his dreams were shattered, crying manly tears as he demanded.
"So this is actually the Tatsui Group's conspiracy? Why, why does it have to be the Tatsui Group..."
Usuha Izuki and his colleagues were all speechless. It was Ibuki Ai who looked left and right, then spoke up in confusion to break this bizarre misunderstanding.
"What Tatsui Group? This is someone from our Mobile Investigation Unit! He's police!"
Everyone on the other side had expressions like their worldview had collapsed. Whether it was because only Usuha Izuki had a gun in the entire scene and actually dared to fire it, with the muzzle still pointed at them, when they went to arrest them later, no one resisted—all obediently let themselves be handcuffed.
The person who'd looked most deeply hurt before, whose gun Usuha Izuki had disassembled on the bus, was led away disbelievingly and without mood to resist. Passing by Usuha Izuki, he still asked like a young woman who didn't believe she'd been deceived by a heartless man, with a glimmer of hope:
"Are you actually undercover in the police?"
Usuha Izuki: "...Mm."
"I see." That person believed even such an absurd statement. "I'm honored to contribute to the Young Master's achievements!"
Others: "............"
Wait, you actually believe that?
Executive Ikawa, walking at the back, couldn't help saying: "That guy's not too bright, didn't even finish elementary school, that's why he's just a thug... Isn't deceiving even him a bit..."
Usuha Izuki said without changing expression: "How can you be sure I was deceiving him?"
Executive Ikawa was startled, his expression suggesting he'd fallen into a brainstorm.
That's right—this young man whose name he still didn't know looked nothing like police no matter how you looked at him. He'd even fired a gun earlier, which could have killed someone if he wasn't careful. What proper police officer could do such a thing? 99% of Japanese police retire without ever drawing their guns, let alone firing them!
Such fearlessness—wasn't it because the other police present had all been bought off by him? So he really was both police and undercover?
In that case, even if he wasn't from our Sumiyoshi Group or the Tatsui Group, he must be from some other organization on the streets... Definitely a corrupt cop!
To control police to this extent, could he be from the Deisenkai...
After escorting all these people to vehicles, Officer Shima came over with an exasperated expression: "Don't tease criminals—be careful they give testimony unfavorable to you during interrogation!"
Usuha Izuki, who'd received an unexpected bonus package of suspicion values, didn't care about such things. He had confidence in Captain Kikyo's character.
Captain Kikyo was the type who wouldn't give up on anyone as long as there was hope. During the previous meeting, you could tell she actually sympathized with Aoike Toko whose life had been toyed with—clearly wanting to live properly but dragged into the mire by yakuza people, getting stained with a bit of mud and being discriminated against by society ever after, never able to find proper work again.
When he said Aoike Toko would definitely die if not found quickly with those injuries, Captain Kikyo also looked pained. So although his methods might have been excessive, since he'd saved Aoike Toko, Captain Kikyo would definitely feel protecting him was her responsibility—because if methods weren't aggressive enough, Aoike Toko might already be dead, and human life was obviously more important than those tedious rules.
But just having him write a self-criticism in the end was unexpected to Usuha Izuki too. It felt like Captain Kikyo had really worked hard to fight for him.
As Hagiwara Kenji had said, Captain Kikyo was indeed very lenient with him this time.
Matsuda Jinpei took the self-criticism from Hagiwara Kenji and quickly skimmed through: "'Used honorifics throughout law enforcement with no disrespect'... But I heard you also said things like 'I don't want to kill anyone'?"
Usuha Izuki said without changing expression: "I used honorifics."
Hagiwara Kenji was speechless: "This isn't about whether you used honorifics or not—if anything, using honorifics at that time was stranger..."
"Didn't those criminals complain about you after being arrested?" Matsuda Jinpei was curious.
"No." Usuha Izuki pondered. "Actually Miss Aoike complained a bit after being saved, saying someone was impersonating police... so I was called in for identification."
At the time, Aoike Toko had looked at him in a daze: "I thought I was having near-death hallucinations..."
Then she withdrew the complaint and thanked him.
Others thought she was thanking him for arriving in time and saving her life, but Usuha Izuki knew Aoike Toko was thanking him for not revealing the 100 million yen sent to the International Girls Rescue Center to police—as soon as she woke up, police asked where the money went, so she knew Usuha Izuki had indeed kept it secret.
Hagiwara Kenji: "...Anyway, it's good that the person was saved."
"Mm."
Matsuda Jinpei asked: "Speaking of which, where did that 100 million yen end up?"
"Miss Aoike's body hasn't recovered yet. Her conscious periods are short and she refuses to cooperate, so we haven't gotten it out of her yet." Usuha Izuki took back his self-criticism report. "Anyway, it's all dirty money—it doesn't matter if we can't get it back."
Hagiwara Kenji considered his tone thoughtfully: "Little Shinryu, do you actually already know where the money went?"
Usuha Izuki's movement of organizing the report papers suspiciously paused, then he said casually: "Who knows? Anyway, Miss Aoike is determined not to tell anyone. The money's probably already overseas and can't be retrieved. Finding out sooner or later makes little difference."
Matsuda Jinpei and Hagiwara Kenji exchanged glances—both understood this guy was concealing important intelligence despite being police.
But it didn't sound like Miss Aoike had told him, but rather that he'd figured it out himself. So this level of withholding...
Forget it—if Little Shinryu could investigate it, others probably could too. If it went overseas, being late really wouldn't matter.
But Miss Aoike had clearly been arrested yet still refused to mention the money's whereabouts—was it because she'd never intended to use that money herself, but for someone else?
So Little Shinryu's current concealment was also based on this reason...
Hagiwara Kenji decided to pretend not to know someone was hiding something: "Then let's look forward to your colleagues' investigation."
Matsuda Jinpei complained: "Your colleagues are all voluntarily working overtime, while you're so leisurely because you have to write self-criticism... Sometimes I wonder if you did it on purpose."
"Are you suspecting I would fire a gun to kill people for personal reasons?"
Matsuda Jinpei was startled—he'd just been joking, not expecting the other to suddenly get so serious: "I didn't mean that..."
"Your suspicion isn't wrong, because I don't know if I'd do that either."
The dark blue-haired young man leaned lazily against his chair back, dark red eyes gazing dimly at his self-criticism.
"...Haven't you ever been curious what it feels like to kill someone?"