Chapter 94
Hagiwara Kenji mercilessly slapped Usuha Izuki on the back, nearly knocking him off his chair.
"Don't make such jokes in the future." Hagiwara Kenji's smile seemed to radiate dark energy. "You're already a police officer. Do I need to teach you what you should and shouldn't say?"
Matsuda Jinpei also snapped out of his shock, his face looking grim: "He just needs discipline! Don't just talk without action—if you need to scold him, do it now!"
Usuha Izuki readily agreed: "I won't say it anymore."
Hagiwara Kenji took a deep breath.
Not saying it didn't mean not thinking it.
Even if it was a joke, he felt that for a moment, Little Shinryu had truly considered this question.
Officer Shima had told him that shot was fired right past someone's face—if it had been off by just a little, it would have hit the head. If not for believing Samukawa Shinryu wouldn't put himself in a difficult position in front of everyone, Officer Shima would have even suspected Samukawa Shinryu had actually been aiming for a headshot from the start.
This was why Officer Shima was so worried about Samukawa Shinryu's mental state and had specifically called Hagiwara Kenji to discuss this matter.
As for the strange things Samukawa Shinryu said, those were secondary—the behavior was what felt unsettling.
There was also his thinking pattern, sometimes excluding himself from the police group and always examining police principles with a scrutinizing attitude.
Officer Shima had even asked Hagiwara Kenji worriedly on the phone: "Does he really have no grievances against the police?"
Hagiwara Kenji had properly reassured this senior whose heart hadn't been well lately, swearing that Little Shinryu just wasn't good with words and absolutely meant nothing else.
Officer Shima didn't quite believe it, and Hagiwara Kenji himself wasn't entirely convinced either.
But Hagiwara Kenji was certain of one thing—regardless of anything else, the fact that Little Shinryu was still willing to be a police officer was already a statement. Based on this, he would choose to trust Little Shinryu as much as possible, avoiding deepening Little Shinryu's sense of alienation from the police group.
Everyone could see clearly that if he strayed even a little, Samukawa Shinryu would enter the other side's world.
And for Samukawa Shinryu, that other world might be more pleasant and relaxing. He would gain more supporters and admirers there, while on this side he often faced others' suspicion and questioning.
Just appearing before them as a police officer, Samukawa Shinryu had already paid a heavy price resisting those invisible pressures.
So if it were someone else, at this point he would have joined Matsuda Jinpei in properly scolding and educating them. But facing Samukawa Shinryu, the more sensitive the topic, the less he could react too strongly, lest he inadvertently push Samukawa Shinryu toward the other side.
Let it be just a joke, and hopefully it would always remain just a joke.
"Anyway, rewrite this part of the self-criticism." Hagiwara Kenji picked up a pencil and began editing for Usuha Izuki. "This sentence, this sentence, and this sentence should be deleted, then the honorifics here are excessive—combined with the context it actually feels sarcastic, that needs changing too..."
After a thorough edit, Hagiwara Kenji placed the draft paper back in front of Usuha Izuki: "Your task now is to rewrite a self-criticism. Nothing else concerns you."
Usuha Izuki: "...I don't like writing this kind of thing."
Hagiwara Kenji said coldly and ruthlessly: "I won't help you write it this time."
Matsuda Jinpei's mouth twitched: "You've helped him write self-criticisms?! Why don't you help me write any?!"
At this moment, Matsuda Jinpei felt like the older child when a second child suddenly appeared in the family, deeply understanding what it meant that the crying child gets the candy.
Hagiwara Kenji looked over with sharp eyes: "What have you done recently?"
"...Nothing."
"If you haven't done anything, where would the self-criticism come from? Besides, isn't this perfect? Now neither of you can expect me to help write self-criticisms." Hagiwara Kenji was fair and just. "Clean up your own messes."
Matsuda Jinpei: "......"
Just then, a strange sound suddenly came from outside the window. Matsuda Jinpei reflexively opened the window and looked toward where the sound came from, but the building across blocked his view and he couldn't see anything.
Hagiwara Kenji also frowned and stood up: "I think I heard an explosion..."
Before either could say "Let's go take a look," their vision blurred and the person who had been sitting at the desk suddenly disappeared.
"...Little Shinryu!" Hagiwara Kenji cried out.
Matsuda Jinpei instinctively turned his head and found the self-criticism draft had been stuffed into a drawer: "............"
To avoid rewriting the self-criticism, Samukawa Shinryu was really going all out. He'd never seen him this enthusiastic about a case before.
Matsuda Jinpei felt speechless and twitched his mouth: "Anyway, let's head over too."
They quickly reached the scene.
The situation was very chaotic, with several police cars already parked nearby. Matsuda Jinpei even saw colleagues from his shift today, and thinking of something, his expression immediately soured.
"Tch, don't tell me it's that again..."
Usuha Izuki had arrived a few minutes earlier. Though no one told him what happened, after walking around once, he roughly understood the situation and came to tell the two bomb disposal experts: "It's that thing from the headlines a few days ago, using corpses to attract attention, but..."
A few days ago someone had discovered a homeless man's corpse with a red [HANDLE WITH CARE] label attached. When police responded to the report, they accidentally triggered a bomb hidden under the body.
Because police were injured and using someone else's corpse as bait was so vile, it made headlines.
Only a few minutes had passed since they heard the explosion sound, and they'd quickly run over from just one street away, but when he arrived, several police cars were already parked here. They obviously hadn't driven over after the explosion, so Matsuda Jinpei immediately thought of this case, his whole face darkening.
"I knew it!"
Without waiting for Usuha Izuki to finish, Matsuda Jinpei pulled out his police ID and ducked under the police tape.
Hagiwara Kenji also wanted to go in and look, but after hesitating, he ultimately chose to stay with Usuha Izuki.
He couldn't help it—he'd already seen police looking this way and whispering, seemingly suspecting the criminal was his dangerous-looking friend.
Because a well-liked police officer had been severely injured in the explosion last time, his colleagues were all very emotional this time. Even if Little Shinryu showed his police ID, the effect might not be very good. It was better for him to stay nearby since he used to be in the Explosive Ordnance Disposal Unit and could still talk to acquaintances.
"What were you going to say after 'but'?" Hagiwara Kenji asked.
Usuha Izuki said: "This time it wasn't hidden in the corpse, but under a police car."
"Under a police car?" Hagiwara Kenji's expression immediately changed.
If it really was installed under a police car, that meant the criminal had installed it on site.
Had they secretly installed it while the police's attention was drawn to the corpse?
Hagiwara Kenji wanted to ask more, but suddenly noticed someone walking purposefully toward them.
"Sorry to disturb you, I'm Shiratori Ninzaburo." This unfamiliar police officer showed them his ID. "May I ask you a few questions?"
Hagiwara Kenji: "............"
See, what had he said? He knew it would turn out like this!
Facing these two people's silence, Shiratori Ninzaburo was very nervous.
He'd immediately noticed these two suspicious people.
The one in casual clothes aside, the other person had only flashed past his peripheral vision but made the detective alarms in his brain go off like crazy.
The dark-haired, red-eyed young man was dressed inexplicably light for December weather—white turtleneck sweater with black pants, not even wearing a coat. Facing this tragic scene, his expression was somewhat cold, showing not a trace of sympathy or pity, and his gaze kept moving over other people's faces...
Just like a pervert who returned to the crime scene after committing a crime, specifically to admire others' reactions!!!
Textbook, absolutely textbook!
When Shiratori Ninzaburo realized this, he was as excited as a medical student discovering a patient whose illness matched the textbook perfectly.
He noticed that others seemed to have also discovered this person's suspicious nature, but for some reason hadn't approached to question him.
Were they afraid he might lash out violently?
Shiratori Ninzaburo wasn't afraid.
He'd studied criminal psychology well and knew most bombers actually didn't exercise much—without their prepared bombs they were quite helpless. Plus the other's build looked lean rather than muscular. In a real fight, with so many colleagues around, who knew who would win!
Elite Shiratori Ninzaburo, who had just graduated from the National Police Academy this year, felt he was about to solve a big case!
Elites were elites—even at times like this he could think of a more reliable plan.
Shiratori Ninzaburo signaled to his partner to maintain vigilance and attract those two people's attention from the front while his partner coordinated from behind for a pincer attack.
But why were these two staying silent? Had they noticed something wrong?
Under the gaze of those oppressive dark red eyes, Shiratori Ninzaburo felt time crawling by and his palms getting sweaty.
Just as Hagiwara Kenji raised his hand, Shiratori Ninzaburo reflexively shouted: "Don't move! Put your hands where I can see them!"
His partner preparing for the sneak attack was nearly startled by Shiratori Ninzaburo.
Shiratori Ninzaburo was usually quite calm and rational—why was he suddenly like this? Did these two really have problems?
The partner got nervous too, slipped, nearly fell, and quickly took a big step forward to steady himself, but felt his arm suddenly grabbed. The next second he was airborne, then heavily hit the ground.
This commotion was significant.
Police nearby who had been observing the situation all simultaneously raised their guns, pointing them this way.
Hagiwara Kenji maintained his position with his hand suspended above his pocket, his mouth twitching: "Well, everyone calm down... Little Shinryu, you too—let go first!"
Usuha Izuki, who had pinned a police officer to the ground with grappling techniques and handcuffed him with his own cuffs, pondered: "This counts as assaulting an officer, right?"
Understanding his meaning, Hagiwara Kenji sighed: "...Don't do this, it's just a misunderstanding."
Shiratori Ninzaburo snapped back to his senses, very angry: "What kind of misunderstanding is this? Isn't this exactly assaulting an officer?"
"Huh? Hagiwara? Why are you here? Oh, isn't this Samukawa-kun... What happened?"
A police officer from the Explosive Ordnance Disposal Unit who used to be in Hagiwara's group and had been saved by Samukawa Shinryu ran over, looking puzzledly at this scene: "What are you doing?"
Shiratori Ninzaburo looked at this officer with shock: "These two are criminals—they even assaulted officers during arrest. Isn't that obvious? You know them?"
The Explosive Ordnance Disposal officer was silent for a moment, seemingly struggling to understand this description: "...Huh? But Hagiwara and Samukawa, they're also police officers."
Shiratori Ninzaburo: "...???"
Hagiwara Kenji smiled bitterly: "I was just trying to get my police ID—that would have explained things better..."
Shiratori Ninzaburo's gaze slowly moved to the other person still kneeling on his partner's back: "Then you...?"
The red-eyed young man stood up, patted his knee, and said concisely: "Police. You assaulted officers."
Hagiwara Kenji advised: "Let's not call this assault—it's all a misunderstanding..."
Shiratori Ninzaburo looked numbly at this scene: "............"
So when you say "assault," you mean we assaulted you?! But I think my partner who's still groaning on the ground looks more qualified to accuse you of assault!!!
How can you be so harsh even with your own people?! Are you sure this guy isn't a corrupt cop?!