Chapter 104
Hagiwara Kenji looked at the email and scrolled down, discovering there was even something about congressmen. He was completely stunned.
What should he do now?
The Metropolitan Police couldn't handle affairs in Kansai! And how would he explain his source of information?
He definitely couldn't expose Little Shinryu, otherwise Little Shinryu's situation was already quite sensitive, and getting involved in this kind of matter would definitely lead to suspicion later. Moreover, if the other side found out it was Little Shinryu who leaked the information, Little Shinryu would also be in crisis.
Even if he didn't mention Little Shinryu, anyone with ulterior motives who investigated would definitely suspect Little Shinryu, so it was best if he himself didn't come forward either.
Hagiwara Kenji went through all the police officers he knew in his mind and found that none of them were safe—by "safe," he meant being able to pass the information to Kansai without having the investigation traced back to Samukawa Shinryu.
However, Little Shinryu had just been told by his senior that he was "unsuited to be a police officer," yet he still remembered to pass this kind of information back... As long as he was still in this world and hadn't completely walked into darkness, that was good, and he could feel at ease.
Otherwise, Hagiwara Kenji really worried that while visiting graves, Samukawa Shinryu might suddenly become enlightened and think that people would die eventually anyway, other people's evaluations didn't matter, and if there was an easy path, why not choose the easy one...
"What's wrong? Do you have to work overtime?" Matsuda Jinpei, sitting across from Hagiwara Kenji, looked up in confusion.
For Japan, Christmas was a holiday for young people, so it was generally not spent with family but rather young people going out to have fun.
But for police officers, Christmas meant they might have to work overtime at any time.
For example, accidentally setting something on fire due to the festive atmosphere, or lovers having fights and seeing blood on this day. Some criminals also liked to choose such commemorative days to work, mainly to cause trouble. So every time such holidays came around, police had to be extremely vigilant.
Matsuda Jinpei had been working overtime recently and happened to be resting this time, otherwise he would definitely be working overtime now. So seeing Hagiwara Kenji frowning at his phone, he instinctively thought Hagiwara Kenji was also being called to work overtime.
But as soon as the words left his mouth, Matsuda Jinpei realized: "Oh, you haven't officially started work yet."
"Right, I haven't finished the paperwork yet." Hagiwara Kenji responded absent-mindedly, then stood up. "You keep eating. I'm going downstairs to buy a couple of beers."
Matsuda Jinpei had grown up with Hagiwara Kenji, so seeing his state, he knew he definitely wasn't simply going to buy beer.
But he didn't expose him, just waved impatiently: "Go ahead, bring me back a pack of cigarettes."
Hagiwara Kenji threw out "I'll be back later" and hurriedly left.
Matsuda Jinpei stared at the TV and began speculating about what was causing Hagiwara Kenji's unusual behavior.
He thought about it and initially felt it was probably related to Samukawa Shinryu—because Hagiwara Kenji was most worried about Samukawa Shinryu's situation right now.
But when he had asked earlier if Samukawa Shinryu had to work overtime on Christmas, Hagiwara Kenji said Samukawa Shinryu was going back to visit graves... Visiting graves shouldn't create any new problems, right?
It couldn't be that they discovered a body at the cemetery and Samukawa Shinryu was treated as a suspect again, requiring Hagiwara Kenji to go rescue him. Besides, there was no need to hide this from him. Could it be something happened at home? But that shouldn't be the case either—he had a good relationship with the Hagiwara family, so there was even less reason to hide it from him...
Matsuda Jinpei watched TV alone for two hours before Hagiwara Kenji finally returned.
"You sure took your time buying that beer." Matsuda Jinpei complained. "Did you go to Hokkaido to buy it?"
Hagiwara Kenji laughed dryly: "Haha, something came up, but it's been resolved!"
Matsuda Jinpei stared at him for a few seconds, then pointed at him, meaning I know you're hiding something from me, but I'll let it slide this time.
No matter how close their relationship, everyone had their own secrets. He didn't need Hagiwara Kenji to tell him everything, as long as he wasn't treated like a fool.
Hagiwara Kenji coughed and put the plastic bag containing cigarettes and alcohol on the table: "Let's drink, let's drink......"
Matsuda Jinpei took the things out of the bag and found that the change was also in the plastic bag, which he also placed on the table.
However, he glanced at the receipt and instinctively compared it with the change: "Seems like 10 yen is missing."
"It's fine." Hagiwara Kenji took off his coat and rubbed his frozen hands. "Just 10 yen, don't worry about it."
Matsuda Jinpei was thoughtful.
Out for so long, change in a pile of coins, and exactly 10 yen missing...
Could it be he went to a payphone to make a call?
But this was all speculation. Maybe he gave it to a beggar. Since Hagiwara Kenji seemed unwilling to talk about it, Matsuda Jinpei didn't ask further despite his curiosity.
Hagiwara Kenji sat back in his seat, staring at the TV and beginning to space out.
...Once he considered not exposing Samukawa Shinryu, there wasn't much he could do. Besides, with a group of yakuza fighting, the local police should have some awareness... Although he didn't know what that email meant by sending it to him, he had done his best.
He hoped Little Shinryu's side would also go smoothly and he'd return safely.
Christmas night passed relatively peacefully. Usuha Izuki didn't cause trouble in the middle of the night and got the front desk to open a room for him, conveniently right next to Vodka's.
The next day, when Usuha Izuki woke up, Gin and Vodka had been gone for who knows how long.
They never intended to bring Usuha Izuki along, so they naturally didn't come to wake him. But Usuha Izuki hadn't planned to work hard for others anyway. He leisurely got up, rummaged through his suitcase for clean clothes, dressed himself up flamboyantly again, then went to find food nearby.
There were quite a few roadside shops in Kansai that looked good, so he randomly picked one and walked in.
After ordering, while waiting for the food, Usuha Izuki noticed someone seemed to be staring at him, so he looked to the side.
Since he was sitting at the counter, it was a row of tables. At some distance sat two children—a boy with slightly dark skin and a girl with a ponytail who looked quite cute.
The one staring at him was the boy.
After making eye contact with Usuha Izuki, the girl nodded apologetically and carefully tugged at the young boy beside her.
"Heiji, stop staring. It's so rude......"
System excitedly: [It's Hattori Heiji and Toyama Kazuha! Main characters! They have weighted importance!!!]
Usuha Izuki's eyes lit up.
He hadn't recognized them at first, but after Toyama Kazuha called out "Heiji," he made the connection.
Hattori Heiji was still in elementary school now, so it was understandable he didn't immediately recognize him.
Originally, he had come on this trip to expand his market and gather more human resources. He thought it would be good enough to get to know a few more Organization members, but he didn't expect such a pleasant surprise!
So Usuha Izuki smiled and waved at the two children: "What's wrong? Why do you keep looking at me?"
Toyama Kazuha blushed with embarrassment: "Sorry......"
"Little sister doesn't need to apologize. I'm just asking." Usuha Izuki looked at Hattori Heiji. "This young man......"
Hattori Heiji said: "Sorry, I was looking at you because you're wearing a haori under your coat, right? This way of dressing is quite rare."
Stuffing the wide sleeves of a haori into a coat was really inconvenient. Generally, no one dressed this way—either they'd change to normal clothes inside or wear something specifically designed to go with traditional clothing outside.
"Personal preference." Since they were already indoors, Usuha Izuki simply took off his coat, revealing all the miscellaneous things underneath.
Hattori Heiji: "............"
Toyama Kazuha said bravely: "It's... quite nice looking."
Usuha Izuki looked at them with interest and asked: "But is there any problem with dressing this way?"
Hattori Heiji hesitated for a moment, then obediently answered: "Because there have been several serial murders here recently, and all the victims had a haori draped over them, so I can't help paying a bit of attention when I see haori......"
Usuha Izuki made a sound of surprise and asked knowingly: "Why does a kid like you pay attention to such things?"
Hattori Heiji frowned: "There's nothing wrong with that. I'm going to become a detective in the future."
Toyama Kazuha couldn't help but interject: "Heiji is amazing!"
"Oh?" Usuha Izuki tilted his head. "How amazing?"
Toyama Kazuha began enthusiastically explaining how when she lost something, Heiji used deduction to figure out where she had dropped it and helped her find it...
Hattori Heiji was a bit embarrassed: "Such small matters are too simple, they don't count as deduction."
"Indeed, this level of deduction is something even I could do."
Toyama Kazuha's eyes widened: "Eh? Big brother can also do deduction?"
Usuha Izuki nodded: "Yes, I'm quite skilled. For instance, this young man... his name is Hattori Heiji, isn't it?"
Hattori Heiji was stunned.
He hadn't introduced himself, and Kazuha had only called him Heiji... How could the other party guess his surname? Could it be they already knew each other?
Judging by age, he didn't seem like his father's colleague, but if he was a colleague's child... he'd never heard of anyone with this kind of style...
Because of the haori serial murder case, Hattori Heiji looked at the haori the other person was wearing and felt inexplicably uneasy, but thinking it was broad daylight with people around, it shouldn't be a problem, so he asked fairly calmly.
"How did you know? This kind of thing couldn't be deduced, right?"
"Indeed, you can consider it something I investigated." The silver-haired big brother tilted his head with a smile. "So what about me? What can you deduce from me?"
Hattori Heiji's unease intensified.
Knowing what the Osaka Prefectural Police Headquarters Chief was called could still be considered normal, but what kind of person would investigate even the family members of the Osaka Prefectural Police Headquarters Chief?
Toyama Kazuha seemed to sense something and uneasily grabbed Hattori Heiji's arm.
Hattori Heiji instinctively made a protective gesture and looked sharply at the person across from him: "You... being out at this time means either you don't have work or your work schedule is irregular... You're not short of money......"
The silver-haired big brother smiled as he listened to Hattori Heiji's deduction, then asked.
"So did you figure out what my job is?"
"......No."
Hattori Heiji's palms were getting sweaty. Even though the person across from him was smiling and seemed very friendly, he inexplicably felt pressure: "What does big brother do?"
The black haori with red butterflies shimmering on it approached Hattori Heiji.
The silver-haired big brother bent down, leaned close to his ear, and whispered softly.
"I do bad things."
Hattori Heiji's pupils suddenly contracted.