Chapter 112
Ibuki Ai rushed out of the ramen shop. When he pulled open the door of the melon van, Officer Shima was receiving contact from headquarters.
[...Received a report from Haido Commercial Street about what appears to be a conflict between gang members at a ramen shop called "Delicious to Death"...]
Officer Shima promptly responded: "This is Mobile Unit 404. The case the caller reported—our people discovered the situation and are subduing the criminal."
[...] There seemed to be a pause on the other end, and the tone became somewhat strange. [You guys again?]
Officer Shima: "...Yes, us again."
Without doubt, his greatest fear had come to pass—the entire Mobile Investigation Unit could hear their conversation. Their Mobile Unit 404 was about to become the laughingstock of their circle once again.
Actually, being misunderstood wasn't a new thing—most of the time they could successfully explain clearly without letting people call the police... This time was a special situation.
When the other side asked what exactly happened, Ibuki Ai timely chimed in: "Discovered a suspected gang member carrying a gun... already disarmed him."
Hearing Ibuki Ai's explanation, Officer Shima quietly breathed a sigh of relief.
Only at this moment did Officer Shima realize that although he always found fault with Samukawa Shinryu, when Samukawa Shinryu suddenly took action against a passerby, his first reaction was that the passerby must have problems.
Moreover, because he heard the passerby call police, Officer Shima worried that headquarters might waste police resources by sending additional people since they didn't receive timely contact from his side. So he directly rushed to the car to wait for radio contact, leaving Samukawa Shinryu alone in the shop, completely unworried that he was simply assaulting someone...
Although Ibuki Ai only told him the specific situation now, and he only just learned what actually happened, his actions were completely based on trusting Samukawa Shinryu.
Absurd—ever since that incident with his former partner, he hadn't even trusted himself, yet now he was trusting Samukawa Shinryu, this problem police officer... This shouldn't be happening...
Officer Shima fell into deep thought.
Not only was Officer Shima struggling, even Ibuki Ai couldn't help sighing: "I didn't expect you to actually leave Samukawa-kun alone in the shop... You really trust him, don't you? You even said before that he wasn't suited to be police... Could this be what they call 'disappointed that iron won't become steel'?"
Officer Shima was startled by these words: "No, I still think Samukawa's thinking is a bit... Ah, I get it!"
Ibuki Ai asked curiously: "Get what?"
Officer Shima looked grave: "I simply trust Samukawa's intelligence."
Samukawa Shinryu's moral boundaries were still questionable—he'd never believed in those and always felt this guy might cross the line at any time. But to think he would commit crimes openly in broad daylight, especially in front of his two police colleagues, Officer Shima didn't believe it. Even if he saw it with his own eyes, he'd suspect it was some kind of misdirection.
Besides, having patrolled with Samukawa Shinryu for 24 hours every few days over these two months, he had deep feelings about how strong the other's observational skills were.
Sometimes just with random passersby, Samukawa Shinryu could tell at a glance that they were thieves, stalkers, or planning suicide.
So when Samukawa Shinryu made a move earlier, even if it was extreme, his first reaction was that Samukawa Shinryu had discovered something again, not that Samukawa Shinryu suddenly wanted to attack an innocent passerby—right, compared to ordinary people, he clearly preferred toying with criminals.
So he wouldn't doubt Samukawa Shinryu's intelligence or question Samukawa Shinryu's class, but he deeply doubted the other's boundaries... What was going on? The more he analyzed, the more subtle it felt...
Officer Shima was speechless, but since he'd already resolved the issue of wasting police resources, he could finally return to the shop to check the situation.
Returning to the shop, he found Samukawa Shinryu playing with the gun again.
Honestly, even though Officer Shima knew Samukawa Shinryu wouldn't fire randomly and would definitely find a reasonable excuse if he did shoot, seeing Samukawa Shinryu with a gun made his heart feel inexplicably uncomfortable, giving him an urge to arrest the other.
Ibuki Ai didn't think much about it and cheerfully asked: "How's it going?"
Samukawa Shinryu stuffed the gun into his coat pocket and dusted off his sleeves: "Nishikawa Group member, secretly selling private guns without his superiors' knowledge. There should be a whole line behind this. Call someone to pick him up."
Officer Shima frowned: "Give me the gun. No need to call anyone—we can escort him back directly."
Samukawa Shinryu obediently handed over the gun but had some objection to leaving immediately: "I want to eat ramen."
Officer Shima: "............"
At this moment, Officer Shima's feelings synchronized with everyone else in the shop—what time is this?! You still want to eat ramen!
But Ibuki Ai was also conflicted: "True, we came all this way..."
Officer Shima's face darkened: "Work comes first! Isn't interrogation time also time? If we're late and he sells a few more guns, a few more bullets, and one more person dies, what then? Where's your consciousness as a police officer?!"
Hearing the first part, the shop owner didn't dare speak, but hearing the latter part, he finally dared to ask tremblingly: "Excuse me... are you really police officers?"
Officer Shima: "...Yes... Samukawa?"
He slightly gritted his back teeth as he called out Samukawa Shinryu's surname, expressing his confusion about why the shop owner could still ask such a question.
Samukawa Shinryu propped his head with one hand, his tone somewhat lazy: "I showed them my police ID, but they don't believe it."
Officer Shima: "...???"
Hearing this, Ibuki Ai quickly showed his police ID to the shop owner while defending himself.
"We're from the Mobile Investigation Unit... Sigh, I wanted to show that girl my ID earlier too, but she looked so scared she was about to run into traffic. I didn't dare keep chasing, afraid of causing an accident... Honestly, I've always been mistaken for a bad person. In school, whenever something bad happened, they thought I did it. I didn't expect that even as a police officer I'd still be mistaken for a bad person, even though I smile so warmly..."
Officer Shima painfully covered his face.
So no wonder the shop owner looked at him so strangely—they'd taken him for a bad person too... Having two partners who don't seem like good people, how many meaningless troubles has this added...
Ahh—he must have destroyed the world in his previous life, so his partners in this life are two dragon-phoenix pairs!!!
The Nishikawa Group street punk was also shocked. After being brought to the Metropolitan Police, he was still reporting suspicions that Samukawa Shinryu was a corrupt cop.
But the Metropolitan Police were somewhat used to it. Upon hearing Samukawa Shinryu's name, they began responding perfunctorily: "We've recorded your complaint. Now please cooperate in explaining your own problems..."
The street punk indignantly pounded the table: "Don't think I can't tell you're not taking this seriously! You're corrupt cops too, aren't you?! I didn't expect the Metropolitan Police to be completely rotten!"
The opposing officer fell silent.
After the interrogation, this officer complained to his partner: "Why do I feel like those curses sounded familiar?"
"The bomber we handled last year said similar things, ranting that Japan was hopeless and all Japanese police took bribes..." His partner shrugged. "Their common point is they were all caught by Samukawa-kun."
"Speaking of which, Samukawa-kun is with the Mobile Investigation Unit now, right? Seems this isn't the first time someone called police to arrest them..."
His partner sighed: "I talked to Shima-senpai about this. Shima-senpai said Samukawa-kun in plain clothes is too easily misunderstood. He hopes Samukawa-kun can transfer to a department that requires uniforms—that might reduce the chances of being misunderstood."
"...Let's hope so."
Because of this incident, plus the internship period was indeed almost over and it was nearly New Year, Officer Shima simply went directly to discuss with Captain Kikyo.
"How do you plan to arrange Samukawa?" Officer Shima asked. "I know his contributions to our Mobile Investigation Unit have been significant—he's helped solve many cases in two months... But I think he might be better suited for uniformed departments, otherwise police resources get wasted easily."
Captain Kikyo sighed: "Personally, I really hope he continues with the Mobile Investigation Unit."
Officer Shima couldn't help massaging his temples: "Then who do you plan to partner him with? New recruits? Have him train newcomers? Do you think that's reliable?"
With reliable people watching, it's fine, but if Samukawa Shinryu trains newcomers, the result would either be two people writing self-criticisms together or two people getting fired together! Ibuki Ai is in his thirties, and even he doesn't dare let Ibuki Ai handle Samukawa Shinryu!!!
"Calm down." Captain Kikyo was somewhat surprised by his suppressed emotions. "You really are under a lot of stress. Want to see a psychologist?"
Officer Shima expressionlessly said: "My stress isn't new. Tell me how you plan to arrange Samukawa, and my stress might decrease."
"Then listen to me first." Captain Kikyo made a calming gesture. "Although I really hope Samukawa-kun stays with the Mobile Investigation Unit, Criminal Investigation Division One wants Samukawa-kun transferred there after his internship ends."
Officer Shima paused, then looked thoughtful: "Criminal Investigation Division One..."
"Apparently in these two months, Samukawa solved so many cases that our Mobile Investigation Unit's performance even looks better than Criminal Investigation Division One's. Chief Odagiri found it strange looking at the month-end summary, so he investigated and discovered it was because we had Samukawa-kun... He thinks leaving such talent with the Mobile Investigation Unit is wasteful, so he applied to have Samukawa-kun work with Criminal Investigation Division One afterward."
Many people in Criminal Investigation Division One actually thought the Mobile Investigation Unit only handled unchallenging preliminary investigations that anyone could do, and the Mobile Investigation Unit's working time was only 24 hours. Samukawa Shinryu would solve cases directly within 24 hours, sometimes half a day, with many cases essentially being solved by the Mobile Investigation Unit just as they were handed to Criminal Investigation Division One... It was normal for Criminal Investigation Division One to be shocked that they were outperformed by the Mobile Investigation Unit and feel they'd lost face.
Chief Odagiri probably also wanted Samukawa Shinryu to go there and tighten the screws on these self-proclaimed elites, so they'd stop thinking they were so great when they couldn't even beat others at solving cases.
"If it were anyone else, even if Organized Crime Countermeasures wanted him, I could stop it... But Chief Odagiri... I can't refuse." Captain Kikyo was very regretful.
But Officer Shima wasn't regretful at all: "Samukawa would indeed better utilize his abilities at Criminal Investigation Division One. Staying with us, he spends most of his time patrolling in cars—it's really wasteful... But I'll write his internship evaluation truthfully. I hope Chief Odagiri considers carefully."
Strong abilities aside, with that way of doing things, he'd probably still cause trouble even at Criminal Investigation Division One. It was up to Chief Odagiri to weigh the options.
"Chief Odagiri has already investigated this. Don't worry about that, but he'll also seriously review your evaluation... Any other suggestions?"
Officer Shima thought: "For suggestions, I feel none of the current people at Criminal Investigation Division One are quite suitable to partner with Samukawa—they'd be led around by the nose. We need someone more reliable."
"Ah, Chief Odagiri has considered this too."
Captain Kikyo said: "Samukawa-kun's assistant instructor from Police Academy happens to be transferring to Criminal Investigation Division One too. They'll probably partner up, with Inspector Megure supervising initially... Shima? Your expression looks strange."
Officer Shima: "............"
—I said find someone reliable to partner with him!! What use is someone who lies with his eyes open!!