Chapter 119
When Kokonoe Yoto and his friend arrived, the situation had actually been resolved, but not completely resolved, because Kokonoe Yoto spotted a familiar melon bread van downstairs.
Officer Shima and Ibuki Ai had received a police report and came here on duty—but not for the case of Kokonoe Yoto's friend's house being broken into.
The police report they received said that criminals had killed someone and been witnessed by an elderly lady, and if they came late the old lady might also die. The situation seemed very urgent, so they directly sounded the siren and ran red lights to get here.
Then as soon as they got out of the car, they saw Kokonoe Yoto, who was supposed to be on vacation, and his friend.
Kokonoe Yoto and his two colleagues stared at each other.
Ibuki Ai was more anxious: "Why are you here? Never mind, no time to explain. Let's hurry up together—someone was killed, and there might be an old lady held hostage!"
"Huh?" Kokonoe Yoto was a bit confused but still instinctively entered work mode and followed along. "Which floor?"
"Second floor!"
Kokonoe Yoto's expression suddenly changed, and he began to hesitate: "Um, I think..."
Wasn't the second floor where Samukawa-kun lived? How could someone successfully hold hostages right under Samukawa-kun's nose?
And at this time, it seemed like it should be his friend's house that had problems... Samukawa-kun probably wouldn't kill anyone—at most he'd just knock someone unconscious, right? He might have been misunderstood...
Kokonoe Yoto, who had seen through everything, didn't get a chance to voice his deduction, especially since Ibuki Ai ran so fast he disappeared in the blink of an eye. Only Officer Shima matched his speed somewhat, but he also didn't notice Kokonoe Yoto's hesitation.
Officer Shima just asked: "Why are you here?"
"My friend's house... is here... and Samukawa..."
Running made Kokonoe Yoto's speech choppy. Officer Shima heard "friend's house" and stopped listening, thinking he was just accompanying a friend, not thinking elsewhere.
Soon they ran from the parking area to the second floor, then saw Ibuki Ai standing at an open doorway with an extremely subtle expression, not knowing what he was doing.
Seeing Ibuki Ai's unprofessional appearance, Officer Shima's anger flared: "Ibuki Ai!!!"
"Ah, Shima-mo, good news." Ibuki Ai turned around with a smile. "No one died—it's all a misunderstanding!"
Officer Shima's anger immediately extinguished: "...Hm?"
Hearing this, Kokonoe Yoto also breathed a sigh of relief: "I knew it. With Samukawa-kun here, it wouldn't escalate to that degree..."
Officer Shima's relieved smile at hearing no one had died gradually disappeared, then he asked expressionlessly: "What does this have to do with Samukawa?"
Ibuki Ai blinked and moved aside, gesturing for Officer Shima to enter: "Samukawa-kun is right here."
Officer Shima: "............"
He silently walked over and looked inside, sure enough seeing that face of Samukawa Shinryu that always caused incidents.
For some reason, seeing Samukawa Shinryu there, he suddenly understood why there would be false police reports...
Officer Shima painfully pressed his forehead: "What exactly happened? Can someone explain to me?!"
Kokonoe Yoto's friend had finally caught up with the group, but his information was too far ahead, making him extra confused: "Wasn't it just breaking and entering? How did someone die? I don't understand!"
As he spoke, he somehow felt inexplicably cold and instinctively glanced into his house, meeting a pair of dark red, cold eyes without warning.
A fear like that of a herbivore being targeted by a carnivore rose from his feet. He instinctively wanted to run, but his legs had somehow gone weak. So everyone could only watch as his limbs moved uncoordinatedly as he swayed, missed Kokonoe Yoto's attempt to catch him, fell backward with a thud against his head, rolled his eyes back, and fainted.
"......"
Samukawa Shinryu quietly watched this scene, then turned to Officer Shima and said: "You ask what happened? This is what happened—exactly like his performance."
Officer Shima: "............"
Regarding the breaking and entering case, Usuha Izuki was indeed innocent.
At the time, Usuha Izuki had just walked in and tapped the shoulder of someone who was rummaging through boxes and cabinets from behind. That person had even turned around impatiently, then got so scared he stumbled and fell, hitting his head directly.
He hadn't even had time to say a word before this guy knocked himself unconscious.
This was the first time Usuha Izuki had been set up like this!
If things had only gone that far, it would have been fine. Usuha Izuki would have at most complained about never seeing such a stupid criminal, then waited for Kokonoe Yoto and the others to arrive.
But as expected, the unexpected happened.
Probably because this guy made too much noise rummaging around, plus the door wasn't closed and the violently pried-open appearance was very conspicuous, it attracted an old lady from the end of this floor to come see what was happening.
As they say, arriving early isn't as good as arriving at the right time. The old lady tremblingly walked to the doorway and looked in, seeing a person with a "I am an emotionless killer" expression standing there with a "corpse" lying at his feet.
The old lady immediately let out a piercing scream and shouted with vigor that didn't match her age: "Murder! Murder!!!"
The cry echoed through the apartment building. Before long, Mobile Unit 404, which happened to be patrolling nearby, received the report and came over, leading to everyone being gathered here now.
After understanding all this, Officer Shima fell into long silence and painfully covered his face.
So this guy Samukawa Shinryu was just on vacation at home watching TV, discovered a home invasion robbery, yet still managed to knock out two people and scare an entire building... Their Mobile Unit 404's reputation once again—
Oh right, this guy was no longer with the Mobile Investigation Unit—he was with Criminal Investigation Division One!
Officer Shima barely breathed a sigh of relief.
No choice—their Mobile Unit 404 really didn't need to be more famous. The pile of incidents from just these two months would still be talked about five years later!!!
Ibuki Ai didn't think too much about it, just purely happy that no murder had actually occurred: "So Samukawa-kun lives here! He's neighbors with Kokonoe's friend?"
"No, I lived here temporarily before, but this house is actually vacant now." Kokonoe Yoto helped his unconscious friend wake up and supported him to lie down inside. Coming back out and hearing Ibuki Ai's question, he answered naturally: "Strictly speaking, this is actually my friend's mother's house. It contains some of his mother's inheritance... The person who broke in is his uncle."
This seemed to be some family dispute.
That made sense—after all, someone who could directly pick locks and then not even close the door after picking it, just swagger in and rummage through boxes so brazenly, must have had some confidence. Usuha Izuki had already guessed it might be someone related to the homeowner, making this person think he could avoid punishment.
Sigh, though he had scared the guy's uncle unconscious, he hoped this fellow wouldn't make unreasonable demands. Otherwise, it would be his friend Kokonoe Yoto who'd have to write the self-criticism.
Kokonoe Yoto also realized this problem: "My friend doesn't get along with his uncle. Don't worry—he definitely won't file a complaint against you."
Officer Shima said mysteriously: "But causing such a scene might still require writing a self-criticism."
Usuha Izuki answered calmly: "Kokonoe-kun will help me write it."
Officer Shima: "...???"
He looked at Kokonoe Yoto in confusion.
Kokonoe Yoto nodded: "Right, I'll help Samukawa-kun write the self-criticism!"
When he heard Shima-senpai shouting "Give me back my self-criticism!" at Samukawa-kun last time, he knew Samukawa-kun didn't like writing self-criticisms. Since he had made the promise this time, if one really needed to be written, he would naturally be responsible.
Officer Shima was greatly shocked: "...Kokonoe, don't spoil him... Samukawa, what if you have to write self-criticisms again at Criminal Investigation Division One?"
Usuha Izuki thought about it: "Kenji should help me write them."
Officer Shima: "............"
He was now starting to doubt whether this guy had ever actually written even a single self-criticism himself, not counting that challenge letter last time.
Could it be that he'd been finding people to ghostwrite them everywhere? Speaking of which, when he helped write that self-criticism last time, was he being played?
Ibuki Ai, who was also a frequent self-criticism writer, was very envious: "How nice, having people help write self-criticisms... By the way, is Samukawa-kun going to Criminal Investigation Division One? So envious~ Do you feel like your work is full of meaning every day?"
Usuha Izuki pondered: "Let me answer you after I report to Criminal Investigation Division One."
"You haven't reported yet?"
"Mm, because I solved a case during vacation, the chief forced me to take time off. I probably won't start work for another week."
Ibuki Ai: "...?"
Officer Shima roughly guessed what case it was... After all, when watching the news today, he vaguely felt that the police officer in the news who was mistaken for a crime consultant was Samukawa Shinryu.
He was a bit curious but not that curious. After all, he had some idea of Samukawa Shinryu's twisted sense of humor and knew that if he asked, the other would definitely say weird things. So he pushed things along businesslike: "Stop chatting. Let's go reassure the others first. The people upstairs and downstairs still think we're catching a murderer. We need to let them live peacefully."
"Eh? But it's so rare to see Samukawa-kun. Who knows when we'll meet again..."
Hearing this, Officer Shima inexplicably fell silent, then his expression became somewhat pained.
"Maybe you don't need to worry so much about that. You might meet again soon..."
—With Samukawa Shinryu's accident-prone constitution, there might actually be quite a few opportunities to meet at crime scenes...
Officer Shima and Ibuki Ai went to explain the situation to the frightened residents of the entire building, leaving this to Kokonoe Yoto.
Kokonoe Yoto's friend seemed to have finally finished arguing with his uncle. Though his head still had a bump, he showed no resentment toward Usuha Izuki and smiled carefully: "Thank you, Officer Samukawa. You've really troubled yourself. I don't know how to thank you properly. There are many of my mother's mementos stored here—the consequences would be unthinkable if they were taken... Um, I heard Officer Samukawa is currently on vacation?"
Usuha Izuki nodded absentmindedly.
Kokonoe Yoto's young master friend was indeed also a second-generation heir. He waved his hand generously and expressed very readily:
"If the officer doesn't mind, how about I treat you to a vacation in Hawaii! What does the officer think?"