Chapter 123
Kudo Yusaku's suspicion values were flooding the screen. Usuha Izuki naturally knew this, but still asked knowingly.
"What's wrong?"
You're still asking what's wrong... Kudo Yusaku was somewhat speechless: "I just think you're very skilled."
Usuha Izuki: "I read the manual."
Kudo Yusaku: "......"
So after reading the manual, you became like a veteran pilot who's been flying for years, able to find which button to press without even looking up and operate directly?!
Good thing the passengers and crew couldn't see the cockpit, otherwise if they knew Samukawa Shinryu dared to be so confident after only reading the manual, it would definitely cause panic.
Moreover, Kudo Yusaku didn't really believe this explanation. He felt that this confident and nonchalant attitude couldn't possibly come from confidence gained from a manual.
But for an orphan to have learned to fly planes before was also quite absurd. Japan didn't have such conditions. Thinking it over, the reason "because I read the manual" actually seemed somewhat plausible.
After all, a person's learning ability was intangible, and the upper limits of genius were unimaginable. Perhaps he had just encountered a genius?
Amid Kudo Yusaku's internal struggle and Usuha Izuki's operations that always preceded the control tower's instructions by one step, the plane landed safely.
Since the news only circulated among a few people inside the airport, such a major incident didn't attract any reporters, satisfying Usuha Izuki's wish for a low-key vacation.
Police had been waiting at the airport early. Once the plane landed, they took the criminal away in handcuffs, and the bodies of the pilot and co-pilot were also carried out covered with white sheets.
Kudo Yusaku, who had some standing with American police, stayed behind to explain the situation, while Usuha Izuki and the others conveniently followed the other passengers—although such a major incident had occurred with two deaths and a bomb installation, it had nothing to do with the passengers. Even though they had participated in solving the case and flying the plane, with Kudo Yusaku handling the aftermath, the airport had no reason to detain them, so they were quickly cleared.
Although they had technically set foot on Hawaiian soil once the plane landed, Usuha Izuki didn't truly feel like he was in a foreign country until he left the airport.
Otherwise, while still inside the airport, he always felt like the shadow of Japanese crime had followed the plane over. Only after coming out and seeing that the driver who came to pick them up was a foreigner did he finally feel somewhat like he was on vacation.
Kokonoe Yoto's friend was wealthy and generous. He was also very generous toward Usuha Izuki, who had protected his mother's belongings, directly approving a thank-you fee sufficient for the three of them to spend lavishly in Hawaii for a month. But they were only staying seven or eight days, so even if taxi fares were a bit expensive, it didn't matter—they weren't short of this money.
The hotel they booked was also generous—not high-end for the sake of being high-end, but they had carefully selected a hotel with a good location and attentive service. The price wasn't cheap, but it wasn't very expensive either—the kind that Hagiwara Kenji and the others could afford with their own money, though it would hurt a bit.
Usuha Izuki was different. Although Samukawa Shinryu's salary wasn't high, he usually spent the Organization's salary for major purchases, and he hadn't even calculated how much of his police salary he'd saved—he simply didn't pay attention.
Strictly speaking, he actually wasn't short of money.
But Samukawa Shinryu's apartment only had necessities, while the Organization side had a dazzling array of things—most were drawn from system lucky bags, a small portion was bought randomly when he was annoyed that his bank card was still under Gin's name and went on shopping sprees to annoy Gin with spending notification texts, and the rest were things he actually liked and bought on purpose.
So although Usuha Izuki's place was getting more and more cluttered with all sorts of different-styled items piled up messily, making Miyano Akemi, who often came to clean, increasingly confused about his aesthetic sense, Usuha Izuki himself didn't spend much money and was easy to maintain—his biggest expense was food.
Due to the time difference, it was still daytime in Hawaii, but after sitting on a plane for six hours straight, with Hagiwara Kenji handling a murder case and Matsuda Jinpei defusing a bomb, both looked quite tired.
On the contrary, Usuha Izuki, relying on his enhanced constitution from the exchange, had flown the plane for four hours yet remained the most energetic of the three—besides, he had slept carefreely for several hours during the flight.
It could be said that on the entire plane, he had rested the best. The passengers had all been somewhat affected by the bomb incident and found it difficult to relax normally.
Hagiwara Kenji and Matsuda Jinpei looked like they needed to adjust to the time difference. Everyone hastily ordered some bread at the hotel restaurant to tide them over, then went to their respective rooms to sleep.
They slept straight through to the evening. When everyone woke up refreshed, the bread from yesterday had long been digested, and everyone was famished. They couldn't be bothered to find famous restaurants in Hawaii to try new food, so they continued ordering at the hotel restaurant, first getting through this hunger before anything else.
"The rain stopped." Matsuda Jinpei looked out the window. "I thought it would keep raining for days."
Usuha Izuki had done his homework before coming: "The northwest doesn't get much rain. The other side is unpredictable right now—it might still be raining."
Hagiwara Kenji couldn't help saying: "Good weather—hopefully good luck too. It's already evening, so let's hope no more cases happen today..."
Really absurd!
When Little Shinryu was at the Police Academy, he encountered a case every week or two. After graduating and interning with the Mobile Investigation Unit, they received notifications and actively went to crime scenes, so it wasn't very noticeable. But yesterday they encountered two murder cases in one go—the probability was too outrageous!
Matsuda Jinpei felt the same way: "I've never seen anyone with more cases happening around them than Samukawa."
If someone who didn't know saw Samukawa Shinryu's records and discovered that cases and deaths constantly occurred around this guy, they'd either think he was a grim reaper or suspect he was secretly connected to those cases!
"That's because you're inexperienced." Usuha Izuki refused to take the blame—clearly it was these two who caused problems. "You two had plenty of incidents around you before, right?"
"But not two murder cases in one day with a bomb case thrown in!"
Matsuda Jinpei's voice wasn't loud, but since there weren't many people in the restaurant at this time, a server bringing food to the next table still heard the keywords and couldn't help glancing their way.
The server had Asian features and could understand Japanese—probably Japanese. For some reason, they looked somewhat panicked and hurriedly left with their empty tray.
Hagiwara Kenji noticed the subtle aspects of the other's body language, but at this distance he couldn't stop them. Plus, adjusting to the time difference still left him somewhat lethargic, so he simply sat there calmly and said: "I have a bad feeling."
"What a coincidence, so do I." Matsuda Jinpei was expressionless. "Want to bet? Someone will run over in a bit and point at Samukawa, saying he's going to plant a bomb."
Usuha Izuki felt completely innocent: "You're the one who mentioned bombs..."
Did Matsuda Jinpei think he was any better?! With sunglasses on, he didn't look like a good person either!
Not wanting his perfectly good vacation ruined by this nonsense again, Usuha Izuki stood up and decided to take preemptive action: "I'm going back to my room first."
As long as he wasn't there, the "Black Screen Aura" couldn't affect the server looking for someone, so whatever that server said wouldn't be taken seriously.
Hagiwara Kenji was used to this: "Go ahead. If there's a problem, we'll help explain."
Usuha Izuki stuffed a few more bites into his mouth, then hurriedly left the restaurant.
Sure enough, before they finished eating, that server brought people to the area. They didn't come over directly, just gestured toward their table while explaining something.
Coincidentally, the server had brought two people, one of whom was actually a mutual acquaintance—Kudo Yusaku.
After listening to the server, Kudo Yusaku smiled and nodded to Hagiwara Kenji and Matsuda Jinpei, then said to the server: "I know who you're talking about, but you've misunderstood. I know everyone at that table—they're Japanese police. They were probably discussing the bomb case they encountered on the plane today, which has nothing to do with your situation."
The server from Japan looked somewhat shocked by their homeland.
He'd only been away from Japan for a few years—was this really the style of Japanese police now?!
The supervisor wiped his sweat nearby: "So they're Kudo-san's acquaintances. We're sorry to trouble you with this trip, though it doesn't help much with the case..."
"That's not necessarily true. The curly-haired one is a bomb disposal expert. If you don't mind, I'd like to ask his opinion."
The supervisor had great faith in Kudo Yusaku and nodded repeatedly: "Of course, certainly. Damn it, our bomb disposal expert is still on vacation and hasn't returned..."
Kudo Yusaku went to Hagiwara Kenji and Matsuda Jinpei's table and explained the situation.
"A bomb was planted at another hotel near this hotel's owner's place. Hawaii's bomb disposal expert is on vacation. Although they're rushing back, it'll take some time. If you're willing, could you take a look? It's a very strange bomb."
Matsuda Jinpei became interested: "A very strange bomb? How strange?"
Kudo Yusaku pulled out a piece of paper: "This is the ransom note. To intimidate, it explains part of the bomb's construction..."
Matsuda Jinpei took the ransom note. It was all in English—though not completely incomprehensible, his reading speed was quite slow.
Fortunately, Kudo Yusaku considerately helped translate: "The front is ransom content and payment methods. From here begins the bomb construction. He says the shell uses iron, insulating rubber, and aluminum, so it can't be forcibly dismantled. The screws have pressure-triggered mechanisms, and there's a balance sensor inside. Once moved..."
As Kudo Yusaku translated, Matsuda Jinpei and Hagiwara Kenji's expressions became increasingly strange.
With Kudo Yusaku's observational skills, he naturally couldn't ignore their odd reactions. He hesitantly stopped translating and asked: "Is there a problem?"
Matsuda Jinpei was expressionless: "Yes, and it's a big problem... Anyway, take me to see it first."
Kudo Yusaku was very confused but couldn't guess what the problem was. Full of doubts, he led them to the hotel where the incident occurred.
A massive bomb that was hard to believe could have been brought inside sat in the vacant manager's office on the first floor.
Reportedly, early this morning, employees discovered a note stuck to this room's door saying there was a bomb inside. Opening the door revealed this thing and the ransom note. The police came and said they'd wait for the FBI bomb expert. Kudo Yusaku, who had just finished handling the airport incident and hadn't even adjusted to the time difference yet, arrived at this hotel and was recognized by the owner, who asked him to work with police to find out who wrote the ransom note, trying to solve the problem at its source.
The ransom note couldn't possibly include the bomb's blueprint, so only upon seeing this bomb's actual appearance did they finally accept reality.
Hagiwara Kenji painfully covered his face: "I was worried about this kind of problem from the very beginning..."
Matsuda Jinpei was also shocked: "This thing is so big, yet someone assembled it on-site and none of you noticed? It actually worked successfully in practice?"
Kudo Yusaku heard something off in their tone and couldn't help asking: "You know this bomb?"
Matsuda Jinpei still wanted to use that excuse: "Our Explosive Ordnance Disposal Unit obtained similar blueprints from American colleagues..."
Kudo Yusaku: "The FBI bomb expert said if what the ransom note says is true, then the designer is a genius. He's never seen this kind of bomb—if there were any, they should have been famous long ago."
Although the FBI bomb expert hadn't arrived yet and couldn't work on-site, remote analysis through the ransom note was still possible. So now Hawaii's police were being very careful, not daring to act rashly.
"Sigh."
At this point, there was no way to keep hiding it. Fortunately, this was abroad, so it wouldn't affect anything.
Hagiwara Kenji sighed, finding it hard to speak: "To tell the truth, actually... this bomb..."
"Hmm? What about the bomb?"
"...was designed by Shinryu."
Kudo Yusaku: "............Huh???"