Chapter 208
Usuha Izuki left the Metropolitan Police and drove off in the car Hagiwara Kenji usually used.
He had taken the car keys from Hagiwara Kenji's desk right in front of him. Hagiwara Kenji probably hadn't noticed yet.
But Usuha Izuki had no choice—who told him he still hadn't bought a car and was always bumming rides from others, finding various excuses to be late...
Any job, as long as it wasn't a personal hobby or belief, would feel annoying after doing it for a while, not to mention Usuha Izuki had been doing this for two years. Just ensuring he completed his daily work content was already pretty good.
Although being a police officer did provide very stable suspicion value farming, honestly speaking, Usuha Izuki had been thinking about quitting for a long time. It was just that Inspector Megure seemed to see something and always gently persuaded him, giving him time off whenever his patience reached its limit... making it so he could never find a chance to speak up.
After all, despite his bad personality, Usuha Izuki was generally someone who responded to soft approaches rather than hard ones. With Inspector Megure accommodating him so much and giving him all kinds of conveniences, he had to consider Inspector Megure's feelings when quitting. He could only engage in passive resistance through small details like being late and leaving early, hoping Inspector Megure would figure it out sooner.
It was just that currently, in order not to lose Samukawa Shinryu, this highly efficient capable subordinate, Inspector Megure was determined to play blind to the end...
Thinking of this, even while wearing Samukawa Shinryu's shell, Usuha Izuki couldn't help sighing.
Sure enough, he still had to be ruthless and apply some strong medicine...
Soon, the car reached its destination.
This was an abandoned building. The land had been transferred and would soon have people come to demolish and rebuild it.
He set the meeting place with Plamia on this building's rooftop, also because here they wouldn't have to worry about being disturbed.
Usuha Izuki found a hidden place to park, didn't immediately get out, but first switched to his main body to use [Universal Navigation] to search for nearby security risks and Plamia's location.
Although he had already come once last night, wasn't this just in case?
After confirming everything that needed confirming, Usuha Izuki switched back to Samukawa Shinryu's avatar, got out of the car, and walked up the stairs floor by floor toward the rooftop.
Reaching the top floor and looking at the closed rooftop door, Usuha Izuki finally drew his gun from his back waist.
After opening the door, with a leisurely and graceful attitude as if he had already foreseen the actions of the person behind the door, he dodged a shot and counterattacked with a bullet that grazed the other party's scalp, achieving a warning effect and forcing them to retreat.
During this time, Usuha Izuki dodged two more bullets.
"Not saving any for yourself?" Usuha Izuki asked in a casual tone. "You don't think I'd give you a chance to reload, do you?"
Plamia was fairly persuadable, stopped shooting, and gave what couldn't really be called a face-saving excuse: "I don't make deals with weaklings."
"...You didn't investigate me all night?"
Plamia: "..."
That—of course she had investigated.
Knowing the surname, knowing the profession, knowing the appearance—asking an information broker would give her answers.
Samukawa Shinryu was clearly a police officer who had solved quite a few cases, but the various rumors surrounding him made his image very different from that of a police officer.
Corrupt cop, yakuza young master, gang undercover, Moriarty, Napoleon of the criminal world...
Most mysteriously, the information broker didn't even have frontal photos of him, at most some distant side profiles and back views, because this guy was quite skilled at avoiding cameras and surveillance.
Just this point alone was actually enough to show he had problems, but the police side probably wouldn't investigate such things when there was no trouble, so they hadn't discovered any issues until now.
However, for Plamia, Samukawa Shinryu having problems was certainly a good thing.
This meant everything Samukawa Shinryu did to her didn't conform to a police officer's identity and counted as leverage, giving her negotiating conditions too.
After carefully studying intelligence related to Samukawa Shinryu, Plamia felt that with this man's cautious mind, he couldn't possibly overlook this issue. That is to say, exposing his police identity in front of her and giving her time to investigate this matter was itself the sincerity Samukawa Shinryu was showing her.
Beyond this, Samukawa Shinryu hadn't left her any evidence that would allow her to manipulate things from the police angle, like reporting him... If he really wanted to leave evidence, it would only be today's meeting.
But Plamia didn't plan to let him leave alive.
She had been prepared to kill the other party from the beginning—are you kidding? He already knew her true identity and might be related to that strange organization. Her hatred was almost overflowing—how could she easily let him go?
After she figured out how her identity had been exposed both times, she'd pretend to listen to whatever deal he wanted to make with her, then blow this guy up. Anyway, she didn't think the other party could convince her to spare his life.
Usuha Izuki saw that Plamia had temporarily stopped and asked: "What did that guy who originally delivered the letter to your house say before he died?"
"Oh? Are you his friend?" Plamia raised an eyebrow, very surprised.
Since Samukawa Shinryu had helped police catch the bomber before he became a police officer, when Plamia investigated that bomber, the materials didn't show traces of Samukawa Shinryu, so she didn't know how the two had formed a grudge.
She was just randomly guessing at their relationship to lead the conversation.
Usuha Izuki: "No, I'm his enemy."
Plamia: "I knew it."
She had guessed that bomber must be jealous of Samukawa Shinryu and unilaterally considered Samukawa Shinryu an enemy.
As for how Samukawa Shinryu viewed that bomber, Plamia didn't even think about it, instinctively feeling that Samukawa Shinryu definitely didn't consider him worth attention at all.
And Samukawa Shinryu asking this question now definitely wasn't for himself—after all, if he didn't consider the person worth attention, it must be for the organization!
He must be worried that guy had let something slip!
Usuha Izuki asked again: "You killed him, right? What exactly did he say before dying?"
So Plamia answered: "He did say something."
The recent event was still quick for Plamia to recall, and mentioning it still made her angry.
Although that guy looked like a sneaky, treacherous face, his mouth was quite tough. No matter how she tortured him, he only said "I don't know what you're talking about," acting quite convincingly.
If she hadn't repeatedly confirmed the surveillance footage and also confirmed this guy had no twin brothers, she might have believed that excellent acting.
Actually, not only did Plamia find that day's interrogation infuriating, the bomber was too.
He was suffering inside—he didn't know where this crazy woman came from. When he returned to the warehouse and just closed the door, good lord, she immediately beat him up, then broke his bones and cut his flesh, torturing him while interrogating.
—What organization? I just got out of prison, I'm all alone, where would I get an organization! I really don't know what you're talking about!
—What the bar people said? I don't know what I said when drunk! Would anyone believe drunken nonsense?!
—How did I know your identity? I don't know! Who exactly are you?!
Because Plamia had returned to the warehouse before the bomber and already checked around, first the letter in her hand completely matched the handwriting of the person living here, second she found her own materials from a very hidden place, enough to prove the person here definitely knew the situation. When she saw the real person with the same face as in the surveillance, she had already sentenced him to death.
Plamia had already made up her mind, thinking the evidence was solid, so whatever the bomber said, she thought he was being stubborn.
She focused on interrogating him about the organization behind him and how he found her. He kept his mouth shut on these aspects, refusing to leak intelligence even when he fainted from pain.
Plamia became impatient. Plus, although it was a warehouse, surrounded by goods, if time dragged on, there was no guarantee no one would pass by. It was better to fight quickly. So after confirming this guy wouldn't say anything, she killed him, then installed bombs to destroy the evidence.
Actually if she had asked a couple more questions, like about the letter-writing matter, the bomber might have said something useful, but she felt these needed no elaboration and were default background, so she kept torturing him about how he knew her identity, missing the opportunity.
But even if the bomber said he had sent the letter to Samukawa Shinryu, in that situation, Plamia probably wouldn't have believed it and would have thought he was deflecting attention—so much evidence was laid out! What was there left to say!
Finishing her recollection, Plamia sneered: "Even if I said he told me nothing, you probably wouldn't believe it, right? Otherwise why would people keep trying to kill me?"
Usuha Izuki asked: "You tortured him?"
"Yes." Plamia's gun was still pointed at Usuha Izuki. "I wanted to know how you guys investigated my identity. That's reasonable, right?"
"Very reasonable. It would be unreasonable if he died peacefully." Usuha Izuki said with satisfaction. "But it was useless—he wouldn't say anything."
Plamia: "...You actually trust him so much... seems his loyalty is quite famous."
"No." Usuha Izuki answered honestly. "It's just because he really didn't know anything and didn't even recognize you."
Plamia: "........Hah???"
—Wait?! What do you mean?! What do you mean he didn't know anything?!