The First Investigation Division office was bright and well lit, but the atmosphere at that moment had settled into a delicate stalemate.
Shiratori Ninzaburo’s face had darkened somewhat, though he still maintained his composure and repeated himself with what could only be called reluctant goodwill. “Are you certain you want to investigate the case I am currently in charge of?”
Yuki Mu could not even be bothered to change the way he was sitting. He raised his eyes and replied in an even tone, “Your case is more interesting.”
Shiratori Ninzaburo: “......”
Did he even know what kind of case Shiratori was handling before saying something like that?
Solving cases was not the sort of task that could be accomplished through personal guesswork alone.
Shiratori Ninzaburo said darkly, “...This is not some detective game you can reason your way through in three minutes.”
The young Public Security officer’s features were cold and sharp, and if one looked closely, one could even detect a trace of impatience hidden within them. “I am assuming you are capable of understanding what I am saying.”
The system clicked its tongue. 【Tsk, tsk. Too arrogant. Far too arrogant!】
Yuki Mu: 【...What is it? Shiratori is not a bad young man, but he can be a little conceited and rather fond of putting on airs.
He has some deductive ability, but not that much. If I remember correctly, later on he mistook Sato Miwako for his first love, which made things rather tense between him and Takagi... So giving him a proper knock right now is no great issue.
I will keep it within bounds!!】
The system replied, 【Yes, yes, of course.】
You are right. Everything you say is right. You are absolutely not getting carried away with the role at all :D
Matsuda Jinpei coughed twice. The corner of his mouth refused to stay down, curving into a somewhat roguish smile as he leisurely put his sunglasses back on and returned to his desk to watch the show.
—Truth be told, the other man’s utterly calm yet unmistakably arrogant manner suited his tastes rather well.
Of course, that was only on the premise that one truly possessed the strength to be so arrogant, and the other man just so happened to satisfy that condition.
Absolute ability could, to a certain extent, shatter prejudice. Japan was a country whose workplaces ran by their own rules, no matter the profession.
One of the clearest examples was the unwritten seniority system. Even if two people held the same rank, the newcomer who had joined later still had to listen to the senior who came before. Otherwise, a great ugly label of “disrespecting one’s seniors” would be slapped onto them, and workplace life would inevitably become difficult at every turn. That tendency was not especially obvious in the First Investigation Division, but it still existed.
It did not go so far as to become deliberate obstruction, nor did people hide case-related information and the like... because in the end, everyone’s goal was to make this country better. They were all police officers wearing the cherry blossoms.
Even so, an invisible emotional resistance was naturally there.
—And Matsuda Jinpei did not believe for a second that Yuki Mu would ever let himself suffer that kind of grievance in the workplace.
Sure enough, on his very first day here, the man had already drawn all the hostility onto himself... which, in its own way, was a kind of skill.
With Yuki Mu there as a comparison, even Matsuda Jinpei’s own temper started looking remarkably good!
After Inspector Megure gave a helpless nod, Shiratori Ninzaburo personally placed the organized case file on Yuki Mu’s desk. But after his rare bit of goodwill was met with a response that could not exactly be called polite, his expression was not much better. “The materials are all here.”
When he saw the other man open the file with casual ease, Shiratori Ninzaburo could not help speaking sharply again. “...The First Investigation Division has been tracking this case for three days already. Because there were too few clues left at the scene where the kidnapped girl disappeared, the investigation is still ongoing. I am currently in charge of it.”
The implication was obvious.
The First Investigation Division had been unable to solve it after three days of investigation, and he wanted to solve it in three minutes... That was too conceited.
Yuki Mu flipped through the case records compiled so far. The atmosphere around him turned soundlessly serious, and he did not bother responding to Shiratori Ninzaburo at all.
For a while, the office was filled only with the crisp sound of turning pages, one page after another, moving so fast that it made one wonder whether he had really finished reading the information on them, or whether he was merely putting on a show for effect.
Line after line of text, photograph after photograph from the scene, swept rapidly past his eyes.
【Kidnapping case. Name of the kidnapped girl: Mizukami Mitsue】
【Last blurry surveillance still: a man whose face cannot be clearly seen, holding the little girl’s hand as he walks toward a van】
【Mizukami Mitsue loves soccer, is a soccer fan, and is a student at Teitan Elementary School】
【......】
Almost the moment he came into contact with it, a chain of deductions arose in his mind. As more evidence and more verbal details accumulated, the originally scattered fragments were gradually pieced together, until at last they formed one complete and correct chain of logic—
【—[Hidden Skill] Eye of the City activated】
“One minute.”
The young Public Security officer suddenly spoke. His dark green bangs shaded his eyes slightly, making it impossible to read his exact emotions.
He reported the elapsed time from the moment he received the file with perfect accuracy. His calm voice was clear and composed. “Three days ago, Mizukami Mitsue was kidnapped. Her family reported it to the police that same night... This was a crime committed by someone she knew.”
Shiratori Ninzaburo said, “Yes, we suspected that much, but it has not been confirmed yet... Everyone among her acquaintances who had contact with her can still be reached.”
Yuki Mu cast him a blank look, yet somehow those emerald eyes still managed to express a distinct disdain that said, If even that has not been confirmed, then what exactly have you all been investigating for three days?
“The culprit is Ishibashi Mio, the gym teacher at Teitan Elementary School. She knows soccer-related matters very well, and Mizukami liked her a great deal.”
Shiratori Ninzaburo frowned slightly.
Ishibashi Mio. Female. Gym teacher at Teitan Elementary School. She had a good reputation among both the staff and the students, and was considered a very approachable teacher.
She was still reachable at the moment. She was at the school.
“When she was young, Ishibashi Mio devoted herself wholeheartedly to becoming a professional soccer player, and she worked toward that goal the entire time. But her stepfather kept filling her head with ideas like, ‘Girls cannot play soccer well,’ and ‘A girl only needs to marry, keep house, and raise children. There is no need to go out and make a spectacle of yourself.’ Then, one time, after getting drunk and discovering that Mizukami had come home late because she had been playing soccer, he did... certain things. In short, together with the constant fear he had instilled in her over time, it left Ishibashi Mio with psychological trauma surrounding soccer. No matter how much she loved it, the moment her body came into contact with a soccer ball, she would start trembling uncontrollably, which made it impossible for her to continue playing the sport herself.”
“—Two minutes.” As he calmly reported the number, the young man continued in the same even tone, “Mizukami Mitsue is not the only child who has been kidnapped. Two other children were taken as well.”
“Originally, however, Ishibashi Mio had only intended to abduct two girls. The third child, a boy, noticed something suspicious and ran over by himself, only to be detained along with them.”
“Wait—?”
At that point, Inspector Megure finally could not hold back anymore. His round face was filled with stern gravity, and for a moment he seemed to radiate a quiet authority. “This is not an isolated kidnapping case? There are a second and third kidnapped children as well?”
—Then why had no reports come in?
“Mm. The second child is also from a blended family, and her family does not care much about her. As for the boy... he was only taken today.”
【[Hidden Skill] Eye of the City deactivated】
—And that third unlucky child was Kudo Shinichi!!!
(Beika pressing a hand to Its forehead.jpg)
It looked like he had no choice but to make this trip in person...
Yuki Mu rose to his feet, casually grabbed the map from nearby, and lightly tapped one place on it before drawing his conclusion outright. “They are here right now.”
It was an abandoned construction site.
“—Three minutes.”
From beginning to end, Yuki Mu’s speaking pace had not changed at all. He slapped the map against Shiratori Ninzaburo’s chest and tugged lightly at his collar with his other hand. “What are you all standing there for?”
“If necessary, I can explain the reasons on the way.” Thinking of Kudo Shinichi, Yuki Mu let out the faintest sigh in the end. His tone remained calm, yet it carried a force that allowed no argument. “Get the cars ready and move out immediately. The culprit is about to make a move.”
“—Surely I do not need to teach you how to do even that as well? Any further questions?”
The entire First Investigation Division office fell silent.
To be honest, there were questions everywhere!!!!
How had he managed to say all that based on those few miserably thin sheets of paper???
And yet it felt as though the moment anyone asked, they would immediately be hit with a round of mockery...
【Three minutes】
From the moment he picked up the case record to the moment his last sentence fell, it had been exactly three minutes, not a second more or less. The precision of it was enough to make one’s scalp crawl.
This man really did seem to have at least some right to his talent-driven arrogance... Damn it all!
Even Matsuda Jinpei could not help feeling faintly dazed.
Surely it could not really have been fortune-telling...?
Inspector Megure gave Yuki Mu a long, deep look, then said in a low voice, “Shiratori, Matsuda, Yuki, and you three, come with me.”
“We proceed as usual! Everyone else, remain on standby.”
“Yes, sir!”
*
Meanwhile, elsewhere.
On a deserted street far from the crowds, a tall man stood holding a map. In his amber eyes shimmered an emotion of unclear delight.
He folded the map and slipped it into his pocket, leaving one corner of it exposed.
And on that exposed corner, there was a distinctly marked circle.
The place circled was none other than that abandoned construction site.
Standing beneath a streetlamp, the man smiled as the dim orange light spilled down around him. He lit a cigarette and placed it between his lips.
The lingering note of his quiet sigh vanished into the air along with the smoke he exhaled.
“Be careful not to overplay your hand... [Beika].”
One cigarette burned down to the end.
A black leather shoe crushed the stub beneath its sole.
The man turned and stepped into a bar at the corner.
The bartender froze slightly when he saw who had come, then asked softly, “—Would you like a Blue Hawaii, sir?”
“No, thank you.” The man declined with perfect courtesy. He looked toward the corner of the bar, where several people were gathered together.
His gaze swept past the silver-haired top killer, whose presence was impossible to ignore, and came to rest on the sniper wearing the knitted cap on the other side.
A smile of unreadable meaning appeared in his amber eyes, making them gleam with shifting light. “A Rye Whiskey, then.”
The man met the dark green eyes looking back at him head-on and leisurely offered a distant salute, like the clash of two generations of wolf kings.
“Consider it—”
“a tribute to my great predecessor.”