Tokyo: Rabbit Police and Her Evil Partner

Chapter 378 No martial ethics
Kikuta Meiji sensed a kindred spirit; only a shrew would argue in this way.

Ordinary people speak logically, but in reality, most people speak based on their feelings. A conversation that is entirely based on logic is very boring and only happens in three situations: arithmetic, research, and debate.

The most common tactic in a debate is to attack the opponent's logic. Just now, he seized on the logical loopholes in Yuan Yuzi's argument and questioned her—even if the logic is sound, there are countless ways to interpret the truth, and language itself is a fallacy.

Kikuta Meiji knew exactly what the other person meant by those words. He quickly got up to say goodbye and hurriedly left the police station.

Genji looked completely bewildered. In her opinion, Fushimi Shika had only said something sarcastic to the lawyer, and the lawyer had abandoned his client and run away, which was extremely irresponsible.

"Do you think it's necessary?" she asked softly, "to investigate the origin of the murder weapon and all that..."

"It's up to you. You're the organizer, so you get to decide," Fushimi Shika chuckled.

"What do you mean by 'look at me'? How can the direction of the investigation be so frivolous?" Yuan Yuzi said with dissatisfaction.

"Do you know why Attorney Kikuta was in such a hurry to leave?" Fushimi Shika asked rhetorically. "He was probably rushing to find evidence. If he could prove that the murder weapon was brought by the deceased, it would obviously be more advantageous to his client."

"Isn't that great? It indirectly reduces my workload... Wait!" Minamoto Tamako frowned, glanced back at Fujiwara Homare, then turned away and lowered her voice even further: "Attorney Kikuta wouldn't be trying to destroy evidence or fabricate false testimony, would he?"

"Idiot! A lawyer can commit perjury only after consulting with law enforcement. He didn't even talk to us. Daring to fabricate evidence is like pulling teeth from a tiger's mouth and courting death!"

Fushimi Shika changed the subject, saying, "However, Attorney Kikuta really wants to get the evidence before the police do... Can you guess why he's in such a hurry?"

"To destroy incriminating evidence?" Minamoto Tamako asked.

"So all I said was for nothing?" Fushimi Shika rolled his eyes.

"What was the reason for that?" Gen Tamako's curiosity was piqued.

"Give me another stamp, and I'll tell you," Fushimi Shika added with a grin. "By the way, this is very important."

Yuan Yuzi knew this guy was deliberately teasing her, but she couldn't resist taking the bait. Although she was unwilling, her body betrayed her. She quickly stamped the form and urged, "Hurry up and tell me!"

Fushimi Shika glanced at it, confirming that he had collected three seals, before saying:
The key point is "we cannot let the police obtain the evidence first," and here, "police" refers to "us."

"Imagine if I found the purchase receipt for the murder weapon in Rio Yoshikawa's house, proving that Rio Yoshikawa bought the murder weapon and brought it to the scene... then what? What would you do then?"

"If you intend to follow up on the investigation, you can withhold evidence, state that the source of the murder weapon is questionable, refuse to allow lawyers to question you on the grounds of confidentiality regarding the progress of the case investigation, and keep the suspect in custody without ever transferring him to the court. The maximum detention period is 23 days..."

"What about after 23 days? If we're being dishonest, we can release him for half a day, submit new evidence, and bring him back; if we're being conscientious, we can ask the court to extend the detention period, keeping him for half a year is no problem. As long as the case is under investigation, we can keep him there indefinitely."

"Now you understand how much power law enforcement agencies have, right?"

Gen Tamako was stunned. She never imagined that she, as the organizer, could exploit such a loophole...

No wonder Fushimi became a full-fledged detective before her; that guy has a lot of tricks up his sleeve!

"You're really being petty and judging Tamako by your own standards. I would never do such a thing!" She snorted, increasingly convinced that Attorney Kikuta was dishonest. "How can someone who spends all their time on such crooked ways possibly uphold the justice of the law?"

"Yes, yes, you are great and righteous, you are amazing, but lawyers need to make a living. For lawyers, getting the best possible rights for their clients is the top priority."

Fushimi Shika couldn't help but scratch his foot again: "By the way, if the lawyer gets the evidence, the situation will be different. Unless you're in cahoots with the prosecutor... no, I mean, you're on the same side, the lawyer will ask the prosecutor to help urge the case to progress. If you don't have evidence, the prosecutor and the court won't tolerate you, and the decision on whether to close the case will no longer be in your hands."

"Huh? Why?" Yuan Yuzi was taken aback.

“The suspect has already confessed, what are you still investigating? Aren’t you obstructing justice? I can already guess what the prosecutor will say, he’ll definitely tell you to mind your own business.” Fushimi Shika blew on his fingernails.

Yuan Yuzi thought to herself, "This is terrible! No wonder Attorney Kikuta ran away so quickly. If the case is closed so hastily, wouldn't I become one of those irresponsible detectives?"
Why didn't you tell me about something so important sooner!

She quickly opened her pink flip phone and called the officer on duty, ordering them to send patrol officers to search Yoshikawa Rio's house immediately, saying she would be there shortly! Seeing this, Fushimi Shika shook his head and sarcastically remarked, "Some people, when they were patrol officers, complained to me every day about how detectives were lazy and irresponsible, always pushing their work onto the patrol officers… Now that they're detectives, they start bossing around the patrol officers. People's hearts have really changed!"

Gen Tamako blushed slightly, knowing that Fushimi-kun was indirectly criticizing her: "I... I've never been a detective before! There are some things that do require the help of patrol officers... There are only two of us, we really can't spare any more hands!"

She secretly apologized to the detective she had previously cursed. It seemed she had been misunderstanding all along; she realized that everyone had a tough time!
Fushimi Shika was about to add insult to injury with some sarcastic remarks when she was interrupted by Minamoto Tamako's spellcasting. She pushed her wheelchair and quickly left the police station, taking a taxi to Yoshikawa Rio's house, determined to find out the source of the murder weapon before Kikuta's lawyer could!
Due to the time constraints, Minamoto no Tamako didn't have time to indulge Fushimi Shika. After getting out of the car, she let him walk on his own and made sure he did it quickly so that Kikuta, the lawyer, wouldn't get there first.

Rio Yoshikawa lives in Asakusa Apartments, located in the Waseda University walking area. It has an access control system, a 24-hour garbage room, and an elevator, which would be considered a high-end apartment by today's standards. Roughly estimated, the rent should be more expensive than the Sugamo Apartments rented by Shika Fushimi.

When the two arrived, the patrol officers at Sugamo Station had already found the apartment manager, opened the door to Yoshikawa Rio's apartment, and cordoned off the area with police tape.

Attorney Kikuta stood at the door, craning his neck to look inside.

"Hey, Attorney Kikuta, we meet again." Shika Fushimi greeted him while leaning against the wall, his posture unsteady and nonchalant, mainly to conceal the gunshot wound on his leg.

Kikuta Meiji took out a handkerchief and wiped the sweat from his face.

His worst fears came true. The detectives in charge of the case were a hothead and a glutton (referring to detectives who deliberately detain suspects to extort bail or compensation from their families). The combination of these two was exponentially more dangerous... This case was going to be difficult to handle!

Before that, he didn't waste a second, rushed to the Yamanote Line tram and headed straight for the deceased's residence, but he was still a step too late. The other party actually called in the local police to cordon off the scene, which was really unethical.

Right now, looking at Fushimi Shika's smug smile, with his eyes and nose all crooked and unpleasant, he felt he was just like the scoundrel he had encountered in the small law firm back then. He was so hateful.

Even so, Kikuta Meiji still managed a smile, saying that cooperating with the police investigation was every citizen's duty, and he also wanted to find out the truth as soon as possible so that his client could get a fair result.

Fushimi Shika was happy to play along with Attorney Kikuta, smiling and exchanging pleasantries, praising Attorney Kikuta for being truly righteous—he had been treated the same way before, and now that their roles were reversed, he enjoyed watching the newcomer get rained on.

Yuan Yuzi had no time to watch the stinky, middle-aged man's insincere pleasantries. She lifted the safety tape and crawled inside. In the apartment's entrance hall, she changed into shoe covers, gloves, and a hood, and immediately began investigating the clues.

The junior patrol officer was lying on the ground, his rear end sticking out, inspecting the sofa base. Seeing his senior, Detective Tamako, arrive, he immediately stood at attention, snapped to attention, and saluted, indicating that everything at the scene was intact and no suspicious persons had entered or left.

"Very good! You did a great job!"

Yuan Yuzi nodded and praised him. The young patrolman beamed and replied loudly, "Yes! Thank you so much! You've worked hard!"

To say I'm unhappy would be a lie.

Gen Tamako tried hard to suppress the corners of her mouth. She had long expected that it would be fun to handle cases, but she didn't expect it to be this fun... Fushimi-kun really doesn't know how lucky he is. As a regular detective, he has never taken on any cases. It's obvious that he has missed out on a lot of fun in his life!
With the important matter at hand, she adjusted her mindset and joined the patrol officers in the search.

According to Yuan Yuzi's idea, it would be best if she could find evidence such as purchase invoices, so she focused her search on places like trash cans, refrigerator sticky notes, and odds and ends storage boxes.

Unfortunately, she searched for more than half an hour but found no relevant clues.

That makes sense; who in their right mind would keep a receipt for a fruit knife?
She doesn't like to keep receipts when she buys things, unless it's some particularly expensive luxury items. After buying them, she'll just leave the receipts in a drawer... But it's different with miscellaneous items like fruit knives. They can be bought anywhere, and convenience stores may not issue receipts.

However, she didn't come away empty-handed.

The kitchen contained diced meat with various blades, including diced meat with thin blades and diced meat for sashimi, but not a fruit knife for cutting fruit. The murder weapon likely originated from the victim's kitchen.

Yuan Yuzi snapped photos of the kitchen, which, while not legally binding, could at least help her clarify her thoughts and aid in her further investigation.

In addition, she discovered a suspicious point.

It seems that Yoshikawa Rio doesn't live alone in this apartment; there must be another person living here, or at least someone who used to live here—the other person just moved out not long ago, and there are still some odds and ends left in the room.

(End of this chapter)