Tokyo: Rabbit Police and Her Evil Partner

Chapter 392 Sender X
Fushimi Shika was taken aback. He hadn't expected that he had over-issued so many atonement tickets recently, nor had he expected that Minamoto no Tamako had secretly accumulated so many... If he remembered correctly, he had taken back a portion of Minamoto no Tamako's atonement tickets some time ago, and the amount was quite substantial. He hadn't expected that in the blink of an eye, she had collected them all.

This guy is definitely a rabbit; he's really good at saving!

But Fushimi Shika had a plan in mind; he had anticipated this situation on the very day the indulgence tickets and rabbit coins were issued.

Yuan Yuzi was completely unaware of this; she was still cheering and celebrating, clutching a handful of indulgence tickets and rabbit coins in each hand, swaying left and right, dancing her self-created cha-cha, spinning around and cheering loudly, just like Fan Jin after passing the imperial examination:
"I've collected them all! I've collected them all!"

To accumulate enough red red indulgences, she endured countless grievances, truly a testament to her perseverance. If this had happened during the Warring States period, her story of enduring humiliation would surely have been recorded in history, just like Oichi, becoming a legendary woman whose story would be sung by later generations!
Fushimi Shika leaned back on the sofa, silent, intending to let Minamoto Tamako have her fun for a while. But Minamoto Tamako didn't think so; she couldn't wait to cash in her money, waving the indulgences around her hands and urging Fushimi Shika to redeem them quickly, like a nouveau riche demanding repayment of debts.

"You didn't know?" Fushimi Shika said with a surprised look, "Rabbit Coins and Indulgence Tickets are not interchangeable!"

Gen Tamako was taken aback. She had a bad feeling from Fushimi Shika's tone: "What do you mean by that?"

“That means Rabbit Coins can’t be exchanged for Indulgence Tickets,” Fushimi Shika explained earnestly, adopting the professional demeanor of a bank teller. “Rabbit Coins were originally issued to purchase Indulgence Tickets and extend their redemption period, but it wasn’t stated that Rabbit Coins could be directly exchanged for Indulgence Tickets.”

Yuan Yuzi panicked: "But...but didn't you say before that one Rabbit Coin is equivalent to one Purple Indulgence Ticket?"

"From a purchasing power perspective, yes, that's right!"

Fushimi Shika nodded and gave an example: "But Rabbit Coins can't be exchanged for Indulgence Coupons. They're like discount coupons issued by supermarkets. You can use a discount coupon to offset part of the money, but you can't use a discount coupon to exchange for money directly, right?"

With a look of utter despair on her face, Yuan Yuzi slumped to the ground in a daze, her rabbit coins and indulgences flying everywhere like snowflakes in June, making her look even more like a foolish dog who had been tricked.

That's outrageous...absolutely outrageous!
"Why didn't you say this sooner?!" she shouted, clenching her fists.

“You didn’t ask, I thought you could understand,” Fushimi Shika picked at his earwax with his little finger, a smug look on his face. “I made it very clear before that Rabbit Coins are for what’s used for, I didn’t lie to you, did I?”

Yuan Yuzi puffed out her cheeks like Crayon Shin-chan.

She desperately wanted to explode and make Fushimi-kun know the consequences of deceiving her; but she also knew she was in the wrong. Fushimi-kun had never said that rabbit coins could be exchanged for atonement tickets. She was filled with hatred but helpless, and the thrill of that kiss had long been forgotten.

"Good good!"

She exclaimed "Yoshi!" three times, wanting to tear the rabbit coins and indulgences to shreds, to show Fushimi-kun her determination and resolve, so that she would never be controlled by such little pieces of paper again!

But when she picked up the banknotes, she couldn't bear to tear them up. She thought to herself, "These aren't Fushimi-kun's indulgences; they're clearly his hard-earned money! How can she bear to waste them?"

"Really can't exchange it?" Gen Tamako held up a rabbit coin, trying to persuade the unscrupulous merchant Fushimi Shika to make an exception.

"I'm sorry, I really can't." Fushimi Shika shook his head, his expression leaving no room for negotiation.

"You forced me to do this!" Yuan Yuzi lay on the ground, picking up the atonement tickets and rabbit coins one by one, and putting them into two piles. The atonement tickets were the most numerous and were all white; there was only one rabbit coin, but it had the largest face value, equivalent to a purple atonement ticket.

She's going on a revenge spending spree today!
Gen Tamako, like a rich little girl arriving at the White Horse Club, waved a rabbit coin between two fingers and announced imperiously:

"I want to redeem it!"

Fushimi Shika scratched his head; he knew this would happen. Since Rabbit Coins had no value as savings, Minamoto no Tamako would inevitably demand their redemption. He had anticipated this and said somewhat sheepishly, "Flip it over and look at the bottom left corner."

"Ok?"

Genji held the banknote between two fingers, like a monkey gazing at the moon, and examined the back of the rabbit-shaped banknote with her other hand. There was an intricate pattern on the lower left corner, just like the pattern on a real banknote: "What's wrong with the lower left corner? It's not damaged..."

“Squint and look at it sideways,” Fushimi Shika continued to instruct.

Yuan Yuzi did as instructed. She squinted and tilted the rabbit coin at a certain angle, only then noticing a line of small characters interspersed among the intricate patterns:
"Redemption is valid only on the day of redemption; it will expire after that date."

"?"

……

Yuan Yuzi was dumbfounded. She slammed the rabbit-shaped coin onto the coffee table with two fingers: "What is this?! Who can read this? And why is it invalid after expiration?!"

"You see now, right? Who told you not to check the money?" Fushimi Shika crossed his legs, casually grabbed a can of Coke from the coffee table, inserted a straw, and sipped it with gusto. "Supermarket discount coupons have an expiration date, right? They'll definitely expire if they go unused!"

Genjitama wished she could pounce on Fushimi Shika and strangle him, as a way of ridding the people of a scourge.

Fortunately, this guy became a policeman. Otherwise, if he had been allowed to inherit the family's izakaya, he would definitely have become a tycoon in the restaurant industry, using inferior ingredients to deceive consumers and suppressing his competitors, becoming a wicked capitalist!

Yuan was deceived and had nowhere to complain, so she was seething with anger. She wanted to take revenge by canceling Fushimi's seal and letting him experience the feeling of having his efforts wasted, but she couldn't find a good excuse, so she could only sit on the sofa with her arms crossed and sulk.

Ding-dong-

ding dong ding dong --

Someone is ringing the doorbell outside.

Fushimi Shika ignored her; usually, it was Minamoto Tamako who opened the door and handled the chores. But today, Minamoto Tamako was on strike, sitting motionless on the sofa, indicating that she was no longer a maid doing chores, but the free-spirited Detective Tamako!

If Fushimi Shika wants to get her to work again, she'll have to use up her stamps and exchange them for equivalent labor services!
"Is anyone home?" came a shout from outside the door.

Fushimi Shika was at a loss for words; her dream had been shattered, and it was only natural to let her catch her breath. Fushimi Shika could only get up herself, enduring the pain of her gunshot wound, and pretending nothing was wrong as she opened the door.

"Yamato Transport, Takkyubin," the courier handed over a black package, placing the delivery slip on it as he said, "Please sign here."

Who sent it?

Fushimi Shika felt a pang of guilt when he recalled the copy of the case file sent by the Daisetsuzan Police Station last time. He subconsciously glanced back and saw Minamoto no Tamako standing in the living room answering a landline call, unsure of who was calling.

"It's signed." The deliveryman handed over a ballpoint pen, hoping Fushimi Shika would sign it quickly, as he had other packages to deliver.

Fushimi Shika hastily signed his name. He stood at the door without returning to the living room, glancing down at the package's shipping information. Only after confirming that the package hadn't been sent from Hokkaido did he breathe a sigh of relief.

His gaze swept downwards, noticing that the sender's name wasn't listed; it was just a single letter.
"X"

Fushimi Shika held the package to his ear and shook it gently. There seemed to be a hard, square object inside, but it wasn't very heavy. He looked at it more closely; the shipping address was the Sugamo Yamato Transport drop-off point, and the contact number looked like a public phone booth number.

Weird.

Fushimi Shika looked back again. Minamoto no Tamako was still on the phone. He simply opened the package and found a cassette tape inside.

Another audio tape?
Fushimi Shika recalled the incident where Aum Shinrikyo sent the tape to Sugamo Station to threaten him, and vaguely felt that he might be being targeted by some strange guy again... Logically speaking, since all the people in Aum Shinrikyo were dead, no one should be pursuing his righteous act anymore, right?
Could it be the Fox Fairy?
That guy isn't dead?

After finishing her call, Yuan Yuzi curiously peeked out and asked, "What is that?"

Fushimi Shika was holding the videotape and the package. She figured Minamoto Tamako had overheard the deliveryman's conversation, otherwise she would be asking, "Who is it?"... Fushimi Shika had no choice but to tell the truth:
“A guy named X sent me a cassette tape.”

Minamoto no Tamako's ahoge (cowlick) stood up immediately; this was like a mysterious event that often occurred in detective novels. Extremely curious, she eagerly took out the tape recorder and asked Fushimi Shika to put the tape in, wanting to hear what was recorded.

"You'd better not get your hopes up," Fushimi Shika said, inserting the tape and giving her a heads-up: "Some perverts like to send threatening letters or divisive audio tapes... Be careful not to fall for it!"

"If such a person really exists, I'll arrest him and use it as part of my internship/training achievement!"

Minamoto no Tamako didn't seem to care. She casually pressed the play button and said, "Oh, by the way, Commander Fujiwara just called."

Are you looking for me?

Fushimi Shika knew what was going on. He hadn't said anything definitively yesterday, indicating that he was willing to try to clear Fujiwara Homare's name. However, this morning, Minamoto Tamako submitted the case file, and Director Fujiwara would definitely call to ask what was going on.

"No, it's just a greeting, a simple inquiry, and a compliment on how well I handled the case." Yuan Yuzi didn't think much of it and sighed, "It seems being a director isn't easy! In crucial moments, you still have to put aside family ties and set an example for your subordinates."

Fushimi Shikanobu said that if he were truly grateful, he wouldn't have made that call. High-ranking officials are always subtle in their dealings; what was clearly a warning and reminder came out as praise.

At the time, he thought that Minamoto Tamako had deduced the method of the third person committing the crime in a locked room, which was why he said there was room for maneuver; but he did not expect that Minamoto Tamako proved that Yoshikawa Rio was indeed killed by Fujiwara Homare. There was no way to deny this fact, so he could only give up and pretend that he had never met Director Fujiwara.

The disk started spinning, and the tape recorder made a buzzing sound. Genji quickly raised his index finger to signal Fushimi Shika to be quiet.

The two sat on the sofa, leaning forward, staring at the tape recorder, when a familiar voice came through the loudspeaker:

"How about I take a shower? I reek of alcohol..."

—That's Fujiwara Homare's voice.

Fushimi Shika and Minamoto no Tamako exchanged glances, listening intently to what followed...

(End of this chapter)