Tokyo: Rabbit Police and Her Evil Partner

Chapter 446 New clues

"Huff...huff...look where you're going!"

Watanabe Shun supported himself on his knees, panting heavily. He had just finished drinking and the sudden strenuous exercise had taken a toll on his body.

The patrol officer, Liulang, was alright. He gripped the handcuffs and slowly approached the clerk: "Sir, please cooperate with our investigation..."

Before he could finish speaking, the clerk suddenly turned around, climbed over the railing, and stood on the edge of the bridge shouting loudly.

Police officer Liu Lang was startled and quickly tried to calm him down, saying, "Sir, please don't get agitated—"

Watanabe Shun reacted faster; without saying a word, he pounced on the spot. The clerk man also didn't waste any words; he turned around, opened his arms, and leaped into the air!
Bang!

Watanabe Shun grabbed the hem of the corduroy jacket, and the clerk's body arced through the air before slamming hard against the bridge wall, where he dangled in mid-air, struggling incessantly.

"Help me!" Watanabe Shun shouted.

Police officer Rokuro then came to his senses and quickly reached out his hand to grab the clerk's shoulder.

The two of them pulled together, trying to drag the guy up, but the clerk suddenly opened his mouth and bit down hard on the patrol officer Rokuro's hand.

The latter, in pain, loosened his grip, and the clerk's body immediately sank down. With a tearing sound, the corduroy jacket ripped open, and Watanabe Shun futilely grabbed the half-jacket, watching helplessly as the clerk fell to the ground.

Under the influence of gravity, the male clerk plummeted straight down, waving his arms in mid-air as he tried to fly upwards.

But no miracle happened; he fell onto the riverbank pebbles, and blood spurted out irregularly.

Police officer Liulang was dumbfounded. He leaned against the railing, staring at the body on the gravel beach, without saying a word.

Watanabe Shun, however, seemed unfazed. He simply sighed, took out a flat aluminum flask from his inner pocket, unscrewed the cap, took a sip of strong liquor, and said, "Call an ambulance."

"Ah? Ah! Yes, there might still be hope..."

Police officer Liulang, trembling, made a phone call, then rushed downstairs to check on the clerk's injuries and see if he could be saved.

Watanabe Shun followed behind, unhurriedly. He could see clearly that the guy's head was so badly smashed that even a god couldn't save him.

He had done his best and done what he was supposed to do. Who could stop him from courting death?

But Officer Rokuro didn't think so. He felt that he was responsible for the suspect's death. If he hadn't alerted the suspect, the latter wouldn't have run onto the bridge; if he hadn't let go at the crucial moment, the suspect wouldn't have fallen to his death... Looking at the gruesome corpse, he felt extremely guilty.

Watanabe Shun patted him on the shoulder and comforted him, saying, "Don't overthink it, it's not your fault."

Unexpectedly, his casual remark had caused his junior to break down. Police Officer Rokuro began to sob, wiping away tears with the back of his hand, "I'm sorry...senpai..."

"Alright, alright, what's with all the crying? You're a real man."

Watanabe Shun reprimanded him, and the patrolman Rokuro cried even louder. Annoyed by the sound, Watanabe Shun turned his head to examine the body.

Let's finish this quickly and call it a day.

Watanabe Shun put on white gloves, took out his portable camera, and snapped a couple of photos. Beside the bridge pier, there was a clear glass bottle half-filled with water and a pile of broken stones.

Through the camera lens, Watanabe Shun noticed the name tag on the clerk's chest.

"what?"

Watanabe Shun moved the camera away, squatted down, and looked at the clerk's chest; his name was printed on the name tag.

「Honda Yuuto」

Watanabe Shun felt like he'd seen the name somewhere before, but he couldn't quite place it. For someone with his memory, recalling a name he'd seen in a newspaper was indeed a bit of a challenge.

Watanabe Toshio was very easygoing; since he couldn't remember, he simply stopped thinking about it.

The two waited for more than ten minutes before the ambulance arrived first. The doctor examined them and symbolically tried to resuscitate them with an electric shock device. After struggling for a while without any results, he simply put them in a body bag and carried them away.

Watanabe Shundo was too lazy to clean up the scene. Before long, the river would rise and wash away the bloodstains on the gravel beach.

He rode in his junior officer's police car back to the police station, wrote a case report, and instructed Patrolman Rokuro to notify the family. On the way back, the latter gradually calmed down, but the thought of informing the family of the death still made him feel extremely distressed.

News reporters, drawn by the smell, arrived and blocked the police station entrance, asking if another drug addict attack had occurred. Patrolman Liulang wearily dealt with the reporters, claiming the autopsy report wasn't available yet and telling them not to speculate.

Unexpectedly, the reporter became even more excited and loudly retorted, "Since you mentioned the autopsy report, does that mean there were casualties in this case?"

"No comment! No comment!"

Police officer Liulang could only shout in vain.

When Watanabe Shun saw this scene at the police station, it triggered a memory in his mind. He suddenly slapped his forehead and remembered where he had seen the name 'Honda Yuto' before.

This morning, while he was chatting with Fushimi Shika at an izakaya, a reporter named Honda Yuto wrote a report in the newspaper, and a reader commented in the casual writing section that Honda Yuto was talking nonsense...

The reader also said... what else did he say?

Watanabe Shun had a vague feeling that this matter was important, so he left the police station and bought another newspaper. Reporters swarmed around him, trying to get information out of him. He grabbed the lead reporter by the collar and yelled, "I already said no comment! You bastard, are you looking down on me?! Don't you know you're obstructing official business?! Huh? Speak up!!"

The area in front of the police station fell silent.

The journalists all huddled together like quails, heads down and silent.

Watanabe Shun snorted coldly, shoved the reporter to the ground, and returned to the police station with a stern face. Patrolman Rokuro quickly followed, his face full of admiration, and whispered, "Senior, you were so cool just now..."

"is it?"

Watanabe Shun was a little smug, pointing his thumb at his nose and claiming that as long as Rokuro followed him, he would definitely become a real man in the future.

Police officer Rokuro nodded repeatedly after hearing this, and then asked his senior why he was buying a newspaper at this time.

"Oh right, I almost forgot..."

Watanabe Shun lowered his head, spread out the newspaper, and quickly flipped to the last few pages, finally finding Honda Yuto's article and the contents of his casual submission:

Anonymous: Yu Honda in the interview is talking nonsense; he's about to turn into a crow.

"..."

Watanabe Shun scratched his head, not understanding what this meant.

Police officer Rokuro was utterly shocked: "W-this...senpai, you're amazing!!" What was Watanabe Toshishin saying? How was he amazing?

Although he didn't understand why, he still nodded in agreement to the flattery.

Police officer Rokuro held the newspaper and pondered carefully. He believed that the anonymous contributor was the culprit who drove the deceased insane.

When they arrived at the scene, Honda Yuto's behavior was clearly an attempt to imitate birds.

Furthermore, patrol officer Rokuro recalled that a glass bottle was left at the scene, containing half a bottle of water and a pile of pebbles. Based on the eyewitness testimony of the woman who reported the incident, Honda Yuto likely imitated the fairy tale of the crow and the pitcher, carrying the pebbles into the bottle to cause the water to overflow, thus allowing him to drink from the bottle.

"But he was already by the river, why didn't he just drink the river water?" Watanabe Shun scratched his head.

Police officer Liulang was taken aback, and subconsciously wanted to ask if this matter was important.

But then he realized that his senior must have had a deeper meaning behind asking that question.

Police Officer Rokuro thought for a moment and said with a serious expression, "I see, I understand now. Senior, you mean that the deceased was in a state of cognitive dissonance at the time... If the cognitive dissonance was caused by drugs, the person's behavior should have been completely random. How could the anonymous contributor have predicted that the deceased would imitate a crow?"

He patted the newspaper and concluded, "This shows that the person involved in this out-of-control assault case is not a drug addict!"

After saying that, Rokuro was shocked. He stared wide-eyed at Watanabe Shun: "Damn it! How did you notice that, senpai?"

"..."

Watanabe Shun didn't understand at all, but he was too embarrassed to tell his junior that he didn't understand, so he just put on a serious face and said mysteriously, "Well... I noticed it when we were drinking this morning."

"So, you weren't just a regular drinker, were you?" Officer Rokuro was even more surprised.

“Of course not,” Watanabe Shun said, getting more and more excited, trying to appear smart: “Everyone has their own habits when solving cases. I’m used to drinking when I’m solving cases… Some components of alcohol can help the brain think, but I won’t go into details about which components.”

"I see! No wonder you're a star detective!"

Police officer Rokuro's full name is Abe Rokuro. He has only recently graduated and is also very enthusiastic about his police career. In addition, he feels guilty about Honda Yuto's death, so he is eager to open a case and investigate.

He presented his reasoning to his direct superior, but was refuted. His superior believed that the evidence was insufficient and there was no need to file a case. He had no choice but to ask Watanabe Shun for help, asking Watanabe Shun to release the latest clues to the investigation department. Watanabe Shun did as he was told, but was also refuted by Higashiyama Takashi, who believed that Watanabe Shun had been neglecting his anti-drug work recently.

If the out-of-control behavior was not caused by drug use, then what has the Metropolitan Police Department's Investigation Division been doing all this time?
Isn't this a slap in the face to the entire Metropolitan Police Department?
Besides, everyone deserves credit in drug enforcement; seizing drugs is a real achievement. In contrast, solving a murder or poisoning case only results in one detective being rewarded. There's a big difference between everyone getting credit and someone getting all the credit.

Watanabe Shun repeated his words verbatim, and Abe Rokuro, after hearing them, was extremely discouraged and had no choice but to compromise.

He slumped over his desk, sobbing again as he wrote the case report, looking as if he had been severely beaten by society.

Watanabe Shun felt a pang of pity. He had been through the same thing. Wasn't it only natural for a senior to take care of a junior?

So he patted Abe Rokuro on the shoulder and said, "Have you heard of Tsukihime from the Sugamo Police Station?"

“I…I’ve heard of her,” Abe Rokuro said, wiping away tears. “She was a colleague of yours…I remember her…”

Watanabe Shun said earnestly, "She was just like you back then, a junior patrol officer. She discovered a murder case while on patrol and wanted to open a case for investigation, but her superiors refused... But she didn't get discouraged or give up. Instead, she carried the pressure and investigated on her own, and finally produced results that everyone recognized."

Abe Rokuro raised his head, feeling a pang of emotion.

He had initially thought that the female detective nicknamed Tsukihime had risen to her position because of her mother's status, and that she usually relied on her partner, Detective Himori, to solve cases, while she herself was just a pretty face... But now it seemed that he was completely wrong and clearly biased.

Tsukihime's experience resonated with him, and he was now facing the same situation, so he shouldn't give up so easily!

Abe Rokuro rallied his spirits, wiped away his tears, and said earnestly, "Senpai, I understand what you mean!"

"Very good!" Watanabe Shun said with a look of satisfaction.

"When do we start the investigation?" Abe Rokuro pressed. "I have time after get off work. I'll go wherever you tell me to go!"

"Uh?"

Watanabe Shun initially wanted to decline, planning to go home and sleep early that night.

Looking at Abe Rokuro's trusting gaze, he couldn't bring himself to say it. Now he could understand how tired his boss was. His subordinates were a worry, and even his seniors were feeling mentally exhausted!
But then again, if Watanabe Shun were actually tasked with investigating a case, he would be completely lost; he simply wasn't good at things that required thinking. Kazama Takusai had initially tried to cultivate his analytical skills, but eventually realized he wasn't cut out for it and simply gave up.

"It's like this, I really want to go with you on the investigation, but I just can't get away from the Narcotics Investigation Division..."

As Watanabe Shun spoke, seeing his junior lower his head in disappointment, he changed the subject and said, "However, you can ask Tsukihime and Himori for help. They're quite free lately. Just say that Watanabe-senpai introduced them, and they'll definitely agree."

"Really?!"

Abe Rokuro was visibly excited. Fushimi-senpai was his idol; he had single-handedly defeated the leader of the Heavenly Punishment, a feat he greatly admired. Now, with the opportunity to work alongside his idol, he was naturally extremely looking forward to it.

Watanabe Shun wanted to give a guarantee, but he felt that given Fushimi Shika's personality, she might not give him face, so he decided to keep a backup plan and said, "Of course it's true, but you have to tell your deductions to Minamoto Tamako first, and then invite them to investigate the case together."

Based on his understanding of Gentama, he would definitely be drawn to the case clues.

Once you've dealt with Genji, you can naturally deal with Fushimi Shika.

Abe Rokuro was unaware of the intricacies of the situation. He only felt that Watanabe-senpai's image had been elevated countless times, never expecting that the usually idle Watanabe-senpai had such a wide network of connections.

"Thank you so much! I will definitely work hard!"

Abe Rokuro bowed.

Watanabe Shun breathed a sigh of relief, lied that something had come up in the Narcotics Investigation Division, and hurriedly left the police station.

As Abe Rokuro watched his departing figure, he secretly vowed to become a reliable detective like Watanabe-senpai.

He hurriedly finished writing the case report, outlining the points of doubt, submitted it, clocked out, and then dialed the phone numbers of Minamoto no Tamako and Fushimi Shika according to the Yellow Pages.

He was eager to share his theory that "the out-of-control individuals are man-made," but the phone rang for a long time without being answered.

"Are they busy...?"

Abe Rokuro was somewhat disappointed.

He guessed correctly; Fushimi Shika and Minamoto no Tamako were indeed busy.

They lay in the consultation room of a private clinic, with Miyazaki Yuko sitting between them, her murmurs gradually merging with the whispers from her past dreams.

"Go to sleep...go to sleep."

(End of this chapter)