Tokyo: Rabbit Police and Her Evil Partner

Chapter 457 Yes! Captain!

At first, Minamoto no Tamako thought she had misheard. She blinked and gradually realized that Fushimi-kun had actually agreed!
Could it be that her long-cherished wish will finally come true?!

Genji almost burst into tears. She sat at the dining table, clasped her hands together, and thanked God for His mercy, which allowed her to tame the Fushimi deer in her lifetime.

Just in case, Fushimi Shika gave her a heads-up beforehand:

"Since I've fulfilled all your requests, when it's time to deliver the super reward, don't try to make excuses or make excuses."

Yuan Yuzi was taken aback; she sensed danger in his words: "You're not going to make any unreasonable demands, are you?"

Fushimi Shika didn't answer; instead, he flashed that enigmatic smile again.

A chill ran down Minamoto no Tamako's neck, and she felt a cold wind blowing. Fushimi-kun was definitely up to no good. A series of terrible thoughts flashed through her mind, such as him forcing her to eat canned herring, making her dance a tropical samba, or eating noodles through her nostrils…

But then she thought, "Let's enjoy ourselves first, and worry about the future later!"

"What are you laughing at? Don't laugh!"

Yuan Yuzi immediately straightened up, put her hands on her hips, and scolded, "How can you joke around with the captain? Didn't I tell you? No unfunny jokes during the investigation!"

Fushimi Shika's smile gradually faded, and he asked expressionlessly, "Is it starting now?"

"Otherwise what?" Minamoto Tamako cherished every minute of her time as captain: "You should reply with 'Yes, Captain!' instead of questioning me with a rhetorical question!"

Fushimi Shika wanted to complain, but when he saw Minamoto no Tamako staring at him intently, and considering that he would also make things difficult for her in the future, he swallowed his words and said, "Yes, Captain."

"You're so unenthusiastic! Speak louder!" Yuan Yuzi started to take advantage of her.

Fushimi Shika knew Genji's nature well; in the past, he would never have tolerated her. But now, he could only endure the humiliation for the time being and shouted, "Yes, Captain!!"

"Good! Very energetic!" Yuan Yuzi wiped her chopsticks with a napkin and ordered, "Continue eating lunch! You must finish within ten minutes! Give yourself five minutes to digest, then present your case!"

Fushimi Shika buried his head in his rice. He had just taken a bite when Minamoto no Tamako reminded him, "What did I just say? What should I say in response?"

"..."

Fushimi Shika took a deep breath, silently repeating to himself, "She's a pervert, I won't argue with her, she's a pervert, I won't argue with her..." After successfully building up his mental fortitude, he shouted again, "Yes, Captain!!"

"very good."

Yuan Yuzi nodded, her little face beaming with pride, her legs swinging excitedly back and forth... Just those two sentences almost gave her an orgasm.

Wow, that's awesome!
No wonder Fushimi always bosses her around, making demands of her all the time. It feels so good to order others around!
Yuan Yuzi suddenly realized that her ambition to become a police inspector seemed a bit too narrow. Wouldn't it be much better to be the Metropolitan Police Department's superintendent like her mother, managing everyone in the department?
After indulging in her fantasies for a while, Yuan Yuzi gradually regained her senses when she thought about her mother's life of leaving early and returning late every day, working year-round without a break, and not being able to solve cases on the front lines.

Forget it, I'm a staunch detective, and I will never easily change my ideals because of this little temptation.

Yuan Yuzi lowered her head and ate her rice. She picked up a piece of eel, put it in her mouth with the rice, and then picked up another piece of eel and put it in her rice bowl for safekeeping. Finally, she stared at the last piece of eel in the dish bowl and chewed it quickly with her cheeks.

Fushimi Shika, intent on revenge, reached out with his chopsticks and took the last piece of eel right in front of her.

"what!"

Yuan Yuzi was furious. How dare that little deer team member touch the captain's sore spot by reaching for the captain's private parts with his chopsticks! He must be severely criticized!

With her cheeks puffed out, she shouted in a muffled voice, "The last piece of eel must be given to the captain! That's the ironclad rule of the deduction team!"

“You didn’t say that before,” Fushimi Shika said, expressing her doubt.

"Now I'm telling you! This is the new rule for the Deduction Team!" Minamoto no Tamako pointed at Fushimi Shika with her chopsticks: "And, no talking back to the captain!"

“Alright,” Fushimi Shika slurped the eel meat, then put it back on his plate. “Here you go.”

Minamoto no Tamako stared at the drool-covered eel meat, feeling very unhappy. She simply ignored Fushimi Shika and continued eating without saying a word.

Seeing that she wasn't speaking, Fushimi Shika assumed she was up to something again and subconsciously asked, "What's wrong? Are you upset that I gave it back to you?"

"You don't treat me like a captain at all, you're just playing tricks! You don't really respect me, you're just putting on an act."

Yuan Yuzi shoved her chopsticks back and forth across the rice, venting her resentment: "If you keep going on like this, when you finally cash in on the super prize, I'll learn from you and cut corners too."

"..."

Fushimi Shika suspected that she was trying to trick him by thinking he was Japanese.

As the saying goes, words spoken are like water spilled; he prided himself on not being a treacherous person who would go back on his word. But what if Yuan Yuzi really went astray? One should still have some basic sense of contractual obligation; consider it repayment for the sins he had committed.

After all, this entire red indulgence was genuine, without a trace of red tape. Apart from the white indulgence that was signed later, it contained all the evil deeds he had committed while toying with Genji.

Fushimi Shika prepared himself mentally once again. He cleared his throat, controlled his facial expression, and fully utilized his Level 7 social charm to say sincerely, "Actually, I've always regarded you as the captain."

"Really?" Gen Tamako was skeptical.

Fushimi Shika put down his chopsticks; he was already full and had the leisure to tease Minamoto Tamako: "Of course it's true. Think about it, how long have we known each other? I've never said I wanted to leave the Deduction Team, have I? Nor have I mentioned wanting to be the captain, have I? If we're really talking about it, aren't I more suitable to be the captain than you?"

At first, Yuan Yuzi thought it sounded reasonable and that it was indeed true, but when she heard the last sentence, she frowned again: "What do you mean you are more suitable to be the captain than me?"

"Wasn't it me who deduced the key clues before?" Fushimi Shika retorted.

“Uh, this…” Yuan Yuzi was even more unhappy when she heard the truth.

She only wanted to exchange the indulgence tickets because she knew she was unworthy of the title! Otherwise, why would she bother?

Fushimi Shika said this on purpose, using a strategy of first criticizing and then praising. Seeing that he had sufficiently stirred up Minamoto Tamako's emotions, he changed the subject and continued, "However, the decisive factor in whether someone is a captain or not is not how good their reasoning ability is, nor how outstanding their athletic ability is, nor how good they are at understanding people's hearts..."

The more Minamoto Tamako listened, the more uneasy she felt. She suspected that Fushimi was taking the opportunity to indirectly criticize her, deliberately saying the opposite of what she meant, implying that she lacked reasoning skills, athletic ability, and the ability to understand people. Just as she was about to break down, Fushimi Shika said the second half of his sentence in one smooth motion: "The real decisive factor is whether the captain has a firm goal and can lead the team to persevere no matter what the situation."

This praise didn't hit the mark with Minamoto Tamako. In her view, sticking to one's ideals is a matter of course, especially since she had set many goals for herself. If she couldn't achieve them, she would regret it for the rest of her life.

"What kind of captain is this..."

Yuan Yuzi pouted. In her mind, all leaders were outstanding in ability, good at understanding people's hearts, and most of them had practiced kendo or judo. They were also very good at fighting when they took off their suits.

"Yes, have you read 'Journey to the West'?" Fushimi Shika asked.

"You mean Sarutobi Sasuke?" Genji asked, confused.

This work is adapted from Journey to the West, and can be considered a heavily modified version of Japanese animation.

"No, it's the Chinese classic 'Journey to the West.' You probably haven't read the original novel, but you've seen the anime, right?" Fushimi Shika asked.

“I’ve only seen the TV series, with Masako Natsume playing Tang Sanzang… Are you saying that even a woman can be Tang Sanzang?” Tamako Minamoto rested her chin on her small hand.

Japan's NHK once produced a Journey to the West television series starring Yasuko Sawaguchi and Masaaki Sakai, which premiered in 1978 and was very popular in Japan, leading to a second season.

The content of this Japanese-made Journey to the West is hard to describe, with more flaws than 100,000 Cold Jokes. For example, the character of Tang Sanzang: she has a staff in one hand and Buddhist beads in the other, and wears a short skirt, stockings and boots. Not only does she cry and shout that she must marry a monster, but her kisses can even cure her disciples' illnesses.

Fushimi Shika hadn't seen this version of Journey to the West, but he guessed the character designs should be similar to the one he'd seen, so he continued, "No... the point is that Tang Sanzang doesn't know anything, he just points fingers and criticizes all the time. How can someone like that be a leader?"

"You're mocking me again."

Minamoto no Tamako couldn't eat anymore. She thought Fushimi-kun was going to say something nice, and racked her brains trying to follow his train of thought, but Fushimi-kun went around in circles and was still mocking her.

"I don't mean any sarcasm. What I mean is that the most important quality of a leader is the ability to stick to their goals and motivate others to work together. Everything else is unimportant..."

Fushimi Shika patiently comforted him, "Look how powerful Sun Wukong is, isn't he? Yet he was still imprisoned under the Five Fingers Mountain. Zhu Bajie is clever, isn't he? But all he thinks about is how to slack off... And Sha Wujing, if it weren't for Tang Sanzang, how could he have gone to the Western Paradise? He'd be stuck in the Flowing Sand River his whole life!"

Minamoto no Tamako didn't understand. She thought Fushimi Shika was exaggerating: "Is that really true? Didn't Tang Sanzang often complain that the journey to the West was too tiring and he should just give up?"

Fushimi Shikashin said, "What kind of nonsense are you watching?"

In order to correct Gentamako's strange impression of Journey to the West, Fushimi Shika went to great lengths, telling the whole story of the journey in three hundred chapters... In order to make Gentamako empathize with him, he deliberately exaggerated Tang Sanzang's shortcomings.

Yuan Yuzi was deeply shocked after hearing this. She never thought there was a captain in the world who was more annoying, liked to boss people around, and was less capable than her teammates!
However, Tang Sanzang also has admirable qualities. Even if he was about to be eaten by demons, he still insisted on going to the Western Paradise to obtain the scriptures... Compared to Zhu Bajie and Lu Bu who were always thinking about being lazy, Miss Tang Sanzang was very ambitious!

That's right, without Tang Sanzang, the team would be a complete mess!
Minamoto no Tamako regained her confidence, but that didn't matter, because after being hit hard, she would probably be able to stand up again in just one night, just like the ahoge on her head that gets a boost every night... What mattered was that she felt Fushimi-kun's sincerity.

Hmm, captain status +1.

Yuan Yuzi glanced down at the pink flip phone and said, "That makes sense, you're right, but you've seriously exceeded your meal time. Fifty-one minutes have already passed, so we'll deduct it from your rest time tonight."

Fushimi Shika paused for a moment, then said, "Compassion for subordinates is also one of the most important qualities of a leader."

Yuan Yuzi shook her head repeatedly, feeling that Zhu Balu was too lazy. If it weren't for her leadership, how could Zhu Balu be where he is today? Let alone becoming a detective, he might even have trouble paying rent, and he'd probably still be driving a taxi in Hokkaido!

She urged Fushimi Shika to wash the dishes, claiming that doing housework was also part of the team members' job. Fushimi Shika protested, but to no avail; she was now the team leader, and her word was law.

After washing the dishes, Fushimi Shika was about to take a break when Minamoto Tamako grabbed him and asked him to explain in detail what clues he had found at Matsumoto Masakyu's house and what conclusions he had drawn.

"Actually, it's nothing. Didn't you think the trail had gone cold before? But actually, the search area for the suspect has been narrowed down quite a bit..."

As he spoke, Fushimi Shika slumped onto the sofa, resting his hands on his stomach, taking the opportunity to relax: "At least from the occupation column, we can circle a group of people."

Gen Tamako slapped her forehead, suddenly realizing something. Without Fushimi Shika needing further explanation, her little brain had already processed it: "Since the random assaults were caused by hypnosis, that means the perpetrator is very likely a psychiatrist… As long as we can deduce the killer's characteristics beforehand, even if the motive is unclear, we can narrow down the search area!"

“Yes.” Fushimi Shika nodded.

Gen Tamako pondered, "What were the characteristics of the perpetrator in the Heavenly Punishment Case...?"

Fushimi Shika quickly sat up straight and interrupted, "Look at you, we're discussing a random assault case, how can you, as the captain, be distracted? As a team member, I have a duty to supervise you to ensure you handle the case diligently!"

Yuan Yuzi pouted, took a bottle of cola from the refrigerator, and said, "I've told you, you're not allowed to talk back to the captain! Whatever the captain says is right! You can give gentle advice, but you can't take the opportunity to mock him!"

“Yes, Captain.” Fushimi Shika readily complied.

Minamoto Tamako sat on the sofa, sipping her cola, flipping through her notebook with her right hand, continuing to ponder the case, muttering, "So, we can narrow down our next search to the psychiatrists in Tokyo..."

"Moreover, he is a hypnotic psychologist who is skilled, capable, and has connections with drug addicts," Shika Fushimi added.

"But Officer Akimoto has already investigated, and these drug addicts' social circles don't overlap..."

"You believe his investigation results?" Fushimi Shika scoffed, picking his earwax with his little finger. "As the saying goes, the more you do, the more mistakes you make. By the standards of a serial killer, the perpetrator must have unintentionally left a lot of clues when he came into contact with the victims."

"For example?" Gen Tamako asked.

“Take the Matsumoto family as an example. We can infer that the hypnotist used his special attachment to pets to give him suggestions... This shows that the perpetrator also owns pets, or has owned pets in the past.”

"Why?" Yuan Yuzi asked, puzzled.

"Would you casually tell outsiders about your unusual tastes? Even ordinary hobbies have their own little circles, let alone such a secretive hobby. Matsumoto Masakyu would definitely be very careful to keep it a secret, afraid that outsiders would find out."

Fushimi Shika understood this principle well: the closest connection between people lies in sharing a common secret. "Hypnotists can only start with pets, making Matsumoto Masakyu believe they are kindred spirits, so keeping a pet as a prop is indispensable..."

"Of course, it's also possible that the psychologist used hypnosis to get Matsumoto Masakyu to reveal his deepest secrets, and that possibility cannot be ruled out. But personally, I think that formal psychotherapy would leave medical records, and the psychologist probably contacted Matsumoto Masakyu privately."

He paused, then concluded, "If we go to other addicts' homes, we might find some unexpected surprises."

(End of this chapter)