Tokyo: Rabbit Police and Her Evil Partner

Chapter 460 Everyone Deceives Themselves

At first, Ritsuta Nishino only bought some supplies, which he piled up in the basement, and kept muttering things like "better safe than sorry," "it's dangerous lately," and "the world is not peaceful"...

Whenever he said this, the guest would agree and cite various examples, such as, "I have a friend who works in a secret laboratory," "I heard the media is covering up the news," "Hospital admissions have increased dramatically," and so on.

Nishino Touna couldn't understand what the adults were talking about, but as a child, she was more sensitive to the change in atmosphere—a strange and hidden emotion was spreading, making her and her brother tense and beginning to feel unfamiliar and afraid of everything around them.

At first, her brother kept it from her and refused to tell her the truth. It wasn't until a month later, when a guest brought several strangers covered in blood into the living room, that she realized that a zombie virus had broken out outside, and the whole of Tokyo had fallen, with zombies biting people everywhere.

The guests and the strangers were survivors who had fled to their home seeking refuge for a while.

Ritsuta Nishino kept saying what would happen if a zombie outbreak occurred, as if he firmly believed in the possibility of a zombie outbreak. But when the day of the zombie outbreak actually came, he found it hard to believe and always felt that it might be safe outside.

Nishino Touna was worried about her brother's safety and repeatedly advised him not to leave the house. She then followed the strangers and closed the doors and windows, living in the basement for an extended period to avoid the zombies.

In a closed and high-pressure environment, a new collective consciousness will emerge. The guest, along with strangers, established a new "survivor system" in which the guest distributed daily supplies and became the "leader" of everyone.

The guest required everyone to recite "Thank God for letting me survive" thirty times every day after waking up, and also established various rules for dealing with zombies, requiring everyone to abide by them.

At first, Ritsuta Nishino found it a bit absurd because his workplace kept calling him to ask why he hadn't come to work... But gradually, he was influenced by the people around him and began to think that the zombie outbreak might have already occurred, but the media had blocked the news, which was why most people were unaware of it.

Two weeks later, the water and electricity at home were cut off, the living conditions became increasingly harsh, and food storage began to run out. So everyone suggested going out to look for food... Maybe there was still food in stores or convenience stores. They had to take advantage of the fact that the zombie horde had not yet spread and stock up as much as possible.

Even so, no one wanted to leave the basement, fearing they would be bitten by zombies if they went outside. They gathered together and discussed it for a long time, finally deciding to draw lots, with whoever drew the lot being unlucky.

Whether the Nishino siblings were lucky or not is unknown, but they were fortunate enough not to have drawn a travel permit and were able to stay in the basement to avoid the zombies.

The rest of the people went out to explore and search for food.

The next day, only two members of the exploration team returned, one of whom was the guest.

They said that Tokyo was still peaceful on the surface, with many people going to work, playing, and living their lives as usual, completely unaware that the zombie virus had broken out. This led them to misjudge the situation and be surrounded by a group of zombies in an underground parking lot. Their companions died on the spot, and the supplies and food they had managed to find were left there.

"Remember, those zombies are afraid of light! They don't come out during the day, but at night they'll swarm out, hiding where the streetlights can't reach, and attack passersby..."

The guest repeatedly reminded her of the rules, and Nishino Touna carefully wrote them down. Although she was young, she understood what death meant.

After this battle, only four people remained in the basement.

In the dead of night, terrifying howls would often come from outside the basement ventilation opening, probably as the zombies came out in droves to hunt in the darkness... Nishino Touna would occasionally hear the sound of zombies hitting the door. Once, while helping to empty the chamber pot, she left the basement and went to the bedroom bathroom. Through the gap in the curtains, she spotted a horrifying zombie. In her panic, she accidentally pulled the trigger of her crossbow and shot the zombie dead.

From then on, Touna Nishino became increasingly afraid to leave the basement.

Two more weeks passed, and their food was running low, forcing the older brother to go out in search of food. Despite her fear, Nishino Touna still wanted to go with him.

Her brother ordered her to stay at home and go out with the guests, leaving her in the care of another stranger.

Unexpectedly, the two never returned.

While she was asleep, a stranger stole her crossbow, forced her to leave the basement, and tried to take all the food.

Unable to resist an adult, Nishino Touna could only leave tremblingly, return to her bedroom, take all the money from her piggy bank, and walk to the nearest convenience store.

Just as the survivors described, most people outside were unaware that the zombie virus had broken out, and convenience stores were even still operating normally.

Nishino Touna bought a lot of compressed biscuits, which solved her food problem, but she had nowhere to go. If she slept on the streets at night, she would likely be attacked by zombies.

As the sun set and darkness fell, she grew increasingly frightened and had no choice but to return home. She thought of giving the compressed biscuits to strangers as rent, so that she wouldn't be evicted.

However, when she returned to the basement, the stranger had already left, and she was all alone in the huge house.

Nishino Touna lost her sense of time. She would huddle in the corner of her bed every day, waiting for her brother to come home. Her only entertainment was chatting with the little mouse and comforting each other. Sometimes she would share some cookie crumbs with the little mouse.

After listening to her fragmented account, Gen Tamako felt a mix of emotions, including sympathy for Nishino Touna and anger towards the 'guest'... Clearly, that guy had brainwashed the Nishino siblings, making them believe that zombies had appeared outside.

She put her arm around Nishino Touna's shoulder and whispered reassuringly, "Listen to me, Touna, there aren't any zombies outside..."

“If you don’t believe me, that’s fine,” Nishino Touna said, curling up on the bed with her arms wrapped around her knees. “When I told the convenience store clerk, he didn’t believe me either and even laughed at me.”

“It’s true, there are no zombies at all!” Gen Tamako tried her best to bring her back to her senses.

"What about my brother?" Nishino Touna looked up and asked.

Minamoto no Tamako was momentarily speechless. She stammered, unsure how to answer, and could only look at Fushimi-kun with pleading eyes.

Fushimi Shika stroked his chin, leaning against a pillar in the basement, his right hand holding a knife behind his back, seemingly deep in thought.

Seeing Captain Yu Zi asking him for help, he snapped out of his reverie, cleared his throat, and asked, "When did your brother leave?"

"About... a few days ago." Nishino Touna looked bewildered.

How many days ago?
Gen Tamako remembers that the face-biting incident happened more than a month ago, which means that Nishino Touna had not been exposed to sunlight for a month and was unaware of the passage of time in the outside world.

"Is this so..."

Fushimi Shika stroked her chin, looking Nishino Touna up and down. This gaze made her very uncomfortable, so she buried her face in her knees.

"Why are you staring at other people!" Yuan Yuzi frowned and waved her little hand in front of him.

Fushimi Shika ignored her and continued to ask Nishino Touna, "Can you describe what the screams of zombies are like?"

Nishino Touna didn't really want to answer, but this older brother seemed a bit scary, and the policewoman seemed to listen to him, so she could only bite the bullet and say, "It's like... 'woof'? Like that... I didn't sound like that." Minamoto Tamako thought to herself that it really didn't sound like that. You sound like a little kitten, which only makes people think you're cute, not scary at all.

Fushimi Shika, channeling Minamoto no Tamako, pressed on relentlessly, asking, "Since you haven't left the basement, how can you be so sure it was zombies banging on the door?"

“My brother and the others saw it,” Nishino Touna whispered.

"Really? Did they say it themselves? 'There are zombies banging on the door outside'? Or did you just guess from their tone?" Fushimi Shika asked.

Minamoto Tamako finally realized what was going on. Subconsciously, she thought that children wouldn't lie and believed Nishino Touna's statement. But now, upon closer examination, she found that there were many contradictions in Nishino Touna's account... Children may not lie, but they will tell nonsense about what they believe to be the 'truth'.

Nishino Touna timidly replied, "I...I don't remember..."

Fushimi Shika asked, "Are you sure you shot the zombie?"

Nishino Touna replied, "Confirmed."

Fushimi Shika, feigning curiosity, asked, "Can zombies die too?"

Nishino Touna explained, "Zombies will die if they are shot in the head."

Fushimi Shika then asked, "Didn't you leave the house earlier? Did you see any zombie corpses when you went out and came back?"

Nishino Touna said, "The zombies were at the front door. I left through the back door and came back through the back door as well."

Fushimi Shika looked enlightened: "So, the zombie is still in the yard?"

Yuan Yuzi thought to herself, "Is this for real? How come I didn't see it when she came in?"

Nishino Touna shook her head and said, "Right now, it should have been eaten by other zombies. They're not picky eaters; they'll eat anything that's meat."

Fushimi Shika asked, "What about the bones?"

Nishino Touna said, "I don't know, you can go and see for yourself."

Fushimi Shika shrugged and said, "But we didn't see any bones when we came in."

Nishino Touna wasn't surprised and casually said, "It was probably taken by a dog."

Upon hearing this, Fushimi Shika stopped asking questions and instead beckoned to Minamoto Tamako. The latter glanced at Nishino Touna, a little worried, but still got up and approached Fushimi Shika, wanting to hear what Fushimi's insights were.

To avoid upsetting Nishino Touna, the two retreated to the stairs. Fushimi Shika lowered his voice and said, "Did you figure it out?"

"What did you see?" Gen Tamako asked. "Are you saying she has serious mental problems? I can see that."

“What I mean is, she can make her own story.” Fushimi Shika scratched his nose. “I doubt we can take her away. We’ll have to call a doctor to come and make a house call.”

Yuan Yuzi didn't quite understand, but as the team leader, she couldn't show her incompetence to her teammates, so she could only ask tactfully, "Is there any cause and effect relationship between these events?"

Fushimi Shika didn't answer, but instead asked directly, "How are the two of us going to take her away now?"

Yuan Yuzi thought that reasoning with her was an option, and if that didn't work, she should take her out and let her see the outside world with her own eyes. Then the lie would fall apart on its own.

After listening, Fushimi Shika sneered and said, "It's not that simple. Have you forgotten? In her mind, most people in Tokyo are unaware of the zombie virus outbreak and are still living normal lives. So even if you take her out, it will only exacerbate her panic and anxiety... She might stab you in the back and try to escape from the clutches of the monster."

Minamoto Tamako thought it was absurd. She wanted to refute it, but found that Nishino Touna's logic was flawless and there was no way to explain the truth from her perspective.

"Furthermore, the so-called zombie banging on the door was probably the community property management chasing after unpaid water and electricity bills; the zombie howls were probably dog ​​barks, as many people in the countryside keep dogs; as for shooting zombies, I guess it was shooting some kind of animal..."

Fushimi Shika shrugged. "That's a optimist guess. If we're talking about the worst-case scenario, then Nishino Touna probably shot someone, and then the 'guest' and the 'stranger' disposed of the body."

A chill ran down Yuan Yuzi's spine. She couldn't help but ask, "Even if she's young, surely she can tell the difference between a living person and a zombie? She's twelve years old!"

“Even an adult can experience cognitive distortion. When someone around you repeatedly recounts something that never happened, over time you will start to believe it as fact, and you might even develop corresponding memories in your mind. Moreover, ordinary people will instinctively choose what they want to believe... Haven't you ever encountered a situation where your memory differs from the truth?” Fushimi Shika asked with a sidelong glance.

"No," said Gen Tamako, looking bewildered.

"Are you sure? For example, when you were a child, you never told me about bedwetting, did you?" Fushimi Shika casually made up a story.

Minamoto no Tamako was shocked. Her ahoge (cowlick) stood up, and she frantically tried to recall when she had told Fushimi-kun about it.

What, what's going on?

Have I ever experienced cognitive distortion myself?

Seeing her expression, Fushimi Shika thought to himself, "This guy really did wet the bed when he was little; he was just saying it casually..."

Before Minamoto no Tamako could react, Fushimi Shika continued his devilish whisper: "Think carefully...it was that afternoon...when we were at home..."

Yuan Yuzi did have a vague recollection of it, and she tentatively asked, "Was it...the day A-Jun fell into the ditch?"

"Hmm, we're getting closer." Fushimi Shika nodded.

Yuan Yuzi slapped her forehead and said, "I remember now. That day I massaged your feet, and then you went downstairs to walk the dog. Ah Jun fell into the stinky ditch, and you gave him a bath. I was talking about Grandpa's things, and I accidentally let it slip..."

"No, you didn't. I made it all up just now, just to illustrate that everyone can lie to themselves." Fushimi Shika paused, then said with a mischievous grin, "But now I know that the future famous detective and police inspector wet the bed when he was a child."

(End of this chapter)