Tokyo: Rabbit Police and Her Evil Partner

Chapter 476 Get a Gun
Having made up her mind, Minamoto no Tamako began to implement her plan.

While Fushimi Shika was at work, she quietly slipped into Fushimi Shika's apartment. She had been going back and forth to Fushimi Shika's house frequently these past few days and had become quite familiar with the place. She felt as comfortable as if she were going home... provided that she didn't run into Fushimi Shika coming home.

Yuan Yuzi spent a long time rummaging through case files in the study, and she noted down the contact persons for each one.

For ease of memorization and for the sake of confidentiality, most of them are referred to by surnames. For example, there is Sister Yu who tried to claim compensation after failing to repair her hymen; Uncle Wang who raped a female police officer; Mr. Ding who was yellowed in the owners' group; Brother Zhang who was slashed after cheating on his mother-in-law; Ms. Cao who earned 300 a year as a pimp; and Sister Ma who met with ten men in three days to get revenge on her husband for cheating. After reading through all of them, it can be described as a gathering of heroes and the culmination of the stupidity of human beings.

Yuan Yuzi was speechless after reading it. She had worked as a patrol officer and a criminal investigator for a period of time, but she had never seen so many bizarre cases appear in one place.

On the one hand, Japanese people value face too much and believe that family scandals should not be aired in public. On the other hand, there is a shortage of police force at the grassroots level in Japan, and they simply do not have the time to deal with such protracted cases. If it involves criminal matters, then they use the Great Memory Restoration Technique; if it involves civil matters, then they hand it over to the town/ward association chairman to preside over the negotiation.

After reading it, she understood why Fushimi Shika wanted to kill someone.

Especially the voicemail. Yuan Yuzi accidentally clicked on it and heard Cao, a pimp, trying to pay her lawyer's fees with chicken meat. In addition, there was Sister Yu, who was about to go berserk, leaving a message on the microphone in the tone of a Buddhist lion's roar: "What do you mean you can't be sued?! What am I hiring you for? Do you believe I will complain about you? How can you be like this!"

There was also a note stuck to the landline with a small note that read: "Sister Yu hasn't paid the 50 yuan consultation fee yet. Remember to remind her to pay."

"..."

Yuan Yuzi's scalp tingled. If she were the lawyer, she probably wouldn't last three days. It was so bitter and tiring, and she was caught in the middle with no sense of accomplishment whatsoever.

After careful selection, she chose Cao, a pimp. This guy was clearly a gang leader with several underlings who were responsible for recruiting prostitutes, taking care of their daily needs, and keeping watch downstairs at the hotel... It could be considered a small criminal organization.

Besides, if you can earn three hundred a year, you'll definitely have enough money to buy a gun.

Yuan Yuzi wrote down Mr. Cao's phone number. Just in case, she also wrote down the names of several serious criminals. If Mr. Cao didn't cooperate, she would find someone else.

Yo-shi, everything went smoothly!

Yuan Yuzi went out of the apartment building, hoping to find a public phone booth, but she wandered around the streets for a long time without finding one. Finally, having no other choice, she went back to the convenience store and borrowed a landline from the shopkeeper to call Mr. Cao.

"Moshi moshi..." She couldn't break her habit of greeting people anytime soon: "Excuse me, are you Mr. Cao?"

"Rebingo?" The other person had a heavy accent.

Genji Tamako was completely confused and said, "Sorry, I don't understand..."

Mr. Cao spat, presumably spitting out the betel nut. He cleared his throat and said, "Tell me, who are you?"

Gen Tamako feigned mystery, lowering her voice to sound older: "Who I am isn't important, what's important is..."

Before she could finish speaking, Mr. Cao cursed "crazy" and hung up the phone.

"..."

Unwilling to give up, Yuan Yuzi dialed again. When Mr. Cao answered, she cut to the chase: "Attorney Zhou wants to kill you!"

There was a few seconds of silence on the other end of the phone, followed by Mr. Cao's question: "What's going on? Explain yourself clearly!"

Yuan Yuzi covered the microphone with her small hand to prevent the landlady from hearing what she was saying: "Attorney Zhou is actually a serial killer who specifically targets his clients. Four or five people have already died tragically! If you don't believe me, you can check the whereabouts of his past clients!"

"Ah, who are you? And how did you know?" Mr. Cao pressed.

"That's not important. Go check it out and you'll know if it's true or not." Yuan Yuzi whispered, trying to sway him. "Just in case. Checking it out won't hurt you. If someone really wants to harm you, isn't it better to be prepared?"

"What if you're playing a trick on me?" Mr. Cao was not easily convinced.

"Why would I play a trick on you?" Yuan Yuzi thought to herself, why does this guy always think the worst of people?

"Words alone are not enough. You have to show me something to convince me, right?" Mr. Cao was very slick, as slippery as an eel.

“I know you can earn three million a year, you are currently out on bail pending trial, and you owe Mr. Zhou eight thousand yuan in lawyer fees, and you plan to have a prostitute pay for it.”

Yuan Yuzi paused, then feigned seriousness: "Believe me, I know far more than you can imagine."

Hmph, that's the kind of person the masterminds in TV dramas always are. She finally got to have her fill of that.

Mr. Cao finally entered a stage of half-belief and half-skepticism. After all, things had come to this point, and it didn't sound like a prank or a joke. Having been around in the underworld for so many years, he reacted quickly and immediately asked, "Then why did you tell me this?"

"Because I want Zhou Hao dead!"

Yuan Yuzi was in character, and playing the mysterious villain was quite enjoyable. She only regretted that the landlady was sitting next to her eating sunflower seeds, which somewhat limited her performance. Otherwise, she could have let out a few strange laughs and created a sense of pressure for the other party.

"Do you have a grudge against him?" Mr. Cao couldn't help but start imagining things. A serial killer committed a massacre of an entire family, but unexpectedly, a little girl survived. Years later, the girl would do anything to seek revenge... Good heavens, it's just like a TV drama!
"Yes." Gen Tamako told a little lie.

"Then why didn't you call the police?" Mr. Cao's intelligence was on point.

Minamoto no Tamako thought to herself, "Why are there so many 'whys'? People who like to ask 'why' are so annoying!" No wonder Fushimi Shika always had a long face and kept her in suspense every day.

“Calling the police won’t do any good,” she said, not wanting to explain further. She deliberately changed the subject, fabricated a story, and created panic in the other party: “Attorney Zhou has already set his sights on you, which is why I’m telling you so much… Believe it or not, it’s up to you. I’ve said everything I need to say. You’d better watch yourself!”

After saying that, Yuan Yuzi slammed down the phone.

Yes, that's the skill of negotiation: making the other party feel that they have nothing to fear.

She sat on a small stool, waiting for Mr. Cao to call her back. Unexpectedly, she waited all day. The shop owner was getting impatient; this young girl wouldn't eat or drink, just lingered at her shop entrance, grabbing the phone whenever it rang, seemingly waiting for someone's call.

As evening falls and the sun sets, vendors arrive on their carts to set up late-night food stalls. Students have finished school, and office workers are having dinner, making the streets lively.

Yuan Yuzi sat alone for a long time when the landline rang again. She hurriedly answered the phone and finally received a reply from Mr. Cao.

Unfortunately, it was news of his death.

After hanging up the phone, Cao felt increasingly uneasy, so he asked his underling to inquire about Zhou's previous employers.

No sooner had his underlings left than Attorney Zhou showed up, accusing him of forced prostitution, trafficking women, and illegal imprisonment, demanding his annihilation. Upon hearing this, Cao realized he was in deep trouble. He secretly made a phone call to his underlings with his left hand while grabbing an ashtray with his right, ready to fight... Thus, his underlings overheard the entire scene of their boss's death, including cries like, "You have no idea how good I was back in the day," "Please spare my life, I really know I was wrong," "Brothers, you must avenge me," and "Dial this number, ask her for help!"
That's right, the call that Yuan Yuzi received was from Cao's henchmen.

She briefly explained the situation, then, in the affected tone of a 'mysterious figure behind the scenes,' shook her head and lamented that Mr. Cao wouldn't listen to advice and ended up with a tragic death.

Immediately afterwards, in order to bring these underlings under her control, Yuan Yuzi threatened, "After killing the boss, you'll be next! Attorney Zhou will come knocking on your door one by one to claim your lives, and none of you will escape!"

There were three of them in total. One of them was brave and suggested that they go to the house together and take down Lawyer Zhou. Another one was timid and suggested calling the police to arrest Lawyer Zhou. The last one was more intelligent and asked Yuan Yuzi what her plans were.

Genji responded to each point:

"The three of you combined wouldn't even be enough to fill his teeth. He's extremely powerful. If you go to him willingly, you're just asking for death!"

"Calling the police won't do any good; they won't care at all. Besides, aren't you a gang? How can a gang call the police to arrest people?"

“I did have some plans, but I lacked manpower to help, otherwise I wouldn’t have called Mr. Cao… Again, it’s a great pity that he didn’t listen to my advice.”

The smarter younger brother signaled to the other two to calm down. He planned to arrange a time to meet with Yuan Yuzi to discuss how to resolve the matter.

Minamoto no Tamako gave the time and address, but she didn't plan to go. What if the three burly men grabbed her? She'd wait until Fushimi-kun killed one or two more and scared them out of their wits.

After finishing this matter, Gen Tamako finally felt relieved.

She walked home slowly, only to find her adoptive mother had already prepared the meal and was scolding her for coming home so late.

Yuan Yuzi had already mastered the art of dealing with it. She lied and said that she was doing homework at school, which was why she came home a little late. Sure enough, her mother stopped arguing. But she couldn't use this excuse a second time. Based on her past experience, the school would call tomorrow, and her mother would know that she had skipped class.

She ate a few bites of the tasteless food hastily, went back to her room to wash up, and pretended to lie in bed to sleep. In reality, the night was skipped over the moment she closed and opened her eyes.

There is no sleep in dreams.

As usual, Yuan Yuzi went out, clutching the twenty-five yuan her cheap mother had given her, and eagerly ran to the convenience store.

The landlady recognized her and said impatiently, "Don't let your friends call again. They call four or five times in the middle of the night, and when you ask, they won't say what's going on. They just want you to call back. It sounds so shady... Are you up to something? Why aren't you in school on Wednesday?"

"Uh, that's my cousin... I... I asked him for tuition fees..."

Yuan Yuzi told a lie, her face turning slightly red. The proprietress mistook it for her being short of money, as if her embarrassing secret had been exposed.

"Ah, okay then." The proprietress handed a note to Yuan Yuzi, on which was written a phone number: "Here, this is your cousin's phone number."

Yuan Yuzi thanked her honestly, and remembering her bargaining yesterday, she took out ten yuan from her pocket, intending to make up the difference.

The proprietress felt sorry for her and was too embarrassed to take the money, telling her to keep it and buy some good food to nourish her body.

Ah, the neighbors at Tokyo University are all such good people!

Feeling deeply moved, Yuan Yuzi thanked him again and then used the landline to call her younger brother back. He answered immediately, his voice urgent, asking why Yuan Yuzi had stood them up yesterday.

Yuan Yuzi glanced at the proprietress, turned her back, lowered her voice, and said, "I'm testing you. Not everyone is qualified to cooperate with me."

"A test? What test?" The other party was clearly confused.

"Of course, it was to test your abilities," Yuan Yuzi didn't know what kind of test it was, but she had prepared her words in advance and had rehearsed her speech in her mind. Lying over the phone was exceptionally smooth: "I gave you one night, what did you do with it?"

There was a moment of silence on the other end of the conversation, before the smarter younger brother finally spoke up: "You're right, calling the police is useless, and that guy is indeed very good at fighting..."

As they were talking, the other person fell silent again.

Genji understood the implication and tentatively asked, "Who died?"

"We spent some money to hire a few hotheads to deal with Zhou Hao, but they all died, and the police didn't even care... Sister, big sister, can you give us some information? What should we do now?"

No sooner had he finished speaking than someone nearby said, "If we can't afford to offend them, can't we at least avoid them? Let's take the high-speed train back!"

The clever younger brother snapped, "Shut up! Is this something you can't avoid? You don't want a good night's sleep, but I do!"

It seems they have finally realized the seriousness of the situation, and there are signs of internal strife; they might break up at any time.

Minamoto Tamako felt it was time to take action, and now it was time for the protagonist to appear. It was time for Detective Tamako to turn the tide and stop Fushimi Shika's atrocities!

She lowered her voice, feigning a hoarse tone, and asked, "Can you get your hands on a gun?"

There was another silence on the other end of the line, clearly indicating that they hadn't expected Yuan Yuzi to go this far. Yuan Yuzi, guessing their concerns, took the initiative and said, "You don't need to lift a finger. Just get me a gun, and I'll take care of this problem for you."

The sound of arguing could be faintly heard through the microphone:
"Brother, this isn't pimping..."

"I know, I know what I'm doing..."

"At this point... saving your life is the most important thing..."

"..."

After discussing it for a while, the three finally made up their minds, reached a consensus, and once again shared a common hatred for the enemy, replying: "Yes, but they are all homemade guns."

Do you have a handgun?

"That thing is difficult to handle..."

"Do you still want to live?" Yuan Yuzi paused, then reassured, "Even if I get caught later, I won't betray you... If you're really worried, you don't have to meet during the transaction."

After hesitating for a long time, the other party finally agreed: "Okay! I'll try my best!"

Yuan Yuzi rubbed her hands together, finally she would have a gun! With a gun in hand, she would no longer feel ashamed to meet the king!
(End of this chapter)