Tokyo: Rabbit Police and Her Evil Partner

Chapter 554 Good Cops and Bad Cops

Representative Takahashi's lover is named Rika Mizutani.

To be precise, they were not lovers, but employers and employees—Rika Mizutani was a member of the Yamaguchi-gumi and was helping Representative Takahashi launder money while also taking care of his personal needs.

So there's a reason why Representative Takahashi got out of the car alone; such a clandestine affair naturally couldn't involve anyone else. If they were just ordinary lovers, Representative Takahashi would most likely have the driver take them to their destination and then have a bodyguard guard the door.

The crime scene was handled very cleanly, with no fingerprints, no hair, no footprints... and the air was filled with the smell of disinfectant.

Unlike on the street, there aren't as many witnesses indoors, allowing the perpetrator to calmly dispose of the scene.

The scope of the investigation doubled, and before the police could even compile a list of suspects, a fourth victim was found dead.

Unsurprisingly, the deceased was an official from the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare with a criminal record.

But this deceased man was different from the other two. He had an excellent reputation during his lifetime, both in public and in politics, and was considered a "good person" in the traditional sense. It was only after his death that his dirty deeds in private were exposed.

The killer was able to commit murders faster than the police could investigate, and seemed to have a blacklist of officials, knowing their misdeeds and past records better than serving detectives.

The police had to adjust their investigation strategy. Some elite detectives speculated that the killer was a disgraced official, while others suspected he was a front man for a criminal gang. Unable to reach a consensus, they split into two groups to investigate.

The investigation department was originally well-staffed, but after being divided up like this, it seems a bit insufficient.

The elite professional team went to investigate Representative Takahashi, the team went to investigate the fourth victim, Subaru Nanjo, and the administrative officer and staff officer, Anzu Murata, went to investigate the judge... After all the division of labor, in the end, only Shika Fushimi and Tamako Minamoto were left to investigate Rika Mizutani's social circle and screen out suspicious persons.

The Special Investigations Division was in a frenzy, with phones ringing non-stop until 1 or 2 AM. No one in the team rested; they relied entirely on energy-boosting drugs to stay awake. Following Nanjo Subaru's death, the head of the Criminal Investigation Department once again ordered a thorough investigation, shortening the timeframe for solving the case from fifteen days to seven.

Detectives from different factions are secretly vying to be the first to catch the killer. Solving this serial murder case would be a major achievement, a tangible political accomplishment.

Minamoto Tamako also wanted to make a contribution. She spent the last few days visiting people and trying to investigate Mizutani Rika's social circle, but she was met with a lot of closed doors.

The Yamaguchi-gumi refused to cooperate with the police questioning. As soon as Minamoto Tamako revealed her identity, all the gang members kept quiet... She tried to find Mizutani Rika's female friends and found out that Mizutani Rika's best friend was also a member of the Yamaguchi-gumi.

After much effort, they managed to get an expert—Watanabe Shun, who was on probation and unemployed—to investigate, but all the information turned out to be useless; there were no suspects in Mizutani Rika's recent social circle.

Genji was at a loss, not knowing where to begin her investigation, so she decided to ask Fushimi Shika about the situation.

To improve efficiency, the two agreed to split up and investigate. Now that Minamoto no Tamako can handle things on her own, Fushimi no Shika doesn't need to follow her around all the time.

After returning home, Minamoto no Tamako took a shower and then slept for three hours. She was woken up by her alarm clock and called Fushimi Shika to ask what Fushimi Shika was investigating and what results she had achieved.

Fushimi Shika replied with one sentence: "Come to Odaiba, Tokyo, and enter the Fuji Television studio."

After saying that, he hung up the phone.

Minamoto no Tamako was baffled. She called back, but Fushimi Shika didn't answer or reply to her texts. She put on her trench coat, hesitated for a moment, then grabbed her pipe and drove to Odaiba, Tokyo.

Half an hour later, she arrived at the studio, but before she could call Fushimi Shika, a stagehand wearing a name tag grabbed her: "Are you Ms. Minamoto Tamako?"

"It's me, and you are..."

Before Yuan Yuzi could finish asking, the stagehand pressed the intercom: "We've picked them up!" With that, she pulled Yuan Yuzi and pushed open the soundproof door with the "No Trespassing" sign. A warm smell mixed with hairspray, instant coffee, and stage dust rushed out.

A dozen old-fashioned spotlights hung from the ceiling of the studio, their silver-gray light stands resembling crisscrossing steel frames. In the center sat a set of dark brown leather sofas, in front of which was a large wooden table with two microphones on it. The cables wound along the table legs to the floor, tangled with other colorful wires. A staff member squatted nearby, using tape to secure the cables to the floorboards to prevent anyone from tripping.

Yuan Yuzi was dazzled by what she saw. She wondered what was going on. Why did Lu Jun call me to the TV station? Could the murderer actually be a reporter?

The stagehand led her backstage and into the dressing room, where Fushimi Shika was sitting at the dressing table. A makeup artist was busy beside him, applying powder to his face to make him look more rosy on camera.

Gentamako held the pipe in her small hands, her ahoge (cowlick) swaying as she looked around blankly: "What... are you doing?"

“Investigating a case.” Fushimi Shika sat in a chair, looking down at a blank sheet of paper that looked like a case file.

The makeup artist had just finished styling the hair and makeup and instructed, "Don't get it wet, try to sweat as little as possible, and call me if you need anything." After saying that, she hurriedly left with her makeup box to do the makeup for the next artist.

For a few seconds, Minamoto no Tamako genuinely thought Fushimi Shika was there to investigate a case. But when she sat down next to him, craned her neck for a closer look, and realized he wasn't reading a case file but a script, her face immediately fell: "What are you doing?"

Fushimi Shika gestured for her to calm down, then pulled out a script from the side and handed it to her.

Gen Tamako opened the book and saw that the title page read "Truth Pursuit: Special Episode." The gist of the story was that a Metropolitan Police Department detective was derelict in his duty, openly accepting bribes, and bullying children on the street...

"What is all this about?" Yuan Yuzi was increasingly puzzled.

“Didn’t criminal psychologists do profiling?” Fushimi Shika said, “The killer’s prey is corrupt officials. We are also criminal police officers, so we can also be corrupt.”

He gestured with his hands in front of Minamoto no Tamako, twisting his fingers like an evil puppeteer: "As long as we create the image of a 'dereliction of duty official' through a TV variety show, the murderer is very likely to take the bait. At that time, he will reveal his flaws and be arrested on the spot..."

Yes, Shika Fushimi is going to be on TV.

In 1991, Japan was experiencing a boom in late-night variety shows and reality shows featuring ordinary people. For example, there were late-night adult variety shows that used female college students, foreign music, and adult topics as selling points, with a peak viewership of 7.2%. There were also reality shows featuring ordinary people that were filmed in real locations in secret, with a peak viewership of 26.1%.

Fushimi Shika came up with the idea while watching TV at home.

He planned to use a reality show featuring ordinary people to portray the persona of an evil detective, thereby generating social discussion and becoming a target for the killer—based on the commonalities among the previous victims, the killer was very likely to target them.

This is a classic example of entrapment.

However, getting on TV is not so easy, so Fushimi Shika has been struggling to get on the show's team.

Shika Fushimi tried applying, but was rejected in the first round of interviews because he was "too handsome, not good enough as an ordinary person"... He was troubled by his good looks once again. He then tried investing, but the TV station, for the sake of ratings, wouldn't allow investors to interfere with the program's content; he tried using connections and pressuring the director, but the director was unmoved, saying that variety shows are also art and that he had to be responsible for the art...

In the end, Fushimi Shika had no other choice but to resort to his old trick: talking nonsense.

He promised the production team that he could bring the female detective Yuan Yuzi, who had recently caused a stir in the news media, to participate in the program together... He also confidently stated that Yuan Yuzi's true nature was extremely evil, which would definitely stir up the topic again and cause the ratings to soar.

After careful consideration, the production team agreed. However, the producer required Fushimi Shika and Minamoto Tamako to sign participation agreements, appearing as entertainers to avoid many legal disputes.

Genji's first reaction was disbelief: "Will this work?"

Fushimi Shika patted the script, full of confidence: "You have to believe in the production team's capabilities, and you also have to believe that the murderer is ruthless enough... He killed four people in a week, and he'll definitely kill faster and faster. Maybe he's already itching for a fight."

He reached out and pinched Yuan Yuzi's little face: "You are like a sweet and delicious prey delivered to my door. You have no offensive power, yet you are evil enough. You will definitely be targeted by the murderer."

Upon hearing this, Yuan Yuzi felt that it made some sense.

Instead of searching aimlessly, it would be better to set a trap and wait for the killer to fall into it. It certainly seems like a good idea, but it remains to be seen whether it will succeed.

"What if we fail?" Gen Tamako asked with some worry. "If we fail, won't I become a bad detective?"

"Look on the bright side, for better or for worse, you've become a detective now." Fushimi Shika patted her shoulder and started talking nonsense again: "Besides, did you become a detective to become famous? Don't forget your original intention! Catching the culprit is the most important thing!"

"Ok!"

Gen Tamako nodded vigorously, which meant she agreed to the plan.

Fushimi Shika was very pleased. He and Minamoto Tamako finished reading the plot script together, and then they read the character scripts.

As Minamoto Tamako turned the page, she couldn't help but ask, "So amateur reality shows are scripted? I thought they were all impromptu performances..."

When she stayed at home with Fushimi Shika recently, she watched a lot of TV and occasionally saw popular variety shows, such as the "All Night Fuji" special, which was a hot topic of "interaction between Chinese and Japanese kung fu stars".

One scene left a particularly deep impression on her: the variety show crew sent strong men to ambush Yuen Biao, Collin Chou, and others, but they ended up pinning them to the ground and beating them mercilessly. Yuan Yuzi thought it was an impromptu performance...

“Some are, some aren’t,” Fushimi Shika said as he watched. “The show we’re going to be on isn’t one of them… How could an evil detective improvise? Do you think the Metropolitan Police Department has officers who take bribes, skip work regularly, and disrespect their superiors?”

"Uh, no, I don't think so..." Gen Tamako's tone was uncertain.

"Yes, so you can only rely on your superb acting skills to portray the heinous side of the derelict detective..." Fushimi Shika said, then realized something was amiss.

He carefully read his character's script and felt more and more that he was the face of a villain. The script was full of swear words and he was always ready to give the camera a hard time.

Did you pick up the wrong script?

Fushimi Shika quickly flipped to the first page of the script and found that, to his credit, his name was written there.

"My character is a great detective!" Gen Tamako exclaimed happily. "He's hardworking, meticulous in his reasoning, a brilliant detective, and all his colleagues like him... He seems really good!"

She was getting excited about performing. Before, she would play role-playing games with Hira Sakura at home, but now she could go on TV and experience being a famous detective. Just thinking about it made her feel great.

“No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, this is wrong,” Fushimi Shika shook his head vigorously. “The production team must have made a mistake.”

Gen Tamako was inexplicably a little smug, and said with her head slightly raised, "Maybe it's because my pipe has the air of a famous detective, so the production team thinks I'm more suitable to play a good police officer."

"Haha!" Fushimi Shika chuckled twice, then unleashed his signature face-changing act: "Yeah, right!"

"You're just jealous, jealous that I have the aura of a famous detective and police inspector." Gen Tamako crossed her arms, already imagining herself looking glamorous in front of the camera: "As the captain of the deduction team, I'm not just a nobody! That's the huge difference between a captain and a team member!"

Fushimi Shika was genuinely annoyed. He had been busy running around for ages, only to have Minamoto no Tamako reap the rewards, while he himself was left to play the villain... Before even receiving the script, he had already figured out how to act cool in front of the camera, and had even rehearsed how to stylishly recite his motto.

Just half an hour ago, he stood in front of the makeup mirror, hands on his hips, trying to embody the spirit of a Showa-era man, repeatedly chanting, "Violence for violence is my life motto..."

Now that he's playing a villain, this motto sounds rather jarring.

Does this sound like a word?

This is outrageous.

In an attempt to reclaim the script, Fushimi Shika scolded, "What are you laughing at! Grinning like that! Have you forgotten our purpose? We're here to investigate a case, to catch the murderer, not to show off on TV!"

"Think about it carefully. If the negligent detective were a strong, grown man, the killer might not have chosen him as their target. Experienced killers know that killing an adult man and killing a little girl are completely different!"

Finally, Shika Fushimi concluded logically and convincingly: "So you are the best choice to play a delinquent detective!"

“...That seems to be true.” Gen Tamako was convinced.

But she was still a little unwilling: "But the production team has already written the script..."

"What's the big deal? We can just change the script. I'll talk to the production team." Fushimi Shika didn't care and ran off to find the planner.

After asking several questions, Fushimi Shika finally understood what had happened.

The production team and planners aren't fools. After numerous apologies and denials from news media recently, and with everyone in the industry knowing that Minamoto Tamako is Kujo Yui's daughter, how could they possibly cast her as a villain? This program is clearly designed to whitewash Minamoto Tamako, salvage her image, and win back her fans…

In this variety show, Fushimi Shika is just an accessory, specifically used to highlight Minamoto Tamako's character.

(End of this chapter)