Tokyo Unnatural Forensics

Chapter 536, The Human Bomb Returns! (Third update, please vote!)
P.S.: I still owed 3 chapters from before. Last month I got 3000 monthly votes, so with 2 more chapters, that's 5 chapters. I made up for it with 1 chapter today, so I still owe 4 chapters. Please keep track of this for me~
Just as the Metropolitan Police Department received the "challenge" from Weekly Bunshun, and things were in chaos due to Jin Kashiwagi's sudden scandal.

Next to a large office building in Akasaka, Minato Ward, Tokyo.

The sun, like a charred coin, relentlessly scorched Tokyo.

The glass and steel skyscrapers in the port area reflected blinding light and emitted visible, distorted heat waves. The air was as thick as solidified glue, and every breath was accompanied by a burning pain.

It was close to lunchtime, and office workers in suits and skirts, like fish escaping their cages, flocked to the sparse shade in the square and the outdoor cafes, seeking a brief respite.

In this everyday scene shrouded in heat and lethargy, a highly incongruous figure appeared.

A young man, a male ghost who looks to be in his late twenties, is wandering around the plaza in front of the office building!

He staggered out of the alleyway behind the office building, like a broken puppet being manipulated by invisible threads.

He wore a heavy, dark gray hooded sweatshirt and equally inappropriate trousers, the clothes looking filthy and clinging to his trembling body. Sweat had already soaked through his hair, strands sticking to his forehead, his face was an unnatural pale, his eyes wide open, bloodshot, and deep in his pupils was a pure despair that seemed to overflow.

"Get out! Get out of my way!" he roared, his voice hoarse and cracked from extreme fear and dehydration. Like a trapped wild beast, he frantically shoved at the white plastic tables and chairs in the square, kicking them away and making a screeching sound as they scraped against the scorching ground.

Office workers enjoying their lunch and chatting were startled by the sudden commotion and looked over in surprise. Most of them showed disgust and wariness—in the bustling port area, one could occasionally see such mentally unstable homeless people or drug addicts.

This is Minato Ward! Country bumpkins shouldn't be here! Go back to your Mitani (a notorious slum in Tokyo)!

"Hey, what's going on?"

"Is she crazy? Dressed like that in this sweltering heat..."

Some people whispered among themselves, while others quietly moved away.

Soon, two uniformed office building security guards arrived, their faces showing a helpless resignation as they tried to subdue the person who was "disrupting order."

"Don't come any closer! I told you not to come any closer! Get out! Get out!" The young man became even more out of control when he saw the guards. He waved his arms and staggered backward, the fear in his eyes almost tangible.

The guards clearly didn't take his words seriously. Seeing that he was unarmed and just acting like a madman, they continued to approach, preparing to subdue him and take him away as usual.

Just as one of the guards was about to touch his arm—

The young man abruptly stopped retreating. With a movement that was a mixture of extreme fear and desperation, he grabbed the front of his hoodie with both hands and ripped it open violently to both sides!

"I told you to get out! Aa ...

"Om-"

As the hoodie was ripped open, the crowd seemed to be collectively choked.

Exposed to the scorching midday sun were rows and bundles of grayish-white cylindrical explosives tightly bound to his torso.

The rough texture and densely packed wires gave it a cold, deathly quality in the sunlight. But what truly made one's heart stop was the metal collar tightly fastened around his neck—clearly an improvised explosive device (IED). A red indicator light in the center, like the heart of a demon, flashed once, steadily and despairingly!
"Ding-dong~ Ding-dong~ Ding-dong~ Ding-dong!"

"Did you see that?! Did you see that?!" The young man screamed, tears streaming down his face, his voice distorted. "Get away from me! Ten meters! No, twenty meters! If anyone gets any closer, and this light flashes more than fifty times... we're all done for! We'll all be blown to bits!"

"Ding-dong~ Ding-dong~ Ding-dong~" Dead silence.

"Get out of the way, or it'll explode!"

"Ding Dong~Ding Dong~Ding Dong~"

Immediately following were suppressed gasps and short screams.

"Hmph~ Hmph~ Hmph ahh ...

The crowd surged backward like a lake tossed with a boulder! Tables and chairs were overturned by the hastily retreating people, and lunchboxes and coffee cups were knocked over, ignored by everyone. Panic spread like wildfire, and disbelief and horror were written on every face. The once-hot air seemed to have frozen solid.

The young man stood alone in the center of a devastated open space, like the sole, tragic clown on a stage. He looked around at the terrified crowd, as if grasping at a last straw, and cried out with all his might towards the sky, towards any possible cameras: "Father! Shinichiro Akimoto! Save me! Please save me! They...they won't let me go! Save me! I'm Shota!!"

"Father! They want to blow me up! Help, Father!!!"

As the young man cried out, the people around him indeed moved back a sufficient distance, and the indicator light on the IED device on his neck stopped flashing after flashing more than twenty times.

The young man breathed a sigh of relief, then stared at those around him with hatred and fear: "Don't come any closer!!!"

"Call the police immediately!!! Tell the police what happened right now, save me, let the police come and save me! Let my father come and save me!"

"I am Shota Akimoto! I am Shinichiro Akimoto's son! I am Shota Akimoto, the son of Shinichiro Akimoto, the Minister of Foreign Affairs! Call the police! Tell the police this, and make them think of something, something!"

As the young man introduced himself, the office workers in the port area were indeed considered high-income and highly intelligent people. After the initial shock and fear of the young man's extreme behavior, some middle-aged male office workers nearby gradually calmed down. They backed away while recalling what the guy had said.

"The Minister of Foreign Affairs... Shinichiro Akimoto's son?"

In the crowd, someone blurted out the identity.

What? The minister's son?!

This statement was like a second bomb, detonating in people's hearts. What was originally just fear of explosives was now mixed with indescribable shock, absurdity, and wild associations with the dark side of politics.

This young man, who was strapped with explosives and broke down crying in the middle of the port at noon, was actually the son of one of the country's top nobles!
What happened? He was kidnapped? But why... a bomb?
The scorching sun continued to burn, mercilessly illuminating Akimoto Shota's pale face, the menacing explosives on his body, and the steady, bright red indicator light on his collar, which resembled a death warrant.

The heat intensified the stickiness of the sweat and also created an atmosphere of despair.

Time seemed to stand still in the entire square, with only the red light swaying back and forth, followed by the dense ANFO explosives covering his entire upper body, and his desperate screams.

"Call the police! Call the police immediately!!!"

"Moshi moshi, is this the Metropolitan Police Department? This is XX, XX, Akashirosaka, Minato Ward. There's a bomb! There's a suicide bomber!"

"The Foreign Minister's son, Shota Akimoto, is strapped with a large number of bombs! He's pleading for help! Send the police immediately! Immediately!"

(End of this chapter)