Tokyo: I'm really not a killer

Yamamoto Koji watched the two leave, finally letting out a sigh of relief.

If Shinomiya Rin hadn't been the daughter of a senator, he wouldn't have bothered to say anything more and would have just kicked her out.

As for the other male patrol officer, he had no identity or background, was not from a professional unit, and was destined to be a nobody for life. He wasn't worth paying attention to at all, and he didn't even remember the other man's face or name.

The detective who had just kicked the butler out returned. His name was Yoshioka Akio, and he was Yamamoto Koji's second-in-command. He had a stubble haircut and wore a black suit with a floral shirt underneath. He didn't look like a detective; he looked more like a yakuza member.

"Boss, was it suicide or not?" Yoshioka asked.

"Is that even a question? Who would open their mouth and let someone shoot inside?" Yamamoto Koji took off his gloves, left the Japanese-style room, and lit a cigarette.

Just then, the forensic officer arrived, holding an oval-shaped metal object—a bullet they had just pried off the wall: "Chief, take a look."

Yamamoto Koji, with a cigarette dangling from his lips, took the plastic bag, held the sealed end close to his eyes, and squinted.

"What's wrong?" Yoshioka noticed that the section chief's expression was off.

"There was no muzzle flash on the bullet," Yamamoto Koji said.

"So?" Yoshioka asked, hands in his pockets.

"That means this gun really does have a silencer." Yamamoto Koji took a deep drag on his cigarette, his face full of worry, scratching his head and muttering to himself, "Really? ...A completely silent silencer, can anyone really make one?"

"It's just a silencer, right? Is it that powerful?" Yoshioka didn't understand.

Yamamoto Koji exhaled smoke and said, "Guns are different from other weapons. Their only disadvantage is noise, which is why there are so many shootings in the suburbs. Without warning shots, a gunman could kill all the residents of an entire apartment building at night with just enough bullets—first kill the building manager, take the keys, and then go door-to-door to kill them one by one. They might not even be discovered until dawn."

Yoshioka shuddered: "No one would do that, would they?"

"You don't understand." Yamamoto Koji took out a bullet, pinched it between his fingers, and held it up to the light, as if trying to observe its owner through the bullet: "The guilt of killing decreases with distance. For example, a bombardier can kill a hundred people without any psychological trauma; but if a pilot kills people with a knife, he will feel a huge sense of guilt for each one he kills."

He paused, glancing sideways at Yoshioka Akio:

"But there is a small group of people who don't feel this way. One second they're shoving a gun into someone's mouth and shooting their brains out, and the next second they can act like nothing happened and chat and laugh with others... These people are natural killers. Taking lives is as ordinary to them as eating and drinking."

"That sounds really weird," said Akio Yoshioka.

"Well, don't worry. Anyone who can make a silencer like this must be a big foreign organization. They don't kill people for no reason. This couple probably offended some forces they shouldn't have. Continuing to investigate won't yield any results."

After saying that, Yamamoto Koji put the bullet into his pocket in front of the forensic officer.

The latter, acting as if it were nothing out of the ordinary, skillfully retrieved the evidence bag, said, "Then I'll write in the report that the bullet wasn't found," and turned back to the scene to pack up his things and prepare to leave work.

"What if the silencer freak strikes again?" Yoshioka Akio casually gave the other person a nickname.

"That depends on whether headquarters establishes a special investigation team. If the higher-ups attach great importance to it and start an investigation, then we can take out this bullet and report it as a new clue, and we can even get credit for it."

Yamamoto Koji patted his subordinate on the shoulder and said earnestly, "Akio, remember this: you can't get anywhere by just investigating cases."

Akio Yoshioka was filled with respect, thinking to himself, "As expected of the boss! His vision is so far-sighted!"

……

Meanwhile, the psychopathic killer Hara Masaki returned to the exchange and shared the scolding with Shinomiya Rin.

To be precise, it was Yuan Zhensheng who was unilaterally criticized.

The head of the communication department treated Shinomiya Rin with gentle words and great care, but when it came to Hara Masaki, he immediately said, "Why didn't you take care of your junior as a senior?", "It's a disgrace to you as a senior if your junior gets injured!", and "Write me a thousand-word self-criticism and reflect on your actions!"

Yuan Zhensheng did not refute, and enduring humiliation in life is also one of the essential lessons for a professional assassin.

Killing is just a job. If no one pays him, he's just an ordinary patrolman and would never kill for entertainment or personal grudges.

Shinomiya Rin stood aside, secretly pleased. Only after the chief had finished scolding her did she interrupt, pointing out the suspicious points in Akiyama Miki's gunshot suicide case and hoping that the chief would transfer her to the investigation team to participate in the investigation.

"This... a suicide case won't be investigated by a special task force," the police chief said, looking troubled.

"If the criminal investigation team won't investigate, then I'll investigate myself!" Shinomiya Rin said loudly.

"You... well, never mind, just don't interfere with other people's work." The director of the communications department agreed, letting her do whatever she wanted.

With this matter settled, Yuan Zhensheng was finally able to leave work.

Before leaving, he asked, "By the way, do you have a lot of free time? Why did you have to meddle in this case?"

Shinomiya Rin returned to her workstation to pack her things, planning to go to the police station to retrieve the case files. She planned to work through the night organizing clues so as not to interfere with tomorrow's routine patrol. When Hara Masaki asked her a question, she replied without looking up:

"Because my intuition tells me that the criminal is an extremely vicious and deranged person."

"...How did you figure that out?" Gensei asked, his eyes half-closed.

"I already said it's intuition." Shinomiya Rin pointed to her forehead with her finger, thinking that her line sounded really cool, like a veteran detective from a TV drama. "I have a natural-born psychic radar; no case related to psychopathy can escape my eyes."

"Did you really graduate from high school?" Yuan Zhensheng suspected that her chuunibyou (middle school syndrome) hadn't gotten better yet.

"Let them bark all they want. Sooner or later, I will catch the real culprit and prove to everyone that I am right!" Shinomiya Rin was seething with anger.

"I think you're the pervert." Gensei disliked the dedicated police officer.

Shinomiya Rin didn't refute, her mind already racing with fantasies—that after catching the murderer, getting a promotion and a raise, and becoming Hara Masaki's boss, Hara Masaki would be kneeling in remorse, pounding the ground with her fists in frustration, shouting, "I'm so sorry! I was so ungrateful! I should have followed your advice! Please give me another chance!"

She even rehearsed her sarcastic lines beforehand: "A nobody will always be a nobody. You useless old man, go clean the toilets!"

Ah, just thinking about it is so satisfying!

Yuan Zhensheng chuckled to himself as he watched Shinomiya Rin smirk, wondering what was wrong with him this time. He picked up his attendance card and prepared to clock out.

"Stop right there!" Shinomiya Rin quickly snapped out of her daze. "Where are you going?"

"I'm off work, what business is it of yours where I go?" Yuan Zhensheng felt baffled.

"The case isn't closed yet, the culprit hasn't been caught, and the public is living in fear, unable to sleep at night. How can you, as a police officer, have the nerve to go off duty and sleep?"

"so what?"

"I'm being merciful and giving you a chance to curry favor with me. Come with me to investigate a case tonight."

"I refuse."

"I have a lead." Shinomiya Rin said mysteriously, with a hint of smugness, "I know the killer's next target."

"Huh?" Yuan Zhensheng thought to himself, "I have no idea how you know this?"

"He's a Yamaguchi-gumi executive, Kenkichi Kuwata." After Shinomiya Rin finished speaking, her eyes seemed to say, "Quickly ask me how I know."

"That's ridiculous, I'm not going."

Yuan Zhensheng inserted the attendance card into the time clock and clocked out with a click.

"You...you'll regret it if you leave! Humph! Just you wait! I'll catch that guy sooner or later!" Rin Shinomiya's shout came from the koban.

Yuan Zhensheng didn't take it seriously, letting it go in one ear and out the other, thinking she was just farting.

Glug glug...

They hadn't gone far when Yuan Zhensheng's stomach rumbled; he hadn't had dinner yet.

He took out his wallet, which only contained two 500-yen coins. He wandered around the streets for a while, found a convenience store that was still open, and bought instant noodles and oden to fill his stomach.

This can't go on.

As a professional assassin, one must maintain a good physical condition at all times, and insist on exercising every day, consuming sufficient high-quality carbohydrates, high-quality fats, proteins and dietary fiber.

Even a male escort needs money to buy pineapples, otherwise customers will complain about the fishy taste.

After much deliberation, Yuan Zhensheng decided to go to the phone club one more time before his commission for attracting customers expired, hoping that someone might place an order if he was lucky.

As usual, he went home to change clothes, put on a mask and baseball cap, and hurried into the telephone club with his head down. He took out his VIP card, followed the receptionist to a private telephone booth, and casually pressed the landline notification button.

You have one unread message.

Yuan Zhensheng perked up, answered the phone, and clicked to play the voicemail. A hoarse voice came through the receiver, clearly altered, making it impossible to tell if it was male or female.

"I want to ask you to kill someone."

"The target's name is Kuwata Kenkichi, and he is the branch leader of the Yamaguchi-gumi."

"The commission fee is 100 million, and the deposit is 20 million. If you are interested in accepting the commission, please call back and leave a message before 2 pm tomorrow."

With a "beep" sound, the landline emitted a buzzing sound as it automatically deleted the message.

Yuan Zhensheng was stunned for a second.

Hmm, could the employer be Rin Shinomiya?