Minamoto Tamako thought it over and concluded: Mr. Fushimi must be studying late every night, which is why he’s always staying in bed the next morning!
This guy advises her to sleep early, yet he’s secretly cramming away, how despicable...
Fushimi Roku wanted to continue practicing, but Minamoto Tamako noticed Senior Kazama and quickly put the safety on her gun, signaling with her eyes for Fushimi Roku to go greet him.
Seeing this, Fushimi Roku exhaled a murky breath, relaxed his muscles, and his exposed skin was steaming. He twisted his neck, his joints cracking loudly.
Fushimi Roku casually wiped off sweat, staring at Kazama Tatsuya’s shoulder bag: "Have you eaten yet? No need to rush discussing the investigation progress, let’s find a place to eat first. I’m starving."
Kazama Tatsuya had a complicated expression, but didn’t disagree, so Fushimi Roku and Minamoto Tamako assumed he agreed. The three settled the bill and left the gun range, with Fushimi Roku not planning to treat, his pockets empty after spending.
Kazama Tatsuya picked a regular izakaya, which was nearly empty during the day, almost like a private booking. Once the three sat down, the owner brought out some snacks, and Minamoto Tamako kicked Fushimi Roku under the table. The latter could only directly ask: "Have you found any leads?"
"Things are a bit complicated." Kazama Tatsuya poured himself a drink.
Fushimi Roku was really annoyed, he wished he could stuff wasabi in his mouth, when did this guy become such a riddle-teller?
"Then why don’t you just not speak..."
Before Fushimi Roku could finish speaking, Minamoto Tamako kicked him again under the table. He sighed helplessly and pressed on: "Given that’s the case, why not elaborate on it?"
"The local police station at Great Snow Mountain is understaffed, I had to go search the files myself..." Kazama Tatsuya glanced at his prosthetic, then continued: "I looked for three days, found nothing, the files were ’borrowed’."
He emphasized the word ’borrowed’.
Fushimi Roku raised an eyebrow, making a guess in his heart.
Minamoto Tamako held her teacup seriously, her unruly hair swaying, wanting to ask what was going on but was too embarrassed to speak.
Kazama Tatsuya didn’t hold back and continued: "It was an instructor at the police academy who borrowed the files... I later investigated and found out his name was Shirata Masahiro, who was the instructor that followed you guys... isn’t that right?"
Minamoto Tamako nodded, indicating it was correct, eager to hear more.
Fushimi Roku suddenly interjected: "You said ’later’... what happened?"
"Shirata Masahiro disappeared," Kazama Tatsuya took a sip of his drink: "To be accurate, he’s not missing but has gone into hiding..."
He paused and added: "Shirata Masahiro voluntarily resigned, moved out of the dormitory. He took the files and backups, and the police station there simply reported accidental damage, and no one pursued it later."
"Shirata Masahiro had no family, I visited for three weeks, no one knew where he moved. His friends said that after he borrowed the case files, he suddenly became deeply preoccupied, silent, as if he had some unspeakable secrets."
At this point, Kazama Tatsuya glanced at Fushimi Roku: "I guess there’s some unspeakable mystery in this case, which is why it wasn’t pursued... As you two reported the case, you probably know some inside information I don’t. Rather than blindly investigating like headless chickens, why not directly ask you two for your thoughts."
As soon as he finished talking, the owner served the grilled skewered chicken.
Minamoto Tamako was about to think it over when Fushimi Roku gently patted her on the back of the head, interrupting her thoughts.
"Eat, what’s the spacing out for? It won’t taste good if it gets cold!" Fushimi Roku urged.
Eat, eat, eat, all you know is how to eat! Shirata instructor is faced with such a big matter, how can you have the mood for barbecue? Such a cold-hearted lazy bum!
Minamoto Tamako was about to criticize Mr. Fushimi, but then she thought that she might not be as diligent as him. Mr. Fushimi could slice bullets with a knife, she hadn’t even mastered the three-round burst; too embarrassed to say anything... Thinking of this, she immediately gave up, the unruly strand of hair drooped down, and she quietly picked up a skewer of grilled chicken.
Seeing this, Fushimi Roku took the opportunity while her mind hadn’t caught up to conclude: "Shirata instructor borrowed the files, definitely with other intentions, we don’t need to wildly speculate, once we get in touch with Shirata instructor one day, we’ll understand what’s up."
Minamoto Tamako followed his train of thought, after pondering for a moment, couldn’t help but ask: "Then how do we find Shirata instructor?"
"We’ll talk about it when the time comes." Fushimi Roku laughed it off.
Minamoto Tamako was highly dissatisfied, put down the skewer, turned her head and asked: "What do you mean? What does ’when the time comes’ mean..."
"We have to go to work tomorrow," Fushimi Roku made excuses: "We can’t always bother Senior Kazama, right? He also has his own life."
"It’s fine," Kazama Tatsuya interjected: "I’m free anyway, I’d be more than happy to keep investigating."
Fushimi Roku shook his head repeatedly: "No, no, no, you’re just using busyness to numb yourself... What you need most now is rest, to walk away from the shadows of the past, don’t try to punish yourself anymore."
Even if Kazama Tatsuya appreciated the goodwill from Fushimi Roku, at this moment, he found this guy’s words a bit cringy...
Clearly not wanting him to continue investigating, yet Fushimi Roku didn’t dare to speak it directly, wrapping it up in a guise of goodwill, forcing him to rest, truly shameless.
Minamoto Tamako didn’t know the inside details, thought Fushimi Roku made sense. Senior Kazama’s suffering and guilt were not less than hers, hunting down the real criminal behind Heavenly Punishment was just the goal of the deduction team, how could she impose the task of the investigation onto Senior Kazama?
Senior Kazama had been running around Hokkaido for quite some time, Minamoto Tamako thought that even if she had some hesitations internally, she should at least say thanks.
She tapped with her finger, opened a can of beer, holding it with both hands, hesitated for a moment, then quietly raised the cup and said: "Senior Kazama, you’ve really worked hard during this time..."
Kazama Tatsuya quickly lifted his glass to clink with her, softly saying: "Miss Tamako, no need to thank."
"Regarding this matter, I, I should be saying thank you."
Minamoto Tamako herself didn’t realize that the subtext of her words was that she hadn’t come to terms with another matter.
Kazama Tatsuya responded with a "hm", no longer insisting.
Fushimi Roku took a bite of a vegetable skewer, his eyes surveying back and forth, suddenly asking: "Senior Kazama, what’s your plan next?"
Kazama Tatsuya hadn’t really thought about it, truth be told he didn’t have much of a life goal anymore. After pondering for a while, he finally replied: "No plans."
"I see... How about traveling to Okinawa? For some relaxation."
"Not going, too lazy to run."
"Then how about going back to Hokkaido? The scenery in Sapporo is good too."
"There’s heavy snow, inconvenient to travel in winter."
Fushimi Roku listed four or five places in one go, trying to distract Kazama Tatsuya out of town.
Minamoto Tamako realized that Kazama Tatsuya might be leaving Tokyo, perhaps never to return to this sad place, she suddenly thought of Mr. Fushimi’s proposal and couldn’t refrain from saying: "That, if possible, I hope Senior Kazama can teach me practical shooting..."
Kazama Tatsuya was the best criminal police she’d seen in real combat shooting, the range instructors would only teach target shooting. Learning real combat requires hiring retired criminal police or military personnel for an expensive fee—which she couldn’t afford. To keep up with Mr. Fushimi’s cramming, she could only shamelessly plead with Kazama Tatsuya.
"If it’s too much trouble, just pretend I didn’t say anything..." she quickly added.
Kazama Tatsuya glanced sideways at Fushimi Roku, his expression quite unhappy. He put down his glass and spoke seriously: "Don’t worry, I’ll teach you how to deal with swordsmanship experts."