"I... I came up to find you..."
As she spoke, Minamoto Tamako turned her head to look at the men’s restroom at the end of the corridor: "Besides, the fire doesn’t seem that intense, it doesn’t seem like there’s a fire, this smoke smells strange..."
"I’m very worried about you!" Fushimi Roku immediately interrupted, using sweet talk to cloud Tamako’s judgement: "Come down quickly, never mind how the fire started, I don’t want to see you get hurt."
Minamoto Tamako believed him, her face turned red, she scratched her nose and giggled embarrassedly, whispering: "I’m worried about you too."
Fushimi Roku perfunctorily answered ’mm-hmm, ah-huh’ a couple of times, he was pushing a hospital bed while running frantically through the fire escape, Uesugi Shion whimpered, and he promptly silenced her with a slap, making her behave.
"Alright, come down quickly, you’re so cute, it pains me wherever you’re burned."
Fushimi Roku’s sappy words broke down Minamoto Tamako’s defenses, she gave up on investigating the fire’s origin and happily hung up the phone and went downstairs.
As she passed through the first-floor lobby, firefighters were rushing in with hoses, she quickly shouted a warning: "The fire origin is in the sixth-floor men’s restroom!"
The firefighters didn’t turn back, giving a thumbs up to express gratitude. The patrol police were responsible for evacuating people, pulling Minamoto Tamako away from the hospital.
She stood at the hospital entrance, watching the crowd of people, stood on tiptoe, looking around, but couldn’t spot Fushimi Roku anywhere.
Minamoto Tamako searched around in vain, not finding Fushimi Roku, she had to go to a public phone booth to call him; the line was busy with no one answering.
Because Fushimi Roku was busy.
Before Minamoto Tamako could come downstairs, he removed his white coat, using his status as a senior criminal police he ’borrowed’ Sugamo patrol’s police car. While others gathered in the parking lot to avoid the fire, he drove around to the hospital’s inpatient department back door and stuffed Uesugi Shion into the car trunk.
After finishing his work, Fushimi Roku took a deep breath before answering the call: "Hello? Ah, I’ve been looking for you... Where are you?"
"I’m in the phone booth by the roadside, the first one near the hospital."
Minamoto Tamako looked through the window, observing the crowd outside carefully, completely missing the police car roaring past her.
Strange, why didn’t I see Mr. Fu Jian just now?
Could it be that he is also looking for me, causing us to miss each other repeatedly?
The classic plot of a soap opera flashed in Minamoto Tamako’s mind, where the leading couple was about to resolve misunderstandings, reunite happily, and run wildly in the crowd or on the road, repeatedly passing each other like the blind.
She used to think the screenwriter purposely teased the audience, creating such dumb and nasty plots, not expecting such scenes to happen in real life, the world indeed is full of wonders, apparently, she misunderstood the soap opera writer.
Soon after, Minamoto Tamako found the idea of mutual pursuit particularly romantic. She grinned ear to ear, feeling like the heroine in a romance film, standing in the phone booth looking, waiting for the hero to come and open the door for her.
"Oh, if you’re okay, just head home by yourself then."
Fushimi Roku said, and then hung up.
These days, there are no cameras on the street, but just in case, he took a few laps around the street, casually calling Watanabe Shun.
Watanabe Shun didn’t answer, the call automatically went to voicemail, unexpectedly formal: "This is Shun Watanabe’s voicemail, please leave a message after the beep..."
He guessed Watanabe Shun wasn’t home, so he called Kazama Tatsuya, and it was Watanabe Shun who answered: "Who is it?"
Fushimi Roku then remembered that Watanabe Shun was temporarily staying at the Kazama family, the two men sticking together day and night, just imagining it felt weird.
"It’s me," Fushimi Roku said while steering, casually asking: "Is Kazama there?"
"Taking a nap, listening to some psychological therapy tape, if you need him, I can wake him up..."
"No need, no need," Fushimi Roku quickly stopped him: "I’m looking for you."
"What for?" Watanabe Shun scratched his head: "Drinking? I can’t get away these days..."
Fushimi Roku drove out of Little River East Town: "I want to ask you, where was Kazama’s daughter held earlier?"
"Negishi’s Golden Cypress Street, next to Nippori... why are you asking?" Watanabe Shun didn’t understand.
Fushimi Roku made up an excuse and brushed it off, Watanabe Shun believed him, didn’t ask further, and suggested that when the boss recovered, everyone would drink together. Not to arouse suspicion, Fushimi Roku chatted a lot about bar matters with him, making him forget what he originally asked.
After the talk, Fushimi Roku hung up, glanced down, and saw a dozen missed calls, probably all from Minamoto Tamako.
With the matter at hand unresolved, Fushimi Roku couldn’t deal with Minamoto Tamako at the moment, he rented a car midway to switch, returned the police car to the station, then walked back to the parking lot, drove Uesugi Shion to Golden Cypress Street, and found a deserted underground warehouse after circling a few times.
Located on the outskirts, remote, uninhabited around, an ideal place for abduction.
Fushimi Roku cleared a clean area, piled garbage, torn paper heaps, and abandoned shelves into the corner, and then carried Uesugi Shion, putting her down, removed the gag from her mouth, and sighed heavily.
"Alright, finally done."
Fushimi Roku dusted off his hands, wiping the sweat from his forehead: "Now you see the situation, even if you die here, no one will find out. If you keep playing dumb, don’t blame me for being ruthless."