——Criminals are inherently illogical.
Minamoto Tamako summarized the other person's core viewpoint, but didn't know how to refute it.
Because she had never encountered criminals, let alone real-life cases.
There were still five months left until graduation from the police academy, and to be fair, she was just a university graduate who hadn't been out long.
The class bell rang, and the class monitor went around collecting portrait assignments. It was only then that Minamoto Tamako snapped out of it and hastily added a few strokes to her canvas.
"Who is this supposed to be?"
The class monitor held up the drawing paper, revealing a stylized outline with graffiti-like features—a pair of inverted triangle eyes, a high nose, and a wide smirk with saw-like teeth.
Minamoto Tamako, feeling guilty, glanced back and murmured, "That's Fushimi classmate."
The class monitor wore a knowing expression.
Earlier when collecting Fushimi Roku's assignment, he had noticed that the white paper depicted Minamoto Tamako. The brush strokes were exceptionally delicate, capturing Minamoto Tamako's pitiable expression vividly.
Minamoto Tamako couldn't tell what the class monitor was thinking but felt that his gaze was somewhat off.
She picked up her stool and fled the classroom, chasing after Fushimi Roku: "Fushimi classmate, wait up!"
"What now?" Fushimi Roku turned back impatiently.
Art class was an interesting way to pass the time, but not at the cost of personal rest time.
"Well, I've reconsidered, and I think you're right. You have the capability to be my partner, so..."
Fushimi Roku interrupted, "150,000 yen, no negotiations."
Minamoto Tamako was taken aback, "Why did the price go up again?"
"Mental distress fee."
"But I don't have that much money..."
"How much do you have?" Fushimi Roku asked.
Minamoto Tamako put down her stool, pulled out her piggy wallet again, and took out the large bills from the piggy's belly. She counted them softly:
"Just a little over 120,000... This is my pocket money for the month. If I give it all to you, I won't have any left to use."
Fushimi Roku inexplicably felt a sense of guilt akin to extorting a grade-schooler.
But then he thought, what grade-schooler has more than 120,000 yen of pocket money a month? Plus, it's the end of the month! Which means she has so much pocket money that she can't even spend it all!
"How about 100,000 yen?" Minamoto Tamako handed over a stack of money cautiously, "I promised Kawai that we'd go to a dessert shop during the month-end break. I want to save 20,000 yen for a Charlotte Cake."
The scene looked like an innocent girl was being scammed out of her money by a player.
Fushimi Roku remained silent for a while, engaged in an inner moral battle.
In his mind, two little voices emerged—a demon with a fork on the left, and an angel with a halo on the right.
The demon exclaimed, "Heaven helps me! I could exploit this naive little lamb for a lifetime, not stopping until I've drained every penny!" The angel didn't even have time to speak before the demon ruthlessly pierced it with its fork.
Then, it stepped over the angel's body and whispered seductively in Fushimi Roku's ear, "Cast a long line to catch a big fish. What's 100,000 yen? First win her favor, then find a way to marry into the rich Lolita's family and live a life of leisure..."
Fushimi Roku, oh Fushimi Roku, how could you fall so low?
He shook his head and sighed inwardly, pulling out 50,000 yen from Minamoto Tamako's hands, the amount that was originally agreed upon.
"I'll accept your commission; from now on, we're partners."
Minamoto Tamako's eyes lit up.
She solemnly nodded and smiled, "I knew it, deep down, Fushimi classmate is a righteous person."
"Nonsense, isn't that obvious?" Fushimi Roku pocketed the money and said, "Let's be clear, once the case is solved, our partnership ends."
It's not like I could be this person's partner for life for just 50,000 yen, right? He calculated everything clearly in his mind.
"Eh? You mean there's already a lead in the case? How should we investigate?"
Minamoto Tamako had mentally prepared for the investigation to fail since she couldn't directly ask Instructor Sakurai, nor could she take the stationery for examination...
Although she verbally disputed Fushimi Roku's speculation, deep down she agreed with the idea that "the statute of limitations has expired for this case."
Fushimi Roku carried his stool back to the classroom, saying offhandedly, "Overly pursuing the truth might lead you astray. There's actually no need to investigate what Instructor Sakurai did; we just need to find the 'victim' mentioned in the anonymous letter."
Minamoto Tamako suddenly realized that the first line of the anonymous letter was "I know what you did"—instead of wandering around aimlessly, it would be better to ask the involved party directly.
"But wouldn't investigating this way lead to a biased conclusion?" she asked.
"A biased conclusion is better than knowing nothing at all, isn't it?" Fushimi Roku replied, "Here's where your expertise counts, so please put your brilliant mind to work and deduce who the letter sender is."
He spoke in a dignified manner but actually had a hidden motive.
Fushimi Roku had a thought, and a system mission popped back into his mind:
"Hire an Assassin: Accept commission to help the victim get revenge on Sakurai Chizuru."
"Mission Reward: Skill Points*2"
Accepting commissions and helping the victim get revenge on the perpetrator... Isn't that a lawyer's job?
If Minamoto Tamako could identify the letter sender, he might even land his first case. Indeed, no matter the country, there's always a large group in need of legal aid.
Even if the case were dismissed in the end, at least he would have filed an appeal, getting Sakurai Chizuru to lose her job. It's helping with revenge... right?
After setting the direction for the investigation, they returned their chairs to their places and headed downstairs to the cafeteria together.
Fushimi Roku never ate at the cafeteria; he would buy a set meal and take it back to the dorm to eat. Even when Minamoto Tamako invited him for lunch together, he declined.
Minamoto Tamako had no choice but to find Kawai, who was a class B student and not in the same class, with different schedules.
She carried her tray, looking around the cafeteria. The male students watched Minamoto Tamako, praying she would sit beside them.
"Tamako-chan!" Kawai waved, "Over here!"
Minamoto Tamako quickly walked over and sat down beside Kawai, eagerly sharing, "I've got a lead for the investigation!"
"Still thinking about last night's anonymous letter? You've even got dark circles under your eyes." Kawai smacked her lips and said.
"That's not important, listen to me, I just..."
Minamoto Tamako wanted to say it was her epiphany that discovered a blind spot in solving the case, to show off a bit in front of her best friend.
But she hesitated for a while and couldn't bring herself to lie, "I just had a chat with Fushimi classmate, got inspired by him. Instead of investigating what Instructor Sakurai did, it's better to find out who the letter sender is!"
Kawai gulped down the last bite of food, with a grain of rice on her mouth, and said perplexedly, "But there are over 600 people in the police school, how can just the two of us investigate?"
"It's three people," Minamoto Tamako corrected, "Fushimi classmate is now part of our detective team!"
She paused and then added, "Besides, I've already deduced the identity of the letter sender."