"Inspector gure, the remaining bombs have been recovered, but... they’ve all been activated."
"Very good."
Upon hearing this news, gure finally let out a sigh of relief. If the bombs that had been circulated externally really posed a major threat, no one would have been able to take responsibility.
Now that it was confird all the bombs had been recovered, it was practically the best possible outco. As for them being activated, that wasn’t such a big issue anymore.
Just send the bomb disposal unit to take care of them. If they couldn’t be defused, then transport them to a safe location and detonate them there.
As long as the bombs weren’t within the city and didn’t threaten civilian lives, then the problem wasn’t critical.
Still, gure had one more question on his mind.
"By the way, Officer Sato, where were the bombs installed?"
"It was... the Beika Municipal Building."
The mont he heard "municipal building," gure Jusan’s face instantly darkened.
If these bombs exploded inside the municipal building, the entire staff could be at risk of death. It wouldn’t just be one or two casualties. Hundreds, maybe even thousands of people could die.
"...Good. Officer Sato, co back and hand the bombs over to the disposal team. They’ll take over from here."
"Yes, I’m returning to headquarters now."
After hanging up, Sato Miwako sat in the driver’s seat and took a mont to relax.
But this wasn’t the ti to let her guard down completely. At the very least, she needed to finish handing off the bombs first.
The drive back posed no problems.
Driving carefully, she noticed fewer vehicles on the road than usual. It seed the earlier explosions and the alert had scared many people off the streets.
That made her return much easier.
Compared to the one-hour traffic jam earlier, the trip back only took 23 minutes before she pulled into the underground garage of the tropolitan Police Departnt.
Just like before, it was the sa bomb disposal team waiting for her. But this ti, their expressions were obviously more serious.
When she opened the trunk, the mbers of the disposal team audibly gasped.
"So many!?"
Each bomb was flashing red with a one-hour countdown. That ant they were all set to detonate.
"Quit gawking! Move, now!"
"Yes, sir!"
Prepared in advance, the bomb disposal team quickly retrieved the flashing bombs from the trunk and transferred them into secure, explosion-proof cases.
The largest bomb was loaded into the largest case.
After all the bombs had been moved, Sato Miwako’s task was essentially complete.
The team leader, a middle-aged man, walked over to her and gave a crisp salute.
"Officer Sato, thank you very much for your help."
"No, this wasn’t just my doing. The dismantling work is still up to all of you."
The leader took a deep breath and said nothing more. He quickly turned and followed the others.
Their work was far from over. First, they had to assess the bomb threat and choose appropriate dismantling sites.
But those matters were all on their shoulders now.
Once the disposal team had left, gure approached Miwako, his face flushed with pride.
Pah!
He gave her a hearty slap on the shoulder.
"Officer Sato, well done today."
"Yes! This is my duty!"
Even soone as calm as Sato Miwako couldn’t help feeling emotional at gure’s praise. It wasn’t about receiving credit, but the familial warmth she felt from him.
Ever since she’d joined the police force, Inspector gure had always looked out for her—not for personal gain, but with the genuine care of a senior looking after a junior.
Looking at her, soone who felt like a daughter, gure was visibly moved.
"Officer Sato, go ho and rest. You recovered all those bombs today. You’ve done enough. No need to push yourself any further."
"Also, I’ll inform you now. Your contribution this ti is significant. According to Superintendent Hakuba, you’re likely to be promoted soon."
"So soon?"
Sato Miwako looked surprised. She had only been promoted a few months ago.
"But Inspector gure, I..."
gure shook his head slightly and leaned closer, lowering his voice.
"It’s probably thanks to your informant."
Then he quickly walked away...
"Don’t doubt your rit. Go ho and rest."
Only then did Miwako Sato realize why she was being considered for promotion.
"I see."
But there were still things she didn’t fully understand.
After watching gure leave, Miwako got back in the car. However, she didn’t drive off right away. Instead, she called Ren.
"It looks like the higher-ups have caught on to your involvent."
"Of course. After all, the guidance I gave was a bit too sharp. Naturally, I’d attract so attention."
"So, you knew this would happen from the start?"
"Of course. It’s only natural they’d react this way. Officer Sato, you shouldn’t underestimate the bureaucrats in the tropolitan Police Departnt. They’re not clueless. The higher-ups in this country aren’t completely ignorant of certain matters. They’ve dealt with their share of unexplainable situations."
So that’s it... Miwako finally understood, and her mind turned to the previous case.
"So that last case was wrapped up quickly because..."
"Yeah, they all knew. They always do their best to handle things that are beyond their control, especially when they can fra it as a normal vendetta. After all, Officer Sato, you don’t want to argue with evil spirits, right?"
"...Of course not."
Even soone as rational as Miwako didn’t believe evil spirits were sothing you could reason with.
Even if you could, it’s unlikely anyone in the upper ranks of the tropolitan Police would want to arrest one.
"Then... won’t you be in danger?"
"There’s no reason for them to be suspicious. In fact, they’ll actively avoid questioning . And Officer Sato, since you’re connected to , you’ll naturally gain more authority. After all, they wouldn’t want soone who’s cooperating with them to start siding with soone else."
No wonder... Now she understood. Her rapid promotion wasn’t because of any coincidence. It was all thanks to Ren.
"Are you free tomorrow? I want to talk to you."
"Yeah, I’m free tomorrow too."
(To be continued.)
***
For every 200 PS = 1 extra Chapter. Support on P/treon to read 30 advanced Chapters: p-atreon.c-om/Blownleaves
(Just remove the hyphen to access normally.)
Reviews
All reviews (0)