Shinjuku, Okubo Ni-cho.
Morimoto Chiyoda stood in front of a six-story building, glancing at the address sent by the chief.
Hisamatsu Apartnt 201.
This was the office of the special task force established to capture Dio.
Instead of being located within the police station, they had chosen to rent a separate apartnt.
Three bedrooms and a living room.
How pretentious, Morimoto Chiyoda thought. Wouldn’t it have been simpler to just partition off an office inside the police station?
She ntally criticized the task force’s approach.
She wasn’t wearing her police inspector’s uniform but was dressed in plain clothes, as requested by the task force.
A white shirt paired with black casual pants, and she wore knee-high boots.
Her long, black hair cascaded over her shoulders.
She carried a bag on her right arm and strode into Hisamatsu Apartnt.
This was an apartnt building with lower rent.
Forget about security, she noted. There was only an old caretaker slacking off and reading a newspaper; his hearing was also a bit poor.
As Morimoto Chiyoda strode in, the old man kept his head down, reading his newspaper, completely unaware that anyone had entered.
Her gaze swept the area, and she realized the building didn’t have an elevator.
Luckily, it isn’t too tall, Morimoto Chiyoda thought with relief.
She made her way up the stairs to the second floor.
She pressed the doorbell for apartnt 201.
DING-DONG. The door opened quickly.
A familiar face appeared before Morimoto Chiyoda.
The man had a crew cut and handso features, with the sowhat sunny and cheerful disposition of a young man.
"Okayama, you’re on this task force too?"
Morimoto Chiyoda looked surprised; she recognized the man before her, Okayama Buji.
A Tokyo University alumnus, he had perennially ranked just below her during their student years. He was one of the few friends from school she actually esteed.
"Morimoto, it’s been a long ti."
Okayama Buji was pleased.
Since graduating from Tokyo University, they had mostly seen each other at alumni gatherings, with little contact at other tis. This was normal.
He worked at the tropolitan Police Departnt, while Morimoto Chiyoda was assigned to Ayase Police Station. They had no work overlap and, consequently, not much to discuss in private.
Okayama Buji had never expected to work on a case with Morimoto Chiyoda.
Emily hadn’t told him anything about the task force’s personnel selection. She had only said that he’d understand once everyone arrived, which ant he hadn’t dressed appropriately.
"Don’t just stand there chatting at the door. Co on in."
Emily’s voice wafted from the living room.
Okayama Buji had to suppress his desire to reminisce. He stepped aside and said, "Morimoto, let introduce you. This is Emily, the task force leader. And that’s Katerina. The rest of the task force mbers haven’t arrived yet; you’re the first one here."
Morimoto Chiyoda entered the apartnt. She was sowhat surprised that two foreigners were leading the task force but showed no aversion. She smiled and said, "I look forward to working with you both."
Originally, Morimoto Chiyoda hadn’t wanted much interaction with the task force, but with an acquaintance present, she couldn’t be too aloof.
Emily sized up the woman before her. "We’re all on the sa task force, so naturally, we should help each other. Okayama, could you brief Morimoto on Dio?"
If Emily had to do the briefing herself, she would have waited until the entire team was present to explain about Dio.
But with Okayama Buji, Emily didn’t mind him giving an introduction now.
"Okay," Okayama Buji agreed and began to tell Morimoto Chiyoda about Dio, the criminal their task force was targeting.
...
After being kidnapped, Emily’s understanding of Dio had deepened.
A highly intelligent criminal who masters high-tech weaponry.
His height was tentatively estimated to be over 1.9 ters.
His appearance and nationality were tentatively identified as a white male of European or Arican descent, with hair that could be either blond or pink.
His cris were usually committed at night. Occasional dayti offenses occurred on weekends when white-collar office workers were off.
She speculated that he might have a standard eight-hour-a-day job with weekends off.
Or, he could be deliberately creating that impression to mislead the task force.
He had an extrely radical personality and considered himself a ssenger of Justice.
All his victims were involved in organized cri.
"The related cases include..."
Okayama Buji listed them one by one.
Morimoto Chiyoda looked surprised. "Is it necessary to arrest a criminal like that?"
To Morimoto Chiyoda, it wouldn’t matter if all those scumbags died.
Okayama Buji touched his nose. He had a habit of doing this to hide his embarrassnt when he felt awkward. "Morimoto, I know what you’re thinking. But as Law Enforcers, we cannot allow Dio’s actions to spread globally. We must prevent others from blindly emulating him and disrupting world order."
Emily, sitting on the sofa, kept shaking her head.
The sa argunt might work for one person but be useless for another. There’s no universally convincing argunt in this world.
The idea that Dio’s cris could spark a trend of copycat offenses was just a reason Emily had tailored for Okayama Buji’s personality; it wouldn’t fool the woman in front of her.
Emily saw clearly that Morimoto Chiyoda and Okayama Buji had completely different personalities.
Okayama Buji could use such argunts for a year, and they likely still wouldn’t change Morimoto Chiyoda’s mind.
An adult’s worldview isn’t easily changed by a few simple words.
Emily stood up. "Okayama, go out and buy so water."
Okayama Buji paused, slightly startled. Guessing she wanted to convince Morimoto Chiyoda herself, he said nothing and left the apartnt.
Once the door closed, Emily spread her hands. "Alright, we’re both intelligent people. Let’s not talk about justice. Let’s talk about the benefits for you."
"Now that’s a topic I’m very interested in."
Morimoto Chiyoda’s eyes lit up.
...
「Twelve o’clock noon.」
The sewer entrance in the small park.
Aozawa crawled out, then quickly dashed into the bushes. The tall grass seed to transform into a dense thicket of soft trees around him.
He ran to where his phone lay hidden by the grass, quickly shapeshifted from a rat into a sparrow, and flew up to survey the area.
He confird there were no outsiders nearby.
He quickly landed, changed back to his original form, and concluded his sewer exploration.
When he was a rat, Aozawa couldn’t sll the sewer’s foul odor; the air had seed perfectly normal.
Even the filthy sewage had appeared to be clean, drinkable water.
Of course, no matter how odorless it seed, Aozawa would never attempt to drink sewage.
He picked up his phone, unlocked it, and saw ssages from Morimoto Chiyoda and Phoenix Academy Maggie.
Aozawa opened Morimoto Chiyoda’s ssage first.
"I’m quite busy with my own matters. Eat out tonight."
The ssage had been sent at 11:40.
"No problem," Aozawa texted back.
What major case in Adachi District could be so important to her? he wondered.
Unable to figure it out, he opened Phoenix Academy Maggie’s ssage while heading out.
"Here’s today’s lunch."
It was accompanied by a picture of many dishes Aozawa couldn’t na but found very appealing.
"Just looking at it makes hungry," Aozawa replied.
What should I eat later? he thought.
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