Tokyo: Rabbit Officer and Her Evil Partner-Chapter 773 - 470: The Mistress

The judge’s murder case is back in the headlines. People don’t care who the culprit is; they only want to know if it’s a man or a woman.

Fushimi Roku and Minamoto Tamako have been busy buying a car lately. When they bought a house, they acted decisively, purchasing it in full when they liked it, without considering the building materials, location, or decorating details.

But buying a car is different. Men and women have completely different aesthetics.

Minamoto Tamako is all about looks; she doesn’t care about the car’s performance and parameters and just wants something that looks good. Unfortunately, her taste is somewhat childish, so she chose a cheap, all-pink painted junk-brand car, which was so cheap that it made people wonder if it was a used car;

Fushimi Roku is all about the show. He also doesn’t care about performance and parameters and just wants something that makes a statement. Ideally, a car with a famous brand that people can recognize at a glance so that they know it’s a luxury car, which is why he settled on Lexus, Porsche, Bentley, Rolls-Royce, Mercedes...

They argued for half a day, but in the end, Fushimi used his financial prowess to buy both cars in full, one for each, leaving nothing to argue about.

Minamoto Tamako kept complaining about Fushimi’s reckless spending, until a week later, when her pink sedan stalled on the road. Only then did she understand the saying, "You get what you pay for."

"The engine’s been waterlogged, must be a refurbished car, and the failure rate is high. If you want to fully repair and replace parts, it’ll cost almost as much as you bought this car for..."

The repairman delivered this bad news to Minamoto Tamako. For safety reasons, she had no choice but to scrap her beloved pink car.

Now, they only had a Lexus at home. Fushimi chose this car from many luxury options only because it’s a Japanese luxury car with convenient and cheaper local repair or replacement parts.

Usually, Fushimi doesn’t go out much; even when he does, he’s too lazy to drive. Soon, the luxury car was essentially Minamoto Tamako’s ride.

This fortnight of suspended work was very peaceful. Typically, Minamoto Tamako would go out in the morning to drop Taira Sakurako off at school; have lunch and watch TV dramas with Fushimi in the afternoon, and hit the gym since she’d gotten a membership; while in the evenings, Fushimi would make dinner, and they’d play games or board games with Sakurako.

Japan and the US developed their board games early, mostly due to the strong cultural influence of the United States on Japan. Dungeons & Dragons was released in 1974, and over the years, the range of board games kept expanding. Fushimi had never encountered such games in his previous life, so he too became engrossed.

For Fushimi, this period seemed frozen in time.

Whenever Taira Sakurako mentioned ’today’s the weekend,’ he’d be startled, realizing a week had passed already. If it weren’t for the discount coupons at the local market, he wouldn’t even remember what month and day it was.

Once people stop working, the pace of life slows down a lot.

Until an unexpected event suddenly arrives, like fate whispering ’bingo, your good days are numbered!’

This kind of unexpected event is like falling slightly ill right after receiving a bonus, having three days of stormy weather during a three-day holiday, or facing a life setback just after a peaceful period, filled with destiny’s malice.

Initially, they didn’t realize something surprising had happened until Minamoto Tamako was out in the car to get some bento and noticed that passersby were pointing at her and the convenience store clerk was acting strangely. After inquiring in detail, she learned she had been rumored about.

No one knows who spread it, but all the major newspapers are rushing to report: how a criminal police officer with an annual salary of only half a million could possibly drive a luxury car, accompanied by a photo of Minamoto Tamako driving a Lexus... Where did she get the money?

In the news and on the pages, every journalist speaks with conviction, claiming that Minamoto Tamako was kept by a rich second-generation heir, and she secretly had a daughter out of wedlock—before long, the report escalated to claims that she was a mistress for a tycoon and got her job as a criminal police officer through his connections.

Journalists condemned her, saying that it’s women like her who handle the most controversial Yakai Mutsumi husband-killing case... How can such a case’s result be convincing?

Leaving aside the facts, these conjectures are quite plausible.

Indeed, Minamoto Tamako is unmarried, she is driving an expensive Lexus, she is cohabiting with a mysterious man who rarely goes out, and there is indeed a seven or eight-year-old girl at home.

These are all evidence, but they’re not facts.

Minamoto Tamako was furious. This time she didn’t sink into despair. The continuous attacks from the rumor-spreaders only fueled her fighting spirit.

"We must catch these slanderous people and bring them to court!"

Minamoto Tamako slammed the newspaper on the table, her expression one of ’irreconcilable hostility.’ Fushimi hadn’t seen her this angry at anyone before, and he nodded in support: "Absolutely! I’m with you! Such malicious defamation clearly infringes on your reputation rights; we should make those newspapers pay dearly."

"This isn’t about money!" Minamoto Tamako shouted.

She had enough, and the calm life from the past days made her feel an emptiness in wasted time. She missed her working days immensely, hoping for a case to investigate and to continue her journey towards becoming a famous detective and police chief, not be stuck at home due to messy gender disputes!

For this purpose, Minamoto Tamako donned her little suit, put on a bow tie, combed her hair into an adult style, and even bought a black leather briefcase—though it was filled with candies and a bunny police officer doll—anyway, she was ready to return to the battlefield!

"Exactly!" Fushimi raised his hand in support, signaling Tamako to give a high-five: "That’s the spirit! It’s not about the money so that they’d end up paying more!"

"No!" Minamoto Tamako crossed her arms: "I don’t want them to pay money; I want to find out who spread the rumors and have all the newspapers that published them issue apology statements!"

Fushimi inhaled sharply and lowered his hand: "You’re cutting off their income sources... Do you know what having a newspaper issue a correction statement means?"

"What?" Minamoto Tamako asked instinctively, then waved her hand: "No! It doesn’t matter! If they made a mistake, they should apologize! They should apologize to all the readers and explain the error clearly!"

Fushimi added the answer: "It means that newspaper loses credibility and becomes, well, bathroom reading material."

Minamoto Tamako said, "’Criminal News’ never publishes such unfounded reports; a newspaper that writes these kinds of news should already be in the bathroom reading category!"

Fushimi didn’t really mind, still keeping his hand up, signaling Minamoto Tamako for a high-five to celebrate the detective team setting out once again.

Minamoto Tamako leaped up and gave a furious high-five.