Tokyo: Rabbit Officer and Her Evil Partner-Chapter 781 - 476: Good Cop and Bad Cop
Fushimi Roku signaled her to calm down a bit, and then drew a script from the side, passing it over.
Minamoto Tamako opened it to find the title page featuring "Truth Pursuit: Special Episode," with the general content detailing misconduct by Police Department criminal police, brazenly accepting bribes, bullying children on the street...
"What kind of nonsense is this?" Minamoto Tamako became increasingly puzzled.
"Didn’t the criminal psychology experts profile the case?" Fushimi Roku said, "The killer preys on corrupt officials. We are criminal police; we can be corrupt too."
He waved his hands in front of Minamoto Tamako, his fingers twisting here and there, resembling an evil puppet master: "As long as we create a ’corrupt official’ image through a TV variety show, the killer is very likely to take the bait, and then he will expose himself and be caught by us on the spot..."
Yes, Fushimi Roku planned to appear on television.
Japan in 1991 was in the boom period of late-night variety shows and civilian reality TV, featuring late-night adult-oriented shows with college girls, foreign music, adult topics, achieving highest ratings of 7.2%; and amateur reality shows, completely real hidden-camera setups, with ratings as high as 26.1%.
Fushimi Roku thought of this idea while watching TV at home.
He planned to play the role of an evil criminal police officer through an amateur variety show, sparking social debate and becoming a target for the killer — judging by the common traits of the previous victims, the killer is likely to fixate on them.
This tactic is a classic bait operation.
But appearing on TV was not that easy; therefore, Fushimi Roku had been working tirelessly to figure out how to join the program.
Fushimi Roku attempted to register but was passed over in the first round of interviews because ’he was too handsome, not ordinary enough’... Yet again, he was troubled by his excessive good looks.
Afterward, he tried investing, but the TV station, in pursuit of ratings, wouldn’t let investors interfere with program content; he also tried networking, attempting to pressure the director, but the director wouldn’t budge, claiming variety shows are art and they must be responsible for the artwork...
In the end, Fushimi Roku had no other choice but to resort to his old trick — bluffing.
He promised the program crew he could bring the recently media-sensationalized female detective Minamoto Tamako onto the show... and he confidently declared that Minamoto Tamako’s true nature was very evil, definitely able to reignite media buzz and send ratings skyrocketing.
After weighing options, the crew agreed. However, the producer requested Fushimi Roku and Minamoto Tamako to sign an appearance agreement as performers to avoid many legal complications.
Minamoto Tamako’s first reaction was disbelief: "Will this work?"
Fushimi Roku patted the script, full of confidence: "You have to trust the program crew’s skills, and also trust that the killer is vicious enough... He killed four people within a week, surely wanting more. He might be starving for action now."
He pinched Minamoto Tamako’s cheek: "You are the sweet and delicious prey walking right into the trap, without any defense but evil enough to catch the killer’s eye."
Minamoto Tamako, hearing this, felt it made some sense.
Why run around aimlessly like a headless fly when setting bait for the killer to latch onto seemed a good idea? The question lay in whether it would truly succeed.
"What if it fails?" Minamoto Tamako worried a little: "If it fails, wouldn’t I end up being a bad cop?"
Fushimi Roku reassured, "Look on the bright side; regardless of good or bad, you’ll become a famous cop." He patted her shoulder, rambling again, "Besides, you didn’t become a cop for fame, did you? Don’t forget your true intention! Catching the killer is what’s most important!"
"Hmm!"
Minamoto Tamako nodded emphatically, finally agreeing to the plan.
Fushimi Roku felt quite relieved; they both finished reading the plot script, then moved on to the character script.
While flipping the pages, Minamoto Tamako couldn’t help but ask, "So there are scripts for amateur variety shows? I thought they were all improvised..."
Recently, when she was hanging around at Fushimi Roku’s home, watching TV frequently caught shows like the "All Night Fuji" special, a highly talked-about "Japanese-Chinese Kung Fu stars interaction."
One segment left a deep impression on her: the variety crew sent strong men to ambush Yuan Biao, Zou Zhaolong, and others, only for them to pin them down and thrash them; Minamoto Tamako thought it was to be an impromptu performance...
"Some are, some aren’t," Fushimi Roku replied while reading, "The program we’re joining isn’t... How can evil criminal police be portrayed in improvisation? Do you think the Police Department has officers accepting bribes, frequently absent from work, disrespecting their superiors?"
"Uh, probably not..." Minamoto Tamako’s tone was uncertain.
"Exactly, that’s why we rely on your superb acting skills to depict the shocking side of corrupt criminal police..." As Fushimi Roku spoke, he felt something was off.
He carefully read through his character script, feeling more like a villain the more he read, with dialogue containing a high amount of ’Give Me a Break’ moments that required him to flash attitudes to the camera frequently.
"Picked the wrong script, didn’t you?"
Fushimi Roku quickly flipped the script back to the first page and found it correct, his name written on it.
"My script says I’m a good cop!" Minamoto Tamako exclaimed happily, "Diligent at work, meticulous in deduction, brilliant in case-solving, colleagues fond of me... It looks really great!"
She was quite encouraged, remembering the days playing role-playing games with Taira Sakurako at home, now actually getting to live it out as a famous detective on TV just seemed exciting.
"No, no, no, no, no, no, that’s wrong," Fushimi Roku shook his head like a rattle, "Surely the program crew got it wrong."
Minamoto Tamako, somewhat smug, lifted her chin slightly and said, "Maybe it’s because my pipe has the quality of a famous detective, hence the crew thinks I’m more suitable to play a good cop."
"Haha!" Fushimi Roku forced a laugh, then launched into his mask-changing trick, "As if!" 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢
"You’re just jealous, jealous of my famous detective and police chief aura." Minamoto Tamako folded her arms, already envisioning herself basking in the glory on camera: "As the captain of the detective squad, I’m here for more than just name! That’s the massive difference between a captain and a team member!"
Fushimi Roku genuinely started feeling some dissatisfaction. After all his effort, Minamoto Tamako picked the fruit while he ended up having to play the villain... Before getting the script, he even planned how to flaunt his competence in front of the camera, practicing ’how to stylishly verbalize his motto’.
Just half an hour ago, he stood in front of the vanity mirror, hands on hips, trying to embody the Showa era man’s spirit, repeating, "Fighting violence with violence is my life’s creed..."
Now, he had to play the villain; the motto sounded somewhat awkward.
Does this make sense?
This doesn’t make sense.
To retrieve the script, Fushimi Roku snapped, "What are you laughing at! Being all silly! Have you forgotten our goal? We’re here to investigate, to catch the killer, not to show off on TV!"
"Think about it; if the corrupt cop is a burly adult male, the killer might not choose him as a target. Killer who frequently kill knows, killing an adult male and a little girl are entirely different challenges!"
Finally, Fushimi Roku convincingly concluded: "Therefore, you’re the best candidate to play the corrupt cop!"
"... seems so." Minamoto Tamako was persuaded.
But she hesitated: "But the crew has already written the script..."
"No big deal, just switch the scripts; I’ll talk to the crew," Fushimi Roku was undeterred, eager to find the planner.
After some extended inquiries, Fushimi Roku finally understood what was going on.
The program crew and planner weren’t fools; just recently, media outlets issued apologies and corrections, everyone knew Minamoto Tamako was Kujo Yua’s daughter, of course they wouldn’t let her play a villain. This program was devised to rehabilitate Minamoto Tamako’s image, turning public opinion in her favor...
In this variety show, Fushimi Roku was just an accessory, exclusively used to highlight Minamoto Tamako’s character.
