Tokyo: Rabbit Officer and Her Evil Partner-Chapter 796 - 483: The Fifth Victim

"The initial interval between the murders was four days, and yesterday was precisely the fourth day after the last case," Minamoto Tamako said, gaining more confidence, "If the killer hasn’t acted again, then Horie Kei’s suspicion is considerable. As long as we continue to monitor him, new clues can be obtained."

That was her original plan, but executing it was more challenging than imagined. What was needed was not cleverness, but perseverance.

The others looked at each other and nodded in agreement with this reasoning.

They continued surveillance, rotating shifts, and two days passed quickly. Horie Kei continued working at the convenience store, heading home to watch TV after work, living a very mundane life.

During this period, the killer didn’t act again, further increasing Horie Kei’s suspicion.

The evening of the third day was the deadline for solving the case. Murata An called the criminal police back to the station for a meeting, presumably to prepare for the backup plan.

Minamoto Tamako was really unable to leave, so she called to apply for field duty, and Murata An approved it without saying much.

Thus, another two weeks passed without any murders happening, and Horie Kei’s life trajectory became increasingly clear. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

He worked nine-to-five at the convenience store, and after work, he did a three-hour part-time job at an izakaya. He had two days off every week and chose to relax in a park on holidays or buy a movie ticket to watch films, completely lacking social interactions, echoing Moriyama Yasurou’s words, ’Tokyo is a cold city.’

Minamoto Tamako and her team’s mental state deteriorated. They crowded into a small truck, eating bento or instant food daily, often surrounded by heaps of garbage paper cartons.

Fortunately, they had enough staff, four people took turns in surveillance, allowing them spare time to shower, use the toilet, or throw away garbage. If only two people rotated surveillance, the small truck would likely become a biochemical weapon.

"Keep going! Victory is near! The killer hasn’t acted for two consecutive weeks, and Horie Kei is highly suspicious! He must have noticed the surveillance, that’s why he’s not acting recklessly. If we keep patiently waiting, he will eventually slip..."

Minamoto Tamako sat in the passenger seat of the small truck, speaking loudly to boost morale, trying to make the tedious surveillance work less unbearable.

Before she finished speaking, her phone’s ringtone suddenly echoed. She looked at the pink flip phone, it was a call from Fushimi Roku: "Moshi moshi, what’s up?"

"Why aren’t you home yet?" Fushimi Roku asked.

"Didn’t I tell you? I’m on surveillance duty!" Minamoto Tamako said happily, her lips involuntarily curving upwards, thinking that Mr. Deer must be missing her, that’s why he called urging her home.

Unfortunately, investigations are like battlegrounds, not easily abandoned. It’s not her fault for being heartless!

"Isn’t the case closed? Didn’t anyone notify you?" Fushimi Roku asked with a baffling tone.

"How is that possible? They haven’t caught the killer..."

As she spoke, the smile on Minamoto Tamako’s face faded.

It seemed there was indeed a fourth possibility, that the Special Investigation Department elites had caught the killer, which was why the killer stopped, and Horie Kei hadn’t acted.

Minamoto Tamako felt a little panicked but forced herself to remain calm, "Don’t lie so rudely, how could the Special Investigation Department not notify the team members..."

"They notified me." Fushimi Roku’s tone turned into one of pity.

Minamoto Tamako couldn’t sit still: "Hold on, let me ask." She hung up and dialed Chief Murata An: "Moshi moshi? Is this Chief Murata?"

The person answering wasn’t her: "I’m her assistant, may I ask what’s the matter?"

Minamoto Tamako tried to mask her internal awkwardness with laughter: "Haha, well, I heard somewhere that the serial murder case handled by the Special Investigation Department was closed. Is this true or just a joke..."

"Ah, I’m sorry, I forgot to notify you," the assistant spoke without any apologetic tone, entirely dismissive: "The case was closed about two weeks ago, and the director wanted to prevent the case from affecting external spread, so please continue to maintain confidentiality externally after closure."

After speaking, she hung up the phone.

Minamoto Tamako listened to the busy signal and was stunned for a moment.

The other three also heard the call’s content, and the compartment fell into silence.

Watanabe Shun couldn’t help but chuckle, quickly covering his mouth, but it was too late. Moriyama Yasurou and Kazama Tatsuya simultaneously cast questioning glances.

That quiet laughter crushed heavily on Minamoto Tamako’s heart. She deflated instantly, like a wilted eggplant, feeling defeated, muttering to herself, "Why didn’t they tell me..."

Moriyama Yasurou had the highest rank among them present, and being one of the rare female directors, understood the unwritten rules of the officialdom well. She immediately saw what was happening.

Probably the closure deadline was reached, and the Special Investigation Department had to find someone to take the fall.

This wasn’t anything honorably done, it could even become a blemish. Chief Kujo likely wouldn’t allow his daughter’s name to appear in the closure report. Even if she didn’t personally remind them, her subordinates would consciously avoid it.

On top of that, Minamoto Tamako’s earnest nature was widely known. Even those who didn’t know before would be aware after that variety show aired, naturally avoiding her.

Even a person too clean would be ostracized; that’s the way it works in the officialdom.

These twists and turns were hard to speak plainly. Unable to think of an excuse to comfort, Moriyama Yasurou cast her gaze towards Kazama Tatsuya.

Kazama Tatsuya understood but wouldn’t attempt to comfort, that’s not his job, nor something he should concern himself with.

His role only involved paging Fushimi Roku to quickly pick up his girlfriend and take her home for comfort.

Fushimi Roku received the page and personally drove to pick up Minamoto Tamako. The latter, deeply affected, no longer mused over promoting her reasoning process, feeling a sense of ’complete failure,’ even reluctant to look at the closure dossier, believing it would only make her feel worse.

She didn’t think too much, instinctively believing that since the case was closed, the evidence must be conclusive, and the true killer was apprehended. The fault lay not with the thirty-plus Special Investigation Department elites, but only in her own inaccurate deduction.

"It’s okay, you helped eliminate erroneous options for the station, which also counts as a significant contribution to the case," Fushimi Roku comforted.

He didn’t care whether the real killer was caught, as long as the Police Department announced they’ve caught the killer, restoring Sugamo Apartment’s property value, and facilitating the normal urban development process, that would be perfect.

To soothe Minamoto Tamako’s hurt feelings, Fushimi Roku took another day off, certainly not to be lazy, but solely to comfort his girlfriend, compelling him to skip work.

He took Minamoto Tamako out for claw machines, arcade games, movie watching, and buying mystery novels... Now Minamoto Tamako had grown accustomed to natural dating, and she found dating Fushimi Roku joyful, calming her bad mood.

Of course, for Minamoto Tamako, this day didn’t count as skipping work. Generally, field duties had holiday stipends; after seven consecutive days, two days off were compensated — she’d been on field duty for over half a month, working daily on surveillance, logically deserving a day off.

Taira Sakurako also felt happy. With both of them out, she could have the TV to herself, playing games with her friends. Now Mako had become a gaming nerd too, hanging out with Sakurako daily. Mai was restless, always wanting to go out, but ultimately had to comply with the majority.

The next day, Minamoto Tamako resumed work as usual, the station seemed unchanged, everyone continued greeting her like usual, as if the field duty incident never happened.

Fushimi Roku had to go to work too; he played a handheld game at his workstation and overheard colleagues whispering behind Minamoto Tamako.

They were discussing the serial murder case; someone seemed uneasy, whispering, "Isn’t this too hasty..."

"Can anything good come from an archives folder? They’re essentially bad people, committed evil deeds, deserved to face consequences," another criminal police officer said.

"But this..."

"Live honestly, and you won’t encounter such things. Like Jun, hadn’t solicited, wouldn’t have been caught. Heard he even blamed the judge for imposing a heavy sentence..."

The point was valid; the criminal police officer who initially objected nodded in agreement, ceasing further discussion.

Fushimi Roku didn’t bother interfering in such trifles, unconcerned with those trivial police station matters, nor did he plan to tell Minamoto Tamako, lest she listened and spiraled unnecessarily.

It seemed everything was settled. The killer was apprehended, regardless of whether it was the real one, the case was concluded.

However, the serial killer who penned "Divine Punishment Befalls" seemed to deliberately provoke the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department.

That afternoon, a fifth victim emerged.