Shiraishi E checked his clothes to make sure everything was in order before returning to his seat at the tournament.
"Shiraishi-kun, what took you so long?" Ran asked, looking at him strangely.
"I ran into an acquaintance and we ended up chatting for a while," Shiraishi E said, making up a random excuse before quickly changing the subject. "So, what's the situation now?"
As soon as the topic shifted, Ran was no longer sleepy. She said excitedly, "Mizuno has advanced to the finals! Harada and Takeda just finished their match, and Harada won by 3 points!"
"Oh, then I came back just in time," Shiraishi E said casually. "I think Mizuno has a better chance of winning the championship. He has long legs."
"You didn't watch the match just now, you don't know how fierce Harada's attacks are! I bet he'll win!" Ran offered her own opinion.
"He's got short arms and short legs, he can't win," Shiraishi E said. He didn't actually care who won; he just wanted to distract Ran.
"Then let's just watch!" Ran said cheerfully, her mind completely focused on the tournament.
In the end, when she saw Harada win the match, she cheered happily, feeling that her judgment was much better than Shiraishi E's. To this, Shiraishi E could only admit that he had misjudged.
By the time they returned to the Mouri Detective Agency, it was already past ten at night. For adults, the nightlife was just beginning, but for high school students like Ran, it was time to rest.
Stopping downstairs at the agency, Shiraishi E said, "I won't go up. You should go back and get some rest."
"Okay... thank you, Shiraishi-kun, for taking me to the competition!" Ran said with a sweet smile, expressing her gratitude.
"If you really want to thank me, then win the championship... don't let all my efforts these past few weeks go to waste," Shiraishi E said, waving goodbye and turning to leave.
"Okay, I'll definitely win the championship!" Ran promised confidently, humming a little tune as she skipped upstairs.
At the crime scene, Juzo Megure had temporarily blocked off a section of the road. He stared at the charred car, his brow furrowed and never relaxing.
Wataru Takagi trotted over. "Inspector, we've confirmed the identities of the three deceased. Like the three who were shot earlier, they are all gang members!"
"Another gang vendetta," Megure sighed, having already classified the case. He said with a headache, "Honestly, if they're going to kill each other, can't they find a more secluded spot? Why do it in such a public place... they're just causing trouble for everyone!"
Just then, Miwako Sato walked over, carrying a rocket-propelled grenade launcher. She said excitedly, "Inspector! We found the weapon the bandit used... This is the first time I've ever seen a launcher like this."
"Me too... Officer Sato, can I touch it?" Takagi's eyes lit up, very interested in the device.
"Of course," Sato said, handing the launcher to Takagi.
"Ah... so this is what it feels like," Takagi said, marveling at the launcher. "I didn't expect it to be so heavy... This must be where the rocket goes, right? Let me try." He then shouldered the RPG and started aiming it playfully.
This prompted an exasperated remark from Megure. "What do you two think you're doing? This is a murder weapon, is this the time to be playing with it? Give it to me!!"
"S-Sorry," Takagi flinched, not daring to mess around anymore, and quickly handed the weapon to Megure.
Megure took the RPG with a straight face, looked around, and shouldered it. "I see!! This is how the culprit did it... There's even a scope here!!"
Takagi, seeing this, couldn't help but advise, "Inspector, if you stand like that, the recoil will be huge. I've seen on TV that they usually shoot from a kneeling position."
"Like this?" Megure knelt down and asked.
"..." Sato stood by, speechless, watching the two of them start to play.
Just then, traffic officer Yumi Miyamoto walked over. She looked at the two of them, stunned. "Miwako, is this how you detectives handle cases?"
"What's there to investigate in this case?" Sato retorted.
"Uh..." Yumi looked back at the crime scene and realized there wasn't much to investigate. The circumstances of the case were clear, the identities of the deceased were known, the murder method was obvious, and the weapon had been found. The only thing left to do was find the bandit, Azu.
Sato continued, "This case doesn't belong to our First Division anyway. We'll leave once the Organized Crime Control Bureau arrives."
"That's true," Yumi nodded in understanding. Now when she looked at Megure, she realized he wasn't being foolish; he was being smart. No matter how much they investigated, they would have to hand over the information to the Organized Crime division in the end. It was better to just slack off and wait for them to take over the scene.
"I heard the bandit shot at you traffic officers. Are you hurt?" Sato asked with concern.
"I'm fine! If I weren't, would I be standing here chatting with you?" Yumi smiled, telling her not to worry. "He just blew out our tires... that guy's marksmanship is really accurate."
"That's good," Sato said, taking a couple of steps forward and lowering her voice. "If you run into something like this in the future, don't rush to the front, understand? The guy even has an RPG. If he gets desperate... that will be your fate!" She glanced at the destroyed car, a lingering fear in her heart.
"Don't worry! For this meager salary, I'm not going to risk my life," Yumi nodded, reassuring Sato.
The next morning, while on his way to school, Shiraishi E checked the news on his phone. Sure enough, this time, almost all the major news outlets were broadcasting his heroic deeds from last night.
[Shocking! Red-Masked Man Kills on the Street!!]
[Nisan-kai Members Shot Dead on the Spot, Gang Wars Erupt Again!]
[In the Beika Suburbs, Red-Masked Man with RPG Blows Up a Car!]
[Police Announce Bounty for Red-Masked Man, Code Name: Bandit Azu!]
This time, he had acted in public, and there were too many witnesses. And this time, Shiraishi E had not only stolen the money but also burned the goods. This enraged all parties involved. The police, caught between a rock and a hard place, couldn't suppress the news anymore. They had to hold a press conference, strongly condemn the act, and offer a bounty. Of course, this wasn't the first time they had done this, and the results were always minimal.
After reading the news, Shiraishi E went to the 2chan forums to see the reactions.
[I saw it with my own eyes! That Bandit Azu just killed people!]
[The dead were gang members, has nothing to do with me. I can only say... good riddance!]
[How can you guarantee he'll only kill gang members? He might have killed innocent people where you couldn't see.]
[Putting that aside... how did that guy get a highly destructive weapon like an RPG? What are the police doing?]
[Sigh, they're just a bunch of tax thieves. What can you expect them to do? We still have to rely on Kudo Shinichi to solve cases.]
[I think we should just give the tax money to Kudo Shinichi.]
[Tokyo is doomed! This country is doomed!!!]
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