Chapter 51: That's alright then.
Whether it was a surprise or not is unknown, but for Hagiwara Kenji, it was definitely a shock.
Matsuda Jinpei was at least a little better, having some breathing room, but Hagiwara Kenji was genuinely terrified, his eyes wide open, his expression blank and bewildered, his mind seemingly frozen, uttering a meaningless "Eh?"
Morofushi Sora'aki also suddenly remembered. When he was playing on the rooftop, he had learned how to assemble a sniper rifle using his phone. At the time, he had only glanced at the time unconsciously. No one knew that seeing the time back then would come in handy now.
The year is the same, and there's less than a month left before the rooftop incident—Matsuda Jinpei's accident happened on November 7th of this year, and today is the 11th. Morofushi Hiromitsu's accident happened on December 7th.
Morofushi Sora'aki wasn't particularly nervous, because Hagiwara Kenji, who had nothing to do with him, would survive because of the reason of smuggling, and Matsuda Jinpei would (most likely) receive treatment in the hospital even without him—so even without him, Morofushi Hiromitsu would very likely be saved for some absurd reason.
As for how outrageous it can get, it probably depends on how ridiculous the world is.
"So that means there's still a month left, right?" Matsuda Jinpei relaxed after confirming this. "There's still time, what's the rush?"
Morofushi Sora'aki: "I'm not panicking."
"I didn't say it to you." Matsuda Jinpei glanced at the bewildered Hagiwara Kenji. "Continue telling me about your situation. I only remember you being white. Are you some kind of rare species?"
As I've said before, not many people in this world are willing to become beasts. It's a psychological issue, and whether they can actually do it is also a question—the vast majority of people don't have that talent.
Even the species of the scape they themselves are associated with is considered a private matter. Even in a relationship like that of Hagiwara Kenji and Matsuda Jinpei, Matsuda Jinpei doesn't actually know the specific species of his friend's beast.
Of course, Matsuda Jinpei, who can tell a cat is black just by looking at its ears and tail, is another story—"I remember you're a dog?"
"I feel like you're insulting me..." Hagiwara Kenji's thoughts were swayed. He glanced hesitantly at Morofushi Sora'aki before replying, "I already said it was 'possible'."
"Actually, I think the culprit mistook me for someone else." Hagiwara Kenji said, stroking his chin. "I'm a silver fox dog, probably because of the burns I suffered back then, and they mistook me for an abused Arctic fox?"
Morofushi Sora'aki had read the animal encyclopedia; the Silver Fox Dog was pure white, somewhat resembling a Samoyed, and a pointed-muzzle dog—while it did look a bit like a fox, it certainly wouldn't be mistaken for an Arctic fox. To this, Morofushi Sora'aki commented, "Is he blind?"
"Right, right! Silver fox dogs aren't particularly rare! Anyone with a little common sense can recognize them! But as for Arctic foxes, there's no way they could be smuggled in!" Hagiwara Kenji sighed deeply. "Unfortunately, I didn't ask clearly, so I'm probably mistaken."
Matsuda Jinpei patted Hagiwara Kenji on the shoulder, his eyes filled with pity.
Hagiwara Kenji "..."
"That's roughly how things are! So what's going on with you guys—what happened to Morofushi-chan? Why is he dying? Is this a death sentence?"
"And you, Jinpei-chan, too. I don't think you would fake your death, but now that the funeral is over, aren't you going to contact them?"
"You're asking too many questions." Matsuda Jinpei chose to refuse to answer.
Morofushi Sora'aki was never one to answer questions, and whether Hagiwara Kenji was there or not was irrelevant now. Morofushi Sora'aki took out his paintbrush; he intended to fulfill his earlier promise.
Good deal.
He had a classmate who could draw comics sitting behind him, so he would inevitably pick up some skills from him. Plus, he was naturally good with his hands, so being clumsy was just a fluke. — Morofushi Sora'aki looked at the stick figure with crooked eyes and a slanted mouth in his sketchbook and remained silent for two seconds. "Hmm, it's a problem with the pen."
"I think you should face reality." Matsuda Jinpei retorted. "With just this one drawing, finding the culprit, is like looking for a needle in a haystack."
Having a picture in one's mind and actually drawing it out are two different things. After thinking about it carefully for a few seconds, Morofushi Sora'aki chose to call the police the next day.
He wasn't a professional detective, but the police station did. Morofushi Sora'aki, claiming he'd seen the criminal on the news before and noticed an accomplice beside him, described another criminal's facial features and characteristics to the police.
Upon hearing information from citizens, and having finally accepted the news of her colleague's death, Satou Miwako, who had been staying up late these past few days trying to recall clues, immediately realized that there was a breakthrough.
Morofushi Sora'aki also revealed the information he knew about the world—come to think of it, it seems that an explosion also occurred in his world on November 7th a year ago.
There was a car accident at the time. A prisoner suddenly ran across the middle of the road. The driver only had time to turn the steering wheel and step on the brake, but still hit the prisoner number one who suddenly rushed out. Then, because of stepping on the brake and turning the steering wheel, he accidentally hit the prisoner number two who was standing on the sidewalk.
As a result, the two bombers were seriously injured and arrested due to this coincidence. The driver was lucky; although the car was wrecked, because it was the criminals who rushed out, the driver was not at fault for the accident and even received an insurance payout.
Because it's somewhat comical and funny, it seems to have even made its way into last year's outrageous news stories—this was collected by bored netizens themselves.
This kind of innocent citizen-led news story, amidst piles of stories like "A thief tried to knock someone unconscious with a karate chop like in the comics, but ended up waking up the homeowner" and "A car owner claimed his car window was stolen, just like Batman's car tires being pried open—but the police investigation revealed that the car window had never been rolled up," has become the most normal story.
Urged on by Satou Miwako, Morofushi Sora'aki realized belatedly that he had been daydreaming again. He snapped back to reality and replied, "I know that's all I know."
"You've already helped a lot! Take a look, is this what the suspect looks like?" Satou Miwako unfolded the sketch she had drawn and checked it one last time with Morofushi Sora'aki.
"Yes, that's him." Morofushi Sora'aki nodded.
Just when I thought the matter was over, Morofushi Sora'aki left the police station and received a text message from Hagiwara Kenji.
Hagiwara Kenji sent over a photo of a man who had been beaten black and blue, and asked if this man was the bomber.
Morofushi Sora'aki tried hard to make out the facial features from that swollen face, and finally recognized him. He simply made a phone call.
The call was answered quickly, and Hagiwara Kenji's tone was deliberately lighthearted: "What's wrong, Sora'aki-chan?"
"..." Morofushi Sora'aki listened to the thumping background noise on the other end of the phone. "What's that sound?"
"Don't worry about it too much." Hagiwara Kenji replied with a smile.
Morofushi Sora'aki didn't seem to care anymore; instead, he asked, "The photo?"
"Oh, you're asking about photos?"
"—" Hagiwara Kenji said with a sudden realization, "Because not many people in this circle know me, I went out for a walk and ran into a drunk man who was muttering something about a successful revenge, so I became a little curious."
Hagiwara Kenji's tone was clearly exaggerated, even a bit gritting his teeth, "Then I tried to get some information out of him. Anyway, I'm probably not available, so could you please come pick him up and take him to the police station?"
Although it sounded troublesome, Matsuda Jinpei explained the current situation to Hagiwara Kenji. Hagiwara Kenji was initially skeptical, but after several experiments, he had no choice but to believe it.
So, just ten minutes after Morofushi Sora'aki left the police station—before Satou Miwako had even composed herself—she received another emergency call.
The person answering the phone wasn't Satou Miwako; she was still intently watching the portrait, having her professional colleagues investigate whether there was any information related to that face. Before she could even leave the office, she received a field assignment.
Being a bomber is important, but that doesn't mean she, as a police officer, has to neglect her other duties.
Upon arriving at the scene, seeing that familiar face, Satou Miwako was taken aback. "Eh? Nozaki-kun?"
—To avoid any unforeseen circumstances, Morofushi Sora'aki borrowed the name of the student sitting behind him.
"Officer Satou, I've found the bomber," Morofushi Sora'aki said.
Satou Miwako: "..."
Satou Miwako: "...???"
Satou Miwako stared at the bomb suspect, who was so badly beaten that he was unrecognizable, her expression subtle. Although this Nozaki-kun didn't look like him, the coincidence made Satou Muwako suspicious. She wondered if Nozaki-kun had a grudge against this man, which was why he reported him as a suspect and then beat him up to send him to jail.
But looking at Morofushi Sora'aki, Satou Miwako swallowed her doubts—after all, such things could be easily found out and couldn't be hidden at all.
Afterwards, Satou Miwako went to the perpetrator's residence to investigate and indeed found various pieces of evidence, thus confirming that the bruised and battered suspect was indeed the bomber himself.
As a result, Morofushi Sora'aki received a letter of thanks.
Looking at the opening scene with Nozaki-kun, Morofushi Sora'aki felt that it would be a good source of inspiration for Nozaki—for example, the heroic Suzuki-kun or Mamiko.
This world is a paradise for furry lovers, and furry-themed merchandise is quite common.
Hagiwara Kenji glanced casually at the shop window and suddenly raised an eyebrow, saying to Morofushi Sora'aki, "Speaking of which, if I remember correctly, Morofushi-chan is a cat too."
Following Hagiwara Kenji's words, Morofushi Sora'aki looked towards the mall display case, where a blue-eyed Ragdoll cat doll was displayed. It wasn't hard to understand why Hagiwara Kenji suddenly mentioned it, because the Ragdoll cat's eyes really resembled Morofushi Hiromitsu's eyes.
After thinking for a few seconds, Morofushi Sora'aki decided to buy the Ragdoll cat plushie. However, he never imagined that his impulsive purchase of the Ragdoll cat plushie would play such an important role on the day the rooftop incident occurred.
—Furuya Rei! Why were you fooled by a plush cat doll?! That's a real doll, not Morofushi Hiromitsu!!
You don't even know what species your childhood friend is... Ah, Matsuda Jinpei doesn't know what species Hagiwara Kenji is either, well, never mind then.