Cop Craft – Dragnet Mirage Reloaded

「My sister? What are you-」 「You’re going to keep telling yourself that it was my fault. Do you plan to live the rest of your life saying that? If you do that, then you’ll be nothing more than a sad loser!」 「Wha…」

His attitude changed, as if someone had slapped him in the face. In the vast corners of his mind, rage and shame were battling each other, urging him to not pull the trigger in unison.

「Do you get that, Khe Imatuba? I am not as forgiving as your brother. And I will haunt you for all eternity, never forgiving any of your excuses. And I will travel the heavenly realm of eternal spring, badmouthing you with all of the great heroes that inhabit it. Telling them about how Dorini warriors are no big deal, and how you got manipulated by the lame magic of a mediocre Mildita into killing your own friend shamelessly」 「…」 「Do not pay any attention to her words. Shoot, officer Kei Matoba!」 「But…」 「Shoot her」

That’s right, I have to shoot her. I need to control myself, and pull my index finger on the trigger-

「I will even tell your own sister! How her brother is a weak coward!」 「Stop」 「Shoot!」 「That’s right, your younger sister, as lame as yourself. She may scream at me, and sob all over the place and I won’t care!」 「You bastard…」 「Shoot!」

In the end, he couldn’t win against his impulse to pull the trigger with his index finger.

A shot was fired.

He barely got to move his wrist only slightly, enough to move the barrel of his gun away from Tilarna’s back of the head. A single bullet was fired at an empty spot on the floor.

「Fuck!」

He pushed Tilarna away, gritted his teeth violently, and managed to shove aside the urge to shoot Tilarna. He removed the magazine from his gun, pulled the slide, threw his ammo away, and groaned like a beast.

「What the fuck is going on?! Why the fuck am I doing something like this?!」

He shouted with a voice that could be heard through the entire neighborhood, punched the wall, and started shaking his head time and time again

「Shit, shit, shit shit shit!」 「Kei?!」 「What was I about to do? Was I about to shoot you and kill you… what is going on? Norbam, is this your fault?!」

It seemed like he had completely regained control of himself, and was finally comprehending what he was about to do. His sympathy towards Norbam still hadn’t disappeared completely, but thanks to his intense anger, he managed to stay alert, and firmly forbid his own mind from ever forgiving him.

「What does this mean?」

Norbam was sitting expressionlessly on the sofa. His face wasn’t that of a father overcome with grief for his daughter, or that of an influential messianic figure that was there to save the unfortunate refugees.

「That was Mildi. You enchanted Kei with a special deceiving technique」

Tilarna said as she pulled out her long sword, and got her body in position, raising and pointing it at Norbam

「Mildi? I haven’t done anything. I was just sitting here, and saying that you had lost your mind. The one who pulled out the gun and was about to shoot you was officer Matoba himself」 「Shut up! Now I know why Nyath ended up doing something like that. It was all your high level hypnotism」 「I don’t know about that. I am a priest for Danbealy. There’s no way I would use a technique like that」 「How shameless can you be…! Prepare yourself!」

Tilarna pointed the tip of her blade towards Norbam

「Stop that, Tilarna」 「Don’t stop me, Kei. This man must pay at least by having his tongue severed! Or perhaps… are you still under the effect of his spell?」 「No…」

Matoba took a deep breath, and closed his eyes.

Am I myself again? Seems like I am

「Moda Norbam. I am arresting you」

He took out his handcuffs

「Arrest me? On what grounds?」 「Murder attempt and murder instigating」 「Do you think you can actually prove that? You simply took out your gun and pointed it to that lady over there with the clear intention of killing her. You’re wasting your-」 「You have the right to remain silent」

He didn’t have the intention of listening to any more of this man’s words.

「Everything you say can be used against you in court. You have the right to contact a lawyer. If you cannot afford a lawyer, one will be appointed for you」

Matoba grabbed Norbam’s arms, and forcefully made him stand up. He handcuffed him from behind, and checked him for any weapons.

「For heaven’s sake. Now it’s even gotten to the point of police oppression」 「Let’s go」 「I want to call my lawyer. Please give me my cellphone」

Matoba did as he requested, and then they dragged him to their car. They pushed him into the backseat with the handcuffs still on, and then each got on the driver and passenger seat respectively.

While turning on the engine, Matoba said

「Tilarna」 「What?」 「You know… well… that. I’m sorry about that」

Tilarna was taken aback by his unexpected words of apology.

「… Don’t worry about it. It’s not your fault」 「I wish that was true」 「More importantly, I should be the one apologizing for having said those things about your sister. I didn’t really mean any of that! Okay?」 「What are you talking about? That was a story I heard from someone somewhere. It wasn’t about-」

Tilarna was looking up at him with her big, round pupils. She was seeing completely through him.

「So you’re just going to leave it at that?」 「… No. I’m sorry. That was my story」 「Good」

Matoba looked sour, as if he had been grounded, but Tilarna looked completely opposite of that. For some reason she was looking even satisfied.

「Ah, crap… I need to watch out for alcohol」 「Absolutely」

She pushed him lightly on the shoulder with her closed hand.

~o~O~o~

Moda Norbam’s attorney arrived at the Police Department's HQ almost immediately, despite it being close to five in the morning. He was hoping to be able to get an interview with Norbam as he was detained, so he was pressing Matoba about it as they were exiting the interrogation room.

「I will corroborate this with my client」

All of the security guards, police officers, and everybody related to the investigation were forbidden from talking with Norbam, but they couldn’t keep an attorney from talking to their client. Matoba shrugged his shoulders, and along with Tilarna, left the prosecutor’s interrogation room.

As they exited the room, they met up with the assistant prosecutor Kevin Gardner, who was looking at them reproachfully.

「Hey, Mr. officer. Did you really think that we could prosecute that Norbam guy?」 「That’s what I wanted to talk to you about」 「Prosecuting a guy like him would be almost like prosecuting the president. You keep saying that he cast a spell on you, and almost had you kill your partner, but how do you even intend to prove that?」

Gardner looked tired, sleep deprived, and he was rubbing both his eyes with his hands, and shuffling his messy hair over and over again. Whenever he had to stand in front of the judge and the jury during trial, he would look like a handsome man, wearing a perfectly fitting three piece suit, but it seemed like there had been several murder cases within the past few days. So Gardner looked at the moment much closer to a failed used car salesman.

「But that kind of stuff has happened before. There’s the precedent of that guy that did something similar with some kind of drug」 「That’s Connecticut’s Green’s case, from may 2012. But on that occasion, the barbiturate found in the defendant’s home was used as evidence against him, and the results of the proof and subsequent investigation led to a conviction. Compared to that, our situation is completely different.」

Matoba was quite impressed by how easily he could remember the place and date of that case. This kind of lawyer was better described as a “judicial otaku”. He could only think of them as the same type of people as the drama fans that sat around chatting about the specific line that Samantha said on season 4, episode 7 of Stargate.

「Can’t you do something-」 「No way I would do anything. Besides, there’s no evidence, and only two people’s testimony. How about you worry about facing charges for an unwarranted detainment and accusation?」 「There’s no way I would be lying about this. He cast some weird magic on me, and was trying to make me kill Tilarna! Are you saying it would have been better to just let him go without any consequences?!」

There was no way that Gardner would listen to him when he was acting like that, but Matoba just couldn’t stay put without shouting at him. Tilarna was standing in the back with her arms crossed, her eyes closed, and her head nodding up and down. Where had she seen his expressions before?

「I’m not particularly doubting the truth of what you’re saying, Matoba. I am talking about what you actually can do. If you want to launch a rocket, there are several parts that you need, and if you don’t have those parts, the rocket won’t fly. No matter how much you yell at it, it won’t fly」 「…Ah… you’re right. Fuck. Couldn’t we detain him for a completely different thing while he’s in here right now?」 「On what charge?」 「Murder assistance and instigaton, or maybe for criminal conspiracy… depending on Nyath」 「That’s fine. Since we’ll be doing it like this, I won’t be able to detain him for too long」 「How long?」

Gardner looked at his wristwatch

「I’ll try my best, but I’ll be able to detain him until tomorrow at best. And if things go south, then today by noon」 「That’s… Ah, shit. Keep him here, in any case」 「Okay. Then I’ll take my leave. I’ll get the paperwork ready」 「Thanks for everything. I’ll leave it up to you」

Gardner softly hit Matoba on the back with his folder, and left.

「Ugh…」

Matoba noticed Tilarna’s thinking expression

「What’s with you? I think I can imagine what you want to say, but look, this is the way things are turning out to be」 「I should have cut that guy in pieces back then」

Tilarna puffed her cheeks bitterly and muttered

「Don’t be stupid. If you had done that, then I would’ve had to arrest you for murder」 「That’s according to earth’s laws or whatever. I’ve been holding back and hanging around you people, but honestly I don’t think I will ever be able to comprehend them」 「But it is just as Gardner was saying. We don’t have the right parts. We don’t have the appropriate laws to judge magic users, so we need to do it via traditional means」 「That man’s tongue is dangerous」 「Yeah」 「He has most likely been using Mildi and taking advantage of people with spells like that all along. And he even admitted to being able to place a tremendous pressure on the upper echelons of the Police Department. A man like that is trying to enter the world of politics. If we let him be, then he may end up becoming a huge problem」

Matoba was thinking that as well. But this was a problem that far exceeded their capabilities. It would be best to hope that by reporting on it, the responsible departments would take care of it. It wasn’t an issue for the Special Vice Squad.

Their job was investigating the circumstances surrounding Norune’s and Mendoza’s deaths, and making Norbam pay, if it came out that he had been actually involved in either of them.