Tokyo: Rabbit Officer and Her Evil Partner

Hearing this, Minamoto Tamako felt a bit disappointed.

It's normal for a person to experience personality changes after psychological treatment—no change would be abnormal, indicating that the client wasted their money.

But she still thanked Doi Izuki, and after Fushimi Roku finished his questions, she proactively swiped her card to pay, saw Doi Izuki off, returned to her seat to finish her coffee, and casually asked: "Mr. Fushimi, what do you think?"

"Sitting and watching."

Fushimi Roku had finished his coffee and felt like going to the restroom, but it wasn't appropriate to get up quickly, so he decided to hold it in for a while.

"Don't play coy with me!" Minamoto Tamako pouted, patting her little notebook in her pocket, and said, "Be careful, I might cancel it for you!"

This guy was acting all bossy, making Fushimi Roku quite annoyed.

However, the more annoyed he was, the more Fushimi Roku wanted to get the super reward, so he could someday teach Minamoto Tamako a lesson, making her understand not to be too arrogant... a delayed gratification of sorts.

Forget it, first put on socks, then shoes; act humbly before taking charge.

Fushimi Roku adjusted his mindset and began to explain: "There's really no way to draw any definite conclusions, no matter which angle you interpret it from, there's no way to truly recreate what happened that night... In my view, the best approach is actually to get Fujiwara Homare to tell the truth, then all the problems would be solved."

"But he won't talk, the moment he opens his mouth, he confesses, how do we communicate then?" Minamoto Tamako was very frustrated.

Fushimi Roku rolled his eyes, all the criminal police are eager for suspects to confess, but there Minamoto Tamako is, trying to figure out the truth known only to the parties involved, unwilling to use special methods on the suspects, isn't she just asking for trouble?

"Then I can't help it either." He shrugged, speaking candidly.

"Oh~ Yo yo yo... So there are cases in this world that can stump Mr. Fushimi?"

Minamoto Tamako snickered, showing a sly little grin, and chuckled: "How's that? Have you experienced the charm of deduction now? Not every case can be solved by speculating on people's minds! You must peel away the layers and find the truth from objective facts!"

"Oh, so Officer Tamako has already deduced the truth?" Fushimi Roku pretended to be surprised and mimicked her sarcastically: "Wow! Truly amazing, it seems I was too clueless! Indeed, to solve a case, we must rely on Officer Tamako!"

Minamoto Tamako blushed, somewhat embarrassed, and defended herself: "I-I'm still investigating! Isn't it good for everyone to discuss and brainstorm together?"

"What do you mean everyone? There's clearly only two of us." Fushimi Roku thought this was quite pathetic: "Any normal murder case would have a special investigation team, right? Being the son of the Director of Police, doesn't Fujiwara Homare at least deserve that kind of attention?"

He paused, then realized something, saying: "Oh! I get it, did the higher-ups ask you to handle it quietly? Is it because you can't establish a special investigation team that the case fell into your hands... you're just being set up as a scapegoat!"

Minamoto Tamako patted her chest confidently, milk foam on her chin, and said, "What scapegoat? If you're always afraid of offending others, how can you conduct a fair investigation? If it's there, it's there; if not, it's not. Even if Director Fujiwara blames me, I have a clear conscience!"

"Impressive! As expected of Officer Tamako!" Fushimi Roku applauded sarcastically.

Minamoto Tamako knew Fushimi Roku was being sarcastic; inwardly, she felt somewhat pressured too. If the case went wrong, she'd indeed have to take the blame for Chief Kikuchi...

No way!

She had to find a way to prove her capability!

At critical moments, she still had to seek help from Fushimi-A, the classic plot Minamoto Tamako had always dreamed of was about to unfold—the assistant's unintentional words waking the detective from deep thoughts!

"Don't you have any clue at all? Any guess or idea will do!" Minamoto Tamako looked hopeful.

"Actually, I do," Fushimi Roku said, stroking his chin: "From my past experience… I mean from observing people, there are generally three scenarios where someone might confess in a murder case."

He raised three fingers: "First, induced or coerced confession, where the suspect confesses under the coaxing of judicial authorities and enforcers; second, plea bargaining, commonly when the suspect confesses after surrendering; third, taking the fall for someone else, where the suspect, for some purpose, voluntarily takes the blame for something they didn't do."

After saying this, Fushimi Roku folded down his fingers one by one:

"The first scenario is obviously impossible; neither you nor I coerced or induced a confession from Fujiwara Homare, so it can be decisively ruled out;"

"The second scenario remains doubtful; Lawyer Kikuta clearly wants to reduce the sentence, but Fujiwara Homare might not want that—if he didn't want to be imprisoned, why would he sleep at the crime scene? Why wouldn't he use his parents' connections? Why has he been silent, not even trying to defend himself?"

"In my opinion, Fujiwara Homare's state matches the third scenario, namely taking the blame for someone else, hence he doesn't run, doesn't defend himself, and confesses voluntarily due to some motivation."

"Of course, this is merely my personal speculation without any evidence to support it, and there are also many doubts—for example, if Fujiwara Homare is covering for someone, how did the third party commit the crime? If Fujiwara Homare was helping the third party kill, how did he manage to fall asleep after committing the crime?"

At this point, Fushimi Roku acknowledged the case's difficulty.

Without coercion, this case would be extremely hard to handle.

It so happens that Fujiwara Homare is the son of the Director of Police, and no one in the Police Department dares to coerce him.

Just thinking about it, Minamoto Tamako picked up a hot potato—all eyes would be on her whether she succeeds or fails with the case, so that's why he hasn't been very interested.

"Anyway, as I see it, this case can't be properly investigated; only the people involved know what happened that night. Fujiwara Homare confessed outright, no matter how much you investigate, you can't truly uncover the truth..."

Before Fushimi Roku could finish talking, Minamoto Tamako suddenly slapped the table: "I got it!"

Her little face was exceptionally excited, radiant, and everyone looked extra adorable, especially Mr. Fushimi, who unintentionally enlightened her, with a silly look of disbelief that was just too cute, making one want to hug and kiss him.

Finally!

Finally got what she wished for!

Minamoto Tamako stood up, moved to Fushimi Roku's face, feeling goosebumps from excitement, her arch in the little shoes curling up, a tingling current climbing her spine and shooting up to her head, almost a cerebral climax. Her face twisted in excitement as she grabbed Fushimi's shoulders and loudly asked:

"I figured out what's going on! Mr. Fushimi… You haven't figured it out, have you? You absolutely haven't deduced the truth, right?"

Fushimi Roku slightly leaned back, knowing that Minamoto Tamako was silently competing with him, but he hadn't thought her reaction would be this big if he let her lead once... Her desire to win was too strong!

He didn't care about winning or losing in deduction, he just wanted to solve the case and go home to rest, so he followed Minamoto Tamako's question:

"Uh... I truly haven't figured it out... Can you explain?"

Upon hearing this, Minamoto Tamako's pupils widened, she plopped back into her chair, legs together, and covered her mouth, swallowing repeatedly.

... So much fun, so much fun, so much fun!!

Mr. Fushimi really turned into her stupid assistant!!

"I don't understand," "Why," "What's going on"… He really asked such questions, just like the stupid assistant in dramas!

She always wanted a stupid assistant who seemed to know nothing, obeyed the detective's words, was loyal, and full of energy!

Minamoto Tamako was so happy that hearts were practically shooting out of her eyes!

"Can you be normal?" Fushimi Roku scooted his butt backwards: "If solving a case makes you like this, people might call you a crazy detective or a perverted police chief."

"Uh... ah uh... gulp..."

Minamoto Tamako calmed down after a while, swallowing, and finally said vaguely: "I'm not abnormal... I'm just too happy about solving the case, that's all." Visit My Virtual Library Empire (M_VLEMPYR) for more.

"Don't get too happy too soon, you might have deduced wrongly?" Fushimi Roku was unimpressed.

"No way... This time I'm definitely not wrong..." Minamoto Tamako wiped her hands with a napkin, still blushing, and said quietly: "But you're right, I need to first find a way to verify the deduction..."

"Where to verify?"

"Fujiwara family," Minamoto Tamako completely calmed down, hands on her knees, seriously said: "I have to go to the Fujiwara family... I have a hypothesis that needs verifying."

Fushimi Roku clicked his tongue secretly, imagining in his mind, a family marriage partner ready to send their son to jail, questioning the family during an investigation, it was really ruthless.

If this were a fantasy novel, Minamoto Tamako would be the villainous female sidekick in the 'calling off the engagement' trope, bound to get face-slapped by main character Fujiwara Homare's thirty years of ups and downs.

He muttered internally for a while, ready to get up to pee, finish accompanying Minamoto Tamako to the Fujiwara family to call off the engagement... No, to question the family. If Minamoto Tamako's deduction was correct, then he could finish and go home to rest.

However, just as Fushimi Roku stood up, the black-haired, yellow-haired waiter returned, handing Minamoto Tamako the bank card and bill, and started clearing the table.

Minamoto Tamako took the bill, glanced at it casually, and was shocked, couldn't help but ask, "Why is it so expensive?"

"This is coffee beans from the Jamaica Blue Mountain Region, grown at high-altitude cloud belt, the soil rich in minerals, with a mellow and balanced taste, carrying citrus and nut aromas... Only coffee beans grown at an altitude above 1800 meters can be named 'Blue Mountain Coffee', and 80% of the production is supplied to the Japanese market..."

The waiter rattled on explaining why the cup of coffee Fushimi Roku ordered was so expensive.

Minamoto Tamako didn't listen, she only felt pain for her wallet.

Furthermore, if she remembered correctly, the remaining money in that bank card shouldn't be enough to cover the bill — for caution and financial planning, she usually kept entertainment, living expenses, and savings in three separate bank cards.

To save money for rent, her entertainment expenses were naturally minimal.

Minamoto Tamako asked casually how much was short, but the waiter said it had already been successfully paid, leaving her utterly confused. After confirming multiple times, she couldn't help but say: "Uh, can your store's POS machine check bank card balance? I want to confirm how much remains in the card..."

The waiter nodded: "No problem—"

"No!" Fushimi Roku interrupted: "No time to dawdle, hurry to the Fujiwara family!"

Of course he knew what was going on because he had encountered the same situation — if Minamoto Tamako checked the balance at this moment, she would find an extra 2,500 yen in the bank card!

Minamoto Tamako looked bewildered: "Eh? Why? Checking the balance doesn't take long..."