Fujino found this whole operation a little outrageous and was greatly shocked.
He understood, from his grounding in psychology, that rumors were as uncontrollable as cancer cells. As they spread, there was no telling what they would turn into.
What had originally been a trivial matter could eventually be blown into a world-shaking event.
Like saying something huge was coming.
After passing from mouth to mouth, the truth of the information had long since vanished, leaving only everyone's own opinions being retold.
Fujino did not know much about communications studies, but he understood some psychology.
From a psychological standpoint, when no one controlled a rumor, it would inevitably develop toward the emotional interpretation most widely accepted by the public—that was, emotional bias.
For example, the same rumor would become two entirely different concepts in the eyes of different groups, and its final form would be completely different as well.
It was all retold through each person's perspective, shaped into the interpretation they found most reasonable, most emotionally convincing, and most consistent with common perceptions based on past events.
That was what shocked Fujino. Since it was all the retelling of opinions, did that mean that, in their eyes, him taking maternity leave for Sato Miwako was a reasonable and plausible emotional assumption?
So what exactly were the people at the Metropolitan Police Department stuffing into their heads?
Damn it, there were so many cases they were not solving, yet they had come here to gossip.
Japan's police were doomed sooner or later.
The two women emerged from the break room and spotted Fujino nearby.
Since it was not an awkward matter, Sato Miwako was the first of the two to greet him. "You're here?"
"Yeah..."
Fujino glanced at Yumi Miyamoto, who looked as though she had just been bullied. "What