Call Brother Megure When You Need Something

"That's what I think too."

Haruna Yuki nodded, agreeing with Fujino's guess.

She then added, "Actually, after that, I received several more strange messages."

"Did Mr. Qiuwu send it to you?"

Fujino asked, "For example, sending you a message using someone else's pager or something."

I don't think so.

Haruna Yuki shook her head, lowered her head and said, "The tone of those messages was very strange, saying things like, 'I have something I want to ask you, please come to the designated place alone' or something like that."

"Mr. Qiu Wu's tone was not like that, and none of my friends have ever sent me such messages, so I didn't go over."

She paused, looking somewhat shaken, and continued, "Then, that very night, I received more than ten similar messages, calling me a 'cheating cat' and saying things like 'may I die a horrible death,' a whole host of nasty things."

"Forehead..."

Upon hearing this, Fujino fell into deep thought.

Why does this sound like the wife scolding the mistress?

This lady, could she have been mistaken for an online dating partner?

Fujino thought for a moment, organized his thoughts, and then said in a deep voice, "From what you said, I feel that the person who sent the message was the other party's wife, and the reason she sent the message was that she saw the chat content and mistakenly thought you were the other party's mistress."

"The other woman?"

Haruna Yuki asked in confusion, looking somewhat surprised.

"Yes, think about it."

Fujino took a sip of his black tea and explained, "After all, the other person's name is the same as my first love's, and that Music Box has a valuable meaning. If it were me, I would definitely think that the other person is a mistress and is seducing my husband."

"So that's why Mr. Qiuwu stopped contacting me?!"

Haruna Yuki suddenly realized what was happening and hurriedly picked up her black tea and took a sip to calm herself down.

Upon careful consideration, she realized that Fujino's words made sense.

I am indeed easily misunderstood.

"If that's the case, then we need to explain things clearly quickly..."

"Yes, we really need to explain this properly."

Fujino chimed in with a comment.

This college student seems a bit oblivious...

Is this how all college students are?

That's true, naive college students like that are indeed quite nice people.

However, as good as he is, we still need to talk about the commission fee first.

After all, he wasn't sure if the other party could afford the commission fee.

Thinking of this, Fujino continued, "We have a general understanding of the whole story. Next, we should talk about the commission fee."

"Um."

Haruna Yuki regained her senses and nodded.

She actually felt a little guilty that Fujino would bring up the matter of the commission fee.

"Under normal circumstances, my fee for a missing person case is 300,000 yen."

Fujino combined his previous missing person search requests with a slight price reduction.

Judging from the situation, the other party must have been saving money since last Christmas before finally coming to the detective.

However, he wasn't sure which Christmas Ke Xue was referring to.

He paused, then added, "However, depending on the difficulty of finding the person and the time it takes, the commission fee will also increase accordingly. After all, finding people is a very troublesome matter."

"Three hundred thousand yen?"

Haruna Yuki lowered her head and pondered for a moment.

Three hundred thousand yen is indeed a lot for her, a college student who still has to work part-time to make a living.

Fortunately, she had saved some money before coming here...

Thinking of this, she nodded and instructed Fujino, "If you can find Mr. Akigo, then I'll trouble you..."

After signing the contract, Fujino received a deposit of 100,000 yen.

He won't be doing those low-price deposit promotions like he used to.

After all, people die all the time in Mika, and there are a lot of talented people around. The other party might be dead before the commission is even completed.

After asking a few more questions about the commission and the pager number, Fujino sent Haruna Yuki away, leaving her with the Music Box.

"Is this Music Box the only clue we have right now?"

Fujino sat on the sofa in the bedroom, staring thoughtfully at the Music Box in front of him.

Then he wound up the Music Box.

A pleasant, crisp musical sound rang out.

Fujino closed his eyes and listened intently.

Has Spring Has Come?

Fujino quickly recognized the song title and took out his phone to find it on a simple search app.

"Spring Comes"—he had this song in his past life too. It was recommended to him by a certain penguin daily recommendation. He thought it was alright and even saved it, so he still had some impression of this song.

In his memory of this world, this song seemed to be a very popular classic, and it appeared to be included in both elementary and middle school textbooks.

"LA, DO, LA."

Fujino simply compared the melody of spring and, based on his knowledge of the piano masters in his mind, quickly found the missing notes in the Music Box.

However, Fujino had no idea what the code "LADOLA" meant.

After thinking for a moment, Fujino stopped worrying about the Music Box.

He took out his phone and dialed Juzo Megure's number.

If you need anything, just call Megure, you can't go wrong.

He had hired people to do this several times before, and it always worked.

"Brother Fujino, has another murder occurred?"

On the other end of the line at the Metropolitan Police Department, Juzo Megure, who had just answered the phone, immediately asked the question.

"Brother Megure, why do you keep thinking about murder cases?"

Fujino made a comment.

"No murder cases?"

Juzo Megure seemed somewhat surprised upon hearing this.

Generally speaking, when Fujino calls him, it's either about a murder case, that he just took down a group of robbers, or that he's discovered some kind of criminal gang.

Call him if you have nothing to do...

This is getting much worse.

Thinking of this, he sighed and asked Fujino helplessly, "So Fujino, what's the matter this time you're calling?"

"Yes, there are indeed some things I'd like to trouble you with, brother."

Fujino nodded and read out the pager number he had just memorized, "Actually, I wanted to ask you for a favor this time, brother, to help me find out the address of the owner of this pager number."

Juzo Megure: "..."

Sure enough, no cases mean something's up.

Why don't you call me every now and then to check on me?

After a moment of silence, Juzo Megure sighed and said, "Alright, alright, this time it's another wanted criminal you suspect, right? I understand. We should be able to find them by tomorrow."

"Thank you for your help, Inspector Megure."

"Alright, alright, I'll hang up now. Another murder case."

"Should I go over there?"

"There's another detective at the crime scene, so I won't trouble you to go, Fujino."

Early the next morning.

Fujino drove to the Konoha Kendo Hall, intending to go to the exam venue with Suwa Yuji and the kendo girl.

Before leaving, he called Hiratsuka Shizuka to ask for leave.

Incidentally, he also added a reminder not to slap his face.

Hiratsuka Shizuka was naturally pleased that her student needed to take leave to participate in the second-dan kendo exam, so she agreed and rushed to the infirmary.

Teitan High School, infirmary.

Vermouth, who had Tomoaki Araide, sat in the infirmary.

She held a photo from the school festival in her hand, lost in thought.

"Knock knock!"

Just then, there was a knock on the door.

"They're here!"

She narrowed her eyes at the sound and was about to open the door when it was suddenly pulled open forcefully.

"Box!"

The one who walked in was Hiratsuka Shizuka.

"Teacher Hiratsuka".

Vermouth forced a gentle smile and greeted Hiratsuka Shizuka.

"Doctor Shinide, I'm afraid I'll have to trouble you again today."

Hiratsuka Shizuka also had a kind smile on her face.

"Could you trouble me?"

Vermouth seemed somewhat puzzled.

Could it be that Tomoaki Araide has some connection with this person?

"Um?"

Seeing that Hiratsuka Shizuka was pretending not to understand, Hiratsuka Tomoaki Araide's expression gradually softened, and she placed a hand on Araide's shoulder. "You're not going to play dumb again to shirk responsibility, are you?"

Vermouth: "..."

Feigning ignorance to evade responsibility?

Instantly, an infinite number of possibilities came to mind.

Could it be that these two people have some kind of secret relationship?

That's going to be difficult...

"Well..."

Seeing that Tomoaki Araide didn't speak, Hiratsuka Shizuka sighed softly.

During the previous phone call, Fujino had told her not to be too violent.

But judging from this, it seems unlikely.

She's clearly a gentle woman, so why do we always have to force her to take action?

... Two minutes later.

Vermouth sat in a chair, clutching her stomach, and carefully took out a sick leave certificate from the drawer, handing it to Hiratsuka Shizuka.

That solves it.

Hiratsuka Shizuka took the sick leave certificate and walked out of the infirmary with satisfaction, waving the certificate as she instructed, "Don't pretend to be confused next time. Be more efficient."

"Etc."

"Is there anything else?"

Hiratsuka Shizuka raised her fist, turned around, and saw Tomoaki Araide handing over a stack of sick leave certificates. She handed them over respectfully, saying, "Take these sick leave certificates."

"Hmm, this is acceptable."

Hiratsuka Shizuka took the sick leave certificate, nodded with satisfaction, lowered her fist, and patted her shoulder with relief, "You've become much smarter!"

Vermouth: "..."

After Hiratsuka Shizuka left, Vermouth lifted her clothes and glanced at her belly.

There were no marks on her fair belly; the other person hadn't hit her very hard, which only served as a deterrent...

So, just give them a leave slip if they want it, why do they have to get beaten up before they approve it?

That Tomoaki Araide, is he a masochist?

Meanwhile, the second-dan kendo exam in Tokyo has already begun.

Because the spots were recommended by the kendo dojo, not many people participated in this promotion tournament.

Judging from the registered nameplate numbers, there are probably only forty or fifty people.

The number of people promoted has increased from ten to the top twenty.

It looks much easier than the last time when ten people advanced.

From Fujino's perspective, this is something that various kendo dojos hold to hone their students' skills and, incidentally, help them advance in rank.

"You must be Fujino, the one known as the 'Tokyo Kendo Newcomer King'?"

On the field, a boy dressed in kendo uniform stood opposite him and shouted loudly at Fujino.

"Tokyo Kendo Rookie King?"

Fujino glanced at the boy opposite him, and exclaimed in surprise, seemingly puzzled by the title.

Before he could reply, the other party threatened, "Today, I'm going to take this title back from you, the 'number one person with talent but no virtue'!"

Fujino: "..."

So what on earth are these random titles?

Talented but lacking in virtue, which bastard said that?

Fujino was speechless for a moment, then weighed the Wooden Sword in his hand and looked at the boy opposite him.

Hmm, this person needs to be taught a lesson.

"The match begins!"

"Ha!"

With a shout from the referee, the boy yelled and charged forward.

He raised the Wooden Sword in his hand and rushed towards Fujino at lightning speed.

Fujino glanced at the other person's movements, and with his exceptional perception, he clearly captured them.

Fujino took a deep breath, seized the opportunity, and strode forward, brandishing the Wooden Sword in his hand.

"Crack!"

With a crisp sound, the boy's Wooden Sword was shattered with a single blow.

In contrast, Fujino's Wooden Sword was completely undamaged. After shattering the opponent's Wooden Sword, it directly struck the opponent's face armor.

"Bang!"

With a loud bang, the boy flew backward and crashed heavily to the ground with a thud.

The helmet that was hit flew to the other side and landed on the ground with another heavy thud.

Seeing that the boy had lost his equipment, the referee rushed over to check on him. After confirming that he was not dead, he breathed a sigh of relief, stood up, raised the flag in his hand, and announced the winner, "One point, the contestant has lost consciousness. The winner is Konoha Kendo Hall, Fujino Doji."

After the match ended, the still conscious boy was carried away on a stretcher that had been prepared in advance.

This time, all the participants were elites from the dojos. After the first incident of being carried away on a stretcher, many aspiring prodigies did not choose to linger when facing Fujino and instead forfeited to wait for the revival match.

After all, losing the game is not a big deal, you can be revived, but if you are defeated by Fujino, your Dao heart will be shattered.

However, many confident teenagers still came to take on the challenge.

Without exception, they were all eliminated by being easily defeated by weaker opponents.

Fujino swept through the competition, advancing directly to the second dan with first place and receiving a second dan certificate from the Kendo Association.

After the match, he inexplicably heard many nicknames from the boys he had beaten to a pulp.

For example, phrases like "Tokyo Kendo Newcomer King," "The Number One Talented but Unethical Person," or "Kendo Demon King."

However, Fujino didn't care about any of that.

However, due to the reduction in opponents, his swordsmanship proficiency points also decreased accordingly, which made him feel somewhat regretful.

After the match ended, it was noon.

Fujino had just stepped out of the competition venue when his phone suddenly rang.

The screen displayed Inspector Juzo Megure.

Fujino answered the phone and asked Juzo Megure, "Brother Megure, have you found out the information about the pager's owner?"

"I called the pager company this morning to investigate, and the results are in."

As Juzo Megure spoke, he pulled out a document. "According to the registration information, the other party's name is Shugo Ogata... As for the contact number and address, I'll send them to you via text message later."

"Thank you for your help, Inspector Megure."

Fujino hung up the phone, and shortly after, the relevant information was sent to his text message inbox.