Detective's Intuition

"I suddenly felt like things had been a lot more peaceful lately..."

Tokyo, Metropolitan Police Department. Juzo Megure sat leisurely in an office chair in the Third Division's office, gazing out the window with a hint of melancholy.

For some reason, he had suddenly realized that there had been far fewer murder cases lately. Beika Town seemed to have returned to its former peace.

Fewer murders were certainly a good thing, but with all this sudden free time, he felt strangely unaccustomed to it.

"Ring, ring!"

Just then, a telephone ringing abruptly interrupted his thoughts.

He answered it, and before he could say anything, Fujino's voice came from the other end. "Is this Inspector Megure?"

"Brother Fujino?"

Juzo Megure exclaimed in surprise when he heard the voice.

Could there be another murder case?

With that thought, he asked doubtfully, "Brother, you called me... Did you run into a murder case?"

"No murder case... but I did find an International Robbery Group."

"An international robbery group?"

Juzo Megure frowned. "Could it be that Italian Robbery Group that stole the Maple Leaf Gold Coins and fled to Japan?"

"It should be that whatever-it-was Italian Robbery Group."

As he spoke, Fujino glanced at the three men hiding in a corner and described them. "One Japanese man and two foreigners. That should be them, right?"

"That's right! It's them!"

Juzo Megure abruptly rose from his office chair. "Brother Fujino, where are you right now?!"

"Outside XXX Bank near Tokyo Tower."

"Brother, don't do anything rash. We'll head over right away..."

After hanging up, a sharp glint flashed in Juzo Megure's eyes.

As expected of Brother Fujino!

He had actually found an international gang wanted by the police so easily...

More achievements were coming his way!

This time, Fujino had not acted rashly. Instead, he had called for outside support: Inspector Megure.

He was confident in his swordsmanship, and with buffs stacked on top of one another, he could easily take down three burly men.

But the other side had guns!

He, Fujino, might be reckless, but he was not stupid.

Charging at gun-toting brutes with a wooden stick was practically asking to get riddled with bullets before he could even get close.

Before long, Juzo Megure arrived at the scene, accompanied by more than a dozen elite officers from the Third Division.

However, since they were in plainclothes, they hid inside a television station's broadcast van nearby to avoid arousing the criminals' suspicions.

Only Sato Miwako and Fujino remained outside to monitor those men's movements.

"Those people are the wanted members of the Italian Robbery Group? They don't look like it."

Sato Miwako sat outside a café, glancing sidelong at the burly men in the distance as she muttered to herself.

Not far away, three burly men in white suits were sneakily following several elementary school students.

They looked exactly like human traffickers, nothing like international master thieves.

Still, Sato Miwako had looked over the photographs before coming. Those three were indeed robbery suspects from the wanted international gang.

"Why didn't you sneak up and take them down this time?"

Turning her head, Sato Miwako smiled at Fujino and teased, "I remember Fujino, you were supposed to be pretty brave."

Fujino looked Sato Miwako over speechlessly.

She was wearing a cropped T-shirt and jeans, looking like a frivolous young girl rather than a police officer in the slightest.

This was probably the highest level of going undercover...

Shaking off the thought, Fujino could not help complaining, "I'm brave, but I'm not stupid. I know when I can and can't make a move... Besides, they have guns. I don't want to turn into a sieve."

"I didn't expect you to be so clear-headed."

Sato Miwako covered her mouth and chuckled. "But putting that aside, Fujino, how exactly did you find them? The police have been hunting those people for days, but we haven't uncovered a single useful lead."

Hearing that, Fujino stretched lazily, picked up the coffee before him, and took a sip. "What if I said it was a detective's intuition? Would you believe me?"

"Intuition might sound a little unreliable, but it really can work..."

Sato Miwako paused, then smiled. "But you wouldn't be this cautious based on intuition alone, would you?"

Fujino scratched the back of his head. "Actually, it was because of the Treasure Map that one of those elementary school students had."

"A Treasure Map?"

Sato Miwako looked somewhat surprised.

"That's right, a Treasure Map... Just a few dozen minutes ago, those elementary school students came to me and asked me to help decipher the code on it."

After a pause, Fujino continued, "I didn't get a clear look at it, and I didn't memorize everything on the map, but I can be certain that the code on it was in Italian."

"Combined with this morning's news, I guessed that the Treasure Map was a map marking where Cabagne hid the Maple Leaf Gold Coins."

"But why would he draw the Maple Leaf Gold Coins on such a crude map?"

Sato Miwako propped up her chin. "As I recall, they were part of the same group, weren't they?"

Fujino set his coffee down and asked Sato Miwako, "If I'm not mistaken, the reason you found Cabagne in the first place was because you received an anonymous tip, right?"

"Though I don't know the exact details, it's true that someone reported him." Sato Miwako nodded in surprise. "But Fujino, how did you know..."

"A year ago, Cabagne ordered his subordinates to steal the Maple Leaf Gold Coins, but once the job was done, Cabagne took all of them for himself."

After a pause, Fujino continued his deduction. "Recently, Cabagne's subordinates learned where he was hiding and found that Treasure Map in his room... To be safe, they did not choose to kill Cabagne. Instead, they reported him and sent him to prison, planning to decipher the map's code before taking all the Maple Leaf Gold Coins for themselves."

"So that was it."

Sato Miwako nodded, suddenly enlightened.

But then a trace of confusion appeared on her face. "Still, even if the Treasure Map fell into those children's hands, they shouldn't be following them... They should have simply dealt with them and taken the map back, right?"

"Normally, that would be the case."

Fujino smiled. "But what if even those guys don't know how to decipher the Treasure Map?"

"Could they be planning to use those elementary school students to find where the Maple Leaf Gold Coins are?"

"Correct!"