Brother's Authorization, Act First and Report Later

"Fuji, Fujino?!"

Sato Miwako, gripping the car keys, froze. She turned stiffly to the passenger seat. "What are you doing here?!"

Why can't I be here?

Fujino was speechless for a moment. "Besides, your reaction is too much, like you've seen a ghost..."

How dare you say that!

Sato Miwako patted her thick chest to catch her breath, then pointed at the Junior Detective League outside the car window and said resentfully, "You were just chatting with those kids a moment ago, and then suddenly you ran into the car. It would be strange if you weren't a little bit crazy!"

"It is indeed quite big."

Fujino nodded silently in agreement. "Yeah, I mean the reaction was pretty strong... But speaking of which, what are you going to do? Why are you acting so sneaky?"

"Well..."

"You're not planning to sneak off and investigate the case by yourself, are you?"

Fujino rubbed his chin. "Speaking of which, Inspector Megure just called me and told me to keep an eye on a certain policewoman to prevent her from doing anything rash."

"Where, where is it!"

Sato Miwako head away guiltily. "I just wanted to buy... to buy dinner. That's right, I noticed the children hadn't eaten dinner yet, so I was thinking of buying some bento boxes!"

"Officer Sato, just accept your fate..."

Fujino reached out and patted her shoulder reassuringly. "Brother Megure has already entrusted you to me, there's no point in trying to run away."

"Hmm... what do you mean by entrusting me to you?"

Sato Miwako blushed slightly. "It's just asking you to act with me, how come it sounds so different to you?"

"Well, that's not quite right to say it, but that's the gist of it."

Fujino pondered for a moment, "My brother gave me special permission to act first and report later, so now you don't have a choice. If you don't behave, I'll have to knock you out with this Wooden Sword..."

He pulled out Wooden Sword from behind his back, weighed it in his hand, and smirked slightly. "Officer, you don't want to be knocked unconscious by my Wooden Sword, do you?"

Sato Miwako: "...?"

The more I hear what you're saying, the more something seems off.

And why does that last sentence sound so familiar?

Although she couldn't recall where she'd heard the name before, Sato Miwako could understand Juzo Megure's intentions regarding Fujino's involvement with her...

This time, however, she really didn't want Fujino to go with her.

In particular, they went to capture the thugs who had killed Matsuda three years ago.

But Sato Miwako knew that even if she refused, it would be useless, so she could only sigh helplessly, "I really can't do anything with you guys, Inspector Megure is like this, and you, Fujino, are like this too..."

"Inspector Megure is just showing concern for you."

Fujino looked at her. "If we really catch that criminal, are you sure you can stay calm?"

"Of course..."

Sato Miwako stopped mid-sentence.

She lowered her eyes, not daring to meet Fujino's gaze.

Matsuda Jinpei's death has always been a haunting nightmare for her.

If she actually caught the thug who killed Matsuda, she didn't know what extreme things she might do...

Feeling guilty?

Fujino chuckled and teased, "You always criticize me, but when it really matters, you act impulsively too!"

"Where did I act impulsively!"

Sato Miwako pouted. "Compared to you, I'm far inferior, okay?"

"Okay, okay, I'm more impulsive."

Fujino smiled helplessly, held the Wooden Sword horizontally in front of him, and put his hands behind his head. "But instead of arguing about who is more impulsive, isn't it more important for us to find the bomber first?"

"Um..."

Sato Miwako nodded in agreement.

She did not continue to refuse to act together.

Although she didn't think Fujino would really be so cruel as to hit her, the thought of that flawless swordsmanship...

Well, after all, it was something Inspector Megure.

You can't disobey orders from your superiors!

It's definitely not because I'm afraid of being hit by Wooden Sword!

She inserted the key into the ignition, started the car, and turned to Fujino in the passenger seat, asking, "By the way Fujino, have you heard about the details of this case?"

"As for details, I don't have any yet. I've only heard that the bombings three and seven years ago were committed by the same perpetrator, but I don't know much else."

Fujino recalled his memories. Although he remembered the general outline of the case, he couldn't recall the details clearly.

"Yes, that's about it."

Sato Miwako stepped on the gas and drove off, a look of reminiscence flashing in her eyes. "It all started with that bombing seven years ago. There were two people involved in the bombing. The bombs were planted in two luxury apartments in Tokyo. The perpetrators demanded 1 billion yen."

"One of the bombs was successfully defused within the time limit, but the other one was very complex in construction. Our police had no choice but to comply with the perpetrator's demands. The perpetrator then used a remote control to disable the timer on the explosive device, and then evacuated the residents of the building. At that point, the matter should have ended there..."

"But after thirty minutes, one of the perpetrators suddenly called the police and asked, 'The bomb's timer is still ticking. What's going on?' At the time, we thought the perpetrators must have seen the replay on TV, which is why they mistakenly thought the bomb hadn't been deactivated."

"Our police believed this was a golden opportunity to arrest the criminal, so we deliberately delayed our conversation with him, found the address he used to make the call, and then arrested him..."

At this point, Sato Miwako paused, then continued in a deep voice, "But during the perpetrator's escape, he was accidentally hit and killed by a car. Afterwards, the bomb, which had already stopped, started its countdown again. The members of the Explosives Disposal Team who were on site to defuse the bomb died in the line of duty before they could even evacuate..."

"Yes, I've heard of him, Hagiwara Kenji."

Fujino lowered his eyes. "And the one from three years ago was Matsuda Jinpei. I investigated, and they were classmates at the police academy."

"As expected of a detective... I only found out that the two of them were good friends from Inspector Megure."

Sato Miwako paused for a moment, then continued, "Because of what happened seven years ago, three years ago, that criminal retaliated against the police again... It was this guy who sent a fax signed 'Knights of the Round Table,' and then Matsuda found the location of the bomb... but then they discovered that there was more than one bomb."

Her grip on the steering wheel tightened slightly. "Just as the bomb was about to be defused, the criminal said that he would give a hint about the location of another bomb three seconds before it exploded... and then I just watched that idiot..."

At this point, she took a deep breath to calm herself down, and looked up at Fujino through the reflection in the glass. "To be honest, you really look like Matsuda."