Suzuki Ayako

October 8, Saturday.

During today's Arrest Technique Training, everyone was delighted to discover that the chief wasn't there!

The more sly ones had already started catching up on sleep with their eyes open while Vice Chief Murasaki explained...

As for Shiraishi, today also counted as "overtime."

His previous work had all been "rubber-stamping," but today was the chief's second duty—shaking hands.

As police chief, Shiraishi had been invited to a banquet by Tokyo Assemblyman Tsugukuchi Shigehiko, who was from Beika Town. The main host was Masuyama Kenzo, chairman of a major company within Beika Town's jurisdiction.

In truth, given Masuyama Kenzo's status, he might not have even taken the chief of the Beika precinct seriously, much less invited him to a banquet. He had never invited Ebihara, at least.

Although his company was located in Beika Town, Masuyama Kenzo was a major figure in the financial world. To him, the mere Beika police chief was just a "kid"—someone who only needed a little looking after. The people truly worth courting were the big shots at the Metropolitan Police Department.

However, Shiraishi himself had quite a formidable reputation, and Masuyama was rather wary of him. Besides... he had other intentions, so he specially asked Assemblyman Tonoguchi to arrange this banquet.

In the Eastern Island Nation, this was perfectly normal. It could even be written into a police chief's work log. Naturally, Shiraishi attended openly and frankly—he had even had a formal suit tailored in advance specifically for this sort of "work."

Of course, there was no need for Shiraishi to deliberately offend people like Assemblyman Tonoguchi and Chairman Masuyama. Besides, they were merely hosting a banquet so they could get acquainted...

Shiraishi had not known much about them at first, but when he drank with Iwata last night, Iwata had told him a little after hearing their names.

Tsugukuchi Shigehiko was a Tokyo assemblyman elected from Beika Town, but his reputation had not been very good these past two years. There were some financial stains on his record, though no solid evidence had surfaced.

As for the old man Masuyama Kenzo, he was well connected in both legitimate and criminal circles. He was a moderately influential figure in the financial world, and his main business was manufacturing various automobile parts.

At the banquet, Shiraishi played dumb and did not take the hints that were dropped, which left Tonoguchi somewhat dissatisfied. Masuyama Kenzo, however, did not seem to mind—given his influence, it was not as if he truly had anything that required the Beika police chief to resolve.

Even if he did need that sort of favor, he had plenty of connections within the Metropolitan Police Department!

If Shiraishi had a promising future, Masuyama would not have minded investing in him ahead of time. But... judging by Shiraishi's current circumstances, he did not seem to have much of a future. Masuyama did not really care, and his attitude toward Shiraishi was quite relaxed.

Still, by the end, things became slightly unpleasant...

After the banquet, the three men, surrounded by secretaries and the like, arrived at the underground parking lot. Masuyama discovered that Shiraishi was actually driving an unmarked police car from the station—there was so little space inside that he could not even sit upright, and even gripping the steering wheel looked cramped and uncomfortable.

So Masuyama directly offered to "lend" Shiraishi a Land Rover, so that he could better carry out his duties and protect order in Beika Town. But...

No matter how much Masuyama flattered him, Shiraishi flatly refused the bribe!

Such a blunt rejection left Masuyama somewhat embarrassed, while Tonoguchi's displeasure was even more obvious.

The next day, Shiraishi felt that he could not put it off any longer. So... he specifically went to a Nissan 4S dealership in neighboring Haido Town. To avoid any suspicion, he had even deliberately avoided the dealerships in Beika Town!

If he did not buy a car soon, Shiraishi feared that he would keep getting opportunities to be corrupted like he had last night.

The moment Shiraishi walked in, he became the center of attention at the dealership.

After all...

A Little Giant standing two meters thirty in shoes was not something one saw everywhere. At that moment, every SUV in the showroom seemed a size smaller, as though they had turned into tiny vans.

Shiraishi already had a target in mind. He ordered the Silver QX56 he had picked out long ago—as a full-size SUV, it still was not spacious when Shiraishi sat inside, but at least it was not too cramped.

This was already the limit. Unless he had one custom-made, it would be difficult to find a car that fully met Shiraishi's needs...

Though the price was not cheap in Shiraishi's eyes—something the former Shiraishi would never have considered—with his current salary after the promotion, it was only a little over half a year's income!

And even though Shiraishi did not have much savings, as a senior police officer, getting a loan was easy enough...

October 10, Monday.

For once, Shiraishi drove to work—his usual morning run had not been canceled, but he needed to park the car at the station first!

But just then...

Ring ring—ring ring—

An unfamiliar number was calling.

With Lv7 [Driving], Shiraishi checked both sides to make sure there were no Traffic Police around before answering the phone.

"Kuro! It's me!"

The voice from the phone made Shiraishi's expression freeze—Suzuki Ayako.

When Shiraishi graduated from the University of Tokyo's graduate program and passed the Professional Group examination, Suzuki Ayako had just started her first year at Beika University. Their campuses were adjacent, so they had met there.

And...

Several years later, after some things happened... they had dated.

At first, Shiraishi had not known Ayako's background. After all, Suzuki was an extremely common surname in the Eastern Island Nation, second only to Sato. And she was not her younger sister, so Shiraishi was not that familiar with the plot of Conan!

Only later did he learn that Ayako was actually the Young Miss of the Suzuki Group. She had even told her family about Shiraishi, but...

When Shiraishi later met Ayako's parents, things had gone very... poorly.

In fact, Shiraishi had already been part of the Professional Group for several years, and in Mr. and Mrs. Suzuki's eyes, having no parents could even be considered an "advantage." After all, there would be no pressure when it came to marrying into their family—they only had two daughters!

However...

Ayako's mother, Suzuki Tomoko, and Shiraishi Kuro both had personalities that were too unyielding to bend.

As a result, their first meeting was extremely unpleasant—and also their last!

Because Shiraishi Kuro himself was stubborn by nature, Tomoko naturally wanted to put him in his place. She acted as though, "You should be thrilled that our daughter took a liking to you," "From now on, you can leave your career in the police force to our arrangements," and "We'll need to assess you further—don't think you're already the Suzuki family's son-in-law"...

Given Shiraishi Kuro's personality, the outcome was obvious. In the end, he and her mother parted on bad terms.

His relationship with Ayako had also ended a year ago, after Shiraishi deliberately distanced himself.

Over the following year, Suzuki Ayako tried several times to find Shiraishi Kuro, but Shiraishi avoided seeing her every time...

This time, she had specifically called from an unfamiliar number, which was why Shiraishi answered. He had blocked her previous number long ago.

In Shiraishi's view, since there was no chance for the two of them to be together, there was no need to waste the girl's time. Besides... he still harbored some resentment over Ayako concealing her background from him at the beginning. Before he knew it, nearly a year had passed!

When Shiraishi heard Ayako's voice, he frowned at first, but then immediately asked with concern, "What happened? Don't panic. Take your time."

At first, Shiraishi had been somewhat annoyed, but...

He quickly realized that, given Ayako's personality, she would not do something so unreasonable as using an unfamiliar number to trick him into answering. She had not done anything like that over the past year, either.

And...

Her tone was urgent now. Something must really have happened!

Once Shiraishi noticed that, he naturally changed his tone.

"Sonoko... my younger sister Sonoko has been kidnapped! We don't dare call the police, so..." Ayako said anxiously, just as he had expected.

"Where are you? At that villa in Beika Town... All right, I understand... Don't worry. I'm coming over right now..."

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