Young People

"Bōsōzoku... just as I thought..." Shiraishi thought to himself. So they're just young punks!

"Also... Chief, I suspect Ujihara Ayano may have intentionally facilitated the kidnapping, though the Bōsōzoku probably don't know her true identity," Kuroki said hesitantly.

"What?" Shiraishi was taken aback.

Kanzaki chimed in, reminding Kuroki not to make rash statements without evidence.

"We just visited Ujihara's home and found out her father is disabled from a work injury, and the compensation wasn't adequate. That's why their financial situation is so dire. It's also why she had to start working at 17 to support the family... I noticed the words 'Suzuki Heavy Industries' on his work uniform photo. That should be a company under the Suzuki Conglomerate."

Kuroki voiced his speculation.

Considering this, Ujihara Ayano would have a complete motive for revenge against the Suzuki family!

However...

This kind of revenge is clearly thoughtless—the chance of impersonating Suzuki Sonoko without being discovered is too slim, right?

But considering she's only 17, it's quite normal for someone her age to do things without thinking them through!

Those Bōsōzoku aren't all brainless, so... they probably genuinely believed the person beside them was "the eldest daughter of the Suzuki family."

The surname Suzuki is too common to easily connect to the Suzuki Conglomerate. It's highly likely Ujihara Ayano revealed her identity and cooperated with them on this kidnapping.

Perhaps...

The Bōsōzoku thought the eldest daughter of the Suzuki family wanted to extort some pocket money from her family?

"I understand. Send me all the photos... and you two come to the Beika Aquarium afterward! The kidnappers and Ujihara Ayano should both be here," Shiraishi said, already walking into the aquarium.

"We're at the west gate! Kanzaki actually recognized the sound of water waves during the call," Kuroki specifically praised his new partner.

Even though he found his new partner to be quite "long-winded"!

"Alright, you two go ask the park staff for surveillance camera locations to check. I'll go in directly to search," Shiraishi decided.

There were quite a few people here today...

After all, it was Sports Day, a holiday, and many people brought their children to see marine life. Many young couples also liked to go on dates in dark places like this.

"There's the sound of children and dolphins..." Shiraishi muttered to himself, then asked a staff member, "Hello, where are the dolphins?"

"Dolphins... uh... the dolphins are in the pool in the underwater tunnel, and also... in the dolphin show hall," the staff member said, startled by Shiraishi's imposing figure, even having the fleeting thought, Is this guy going to hunt dolphins?

Shiraishi looked at the aquarium's map. The show hall and the underwater tunnel were in completely different directions.

"The show hall is unlikely... it would be too noisy... No, wait... the underwater tunnel should also have a lot of people!" Shiraishi was puzzled.

Even if the hostage was cooperating with the kidnapping, she wouldn't make a call in a place with so many tourists, right?

"Section Chief Kunikida, could you please send me the processed background audio?" Shiraishi contacted Kunikida, preparing to analyze it himself.

Although Kunikida didn't fully understand Shiraishi's methods and was confused and slightly displeased that the "Chief was personally on the front lines," he immediately sent him the requested information.

Whimper, whimper--

Splash, splash--

Shiraishi: "..."

After listening, Shiraishi immediately said, "No! That's not the sound of children playing and dolphins, that's... the cry of an Orca!"

Shiraishi was once again speechless at the Forensics Unit's level—they were competent at technical work like noise cancellation and amplifying background sounds, but...

Couldn't they be more meticulous when comparing voiceprints?

They heard it sounded like dolphins and just concluded it was dolphins? It's understandable to report something hastily, but they didn't even double-check afterward?

"Wait... there's also the sound of water... it's coming from the feeding pool!" Shiraishi said, immediately running towards the Whale Shark Pool in the underwater tunnel.

In the aquarium, the areas open to visitors all had glass walls facing them. However... the upper parts were naturally open, serving as areas for oxygen supply and feeding.

But these openings above were strictly off-limits to visitors!

Shiraishi, however, specifically looked for the staff entrance...

"Sir! This isn't..."

"Police! Is the feeding entrance for the underwater tunnel this way?"

"Uh... yes..."

"Lead the way!"

Meanwhile, above the Whale Shark viewing area in the underwater tunnel, in the feeding pool...

Since it wasn't an area open to the public, it looked very rudimentary, with exposed rebar everywhere. The wide water surface only had haphazard walkways.

But it was quite "lively" at the moment!

Because one of the Bōsōzoku kidnappers was an aquarium employee, they were hiding here.

At this moment, Tomoko had also found her way there under the kidnappers' text instructions...

"You, let that child go!" Tomoko shouted at the kidnappers across the water.

"As expected of the Suzuki family's matriarch, she really came... Hmm? Wait, what did you call your daughter?" The kidnapper felt something was strange.

Tomoko's voice caught, and she immediately changed her tune. "So-Sonoko, are you alright?"

Tomoko also saw the bound girl at this moment. She looked about the same age as Sonoko. The girl's neck was currently held by the other person's arm, and she wanted to say something but couldn't.

The reason she came here...

was also because Tomoko had been provoked by Shiraishi. That damn brat had, during their previous conflict, almost directly called the Suzuki family "blind to everyone else" and "black-hearted capitalists."

That's why she'd gotten stubborn!

Mmph mmph mmph--

The bound girl looked very anxious.

"Enough, let her go. Three hundred million, you can have it!" Tomoko said, waving her hand dismissively.

"Straightforward! Then we'll... exchange money for person!" said the masked Bōsōzoku, holding Ayano, and walking from the scaffolding towards the center of the pool.

Seeing this, Tomoko also dragged the bag prepared by the other party and walked onto the scaffolding.

If Tomoko had known the age of these masked brats in front of her, she definitely wouldn't have been so impulsive...

In her opinion, no matter how tough or fierce the criminals were, they wouldn't dare to touch her in this situation, which was why she was so calm.

However...

A bunch of kids in their late teens, or even younger than twenty, wouldn't understand the situation!

Ah--

Just then, the kidnapper holding the hostage suddenly cried out in pain. "Damn it, you..."

"Ms. Tomoko, run! They want to kill you!" Ayano shouted, after biting him.

Initially, Ayano had indeed been very childish, wanting to use this obviously flawed kidnapping to "get revenge" on the Suzuki family.

But halfway through, she discovered that these thugs actually wanted to kill the person coming to pay the ransom, and they wanted Ayano to cooperate with them, which led to a conflict—or rather, a "generated" conflict, because there was no chance to erupt, she was subdued immediately.

It was only then that she realized how naive her previous idea had been.

She also understood that since Suzuki Tomoko had seen her, she must have recognized that she wasn't her daughter, but she still wanted to save her, so...

Ayano quickly warned her!

"You... die!" The kidnapper, who had originally intended to silence Tomoko and then have the "Miss Suzuki" cooperate with their lies, was now enraged and kicked the "Miss Suzuki" into the pool.

At the same time, just as Tomoko was about to stop him, a diver swam up and snatched the money bag that was being dragged on the ground.

Tomoko was also dragged along and fell into the water...

"Hold her down!" the kidnapper boss shouted at the diver, still uneasy.

"It's too late... I didn't feed this pool today!"

"Nobody move! Police!"

As Suzuki Tomoko struggled on the surface of the water, and Ujihara Ayano was sinking, Shiraishi kicked open the locked door.