Shizuku was not surprised by Ryoko Yakushiji's relentless pursuit. That was simply the kind of person she was. Besides, Shizuku had snatched two cases that belonged to her right out of her hands, one of which had been Midnight Terrors. If Shizuku remembered correctly, Ryoko Yakushiji's boyfriend, Junichiro Izumida, had been the one investigating it at the time. He submitted the report, only for the Police History Compilation Office to intercept it and send it her way.
Then, without knowing any of that, she had dealt with Sadako.
Well... Ryoko Yakushiji clearly intended to solve this case before Shizuku did. Shizuku could easily guess why: she wanted to avenge her boyfriend. Thinking about it carefully, Shizuku had noticed when reading the case file that the officer in charge had run himself ragged, traveling all over the place to investigate. Yet after he returned and submitted his report, the higher-ups at the Metropolitan Police Department withheld it and handed it off to someone else.
Of course, this sort of thing was extremely common in government agencies. Weren't lower-ranking staff there to handle all the grunt work? As for the fruits of their labor, whether they were stuffed into a trash can or sent elsewhere was entirely up to the senior bureaucrats. It had nothing to do with their own wishes.
That was what subordinates were for. Anything they did was considered their duty, while failing to do it got them scolded instead. Such was the misery of public servants in government offices.
Thinking further, considering that Ryoko Yakushiji herself did not get along with the Metropolitan Police Department's upper ranks, perhaps they had deliberately transferred the report to the Police History Compilation Office to keep her from using the opportunity to expand her influence again.
In any case, regardless of the