Next-door private room.
Hearing Officer Shiratori's words, Suzuki Sonoko and Mouri Ran exchanged shocked looks. "A high school student... He wants to treat a high school student to dinner? Did he find us?"
Beside them, Vermouth chewed her dessert without appetite. "..." Why did this sound more and more wrong? Who was this cop trying to call over?... Wait, put down your phone. Don't make another call!
One wall away.
Officer Shiratori did indeed hang up on the call to his butler. But soon, Vermouth heard him press the button again. This time...
"What are you doing?"
Suddenly, a hand of justice reached out and pressed down on the phone Officer Shiratori was using to dial Jiang Xia.
—Sato Miwako stared blankly for a moment before gradually understanding. Her eyes sharpened with the edge she usually showed during investigations as she fixed her superior with a stare. "Don't tell me you're trying to keep Jiang Xia here so he can't help Takagi solve the case."
"..." Officer Shiratori cleared his throat. "I simply feel that the police have received quite a bit of help from Jiang Xia. Setting aside anything else, just take what happened on the Shinkansen not long ago—if he hadn't caught the culprit on the spot, and if that culprit hadn't confessed to a drug-smuggling route, you and Takagi probably wouldn't be able to continue your careers as police officers. With such a great debt of gratitude, isn't it perfectly reasonable for me to treat him to a meal?"
The sly smile vanished from Officer Shiratori's face and appeared on Sato Miwako's lips instead. "If that's the case, then Takagi and I should be the ones treating him—after all, the ones who should thank Jiang Xia most are the two of us who caused the trouble, not