Onion Man Is Like This

Back at the Polo Cafe, it was a little after two in the afternoon.

He had left at seven in the morning and returned at two in the afternoon. In just seven or eight hours, he had gone through two cases. What a fulfilling day. Just as expected of you, Conan.

Tangze watched the little detective refuse his offer to help carry him upstairs and wobble his way up on his own. Then he took a deep breath as he looked at the cafe.

Every time he went out, he always came back injured. Tangze felt that if he did not offer an explanation, Tooru Amuro would soon be cursing the surveillance team as a bunch of useless scum while carrying a gun off to duel Shuichi Akai.

Honestly, Tangze felt wronged. What he had suffered did not even count as a superficial wound; it could only be called an abrasion. If Tooru Amuro had a problem with that, then after one punch from him, Tangze had only lost a little skin, while the glass that had been smashed to pieces had nowhere to argue its case.

Under the inexplicable pressure of feeling like he was about to be lectured by the dean of students, Tangze lowered his head obediently and walked into the cafe.

"Oh, the little hero is back." There was only one table of customers by the window. Tooru Amuro, who looked thoroughly displeased, raised his eyes when he saw Tangze enter, his tone dripping with sarcasm.

"Mr. Amuro..." Tangze chuckled stupidly, playing dumb.

Tooru Amuro tossed the rag in his hand onto the counter, put his hands on his hips, and came around from behind the bar. He pointed upstairs imposingly. "Come upstairs with me."

"Amuro, don't be so fierce." Azusa Enomoto did not know whether to laugh or cry as she watched Tangze shrink into himself. "Someone filmed you climbing onto that delivery truck and stopping it, then posted the video on SNS. It's gotten really popular. Your face can't be seen clearly from that far away, but we recognized you at a glance. You're way too bold, kid..."

Tooru Amuro snorted, the displeasure on his face not diminishing in the slightest. "You haven't even taken your driver's license test, yet you dared to climb into a box truck. Who was it that swore he would behave himself?"

"I was trying to save someone. It was an emergency..." Tangze replied awkwardly.

"Upstairs." Tooru Amuro pointed at the attic again, uttering only that brief command.

Tangze walked over dejectedly, following behind Tooru Amuro as he carried a small first-aid kit upstairs with heavy steps.

Tooru Amuro's feelings were complicated.

Fortunately, he had sent Yuya Kazami a message about Tangze's public-opinion issue yesterday. The sudden surge of attention on social media had been spotted and handled quickly. No close-up images had been leaked, and the news had been suppressed once again.

He had truly not expected this high school student to be such an active and enthusiastic type. His talent for stirring up trouble made Furuya Rei think of his own school days.

Heaven knew how much of a headache the Metropolitan Police Department had suffered back then while processing records for his undercover work...

Now that he was doing the same kind of work himself, it really was karma coming full circle...

"Sit down. Hold out your hand." Tooru Amuro dragged the attic's only chair over to the bed and gestured for him to sit.

Tangze obediently sat down in front of him, though he could not help feeling that the command sounded strange, like he was talking to a dog.

The gauze haphazardly wrapped several times around Tangze's wrist made Tooru Amuro's brow twitch. As he undid the utterly disorganized bandaging, he began scolding him. "Why didn't you go to the hospital after getting cut? You wrapped it up without even cleaning the wound. What if it gets infected?"

Once the bandage was completely removed, the cuts around Tangze's wrist and on the back of his hand were exposed. The longest one stretched from the middle of the back of his hand all the way to his forearm, where the sharp edge of the glass had plowed a shallow groove into his skin.

Tooru Amuro grew angry at the sight. He took a deep breath, opened the first-aid kit, and poured iodine over the back of Tangze's hand. "Where did you learn to drive?"

"I was supposed to take my driver's license test this year anyway," Tangze answered quietly.

Tooru Amuro took out fresh bandages and laid them over his wounds. Then he asked, "What about the bandages? Why were you carrying these around?"

"Well... didn't I run into an accident a couple of days ago?" Tangze evaded weakly. Watching Tooru Amuro expertly finish a neat, layered bandage, he turned the tables. "Mr. Amuro, did you study nursing? You're really fast at bandaging."

"Don't change the subject. I think you just can't control your urge to play hero." Tooru Amuro glared at Tangze, but ultimately did not say the cutting words: "Last time you tried to do the right thing, you got yourself turned into a juvenile delinquent."

Tangze truly was a brave and warmhearted kid. He might indeed be reckless, but he was a good kid.

The two people, both dolls nested within dolls with deep thoughts of their own, silently met each other's eyes.

Tangze had secrets. Tooru Amuro was certain of it.

An ordinary automatic or manual passenger car was not remotely the same as a box truck. A license for the former did not even qualify someone to drive the latter on the road. And when faced with a runaway vehicle on a slope with no one inside, Tangze had made a decision so quickly and carried it out so efficiently that Tooru Amuro found it difficult to imagine he had never received training.

But no matter which identity he approached it from, he could not ask that question.

He had watched the on-site video of Tangze on SNS four or five times over. After thinking it through until now, Tooru Amuro had arrived at the same conclusion as Shuichi Akai.

It had to be because of the Tang Ze couple.

The Tang Ze couple had connections to the organization. The foundation funding the research institute where they worked was controlled by one of the organization's offshore companies.

After days of investigation, this was the point where Tangze and the organization were most likely to have a conflict of interest. Since the Tang Ze couple's research had essentially been funded by the organization, the organization presumably knew their research results inside and out.

Originally, Tooru Amuro had been inclined to believe that Tang Ze Zhao might possess the core materials the couple had left behind. Now, he had more possibilities in mind. Could the Tang Ze couple have already applied part of their research to their own child? Psychological treatment and cognitive modification could, if made more dangerous, develop into evil methods such as brainwashing and control. Perhaps Tangze had received professional training under their instructions.

Tooru Amuro considered it cautiously, but he had not reported this line of speculation to either the Public Security side or the organization. Before there were more signs, reporting such a possibility would bring catastrophic consequences upon Tang Ze Zhao.

Because information obtained through his identity as Bourbon confirmed that Tang Ze Yichuan and Tang Ze Leona were dead. No matter what they had been researching, none of the interested parties would spare Tang Ze Zhao.

A headache. What a headache. An enormous hot potato.

Thinking this, Tooru Amuro released Tangze's freshly bandaged arm and vigorously ruffled his hair.

"Stop it!" Tangze clutched his head and dodged backward. "You said you wouldn't touch my head anymore!"

"You can't keep your promises, so my words are void too." Tooru Amuro reasonably grabbed Tangze's head with both hands and shook it hard a few times. "Did you forget that I'm your supervisor? I'm going to give you a thorough write-up in this report. Watch out during your protective observation period."

"I'm sorry, I was wrong." Tangze was instantly defeated. With a miserable expression, he let Tooru Amuro rub his hair until it stuck out everywhere.

Having vented his frustration, Tooru Amuro packed up the first-aid kit and stood. Before turning to head downstairs, he hesitated, then asked tentatively, "Tangze, if you run into trouble, you can tell me. Any kind of trouble." His violet-gray eyes looked steadily into Tangze's. "I can help you with all of it."

Tangze understood his question, but he could not say anything.

And besides, was Bourbon, Tooru Amuro, or Furuya Rei asking that question?

Talking to an Onion Man was exhausting.

He guessed that Tooru Amuro knew a great deal about the situation, but he could not ask, and Tooru Amuro would not say. Until they spoke frankly and peeled at least the Bourbon and Furuya Rei layers off this onion, Tangze had no standing to have that conversation with him.

"I understand," Tangze finally answered ambiguously.

Hurry, hurry, hurry, hurry, hurry. I only started typing after getting off work (●-●) There's one more chapter coming soon.