Fragments of Time

"I mean, it's not just detectives. Even the police believe in such a suspicious group. I really can't tell whether the world has gone crazy or I have."

"I know they sound somewhat reliable, but come on—believing in the justice they claim to uphold means placing public safety entirely in the hands of a few people's personal morals, doesn't it?"

"Ah, Chief Superintendent Hattori, I know him. He's a police officer I admire greatly too—an outstanding detective among modern criminal investigators, without question. Huh, you know him? Oh, then tell me about him?"

"My god, this case of yours, hic, it's really too outrageous. Say, Tang Ze, right? At this point, why haven't you appealed yet? Huh? You don't know who to sue?"

"Waaah, Akira, hic, you're right. Society has failed us. I-I was just doing the work a criminal detective was supposed to do, waaah... But then, two days ago, I got sent back by the prosecutors again. They told me to conduct supplementary investigations..."

"My work doesn't get, hic, recognized, but they wake up earlier than I do for a bunch of Phantom Thieves whose names they don't even know!"

Tang Ze picked up the oolong tea beside him, added two ice cubes, and let the drunkenly swaying Sayamura Misao sling an arm around his shoulders and press his entire weight against him.

As an ordinary rank-and-file criminal officer, Sayamura's main work lay in organizing investigations rather than acting as the lead investigator. He was the sort of policeman with a simple life history and uncomplicated work experience.

Simply put, compared to officers handling major cases, he was more like a neighborhood cop keeping an eye on public order.

With a cop this easy to fool, Tang Ze—well-versed in rhetoric and silver-tongued persuasion—didn't even need