Chapter 34: High-level FBI undercover agents often only need the simplest of searches…

"So you really want to investigate yourselves!" Itachi Kou appeared behind them like a mountain, placing two large hands on their heads.

He smiled kindly: "How could you not take us with you?"

"Class... Class monitor!" Hagiwara Kenji hesitated for a moment, then instinctively replied, relying on a habit formed over nearly a year of being in the same class, "Absolutely not!"

The squad leader's imposing presence.

"That's good," judging from his expression, Date Wataru had absolutely no intention of threatening anyone. He even seemed to be in a good mood, rubbing his palms on the heads of the two guys one by one. "Just like Ryusei said, you have to learn to ask your friends for help when you need it!"

"Yes, yes! Class monitor, please don't press down any further! Xiao Zhenping and I are going to get shrunk!"

...

Since they had agreed to investigate together, Kitagawa Ryusei went to the Metropolitan Police Department during his lunch break the next day.

Matsuda Jinpei brought over an evidence box, casually sweeping away the clutter on the table and setting it down: "Here, this is the bomb."

Inside the box was a black bomb that had been disassembled into pieces and then haphazardly reassembled.

Because it was a dangerous item sent to the Explosive Ordnance Disposal Unit, the head of the mobile unit put it into the evidence room after receiving the report from Gemini. Matsuda Jinpei had to apply for permission to bring it to the office this time.

"Xiao Zhenping has already disassembled and inspected it. It's similar to the one I disassembled in front of Xiao Liusheng's house. We found a signal receiving device on it that we hadn't noticed at the time. Other than that, there's nothing else special about it."

"The only part that hasn't been clarified is this..."

Kenji Hagiwara, wearing gloves, pointed to a blind spot inside the bomb: "It looks like something was carved into it."

"Did the investigation department say anything?"

"I asked Kitagawa Ryusei, reaching inside and feeling the engravings through a thin glove with my fingertips," Kitagawa asked.

If the bomb found yesterday had inscriptions, the matter should have been resolved by now, unless it was just some irregular scratches or gibberish.

“No,” Matsuda Jinpei clearly thought so too, rolling his eyes behind his sunglasses to express his dissatisfaction: “The evidence hasn’t been transferred to the investigation department yet. They have to wait for my and Hagi’s filing to be approved. We don’t even know what’s engraved on it. If you ask me—”

Remembering that they were still in the office, Kenji Hagiwara, seeing his childhood friend's temper flaring up and out of control, quickly spoke up to smooth things over: "Alright, Jinpei, this is procedure."

He had barely finished speaking when he saw an indescribable expression flash across Kitagawa Ryusei's face.

"...once again, I feel hopeless about the efficiency of the Japanese police," the young man muttered under his breath, very "out of place" at this moment, excluding himself from the "Japanese police".

They thought it was some kind of earth-shattering code that had stumped the Metropolitan Police Department.

After a moment of reflection, he read aloud the text of the inscription he had read with his fingertip: "It's the Russian word 'Пламя'."

Matsuda Jinpei's brow twitched as he listened to the garbled foreign language: "Speak human language."

Kitagawa Ryusei readily agreed: "Prumia means flame."

He pointed out, "It's probably the code name of the Russian bomber that Zero mentioned in the hospital."

During the morning, Kitagawa Ryusei investigated all the information about Russian criminals that matched Furuya Rei's mention in the planning department's archives.

Due to its iconic "two-color liquid mixture bomb" and its level of danger, Pramiya is one of the key targets of concern.

Since the other party hadn't yet committed any crimes in Japan, Date Wataru hadn't heard of this name before. He fell into deep thought: "How dare they be so arrogant as to send their autograph to the Metropolitan Police Department? What is this person's purpose?"

Hagiwara and Matsuda, who had never dealt with the other party before, were even more confused.

Kitagawa Ryusei had a guess, stating bluntly, "He's probably curious about how Kenji survived the explosion."

Kenji Hagiwara, who almost didn't survive: "..."

He slowly shifted his gaze toward his childhood friend beside him.

Sure enough, even after all this time, Matsuda Jinpei still gets angry whenever he brings it up.

The curly-haired officer instantly turned into a bristling-haired officer: "Ha, is it all thanks to the good deeds I've accumulated over the years of carrying old ladies up the stairs?"

“That sounds like a good point,” Date Kou said, rubbing his chin to ease the tension. “Second-year graduate student, please remember to call me next time you see that old lady!”

As soon as he said that, the other three people's eyes widened in disbelief, as if they felt that his response was somewhat inappropriate.

Matsuda Jinpei steered the conversation back to the realm of materialism: "But since this Pramie has sent us an 'autograph,' they'll probably be coming to us soon, right?"

He has never liked playing riddles with those who stay behind the scenes.

More than anything else, Matsuda Jinpei was better at delivering a blow to anyone who dared to provoke him.

Kitagawa Ryusei's thought process aligned with his, and his expression was more relaxed than when he arrived: "Of course."

“Knowing who the other party is makes things much easier. The police department should have information about their case. I'll go back and see if I can find the blueprints for the bombs that Pramia used, and then apply to the higher-ups for their arrest.”

Date Kouya said, "I will keep an eye out for the areas that Ryusei cannot follow up on."

"Wow~ Such a reliable class monitor and Ryusei! Hagi and Jinpei can only repay them with their bodies!" Hagiwara Kenji's eyes were filled with tears, and he spread his arms like an eagle to pounce on them.

Then her childhood friend grabbed her by the back of the collar and pulled her back: "This is the office! Keep your voice down!"

Kitagawa Ryusei & Date Wataru: ...There's no need to be so enthusiastic.

After lunch, the four of them had to go to work, so they had to separate. Kitagawa Ryusei walked alone towards the police station.

Before he even reached the planning department office, he bumped into Asahina Yugo, who was just about to go upstairs, in the elevator.

Asahina, carrying a stack of neatly organized documents, stepped into the elevator and saw the brown-haired youth. Her eyes lit up: "Kitagawa-kun, I was just about to come up to find you—"

Kitagawa Ryusei cut him off first, his tone indifferent: "Let's talk about this somewhere else."

"I know, I know, we need to be careful~"

The wolf-tailed youth fell silent and followed behind the young man.

He was clearly not well-rested; his eyes were dark and swollen, and he was yawning as he walked into the office.

Making sure no one was around to disturb them, Kitagawa Ryusei turned around: "What did you find out?"

Recently, Asahina has only one task at hand: investigating the relationship between Dai Moroboshi and the FBI.

When work was mentioned, the wolf-tailed youth instantly dropped his lazy demeanor and handed over the documents in his hand: "The FBI has hidden their trump cards very well. At least we can't find their specific photos or action records. There have only been a few backups of the files from a few collaborations."

"The FBI agent whose appearance matches that of Moroboshi Dai is named Shuichi Akai, and he has been active in the United States for many years."

Dai Moroboshi is currently working for a criminal organization. From that encounter, it was clear that he was wary of the police. They had difficulty tracking his whereabouts, making it very difficult to investigate him.

Asahina chose to start with the FBI.

Kitagawa Ryusei flipped through the documents page by page, most of which recorded the ace investigator's numerous achievements.

The most impressive aspect was the opponent's sniping ability.

Asahina added, "If the FBI were to send an undercover agent into that organization, Shuichi Akai, who doesn't often appear in Japan, would indeed be a very good candidate. Moreover, he has recently shown signs of disappearing from public view, and he hasn't been involved in several important FBI activities."

However, these cannot be used as a basis for determining the other party's identity.

They must be absolutely certain before drawing conclusions about such matters; otherwise, it could have irreversible consequences for their subsequent work.

Asahina reached up and ran a hand through the back of her head, looking slightly troubled: "The FBI won't easily tell us the truth."

Since the other party has evaded extradition by the Japanese authorities, it means they are intentionally concealing their intentions. There's no reason for them to proactively reveal their hand to them.

After saying this, he looked up at Kitagawa Ryusei.

Although he knew that there was too little information and it would be difficult to find a way to crack the code, Asahina felt that the person in front of him could provide an unexpected solution.

This is a subconscious reaction that everyone in the Special Investigation Team has to some extent.

Kitagawa Ryusei didn't notice the gaze of the person next to him. After listening patiently, he continued to look at the investigator's file.

He quickly read through the half-centimeter-thick sheet of paper, turned back to the first page, and did so so fast that those unaware of the situation doubted whether he was actually reading it carefully.

The young man stood by the window, lowered his head to think for only a moment, and then said, "...It's not that hard to figure it out."

Upon hearing this, Asahina's whole body tensed, and he immediately perked up: "How do we do it?"

There was not a trace of doubt in his tone.

Kitagawa Ryusei returned the documents to Asahina, then tapped his finger across the records of the FBI investigators and their cooperation, circling a name.

“Shuichi Akai has never contacted us directly, but for every collaborative mission he undertakes, the same liaison officer connects with your department: James Black.”

He said, "Give me this person's phone number."

The International Investigations Office did not have specific information about Shuichi Akai, but James's contact information was not exactly a secret; he was one of the FBI agents with the closest ties to the Japanese police.

Asahina didn't even need to go back and check the information to find the other party's contact information.

"What do you need this for?" Can I really just ask directly?

Asahina believed that Kitagawa Ryusei wouldn't do something he wasn't sure of, but that didn't stop him from being puzzled.

...Then he saw Kitagawa Ryusei, "confident," dial the phone he had just received without any hesitation or preparation.

They're still using the office landline.

Asahina:...?

"Beep beep—"

The phone rang, echoing in the now quiet office.

The phone was answered on the third ring, and a deep, middle-aged man's voice came through.

Hello? Who is this?

The other party cautiously refrained from giving their name directly.

Kitagawa Ryusei leaned against the table, his legs crossed casually, a strand of hair pressing against his face. In the sunlight, he looked resolute, no different from any righteous police officer in a crime drama.

Asahina then heard the "righteous policeman" speak in a serious tone: "Hello, Mr. Black, I am Inspector Kitagawa Ryusei from the Criminal Planning Division of the National Police Agency of Japan. There is something I need to confirm with you."

"We arrested a serial killer named Dai Moroboshi, who claimed to be an undercover FBI investigator and had an undercover record."

"The incident is serious, and we are about to hand the person over to the police for interrogation. We are here to confirm whether the situation is true."

Yugo Asahina: !!!

Wait, did he miss an episode?!

There was silence on the other end of the phone, and it wasn't until the next second that Asahina realized that Kitagawa Ryusei was bluffing.

Although this wasn't the first time something like this had happened, he was still as shocked as the first time. Was this really something he could play with?!

Kitagawa Ryusei first revealed his department and identity. Cases investigated by the Planning Department are highly confidential due to the seriousness of the matters involved, and the information will not be released until the case is closed.

If Moroboshi is indeed an FBI agent, it could reduce some of their concerns about being "exposed".

Instead of asking about Shuichi Akai directly, he started with Dai Moroboshi.

It's impossible for James not to know the aliases of his undercover agents.

Under the threat of being handed over to the police for interrogation, the other party had no choice but to answer immediately, making it difficult to contact the undercover agent to confirm the authenticity of the information in a short period of time.

Given the special nature of his undercover identity, there was indeed a high possibility that he would be mistakenly arrested as a criminal, and James's subconscious reaction was unlikely to consider this possibility.

Even if they're wrong, Moroboshi is not an FBI agent.

It's just a pretext by a suspected criminal after being "arrested," and it's not worth the FBI's time to investigate further.

In addition to these, Kitagawa Ryusei also considered one thing—to see if the FBI was involved in the investigation of this criminal organization.

When caught off guard by a test, people often find it difficult to conceal their first reaction. If the other party remembers the name of a member of the organization codenamed Dai Moroboshi, they will not escape the observation of Ryusei Kitagawa.

It's blunt and direct, but it works.

Yugo Asahina was amazed.

Whether it was expected or not, James Black quickly gave his answer.

The FBI ordered Japanese police to immediately block information about the case and terminate the interrogation.

Having received the answer, Kitagawa Ryusei hung up the phone without hesitation. When he looked up, he saw his teammates looking at him with an indescribable expression.

"What?" He hadn't even had time to let the smile fade from his lips.

What a rogue move...

Asahina felt sorry for the FBI on the other side, but he still instinctively sided with his own people and couldn't help but worry: "What if they find out they've been fooled?"

Will they cause trouble for Kitagawa Ryusei?

“This flawed lie will be exposed in less than five minutes. We just need the results. It would be even better if the other party is willing to communicate,” Kitagawa Ryuse said nonchalantly, noticing that he hadn’t finished speaking. “As for causing trouble…”

"Shouldn't the FBI, which illegally entered Japan, bypassed Japanese police to conduct investigations, and obstructed law enforcement, be thinking about how to explain that?"