Chapter 13 Detective Senior

Ring ring—

School was over, and students from Teitan Junior High School walked out of the classrooms in twos and threes. Yuki Sakai also slung his backpack over his shoulder and hurried home.

Since the terrifying kidnapping incident, Yuuki has become much more cautious and no longer dares to sneak out to play games.

Just as Yuuki was hurrying across the playground, a soccer ball suddenly flew over and, by sheer coincidence, hit him on the head.

"Ouch!" Yuuki cried out in pain.

"Excuse me! Are you alright?" A boy in a sports uniform ran over and asked with concern, "Are you Yuuki Sakai?"

"Y-yes..." Yuuki handed the soccer ball to the other person. "Do we know each other?"

"My name is Shinichi Kudo, and I'm one grade ahead of you."

"Hello, Kudo-senpai!" Yuuki greeted politely.

"Hey, Sakai-san, you haven't been to class for a long time. Is something wrong?"

"Huh? How did Kudo-senpai know?"

"Of course I know!" Shinichi leaned closer and said, "I'm really worried about you! Being kidnapped must have been scary, right?"

"You?!" Yuuki took two steps back in fright. "Who told you that?"

"Nobody told me I figured it out myself!" Shinichi declared confidently, head held high. "I'm a detective!"

"detective?"

“Yes, on your first day of absence from school, an undercover detective came to the school to inquire about the situation. Although that person tried his best to conceal his identity, some things cannot be hidden. I saw through him at a glance! Generally speaking, a father would not hire a detective if his son did not come to school, and that person was obviously not a policeman. So the most reasonable explanation is that Sakai-kun encountered an accident, and his father hired someone to investigate.”

"How come I didn't know that Dad hired a detective?" Yuuki muttered to himself in confusion.

"Sakai's father hates the police, right?" Shinichi pulled out his notebook and read aloud, "Twenty years ago, your brother, the Sakai couple's first child, fell seriously ill. However, he encountered a carjacker on the road and missed the best time for treatment. Since then, your father has harbored resentment towards the police."

Yuuki nodded silently.

"Sakai loves playing games, but your father has always strictly forbidden it, and even threw away the game equipment you bought at great expense. You are very distressed and want to find a chance to get revenge. So you came up with the idea of ​​staging your own kidnapping. Because your father hates the police, even if his son is kidnapped, he will not believe the police and will obediently pay the ransom."

"No way! I didn't stage it myself!" Yuuki argued vehemently.

"Hey, wait a minute, let me finish." Shinichi cleared his throat and continued, "Kidnapping requires adult assistance. At first, you really just wanted to play around and get revenge on your dad. But you never expected to pick the wrong person. That person really had evil intentions and kidnapped you, demanding a high ransom from your dad. The evidence is that the code we used to pay the ransom the first time was absolutely idiotic! And that figurine, it was probably just to appease you, right?"

"That's not it! What code? What figure? Senior Kudo must have the wrong person!"

Shinichi was taken aback: "What? Is my reasoning wrong? But Sakai-san really has been kidnapped, hasn't she?"

Yuuki nodded: "But that's the only point that Kudo-senpai got right! I'm not going to put on any kind of self-inflicted injury act..."

"Huh? What's going on?" Shinichi asked anxiously. "Oh no! Someone's here to pick you up. Sakai-san, it's time to go home."

Yuuki turned around and saw that someone had indeed arrived. Just as he was wondering how his senior knew that the person was there to pick him up, Shinichi ran back to the playground.

"Sakai-kun, remember to come find me if anything happens in the future! I'm much more capable than those policemen!"

Yuuki frowned and sighed: Kudo-senpai has quite the nerve!

Yuki quickly returned to the car.

To ensure his son's safety, President Sakai specially commissioned a bulletproof car and assigned a bodyguard to protect him.

"Young Master Yushu, what were you doing on the playground just now?" asked the driver, Shipu.

Yuuki, afraid that the other party would worry, lied: "Uncle Cheng, just now a senior from the soccer club asked me if I wanted to join the soccer team to play, but I refused."

"It's good to exercise occasionally! But you shouldn't join teams with very high training intensity, young master. That kid looked familiar, like he'd been to our house before, what was his name again?"

"Shinichi Kudo, does Makoto-san know him?"

"Yes, his name is Kudo! Xiaofeng told me that his father is a very famous mystery novelist, the one who wrote 'The Baron of the Night'."

What was Kudo-senpai doing at Makoto's house?

"I inquired about the master's affairs and also asked why the young master hadn't gone to school those few days?"

"oh……"

Yuuki didn't want to discuss the topic of her senior anymore, so she asked instead, "Uncle Cheng, you've been driving me home these past few days. Now that the police have left, I should be able to walk home by myself, right?"

"Oh no, that won't do. Just to be on the safe side, I'll pick you up and drop you off!"

"But this armored car is too eye-catching. If those people come again, won't they recognize it at a glance?"

"But it won't provide any protection for a regular car!"

Yuuki neither confirmed nor denied it, but for some reason suddenly remembered what Kudo-senpai had said earlier:

Some things cannot be hidden.

"Perhaps this is for the best," Yuuki murmured to himself. "Oh right, Uncle Cheng, I need to go to the library to return some books before I go home."

"How about I return it for you another day, young master?"

"No need, Uncle Cheng. The library is nearby, and today is the last day. Besides, what if something happens..." Yuuki glanced at the burly man beside him, "...don't we still have bodyguards?"

"Alright then, I'll go find a place to park, and I'll have the bodyguard accompany you to return the book."

As soon as she got out of the car, Yushu hopped and skipped up the steps outside the library.

Unexpectedly, he bumped into someone.

"Ouch, that hurts..." Yuuki sat on the ground rubbing his head.

"Excuse me, little brother, are you alright? This is your book..." Just as the other person was about to hand the book to Yuuki, the bodyguard stood between them, immediately silencing the other person.

"Please don't do this. I accidentally bumped into the older brother while I was walking. He didn't mean any harm!" Yuuki said, tugging at the bodyguard's sleeve.

The bodyguard's expression softened slightly, but his body remained still.

"Here, take the book!"

"Thank you, big brother! Goodbye, big brother!"

Yuuki ran briskly up the steps and disappeared from sight, and the blond older brother wearing a baseball cap breathed a sigh of relief.

"Finally, the last bugging device has been successfully recovered."

Amuro secretly installed the bugging device on Yuuki after he returned, to prevent the organization from taking any further action.

"However, it seems there's no need to continue surveillance now, at least the organization doesn't plan to take any further action against the Sakai family in the near future."

Amuro put the bugging device back into his jacket pocket and descended the long flight of stairs.

The setting sun cast his shadow long, long, and dark, stretching out in folds on the stone steps, seemingly bottomless.

He was thinking.

Some things were bothering him.

"Although that person tried his best to conceal his identity, some things cannot be hidden. I saw through him at a glance!"

Sure enough, the strange looks I felt behind me at school that day were not an illusion.

He's been an undercover agent for so many years, and he's not without suspicion.

Although Amuro admitted that he was a little less vigilant at school, he was still surprised and even frightened by the fact that someone could see through him at a glance.

What's worse, the child even made some outrageous remarks, saying things like "code words are idiotic" and "police are useless"...

Amuro didn't know if it was the child's youthful arrogance or a lucky accident, but in any case, he had to admit defeat in this round.

Back in the car, Amuro dialed his partner's number.

A cheerful voice came from the other end of the phone: "I'm still preparing New Year's dishes - is there anything I can help you with?"

"Jing, that child is really scary!"

"Eh? You saw Kudo-kun too?"

“No, I didn’t see him today,” Zero said with a sigh. “But I know why he took notice of this case…it’s because of me.”

"ha?"

"When I went to school on Monday, Kudo saw me and immediately recognized me as the detective who was there to investigate Yuuki."

Wow - it's rare to find a worthy opponent!

The big golden retriever pounded on the steering wheel and said, "But I'm so unwilling! I actually lost to a 14-year-old kid!"

"It's alright! Even the wisest can make a mistake, so don't be discouraged! However, Kudo-kun has already noticed this. If the organization makes any further moves and he gets dragged into it again, what does Zero plan to do?"

“I definitely won’t let him get involved anymore. I admit that Kudo is very quick-witted, and his investigative and practical abilities far surpass those of his peers. Even if he takes a completely different investigative approach from the police, and there are significant deviations in his reasoning, he can still get close to the truth on his own. But no matter what, that kid is still a minor, and he got involved because of me, so I will take full responsibility for this.” Zero sighed softly. “However, with Kudo’s intelligence, if he insists on continuing the investigation, he will soon discover that this is not an ordinary detective game, but a hellish place where blood and even lives are at stake. At that point, he should back down, right?”

Unfortunately, Rei Furuya, who thought he had a deep understanding of people's hearts, was wrong this time.

That's completely wrong.