Food delivery and fried/explosive food [adjusted wording]

In mid-April, the cherry blossom season was coming to an end, and the usually bustling cherry blossom viewing street was now less crowded.

As the weather warms up, Tsurumi Kawakami has changed out of his sweatshirt and into a shirt, and during work hours he wears a brown apron with the sushi restaurant's sign printed on it.

As a deliveryman, Tsurumi Kawakami has an extra piece of equipment: a baseball cap with the same logo of the sushi restaurant.

"Tsurumikawa-kun, this is the premium sushi the Noda family ordered. I've packed it up, please deliver it to them." The waitress came out of the kitchen and said to him, carrying a huge three-layer insulated food container.

Tsurumi Nagare responded, put on his baseball cap, took the three-tiered food box, and walked out. The Noda family were regular customers of the sushi restaurant, ordering takeout at least three times a month.

He had delivered there several times before and was very familiar with the way to the Noda family's house. This time, he ordered the premium sushi, so something good must be happening at the Noda family's house today.

After putting down the food box, Tsurumi Kawakami rode his electric scooter and headed towards Chuo Ward.

-

Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department.

A brazen phone call from a criminal kept the entire Metropolitan Police Department busy. There are always some criminals who, after being arrested, choose to retaliate for various reasons, provoking the police while simultaneously creating panic to satisfy some of their psychological flaws.

This wasn't the first time the Metropolitan Police Department had encountered criminals like this, but this time the situation was different because the perpetrator was a bomber. Bombs are always capable of causing enormous damage, whether to buildings or people.

The bomber was extremely arrogant. After retaliating, he made a direct call to the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, stating that he had planted several bombs in a building in Chuo Ward.

The operator who received the call initially dismissed it as a prank, but panicked when the caller detailed the time, location, and bomb countdown.

The bomber hung up the phone without giving the operator a chance to speak after giving them the information. Fortunately, the operator's call was being recorded, which gave the Metropolitan Police Department time to react.

The bomb disposal unit of the Security Department's Mobile Division is the department that is involved in bombings. At this time, several police officers from the bomb disposal unit received a dispatch order and quickly took their equipment and drove to the Central Ward.

-

Central District.

Tsurumi Kawaru parked his electric scooter outside the building, then carried the food box inside. It was a mixed-use building, with commercial space on floors one through six and large single-level residential units on floors seven through twentieth.

The Noda family lives on the tenth floor of the building.

He had already become familiar with the security guards. After registering, he took the residential elevator to the tenth floor, rang the doorbell, and handed the food box to Mrs. Noda. Tsurumi Nagare's food delivery work was temporarily completed.

Because the tableware and food containers are collected after dinner, just like some sukiyaki restaurants, they even come to the customer's door to provide the same service as if the customer were in the restaurant.

After agreeing on a time with Mrs. Noda, Tsurumi Nagaru called the sushi restaurant to let them know, and then prepared to go downstairs to the mall to browse around before going back up to collect the food containers later.

He stood in front of the elevator, watching it rise from the basement level, but it never came down. After waiting for two minutes, Tsurumi Kawa turned around and decided to take the stairs.

Anyway, going down six floors from ten floors isn't slow. He pushed open the door at the bottom of the stairs and walked downstairs following the safety exit markings on the floor.

Although the staircase is not used frequently, the building's cleaning staff do a good job of cleaning it. There is a cleaning cart parked in the stairwell on the seventh floor, and the broom, which is soaked with water, is dripping water onto the floor.

Tsurumi Kawa watched as the sewage flowed down the clean, bright floor toward the stairs, and looked at the cleaning cart with some concern. The public toilet wasn't nearby, nor was the storage room.

So the cleaning cart that had inexplicably appeared here seemed rather out of place. Tsurumi Kawaru knew that there was no slacking off while working in the building, so he stood there and waited for five minutes, but the owner of the cart still hadn't returned.

At this moment, his intuition began to kick in. Tsurumi Kawaru stared at the cleaning cart, pursed his lips, then squatted down and pulled open the storage cabinet door under the cart. These movements were fluid and without any hesitation.

After opening the cabinet door, there was a cleaning worker lying inside with her hands tied behind her back and a rag stuffed in her mouth. She had probably been knocked unconscious.

"Ah. So you've encountered another case?" When Tsurumi Ryu saw the person in the cabinet, a feeling of familiarity welled up within him.

After arriving in this world, Tsurumi Kawaru not only discovered that time was chaotic, but also that there were far too many crimes in this place.

He has encountered more than ten cases so far, and all of them involved death.

Tsurumi Kawakami went from being surprised and astonished at first to gradually getting used to it. So when he saw what was happening in front of him, he was not panicked at all. Instead, he skillfully took out his phone and called the police.

"...Yes, I'm at the Central Ward Building." Tsurumi Kawaru leaned against the phone, reaching to untie the ropes binding the person. At that moment, the cleaner woke up. She was very agitated to see him, but her voice was muffled by the gag.

Tsurumi Kawakami paused for a moment and took the rag out of the other person's mouth.

"Help! There's a bomb!!" The cleaner looked at a black garbage bag in the corner of the cabinet with a terrified expression.

The two were so close that the cleaner's voice reached the Metropolitan Police Department's dispatcher.

A silent silence spread, then after a few seconds the operator's speech quickened, her voice becoming serious: "Rest assured, our explosives disposal team has arrived at the building. What floor and location are you on?"

Tsurumi Kawakami was stunned to find a bomb and took a moment to come to his senses before he told the operator their floor and location in a dry voice.

After the call ended, Tsurumi Kawakami continued to untie the ropes binding the other person's hands, but the bomber cunningly put the bomb into a black garbage bag and left a rope tied to the cleaner's ankle.

The sanitation worker, aware of the bomb's power, remained motionless even after the rope binding his wrists was untied, maintaining his original posture. Tsurumi Kawa glanced at him, then carefully opened the garbage bag, revealing a bomb inside, flashing a red countdown timer.

He knew nothing about bombs, and after glancing at them twice, he turned to reassure the cleaner: "Don't be afraid, it shows that it won't explode for another twenty minutes."

Upon hearing this, the cleaner looked at him with a look of horror, and then shuddered in fright.

Meanwhile, the members of the explosive ordnance disposal team who had just arrived at the building also received a call from the Metropolitan Police Department, informing them that someone inside the building had reported the discovery of a bomb. A young man with black hair and black eyes stepped forward first, grabbed a protective suit and a bomb disposal toolbox, and rushed into the building.

"It's that kid Hagiwara, let's hurry up and go up too." The others glanced at the figure that had already entered the building, and they all grabbed their tools and prepared to enter the building as well.

As soon as he finished speaking, a young man wearing sunglasses jogged into the building.

"Honestly, those two guys." The seniors who had fallen behind muttered to themselves and quickened their pace to enter the building.

The young man wearing sunglasses caught up with his childhood friend who was climbing the stairs. "Second-year graduate student, did you hear that? The person who called the police was in the stairwell on the seventh floor. That bomber has planted several bombs in the building. The seventh floor is yours. I'll go check the other floors."

The young man named Kenji Hagiwara didn't turn around. He responded with a sound of agreement, then, as if remembering something, turned and grabbed the young man's arm, a glint of light flashing in his eyes: "Jinpei, do you think that sanitation worker might have seen the bomber?"

After receiving the call from the bomber, the Metropolitan Police Department immediately dispatched officers to the building. As the main force in this operation, bomb disposal was their primary objective.

However, the building has so many floors that the bomber could easily plant the bombs in any hidden corner, like playing hide-and-seek. Catching the bomber is the best way to successfully defuse all the bombs. The knocked-out cleaning lady may have seen the bomber, which could be a good lead.

Matsuda Jinpei raised an eyebrow and patted his childhood friend Hagiwara Kenji on the shoulder: "Not bad, Kenji. You're so quick-witted. Come on, let's go to the seventh floor first."

The two continued climbing the stairs, and Matsuda Jinpei made a phone call to the head of the explosives disposal unit to tell him about it.

The two physically fit individuals quickly climbed to the seventh floor. Upon opening the stairwell door, they immediately saw a cleaning cart parked against the wall in the corridor, with a boy of about seventeen or eighteen years old wearing a baseball cap squatting next to it. This boy was likely the one who had called the police.

Kenji Hagiwara and Jinpei Matsuda walked over. Hearing the footsteps, Tsurumi Kawa turned around, revealing a pair of golden eyes under the wide brim of his hat, like flowing amber.

The two paused, a hint of surprise flashing in their eyes.

None of them expected that the person who called the police would have golden eyes. After all, such eyes are extremely rare in Japan or even the world, not to mention that the person had a completely Asian face.

"Hello, I'm Kenji Hagiwara, a member of the Metropolitan Police Department's Explosive Ordnance Disposal Unit." After stating his name and identity, Kenji Hagiwara pointed to his childhood friend next to him, "His name is Jinpei Matsuda. We're here to handle the bomb."

The black-haired, golden-eyed boy nodded to them, stood up, and offered them his seat: "My name is Tsurumi Kawaru, and I'm a deliveryman at the Iroha Sushi restaurant in Beika Town. I happened to find this place after delivering food to the Noda family..."

As Matsuda Jinpei handed tools to Hagiwara Kenji, he listened carefully to Tsurumi Nagare's words, narrowing his eyes slightly when he heard that Tsurumi Nagare had discovered the cleaner.

He and his fellow graduate students didn't take the elevator because they were afraid a bomber might have planted a bomb in it. Also, for safety reasons, the mall staff on floors one through six had already begun evacuating, so they chose to climb the stairs.

When asked why Tsurumi Kawakami took the stairs instead of the elevator, Matsuda Jinpei didn't immediately interrupt but listened quietly.

After Tsurumi Kawa finished explaining his findings, the cleaning lady, who was trembling inside the cleaning cart, began to recount her experience:

"I was responsible for cleaning the seventh and eighth floors as usual today. I finished cleaning at 10:30 and was about to go back when a man wearing a black baseball cap and completely covered up pushed open the door of this staircase. At first, I thought he was a resident of the building and was about to greet him when I was attacked."

Matsuda Jinpei's eyes lit up; the other person had indeed met the bomber: "Do you remember what he looked like or any distinctive features?"

The cleaner thought for a moment and said, "He was about 1.78 meters tall and quite strong. Because he was wearing a hat, I couldn't see his face clearly, but I remember that his eyes looked a bit fierce."

As she spoke, she suddenly remembered something and quickly added, "Oh, right. He has a white scar on the back of his right hand, and it's quite noticeable."

Upon receiving this crucial information, Matsuda Jinpei immediately called others to share these clues. The police officers responsible for maintenance and evacuation downstairs received the message and secretly searched the crowd for men who met the criteria.

After all, as a bomber who provoked the Metropolitan Police Department and chose to retaliate, the other party was very likely to be at the scene.

Kenji Hagiwara wiped the sweat from his brow, smiled at the cleaner, and reassured her, "Okay, you can come out now."

After saying that, he carefully took out the defused bomb and put it into the toolbox next to him, preparing to take it down and back to the Metropolitan Police Department for processing.

Just then, the walkie-talkie clipped to his waist suddenly rang. It turned out that the other members of the explosive ordnance disposal team had found a bomb in the water tank of the men's restroom on the sixth floor and were now actively working to defuse it.

Upon hearing the good news, Matsuda Jinpei adjusted his sunglasses, patted Hagiwara Kenji on the shoulder, and said, "We've found two bombs now. Let's go check the fifteenth floor."

Based on the cleaner's description and the findings of other colleagues in the men's restroom on the sixth floor, Matsuda Jinpei guessed that the bomber had probably planted the bomb on the sixth floor and was about to go upstairs when the cleaner accidentally bumped into him. In order for the next step of the plan to proceed smoothly, the bomber knocked out the cleaner, tied her up, hid her in the cart, and also planted a bomb.

The reason why the bomber went upstairs and planted a bomb on the fifteenth floor was because he heard Tsurumi Nagaru's words and found that the elevator was stopped upstairs and had not come down.

The janitor stumbled upon the bomber delivering food to Tsurumi River, and the two events occurred within minutes of each other. This coincidence aroused Matsuda Jinpei's suspicion. There was another suspicion he didn't voice: he suspected the bomber had accomplices.

Kenji Hagiwara, with his keen insight, also noticed the problem and therefore did not refuse. As the two prepared to climb the stairs to the fifteenth floor, Nagaru Tsurumi followed.

Seeing them looking at him, the black-haired, golden-eyed boy smiled shyly and said, "I want to go and see the Noda family."

Because it is a mixed-use commercial and residential building, the evacuation of people in the shopping mall below the sixth floor was relatively easy. However, for residents above the sixth floor, who were unaware of the situation and to avoid spreading panic, the police contacted the building's security and property management to send out mass messages to evacuate them downstairs.

Tsurumi River Nagaru wanted to go to the Noda family to retrieve the food box and see if they needed any help.

Matsuda Jinpei and Hagiwara Kenji exchanged a glance and did not refuse. However, when they parted ways in the stairwell on the tenth floor, Hagiwara Kenji couldn't help but give Tsurumi Ryu a few words of advice, telling him to leave the building as soon as possible.

Tsurumi Nagare nodded, waved goodbye to them, pushed open the stairwell door on the tenth floor, and arrived at the Noda family's door. He pressed the doorbell and then stood where the security camera could see him.

The door opened quickly, and the Noda couple, who looked slightly flustered, showed a hint of surprise when they saw him, thinking he had come to collect the food box. So they hurriedly went back to the living room and gave him the food box.

"Tsurumikawa-kun, we just received a message from the property management that a bomber has planted a bomb in the building. You should leave with us quickly," Noda Muramasa said kindly to Tsurumikawa Nagare, his arm around his wife's shoulder.

Upon hearing his words, a hint of hesitation flashed in Tsurumi Kawaru's eyes. He was still thinking of going up to the fifteenth floor to take a look after retrieving the food box, but remembering Hagiwara Kenji's instructions earlier, he did not refuse Noda Muramasa's kindness.

The three of them walked down the stairs to the first floor. The mall lobby on the first floor had been taken over by the Metropolitan Police Department. A smart and capable policewoman came over to greet them and then settled them in with the other residents of the building.

Tsurumi Nagare was not a resident of the building; he was simply caught up in the accident. So, he picked up his food box, told the policewoman, and prepared to leave to return to the sushi restaurant.

Walking through the crowd of onlookers outside the building, Tsurumi Kawaru adjusted his hat brim and walked to where the electric scooter was parked.

He pushed his electric scooter out and was about to ride away when a man wearing a black baseball cap and covered up walked by. Tsurumi Kawakuri made eye contact with the man, and when he looked away, he noticed the man's right hand hanging by his side.

There was a diagonal white scar on the back of the man's right hand.

Tsurumi Kawakami's golden eyes widened slightly. He instantly recalled the cleaner's words, and his body reacted faster than his brain. He abandoned his electric scooter and chased after the janitor.

-

The building, the seventeenth floor.

After much effort, the explosive ordnance disposal team finally located the last bomb.

The bomb was placed in the duct opening in the ceiling. After removing the outer panel, Kenji Hagiwara carefully placed the bomb, whose countdown was still ticking, on the ground and prepared to defused it.

Three minutes later, Kenji Hagiwara successfully eliminated the enemy before the countdown ended, and the red-glowing countdown went dark. He wiped the sweat from his brow and called Jinpei Matsuda to report the good news.

The police officers assisting behind him breathed a sigh of relief and prepared to take the bomb away, but just as they squatted down and hadn't even reached out, the previously dark and stopped countdown suddenly lit up.

【00:06】

【00:05】

【00:04】

...

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I rushed and almost missed it. I don't know if the bomb will be censored. This chapter has a lot of that word. If it's censored, I'll revise it tomorrow. I'm so sleepy. Goodnight, my darlings.