Chapter 87 is about a child who was well protected by his friends...

Time seemed to stretch out infinitely at that moment.

The expected massive explosion did not occur.

The surroundings were deathly silent.

The bomber, who had been running wildly while pressing the remote control button, froze, his crazed smile instantly freezing. He stubbornly pressed the remote control button a few more times, but nothing happened.

What happened?

Bomber: Stunned.

Matsuda Jinpei also paused in his tracks due to this sudden turn of events, and his roar abruptly stopped.

Matsuda Jinpei: Huh—?!

Although he didn't know what had happened, he reacted very quickly and seized the opportunity to pounce on the still stunned bomber and forcefully pin him to the ground.

The remote control also fell to the ground.

With a sharp "snap," Matsuda Jinpei swiftly and decisively handcuffed the bomber.

Then he picked up the remote control from the ground and, while squatting down, turned it over and over.

Hmm, could it be a malfunction?

Good thing it's faulty!

The suppressed bomber roared in frustration, his eyes fixed on Matsuda Jinpei and the seemingly malfunctioning remote control in his hand: "Bastard! What did you do?!"

His tone was filled with intense confusion and resentment, almost a roar: "Why didn't the bomb explode?!"

Xiao Zhenping thought hard.

Thoughts tangled into a black ball of yarn.jpg

Matsuda Jinpei was certain that he hadn't done anything to cause the remote control to malfunction; he had simply chased after the bomber and now handcuffed him.

But this did not stop him from getting angry, especially when he heard that the bomber dared to question him so confidently.

He punched the bomber with a bang, the force of which interrupted the man's impotent rage.

"You! Dare! To! Say! That!"

Matsuda Jinpei gritted his teeth, each word seeming to be squeezed out from between his teeth.

"A bomber actually dares to question why the bomb didn't explode?! What, you're not satisfied with not hearing an explosion?! Want to go to the scene and hear it for yourself right now?! Huh?! You damn bastard!!!"

“A stray dog ​​has no right to ask questions!” Matsuda Jinpei grabbed the bomber by the collar, his eyes fierce as if he wanted to kill him. “What you should be thinking about now is how to spend the rest of your life in prison!”

The bomber, his throat gripped by a collar, cried out, "Ugh!"

Matsuda Jinpei's yakuza-like appearance and demeanor had an effect; the bomber trembled and fell silent under his glare.

I feel like I'll really get beaten up if I say anything more.

Seeing the bomber finally fall silent, Matsuda Jinpei tightly closed his eyes to suppress his anger, then released him and slammed him to the ground. He picked up his phone, anxiously wanting to call Hagiwara Kenji.

What's going on with Hagi? Has the bomb been defused? Answer the phone!

The call didn't go through.

It wasn't because Kenji Hagiwara didn't answer, but because Jinpei Matsuda couldn't dial the number at all.

The call failed!

Matsuda Jinpei looked closely and realized that the cell phone's signal bars had disappeared sometime during the night.

"Hello? Hello! President... What happened? Why did the call suddenly drop?"

"The internet here is terrible!"

"...Sister?! Hello—?"

The scattered sounds around him finally reached his ears, and Matsuda Jinpei realized that he wasn't the only one with a bad signal.

Is that such a... coincidence?

Matsuda Jinpei frowned, feeling that his luck was a little too good. He looked around and his gaze suddenly stopped at the crossroads not far away.

A young man with blond hair as bright as the sun and eyes as blue as the clear sky was walking slowly and steadily toward him, his goal clear.

The other person was holding a metal box about the size of a cigarette pack, with exquisite patterns like a work of art. It reflected a dazzling light in the sunlight and was very eye-catching.

The box was open.

Noticing Matsuda Jinpei's gaze, the blond youth smiled at him with his eyes crinkled.

He slammed the box shut.

Subconsciously, Matsuda Jinpei looked down, and under his gaze, the signal bars at the top of the phone screen gradually filled up.

"Hey, the internet's back?"

"You got through? President! Sorry, sorry, the signal was bad here and I accidentally dropped the call... I didn't mean to hang up!"

"Sister, what did you say I should bring home? I didn't hear you. Oh, and you know what? I just saw the police arresting a criminal!"

The people of Mika have their own kind of composure.

The signal for the people around them was also restored.

Matsuda Jinpei: "!"

He suddenly realized that the signal from the bomb remote control hadn't been sent out either!

Matsuda Jinpei suddenly looked up.

The blond youth had already walked over, deftly picking up the beautiful, ornament-like metal box with his fingers and showing it to him, saying succinctly, "It's a signal jammer. Luckily, the frequency of this bomb is within the jammer's range. Lucky you!"

After saying that, he smiled at Matsuda Jinpei in a familiar manner, his long, curled eyelashes and crescent-shaped eyes making his smile particularly beautiful.

Matsuda Jinpei: "..." Matsuda Jinpei, who was rather bad at socializing, was speechless for a moment.

"Thanks," he said curtly.

Without even having time to figure out the identity of the unfamiliar blond youth, he immediately dialed Kenji Hagiwara's number again.

Unexpectedly, the call still couldn't get through.

Matsuda Jinpei: "?"

He frowned. He figured the time bomb should be defused by now, right? Why wasn't Hagi answering the phone? Had something really happened?

Hagi, please don't let anything happen to you.

Matsuda Jinpei fell into anxiety.

Finding that the call still hadn't gone through, Nekono Yuuya blinked, a hint of confusion flashing in her azure eyes. After a moment's thought, she immediately understood.

"Oh, I see!" he said, drawing out the sound.

Matsuda Jinpei was immediately drawn to the blond youth's words. He saw the other man smile sheepishly and say, "Well, it seems I've gone to unnecessary trouble. Your friend probably also placed a signal jammer on his end."

Is that so? Matsuda Jinpei thought. It seemed that the bomb disposal team did receive a new batch of bomb disposal equipment this morning, but unfortunately he hadn't had a chance to check what was in it before residents reported finding a bomb in a residential building.

Hagi led the team to defuse the bomb. Did they use new equipment? Did it contain items that could block remote-controlled bomb signals? That was close! Matsuda Jinpei felt a wave of fear wash over him.

"Anyway, thank you." Matsuda Jinpei said sincerely to the blond youth, then scratched his head in confusion: "You are—?"

"Just a kind-hearted citizen passing by!" Nekono Ikuya answered with a smile.

Are they just ordinary, enthusiastic citizens who are certain they've upgraded their equipment and have amazing reaction speed? Matsuda Jinpei narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

Wait... blonde hair?

Jinpei Matsuda, with his intuitive nature, had a flash of inspiration.

The inspiration was a resounding success!

He suddenly remembered Furuya Rei's "ever-changing" lover, who had disappeared completely after graduation and was also Morofushi Kagemitsu's childhood friend.

...No way?

Matsuda Jinpei squinted: "Nekono?"

"We've been discovered?" Nekono Ikuya asked in surprise.

Matsuda, you're so perceptive.

He readily nodded: "You guessed right, Matsuda, it's me! How did you figure it out?"

Nekono Ikuya's curious eyes.jpg

Matsuda Jinpei was speechless. He gave him a half-moon-shaped eye: "You didn't even try to hide it. Light blonde hair, deep blue cat eyes, and a face that's three-tenths like your own... they're all very distinctive! Knowing you can disguise yourself, I must be stupid not to recognize you."

Light blond hair and deep blue eyes—aren't those the characteristics of those two guys?

What an ultimate Frankenstein's monster!

He complained, "Why don't you get disguised as having black hair and purple-gray eyes? That would make you harder to recognize." At least black hair is more common and harder for him to associate with blond hair.

"Perhaps it's because I like blue eyes?"

Nekono Ikuya gently traced the outline of her eyes with her fingertips, looking quite pleased with herself.

He made this narcissistic attitude look so beautiful and natural.

Matsuda Jinpei: "...And blonde hair?"

His gaze unconsciously drifted to the bright blond hair that gave him a strong sense of déjà vu.

"No, no, no," Nekono Ikuya shook her index finger, completely oblivious to anything amiss, and earnestly told Matsuda Jinpei, "Black hair, I love black hair and blue eyes the most, I love it so much!"

“Of course I like blonde hair too,” he added.

Matsuda Jinpei paused for a moment: "Black hair and blue eyes?"

“Yes, black hair and blue eyes!” Nekono Ikuya nodded.

"Like Master Jing, with his black hair and blue cat eyes?"

"That's right, Jingguang's cat-like eyes are the best."

"..."

"..."

Matsuda Jinpei: Wow!

Nekono Yuuya paused for a second, then suddenly widened her eyes: "No, I like black hair and blue eyes because my mom has black hair and blue eyes!"

"...What kind of expression is that, Matsuda?!" Nekono Ikuya laughed heartily.

"Ahem!" Matsuda Jinpei, feeling guilty after being bombarded by Hagiwara Kenji's comments such as "I accidentally mistook Nekono for Komorofushi's lover before," "I didn't expect Nekono to be Kofuya's lover," "It's so nice to go from childhood friends to lovers," "But the three of them live together," and "Oh well, it's more important for the three of them to live a good life (just kidding)."

"Oh, I see."

Jinpei-chan is feeling guilty!

Matsuda Jinpei handed the bomber over to his detective colleague who had just run over, and then walked with Nekono Ikuya toward the place where Hagiwara Kenji was defusing the bomb.

Matsuda Jinpei and Furuya Rei didn't click with each other at first sight, but after only a few meetings with Nekono Ikuya, which were fraught with misunderstandings, they actually got along quite well. Besides, they also had a connection through the time when young Nekono Ikuya helped Matsuda Jotaro.

The apartment with the bomb was cordoned off, and they waited patiently outside. Matsuda Jinpei was relieved to learn that nothing had happened.

Unconsciously, Matsuda Jinpei's eyes drifted to the small metal box that Nekono Ikuya was playing with.

I'm so envious! I want to tear it down!!!

The urge to dismantle it is already stirring within me.

Nekono Ikuya noticed.

He made the small metal box spin nimbly between his fingers, mostly creating afterimages, occasionally pausing rhythmically.

Matsuda Jinpei's gaze was fixed on the delicate little metal box, his eyes following Nekono Ikuya's movements as he played with it, his face filled with undisguised longing.

Nekono Ikuya tilted her head, looking at the other person's eyes that were almost glued to the box, and thought that sometimes this seemingly cool police officer was surprisingly childlike. Perhaps because he was well protected by his friends, he wasn't turning into a boring adult so quickly.

He couldn't help but smile, handing over the small metal box, his blue eyes brimming with a gentle smile: "Do you like it? Then it's yours!"

Well, there's nothing I can do about it; he's one of Matsuda's friends too.

"Really? Really for me?"

Matsuda Jinpei's eyes lit up instantly, and his hand reached out impatiently, moving so fast it almost stirred up a gust of wind.

"Of course it's true, just consider it a small gift between friends."

Nekono Ikuya was amused by his unceremonious reaction and readily let go, allowing the small box to fall into Matsuda Jinpei's palm. Seeing Matsuda Jinpei's delighted expression, she found it quite amusing.

Matsuda Jinpei carefully held the box, turning it over and over to examine it, his fingertips tracing the exquisite patterns on it. Then he looked up, his gaze intense, and asked very directly, "So—can I open it?"

Wow, that's so direct!

Nekono Ikuya's eyes widened slightly, and she couldn't help but sigh inwardly. Generally speaking, no one would ask so directly if they could open a gift, right? But this was definitely Matsuda Jinpei's style.

As expected of Matsuda Jinpei?

He found it even more amusing, his smile widened, and he nodded without hesitation: "Of course!"

With permission granted, Matsuda Jinpei, like a big boy who had received a new and exciting toy, threw himself into it wholeheartedly. He immediately bent down to study it, his fingers nimbly searching for possible interfaces or mechanisms, his expression so focused that it seemed as if everything around him did not exist.

Nekono Ikuya: As expected, very childish.