Even so, as revealed in Chapter 6 of the investigation, he still grew into a gentle person...
"Huh?" Furuya Rei curiously leaned forward to look at the Tokyo map in Date Wataru's hand.
The map clearly shows the locations of streets and important buildings of all sizes, and some places are marked with a pencil.
He glanced at it briefly, nodded, and said, "The center is indeed near the police academy."
"What is the center?"
At this moment, Kitagawa Ryusei was like a student who only excelled in one subject but not the other, watching a top student skip steps to solve a problem; he had just listed the known conditions when he was given the answer.
Morofushi Kagemitsu patiently explained, "It's the 'common center' principle that the instructor mentioned before. Specifically, it utilizes the psychology that criminals tend to choose familiar locations to commit crimes. By marking all known crime locations and using the line connecting the two furthest points as the diameter, you can draw a circle that encompasses all the crime locations. The criminal is very likely to live near the center of this circle."①
This time, Kitagawa Ryusei understood and said thoughtfully, "You're guessing that the murderer lives around the police academy?"
They even openly interact with police academy students all the time?
“It’s just a suspicion. What we can think of, the senior officers at the Metropolitan Police Department can definitely think of too,” Kenji Hagiwara said with a smile. “We noticed that Morofushi seems very interested in this case, so we’re discussing it together.”
"I just feel that these victims look somewhat familiar, but I haven't been able to find any connection right now." Morofushi Kagemitsu frowned slightly, as if trying hard to recall something.
Seeing that he was distracted again, even the straightforward Matsuda Jinpei sensed something was wrong: "Are you alright?"
Morobuchi Kagemitsu didn't explain much, but simply waved his hand to indicate that he was fine.
Kitagawa Ryusei understood. Although they hadn't spent much time together, he had roughly figured out Morofushi Kagemitsu's personality.
Like Furuya Rei, Morofushi Hiromitsu's sense of responsibility and justice far surpasses that of others Kitagawa Ryusei has encountered. In addition, he is gentle, reserved, and empathetic. Such people tend to be considerate of others' feelings and are unwilling to trouble those around them with their personal matters.
But he clearly encountered a problem.
Kitagawa Ryusei, who always advocates "group fights are better than one-on-one fights," suggested, "If you're interested, we can go and investigate around the school together to see if we can find anything."
“That’s right, Master Jing. If we split up, we have six people, which will double our efficiency!” Matsuda Jinpei was the first to stand up and support him.
He had tried to ask Morofushi Kagemitsu about his situation several times before, but that blond bastard stopped him, saying that he should let the other party reveal it on his own initiative. But his hesitant style was not in line with him at all!
Stepping on the gas is his style!
Kenji Hagiwara, who was standing nearby, received the signal and nodded in agreement.
"If we cause any more trouble, will Instructor Onizuka kick us out?"
Date Wataru stroked his chin, thinking for a few seconds, then clenched his right fist and slammed it into his left palm: "But... please remember to take me with you!"
The matter was settled in a few words, and before Morobushi Kagemitsu could even react, the group in front of him was already rubbing their hands together, ready to make a big splash.
“No, you guys…” He turned his pleading gaze to the most reliable one among them, Rei Furuya: “Zero?”
Unexpectedly, his most reliable childhood friend rubbed her nose with her knuckles, looking slightly guilty, and avoided his gaze, turning around to excitedly join the discussion with the others.
"...You really are full of energy." Seeing this, Morofushi Kagemitsu could only helplessly finish his sentence.
Perhaps with their help, things really will change? Looking at the people surrounding him, he felt for the first time that the burden on his shoulders had lightened.
*
The advantage of working with people who have strong execution skills is that once a decision is made, it will never be delayed. However, if you work with a group of people who are both highly efficient and passionate, then the progress of the project is likely to be irreversible.
That afternoon, the six of them decided to take action and ran out of the school together.
To avoid alerting the girls, Kenji Hagiwara and Jinpei Matsuda decided to try their luck at the place where the girls disappeared, while the others went to check several key locations near the school.
It must be said that Morofushi Kagemitsu was indeed very concerned about this case. After they decided to investigate, he produced a rather detailed report.
"So far, there have been three victims, aged between six and eight, who all share the common characteristics of long black hair, double eyelids, and wearing double braids at the time of the incident."
"One of the girls was found two weeks ago. The murderer abandoned her under a crowded overpass. Hospital tests only revealed that she had anemia. Another girl was murdered. Her body was found in an abandoned factory in the suburbs. There were no external injuries on her body. The autopsy results showed that she died of a high fever because she did not seek medical treatment in time."
"There is still one girl whose whereabouts are unknown."
Morofushi Kagemitsu briefly explained the case information, his gaze lingering on the last girl's personal information for a moment before moving away.
After listening, Rei Furuya fell into thought: "Do these three girls and their families have any interpersonal connections?"
“Absolutely not, and that’s the biggest headache for the police right now.” Morifushi Hiromitsu closed the file in his hand.
"If we exclude the possibility of randomly selecting victims, shouldn't we start by investigating the common characteristics of the kidnapped girls?" suggested Kitagawa Ryusei.
Seeing how certain he was, Date Kou asked curiously, "How can you be sure the other party didn't randomly select victims?"
"There was no deliberate harm inflicted on the kidnapped victims, and no extortion of their families..."
Under the streetlights, Kitagawa Ryusei's eyes were unreadable, his expression somber. His voice was barely audible, as if he were chuckling: "If I'm doing this, it must be to find a specific person."
"..."
It was as if a cool breeze had blown by, instantly lowering the surrounding temperature.
“This…” Furuya Rei suddenly felt that he hadn’t dressed warmly enough today: “Kitagawa-kun, you should try not to sympathize with criminals.”
That expression just now gave him an urge to arrest his classmate.
"It's just a guess," Kitagawa Ryusei said, and in the blink of an eye, he returned to his original appearance, as if what had just happened was just their illusion. "If the murderer wanted to imprison the girl, he would definitely leave traces of her life. Let's go check the nearby shops with high foot traffic for clues."
As he spoke, he turned his head and noticed that Morofushi Kagemitsu was once again lost in thought, so he asked, "Morfushi-kun?"
Startled back to his senses by the call, Morofushi Kagemitsu quickly said, "Sorry, I just seem to have remembered something."
The photos of the three girls in the document were deeply imprinted in his mind, intertwined, seemingly about to merge into one figure, yet always separated by a thin mist.
...Who does he resemble? What does this have to do with him?
What does this have to do with the deaths of his parents?
A sharp pain shot through his head, but Morofushi Kagemitsu couldn't remember anything.
The others tacitly stopped asking, afraid of putting unnecessary pressure on him.
Finally, Date Wataru waved his hand and made arrangements: "Let's split up and look for clues! I'll go to the nearby convenience store; Furuya and Kitagawa will go to the restaurants and clinics; Morofushi is more familiar with Tokyo and can be responsible for the places not marked on the map. Any other questions?"
All three spoke at the same time: "No."
He clasped his hands together in satisfaction: "Then it's decided. Meet back at the same spot in two hours!"
Splitting into three groups was indeed much more efficient. Kitagawa Ryusei walked out of a restaurant and casually asked the person next to him, "Actually, Morofushi-kun's absent-mindedness is because of his parents' case, right?"
Rei Furuya looked down and crossed out one of the addresses written in his notebook. Hearing this, he looked at him and asked, "How did you know that?"
Kitagawa Ryusei did not hide anything: "He left a newspaper from fifteen years ago in the locker room. It reported a murder case in Nagano. Although the names were not revealed, the newspaper stated that the youngest son of the victim couple was at the scene."
After a moment of silence, Furuya Rei tacitly acknowledged the matter. He recalled when he first met Morofushi Hiromitsu, and a sadness flashed in his eyes: "After the incident, Hiro came to Tokyo. At first, he was in a very bad state. His memory was somewhat confused, and he even suffered from aphasia for a time."
“Even so, Morofushi-kun has still grown into a gentle person…” Kitagawa Ryusei said with emotion, “Even if he hates the other person the most, if he has the opportunity to catch that person, he will still choose to hand the murderer over to the law, right?”
Knowing his childhood friend's character well, Rei Furuya nodded in agreement: "He will definitely do it. No one has the right to judge another person's crimes except the law, right? Otherwise, they would be no different from criminals."
Under the newly risen moonlight, the blond youth looked serious and determined, showing no sign of wavering as he spoke.
Kitagawa Ryusei stared intently at the other person's exquisitely sculpted face, made even more striking by his mixed heritage. After a long while, he lost count of how many times he had remarked, "Your sense of justice is so strong it always shocks me."
Having heard similar words from the young man for what felt like the umpteenth time, Furuya Rei finally couldn't help but ask in bewilderment, "'You guys'? Doesn't Kitagawa think he's like that too?"
Would someone without a sense of justice risk their life to rush into a burning building about to explode to save a complete stranger?
“We’re different.” Kitagawa Ryusei could tell what he was thinking at a glance, but deep down he felt that these were not the same thing.
He possesses supernatural abilities and subconsciously knows he won't be in mortal danger, giving him the confidence to take risks at will. This is completely different from the determination of ordinary people to sacrifice themselves for others.
"After all, before entering the police academy, my life goal was to be a 'bad guy'."
Rei Furuya exclaimed in disbelief, "Huh? Really?"
From any perspective, Kitagawa Ryusei doesn't seem to fit the description of a "bad guy," does he?
Ignoring what Furuya Rei was thinking, Kitagawa Ryusei grinned triumphantly and stepped toward the next shop.
"bell--"
The cell phone in Furuya Rei's bag suddenly rang.
"It's Hiro calling. Did he find some clues?" Rei Furuya pressed the answer button: "Hiro?"
However, the voice that came from the other end of the phone was not that of Morofushi Kagemitsu.
The strange man's sharp curses, the child's choked sobs and heavy, almost out-of-control breathing.
There was also a knocking sound hidden beneath the chaos.
Rei Furuya and Rukawa Kitagawa exchanged a glance and held their breath. He carefully deciphered the code transmitted over the phone: "S, o, t, o, k, u, r, a, 119."
"Sotokura!"
"It must be that laundry shop near the school. Someone is injured," Kitagawa Ryusei quickly recalled the map in his mind, dialed the emergency number on his phone to briefly explain the situation, and immediately notified the others.
The closest to Morofushi Kagemitsu were Hagiwara Kenji and his group: "Jinpei and I are nearby, let's head over right away!"
The laundromat was only two blocks away from Kitagawa Ryusei and his companion. Without bothering to find a means of transportation, the two turned around and ran in that direction.
Fortunately, there were few pedestrians on the street at this time. Furuya Rei gritted his teeth and looked serious.
His phone remained connected: "Hiro, you're all alone. Take the victim and hide. Don't engage them directly. We're on our way!"
He felt a vague unease. From the moment the phone rang, apart from his panting, he hadn't heard Morofushi Kagemitsu speak a word.
The journey, which should have taken five minutes, was completed in just two minutes.
Before Furuya could suppress his unease, an explosion suddenly rang out in the distance!
"It's in the direction of the laundromat!" Furuya Rei suddenly looked up, not daring to think any further, and could only hope that the explosion had not affected Morofushi Kagemitsu and the others.
Before he could say anything, Matsuda Jinpei's voice came simultaneously from the phone and from a distance: "Weren't the bombs already defused? How come there are still some?!"
Amidst the firelight and smoke, Matsuda Jinpei restrained a man whose hands were bound, while Hagiwara Kenji held a girl covered in blood in his arms.
The two ran out of the building where the explosion occurred.
Zhu Fujingguang walked at the back, his eyes so red they seemed to be bleeding.
He looked even more disheveled than Kitagawa Ryusei, who had saved someone last time. He had bloody marks on his body from being cut by a sharp object, and his coat was torn open, with part of it wrapped around the girl he had saved.
"Hiro!"
Morofushi Kagemitsu noticed the worried looks on everyone's faces, opened his mouth, but no sound came out, and blood dripped from his fingertips.
Kitagawa Ryusei sensed something and diverted a bit of his attention to the bound, deranged stranger.
He yelled hoarsely at Morofushi Kagemitsu, "You took her away! Give me back my Yuri!!"
Ignoring the words in his ear, Morofushi Kagemitsu slowly clenched his fists and murmured hoarsely, "...It really was me who harmed these children."
"..."
Silence fell around them, broken only by the crackling sound of the flames burning behind them. Everyone looked at the young man with puzzled expressions.
Finally, Rei Furuya broke the silence: "Go to the hospital for a check-up first, and we can talk about the rest later."
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