Chapter 126 Contact must be established before the reunion...
"Ah, so it really is Mr. Midorikawa."
By this time, Wataru Date and Wataru Takagi had already entered the room. The former sat down on the sofa quite naturally, while the latter was a little reserved.
Morofushi Kagemitsu smiled at them habitually, but a strange feeling crept into his mind: "I don't remember meeting the squad leader last time I was here. Why does he seem to know me? Could it be that number 234 approached him?"
[Anti-fraud expert #148: Hmm, you know what, they actually know each other. But it wasn't #234 who initiated it; it's just... too much of a coincidence.]
What kind of coincidence is this? Could it be another bank robbery?
Morofushi Kagemitsu poured a glass of water for the two of them.
There was no other way; this was all we had at home.
[Anti-fraud expert #214: No, but not far off. #234 got involved in two murder cases, and the officer in charge of the scene happened to be Date-kun. And, as you know, #234 is a fragment of your consciousness, so his behavior inevitably carries a trace of yours. So, over time, they became acquainted.]
Zhu Fujingguang: ...
His heart skipped a beat. He looked into Date Wataru's calm eyes and said politely, "It is quite a coincidence. Is Officer Date here on official business as well?" After saying that, he glanced at Takagi Wataru, who was sitting obediently to the side.
Since the class monitor is here to take a statement based on clues, let's get down to business quickly, lest we spend too much time together and someone notices something amiss.
“That’s right, we’re here to ask if you know this person?” Date Hang naturally put business first. He took a photo out of his pocket, placed it on the coffee table, and pushed it toward this acquaintance.
Morabu Kagemitsu looked down at the photo, which showed an elderly man, a face that was unfamiliar to him.
Do I know Anti-Fraud King?
He used the act of taking out the photo as a pretext to inquire about the man.
[Anti-fraud expert #11: Let me see... You two actually know each other. His name is Okuhira Kakuzo, and the music store where you currently work is owned by his family, so you could say he's your half-boss.]
[Anti-Fraud Guru #19: Not only that, you were on the phone just half an hour ago. That's probably why the police are looking for you.]
Morofushi Kagemitsu nodded and said, "Isn't this Mr. Okudaira? He's the owner of the music store where I currently work. I spoke to him on the phone not long ago."
Date Wataru nodded, put away the photo, and said, "Mr. Okudaira has unfortunately passed away in an accident. We found that you had a call record half an hour ago, which is why we wanted to ask you about the situation. Did you notice anything unusual during the call?"
Takagi Wataru also took out his notebook, ready to make some simple notes.
[Anti-fraud expert #205: From his memory, there shouldn't be anything wrong. You were mainly talking about the music store's upcoming relocation.]
Morofushi Kagemitsu observed a moment of silence, then pretended to reminisce, saying, "Actually, we were mainly talking about the music store. Since we're moving, we need to discuss some issues regarding compensation. As for anything unusual... I don't think he's any different from usual; he seems quite normal."
An expected answer.
Ida Kou didn't expect to get any valuable clues from a single phone call, but since he had come all this way, he asked about the old man's usual habits and details.
How could Morofushi Kagemitsu know this? Fortunately, Anti-Fraud Guy was behind him frantically researching and cheating for him, which allowed him to barely get by.
After just a few simple sentences, he already felt a little tired.
[Anti-fraud expert #26: Don't rush to get tired, you'll be even more tired later.]
What do you mean by that?
He had just finished his conversation with Ida Ko and hadn't even had a chance to breathe a sigh of relief when he heard Anti-Fraud King's scathing remark.
[Anti-Fraud King No. 198: We've just broken into the intelligence team's communication system. Kir, also known as Rena Mizunashi, has gone missing.]
What? !
Morofushi Kagemitsu paused in his act of seeing the guest off, gave an awkward laugh under Date Wataru's somewhat questioning gaze, and made an excuse, saying, "I think I sat for too long just now, my legs are a little numb."
"Ah, I see..." Date Wataru glanced at the distance from the sofa to the door, and it was unclear whether he believed the reason.
"In short, thank you for your cooperation." Date Ko said, standing at the door, repeating the same words he had said countless times, "If you remember any important clues later, please contact us again."
"Of course, I'll keep an eye on it," Morofushi Kagemitsu replied politely.
The two sides bowed slightly to each other, and the meeting between old acquaintances finally came to an end.
However, Morofushi Kagemitsu, who was anxiously asking about Mizunashi Rena's current situation, was unaware that Date Wataru was staring at his doorway in deep thought for a while after closing the door.
"Brother Date?" Takagi Wataru, seeing that Date Wataru hadn't left, followed his gaze to the apartment door and asked疑惑地问道, "What's wrong? Is there something we haven't asked Mr. Midorikawa yet?"
Date Wataru shook his head, took one last look at the gate, and then left with Takagi Wataru.
Having just learned of Rena Mizunashi's disappearance, Morofushi Kagemitsu had no time to pay attention to these details and hurriedly asked the Anti-Fraud King about her current situation.
[Anti-Fraudster No. 66: The intelligence system says that during the assassination attempt on Tsuchimura Kanghui, she was unfortunately involved in a car accident during the retreat and has been missing for several days. Their action team hasn't been able to find her, so they contacted the intelligence team to see if they had any leads.]
[Anti-fraud expert #205: Ethan Hondou has also left a message in Black Guest's backend, saying he plans to use the "medical monitoring system" to gather information.]
Medical monitoring system? Does our Black Guest have that function?
[Anti-Fraud Guru #198: This only started about two weeks ago. When we came here, we were looking for the research institute that was currently searching for Melo, and we inadvertently stumbled upon quite a few secret private medical institutions. To better monitor personnel movement and organize the capture of experimental subjects, we conveniently integrated them into the current medical system, setting up this intelligence network.]
...Fine, we're a gray organization anyway, we've already violated plenty of privacy. Give Ethan Hondou access, we can also check if Rena Mizunashi is in the hospital.
[Anti-Fraud Guru #148: Alright, the access has been granted to him. Oh, by the way, Zero will see this message from the organization soon, but he's currently abroad—not at the airport, I specifically confirmed this, there won't be a repeat of the last blunder—he probably won't be able to come back.]
Zero, huh...?
Morofushi Kagemitsu couldn't help but open Black Guest's backend. Among thousands of visitor records, he found the account that had been marked with a special tag long ago and discovered that the last login was two days ago.
He silently opened a new tab, accessed the medical monitoring system, and waited for the search results.
[Anti-fraud expert #214: ...Quite a few people are hospitalized due to car accidents, but it's still very difficult to find her using only facial recognition and name screening.]
[Anti-Fraud Guru #66: That's right. After all, on the surface, the female streamer Rena Mizunashi took a long leave of absence. Wouldn't appearing at the hospital explain things? Could she be at some hospital overseas? But if that's the case… um?!]
What happened? Did she really go abroad?
As Morofushi Kagemitsu browsed the list of hospitals on the screen, he subconsciously compared it with the organization's assets and the investment list.
[Anti-Fraud Guru #11: emmmm...]
[Anti-fraud expert #19: She didn't leave the country, but many of hers are still in Japan.]
...Judging from your description, you're not talking about the FBI, are you? They just got their tourist transit visas over 40 days ago, they should have expired by now.
[Anti-fraud expert #148: Theoretically speaking, it is indeed expired. However, in practice, there are many ways to manipulate it. You know how rampant those Americans are in Japan...]
Zhu Fujingguang: ...
Okay, let's put aside the visa issue for now, but what are they still doing here? Are they lying in wait to catch Vermouth?
He glanced again at the forum, which had become a playground for anti-fraud enthusiasts, and found that he hadn't seen any news about Vermouth returning to the United States. Even Melo's most recent post mentioned that she was with Vermouth, and her IP address was clearly still in Japan.
[Anti-fraud expert #205: Perhaps, but you need to be careful. That difficult Shuichi Akai came along too. Two security cameras captured his image; he seems to be active in the Beika area.]
Miyaka... wait, if I remember correctly, the Miyano sisters live in Miyaka now, right?
[Anti-fraud expert #198: Yes, that's why we're reminding you, lest the people you've worked so hard to recruit get kidnapped by the FBI.]
...It's truly a situation where we're caught between a rock and a hard place.
Shuichi Akai's presence in Beika suggests that the FBI is nearby. We must hope they don't discover the secret of APTX 4869 again.
[Anti-Fraud Guru #26: Uh, it seems your worries are a bit late.]
What's the meaning?
[Anti-Fraud Guru #11: Please watch the video.]
It was just an ordinary, blurry street video. But it captured an extraordinary scene: a man wearing a knitted hat chatting and laughing with a primary school student in a blue suit.
Shinichi Kudo!
Morofushi Kagemitsu couldn't help but rub his forehead. How did this kid get involved with Akai Shuichi?
[Anti-Fraud Guru #19: Come on, look at this again.]
Morofushi Kagemitsu paused, completely unable to stop the anti-fraud king from playing videos in his mind.
This video features a handsome high school student who follows Shinichi Kudo and his friends around in search of his older sister.
[Anti-fraud expert #214: This child's name is Hondo Eisuke, he is Ethan Hondo's son and Mizunashi Rena's younger brother.]
Morofushi Kagemitsu remained silent.
A series of key individuals he observed became quite connected, and piecing them together led him to discover a troubling fact: it seemed the whole world was now searching for Rena Mizunashi.
He had to find her, overcoming two formidable obstacles: a cunning and powerful organization, and the FBI, which was closest to her relatives and highly efficient. Oh, and he also had to keep an eye on her elderly father's safety, making sure he wasn't accidentally killed.
So difficult!
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The author notes: I've compressed the timeline of events and changed some details.
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