Don't use Type-Moon references in Oregairu!

After washing up, Ito Reita chimed in, "Exactly! Japan is a country deeply bound by tradition. They started advocating for paperless services 10 years ago, but they still haven't changed. Ultimately, it's because seals are too powerful. Everyone has dozens of seals; without them, even a signature is practically useless. If it weren't for a nationwide pandemic forcing everyone to stay home, this situation would never change. I failed to cheat several times back then because of seals..."

Ito Ryou quickly covered his mouth, deeply regretting that he couldn't zip up the zipper.

Fujimaru Ritsuka gave him a half-smile and pointed at him, saying, "I just hope you haven't committed some earth-shattering fraud, otherwise, I'll have a hard time protecting you."

"I still cleaned up the mess quite well." Ito Reita watched Fujimaru Ritsuka go into the restroom with a sheepish look on his face, not daring to say anything, and squatted down to the side in silence.

Not long after, Fujimaru Ritsuka signaled to everyone to get ready to go out.

Ito Reita looked outside, somewhat puzzled. It was only a little before 7 a.m., and the sky was just beginning to lighten. Why was he going to the police station?

No, the actions of big shots are always meaningful; how can we presume to guess?

He followed closely behind the two bigwigs. As they exited the hotel, he shrewdly flagged down a taxi and obsequiously opened the door, saying, "My lords, please."

After a brief observation, the Fujimaru-sama seemed quite satisfied, while the woman who appeared to be named Artoria looked composed, as if she was already used to being treated with such courtesy. Hmm... as expected, the latter has an extraordinary background. Could it be that Fujimaru-sama rose from humble beginnings to achieve his goal?

He stopped speculating, got into the front seat, and then, using his position of authority, said, "Please, get to the Chiba City Police Station as soon as possible."

“The best hotel nearby,” added Fujimaru Ritsuka, who was sitting in the back seat.

Ito Reita was a little bewildered, but the driver was quick-witted enough to recognize the status of the three of them. He decisively followed the instructions of Fujimaru Ritsuka in the back seat and took them to the entrance of a five-star hotel.

So, avoiding the peak hours when office workers were going to work or going home after working overtime, the three of them went to the Hilton Hotel near the Chiba Police Station.

However, Ito Reita finally understood why they had come here first.

In the sparsely populated hotel restaurant, empty plates were quickly cleared away by the waiters, and then replaced with a generous serving of food that had been ordered.

Ito Reita simply ate a sandwich and drank a glass of milk, and then didn't eat anything else.

The scene before me was utterly absurd—this noble lady had already stuffed enough food for more than ten people into her stomach, yet she still seemed unsatisfied, continuing to eat voraciously.

Sitting to one side, Fujimaru Ritsuka, though not as big as Artoria with her enormous appetite, had still managed to eat enough for two or three strong men to finish, and was casually wiping her mouth.

Seeing Ito Reita's shocked expression, Fujimaru Ritsuka couldn't help but chuckle: "Don't be shocked, it's just average. It was breakfast time, and Artoria had an off day."

What the hell? He underperformed! If he were normal, shouldn't he have devoured a roasted camel in one go?

Seeing Artoria eating so happily, Ito Ryouta couldn't help but swallow, feeling a pang of hunger rising within him.

“Actually, you should eat more. After all, you still need to be interrogated. If you don’t eat well, you might not have the strength,” Fujimaru Ritsuka said quietly, which unexpectedly enlightened Ito Reita.

Yes, I should have eaten more. Whether I'll ever get to eat such good food again is completely unknown.

Ito Ryouta made up his mind and raised his hand to ask the waiter to add more items to the order.

Fujimaru Ritsuka smiled and readily agreed, letting him serve the expensive food.

Because he had just realized another good idea—since the bait couldn't lure the enemy out so quickly, shouldn't he think of other ways? Since the Chiba Police Department had all sorts of micro-expression masters, and the members of the Major Crimes Unit had strong logical reasoning abilities, wouldn't it be natural to take advantage of the Chiba Police Department for free?

No, this pan-fried veal steak is good, I'll have another one.

Fujimaru Ritsuka beamed with joy, joining forces with Artoria, determined to leave the five-star hotel restaurant with nothing to sell by morning.

Actually, it wasn't long, just over two hours. Before 10 o'clock, the waiter came over anxiously to remind Fujimaru Ritsuka that the ingredients were sold out.

Thus, with endless regret, Artoria, along with Fujimaru Ritsuka who had paid the bill and the accessory Itō Reita, left the restaurant and headed to the Chiba City Police Station.

The taxi driver was really honest; the Chiba Police Station was less than a 10-minute walk from the hotel.

Looking inside the police station, she saw that many lights were still on, and Fujimaru Ritsuka finally perked up: "Goodness, it seems that Sasagawa Yagokoro's orders were carried out quite well. He even had a bunch of people from the police station working overtime last night."

"No, boss... we dragged them here to work overtime." Sasagawa Yagokoro appeared at the door with heavy dark circles under his eyes.

167. The Origin of the Photograph

"Oh dear, Sasagawa, how can you be so self-aware? This is too much..." Fujimaru Ritsuka felt genuinely guilty.

Although I fought off a bunch of monsters last night, Artoria cleared the field. I had a leisurely late-night snack, and even had a dream date with a beautiful girl. I also had a hearty meal this morning.

You can tell why Sasagawa Yagokoro is here just by looking at what he's carrying: a bunch of McDonald's breakfast takeout, which makes it seem like he's the one who's been exploiting the blood and sweat of working overtime.

I'm the capitalist.JPG

Fujimaru Ritsuka was extremely embarrassed: "This Haruno is really something... Didn't they approve enough funding? They can't even afford the delivery fee for the delivery guy, and you have to make the trip yourself? I'll definitely give her a good scolding when I get back."

Having known each other for so long, Sasakawa Yagokoro knew that Fujimaru Ritsuka liked to spout nonsense. He rolled his eyes and said, "Boss, I just had a headache from checking files all night and came out for a walk. Don't just compensate us for the takeout fee. When we get back, give us a big meal with overtime pay, and maybe let a few more people in our team try using the materials to see if we have a chance."

"Trying to take credit, huh? Oh dear, you're being so insensible. The organization is exploiting you to train you, so why are you being so petty? Are you staying up all night just to make money and find material?"

"...You've never even worked before, how come you're so familiar with all those corporate slave boss lines?! I can't hold it in anymore, desu."

The two walked inside arm in arm. Fujimaru Ritsuka lowered her voice and said, "Enough with the nonsense. What's the situation? If we've uncovered a major incident, let alone one or two pieces of material, we could pull all your team members over and test them one by one. If it's not from Gari, I can still squeeze some money out of the Special Affairs Bureau."

Sasakawa Yagokoro sighed, "Chiba City, they're really slacking off. Last night, we called the police superintendent, Thirteen, around midnight, but we almost couldn't get through. So the task force split into two groups, and I led a team to the superintendent's house and banged on the door to finally get everyone together. At first, those guys were just dragging their feet, but the more they investigated, the more they sweated, and that's when they started to take it seriously."

“Boss, we need to be prepared this time. We reported the news in the middle of the night, and the police chief was so scared that he contacted the head of the Japanese Metropolitan Police Department directly through emergency contact. Now it's a complete mess.” Sasagawa Yagokoi gestured with his hands to indicate a number. “There are more than 6000 homeless people according to statistics, and according to intelligence, more than 80% of them have already gone missing.”

"4000+? That's a bad sign. Ugh, I mean this number of guys... I just hope their clustering effect follows the principle of diminishing returns, meaning the more they have, the less their strength increases."

As for whether it's a direct proportion or an exponential effect? ​​Fujimaru Ritsuka suggests directly contacting the American military bases stationed nearby and sending the Pacific Fleet to clean up the mess.

It's not that I can't handle it, it's just that the other party has a Gundam.JPG

Sasagawa Yagokoro shared the same sentiment. He had felt a sense of crisis as early as last night after hearing his boss say that these guys became exceptionally strong once they gathered together.

After Artoria arrived in Chaldea, she couldn't resist the urge to train her group of little brats.

Mercenaries who had fought on countless battlefields for years, renowned hunters who hunted the bizarre, and even squads of 10 or 20 men were all utterly defeated by her holy lance. What's even more outrageous is that she clearly wasn't using her full strength.

Who doesn't know that Awakened Ones have trump cards? This guy wasn't even fighting seriously; he simply relied on his incredibly strong physique, disciplined battlefield martial arts, and unbelievably sharp intuition to defeat them head-on. Even his tricks were useless. But this powerful individual, it's said, still used some real skill last night to kill a horde of about a hundred monsters.

Forget exponential growth or proportional enhancement; he himself had assessed it, and if the group that Ms. Artoria encountered last night maintained its current level, 2000 would be more than enough to fill all twenty of their squads. Chiba City, being a city near Tokyo, had absorbed most of its talent from Tokyo. Even including the few shrines and temples and the wandering amateur hunters, they simply couldn't possibly have ten times the combat power of their two squads. Keep in mind, they all possessed enchanted weapons, incredibly powerful.

On the other hand, a monster horde of this size, if kept in groups of a hundred and dispersed, would be enough to drive forces without the ability to inflict massive damage to madness.

"So, after confirming what happened last night, we notified the Special Affairs Bureau headquarters overnight, and now a nationwide investigation has begun, searching for any related organizational anomalies."

The four entered the police station, and Sasagawa Yagokoro pointed to the police officers who were so busy that their feet were almost floating in the air and said this.

Fujimaru Ritsuka finally understood why they had stayed up all night. Notifying other police departments to conduct investigations, even if they were incompetent, should have resolved the issue by late at night under the pressure. The only exception was the Special Affairs Bureau's involvement, which would have a greater impact on the next steps.

"Mr. Sasagawa Yagokoro, you've come at the right time! And who are these gentlemen?" A middle-aged man with a stubble beard came up to greet him, looking at the group of people who had followed him with a puzzled expression, feeling a little annoyed.

In countries like Japan, the system operates in a rather unique way. The bureaucrats responsible for daily affairs are terrified of problems falling on their shoulders, yet Sasakawa Yagokoro has brazenly dumped the situation upon them. However, if the situation isn't exposed immediately, and widespread unrest subsequently occurs, they will be held accountable. Overall, they are filled with regret and resentment regarding this bad news.

However, those still in the police station clearly understand that the other party is not some department or organization of the same level, but rather a powerful figure to whom their police station often depends. Otherwise, if any unsolved cases involving supernatural events occur in the future, no one will take the blame, and they will be punished.

Therefore, he dared not speak out against Sasagawa Yagokoro leading in three obviously unrelated people.

"Oh dear, Yamamoto, you didn't sleep a wink last night, you seem a little confused. Do you think I'd trick you at a time like this?"

"Who used the excuse of going to McDonald's to buy takeout to avoid the task of coordinating and compiling data?" Officer Yamamoto rolled his eyes, extremely impatient. "Stop making excuses, stop making excuses. The Special Affairs Bureau is sending people over. Aren't you going to tell your boss to come over?"

"Isn't this a coincidence? This is my boss, Jia."

Officer Yamamoto glanced over at the group: a glamorous, mature woman, a handsome young man, and a guy who looked like he was up to no good... and his lips twitched involuntarily.

But very quickly, he recovered in no time. He had met those seemingly unreliable professionals before who actually possessed unfathomable abilities, so he quickly extended his right hand: "I wonder which one of you is in charge of Chaldea?"

"You're too kind. My name is Fujimaru Ritsuka. I and these two were the first witnesses last night, and we were also the ones who eliminated them."

Officer Yamamoto shook his hand respectfully, showing no disdain for his youthful appearance: "A specialized team from the Special Affairs Bureau's Tokyo headquarters is on their way, and they should contact you soon. But I'd like to ask if you have any additional leads? We're completely clueless right now."

Fujimaru Ritsuka chuckled: "I've brought the victim of this incident with me, hoping that you can use your professional skills to analyze and deduce the other party's intentions."

"Okay, I'll get my colleagues from the Major Crimes Unit over right away. Let's find an interrogation room and talk as soon as possible!" Officer Yamamoto shouted as a young man arrived. After giving the order, he led the group upstairs with great efficiency.

Ito Reita was slightly stunned, but quickly calmed down: It seems that Fujimaru-sama brought me here not as simply as he said, but it doesn't matter, I'm at his mercy anyway, I'll just lie there and you can do whatever you want.

Fujimaru Ritsuka glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, smiled, and thought to herself, "This guy's pretty smart; he didn't overreact." But even if he wanted to leave, Artoria's forty-meter-long spear behind him would give him a thirty-nine-meter head start.

But, Yamamoto, huh?

Fujimaru Ritsuka caught up with Officer Yamamoto: "I wonder if this officer's name is Yamamoto Maru?"

"How did you know... Oh, right, I received a message from Chaldea yesterday. I almost forgot about it." Yamamoto slapped his forehead, then opened the interrogation room and gestured for him to enter.

Ito Reita sat obediently in the position of the prisoner being interrogated, not daring to interrupt at all.

"While your colleagues are still here, let me ask you something." Fujimaru Ritsuka and Artoria sat down next to Yamamoto Maru, while Sasagawa Yagokoro went to distribute breakfast and did not follow.

Upon hearing Fujimaru Ritsuka's words, Yamamoto Maru became slightly curious: "I wonder if this is related to the current case?"

"If there is any connection, it's not obvious... But I just feel that a small place like Chiba wouldn't have two major incidents happening at the same time, would it?"

Yamamoto Maru's face was contorted with rage, and he wore a mask of pain: "Please speak, I really wish I had retired so I wouldn't have to hear this kind of talk anymore."

“Retirement isn’t necessarily a good thing. The era that’s coming up isn’t one you can hide from by burying your head in the sand like an ostrich,” he replied meaningfully to Yamamoto Maru.

Before the middle-aged officer, who was already thinking about retiring and living a life of leisure, could seize upon the little bit of inside information he had revealed, Fujimaru Ritsuka pressed on, "Officer Yamamoto, did you arrange for a bunch of patrols to search the streets for a certain blonde woman yesterday, and did you use a photograph? May I ask which woman is involved in which case? Where did the photograph come from?"

"...No wonder you brought this up. To be honest, that's why I was pulled in as the main person in charge." Yamamoto Maru loosened his tie irritably. "Early yesterday morning, an informant witnessed that woman tearing apart the bodies of several homeless people with her claws, and then casually walking away in front of my informant. Therefore, my informant was shocked and handed me the blurry photos he had hastily taken."

?

Luna isn't as cold-blooded as some might think... no, judging from her character profile, she's less innocent and more morally bankrupt, and doesn't see anything wrong with killing...

Fujimaru Ritsuka seemed to have grasped some vague clue, and he quickly asked, "Did your informant mention why that woman killed those homeless people? Was it in self-defense? Or did she do it on purpose?"

"Is that woman your friend?" Yamamoto Maru looked at Fujimaru Ritsuka seriously and advised him, "Then I think you should stay away from her. According to my friend, although those people are from the bottom of society, they are of decent character. Even he, a yakuza, has talked to them a few times before, which is why he was so angry and immediately reported the clues to me."

"Wait, Mr. Fujimaru, what do you mean?" Yamamoto Maru wasn't actually that stupid; he just hadn't been working on his brain as fast as he could due to staying up too late. He immediately sensed something from Fujimaru Ritsuka's disapproving attitude.

"I think...you probably haven't had a forensic doctor come to perform an autopsy yet, right? There are very few forensic doctors in Japan, and even if there are, most of them are concentrated in Tokyo."

"Just as you expected? Those bodies were collected by our new recruits at the police station because they felt that the suspect was being too arrogant. We thought we would be able to track down the clues soon." Yamamoto Maru smiled wryly.

Initially, seeing that she didn't seem to avoid the cameras much and didn't even kill any witnesses to cover it up, I thought she was a mad killer or some kind of weirdo. I wasn't sure if I could catch her, but at least I could try to track her down. But then she disappeared in no time.

Fujimaru Ritsuka shook his head. He felt that if Luna hadn't been so ruthless and arrogant, she might have been able to kill someone right in front of the police without being discovered. After all, it was a body created from a dream, which inherently had a "buff" of being ignored.

Yamamoto stood up, hurriedly ran out, and summoned several of his men to interrogate Ito Reita, while he went to see the corpses.

Fujimaru Ritsuka also stood up. He wasn't very interested in Ito Reita's interrogation, but he was more interested in the body that Luna had deliberately disposed of. Before leaving, he instructed the two of them: "Artoria, you stay here and listen. Ito Reita, tell me everything the officer asks you in detail. If he can't find any new information, I'll send you to jail."

"I guarantee I'll explain everything clearly!"

"Don't worry, I'll keep an eye on him." Artoria nodded, understanding that Fujimaru Ritsuka wasn't worried about the police officers who came to interrogate him abusing their power, but rather that she should keep an eye on Ito Reita to prevent him from using his supernatural abilities against others, and also protect him.

After all, what if something happens?

Fujimaru Ritsuka caught up with Yamamoto Maru's speed, and the two of them went straight to the morgue without saying anything more.

The morgue staff dared not delay and immediately led them to the remains that had been brought in the day before.