Tokyo: Rabbit Officer and Her Evil Partner

Fushimi Roku was taken aback, he didn't expect that he had overissued so many Redemption Vouchers recently, nor did he expect that Minamoto Tamako secretly accumulated so many... If he remembered correctly, he had recycled a portion of Minamoto Tamako's Redemption Vouchers some time ago, the amount was considerable, but unexpectedly, in the blink of an eye when he wasn't careful, she managed to collect them all.

This person, true to her rabbit nature, sure is good at saving!

But Fushimi Roku had a plan all along, on the day of issuing the Redemption Vouchers and Rabbit Coins, he had already foreseen this situation.

Minamoto Tamako was completely oblivious to this, she was still celebrating jubilantly, clutching a handful of Redemption Vouchers and Rabbit Coins in each hand, swaying left and right, dancing her self-invented cha-cha, twirling around while cheering loudly, like someone in an ecstatic state:

"I've got them all! I've got them all!"

To collect enough for the Red Redemption Coupon exchange, she endured countless grievances, truly a tale of perseverance that would be recorded in the historical books if set in the Sengoku era, akin to the story of Aichi, becoming a legendary woman cherished by future generations!

Fushimi Roku leaned on the sofa, silent, planning to let Minamoto Tamako be happy for a moment. But Minamoto Tamako thought otherwise, she was eager to secure her winnings, shaking the Redemption Vouchers in both hands, urging Fushimi Roku to validate them, resembling a nouveau riche demanding debt repayment.

"Don't you know?" Fushimi Roku exclaimed with surprise: "Rabbit Coins and Redemption Vouchers aren't interchangeable!"

Minamoto Tamako was taken aback, hearing Fushimi Roku's tone, she sensed something bad was about to happen: "What do you mean by that?"

"It means Rabbit Coins can't be exchanged for Redemption Vouchers," Fushimi Roku assumed a bank teller's professional posture and explained earnestly: "Originally, Rabbit Coins were issued to buy extra time for Redemption Vouchers, but it was never stated that Rabbit Coins could directly exchange for Redemption Vouchers."

Minamoto Tamako panicked: "But... but, didn't you say earlier that one Rabbit Coin is equivalent to one Purple Redemption Voucher?"

"From a purchasing power perspective, yes, that's correct!"

Fushimi Roku nodded, giving an example: "But Rabbit Coins can't be exchanged for Redemption Vouchers, they are like supermarket discount coupons. You can use discount coupons to deduct some money, but you can't directly exchange them for money, right?"

Minamoto Tamako wore a miserable expression, collapsing to the ground, the Rabbit Coins and Redemption Vouchers fluttering around like June snow, making her look even more like a fool who was tricked.

This is so infuriating... simply infuriating!

"Why didn't you say this earlier?" she shouted, clenching her fists.

"You didn't ask, I thought you'd understand," Fushimi Roku picked at his earwax with his pinky, a smug look of conniving success on his face: "I explained clearly beforehand what Rabbit Coins were for, I wasn't deceiving you!"

Minamoto Tamako puffed out her cheeks like Crayon Shin-chan, irate.

She wanted to explode, to make Mr. Fushimi realize the consequence of deceiving her; but she knew she didn't have the right—in fact, Mr. Fushimi never said Rabbit Coins could be exchanged for Redemption Vouchers—she resented him fiercely yet was helpless, and the excitement from that kiss was long forgotten.

"Alright, alright!"

She said "yoshi" three times in a row, intending to tear Rabbit Coins and Redemption Vouchers into pieces, to show Mr. Fushimi her determination, proving her firm intellect, never to be manipulated by these small slips of paper again!

But she hesitated to tear up the paper currency, thinking this is not Fushimi Roku's Redemption Voucher, it's clearly her hard-earned sweat and tears! How could she bear to waste it?

"Really can't exchange?" Minamoto Tamako held up a Rabbit Coin, attempting to persuade the cunning Fushimi Roku to make an exception.

"Sorry, really can't." Fushimi Roku shook his head, with a no-nonsense expression.

"You're forcing my hand!" Minamoto Tamako sprawled on the floor, picking up the Rabbit Coins and Redemption Vouchers one by one, setting them into two piles, with a majority of white Redemption Vouchers; Rabbit Coins only had one, but its value was equivalent to a Purple Redemption Voucher.

She's going for a revenge spree today!

Minamoto Tamako, like a wealthy heiress visiting the White Horse Club, flicked the Rabbit Coin between her fingers, pompously announcing:

"I want to exchange!"

Fushimi Roku scratched his head, he knew this was bound to happen. Since Rabbit Coins didn't have savings value, Minamoto Tamako would demand an exchange. Anticipating this, he awkwardly said: "Flip it over and check its lower left corner."

"Huh?"

Minamoto Tamako pinched the paper with two fingers, like a monkey gazing at the moon, she checked the back of the Rabbit Coin, the border of the lower left corner had an intricate pattern, very much like the texture on real banknotes: "What's with the lower left corner? It's not damaged..."

"Squint your eyes, and look sideways," Fushimi Roku continued to guide.

Following instructions, Minamoto Tamako squinted her eyes, tilting the Rabbit Coin to a certain angle, and saw tiny print within the intricate pattern:

"Valid for exchange only today, expires void."

"?"

...

Minamoto Tamako was dumbfounded, she threw the Rabbit Coin onto the coffee table with two fingers: "What's with this! Who can read it written like that? And why does it expire void?! "

"Well, now you can see it, can't you? Who told you not to verify it?" Fushimi Roku crossed his legs, casually taking a can of cola from the coffee table, inserting a straw, and sipping: "Supermarket discount coupons also have expiration dates, don't they? They become void if expired!"

Minamoto Tamako wished she could strangle Fushimi Roku, and rid the world of such a menace.

Thank goodness this guy became a cop, otherwise if he took over his family's izakaya, he would surely become a tycoon in the food and beverage industry, misusing poor ingredients to deceive consumers while suppressing his peers, turning into a villainous capitalist!

Someone tricked Minamoto Tamako, leaving her with no grounds for complaint, her heart filled with rage.

She wanted to act in private revenge, to revoke Mr. Fu Jian's stamp, making him experience the feeling of wasted effort. But she couldn't find a reasonable excuse at the moment, so she just sat on the edge of the sofa with her arms crossed, sulking.

Ding Dong——

Ding Dong Ding Dong—— ChapterprovidedviaM|V|L@EMPYR.

Someone was ringing the doorbell outside.

Fushimi Roku didn't respond; usually, it was Minamoto Tamako who answered the door and handled trivial matters. But today, Minamoto Tamako was on strike, she too remained motionless on the sofa, showing she was no longer the housemaid doing odd jobs, but a free Tamako Criminal Police!

If Fushimi Roku wanted her to work again, then he'd have to spend stamps to redeem equivalent labor services!

"Is anyone there?" A voice called from outside the door.

Fushimi Roku couldn't help it; the person was understandably upset after their dreams were shattered. Fushimi Roku had no choice but to stand up himself, suppressing the pain from his gunshot wound, pretending as if nothing had happened, and opened the door.

"Yamato Transport, Express Delivery," the courier handed over a black package, while placing the receipt on the package: "Please sign here."

"Who sent this?"

Fushimi Roku remembered the dossier copy sent by the Great Snow Mountain Police Department last time, and became somewhat uneasy. He instinctively glanced back, seeing Minamoto Tamako answering a call in the living room. He had no idea who was calling.

"There's a name on it." The courier handed over a ballpoint pen, hoping Fushimi Roku would quickly sign as he had other parcels to deliver.

Fushimi Roku hastily signed his name; he stood at the door without going back to the living room, looking down to examine the package's sender information, confirming the package wasn't from Hokkaido, which relieved him.

He glanced downward, noticing that the sender section didn't have a real name, only a simple letter:

"X"

Fushimi Roku put the package near his ear and shook it gently; there seemed to be a square hard object inside, not very heavy. He took a closer look; the shipping address was Nakagawara Yamato Transport sending point, and the contact number looked like a public telephone booth number.

Strange.

Fushimi Roku glanced back again, Minamoto Tamako was still on the phone, so he simply opened the package, saw inside a cassette tape.

Another cassette tape?

Fushimi Roku recalled the Aum Truth Sect threatening him by sending cassette tapes to the Nakagawara Station, vaguely feeling that he might have been targeted by strange people again... Under normal circumstances, all members of Aum Truth Sect were dead, no one should pursue his righteous act anymore, right?

Could it be the Fox Princess?

Is that person not dead?

Minamoto Tamako finished the call, curiously poked her head around and asked: "What is it?"

Fushimi Roku held the videotape and parcel packaging, thinking the courier probably spoke loud enough for Minamoto Tamako to hear, otherwise, she would be asking 'who is it' now... Fushimi Roku had no way to hide and had to speak the truth:

"Some guy signed as X sent a cassette tape."

Minamoto Tamako's ahoge instantly stood up; such matters seem like mysterious events that happen frequently in detective novels. Her curiosity was intense, and she couldn't wait to pull out the tape recorder, letting Fushimi Roku put in the tape to hear what was recorded inside.

"You'd better not get your hopes up," Fushimi Roku warned her as he inserted the tape, "Some perverts like to send threatening letters, or send tapes that sow discord… be careful not to be tricked!"

"If such a person exists, I'll catch him and use it as credits for my internship!"

Minamoto Tamako said nonchalantly, pressing the play button while adding: "Oh, by the way, Director Fujiwara just called."

"Looking for me?"

Fushimi Roku knew what it was about; he didn't close the door last night, showing he was willing to help Fujiwara Homare clear his name. However, Minamoto Tamako submitted the case file this morning, Fujiwara Director undoubtedly called to inquire about what happened.

"No, just a greeting, praising my good handling of the case." Minamoto Tamako thought nothing of it, sighed: "Seems being a director isn't easy either! At crucial moments, he's got to put righteousness above kinship, setting an example for his subordinates."

Fushimi Roku thought to himself, if he really appreciated you, he wouldn't have made this call. High-ranking officials are subtle in their ways; it was clearly a warning and reminder, yet it sounded like praise from his mouth.

At that time, he thought Minamoto Tamako had deduced the third person's trick for committing the crime in a closed room, so he indicated there was room for maneuver; but he didn't anticipate Minamoto Tamako had proven that Yoshikawa Ritsuo was indeed killed by Fujiwara Homare, there was no way to dispute this truth, he could only give up, assume he hadn't met Director Fujiwara.

The disk started spinning, the tape recorder emitted a hissing sound, Minamoto Tamako immediately raised her index finger, signaling Fushimi Roku to be quiet.

The two sat on the sofa, leaned forward, stared at the tape recorder, just listening to a familiar voice coming from the speaker:

"How about taking a bath? I'm all covered in alcohol scent..."

——It was the voice of Fujiwara Homare.

Fushimi Roku and Minamoto Tamako exchanged glances, listened intently to the next part...