"Why is she laughing like that?" Tsuneo asked, his voice laced with pure disdain as the Witch's cackle filtered through the receiver.
It was a strange thought—that woman was currently reveling in the joy of what she believed she had successfully eavesdropped on, blissfully unaware that she was the one being monitored.
"About that... I'm not really sure either..."
After all, there were no cameras inside Dr. Araide's residence. Hiroki had no way of seeing her physical movements or the context of what had triggered such a sudden outburst of laughter.
Midnight arrived.
Tsuneo pulled on a face mask and dressed in charcoal-black attire. He retrieved his motorcycle from its hiding spot in the thicket near 2-Chome.
It was a convenient machine, even if it was a bit on the noisy side.
"Alright, let's head out."
"Do you need me to alert you to other incidents in the vicinity?" Hiroki asked, his tone carrying a hint of suppressed excitement.
"Other incidents? What do you mean?" Tsuneo adjusted his headset and swung a leg over the bike.
"A robbery just occurred at a shopping district a kilometer away. An emergency call was made, but it was disconnected immediately. The victim has likely been restrained. The police don't have the exact details yet, but I've intercepted the signal."
"Furthermore, there's a lead on an illegal contraband trade..."
Hiroki rattled off five or six ongoing incidents in rapid succession.
"It feels like I've suddenly acquired a 'Game System'..." Tsuneo tapped his helmet, twisted the throttle, and surged forward into the night.
"It's the silver-gray sedan up ahead. Hang on, I'm patching into their phone signals now."
Following Hiroki's guidance, Tsuneo quickly located the perpetrators. He rode his motorcycle at a leisurely pace, trailing them from a discreet distance.
To be honest, if it weren't for the high probability that they had a hostage, the 'Fixer' wouldn't have bothered with them.
A second later, Hiroki established the connection. The conversation from inside the car flowed directly into Tsuneo's ears.
"Can that woman really cough up that much cash?" Robber A asked.
"Things have already gone this far. She'd better have it, or she'll have to find a way!" Robber B slammed his horn, his voice sounding vicious.
Judging by the voices, there were only two people in the front. If there was a hostage, they had likely been gagged.
"Doesn't sound like a simple robbery, does it?" Tsuneo asked with interest.
Having a teammate like Hiroki was a blessing; the boy could provide answers to almost anything.
"Indeed. I investigated their call logs. Within the last three days, someone has called them five times from a public phone booth," Hiroki replied.
"So, they were hired to kidnap someone?" Tsuneo surmised. It seemed the most likely scenario.
And what about the hostage who had managed to call the police? There wasn't a sound from them now. Were they still alive?
"I'm currently cross-referencing their personal information with their internet browsing history."
Beyond that, Hiroki was also running their profiles against police records to see if they had prior criminal history.
"Don't bother. We'll just ask them face-to-face!"
Tsuneo saw the intersection ahead was congested. The opportunity had arrived.
"A full hundred million yen... I never would've guessed this kid was worth that much!" Robber A sat in the passenger seat, glancing back at the young man tied up like a mummy in the back. He let out a sinister chuckle.
A five-million-yen deposit had been paid upfront. Now, as soon as they saw the rest of the money, they could move to the next phase of the plan.
"Haha, you're the one with the brains. I never thought you'd actually find work on the internet!" Robber B, a man of burly build, gripped the steering wheel, his heart racing with excitement.
To him, the internet had always seemed like the most unreliable thing in the world. He hadn't expected a random netizen to offer a sky-high price just to make someone disappear.
"Hey, what do you think about this? What if we take the rest of the money and then just... let the kid go?" Robber A's mind was spinning at high speed. He was wondering what kind of sentence that would carry. Would it be fraud? Or something else entirely?
"But he's seen our faces." Robber B shook his head, dismissing the idea. If they didn't have any professional integrity, how were they supposed to survive in this business?
"We could always get plastic surgery!" Robber A suggested. "This kid is covered in designer brands. Don't you think there's more fat we can skim off this prize?"
Robber B began to entertain other greedy thoughts.
The situation was complicated. First, they had no idea who their employer was or what grudge they held against this young man. Second, since the sum was already a hundred million, they might be able to squeeze out even more profit.
Knock, knock!
The sound of fingers tapping against the car window made both men freeze. They still had a live person in the back!
Robber B pretended not to see the motorcycle beside him. He leaned on the horn, gesturing for the car in front to move.
"Damn it, I think he noticed something!" the robber in the passenger seat hissed, drawing a dagger as he watched the black-clad figure dismount the bike and approach step by step.
"Relax, the windows are tinted. He can't see inside. If we ignore him, what can he do?" Robber B stared at the intersection. As long as they cleared this red light, they were close to their destination.
Some random biker trying to start a conversation? Who cared.
Bang!
Bang!
The heavy thuds of a leather-gloved palm against the glass grew increasingly violent.
In the next instant, an elbow smashed through the window with explosive force.
At this point, window tinting didn't matter anymore.
"Where are you headed to collect your bounty?" A cold, distorted voice echoed from beneath the motorcycle helmet.
Did they dare move? Not a chance.
The driver felt a palm press firmly against the top of his head. The stranger's fingers were pressing gently against his eyelids through the leather of the gloves.
This definitely isn't an eye massage, the robber thought, trembling.
"We... we're going to the parking lot ahead. The guy promised to pay us the rest there," Robber B blurted out, the truth spilling out in a rush of terror.
"I found it!"
"He hid it well, but I managed to dig it up."
Hiroki had already identified the mastermind. By tracing the digital footprints of these two idiots and identifying the young man—who had been tied up like a sack of potatoes after failing his 110 call—the truth had surfaced.
In short, it was a cliché story of a struggle over an inheritance.
"The price they offered was too high. It's disrupting the market rate," Tsuneo remarked as he efficiently knocked both robbers unconscious.
"Aren't we going to take the money?" Hiroki asked curiously.
Judging by what the two men said, there were likely ninety-five million yen waiting in that parking lot.
"No need. I have a better target for extortion," Tsuneo replied with a small smirk.
He climbed back onto his motorcycle and began cruising toward his next destination.
Meanwhile, Hiroki took care of reporting the crime anonymously, ensuring no traces were left behind while providing the police with every necessary detail.
A few minutes later, an email containing over a dozen pages of evidence regarding the robbery and kidnapping was dropped into the police department's inbox.
The sender: The Dark Knight.
The partners had coordinated perfectly. However, back at the Metropolitan Police Department, the officers were staring at the massive document in utter bewilderment.
The Dark Knight... did all this investigation just for this case?
Is this a fake?
-------------------------------
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