Shibuya 109 is the landmark shopping complex of the Shibuya district and one of Japan's most famous fashion destinations for young people.
The mall saw an enormous amount of foot traffic every day. If someone left a coded letter out in the open, there was a very good chance it would be picked up by a random passerby. That meant the most likely place to leave it was the baggage storage counter at the customer service center.
Ritsu hurried into the customer service center on the first floor. Looking at the female staff member behind the counter, he got straight to the point.
"Excuse me. Has anyone left a letter here for safekeeping? A white envelope like this one?"
Upon hearing his question, the employee turned around, took an envelope from a drawer, and asked,
"Sir, is this the one? The young man who left it here said to give it to the first person who asked about this letter."
"That's right. This is it. Thank you."
Only after Ritsu had left did the employee quietly ask her coworker,
"That handsome guy with the white hair looked so familiar. I feel like I've seen him somewhere before."
"You dummy, he's the MPD's genius detective. I'd bet that letter has something to do with a case."
"Huh? Then... was the young man I met... the culprit?"
"No idea. But he was really handsome. Handsome guys probably aren't criminals, right?"
"Hahaha! You're such a hopeless looks-first person."
Letter in hand, Ritsu walked out of Shibuya 109.
This time, it wasn't a coded message. Instead, it was a plainly written address.
It seemed the sender's goal was simply to lure the police into the trap.
...
Meanwhile,
Rei had just arrived at the Hachikō Statue, only to discover that the coded letter that should have been there was gone.
He reached beneath the bench and touched the spot where tape had once been attached.
Someone had already taken it.
The image of Onizawa immediately flashed through his mind. Most likely, the detective had taken the letter.
As he was wondering how to get in touch with him, a childish voice spoke beside him.
"Hello, mister. This is for you."
Rei looked down to find a young boy holding out an envelope. Frowning, he asked, "Little guy, who asked you to give this to me?"
"A handsome big brother. He told me to give it to you," the boy answered innocently.
Rei opened the envelope.
The moment he read its contents, his pupils contracted sharply.
After hurriedly thanking the boy, he rushed toward his parked car. Without even contacting Hiro, he started the engine and sped off toward Saitama Prefecture.
The letter lying on the passenger seat read,
'Rei, I didn't expect you to quit being a police officer. What a shame.
I'm in the forest near the Maruhakayama Kofun in Gyōda City, Saitama Prefecture. If that troublesome genius detective finds me before you do... the person you care about will die.'
...
At the same time, Ritsu was also heading toward the parking lot.
However, when he saw the man standing beside his car, he paused for a moment before smiling.
"Morofushi-san? What are you doing here?"
After delivering the items to the MPD, Hiro had hailed a taxi straight to Shibuya.
During the rescue operation earlier, he had secretly attached a tracker developed by the National Police Agency to the sole of Ritsu's shoe, allowing him to pinpoint his location precisely.
As for why he was waiting by the car, the tracker had happened to fall off and land on the accelerator pedal, leaving him with no choice but to wait beside the vehicle.
Without revealing anything, Hiro put away his phone and smiled apologetically.
"I traced the clues from the coded letter to this area. Then I noticed your car and figured you must've already uncovered something, so I waited here."
Ritsu nodded and opened the driver's door.
"Get in. Hagiwara-san has probably been taken to Saitama Prefecture. It's a long drive, we need to get there before rush hour."
"Understood."
Hiro's smile faded.
Before opening the passenger door, he discreetly ended his phone call. Before the screen went dark, the name displayed on it was Jinpei.
After getting into the car, Hiro glanced at the man beside him and asked casually,
"Onizawa, how did you figure out that my blond friend is a police officer?"
Ritsu clearly hadn't expected that question.
He carefully replayed everything he had said earlier. As far as he remembered, he had never explicitly stated that Rei was a police officer.
That left only two possibilities.
The first was that Hiro was deliberately throwing out the information as bait to test his identity.
The second was that Agasa had accidentally let something slip. While they were removing the bomb collar, he had mentioned that another person would soon arrive to dismantle an identical collar and that person was a police officer.
Having settled on his response, Ritsu smiled.
"I'm a police officer too, after all. My deduction skills aren't that bad. Besides, I'm a huge fan of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. 'WadaShinichi' is the Japanese version's alias for Watson."
"The moment he introduced himself as 'WadaShinichi,' I guessed he was intentionally concealing his identity. On top of that, the friend he asked for help was you. And you're an officer with the National Police Agency's Public Security Bureau."
"So from that, I concluded... this 'Wada Shinichi' is most likely an undercover Public Security officer."
Hearing that explanation, the last lingering suspicion in Hiro's heart, that Onizawa might be an undercover operative for the Organization, completely disappeared.
Smiling, he deliberately avoided confirming whether the deduction was correct.
"You're incredibly sharp, Onizawa."
"Maybe it's because I've always wanted to become someone like Sherlock Holmes. Just... not a detective. I'd rather be a police officer with the legal authority to investigate cases."
"Heh. It's good that you want to be Sherlock Holmes. If you ended up becoming Professor Moriarty instead, I'd have a real problem on my hands."
Hiro couldn't help but admire him.
Just from those few clues alone, Onizawa had stripped away Rei's cover almost completely. That remark sounded strangely familiar.
Keeping his tone relaxed, Ritsu replied,
"I don't think you need to worry, Morofushi-san. I'm nothing like Moriarty. I have a profession I love, and I have a wife I dearly cherish. There's no reason for me to fall from being a police officer into becoming a criminal."
"I was only joking, Onizawa. Don't take it seriously. Speaking of which, I'm honestly jealous. You're already a superintendent at such a young age, and you've got a beautiful wife too. Unlike me... I'm still single."
There was genuine longing in Hiro's voice.
He found himself remembering every visit to Wataru's home.
The three bachelors always felt like oversized light bulbs illuminating the room while Wataru and Natalie openly showered each other with affection, leaving them inwardly green with envy.
Whenever moments like that came, his thoughts inevitably drifted back to their days at the Police Academy.
For all six of them, those had been the happiest, most carefree, and most precious days of their lives.
.
"Jinpei is definitely going to be the last one to get married. His temper explodes at the slightest spark, and more importantly, he's always one step away from tearing the house apart. He's basically a Siberian Husky."
That had been Zero's assessment of Jinpei back then.
The Jinpei of today had long since shed the immaturity of his academy days. He had become much calmer and more reserved, revealing his explosive side only around the people closest to him.
.
"Huh? I actually think Ritsu-ya will be the last one to get married. Sure, girls absolutely adore him, but the kid's completely immune to romance."
That had been Kenji's opinion of Ritsu back then. Thinking of that now, Hiro let out a bitter smile.
He still didn't know whether the mysterious phantom thief who had suddenly appeared was truly Ritsu...
But he no longer dared to hope.
Because if it wasn't...
Hope would only turn into despair.
.
Ritsu noticed the change in Hiro's expression.
Whether it was intuition or simply a shared understanding, he had a feeling that look had something to do with himself.
Now that Hiro and Rei had reunited, they had undoubtedly talked about Lupin. They probably believed there was still a chance he was alive.
And besides, today was the anniversary of his death.
Heh...
The version of himself sitting beside Hiro now, lying to him over and over again, really was unbelievably cunning.
'There are so many apologies I want to say to you, Hiro.
If the day ever comes when you learn the truth, Punch me as hard as you can.'