Chapter 696 The End of the Journey

　　　…”

Toru Amuro smoothly closed the device and took it off. He thought of many things in that moment.

If they were suddenly attacked after peripheral members installed the equipment, the matter would be relatively simple - probably a strange person passed by, tortured everyone hiding on the mountain, and then walked away with a wave of his sleeves. .

 But what if...the recording equipment was not installed by peripheral members.

 Are you Tatsuzo Watanuki’s enemy? Persons involved in the murder case five years ago? Or...are there other people helping the organization?

　　A figure suddenly appeared in Toru Amuro's mind.

Wearing a police academy uniform, with fluffy black natural curly hair—Jinpei Matsuda’s face.

 After a moment of pause, the face in his mind changed slightly, and slowly changed into the mysterious man who called himself "Kurosawa Zuo".

I suddenly remembered this because Toru Amuro remembered that a similar thing seemed to have happened in the Togami Forest - the murderer who killed the fake "Jiang Xia" was beaten by Matsuda for no reason. If Kazami Yu hadn't arrived in time, he would probably have been beaten twice in a row.

And now, there are people around who are being beaten inexplicably... The victims are peripheral members of the organization, and Tatsuzo Watanuki's younger brother. No matter who they are, they can be regarded as outlaws, and the ones in the Tougami Forest The murderer is of the same nature.

Toru Amuro: "..." Could it be that Matsuda is still following him until now?

Also, and more importantly, what about the recording equipment mounted in the tree? Is Matsuda really connected with the organization?

 …No, we can’t draw conclusions yet.

 To figure this out, the first thing to determine is whether the equipment was installed by peripheral members or Matsuda. Otherwise everything is just useless conjecture.

Toru Amuro took the dismantled recording equipment and jumped down from the tree. He wanted to wake up the people on the ground immediately and ask about the situation.

However, although his identity of "Toru Amuro" is fake, during the undercover period, this identity can be regarded as his "identity", and it is not easy to expose "Toru Amuro = Bourbon" to others casually.

 In the end, Toru Amuro could only hold back and prepare to send an email to inquire later.

Jiang Xia also scouted around and walked back, stepping on dead leaves.

A crisp sound interrupted Toru Amuro's thoughts.

 He looked at Jiang Xia, who glanced at the recording equipment in his hand. It seems that he still remembered the thing about "trying to cover your boss's waistcoat as much as possible", so Jiang Xia asked like a simple working detective: "Call the police?"

"It's okay, it's stopped." Toru Amuro lowered his voice and shook the recording equipment in his hand towards Jiang Xia, indicating that the thing was not working at the moment and they did not need to continue the performance, "leave here first."

 …

On the way down the mountain, Toru Amuro took out his mobile phone and sent an email to the organization members staying near the hotel, asking them to come up and clean up the scene as soon as possible.

 He himself and Jiang Xia chose a road that would not meet those people and returned to the hotel.

 The only people who had seen him and Jiang Xia just now were Watanuki Tatsuzo and his two younger brothers. The three people had no idea of ​​the time after they fainted, so they could figure it out on their own. When they lost consciousness, the two detectives' cell phones ran out of battery, so they had to go down the mountain to find a place to call the police. During this period, peripheral members of the organization went up the mountain to pick up a leak— Anyway, Watanuki Tatsuzo and the others didn't know that members of the organization also fell to the ground around them and needed a lot of time to deal with the aftermath. Moreover, information between the two parties will not be exchanged. Watanuki Tatsuzo and others will only stay in the hands of peripheral members for a short time, and will soon be transferred to other places. By that time, compared with the five billion yen lost due to Watanuki Tatsuzo's leak, the intruding detective will naturally no longer be the focus of the problem.

Jiang Xia and Tohru Amuro wandered around the foot of the mountain. They waited until the peripheral members moved all the people on the mountain and packed up the bones before returning to the hotel.

 Then Tohru Amuro returned to the room, checked and processed the recording, packaged it and sent it to the person in charge of the docking.

Jiang Xia sat across from the coffee table and watched quietly.

　　When he saw Toru Amuro closing the computer, stretching, and looking like he was done and calling it a day, he couldn't help but ask: "Does this count as done?"

"Yes. More professional people are responsible for the interrogation and aftermath. Our job is only intelligence and supervision." Toru Amuro responded, walked to the small refrigerator in the corner of the room, took out a can of cold beer, and threw a can to Jiang Xia. Chilled orange juice.

Then he opened the can with a bang, raised his head and took a comfortable sip, which was considered a small celebration.

 Completing this organizational task, which is more formal than practical, is not a difficult task. What Toru Amuro wanted to celebrate was actually the end of something else...

 He looked out the window at the night, drank beer, and briefly enjoyed some leisurely adult time. Then he turned around and planned to let Jiang Xia go back to his room to rest.

 But just when he looked at Jiang Xia, Toru Amuro suddenly found that Jiang Xia was looking down at the can of ice orange juice, touching the condensed water mist on the can, and he seemed a little disappointed.

　　　…?”

Toru Amuro was confused for a moment and suddenly remembered something.

 Speaking of it, I have only been out with Jiang Xia for a few days, and I am already a little haggard from the pace of life. But Jiang Xia has lived a similar life for a long time, often encountering cases, and being disrupted by various murderers, but he has never objected to solving cases.

 …Is it because only in this way did Jiang Xia find his value and sense of existence as a detective? Because only at this time can he completely immerse himself in the role of detective and briefly break away from his status as a peripheral member of the organization?

Thinking of this, Toru Amuro reviewed it carefully. They found that the cases they encountered while out this time seemed to be a little more than what Jiang Xia usually encountered.

Jiang Xia may not have thought much about it, but subconsciously she combined this journey with the "case", so now that she heard that the journey was about to end, she reflexively felt disappointed.

“…” Thinking of this, Toru Amuro felt a little emotional.

If he had more free time, he wouldn't mind accompanying Jiang Xia to encounter a few more cases.

 But...but he is really busy and has a lot to do, so he must try to maintain a healthy mental state...

 Recalling my own situation a few days ago, Toru Amuro's invitation to "It's okay, we'll go out together when we have time next time" was clearly on his lips, but he couldn't say it out anyway.

 In the end, he just changed the subject with guilt and sent Jiang Xia back to the room.

All journeys should have an end, and this one is certainly no different. It's a pity, but it's time to end...

 (End of this chapter)