120: Chapter 120: Feels Like I Picked Up a Housekeeper

Having solved the bizarre suicide case, Fujino hopped onto his beloved little motorcycle and returned to his home in 5-chome.

Parking the motorcycle in its spot in the underground garage, he briefly glanced at the Ford Taurus parked beside it.

Looking away, he hadn't taken two steps before the system notification arrived right on cue:

[Congratulations Host for completing: Bizarre Suicide Case]

[System Task Reward: 1,000,000 Yen, +100 Detective Reputation, +1 All-Profession Skill Point Distributed.]

Hearing the notification, Fujino mentally accessed the system interface.

[Current Balance: 5,200,000 Yen]

"520?¹"

Looking at the balance, Fujino murmured with a strange expression.

Fourth-floor bedroom.

"You're back."

Miyano Akemi, holding a large black garbage bag, greeted Fujino.

"Yeah... I'm back."

Fujino paused for a moment before replying.

Such a scene should be commonplace in a Japanese household.

But ever since his original body's parents passed away a year ago, living alone, he hadn't heard such warm words upon returning home...

Hearing it suddenly felt... a bit unfamiliar.

Snapping back to reality, Fujino noticed the garbage bag in Miyano Akemi's hand.

Glancing around the neat and tidy bedroom, he asked puzzledly, "My bedroom... Akemi-nee, did you ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠clean it for me?"

"Mhm."

Miyano Akemi wiped a bead of sweat from her temple.

"Fujino-kun, your room was really messy, so I tidied it up ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a bit."

"Thank you for the trouble, Akemi-nee."

As the owner of this hundred-plus square meter bedroom, Fujino knew exactly how much effort "tidying up a bit" actually entailed.

It was a massive amount of tidying!

"No trouble at all."

Miyano Akemi waved dismissively with a gentle smile.

"After all, staying at your place, Fujino-kun, I should contribute somehow."

"Looks like I won't have to do housework anymore."

Fujino leaned against the balcony railing, watching Miyano Akemi's departing figure with a soft chuckle.

"Why does it feel like I just picked up a housekeeper?"

Late night, atop a large bridge.

Amuro Tooru parked his Mazda RX-7 nearby, leaned against the railing with both hands, and composed a text message on his phone:

[Based on recent observations, Fujino Douji appears to be an ordinary high school detective. No unusual activities detected, nor any awareness of the Organization's existence. - Bourbon]

After confirming the message was accurate, Amuro Tooru pressed send, dispatching it to an anonymous email address.

Having done this, he looked up, gazing at the distant, twinkling city lights.

He had been ordered by the Organization to observe a high school detective named Fujino Douji for some time now.

Initially, he was skeptical about the order.

Usually, if the Organization targeted someone, and they were still alive, they wouldn't remain so for long.

This puzzled him greatly.

He had tried leveraging the resources of the Public Security Bureau...

But the results were fruitless.

Yes, completely fruitless.

The only notable information was that Fujino's parents had suddenly appeared twenty years ago, with no prior records. Nothing else.

The next morning.

Fujino gradually awoke from his slumber.

Thanks to the absence of annoying phone calls, he enjoyed the rare luxury of waking up naturally.

Slowly sitting up in bed, he stretched languidly.

Glancing over, he saw Miyano Akemi sleeping on the sofa.

Although Fujino's four-story building contained a total of eight rooms, each over a hundred square meters,

in reality, only the second-floor detective agency and his current fourth-floor bedroom were actively used.

The other rooms remained largely unfurnished.

Besides having wallpaper, they were mostly empty.

For the past two days, Miyano Akemi had been sleeping on the sofa in this bedroom.

As for why she didn't sleep on the bed...

Well, Fujino was sleeping on the bed.

Even Miyano Akemi couldn't persuade him to give up his sleeping spot.

"Looks like I need to furnish a room for her soon..."

Murmuring this, Fujino picked up his phone, checked the date – May 3rd – then changed into a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠suit and headed to the furniture store where he had previously purchased items for his detective agency.

Afternoon.

BOOM!

Just as Fujino finished purchasing furniture and was driving his Ford Taurus home,

a violent explosion roared from nearby.

"An explosion?"

Fujino slammed on the brakes, looking towards the direction of the blast. He saw a mushroom cloud rising into the sky.

"Truly the peaceful and simple Beika City, casually growing mushrooms in broad daylight."

Gazing at the distant mushroom cloud, Fujino remarked dryly.

Then, a system notification suddenly sounded in his ear: "New system profession task detected. Please check!"

"A system task triggered?"

Fujino paused for a moment, then opened the system interface:

[Detective Profession Task: Serial Bombing Case]

Objective: Apprehend the culprit of the serial bombing case.

Reward: 1,000,000 Yen, +200 Detective Reputation.

Location: Displayed on Host's HUD.

"Serial Bombing Case?"

Fujino looked at the task description, surprised. "Does this mean besides this explosion, there are other bombings about to happen?"

Before he could finish his thought, another system notification chimed:

[Bomb Disposal Expert Profession Task: Serial Bomb Disposal]

Objective: Defuse the bombs in the serial bombing case (Loop Line, Teiji Moriya's Residence, Beika City Hall...)

Reward: 1,000,000 Yen, +200 Bomb Disposal Expert Proficiency Points.

Locations: Displayed on Host's HUD.

"A nested doll situation?"

Fujino looked at the new profession task, slightly bewildered.

"But speaking of which, these two tasks feel somewhat familiar..."

After thinking for a moment, Fujino finally recalled, "Isn't this the plot from the movie The Time-Bombed Skyscraper?!"

The Loop Line, Beika City Hall... if Fujino remembered correctly, this should be the storyline from The Time-Bombed Skyscraper movie.

The architect, Teiji Moriya, was mentally unstable.

Unable to tolerate his non-symmetrical works, he single-handedly raided the Touto Armory.

After raiding the armory, he somehow manufactured a large number of bombs, planning to destroy his asymmetrical creations from his younger years.

Of course, that wasn't his primary goal.

His main objective was revenge against Kudo Shinichi.

The reason for his vengeance...?

It was because Kudo Shinichi had solved the case of Mayor Okamoto of Nishitama City hitting someone, leading to the mayor's imprisonment.

Due to Mayor Okamoto's imprisonment, the Nishitama City redevelopment project, which Moriya had designed, was shelved.

Unable to realize his architectural ideals, he harbored resentment towards Kudo Shinichi, leading him to orchestrate this series of retaliatory bombings.

In his advanced stage of psychosis, he even planned to blow up Ran in the Beika City Hall.

1. 520 is internet slang for "I love you" in Chinese, due to similar pronunciation.