Chapter 746

PS: Tenshi here wishes all you readers who've kept up to now a prosperous Horse Year, congratulations and wealth, may all go well—horse head has a big horse head, damn, ancient steel arm protection!

PS2: New Year's busy, so this year just one update of 5200 words, tomorrow also one update, the day after tomorrow, Lunar New Year's Day 2, resume two updates, please bear with us! Just as Tanaka Laodeng went out late at night, Bunkyo Ward Hankyo Bridge Tower, 1602.

Three girls were playing in the room.

Saito Asuka, Miyawaki Sakura, and Nagase Shishi gathered here, in the air carrying a faint, almost undetectable, sweet, cloying body scent belonging to girls. The room was spotlessly clean, after all this is Mai Xuejie's property, Sakura and Shishi live here as lodgers, theoretically they still owe Mai Xuejie rent, Sakura may not be short of money, but Shishi is different, so she takes housework very seriously, seeking her place and doing what she can, just like at first, plus Mai Xuejie often takes Asuka out to play, so Asuka also got to know Sakura and Shishi downstairs.

Asuka likes playing with Sakura and Shishi.

Because the girls are at home, whether it's Mai Xuejie or Minami Ojou-sama, or even some plump girl and nominal mother, she is unquestionably of lower status, even if she finally achieved fruition with Uesugi Muneyuki, it remains so.

But Asuka also has dignity!

Winning is a human necessity!

And Asuka's sense of superiority manifests in her suppression of Sakura and Shishi's status!

Don't look at me being low and servile upstairs, downstairs I'm the big shot!

So Asuka likes coming downstairs to play.

The center of the room was cleared into an open space, the petite Sakura knelt sitting on the cold floor, utterly focused on looking at the cosplay outfit on the ground.

Sakura's shoulder-length black hair ends slightly curled inward, glossy like crow feathers, at this moment a few strands of hair stuck to her sweating forehead and cheeks. Her originally lively, spirited eyes flickered with a near-obsessive fanatic light, the corners of her eyes slightly raised, bearing a natural rebelliousness and unrestraint, her skin white and delicate, from excitement showing a faint rose blush. Her nose bridge delicate and upright, the tip also gathered fine sweat droplets, her full cherry lips now tightly pressed, showing her focus and determination.

She wore a standard winter JK uniform, white shirt neatly fitted, collar tied with a deep red butterfly bow, accentuating her slender, beautiful neck line, the dark blue pleated short skirt, due to kneeling, pulled upward, the hem edge barely covering the base of her thighs, shifting more visual focus to the absolute beauty below—one pair of slender, well-proportioned, flesh evenly distributed beautiful legs, tightly wrapped without reserve by glossy smooth black pantyhose. The hose material extremely thin and sheer, in the sunset emitting a delicate oily sheen, clearly tracing the smooth curve from thigh to calf to ankle, the toe tips pressing up inside her small furry slippers, the girl slyly painted her pink toes with fluorescent nail polish, and sprayed perfume on top.

"Asuka-san? Are we supposed to wear this?" The voice came from the corner, with obvious tremble, full of excitement and unease.

Nagase Shishi curled up in a cloth sofa holding Usagi and Xiao Ba dolls, as if wanting to bury herself entirely.

She too is petite, her brown short hair softly pressed against her cheeks, ends slightly upturned, like the bristles of a startled small animal, a pair of round, glossy almond eyes filled with water vapor, long lashes trembling slightly from excitement.

Her face slightly baby-fat, now from excitement appearing pale, lower lip tightly bitten by fine white teeth, almost losing color. Under her shirt, her small chest also rose and fell visibly from tense breathing, outlining immature undulations.

Her JK uniform worn exactly like Sakura's: white shirt, dark blue pleated skirt.

But beneath the skirt, those beautiful legs were wrapped in slightly modest light gray pantyhose.

Shishi's gray hose lacks the aggressive sexiness of Sakura's black hose, yet adds a girl's softness and immaturity, the hose material equally soft and skin-close, perfectly tracing her legs' soft lines, from the full curve of thigh to the roundness of knee, then to the calf's slight bulge of cute feeling, finally tapering to a slender ankle. Under the cushion, a pair of hose-covered feet nervously rubbed together, the gray-hosed soles against the floor making a faint rustling.

"Shishi, don't always scare yourself." Another, relatively calm voice, hinting with excitement, sounded.

Leaning against the wall stood Asuka, her height slightly greater than Sakura and Shishi's, her build more slender and tall. A head of black, shiny long hair meticulously tied into a princess hair ornament, revealing a clean, full forehead and lines of a beautiful swan neck, appearing fresh and refined.

Her features young and cute, between brows a spoiled air, but now those eyes like a chick's also held deposited malice and compulsion. Her skin cool-toned white, like fine porcelain.

Her uniform combination appeared especially pure, even somewhat ascetic—below the skirt a pair of immaculate pure white pantyhose. The hose material seemed slightly thicker than black and gray, yet still soft and clinging to her straight, long legs, from thigh root to ankle, lines smooth without a single redundancy, like a ballet dancer's elegance. White hose on her not look childish, but rather strengthened an air of clean, pure, unstainable temperament.

Little Asuka arms crossed, white-hosed long legs tensed, stance defensive tenfold. Similarly sized chest under strict shirt formed a soft rise, beautiful arc yet restrained.

In the end, Sakura and Shishi, under Asuka's half-compelled gaze, still nodded.

Thus Sakura and Shishi finally put on the clothes Asuka prepared.

"Clang clang" I am, Electric General!" Sakura wore Electric General's purple kimono, gold-thread embroidery flowing in the light. The golden Divine Eye on her chest proper and solemn, waist tied with shimenawa knot, she wore only black hose on her feet together, toes lightly touching the ground—hose extremely thin, revealing skin's pink flush, toe outline faint: "Once this sword is drawn, it is no-thought!"

"Pulling electric wires, hahaha~" Shishi also changed into another 2D character's outfit, proper blue-white clergy attire, wide white lady's hat brim, short skirt hem spread open, revealing legs wrapped in white holy mark pantyhose, this pair of thick white hose material dense, tightly wrapping her slender calves, she unconsciously shook her feet, toes in white socks lightly wriggling, slightly bashful and insecure: "In our Hidden Sea Cult, there is only light, no darkness!"

"Great!" Saito Asuka excitedly jumped up, she loves watching others play these the most!

At the same time she also prepared for herself an FG0 female protagonist Gudako, that is Fujimaru Ritsuka's Chaldea daily outfit, she gestured for you to wait, I'm changing clothes too.

"Asuka Sauce, you wearing this feels wrong!"

"What's wrong about it?"

"Clothes, clothes too mature, you should be younger!"

"How young can you get, cos Black Saber like that?"

"No, I mean, maybe, Ilya suits you better?"

"What? Shishi Sauce, you think that too?"

"Probably, maybe, possibly… about the same? Or… Abigail?"

"Damn! This, this isn't right! I clearly already with Mr. Uesugi… damn, when will I ever mature, when will I grow up?"

The three girls there entertained themselves, they tried on several coser outfits in succession, getting more and more excited.

As the saying goes, three people form an army!

Yingniao Bell (Shishi's homophonic meaning can be translated as "Bell") trio already formed, and their self-title is……JK Exorcism Club Next should go invite our JK Exorcism Club advisor teacher Huangyi Ren……oh no, wrong, is advisor teacher University of Tokyo Doctor Uesugi Muneyuki! Thus Asuka went upstairs, half-pushed half-pulled, just after eating dinner came home Uesugi Muneyuki, who was playing War Thunder, was forcibly dragged down by Asuka, saying she'd give him a surprise.

"Surprise?" Uesugi Muneyuki looked at Asuka in her Gudako outfit, dazed: "You call this, a surprise? Ashūshū, this outfit doesn't suit you either, why not change to Ilya…"

"Shut up shut up shut up!" Asuka a bit flustered: "Just let me look! Done! Muneyuki!"

"Okay, okay!" Uesugi Muneyuki had no choice but to follow Asuka downstairs.

However, just as he entered, he received a call, so he gestured his "JK Exorcism Club" to wait a moment, he took the call: "Uesugi, it's me, Tanaka Naoki of Otaku Police Station. Sorry for disturbing you so late. I… I need your help."

On the other end of the phone, silence for a second, then came Uesugi Muneyuki's voice, compared to usual less lazy, more alert.

"Tanaka Laodeng? What happened?"

Japanese in work and life present two extremes, if it's a superior, he can almost ignore any time to call subordinates, and subordinates generally consider calling him during this extremely private time as an expression of trust, must rush immediately to help (of course this is Showa Laodeng's habit, in Heisei Chodeng began to disintegrate, sigh Hikawa Xiaodeng even more scoff at this nonstop.)

But if it's a friend, calling at this time is very rude, so unless absolutely unavoidable, they won't do this, but if they do, it means there's something very troublesome, ten thousand fires urgent!

Tanaka Laodeng took a deep breath, began to speak.

He tried to be brief, tried to be clear—from the supervision officer's visit in the afternoon, to those time lines he couldn't explain, unexplained sources of private money, inability to prove innocence.

His voice in the winter night trembled slightly, but he struggled to control it, not let his panic be too obvious.

"……That's how it is. They said give me one night, if I don't turn myself in by 10 a. m. tomorrow, I'll be suspended and investigated."

The phone's other end fell silent again.

This time, the silence lasted a long while.

Then Uesugi Muneyuki spoke, his voice carrying a tone of not quite certain:

"Tanaka-san……this is too much of a coincidence, right?"

Tanaka Laodeng stunned: "What the heck? Tanaka Uesugi, what do you mean?"

"I said." Uesugi's tone was like he was working through a complex equation: "The last person at the scene was you, you took leave the next day, you just happened to have extra money in your account, and you can't explain where that money came from—all these 'coincidences' point to the same person. From a probability standpoint, this is too..."

"Uesugi!" Tanaka Laodeng almost shouted, his voice exploding across the empty street: "I really didn't take it! That money is my own private savings! I saved it for fifteen years! I only saved four million yen! Damn it, fifteen years ago I could have exchanged this money for nearly 40,000 US dollars, now it's only left with over 20,000, am I making it easy for myself?"

Tanaka Laodeng said this and already had a hint of tears in his voice.

He realized he had lost composure, took a deep breath, and lowered his voice.

"Listen to me, Uesugi. That half-day I took off, I went to handle other matters—just like when I previously pulled strings with Section Chief Sutou, I went to find connections in the Personnel Division."

On the other end of the phone, there was no interruption.

"Section Chief Ibuki of the Metropolitan Police Department's Personnel Division, you know him? The former Director Kanazawa of our precinct and he are old acquaintances, he has a section chief under him, namely Inspector Kashiwagi Misa, whom I mentioned to you before, she heard you were someone I personally mentored……in any case, the first case she handled was under my guidance, indicating willingness to help, that day I went to see Section Chief Ibuki, organized a mixer, gave gifts—those funds were exactly for this purpose!"

"???" Uesugi Muneyuki thought, there's also the matter of Misa-jie?

"How much? Keep going!"

"The mixer plus the gifts, all mixed together……seven to eight hundred thousand yen, maybe."

"What did you give?"

"High-end whiskey, six bottles. And……also the silk scarf I bought for Section Chief Ibuki's wife, Hermès, plus some other souvenirs and condolence money, adding up to over one million yen, I……I also bought some other things, after all, after promotion I still need to visit and thank people……" Uesugi fell silent for two seconds.

"Tanaka-san, do you know what this sounds like?"

"……Like bribery."

"Not just like, it is! And now you're telling me this, it's equivalent to adding another leverage point."

Tanaka Laodeng's voice was bitter: "I know. But if I don't say it, I can't explain where that money went. I said it, if I say this, I'll have no future in the Japanese police force, only you, perhaps you can believe me, you can also understand my hardship, wow!"

On the other end of the phone, Uesugi let out a light sigh, Sakura Bird Ling and the three others all curiously looked at him.

"What about the police bodycam?" he asked: "At the scene, those fifteen minutes, did you have a police bodycam on you? If there was a recording…"

"No." Tanaka's voice dropped even lower: "Our Otaku Police Station wasn't issued those. The Metropolitan Police Department only issues them to SWAT and part of the traffic police. We low-level criminal investigation division don't get them, you don't know that?"

Old Showa style, not issued police bodycams, right?

"So you were alone at that scene, stayed for fifteen to twenty minutes, with no recording, and no witnesses."

"……Yes."

On the other end of the phone, there was another stretch of silence.

Then Uesugi Muneyuki asked: "You said besides you, who else was at the scene?"

"You know, it was Patrol Sergeant Sangō, and Patrol Sergeant Takahashi Toshio. They went with me."

"When did they leave?"

"The identification team left first, around three o'clock. Then Sangō and Takahashi left around three twenty. I had them withdraw first, I was the last to do a final check of the scene."

"So from start to finish, only you knew what happened in those fifteen minutes? 13 million yen, a small shoebox could hold it all, right?"

"……Yes."

Uesugi's voice carried a few more layers of complexity: "Tanaka-san, those two 'very good' colleagues of yours, coincidentally are your 'no witnesses'. If their memories 'aren't too good', or……"

He paused, not continuing.

But Tanaka understood.

"Impossible." He said firmly: "Sangō and I have known each other for years, honest and diligent, Takahashi is also a veteran and my contemporary, non-career track, sharing the same fate with me. They couldn't……"

"Tanaka-san!" Uesugi interrupted him, his tone calm as if delivering an academic presentation: "Every word you just said matches the self-defense of a framed person. But it also equally matches the disguise of a perpetrator. I currently have no way to judge."

Tanaka Laodeng opened his mouth, yet found he couldn't say anything.

On the other end of the phone, Uesugi let out a light sigh.

He didn't want to get involved in these matters, but after all, it's Tanaka Laodeng, who believed in him several times against opposition when he first started out, he must help, not to mention he extorted Tanaka Laodeng once for 40,000 yen worth of sukiyaki.

"Like this," he said: "I need to first clarify one thing."

"What?"

"Whether you've deceived me or not."

Tanaka's heart sank sharply.

"Uesugi, I……"

"Don't rush." Uesugi's voice remained calm: "I'm not saying I don't believe you. I'm saying, this matter I can't just listen to you. I need to see evidence—even a trace that could prove your innocence."

He paused.

"Where are you now?"

Tanaka looked up at the streetlamp below the road sign, reported a rough location.

"Not far from my place," Uesugi Muneyuki: "Up ahead there's a 24-hour late-night cafeteria called 'Wild Field'. You know it?" "Yes."

"In twenty minutes, we'll meet there."

Tanaka Laodeng froze for a second, then firmly nodded—although Uesugi couldn't see it.

"Alright. I'm heading over now."

"Tanaka-san."

"Hmm?"

Uesugi Muneyuki's voice suddenly became very soft, he spoke gently: "If this matter you are innocent, I will help you investigate to the end. But if……he didn't finish.

But Tanaka Laodeng knew what those unfinished words were.

"Uesugi-san." Tanaka Laodeng's voice slightly choked: "I haven't deceived you. Really haven't."

"Alright, I believe you……see you in twenty minutes."

After saying that, Uesugi Muneyuki put down the phone, furrowed his brow.

This is a very troublesome case, the corpse is gone, the scene already cleaned up, the other side has already reported to the Metropolitan Police Department Supervision Officer, time can only go until before ten tomorrow morning for me to figure everything out.

Moreover, I must confirm whether Tanaka Laodeng has deceived me.

Of course I believe Tanaka Laodeng, theoretically speaking he is the standard Japanese Showa middle-aged personality, plus he has a regular job, not likely to do such a thing.

But it's merely unlikely; if this is a carefully designed trap, someone using Tanaka Laodeng to drag him into it?

So he must completely confirm……

And just then, he raised his head, suddenly seeing the three Sakura Suzume surrounding him watching, his eyes brightening.

"Business has come, my angels…… oh no, my JK Exorcism Club members." Uesugi Muneyuki cast his gaze toward Asuka and Sakura: "Can you help me with a favor?"

He simply told them the matter, and indicated to come with me for a trip.

"Of course!" Asuka was very excited; she could be of use once again!

"JK Exorcism Club, deploy!"