Tokyo: Rabbit Officer and Her Evil Partner
Chapter 120 - 42 Sliding Tackle!

Chapter 120: Chapter 42 Sliding Tackle!

When the tiger pounces, you can slide under it and use a knife to slash its belly, causing its guts to spill all over the ground; or you can lean back on the spot, pointing the tip of a long stick against the ground, and let the tiger impale itself as it pounces...

The teachings of the ’Five Tiger Generals’ from the forum immediately flashed through Fushimi Roku’s mind. He instantly performed a slide tackle, knocking Minamoto Tamako to the ground, cushioning her back with his hand. Luckily, she was short, so the fierce dog missed—Proving that slide tackling doesn’t work, as the dog could change direction mid-air, impressive enough to make a gym coach commend its core strength.

Wouldn’t a bite from it leave bruises all over?

In the nick of time, Fushimi Roku shoved a flashlight into the dog’s mouth, getting his hand covered in slobber. Most budget flashlights in Japan in the 90s were long and thin, powered by several D batteries, making them feel hefty in hand. The Saint Bernard got its throat blocked, rolled on the ground a couple of times, and started retching towards the snow.

People, when fighting with animals, tend to have the preconceived notion of ’winning unscathed’. Most would rather take a detour if there’s a chance of getting scratched. Fushimi Roku thought similarly, tangling with a dog would just ruin his clothes, so it’s better to bother the owner instead.

He helped Minamoto Tamako up, scolding the woman with a stern face. The woman patted the snow off her body, staggered up, and apologized with a weary look. She bent over to pick up the handle of the leash and took small steps to comfort her pet dog.

The Saint Bernard retched for a moment before vomiting pieces of flesh mixed with blood and gastric acid into the snow. It snorted, pawed the snow, and gradually settled down.

Minamoto Tamako finally came to her senses, her vision had been filled with that bloody maw, terrifying fangs rushing towards her, scaring her into a mental shutdown.

Although Fushimi Roku’s heroic rescue made her heart flutter, it wasn’t the ’charming prince’ kind of heart flutter, but more out of fear-induced adrenaline. Once her feet were on the ground and steady, her intelligence reclaimed authority.

"Miss, please wait a moment!" Minamoto Tamako was rather polite, refraining from calling her an old lady: "Has your pet dog been vaccinated? Why is a large dog not wearing a registration tag? Could you please show your pet license?"

Fushimi Roku bent down to pick up the flashlight, examining the woman’s face. She seemed to be in her forties or fifties, with many crow’s feet around her eyes and a fatigued expression of someone who had spent the whole day in a menopausal rage.

"Eh? Uh, well, I left in too much of a hurry..." She showed a troubled expression.

"I suspect your pet dog has aggressive tendencies, so please cooperate with us for a temporary confinement..."

As Minamoto Tamako spoke, she saw the middle-aged woman jog away in the opposite direction with her dog, looking particularly guilty, like a thief fleeing from the police.

"I-I’ll handle it at the police box tomorrow, I have urgent matters tonight... apologies..."

She ran farther and farther, quickly making a turn into an alley, disappearing from sight.

Minamoto Tamako wanted to chase after to persuade her, but her legs were too weak to muster the strength. When the fierce dog turned back and bared its teeth, she was frightened again, unable to suppress her indignant anger.

Being looked down upon by people was one thing, but now even a dog looked down on her!!

"Chase!"

Minamoto Tamako waved her hand with gritted teeth, jogging over. She would not allow the lawbreaker to slip away right under her nose... She reached the alley entrance, where it was pitch black, not a trace of a person, not even a dog’s bark.

She looked back, and seeing Fushimi Roku hadn’t followed, her hard-won courage instantly vanished.

"Let’s report it to the police tomorrow," Fushimi Roku said, wiping his hands clean with a snowball, "Leave professional matters to the professionals. Isn’t the health center supposed to handle this? We can’t possibly catch the dog with our bare hands, can we?"

Minamoto Tamako saw reason in his words, but she remained dissatisfied: "Looks like my mom was right, to be a police officer, one must be strong, at least not too weak... Starting tomorrow, I will undergo special training to improve my physical condition!"

Fushimi Roku thought to himself that maybe it was a bit late to start training now... but he was too lazy to dampen Minamoto Tamako’s confidence. As the old saying goes, the best time to plant a tree is ten years ago, the second best time is now.

Once one is determined to do something, it’s never too late.

The two continued walking side by side on their way home, shifting the topic back to the woman and the dog earlier.

Minamoto Tamako found it strange. She often patrolled here and had never encountered such a large dog—that Saint Bernard stood taller than her, easily outweighing her by over forty pounds, and who knows how much dog food it consumed in one meal.

"I’ve seen it," Fushimi Roku said casually.

Dog owners must frequently walk their pets, or else the pet dog would grow depressed, which is why owning a dog in the city is usually not concealable... unless you have a mansion and several miles of backyard, then that’s a different story.

"Eh? How come I’ve never heard you mention it?" Minamoto Tamako asked.

"What’s there to talk about with a dog? Now if it was a line of sows falling into a ditch, that would be noteworthy." Fushimi Roku said indifferently.

Occasionally, when getting off work, he might bump into the woman. They never exchanged words but did take note of each other when passing by.

The middle-aged woman probably noticed Fushimi Roku because of his police uniform; whereas Fushimi Roku paid attention to her because the criminal index above her head kept shifting up and down—it was the first time he’d encountered such a situation, so he glanced a few more times.

"But who would walk their dog alone at midnight? Don’t you find it suspicious?" Minamoto Tamako asked.

"There’s lots! Office workers working overtime, coming home at eleven or twelve at night, would be considered good enough if they still have the effort to walk a dog."

Fushimi Roku casually brushed it off, he clearly noticed something odd about the woman but couldn’t be bothered to deal with it.

Minamoto Tamako harbored suspicions but, lacking evidence, couldn’t say much more.

The two continued chatting about trivial topics, mostly Minamoto Tamako asking while Fushimi Roku occasionally replied. Topics like ’Have you prepared for the promotion exam?’, ’How’s the apartment environment?’, ’Good relations with colleagues?’... They unknowingly crossed the border between East and West Sugamo, passing through shops, stopping beneath an apartment building.

Minamoto Tamako looked up. This apartment was noticeably better than those in West Sugamo, not only was it a stand-alone sunlit building, but it also had a small enclosed yard. On the lawn were several rows of iron rods with clotheslines strung between them, even at night, you could feel the vibrancy of life.

Fushimi Roku led her upstairs, Minamoto Tamako was shocked to find there was actually an elevator... She had patrolled the Sugamo apartments, trudging up and down, gradually assuming that apartments simply didn’t come with elevators.

When the elevator doors opened, Fushimi Roku stomped a foot, and glow lights activated in the hallway!

Wow! Now this is a place for people to live!

Fushimi Roku walked through the hallway, unlocked the door with his key, and casually said as he changed his shoes at the entrance, "I’m back."

There was no response from inside.

He paused and added, "Tamako came to see you."

As soon as he finished speaking, there was a patter of footsteps from the living room. Taira Sakurako peeked out to take a look at them, then withdrew back in.

Minamoto Tamako followed behind him, looking like a bumpkin in the big city. Although the place she and her mom lived in was more luxurious, she had come to realize, after understanding Tokyo’s rent costs, just how much of a luxury it was to live in such a place.

A balcony! A big kitchen! Two separate bathrooms! Plus a spacious living room and a TV!

"The rent here isn’t cheap, right?" Minamoto Tamako, now financially strapped, lost her keep-up-with-the-Joneses bravado: "I probably can’t afford it..."

"I’ve already paid six months’ rent in advance. Whether you move in or not doesn’t affect that, I won’t charge you, but you’ll have to help with the housekeeping." Fushimi Roku smoothly acquired a free housekeeper.

"This isn’t quite right..." Minamoto Tamako felt like she was taking advantage of the situation.

Then she suddenly realized something was off: "Where did you get the money to rent a place like this?"