Tokyo: Rabbit Officer and Her Evil Partner
Chapter 134 - 56 The Missing Grandfather

Chapter 134: Chapter 56 The Missing Grandfather

Minamoto Tamako, in a moment of anger, accepted the gift.

She clutched a pink flip phone in her arms, feeling exceptionally complicated. She was a bit happy, a bit angry, and also a bit worried about the future... Where was she going to find so much money to buy a gift that would shock Mr. Fushimi?

Maybe she could go back to Mama’s house and randomly take something...

No, no, that would be stealing! As a police officer, how could she knowingly break the law!

Minamoto Tamako shook her head, shaking this thought out of her mind.

Fushimi Roku left the mobile phone counter, planning to scout the restaurant in advance.

He had already done his homework. Japan’s Chinese Street is in Yokohama, 300 kilometers away from Toyota District, and running 300 kilometers just to eat hot pot was certainly unrealistic. In Sugamo itself, if one wanted to eat authentic Chinese food, they would have to find a small restaurant hidden in an alley or corridor.

These restaurants, which were not open to the public, varied in grade. To dine at a high-end Chinese restaurant, one would need to find an acquaintance to make the introduction.

The restaurant he had reserved was a members-only place called "Taoyuan," located on the 8th floor of a commercial building in East Sugamo, with no signboard or advertisement, not even a button in the public elevator to go directly to the 8th floor. Its main feature was peace in the midst of chaos.

Minamoto Tamako followed behind him, thinking he was investigating a case, but after wandering around for a long time, they ended up turning into a big shopping mall. The sales clerks in the department store saw them wearing police uniforms and thought they were security, instructing them to patrol somewhere else.

"Where are we going?"

Minamoto Tamako was rather displeased. The last time she went shopping at a department store in Hokkaido with Mama, the clerks greeted them with smiles, and the store manager even personally came out to greet them... Since when did society become as snobbish as Mr. Fushimi? Or was it that only the Tokyo mall clerks liked to look down on people?

"I’m taking you, this pauper, to broaden your horizons." Fushimi Roku casually brushed off her question.

"Are you planning to slack off again? Most of the day is already gone, and we haven’t found anything!" Minamoto Tamako protested.

"Sharpening the axe won’t delay the work of chopping firewood. Tonight, we’re having dinner with the ’culprit.’ How can we not prepare more? Interacting with suspects is also part of the investigation."

Fushimi Roku started to argue again, "The interrogation courses at school are dead knowledge; I’m teaching you how to learn and apply in a lively way."

Minamoto Tamako found some truth in his words, but something still seemed off.

Wasn’t Mr. Fushimi in the same class and year as her? Where did he accumulate practical experience? Interrogation techniques usually aren’t something you can practice on your own, right?

Speaking of which, when they were interrogating Mrs. Kamei before, she found it a bit odd. It seemed like Mr. Fushimi was quite familiar with the interrogation process...

The hair on top of Minamoto Tamako’s head stood straight up again. She squinted her eyes, staring at the back of Fushimi Roku, thinking that Mr. Fushimi indeed had secrets he couldn’t share! He still had the habit of looking down on others’ heads, only now it was much more subtle, probably because he felt guilty, so he actively hid his gaze!

The two of them walked one after the other into the members-only elevator. The attendant helped press the floor button, and as the elevator ascended slowly, Fushimi Roku smelled the fragrance of jasmine.

A moment later, the elevator door opened.

Behind the door was a square corridor. Although it was a Chinese restaurant, the decor leaned towards Japanese style, with no artificial mountains or waterfalls, quite wabi-sabi in style, with faint sounds of a pipa being heard. A hostess in an elegantly simple pale moon-colored qipao approached, asking if Fushimi Roku had made a reservation. He gave Zhao Chunshu’s name.

The hostess checked the reservation list, confirmed it without error, and asked if they wanted to dine early. Fushimi Roku waved his hand, saying no, they just came to see the environment and incidentally asked if their boss was around.

"Sorry, Mr. Zhao is usually not here..."

The hostess’s words abruptly halted. She tilted her head slightly, covering her earpiece, and after a moment’s silence, turned back with a business smile.

Before Fushimi Roku could react, a flurry of footsteps was heard. Waiters dressed in Tang suits filed out, standing in two rows, with Zhao Chunshu himself at the head. He smiled as he approached, and both the hostess and the waiters bowed in unison, warmly welcoming Lady Yu Zi to dine.

"Long time no see, Miss Yu Zi. Today, we air-freighted a batch of king crabs from Ehokoz. If you’re interested, you can try the chef’s new dish, king crab eel curry rice..."

Zhao Chunshu sounded nothing like a high-ranking member of the Inakawa Association, but rather like a small restaurant manager, his face displaying a fawning smile.

Fushimi Roku thought, what kind of thing is king crab eel curry rice? Isn’t this a Chinese restaurant? Just because Minamoto Tamako likes eel and curry, they directly changed the menu?

Furthermore, wasn’t Minamoto Tamako born and raised in Hokkaido? Hasn’t she never been to Tokyo? So how come she looks like a regular customer?

Minamoto Tamako herself was quite surprised; she hadn’t expected Uncle Zhao to open a branch all the way in Tokyo.

Mama worked at the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, while she always lived with her grandfather in Hokkaido. There were various reasons for this, causing the mother and daughter to be separated for many years.

Mama often went back to Hokkaido to visit her, since a flight only took one or two hours. Occasionally, during long holidays or business trips, Mama would make an effort to come back and accompany her... but most of the time, Mama also broke her promises, like during her high school graduation ceremony; Mama didn’t attend.

After some small talk, Zhao Chunshu led Minamoto Tamako into a private room, with Fushimi Roku trailing behind like an extra.

The private room was decorated more like a Chinese restaurant, with an Eight Immortals table in the center, landscape screens on either side, and several ornate lanterns hanging overhead.

Once seated, Zhao Chunshu inquired about the old man’s well-being. On this subject, Minamoto Tamako’s eyebrows drooped, and even the hair on top of her head looked dispirited. She placed her hands on the table like a schoolchild and sighed, saying, "I haven’t seen him since I started college..."

Seeing her expression, Zhao Chunshu realized he had asked the wrong question. But since the topic was already out there, he could only grit his teeth and continue asking what had happened.

Fushimi Roku couldn’t interject, so he just sat on the side eavesdropping.

The matter wasn’t complicated. After Minamoto Tamako started college and moved into a dorm, her grandfather lived alone at home. He couldn’t stay idle and always liked to go out and find things to do. Kujo Yua brought her grandfather back to Tokyo, partly to take care of the old man and partly to give him something to do.

However, before Minamoto Tamako graduated, bad news came from Tokyo, saying that her grandfather had gone missing, neither alive nor dead... Kujo Yua flew into a rage, and the entire Police Department swept the streets like mad dogs, but they couldn’t find a trace. To this day, the old man remains missing without a single clue.

Fushimi Roku suddenly understood. He recalled Minamoto Tamako once asked Kawai during a memorial, ’What is my true purpose for becoming a police officer? Only Kawai knows this secret’... Now it seemed it was indeed to find her missing grandfather?

Zhao Chunshu expressed his condolences for Lady Yu Zi’s plight and smoothly changed the topic, talking about the old man’s past joy of tending to flowers, which brightened Minamoto Tamako’s mood.

"By the way, Mr. Fushimi, how do you know Uncle Zhao?" Minamoto Tamako turned and asked.

Fushimi Roku came up with an answer without hesitation, saying it was at the securities office while trading stocks; they hit it off instantly and had a great conversation.

Zhao Chunshu nodded repeatedly with a "Hai, hai" in heavily accented Japanese. His impression of Fushimi Roku vastly improved, not expecting this guy to court the Police Chief’s daughter, thereby skipping several generations of detours.

If he remembered correctly, the Kujo Family had no male heirs. Going back two generations, all the males were almost gone, and in Kujo Yua’s generation, there was only one daughter. In the future, she would surely take a husband, so this guy’s future prospects were limitless...

The chat lasted for four or five hours. Approaching seven o’clock, Zhao Chunshu took the initiative to leave, saying that they could call him anytime if needed.

Fushimi Roku didn’t stand on ceremony, saying he would need to borrow a few ’cleaners’ from Zhao Chunshu, the fiercer the better, to help with serving the dishes and holding the scene, and possibly help clean up some ’trash’ afterward...

"No problem."

Zhao Chunshu nodded with a smile, "Please rest assured, they are all professionals."