Tokyo: Rabbit Officer and Her Evil Partner
Chapter 278 - 199: Fire Trees in the Rain

Chapter 278: Chapter 199: Fire Trees in the Rain

The time rewinds to the moment the assistant suddenly died.

Yazaki Momo, as a professional journalist, excels both in skills and mental fortitude. Even though she had made mistakes for money in the past, this doesn’t affect her abilities as a frontline reporter.

Yazaki Momo had just finished capturing the entire pollination process of the assistant when she turned to find others fleeing in fear. She weighed her options momentarily and decided not to escape, instead sneaking into the inner quarters of Wulin Temple to investigate further.

Regarding the invasion of privacy, it can be dealt with after acquiring the investigation results!

With camera in hand, Yazaki Momo bumped into Fukuyama Toshin as he was leaving. He seemed furtive, clearly up to no good. As a news hound, she naturally sensed the scent of a big story, stealthily following him, she discovered the secret door leading to the basement.

When Fukuyama Toshin entered the password, Yazaki Momo focused her lens like a telescope and memorized it—the camera was worth 500,000 yen, not including the lens. It’s her livelihood, and even if she had to take out a loan, she had to get the best.

After Fukuyama Toshin left, she quietly slipped into the basement.

Upon turning on the light, she was greeted by a room filled with archives, research materials stacked on shelves on either side. She flipped through them, unable to understand a single word. Next, Yazaki Momo passed through the archives room and opened the iron door at the end, revealing a laboratory inside. Across the tempered glass, petrifying corpses and tree men in petri dishes disgusted her.

Beyond were laboratory rooms, dialysis rooms, operating rooms... Yazaki Momo’s camera clicked non-stop. This was groundbreaking material! She already sensed the aroma of headline news!

No, wait, this is national-level news! Enough to stir public debate and maybe even garner international attention!

As Yazaki Momo snapped pictures, her mouth involuntarily curved upwards, the flash lighting up the room continuously. At this moment, she looked less like a crime reporter and more like a deranged paparazzi.

Feeling satisfied after capturing the explosive content, Yazaki Momo planned to make a swift exit. If Fukuyama Toshin returned, it would spell trouble; she wasn’t ready to sacrifice herself for journalism just yet.

Passing through the archive room, she dropped the files she had previously skimmed over. A partially exposed envelope caught her eye, labeled "For Nakako, My Wife..." Yazaki Momo picked it up and, driven by curiosity, opened it, discovering inside the will of Prince Akihito.

Valuable too! Snap a picture, snap a picture!

Yazaki Momo took a commemorative photo. After reading the envelope’s contents, she also learned of the ’treasure,’ feeling it was another big news piece: Prince Akihito’s mysterious legacy, enough to ensure his wife and daughter’s well-being for the rest of their lives. Once revealed, it might incite a nationwide treasure hunt frenzy...

Greed knows no bounds, like a snake trying to swallow an elephant. She had already obtained precious firsthand exposés but couldn’t help continuing her pursuit, wanting to uncover what the ’treasure’ truly was.

Even if she couldn’t unravel it, as long as she found some ambiguous clues to craft a news article from, it would be satisfactory!

Yazaki Momo left the basement and continued her exploration, eventually sneaking into Prince Akihito’s study.

She rummaged around, finding letters penned by Prince Akihito and Nakako Princess in the bookshelf. Driven by the quest for the treasure’s clues and her penchant for gossip, she couldn’t resist reading the letters.

"Hmm, turns out Akihito was Nakako’s senior..."

Yazaki Momo learned from the letters that both attended the same university and fell in love at first sight, dating on campus.

Kawashima Noriko hailed from an unremarkable background. Her father was merely a university professor. Prince Akihito faced substantial public scrutiny, and his parents were against their relationship.

Perhaps due to youthful enthusiasm, Akihito suddenly proposed on a Tokyo street, while Kawashima Noriko was waiting at a traffic light. The scene resembled a drama; she was startled and didn’t immediately agree.

Firstly, because she was only 21 at the time, still reserved as a young maiden; secondly, due to Japan Imperial Family customs, marriage had to follow the order of the brothers’ ages.

Meaning Prince Naruhito had to marry before Prince Akihito could wed.

At that time, Prince Naruhito hadn’t even had a girlfriend, making marriage a distant affair. Akihito frequently urged his brother to find a partner and hurry to marry, while Naruhito, a carefree soul, didn’t want to be shackled by marriage, leading to a stalemate.

Akihito pressed for so long with no results, considering abandoning the Prince of Japan position to leave the royal lineage and marry Noriko in the UK.

Seeing his genuine determination to forsake royal status just to marry Noriko, the royal family finally consented to the marriage.

After their marriage, the letter exchanges ceased, likely due to their happy life together, constantly glued to each other, leaving no need for letters to alleviate longing.

These letters were precious memories for them.

After finishing, Yazaki Momo learned Nakako loved gardening, once studying flower arrangements, and typically managed their garden; Akihito supposedly loved flowers, but Yazaki Momo suspected this was merely a means to woo his wife, pandering to her interests... To please his wife, Prince Akihito went as far as renovating the courtyard and pond, proving he was indeed a doting husband.

Just as she was engrossed in reading, gunfire suddenly erupted outside, startling her.

Guilty as a thief, Yazaki Momo frantically stuffed the letters back into the drawer, tiptoeing to the door, hearing several gunshots in the corridor that made her heart race, instinctively running toward areas with light, stumbling into a nook room.

Soon after, Wulin Temple became agitated, tendrils drooping from the ceiling, and the floor twisting incessantly. Yazaki Momo seized a candle from the altar, huddled in the corner, scared out of her wits.

After a lengthy stalemate, Yazaki Momo gradually regained her composure, realizing those tendrils seemed afraid of fire, lingering just beyond the candle’s glow. She tried extending the candle, causing the tendrils to promptly retract.

Seeing this, Yazaki Momo’s courage grew; she held the candle intending to flee, only to find the small flame inadequate. Surveying the room, she reluctantly set a wooden rack alight, planning to tear off a segment as a torch.

Unexpectedly, when the flame touched the dark green liquid, it surged upward, the roaring fire swiftly reaching the ceiling.

Yazaki Momo fell to the ground, the blaze spiraling out of control in an instant, tendrils struggling like fish and shrimp on a grill. She scrambled to escape, catching a glimpse of Akishino Mako’s urn, thinking if the ashes got incinerated, she’d be a historical villain!

Yazaki Momo dashed over, grabbed the urn, and sprinted toward the main door. Flames soared high behind her, heat waves surging from her back made her scalp tingle, feeling she had caused a catastrophe.

Nearing the door, something suddenly tripped her foot, sending her tumbling to the ground.

Why are there two corpses at the doorway?!

The urn was robust, remaining intact, but her camera wasn’t as fortunate, shattering into two pieces. Yazaki Momo was about to reach for the film when tongues of fire lashed out, someone behind her yanked her up just as a beam collapsed thunderously, embers sprayed across her face.

"My camera!"

Yazaki Momo shrieked, turning to see Fushimi Roku and Minamoto Tamako dragging her out from either side. Ono Ken and Mrs. Nakako had already been moved to the car, with Fujiwara Homare in the driver’s seat, rolling down the window to peer at the flames illuminating the clouds.

The body of Prince Akihito stood at the garden’s center, his figure consumed by flames.

The tree men stood in the garden, engulfed by red and yellow flames; Wulin Temple, like a towering giant tree, unleashed ghostly blue flames, illuminating all eyes.

Light rain drizzled, the sky dawned, Kawashima Noriko beheld the blooming flames.