Tokyo: Rabbit Officer and Her Evil Partner
Chapter 33 Fresh Corpse

Chapter 33: Chapter 33 Fresh Corpse

Minamoto Tamako thought to herself, "Oh no, why is it Fushimi who plays the murderer? If I catch him, doesn’t that mean I’m making him fail?"

Then she reconsidered and thought this was a great opportunity to prove herself! Previously, she had been teased by Fushimi in the drawing class and hadn’t had a chance to reclaim her dignity. Now she could finally have a fair showdown!

With so many instructors watching, Fushimi wouldn’t be able to play any tricks. It was time to show him the prowess of a future famous detective and famous police chief!

This way, Fushimi would surely be captivated by the charm of deduction, mend his ways, and beg to be her free partner—having to pay an employment fee between partners was just too distant!

If Fushimi fails this year, he can always retake the exam next year! By then, she’d be his senior at the patrol station and might even submit an application to transfer Fushimi over...

In her mind, Minamoto Tamako already pictured Fushimi Roku saluting her with utmost respect.

Currently, Instructor Shirota called out names one by one, and fifty-two trainees disembarked in orderly fashion, with each member climbing into a car with a corresponding number. Each team had different starting locations: caves, graveyards, or dense forests.

Minamoto Tamako was assigned to group seven. Her teammates were Hidetake, Yoshimura Yu, and a girl with braided hair, with Instructor Shirota leading them personally. Each person carried only two liters of water, a flare gun, a map, and a compass.

The car wound along the mountain road, finally driving into the forest. Twenty minutes later, a "No Entry" sign blocked the path.

Instructor Shirota signaled everyone to get out of the car, opened a rusty wire fence, and vines rustled downwards. The path had reached its end.

"From here, we walk," Instructor Shirota clapped his hands and took out a writing clipboard and pen from his coat, then announced, "The exam begins."

"Eh? It starts just like this?" The braided girl asked, "No instructions?"

Instructor Shirota didn’t respond. He stood beside the warning sign, with his head down writing swiftly on the clipboard, seemingly scoring them.

Yoshimura Yu clapped to attract the others’ attention. He stated that since he was the class president, he had more organizational and leadership experience, so he would lead the search for this task. The others had no objections.

"Actually, the task instructions are quite clear. Please take a look at your maps," Yoshimura Yu glanced at Instructor Shirota and said, "The maps have circled the ’suspicious areas’ that need searching and the ’witness location’ where the killer was last seen."

The braided girl had an epiphany. The maps separately circled two areas in red and green, which seemed to be the destinations for their mission.

"The murderer likely started moving at the same time as us, which means we need to quickly approach the ’witness location.’ Otherwise, the search area will exponentially expand over time."

After speaking, Yoshimura Yu glanced at the instructor again: "You all understand, right? If there are no other questions, we should set out."

Minamoto Tamako wondered why the class president kept glancing at the instructor. When she turned to look, she saw Instructor Shirota furiously writing on the clipboard, presumably recording the class president’s excellent performance.

So that’s how it is! To score high, one must perform well in front of the instructor!

Among the four-person group, only the braided girl hadn’t looked at the map. Everything Yoshimura Yu said was basically nonsense. Minamoto Tamako regretted not telling her teammates in advance, as Instructor Shirota might have rewarded her with a few more points.

The four of them passed through the wire fence, stepping through knee-high weeds and entered the forest.

The ’suspicious area’ they needed to search was not far, only two hundred meters away. The range wasn’t large, and the four quickly found a ’corpse’ lying in the grass.

The braided girl let out a scream, her face turning ashen.

Minamoto Tamako took a closer look and found that the corpse was not a mannequin but a recently deceased human body, her face turned pale.

Yoshimura Yu and Hideo couldn’t pretend to be calm either. They both stepped back, covering their noses, hesitating for a long while without daring to approach.

A corpse is the embodiment of death and can trigger a primal fear in living beings.

"Could it be, there really was a murder case here?" The braided girl’s legs were shaking like a sieve, and her voice trembled.

As everyone panicked, Instructor Shirota explained: "This is a body borrowed from the county hospital mortuary. The family has signed a donation agreement and consent form."

As police officers, even the lowest patrolman often encounters bodies. It’s better to give these trainees a dose of reality in their graduation exam than let them embarrass themselves at a crime scene later on.

Minamoto Tamako took a deep breath, recalling the scene when she entered the hall—the two familiar corpses leaned against the platform, just as quiet as the one before her.

’There’s nothing to fear,’ she told herself.

At the same time, Yoshimura Yu elbowed his teammate: "Hideo, you go inspect the scene."

Hideo pointed at his nose and quietly asked, "Why me?"

"This is an opportunity for you to shine. Don’t you want to get a high score?" Yoshimura Yu leaned closer, whispering provocatively, "You wouldn’t want those two girls to do it, would you? Have some chivalry!"

Hideo wasn’t stupid and retorted, "Why don’t you show some initiative..."

As the two silently debated who should inspect the corpse, Minamoto Tamako stepped forward, smartly donned white gloves, and squatted beside the body.

"Don’t touch anything!" Yoshimura Yu cautioned, "What if you destroy the scene? Leave the dirty work to the boys..."

Minamoto Tamako ignored him. She entered her heart flow state again, her hands examining non-stop as she spoke rapidly:

"The deceased is male, there are two cigarette butts nearby, water stains on the chest, no obvious blood marks, strangulation marks and bruises on the neck, preliminarily deduced to have died from mechanical asphyxia. There’s half a pack of cigarettes, a metal lighter, and a wallet in the pockets, all suitable for fingerprint extraction. The wallet contains a gambling ticket, and twenty-six thousand yen in cash. The deceased wears a watch on the left hand, indicating he is right-handed..."

Yoshimura Yu couldn’t help but interrupt: "Some people wear watches on their dominant hand too! What’s the point of this wild guess? Stop messing around, let us inspect first..."

"That’s true, but the deceased’s shoelaces are tied with the right hand, so my deduction is correct."

Minamoto Tamako paused, speaking without lifting her head: "Didn’t you say we should quickly approach the witness location? That means we can’t waste too much time at the crime scene."

Before the others could react, Minamoto Tamako stood up, brought her hands together, and slightly bowed to the corpse.

"Mr. Natsume, rest in peace."

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