Vol 1 Chapter 6 (1/2)

Pressure

April 12Yagokoro PoliceSpecial Forensics DivisionDirector’s Office

The night stretched into the next dayA teaun the search for Touko AoiNaturally, Touko Aoi’s whereabouts would not be so easily discovered, and htest of clues

There was no post on the Midnight Site eitherIt was even unclear whether Futodama was alive or dead

Seven o’clock passed, and Tsuge-san caI told him about Kyouhei Hioka

“I seeKyouhei’s already gone… Well, I kinda thought that was it”

In the director’s office, I spoke with Tsuge-san about all the events that had unfolded yesterday

“T-Touko’s Kagu-tsuchi!Not just Kyouhei, but Touko too… How’d it turn out like this…”

Tsuge-san was always lewd and cheerful, but his expression twisted with painFor Tsuge-san, who had known the two of thee shockEven though I knew that it was cruel:

“In addition, my partnershi+p with Sousei-san has been dissolved…”

Right now, there was no one I could count on besides Tsuge-san

“Gah!Soh you’re our only hope now…”

Tsuge-san drew his thick eyebrows together and sighed

“I apologizeI’ was due to my incompetence, with Touko-san and with Sousei-san…”

Immediately after our separation with Touko-san, Sousei-san toldour partnershi+p

After Touko-san left us behind, a period of heavy, empty silence descended between Sousei-san and meAt last, Sousei-san muttered

“I quit this case”

“Why?”

I askedI vaguely understood his reasons, but I wanted to hear theht from his mouth

“I don’t wanna do so Touko…”

Sousei-san revealed, sounding lonely

“And I don’t get it, you know?I’ve got so et it at all and it’s annoying!”

Sousei-san gave an exaggerated shrug of his shoulders

“But!More iht?The look in Touko’s eyes?Could you stop her, seeing that look?You couldn’t, right?Those were the eyes of someone ready for the worstTouko’s already so sure of herself nor her so prepared, I really dunno what to do!”

Sousei-san hit the iron fence with his fist, and the entire gate vibrated like a tuning fork

“And, Naoto, sorry, but I don’t wanna see your face for a while”

Just as he said, Sousei-san averted his gaze from me

“Feels like you betrayed meNo… you really did lie to ht, with that perfect fucking memory of yours?”

It did not require a particularly good o

“You’re too fucking distant!Why didn’t you tell u-tsuchi, why didn’t you tell me a damn word of it!?Weren’t we supposed to be partners?Thatpissed off you didn’t trust me at all!”

Sousei-san’s shout resounded and tore through the silenceI was at a loss for words and stood stock-still, silentHis torrent of words stung like thorns

“I’ off our partnershi+pBye”

Sousei-san disappeared without giving lanceI felt as if I would shed tears of misery at the departures of first Touko-san, then Sousei-san, due to my mistakes

However, if I cried here, I would probably not hate round my teeth forcefully as I looked up at the deep blue sky

I hit the table with the sides ofcoffee shook and rattled

“If only I had been e!”

Looking back on the events of yesterday once again, I was disgusted by my own timidity

“Oi oi, don’t blae doing?I know Kyouhei and Touko’s personalities well and I still I couldn’t do anythingYou’ll make me want to blame myself”

In a sudden change frohthearted tone

“We shouldn’t be focusing on regrets now, right?We can do whatever ant laterNow’s the tiure out how to stop ToukoAnd ya know, isn’t it your job as a detective to rack your brains?”

Tsuge-san showed his teeth in a smirk

“I’ll help if there’s anything I can do, kay?Shouldn’t we fight together to stop Touko?”

Surely this was also painful for Tsuge-sanEven so, he was doing his best to act cheerful and console ementSousei-san and Ai-chan, and then Touko-sanI believed it was only natural that Tsuge-san missed everyone

“Thank you very much,” I murmured softly

Tsuge-san was a large manIn both appearance and spiritI had to respond to his consideration

“I’ve cheered up thanks to you, Tsuge-sanThat is the last time you will hear me complainI’ll try to come up with a method”

Though it was stiff, I gave him a smile

“That’s what I’!Don’t try to do it all yourselfYou and Touko are both like thatWhy do our wo themselves?Maybe the‘bout it alone, right?”

I calmed down as he spokeWhat a bad habitI had cootten

The reassurance fro friends I could count onI should have already known: if I ith my friends, ould be able to overco e that I would make do alone

“Anyant ot a mouth on him, but you can more or less count on him”

I hesitated for a htly

“No, that is, I don’t kno to face hi extremely discourteous to him”

I myself insisted that trust was the most essential facet of any partnershi+p, but I had not trusted my partner, Sousei-san

I had covered up the fact that I suspected Touko-san to be the cri compared to Touko-san

“That’s, uh, don’t be too hard on yourselfTouko is special to SouseiHe sees his dead mother in her…”

Tsuge-san’s eyes were a bit lonely, and yet they also held nostalgia and fondness

“His mother…?”

“Is it weird for a robot like him to have a mother?Well, think about itIsn’t it also weird for a robot like hiami’?”

“–AhI didn’t think , but it’s true, now that you mention it”

Sousei-san’s fornation was – Number R-00, codename “GENESIS”

“Like Touko said before, the completed Genesis didn’t live up to our Kirijo robot research team’s expectationsTo put it bluntly, he was a failed productYou’re a regular kid, but I don’t have to tell you what happens to a failed product, right?”

“They are disposed of?”

“RightSousei was at a higher level than all the other robots at the time, and if his existence was announced to the world, he’d probably be adh-level robotWe were aiht Shadows, an Anti-Shadow Suppression Weapon with a Persona”

I sed deeply, hearing Tsuge-san divulge this inside story full of corporate secrets

“D’ya remember the basic idea behind Personas I explained before?”

“Er, if I remember correctly – Personas are a rare power that can be used only by those chosenThere are various theories and phases of study, but one theory is that Personas are an ‘embodiment of the user’s psyche’, called ‘one’s other self’In addition, they say the ability to call forth a Persona is a latent power only liberated in an extreht?”

“Yeah, yeah!Good job!I heard froood !”

Tsuge-san’s aderated that I felt embarrassed

“That idea was originally proposed by our robot research team like this ‘If they successfully cultivate the same kind of soul as humans, shouldn’t they awaken as Persona users even if they’re robots?’”

“Eh?Please waitSousei-san is a Persona user, isn’t he?Then doesn’t that count as a success?”

“Now it doesAt the tio, it didn’t look like Genesis would awaken to a PersonaIn the first place, it was a mistake to make him aAnyway, everyone in the research teaive up, but there was one person who proposed ait before disposing of hin – Yuuri Kurogami”

“Kurogami?Could she be…”

Naturally, I knew the faiven name, “Yuuri”It was a name that Sousei-san had inadvertently mentioned before

“Yeah, that’s rightSousei got his last name from Yuuri”

Tsuge-san nodded emphatically

“Yuuri suggested we give her Genesis for a yearGenesis’d just been born, so he was innocent as a baby and still mentally a minorShe’d let hie into hi the birth of a PersonaThe Kirijo brass agreed, under a lot of pressure frorace periodBy the way, Yuuri was the one who started calling hiht of Sousei as her kid”

“Genesis”, as in the “Book of Genesis”It seemed his name had been borrowed from there

[Book of Genesis: 創世記, or “Souseiki” “Sousei” is japanese for “Genesis”]

“I see, so this Yuuri Kurogami-san took care of Sousei-san for a yearAnd then Sousei-san started thinking of Yuuri-san as a mother”

“YeahBut don’t getSousei’s rude attitude and ht place, but she was really a gentle airheadIf I had to say, Sousei was influenced more by TV and Touko, who had a worse mouth then than she does now”

I thought that Tsuge-san’s blunt personalitywas that Touko-san’s name had come up in this context

“You’ve known Touko-san for six years, haven’t you?”

“Nah, right now it’s closer to ten yearsAs a Persona user, Touko’s been cooin’ froh schoolerTouko and Yuuri were best friendsThey were about the sa better ‘cause of itSo naturally, I met ToukoFollows that I met Kyouhei Hioka too, since he was Touko’s friend”

Tsuge-san snorted slightly

“Six years ago, Touko’d just become a detective and was colder than she is now, but in front of Kyouhei, she tried her da the two of the to trust each other, Touko not holdin’ back her words and Kyouhei just s it”

Tsuge-san’s face broke into a s that tilirin

“So, what is Yuuri-san doing now?”

I asked a casual questionI thought she could tell me many stories about Sousei-san and Touko-san

However, Tsuge-san wore an uncoo…” His shoulders slumped heavily

“There was an explosion during an experimentThe accident happened a few days before the deadline to dispose of GenesisIt happened because Yuurienius”

Tsuge-san’s gaze was like that of a father recalling a daughter who had married and now lived somewhere far away

“Like Yuuri planned, Genesisextent over one yearBut most importantly, he hadn’t awakened to a Persona, unfortunatelyMaybe Yuuri was getting impatient…”

I noticed that Tsuge-san’s fists had clenched tightly on his lap

“So then, he’d lived under the same roof with someone like a parent to him, and ‘cause he was a robot and it was job, he couldn’t just roll over and give up on herHe had the hu to save her no matter what…”

I kneell that Tsuge-san was reflecting on his oerlessness; I had had the sa just yesterday

“Ironic, right!Sousei’s Persona awakened ‘cause of his strong sense of loss from Yuuri’s death!But!Reality is cruel!What the research team really wanted was a combat-type Persona, so they wouldn’t take it!”

It was a dra it

“When you first one wild ‘cause of a ht?”

“YesI remember”

“That was an instinctive reaction to a huge burden on his soulWe were trying to artificially make him awaken to a co when the accident happenedI was carryin’ on Yuuri’s willBut it’s an unprecedented testT’be honest, there was pretty much no chance it would work…”

Tsuge-san heaved out a huge sigh, like heavysteam

“Even so!I kne Sousei felt!It was so Yuuri would be recognized too, even though she was dead!I know he thought if everyone acknowledged hiaenius!Even if I knew the experiment would fail!I had to help him out!”

Tsuge-san yelled in a loud voiceHe laughed feebly for a while, then finally sank deep into the sofa and fell silent, staring up at the white ceiling

I could not find the words to respondNo ht the words of an outsider like e-san

“Here” At the very least, I could pour him a warm cup of coffee as thanks

“Oh, thanks” I was slightly relieved to see Tsuge-san hungrily drinking the coffee

“Thank you very lad I could hear about Sousei-san’s early life”

Sousei-san’s past, which I had alanted to know but did not want to bring upOur partnershi+p had been hastily arranged, and I knew that we had not pried into each other’s business because ould soon part ways

However, hearing it like this, I felt regret at my own timidity up until nowIt may have been better to know sooner

“Well, he’s rude and cheeky and acts all tough, but he’s definitely not a bad kidTake care of Sousei”

Tsuge-san finished drinking the coffee and spoke in a calmer voice

“That’s rightI’ll start by bowing ain”

“Ah, no, wait a secI’d be happy if you guys let s up, kinda like a dad, but don’t tell Sousei I told you about the past!He’ll definitely get really ht?You wouldn’t know it fro at him, but Sousei’s pretty shy!”

In the nexthi naturally in responseI had been caught up in the ht had been lifted from my shoulders

“Now that I think about it, it’s not just Sousei-sanI don’t know anything about Touko-san either”

Now that the situation with Sousei-san was looking up, it was inevitable that hts turned to Touko-san

“I only knoho she is as a detectiveI know there’s nothing I can do about it, but I can’t help but feel that things could have turned out differently had I understood Touko-san better”

I had said ainst thatI could not help but feel self-deprecating

“Geez, there’s nothing you can do”

Tsuge-san shook his head in a huge motion that matched his body

“Well, don’t getI’m not blamin’ youI just mean it’s unavoidableHumans don’t really know much about themselves, an’ there’s no way they’d understand other peopleNow, I’m just makin’ excuses, but Touko’s not the kinda woman who’d just wear her heart on her sleeveI see her all year round and there are still sides of Touko Aoi I don’t know about”

“Tsuge-san, do you not know her ‘criminal motive’ either?”

“T’be honest, noThis is just a pearl of wisdoive you an ideaTo put it siot to do with KyouheiCan’t really say it’s the h”

However, I had high hopes for this, seeing as it cae-sanWhy was that?

“If you wanna know about Touko, it would’ve been best to ask KyouheiIt really is too bad… Ah!No, no!Gotta stop bein’ depressing!Well, let’s see, other than that, all you can do is ask her yourself!”

In the next etically It was as if I had been electrocuted

“That’s it!”

Thanks to Tsuge-san’s words, I could clearly see the steps I should take

“Hold on, hold on!You’re sayin’ ‘That’s it’, but I was just desperate when I said that, y’know?Isn’t there a lot wrong with tryin’ to ask her yourself?”

Tsuge-san was completely confused

“Of course we can’t”

Tsuge-san’s flustered behavior was funny, and the corner of my mouth twitched upward

“Touko-san herself toldher cri specificallyfor her motive”

Tsuge-san rubbed his jaith his fingertips as he waited for my next words

“I think Touko means we should hear it from ‘Kyouhei Hioka-san’”

There was so only we could do–

In the next et it!That’s what you“whue-san

“Sousei’s ‘Past Reading’, huhRight, rightHe’s pretty reliable, huh?”

“I don’t know about reliable, but he is indispensibleWithout Sousei-san, ouldn’t have been able to corner Touko-san in this case”

“Yeah!Okay, let s from hereJust wait a bitLemme think of places special to Kyouhei and Touko…”

Tsuge-san slapped his cheeks with his hands and began to lad he was so quick to understand

It was unlikely that ould be able to hear directly from Touko-san herselfIn addition, Kyouhei Hioka, who knew the er of this worldIn that case, there was no other recourse re than to detect Kyouhei Hioka’s past conversation in a place special to them when they were intimate

“Please” I reseated myself on the sofa and quietly drank coffee so as not to distract Tsuge-san as he searched his memories

“Hokoro Station, but even if they drank there, in the end it’s a public place and I dunno if Touko would speak her onna have a serious conversation ‘bout Touko’s ht be a better chance it was at the aparto… Ahh, darowin’ old, can’t remember the name of the place…”

I waited several dozen e-san muttered

“–Ah, that was it!Right, right!It was ‘Iwato Apartments’!”

In contrast to Tsuge-san, who looked overjoyed at having picked out that fragment of memory, my expression reflexively stiffened

“Oh yeah, and I kinda remember hearin’ their place in Iwato Apartood viewWhat was the address again…”

“It’s all rightI knohere Iwato Apartments is”

I answered irew round “Whoa, as expected of the Detective Prince!You don’tOf course, it was a

Iwato Apartments here the body of Miyuki Midorikawa, known as Uzume, had been found

At that ti outside the city had seemed a suitable place for a murder scene and I had considered no other reason, but in reality, it seemed it was a place Kyouhei Hioka was familiar with and had ties to

“At that tione over every inch of the mansion, not just the entrance hall where the body was discovered…”

I knew there was no changing what had already happened, even if I regretted it, and yet I could not help but worry at my lower lip

“Tsuge-san!Thank you for all your help!I’ to the scene immediately!”

I stood up,to strike while the iron was hotThen, as soon as I stood, I reht

“Er, Tsuge-san, do you knohere Sousei-san is now?”

I felt that I owed hiyIt was irrefutable that I needed hie part of me felt quite aard

When I spoke, Tsuge-san’s shoulders shook hugely and he laughedI inclined e-san jerked his chin toward the entrance of the director’s office, still grinningI turned around like he indicated and a person’s silhouette was visible beyond the frosted glass of the doorThe person was quite large

“Ahahaha!He thought back and figured he said too muchBut now he’s too scared to show his face and can’t open the door!”

In the next e-san’s intentionally provocative words echoed loudly through the room

“Man, he’s really just a big chicken!”

“W-Who the hell are you calling a chicken, Gramps!?”

In the next moment, the door was thrown open forcefully and a tall man in red and black clothes stormed into the rooure

“Ah” Sousei-san’s eyes rin

“Ah” I had not been able to emotionally prepare myself, and so I also let out a foolish sound

“Oi!You two!Here’s your chance!Both of you bow and make up!”

Tsuge-san spoke in a boo to encourage us as we stood silent and un, but it evidently had the opposite effect

“Geez!You’re hopeless, Naoto!If you haven’t got this Sousei Kurogareat ain!”

His ar manner

“What?You’re much too presumptuousI’ve worked alone as a detective up until now and solved countless cases by myselfTo put it simply, it’s easier forme, I won’t refuse you”

I returned his words and his behavior tit for tat