Chapter 58

The Looming Crisis

Translated by NotBlueYet
Edited by Kingavent

Sometime after the summer holidays, I was sitting around the dinner table with my family for the first time in a while.

My father was unusually home today.

“I have an announcement to make to you two.”

My father began with a serious expression on his face.

“What is it? With such a serious expression.”

He paused for a moment.

“Dad got promoted by mistake.”

“What? What? It’s a great thing. Why do you look so serious?”

“That’s right!　Congratulations, Dad!”

“So, what’s your next assignment?”

“Chief of the First Investigation Section…”

My father speaks with difficulty.

“How can you go wrong?”

“I couldn’t help it. I couldn’t say no.”

The head of the investigation section is the head of the investigation section of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, a post to which a non-career, highly trained detective is appointed.

I could somehow imagine why my father had a gloomy look on his face.

“I’ll have less time to spend with you guys.”

“Don’t worry about it. We are already high school students. Besides, it’s just right for you to be the first demon to be searched, isn’t it?”

“Yes! Father is so cool when he is working.”

One of my father’s colleagues once told me.

He is a hot-blooded detective who is feared at his workplace and is called the “Souichi Monster”.

Even in cases that were said to be on the verge of going cold, my father has been able to solve them all when he joined in the investigation.

It seems that his achievements were evaluated and led to this personnel appointment.

“Thank you. ……”

“Please continue to deliver the truth to the bereaved families.”

The bereaved families can only move forward when they know the truth.

It is our honorable job to help them do so.

This is what my father always said to me.

I was proud of him.

That’s why he didn’t have to go home.

I never complained if he didn’t play with me on his days off.

“Dad, keep up the good work.”

“Oh, I’ll work harder from now on.”

At that time, my phone vibrated.

“Can I go to Ryo’s house today?”

It was a message from Rio.

It was rare for Rio to ask me to come to her house.

“It’s okay.”

“I’ll be there now.”

After a while, Rio came to my house and I opened the front door.

“Ryo, help me …….”

Rio hugged me with tears in her eyes.

“What happened?　Well, come up for now.”

I sat Rio down on the sofa in the living room.

This is what I found in the mailbox at home: …….

He handed me a brown envelope about one centimeter thick.

It had only the name of the person to whom it was addressed, and there was no sender’s name or stamp on it.

I checked the contents.

“What is this ……?　Dad, you gotta see this.”

“What’s up?”

I check the contents with my father.

“This is …….”

It’s a hidden camera, no matter how you look at it. No stamps on it, which means he put it directly into the mailbox.

It may be as many as 100 pictures.

There were about a hundred pictures of Rio’s daily life in the mailbox.

“A stalker, right?”

“I guess so. Rio, have you noticed anything else unusual recently?”

Dad asks Rio.

“I felt like someone was following me when I was coming home from the station at night, but I thought it was just a misunderstanding.”

“So the stalker has started to make his presence known: ……”

Dad puts on gloves and goes through the photos one by one.

“Rio, are you okay?”

Yuzuki hands Rio a cup of tea and sits down beside her.

“Thank you, Yuzuki.”

Rio takes a sip of the tea.

It wouldn’t be surprising if someone with as much popularity as Rio was stalked.

She is beautiful and has many enthusiastic fans.

“Father, is something wrong?”

“Maybe the police can’t do anything with all this.”

The police basically won’t act unless there is actual damage.

“But it’s too late to do anything until something happens.”

“That’s right. I’ll tell the authorities to reinforce patrols in the vicinity of Rio’s apartment. Also, can you have our forensics team take a look at these photos?”

“I understand. Sorry to trouble you.”

“You’re my son’s precious person. I’m sorry I can only do this much.”

Father bowed his head to Rio.

“Please don’t apologize. Rather, father has taken sufficient measures.”

“If you are afraid to go home, you can stay at our house today.”

“But  won’t it bother you …….”

Rio seems to be reserved.

“Oh, I can stay over with you, Rio!”

“Yuzuki will be happy, so please stay the night. We have a scary monster called Souichi’s monster living in our house, so it’s okay.”

I intentionally laughed and said.

I wanted to make Rio feel at ease.

“Thank you. If there is such a monster, I feel safe.”

“Hey, hey, don’t treat people like demons.”

The smile returned to Rio for the first time in a long time.

If you forgot about the existence of the stalker, even just for a moment, it’s fine now.