I was taken to the police station with Kagurazaka-san in a patrol car. But the moment we arrived, I was immediately separated and questioned alone in a private room.
「So? You staged this whole thing, didn’t you?」
「Huh…?」
「I’m not trying to accuse you outright… but seriously, you went so far as to fake that injury just to send that rich boy to the hospital? What happened between you two?」
「No, that was actually my real hand, though…」
「Come on, with how realistic fake limbs can be these days, it’s easy to pull off a trick like that. Why don’t you just come clean? You made a convincing fake and used it to set up the councilman’s son because you had a grudge. That’s the truth, isn’t it?」
「I keep telling you, that was my hand…」
Apparently fed up after repeating the same conversation several times, the middle-aged officer slammed the table and stood up.
「Quit lying already!!! Your hand’s still attached, isn’t it?! Keep this up and I’ll slap a charge of filing a false report on top of everything else!!」
「Sigh… but I’m not lying…」
「You little punk!!!」
He stormed out of the interrogation room, slamming the door behind him.
The officer acting as the recorder remained, but he kept his back to me the entire time.
(Sigh… what a mess this is turning into…)
The biggest problem here… is that a lot of people I know will absolutely lose it once they find out I’ve been detained.
Especially Hikari and Tomoe-chan. Those two are seriously dangerous.
Hikari probably wouldn’t hesitate to use force, and Tomoe-chan would pull strings using Gentoku-san’s authority without a second thought.
And honestly, the latter’s even worse. I can already picture Gentoku-san encouraging her and making things worse, so I really don’t want to rely on them.
(Still, I seriously don’t want this dragging on any longer. I don’t even know how Kagurazaka-san’s doing… and I haven’t had lunch yet either.)
「Umm, excuse me, what time is it now?」
「………」
「Sigh…」
No matter how many times I tried talking to the remaining officer after that, he completely ignored me. It was like talking to a wall.
◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆
Some time passed, though I wasn’t sure exactly how long. Maybe around two hours? Eventually, a gentle-looking older man, the complete opposite of the last guy, entered the room.
「Kaminagi Yuuki-kun, I want to apologize for what happened. I’m Kondo, the chief of this police station」
「Ah, thank you for coming all this way…」
「I’m sorry about earlier. That guy is known for being rough, even within the station. Looks like he acted on his own before we could step in. Please allow me to apologize」
With that, the chief bowed his head.
「It’s fine. Well, I haven’t had lunch yet, so I’m just kind of hungry」
「I’m sorry to hear that. Do you have time now? I’d like to explain the situation to you」
「I’m free」
「Good. Let’s get out of here then. Staying in a place like this too long can really mess with your mood」
He opened the door and stepped out, and I followed after him.
「By the way, what happened to Kagurazaka-san, the one who was brought in with me?」
「She’s being protected in a separate room. She’s clearly the victim in all this. You’re likely to be covered by self-defense… but it might be difficult to press charges right away」
「Is that so? I mean, I did have my hand cut off, you know…」
「That’s exactly the issue. Honestly, there are two pieces of physical evidence in this assault case. One is your fully healed left hand, and the other is the severed left hand. There’s blood, and the sword we confiscated has your blood on it, too. We’re waiting on forensic results for both. But there’s a problem… this whole case might get buried」
「I figured. His parents, right?」
「No, it’s his grandfather」
「His grandfather? Now that you mention it, I don’t think I’ve ever heard anything about him… though I wasn’t really interested」
「Haha, he doesn’t appear in public much. His grandfather’s older brother was the head of a major conglomerate. You’ve heard of Shindou Group Holdings, right? After his brother died in the war, he took over. Thanks to his efforts in postwar reconstruction and expanding the company, he even became part of the postwar cabinet」
「Even I’ve heard of that company… that’s impressive」
「That might explain why he tends to push things to the limit. He’s already moved to cover up incidents several times」
「So that guy’s done stuff like this before…」
「If you wanted to stand up to him, you’d need the backing of a powerful family… but if it came to that, the entire country might start shaking」
Shindou, one of Japan’s top corporate groups… no wonder he grew up such a fool, spoiled by a powerful old man since childhood.
「Ah, here it is, here it is. She’s in the waiting room here」
「No, she’s not my girlfriend. She’s just a classmate」
「Oh, I see. I thought she was your lover since she’s been worried about you all this time」
「Besides, I already have a fiancée」
「Is that so? My apologies」
The chief smiled wryly and opened the door. Inside, my eyes met with Kagurazaka-san, who was sitting on the sofa.
「Kaminagi-san!!」
Kagurazaka-san stood up, her eyes teary, and tears overflowed from them.
「Sorry, sorry, I kept you waiting」
「You’re late! I was worried about you!」
She must have waited quite a long time… she started getting angry.
「Sorry… I didn’t realize you were so worried」
When I said that, her face suddenly flushed like a kettle boiling.
「Th-that’s because! We’re friends!」
「I see, thank you」
「You two sound like a couple」
「N-no! That’s not true!!」
「I feel bad for Kagurazaka-san at this rate」
「No, I’m fine…」
「Are you sure you’re not a couple?」
「We’re not!」
「We got off track. For now, please have a seat」
The chief gestured toward the sofa.
I ended up sitting next to Kagurazaka-san but didn’t make a big deal out of it.
「Sorry, we don’t have enough sofas…」
「It’s fine」
「Y-yeah, it’s fine」
「Now then, let me explain the situation. This time, Kaminagi-san is considered the victim, but without the full forensic report from the science lab, pressing charges will be difficult… The other party is unconscious and still in the hospital. As for Kagurazaka-san, charges of assault and attempted coercion apply. After bumping into each other, a demand for an apology by kneeling was made, which is terrible… Anyway, she was coerced, so this can be prosecuted. What do you want to do?」
「Can I ask my parents first?」
「Understood, but if you decide to proceed, please do so quickly」
「Thank you very much」
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