A Scientific Urban Detective

“Although that ‘Body Crystal’ is indeed very effective,” Rikou Takitsubo sighed listlessly, “the burden on the body seems to be quite significant.”

“How do you feel? Should we go to the hospital?” Shizuri Mugino reached out to touch Rikou Takitsubo's forehead, but she had just come out of the bath, and her body temperature had not yet dropped, so she couldn't detect any problems for the time being.

So, Shizuri Mugino leaned down, intending to press her forehead against Rikou's.

“Uh… is Takitsubo-san sick?” A voice suddenly came from behind, it was Saiai Kinuhata.

“…I’m fine, I just need to rest,” Rikou Takitsubo said, “Go check the email.”

“Well, okay.” Shizuri Mugino got up and grabbed her phone.

“What, what? Did I miss something?” Frenda also walked out of the room, holding a stuffed doll that had just been sewn.

“Don’t make bombs in this house!” Shizuri Mugino glared at her.

“It’s not a bomb,” Frenda quickly hid the doll behind her, defending, “This is a doll I made for my sister.”

Shaking her head, Shizuri Mugino didn't say much. Frenda's skills were still trustworthy, and she had a sense of proportion, so she shouldn't cause too much trouble here.

Frenda took the opportunity to run back to her room, hid the doll, and then scurried back to the living room.

“Another mission, Mugino?” Frenda kept pushing closer, “I’m running out of money anyway, give me a few simple and lucrative missions to recover some funds…”

“There aren’t that many good things, and you spend money way too fast…” Shizuri Mugino replied while dealing with the approaching girl, and opened the email, “Hmm? Unforgivable!”

With a whoosh, Frenda instinctively sensed danger and fled even faster, hiding behind Saiai Kinuhata.

Sure enough, Shizuri Mugino was furious, and even a green “Meltdowner” light sphere appeared around her!

Thinking that she had just been standing where the “Meltdowner” appeared, Frenda felt a wave of fear, and her face turned pale.

“W…what’s wrong, Mugino? Who made you angry?” But as expected of Frenda, she dared to take the initiative to ask at this time.

Perhaps Saiai Kinuhata's “Nitrogen Armor” gave her some sense of security?

“Someone, dares, to impersonate us!” Shizuri Mugino's face was as gloomy as water, considering that this was her home, she tried her best to restrain her anger, and slowly dissipated the “Meltdowner” around her.

“Eh? What? What do you mean?” Frenda jumped out again when she saw that the danger was gone, “In the end, what’s going on? Who is impersonating us?”

Shizuri Mugino snorted coldly and threw the phone on the coffee table.

Frenda and Saiai Kinuhata stepped forward to check. The screen showed an opened email, an anonymous exposé.

——The dark side organization “ITEM”, under the leadership of its leader, Kouko Ibuki, has repeatedly held the illegal fighting event “Underground Arena”, which has aroused public outrage and widespread public concern. The Guard and Anti-Skill are stepping up their investigation. Please deal with the related public opinion as soon as possible to eliminate the adverse effects.

“Dark side ‘ITEM’… what? And who is Kouko Ibuki?” Frenda said, “Could it be that Academy City has another dark side organization called ‘ITEM’?”

“How is that possible!” Shizuri Mugino said, “Each dark side organization is unique, and there are so many names to use, there is no need to use the same name, unless they are deliberately provoking us.”

Shizuri Mugino was too lazy to care who came first. In her opinion, since she had obtained the name “ITEM”, it belonged only to her, and no one else could take it away.

Not even a duplicate name was allowed!

Not to mention, now the fake “ITEM” seemed to have caused her a lot of trouble.

“Underground Arena, isn’t that the case that Nameless-niisan is investigating?” Saiai Kinuhata said thoughtfully.

“But…” Rikou Takitsubo, who was still lying on the sofa, slowly opened her mouth, “Is the content of this email really credible?”

“Indeed, that makes sense…” Rikou Takitsubo's question made Shizuri Mugino calm down a little.

Her anger just now was more like some kind of stress response, a subconscious action after feeling provoked.

But on second thought, this was just an anonymous email, without providing any evidence, just a meaningless paragraph.

Credibility… was indeed limited.

“But,” Saiai Kinuhata said, “since they can send the email directly to Mugino’s mailbox, it means that they at least know our ‘ITEM’ very well.”

Such a person has no need to do such a prank—Saiai Kinuhata still felt that the content mentioned in the email was true.

The reason why Saiai Kinuhata was so sure was also very simple, because the email mentioned “Underground Arena”.

And today, they were involved in an incident related to it.

As the organization that directly captured Mito Kakou, they naturally had a way to obtain a copy of the interrogation record, so they were very clear about the relationship between Mito Kakou and the “Underground Arena”.

Now, they were connected to the “Underground Arena” in such a strange way…

If it was still explained by coincidence, it would be too far-fetched.

“In the end,” Frenda suggested, “regardless of whether the content of the email is true or false, let’s start an investigation first. ‘Underground Arena’ or something, seems interesting,”

Shizuri Mugino nodded, and was about to order everyone to start the investigation.

At this moment, Shizuri Mugino's phone suddenly rang.

Hearing this familiar ringtone, the other three people besides the newcomer Saiai Kinuhata showed a headache and disgusted expression.

Unlike email notifications, this kind of phone call was their real “job” – a compulsory task that could not be refused and had to be completed.

The “voice on the phone” was their only “boss” or contact person, and all formal tasks were issued through her.

If the request in the email could be slightly capricious and postponed for an hour or two before looking at it; then the “voice on the phone” was the kind that had to be answered in time, and was not allowed to be rejected or even treated passively.

“I hate it, her tasks for us are all very troublesome, and the cost performance is not high at all!” Frenda complained.

But this was, after all, work, or rather, this was the reason why “ITEM” existed, their obligation as a dark side organization, so they had no right to refuse.

With a long sigh, Shizuri Mugino grabbed the phone.