Zongman I fight weirdness in everyday world

"So, quite clearly, he was being restrained before. This time coming to Kyoto, perhaps he couldn't endure it any longer, or perhaps with the increase in spiritual power, his mind became even more deranged, so he made this foolish decision."

Saying this, Nightstar stood up and waved to the members.

"You guys continue discussing. I still have to go find Old Night. Such a big thing happened, I still have to communicate with him."

… …

Ten minutes later, in the office of Nightsong Soichiro, the chief commander of the Kyoto Metropolitan Police Department's Special Operations Unit and concurrently the Director of the Criminal Investigation Department.

"Sigh, really… …"

Even though it was nearly 9:00 PM, Nightsong Soichiro was still sitting in front of the computer, a worried look on his square face, with even a few more wrinkles appearing on his forehead.

"Hello, Old Night."

Hearing this familiar voice, Nightsong Soichiro didn't even raise his head, just pointed to the small refrigerator in the office and said in a deep voice.

"There are drinks and water inside, help yourself."

"Okay."

Nightstar, in his "Mask" form, was very familiar with the place. Every time he entered this office in the Kyoto Metropolitan Police Department, he felt like he was coming home.

After he sat down on the sofa opposite, Nightsong Soichiro finally raised his head, looked at the smiling eyes under the mask, and sighed heavily, rubbing his brow.

"I say, dark green flames, how do you expect me to control public opinion with this? This incident is a bit too big, isn't it?"

Nightstar opened the can of ice-cold Coca-Cola and replied nonchalantly.

"I don't know either. I didn't create it. I'm the victim, Old Night."

"Victim?"

Nightsong Soichiro shook his head with a wry smile.

"The one who created this incident is someone with the same ability as you, right? Did you find him?"

"Yeah, found him."

Nightstar picked up a black basketball bag next to him, stood up, and placed it on Nightsong Soichiro's desk.

"Here, it's inside."

Although Nightsong Soichiro had already guessed what was inside the basketball bag, he still opened it to take a look.

Sure enough, it was a man's head, even with his eyes still open, truly dying with lingering resentment.

"This… …"

Nightsong Soichiro's expression didn't change at all. He just took out a pair of transparent gloves from the desk drawer, put them on, and then carefully took out the head from the basketball bag.

As an old detective, what kind of scene hadn't he seen?

A mere head was far from enough to scare Nightsong Soichiro. Rather, he was already accustomed to it, without even a trace of fluctuation in his heart.

"This cut… … was chopped off by a sharp weapon… …"

Just by looking at the cut on the head, Nightsong Soichiro immediately made a judgment, which did surprise him a bit.

Don't be fooled by those TV dramas where a single slash results in a clean separation of the head from the body, making it look very easy.

In reality, to cleanly chop off a head like that requires extremely high quality of the weapon, and the explosive force of the person wielding the weapon must also be terrifying.

"Well… … I can hand it over to the forensic science section and then compare it with the database in the Metropolitan Police Department to find this person's identity information."

Nightstar nodded and smiled.

"Yeah, that's what I'm here for."

"You guy… … you really know how to make trouble for me."

Nightsong Soichiro put the head back, sighed helplessly, and then changed the subject.

"Is there only one suspect… …?"

"More than one, but there should only be him alone within Kyoto."

"What do these guys… … want to do… …"

Now, Nightsong Soichiro would no longer consider any trivial issues such as vigilante justice or procedural justice.

How to catch criminals with special abilities?

Even if they were caught, how to go through the proper legal channels for trial?

Is there any evidence? Modus operandi, eyewitnesses, clues, none of them.

Saying that a person who was not at the scene caused dark green flames that could ignite an entire building, and the modus operandi was some kind of special superpower… …

Without even thinking about it, the final result would definitely be acquittal, and the Kyoto Public Prosecutor's Office would also be questioned by the public for filing such nonsense, with public trust plummeting, and even the Metropolitan Police Department would suffer along with it.

Procedural justice cannot protect Kyoto.

"What about public opinion?"

"Sigh."

Hearing Nightstar's question, Nightsong Soichiro sighed helplessly.

"Just say it's a phantom image reflected by a specific angle of light, combined with chemical components in the air, and the humidity of the day… … Don't look at me with that expression. I know it sounds outrageous, but compared to the fact that there are unimaginable things in this world, people are more willing to believe it's an illusion, it should work."

"Well, handle it as you see fit."

Nightstar stood up from the sofa, but suddenly stopped halfway, untied the Onimaru Kunitsuna from his waist, and hung it on the wall of the office.

"By the way, if the enemy is smart but not smart enough, they might come to destroy the evidence. I'll leave this sword here for now, and I'll take it back after confirming there's no danger."

"Okay."

"Just a reminder."

Nightstar opened the door of the office, waved to Nightsong Soichiro, and smiled.

"Don't touch her, or else you'll be one-armed in the future."

"Uh… … I understand."

Watching Nightstar open the door and leave, his figure disappearing into the darkness, Nightsong Soichiro looked at the Onimaru Kunitsuna on the wall, his expression looking very complicated.

The theft of this famous sword… … was the initial opportunity for him and the other party to reach a cooperation… …

It's so nostalgic.

… …

At the same time, inside the Osaka Municipal Hospital.

"Killed… …?"

A woman wearing a hospital gown, with a body as thin as a skeleton, pale cheeks, but with a morbid beauty, wearing purple eyeshadow, looked at the television, reporting on the sudden fire in Kyoto today, and muttered to herself.

"As expected, even with a special ability, someone who was useless to begin with is better off dead."

Hanging in front of the woman's hospital gown was a standard hospital name tag with her name on it.

"Sakurakawa Rikka."

"What do you think? Am I right?"

To ordinary people, the hospital room appeared empty. Only Sakurakawa Rikka seemed to be talking to herself as if possessed.

She looked towards the woman beside her, who was draped in a large priestly robe. Her face was obscured by a layer of misty aura. Although her figure was graceful, she emanated a terrifying, inhuman aura. The woman floated in the air, smiling as she spoke.

"Izanami?"

...

The peaceful two weeks passed quickly, and the school festival was just around the corner.

As Rio Futaba had predicted, there were no esper attacks like the one at the Yukinoshita Building during those two weeks. This proved Yozora's guess that the young man had made a foolish decision on his own and come to Kyoto to die.

The investigation on Soichiro Yagami's side had also made progress.

After comparing internal data from the Metropolitan Police Department, they learned that the esper killed by Miko Yotsuya was named Tamura Kai, 27 years old. His registered domicile was in Fukui Prefecture. After graduating from high school, his grades were only average, so he did not choose to continue his education. He worked in Tokyo for a few years before returning to his hometown of Fukui Prefecture to inherit his parents' old house, making a living by doing odd jobs.

However, about half a year ago, Tamura Kai disappeared without leaving any contact information, as if he had vanished into thin air. The local police in Fukui Prefecture listed him as a missing person. When he reappeared, he was already a headless corpse lying in an alley.

Without Yozora needing to explain, Soichiro Yagami knew that something must have happened during Tamura Kai's disappearance that transformed him from an unknown ordinary person into a criminal with special abilities, who was vicious and disregarded human life.

What exactly did Tamura Kai do during those missing months? Who did he meet that led to such a change?

Soichiro Yagami was investigating, but because Tamura Kai's hometown was in the countryside of Fukui Prefecture, surveillance cameras were not widespread, so progress was slow, and no valuable information was found. To retrieve surveillance footage from the entire Sakura Province would not only require a lot of manpower and resources, but it would also be difficult to get the police departments of other cities to cooperate. After all, they were all on the same level. Without a convincing reason, why would they put aside their own cases to cooperate with the Kyoto Metropolitan Police Department's actions?

Overall, they still had to wait slowly for Soichiro Yagami to make more progress.

"Yozora."

After the school bell rang, Touma Kazusa looked at Yozora beside her and said calmly.

"The school festival is after this weekend. To gain more practice time, I invited Yukina to stay over at my house. You should come too."

Chapter 279 Touma Kazusa and Yukina in Yukina's Eyes, Sobu High School Festival

Yozora heard this, tidying up the things on his desk while replying with a smile.

"You two can practice, why drag me along?"

Touma Kazusa frowned slightly, her tone a bit cold.

"Have you been deliberately avoiding me lately? After practicing in the music room each time, you don't walk home with me, and you don't eat with me and Yukina. Did I do something to make you dislike me? If so, you can tell me, and I can change."

When Touma Kazusa said this, although her expression was very calm, anyone could see the hint of loss and dimness hidden deep in her eyes, like a loyal dog that had been abandoned.

Especially the last four words, "I can change."

When she said these four words, Touma Kazusa's voice trembled slightly, even carrying a hint of crying.

"Eh, eh, eh, it's not like that at all, don't think too much."

Seeing Touma Kazusa like this, Yozora quickly explained.

"I'm not deliberately avoiding you, I'm deliberately avoiding you two."

"Us two...?"

Touma Kazusa looked hesitant.

"Are you talking about... Yukina? You were the one who invited her to join the band and made me cooperate with her. Now you're telling me you don't like her as a person? Then why did you invite her to join in the first place?"

"See, you've misunderstood again."

Yozora shook his head and said with a smile.

"I don't dislike Ogiso Yukina, and I could never dislike you. I'm not avoiding any one of you, I'm avoiding you two."

"Ah?"

As soon as this sentence came out, it almost fried Touma Kazusa's CPU.

What does it mean?

He doesn't dislike herself, nor does he dislike Yukina, but when she and Yukina are together, he has to avoid them?

What kind of strange chemical reaction is this?

"But now it seems, maybe I shouldn't have chosen this way..."

Yozora looked thoughtful, muttering some words that Touma Kazusa couldn't understand at all.

Something about a perfect route to clear the love triangle, something about a triangle being the most stable shape, and something about as long as he wasn't a scumbag, then Touma wouldn't be three, and Yukina wouldn't be a bitch, he wanted to create a world without love triangles and stock market speculation, where everyone was his important wings, a harem god's great shared dream...

"Okay, then let's go to your house to practice together."

Yozora first nodded, then immediately added.

"Let me emphasize, you can't peek while I'm showering, and you can't suddenly climb into bed while I'm sleeping, don't have any unreasonable thoughts."

Touma Kazusa sighed and said calmly.

"Don't talk nonsense, Yukina is also staying at my house, how could I do such a thing?"

"So you mean if Yukina wasn't there, you would do it?"

"Of course, is there a problem?"

"No problem, no problem at all, as expected of you, Kazusa."