"Forget that for now, the officer in charge of investigating your disappearance, Detective Hagiwara, has been kidnapped!"
The moment he heard those words, it felt as though something exploded inside Ritsu's head.
He had never expected the culprit to make their move so quickly. Frowning, he thought of the now-deserted abandoned factory.
'Would that lunatic hurt Kenji?'
"Hayasaka, take a picture of the coded letter and send it to me."
"Aren't you coming back to the MPD?"
Hayasaka sensed something was off about Onizawa's reaction.
'Could he actually be close to Detective Hagiwara...?'
As far as she remembered, the two hadn't interacted very often.
Doing his best to calm himself, Ritsu pulled his car over to the side of the road.
"Yeah. While I was being held captive, did anything else happen?"
"The Metropolitan Police received several coded letters from the bomber. Judging from the contents, it's believed to be the same culprit from the bombing case three years ago. Since the Public Security Bureau has stepped in, First Division is only assisting with the investigation now."
Ritsu glanced at the time displayed on his dashboard.
It was already past noon. He hadn't heard any explosions. If the bomb maker really was the same bomber from before, then there should be two bombs.
The first one was merely a decoy.
He immediately asked, "Have they deciphered the bomber's coded message?"
"Yes. Detective Matsuda from the Explosive Ordnance Disposal Unit and Detective Date from the neighboring division have already headed to the scene. They should be defusing the bomb by now."
Ritsu froze.
A terrible premonition washed over him.
'Could history repeat itself... just like it did three years ago? If they fail to deduce the location of the second bomb... then they'll...'
"Send me both coded letters. NOW!"
"Huh? O-Okay."
Listening to the dial tone after Ritsu abruptly hung up, Hayasaka found his level of concern for the case increasingly strange.
Still, she didn't dwell on it.
After all, they were all police officers with a strong sense of justice.
Everyone took every case seriously.
The instant Ritsu received the two coded letters, he only needed to read the first one to deduce the location of the second bomb.
His expression immediately darkened. He never imagined the culprit would be ruthless enough to plant a bomb there.
Without hesitation, he found Wataru's number and called. The phone was answered almost instantly.
"Onizawa? You're okay?"
"Now isn't the time for that. Where are you?"
Wataru glanced toward Jinpei, who was concentrating on defusing the bomb.
"We're trapped inside the elevator leading to Tokyo Tower's Special Observatory. Right now, the EOD—"
"That bomb is a decoy! Ignore whatever message appears on its display and dismantle it immediately!"
Wataru narrowed his eyes in confusion.
Lowering his voice so the bomber wouldn't overhear through any possible surveillance, he quietly asked,
"How do you know that? If I remember correctly, you hadn't even joined the Metropolitan Police three years ago."
"After learning this case was connected to that bomber, I reviewed the old case files. This isn't the time to discuss that. Remove the bomb immediately. I already know—"
Jinpei, who had been working on the bomb, impatiently stopped what he was doing. He pulled off the headset connected to Wataru's phone and frowned.
"Man, you sure talk a lot. Do you seriously think so little of us?!"
"...Huh?"
Ritsu blinked twice, completely bewildered.
'Why am I getting yelled at all of a sudden?'
Jinpei let out a cold snort.
Deliberately raising his voice as he looked at the words appearing on the half-disarmed bomb, he said in an indifferent tone,
"Tch! 'A courageous police officer,' huh? I already went through this nonsense three years ago."
"As a police officer, my life is far more valuable than those ordinary civilians. I've got no intention of sacrificing myself."
Both Ritsu and Wataru knew Jinpei well enough to immediately understand. He was putting on an act for the bomber, who was undoubtedly listening in.
Wataru played along perfectly.
"Exactly. It's not like we're obligated to throw our lives away for the public. Let's finish defusing this thing."
After the two continued their little performance for another two minutes, the bomb was successfully dismantled.
Jinpei stood up, stretched lazily, and grinned.
"Now we can finally say it out loud. The location of the second bomb, though I've already figured it out myself."
Ritsu smiled.
"What? Detective Matsuda, you actually enjoy comparing answers after finishing a test? That's unexpected."
"Tch, if you won't say it, I will."
Recalling the contents of the coded letter, Jinpei explained,
"According to the clue, the result is a comeback victory. That means a pitcher with an outstanding ERA won the game after extra innings."
"'Extrainnings' in English is EXTRA. 'EarnedRunAverage' is abbreviated ERA. Remove the letters they have in common, and you're left with XT."
"Write XT vertically and flip it over, and it forms the kanji 文 (bun), which refers to a school."
Listening to Jinpei's deduction, Ritsu applauded without holding back.
"I didn't expect an EOD detective to be this good at reasoning. My conclusion is exactly the same as yours."
"The second bomb is at Teitan High School. The detonation time is probably after school. Given the culprit's twisted sense of humor, it'll most likely be set to explode the moment the final class bell rings."
"So when your EOD team enters the school, you'd better disguise yourselves. The bomber will definitely be watching from the pedestrian overpass."
Wataru looked puzzled.
"The overpass? You mean... you already know where the bomber will be?"
"Yeah. According to the case files, he always likes watching his masterpieces from high ground."
"The best vantage point is the pedestrian overpass overlooking the shopping district in Beika Town 3-Chome."
"From there, a pair of binoculars is enough to see Teitan High School."
Both men were genuinely surprised by Onizawa's memory. They hadn't expected him to analyze so much information in such a short time.
Jinpei took out his phone, preparing to have the officers in the control room restore power to the elevator.
Then he looked at Wataru.
"Wataru, let Kenji know. Tell him to lead a team to the overpass and arrest that bomber."
Ritsu immediately interrupted.
"Um... there's some bad news I need to tell you."
"What is it?"
"Detective Hagiwara has been kidnapped by another culprit. I've already sent the new coded letter to—"
"What?!"
Hearing both men shout in shock, Ritsu instinctively moved the phone away from his ear.
The two were talking over each other so frantically that he couldn't make out a single sentence.
"You two, calm down. I've already sent the coded letter to Date's phone. You can look at it after you've finished dealing with the bomb."
"Damn it..."
Jinpei clenched his phone tightly.
"How dare they lay a hand on Kenji..."
He had never imagined that someone would kidnap Kenji. This case was proving to be far more complicated than it had first appeared.
Listening to the call disconnect on the other end, Ritsu realized they'd hung up.
He wasn't annoyed.
If anything, it gave him the peace and quiet he needed to focus on the new coded message.
"The dog at the crossroads must not bark."
'...What exactly does that mean?'