Although Gu Jie had escaped this time, Tatsuya was still in the lead among the ones who were trying to locate the perpetrator of the Hakone terrorism incident.
Officer Chiba Toshikazu, who had also been selected as part of the terrorist hunt, had yet to even find the slightest trace of those responsible, and was busy hunting for clues.
He had gone to Hakone as a matter of principle to investigate the site of the incident. Toshikazu went wide-eyed in shock as he received a call from an unexpected caller, and he placed the transmission unit against his ear.
"Hello Officer Chiba, this is Fujibayashi speaking."
The voice coming from the receiver was certainly Fujibayashi. It was unthinkable that someone had broken into the communication infrastructure and was impersonating Fujibayashi, but it was such a surprising call for Chiba that such a doubt crossed his mind.
"My apologies for interrupting you on the job."
"It's not a problem at all. I'm more than happy to take a call from you any time, Fujibayashi-san. What can I do for you?"
Inagaki was waving his hands and coming over but Toshikazu quickly chased him off; Toshikazu quickly took himself away from the group of investigators.
"Ah, no errands today, but… I am a bit concerned about what happened yesterday."
"And is it to that concern that I owe the honor of speaking to you today?"
Paying no mind to the unpleasant circumstances, Toshikazu felt absolutely exhilarated.
"Yes. After you met the "Doll Master", did you notice anything unusual?"
"Unusual…? Well, I listened to his near-endless crazy story about necromancy that wasn't even useful for the investigation, which wore me out…"
"Ah, not about that… Perhaps, did you get a headache, or did you have trouble sleeping last night?"
"I don't think I noticed anything like that."
In his elation, he sarcastically thought "It's not like I'm in middle or high school or something," but not a hint of this crept into his voice, laughing in the easygoing way Toshikazu always did.
"I see…"
The person on the other end of the line seemed quite relieved.
Toshikazu was grinning without even realizing it. He didn't even hear Inagaki mutter "What's with him? What a weird look."
"Were you worried about me?"
"…I was. But it seems that I was worrying over nothing."
Fujibayashi's voice sounded slightly embarrassed, and Toshikazu's lips slowly loosened.
"Well then, Inspector, I will be praying that you catch our terrorist culprit as soon as possible."
"I appreciate it. Good luck on your work as well, Second Lieutenant Fujibayashi."
Finished with his phone call, Toshikazu returned to his original spot with a big grin on his face.
"Inagaki, what's the matter? You don't look so good."
"I just started feeling tired all of a sudden. I'm fine, don't worry about it."
Inagaki felt a headache coming on, massaging his temples with his fingers.
"Don't push yourself too hard."
Toshikazu said as such with the same flashy gesture as always, and with a chuckle, he left Inagaki's side.
Having finished her call with Toshikazu, Fujibayashi turned her attention to the noncommissioned female officer staring at a monitor in front of her.
"There's no evidence of mental interference."
The officer raised her head and announced the results of the analysis to Kazama.
The girl was a specialist in mental analysis who was especially proficient in discovering brainwashed officers and removing brainwashing. By using responses to questions, she could detect brainwashing through changes in voice pitch, intonation, speaking speed, breathing intervals, eyeball movements, heart rate, and body temperature. Even in the current situation where she was limited to voice-only communication, by utilizing a for-military-use acoustics analysis device, she could even read heart rate. As a specialist, she was able to detect whether an individual was under suggestion or not.
"Is Oumi Kazukiyo clear?"
With a nod, Kazama stated "Good work" to the specialist. She stood up and bowed, then pushed the wagon containing the special equipment out of the room.
"This is not a job you enjoy doing, is it Fujibayashi?"
"I don't mind… but Commander, that was rather dangerous, wasn't it?
The Chiba Family are authorities on Modern magic and that technique we just used is prejudiced towards physical body manipulation. We have no idea how much resistance they have to mental interference. "
In fact, Toshikazu had been sent after the "Doll master" by direct order from the Major General, Commander Saeki. It wasn't because she was trying to harm Toshikazu. When the police were dispatched to investigate the Hakone terrorism event and the corpse manipulation specialist behind it, in order to guide them to the Magician who was suspected of having connections to the remnants of the Kunlunfang Institute, they gave lists of suspects to a number of informants so that those lists could be disseminated.
Roter Wald was one of those locations, but the manager had in fact not cooperated with Kazama or his subordinates. The informant had been completely random in who they referenced. Fujibayashi frequented Roter Wald for a few days in an effort to follow their plans, but it had been complete coincidence that the manager had introduced her to Oumi Kazukiyo.
Thus, Fujibayashi had not used Toshikazu as bait, but the feeling that she had done as such weighed on her mind.
"If they do anything that exposes the collaborators, wouldn't it be better for us to join in the terrorist incident investigation as well?"
"First Lieutenant. My squadron… no, my battalion will have nothing to do with the Hakone terrorist incident. That is an executive decision by Commander Saeki."
"I understand…"
"The 101st Battalion must avoid being seen as supporting the Ten Master Clans."
"Yes, I understand."
The 101st Battalion, established by Commander Saeki, was starting to oppose being the civilian magical military force of the Ten Master Clans. Saeki was considered the political rival of retired Major General Kudou, and although she herself did not see it that way, the reality was that the "Anti-Ten Master Clans" and "Anti-Kudou Retsu" bases within the National Defense Force had become a cornerstone of her support base.
However, in the background, the 101st Battalion had a cooperative relationship with the Yotsuba Family, the leading figures among the Ten Master Clans. With just that relationship, they still had plenty of excuses if they were exposed, but they could not afford to be seen as colluding with the Ten Master Clans.
"Thank you for your work, First Lieutenant."
"Sir. If you'll excuse me."
Fujibayashi bowed to Kazama and exited the room.
As a battalion adjutant, Fujibayashi had her own office, even if it was a bit small. It was her personal room, located right next to the Commander's room (i.e. Kazuma's room).
Fujibayashi sat in front of the desk and pondered about the phone conversation from earlier.
The battalion had not mandated the information provided to the informants, and a high-level informant such as Roter Wald's manager had easily ignored the Defense Force's pressure. Even without her intervention, it seemed like Toshikazu had gone straight to the "Doll Master's" location. However, the matter wasn't as clear-cut as that.
When she thought calmly about the details, Fujibayashi could also be said to be covering for Toshikazu out of concern for his potential brainwashing. However, the battalion had intercepted Toshikazu's phone call, so they had certainly used him as well. She couldn't sweep away her feelings of guilt.
As she thought about the phone conversation, she wasn't able to hold back her laughter.
Toshikazu had called her "Second Lieutenant Fujibayashi." It was very clear that he hadn't heard about her promotion.
Although the military and the police force were two separate organizations, promotions were published in the official daily newspaper. If Toshikazu had an interest in Fujibayashi, it wouldn't have been unusual for him to know about it. All he had to do was enter her name in the search agent.
(When he approached me last fall, he seemed so enthusiastic, but…
maybe that was just a fluke, huh.)
(Although, back then I mislead him with my suggestive behavior as well… We were both playing the same game, I suppose.) Fujibayashi thought about this, then with a laugh, she put it behind her.
She dismissed the pang of loneliness she felt as a figment of her imagination.
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