SPLASH.
Morimoto Chiyoda stood up. Droplets of water slid down her fair, jade-like skin, shimmering like pearls inside a seashell. She stepped out of the bathtub and walked over to where the towels hung; a full-length mirror was mounted on the wall. A thin mist covered the mirror's surface. Morimoto Chiyoda raised her hand to wipe away the mist, revealing her exquisite oval face: a straight nose, thin, pink lips, and a pair of phoenix eyes that held a hint of charm. Her right hand continued downward, erasing all traces of the mist and reflecting her attractive body in the mirror. She scrutinized her body, front and back, with the eyes of someone appraising a piece of art.
This was Morimoto Chiyoda's habit. To her, her body was a work of art that needed maintenance by any means necessary, including facial cleansers, skin-care-enhancing body washes, skin care products, yoga, and more. Everything was to keep her body in its most perfect condition, to attract Aozawa's attention.
Morimoto Chiyoda picked up a white towel, dried off the droplets of water, and changed into a thin silk nightgown, light pink in color. The lingerie underneath was dark pink, creating a vivid contrast. She never skimped on showing her beauty to Aozawa. She also hoped that Aozawa would grow up healthy.
In her eyes, Aozawa was always a sixteen-year-old boy, no matter how mature he seemed in demeanor and speech. Occasionally, he would reveal a touch of boyish naivety. Just a while ago, there had been a sudden outbreak of his desire to save the world, a case of "chuunibyou." Morimoto Chiyoda didn't want to confine Aozawa, letting the boy make hasty commitments without having seen the wide world. Only by getting into a good university could he meet beauties from all over and thereby make an informed choice. To prevent Aozawa from making the wrong decision, she naturally needed to showcase her charm at home all the time.
The trouble all lay in the age difference between them. After all, she was not a sixteen-year-old high school girl but a twenty-six-year-old female police inspector. Their ages differed by ten years! If she ever made a move on Aozawa, she would be breaking the law and defying public morals. Aozawa wasn't eighteen years old yet! Morimoto Chiyoda could only suppress the loneliness and restlessness of the night with her own hands.
She tossed the towel into the washing machine, poured in the detergent, closed the lid, and pressed the start button. Then, she turned and left the bathroom.
In the living room, Morimoto Chiyoda began to apply a face mask, meanwhile watching some short videos to relax. Maintaining a good mood every day was her secret to preserving her youth and figure. Her life goal was to become an age-defying Witch, making up for the ten-year gap.
Morimoto Chiyoda switched to a short video from a pet influencer. Her favorite was watching videos of Chinese rural puppies. Their cute appearance was world-class adorable! She loved dogs. It's just that after the dog her family used to have died of old age, she never got a second one. But she often watched other people's pet videos.
At nine-ten, the sound of the door handle turning could be heard. Morimoto Chiyoda turned her head to see the familiar figure of the boy in the entryway.
"I'm home, Chitose."
Aozawa closed the door behind him, locked it, and looked at Morimoto Chiyoda lying on the chair. He activated his powerful X-ray Ability and saw her internal organs, skeleton, muscles, and more. From head to toe, her organs appeared very healthy, with no signs of any superfluous tumors. Just moments before, on the streets of Kita-Senju, he had been startled by the sight of someone with tumors growing on their body.
"Very good, you are indeed very healthy."
Aozawa finished the body scan and deactivated his X-ray Ability.
With a white facial mask covering her oval face, Morimoto Chiyoda said irritably, "What are you talking about? I am obviously healthy. Go take a bath now; don't let the water get cold."
"Okay."
Aozawa, drenched in sweat, also wanted to take a bath and soak in the hot water Chiyoda had used. In Japan, it's normal to clean one's body before soaking in the bath. Therefore, sharing the same tub of water between two people is very ordinary.
「The next day, Adachi District, Ayase Police Station.」
Morimoto Chiyoda did not eat at the police station's cafeteria but enjoyed lunch at a ramen shop on the street instead. She ordered a serving of eel ramen and sat down in a corner of the shop. At this time of day, there weren't many customers; she had purposefully avoided the busy hours, choosing to come for lunch at one in the afternoon.
Facing Morimoto Chiyoda sat Kinno Nobuko, a young junior from the police station. She was a patrol officer who worked outdoors and, unlike Morimoto Chiyoda, wore deep blue pants suitable for activity instead of a skirt. "Nobuko," Morimoto Chiyoda said, "you look so worried that the ramen in front of you might start crying."
"Senior Morimoto," Kinno Nobuko said despondently as she looked at the ramen in her bowl, "am I really not cut out for this job? It feels... different from what I imagined."
"You've finally reached this stage. What happened?" Morimoto Chiyoda saw her wavering and could understand why. The more someone strived and hoped for light in Japan, the more they would encounter a barrier called reality, and thus fall into despair.
"This morning, Senior Nakamori and I were called to a murder case. The victim's name was Yoshinokawa. He once served the Ota Group, spent two years in jail for violent crimes, and had been idle since his release. When the victim was found, he was naked on the bridge. After forensic evaluation, no other fingerprints were found; the victim supposedly strangled himself to death." As Kinno Nobuko thought about the corpse, she stirred the ramen in her bowl with chopsticks, murmuring, "How can someone possibly strangle themselves to death! I wanted to apply to the chief to start an investigation, but he rejected it, ruled it a suicide, scolded me for over an hour, and Senior Nakamori also blamed me for meddling."
Morimoto Chiyoda smiled and asked, "What do you think about our crime rate?"
"It's very low." Kinno Nobuko was unclear why she was being asked this but still followed the topic. "I joined the police station to protect this stability," she said, "but now it seems like something is not right."
"Of course it's not right. Remember this: our obligation as Japanese police is to make the public believe that domestic security is good and the crime rate is low." Morimoto Chiyoda picked up some ramen, blew on it, and said, "Avoid filing a case whenever possible; avoid defining events as crimes whenever you can. If we don't intervene or make arrests, the crime rate statistics will naturally be low. For Violent Gang vendettas like that, if the higher-ups can rule it as a suicide, they will never define it as murder."
Morimoto Chiyoda's words shocked Kinno Nobuko, her eyes wide with disbelief. "Senior, do you mean we completely ignore these Violent Gangs?"
"We do intervene, like the recent small campaign against Violent Gangs following that incident with the Prime Minister." Morimoto Chiyoda continued to instruct her junior on how to become a qualified police officer. "You can see officials apologize and even resign for embezzling the cost of a meal or a few hundred Yen in water and electricity bills in the news. But for cases involving embezzlement of hundreds of millions or tens of billions, all you get is the conclusion that an accountant died unexpectedly. Then, with the notion that the deceased cannot be disgraced, all investigations come to an end. We prohibit pornography and gambling. Yet, sex shops, Pachinko parlors, race tracks, and high school girls engaged in compensated dating are all over the streets. Who dares to make arrests? Who dares to investigate? Remember, our existence only serves to make the public think they are protected, nothing more."