Since the founding of the academy, the records of all the cadets have been kept, and it's a big job.
The police academy didn't have a lot of free space, and the file rooms were full, so Morofushi Hiromitsu's files only contained basic personal information, and he could surmise that only if there had been a major change in events, such as a promotion to a higher position, would the school have kept a file that would have added an entry on what happened to the student after graduation.
But unlike the file from over twenty years ago, which was very detailed in terms of the grades of every major and minor test taken by the police cadet in question, the personal information was very sketchy.
Morofushi Hiromitsu opened the file, and the first thing that caught his eye was an old, gray, worn-out photo of a young woman's head, pursing her lips tightly at the photo as if she were about to smile, but it was stiff, as if she were a wild animal moving at night, and there was some kind of sharp glint in her black pupils.
Even though the photo was worn out, you could see that she had beautiful eyebrows and eyes, good looks, perhaps because of the tense face, the whole was more on the side of the cold beauty some, just cold more mostly.
"...I found it," Morofushi Hiromitsu's eyes were fixed on the photo, and he whispered to himself, "the eyebrows and eyes are very similar."
The woman in the photo had a similar brow to Ichijō Mirai's, and if he hadn't smiled an unbridled sunny smile or a somewhat amused, mischievous grin, and had instead grimaced, the resemblance would have been almost 60%, almost as if he had been molded out of the same mold.
Anyone who looks at the two of them can tell without a second thought that they must be related.
Ichijō Mirai's coldest expression was the one he wore at the end of a training session when he was oblivious to everyone else, but it was a natural relaxation of the facial muscles, and Morofushi Hiromitsu hadn't yet thought about what it would be like to see him show it, so he looked at the photo a few more times before looking down.
He saw a vague and sketchy personal information, almost only a quick note that this 'Officer Ichijō' was not a native of Tokyo, but came to Tokyo for the police academy.
Further down, there was detailed test information. There were many courses at the police academy, ranging from those that relied solely on physical strength to those that relied solely on brains to those that relied on force, and there were so many that many of the students were not good at more or less everything, and the test information marked the owner's grades with a different color.
Scanning through it, Morofushi Hiromitsu noticed that the first few pages of the test information were almost entirely in the middle of the different colors.
In the beginning, no matter what class she was in, 'Sergeant Ichijō' was always in the middle of the pack, and with a class of 30 students, her grades were all in the 15th percentile, with the best not being in the top twelve, and the worst not being in the bottom twelve.
This is true for one door, and for all doors. For one time it happened, and it'll always happen.
The suspicion that had lingered while listening to the instructor's conversation festered in Morofushi Hiromitsu's mind: was this 'Sergeant Ichijō'... deliberately hiding something?
But why?
As he scrolled down further, he realized that the report card at the back of the page had taken a very different turn; 'Officer Ichijō' had finished in the top ten once, and then, as if stepping on a staircase on his way up the stairs, he'd gone straight to the top of the list, in every class.
The instructors at the police academy were of course puzzled by the huge difference, and a survey was included in the file.
After more than 20 years, the instructors had the same question as Morofushi Hiromitsu: If she was hiding her weakness, why?
If you're in the academy, why are you hiding? There are many good students, some from good families, some from bad families, some male, some female, some from Tokyo, some from non-Tokyo, some from both parents, some from no relatives.
The police academy is a training ground for police officers, not a workplace where you have to keep your tail between your legs, and it's even easier for a police cadet from a poor family with no living parents or relatives to get good grades and get backed up in one way or another.
Marrying a daughter or a son of a high-ranking officer who admires you, tying you to a backer by marriage, or simply selling your youth to the backer's own local lover, you can be transformed into an upper class person.
And why did you hide it and expose it?
After careful investigation and several interviews, the instructors came to the conclusion that 'Officer Ichijō' was insecure due to the fact that both of her parents were dead and she had no familiar relatives, but that she had gained a sense of security by getting to know her lover, which gave her an incredible power.
She prefers to be called 'Mrs. Ichijō' or 'Officer Ichijō' to her real name.
Of course, she doesn't say it outright, but when teased by her classmates, she always shows shyness, embarrassment, and meekly hangs her head in acquiescence.
Morofushi Hiromitsu: "..."
He looked at the photo of 'Officer Ichijō' a few more times, and repeated the words from the research data, "meekly acquiescing with shyness, typical of Yamato Nadeshiko?"
I can't imagine it at all.
I can imagine the gentle smile of 'Officer Ichijō' because of Ichijō Mirai, but 'meekly acquiescing' and 'Yamato Nadeshiko'...
This investigation report did not convince Morofushi Hiromitsu, but rather made the doubts even more obvious by giving off a mellow aroma like wine, but apparently convinced the instructors at the time, and that was the end of it.
"Moderate grades, seems to be hiding, prefers to be called by her husband's name rather than her real name," He frowned, running through it slowly, "Parents dead, no close relatives, loner, non-Tokyo resident, information brief and vague,"
Stroking along, he paused and looked back to the first few points of training data, "Moderate grades, no headaches,"
An unbelievable, yet natural thought came to Morofushi Hiromitsu's mind, "Who is she hiding from?"
"...Identity could be fake?"
So she didn't dare to show herself before falling in love, and only after falling in love, with a name that she could legitimately change to gain an impeccable official identity, did she turn on the offensive and reveal her true strength?
Morofushi Hiromitsu frowned again, "But, 'Officer Ichijō' is so famous, if she's hiding from someone, isn't she afraid of being found out?"
Could it be that the person she's hiding from doesn't even know what she looks like?
Or maybe the person she's hiding from doesn't pay attention to the news or famous police officers?
Or maybe it's not a Tokyo power?
With all these thoughts swirling in her mind, Morofushi Hiromitsu continued to read.
After graduating from the police academy, 'Inspector Ichijō' got married, and there was a photo of the wedding attached to the file, a photocopy of which was made, and which at first glance appeared to be quite different from the text.
In the photocopied photo, two young people in a typical neon wedding, dressed in white and black, stood at the door of a car, hand in hand, looking at each other, with a faint smile on their lips, seemingly happy.
This is only the first photograph, and as an appendix, the photographs copied on paper are stacked on top of each other, some of them only have the front side of the photograph, while others are smaller and have both sides of the photograph, and it looks like there is some kind of writing on the reverse side of the photograph.
Morofushi Hiromitsu casually flipped down the page, and quickly came to a photo that had the presence of Ichijō Mirai on it, and paused.
It was a picture of 'Officer Ichijō' pregnant, with a belly so big it required her to hold her back with her hands, and it looked like she was about to give birth.
'This is probably about half a month before Mirai-san was born'.
Morofushi Hiromitsu thought to himself as he looked at the photo a little more, and just as he was about to turn it over, the smile on his face stopped when he reached the reverse side of the photo.
He slowly read out the words on the reverse side, "Six months?"
On the back of the photo, where even a young man could tell that 'Officer Ichijō' was about to give birth, were the words: [love] and [six months].
...
Morofushi Hiromitsu, who had the basic ability to tell the difference, looked at the picture for about ten seconds, but still couldn't convince himself that 'Sergeant Ichijō' was currently in the state of a mother who had given birth to a child for six months, and that she was clearly close to giving birth.
But the person who left the handwriting on the back of the photo was either 'Officer Ichijō' or Ichijō Mirai's father, so there was no need to lie to others about such a thing.
All 'Officer Ichijō' had to do was to go to the hospital and check how many months pregnant she was, and there was no way to hide it.
If it was a lie, it would have been to someone like Morofushi Hiromitsu, who can't verify a lot of things after many years.
But there's no need, is there?
The couple probably didn't know about Morofushi Hiromitsu's existence, so why lie?
If it's not a lie, then this 'six months' is probably...
"Twins?"
Morofushi Hiromitsu was a bit shocked.
Twins would explain why six months seemed like an impending labor, but why hadn't either the instructor or Ichijō Mirai mentioned having a brother or sister?
His eyes paused for a moment on the smiling face of 'Officer Ichijō' in the photo, and quickly scrolled down.
There were only a few photos below, only two or three, and all of them were of what Morofushi Hiromitsu wanted to see: a photo of 'Sergeant Ichijō' less than a month after she had given birth, sitting in a hospital bed, holding a child, not smiling, but staring at her child as if she were struck with a sense of wonder and disappointment.
Morofushi Hiromitsu's brows furrowed again, "...A child?"
And it was not a joyful expression, but rather a depressed one?
Did the other child die? That would explain why none of the others had said anything about Ichijō Mirai having biological brothers or sisters.
He looks at the last few photos.
The last few pictures were of Ichijō Mirai when he was about two or three years old, and even though they were small and in black-and-white, Morofushi Hiromitsu was able to see how Ichijō Mirai had grown up in the child's young eyes and frowns.
Every time Ichijō Mirai was photographed as a child, 'Officer Ichijō' was always on the side, and they looked so much alike that they were mother and son, and even more so, their expressions were similar.
As a young boy, Ichijō Mirai seemed to be very reluctant to face the camera, so most of the photos were taken with his back to the camera or as far as possible on his side so that the camera could capture less of him.
He probably really doesn't like to be photographed, so he has the same blank expression that he has when he's not training and ignoring everyone, no giggling or crying that would make a grownup crack up, and his body is clean, with no signs of playfulness.
As for 'Officer Ichijō'...
Her expression wasn't even light anymore, it was a frown under her thin eyebrows, a somewhat sullen slump, as if there was something lingering on her mind that prevented her from even looking at her own lovely child.
Morofushi Hiromitsu whispered, "Because you lost a child?"
Is it because you lost a child that you can't hide your sadness because you often think of your own lost child when you look at the child that survived?
Even in the case of non-identical, age-differentiated brothers, when one of them dies, the parents are reminded of their dead child more or less by the living one, and even more so in the case of twins.
It's human nature.
It's just that children are always sensitive, and when their mothers are upset by the sight of them from time to time, they'll...
Is this part of the reason why Ichijō Mirai is not good at socializing and has no sense of boundaries?
Morofushi Hiromitsu took a closer look at the photo of the young Ichijō Mirai, and turned the page back.
After looking at the photos in the appendix, there was a large amount of text and an investigation report on the deaths of Ichijō Mirai's parents in the appendix.
But it was an indirect report.
The report contains no information about the time and place of the murder, the traces left by the murderer at the scene, or the suspects, as a police investigation should, but only speculation.
It's full of speculation that the murderer of the two police officers must have been a black man that they had gotten themselves into trouble with.
The police theorize that the reason for the home invasion murders is that the two officers were offended by someone in the course of solving the case and were retaliated against. Not only are they both dead, but even their child was missing, and it is not known if the murderer took them away or dumped their bodies.
...'Even the child is missing'?
Ichijō Mirai disappeared after the death of his parents?
Was he missing for a while, or was he always missing?
If it's the latter, then it's no wonder that the police academy's response seems to be one of emergency exclusion rather than preparedness.
Morofushi Hiromitsu collected his scattered thoughts, pressed down his brow, and continued reading.
Although the indirect investigation report was full of fart words, some of them seemed to be decent and reasonable, such as listing how many cases 'Officer Ichijō' had solved, how famous he was, and which of those cases involved black people who might be held against him.
For example, 'Officer Ichijō's' registry, records, medical reports, and other information have all been accessed, and it seems that someone is secretly investigating the family.
For example, it seems that someone has been watching them for a long time, and a family in the neighborhood of Ichijō's house has reported that they often see undesirable people dressed in black near their house, and that they are usually in black vehicles with anti-peeping film on, peeping cautiously at something like ghosts.
For example, a teacher at Ichijō Mirai Kindergarten told police during a visit that an adult had tried to abduct a child from the kindergarten, and that the child, Ichijō Mirai, was so smart that he didn't follow them, and the unknown abductor fled in fear of being caught.
Some of the abduction methods include.
1. Simply offering candies and fruits in an attempt to coax Ichijō Mirai to go with him.
2. Saying something like he is involved in a case, the police are trying to catch a scapegoat, he doesn't want to be pressured into confessing, and he wants a righteous person to recognize the truth and clear up the situation for him.
3. Combined with the first point, use some words, such as 'You are such a smart child, you must be lonely, right? Why don't you go with your uncle, and your uncle can take you to find like-minded person who can be said to be your real blood relatives?'
Obviously, it was specifically for Ichijō Mirai.
But, 'A true blood relative of yours'?
It's a little hard to understand, and even the police are a little confused by this phrase in all their bullshit, thinking that the teacher probably said it wrong.
Morofushi Hiromitsu stared at the lines of text for half a second before repeating the key words in a low voice: "Six months, one child, hospital data accessed, someone in the neighborhood, targeting Ichijō Mirai with precision, missing..."
These keywords could lead to a direction of 'premeditated murder', making the police's shift in blame seem less outrageous.
Or perhaps a smaller one: "The child didn't die?"
Morofushi Hiromitsu whispered his thoughts in dismay, "It was just born and taken away by an unknown person?"