"I'm looking at a message from a friend who doesn't share the same philosophy, and he praised me for being disgusting."
Amuro Tōru awoke with a start, realizing that he had unknowingly fallen asleep on the edge of the table while reading the information, dreaming of the past.
He calmed his somewhat rapid breathing for a few moments, closed his eyes, the red eyes of the goggles reappearing before him, and repeated, "A friend who doesn't share the same philosophy?"
He hadn't really paid too much attention to the wording during his time at the police academy, because if this 'friend with a bad idea' was important to Ichijō Mirai, then given their relationship, he would have gotten to know each other sooner or later, maybe in a few days, maybe in a few months, maybe in a few years.
But now...
Now, remembering that Ichijō Mirai had only glanced at his cell phone and smiled, the light of the cell phone reflected in his red eyes, and that he had used the word 'praise' and looked so happy when he was clearly talking about being scolded, Amuro Tōru lowered his eyes and slowly adjusted his breathing.
As his breathing gradually calmed down, he recalled how Morofushi Hiromitsu glanced over at Ichijō Mirai immediately after he said that, as if he was about to say something, but then he didn't move and only smiled gently at Ichijō Mirai's expression.
I also recall Matsuda Jinpei grabbing Ichijō Mirai's hand by force for the second round of high fives and casually asking 'philosophy don't match? Why?'.
He also recalls Ichijō Mirai lazily letting his hand be controlled and clapping, being forced to enjoy the joy of victory, and pondering for a moment before answering, 'Ah, I guess it's because he's too kind and doesn't share my philosophy'.
After he finished his answer, he laughed again, and after Morofushi Hiromitsu sighed a little helplessly, he casually corrected himself by saying that his philosophy didn't match his own because he was too kind, too moralistic, and too Messiah.
Recalling this, Amuro Tōru tapped his fingers on the tabletop a few times and murmured, "There was a secret between them."
There was a secret about 'friends who don't see eye to eye'.
It was something about Ichijō Mirai that they didn't know about, but Morofushi Hiromitsu knew about it, and that's how they interacted.
But their relationship has always been good, and Furuya Rei could tell that there was a secret between them as early as the bank robbery, just as he could tell that Morofushi Hiromitsu had been in the file room for an ungodly amount of time, but didn't pay much attention to it, for the same reason: given their relationship, it was only a matter of time before he found out.
The premise was that, like every police cadet, they would graduate securely, enter the police system securely, and get promoted and paid securely.
Not someone who goes into hiding, someone who doesn't even attend the graduation ceremony, who gives up all his glory and honor and sacrifices himself to catch the beast in the darkness.
Amuro Tōru lowered his eyes once more, moved his fingers across the table a few times, grabbed the information on the table, and took a deep breath, "Right now, the most important issue isn't 'friends with different philosophies', but-"
He looked at the data.
It was collected by Kazami Yūya, and it was a collection of confessions from two cases related to Ichijō Mirai, and some side conversations with the people involved.
The first Valentine's Day case was highlighted by Amuro Tōru in colorful pens: Mr. Mirai seemed uncomfortable, rubbing the back of his neck and looking pale.
In the second case, Mr. Mirai had a cold and was not feeling well. He slept in his room in the afternoon, but he looked even worse, and seemed to have a fever.
The reason for the cold, according to the people involved, is that he was exposed to the wind and snow on his way here, and the cold got into his body.
Amuro Tōru, who had been in the snow for nearly two hours, said: "...".
He wondered: with the heater in the car, it would have taken more than ten minutes to get from the bottom to the top of the mountain, wouldn't it? Knowing Ichijō Mirai, he shouldn't have gotten a fever just from the wind and snow, right?
Something's wrong.
Amuro Tōru remembered Ichijō Mirai as a man who could run cross-country, squeeze himself and help others without a care in the world, a man who could jump into a bank, get shot several times and still smile and act coolly, a man who could shoot himself in the forehead, frown, wipe off the red paint, and then encourage the others to shoot him as if nothing had happened, a man who was so active that he was a little intimidating.
Now...
Ichijō Mirai is his usual mischievous and lively self when it comes to teasing people on the phone, and he doesn't sound sick, reminding Amuro Tōru of the time he teased Matsuda Jinpei in the police academy in a serious manner.
And: "Red mole?"
Amuro Tōru looked at the highlights on the extended information, marked with a marker of another color: Brother Mirai seemed to rub the back of his neck whenever he was uncomfortable, and there was a red mole there, so I remembered it.
"Is his body that weak?" He repeated his question in a low voice, "Is there a red mole on the back of his neck?"
In the former case, because he knew very well how powerful Ichijō Mirai was, he was wondering with skepticism, something like, 'What's happening, even if you haven't been exercising, it's not so bad, right? Why has his body become so weak? This is not right'.
The latter was a simple doubt.
He really didn't pay much attention to the birthmarks or moles on his companions' bodies, unless there was an event related to those features that could be remembered.
Unfortunately, no.
Amuro Tōru had never paid much attention to the back of Ichijō Mirai's neck, until he looked at the information that Kazami Yūya had collected, and then he tried to find traces of it in his memory, and was a little unsure: did Ichijō Mirai have a red mole on the back of his neck when he was in the police academy?
Did he? No?
It didn't seem like such an important thing, just a mole, it didn't matter if it was there or not, but for some reason he cared about it, he felt it was important, his intuition was ringing.
In his hesitation, he remembered the time when Ichijō Mirai had teased Matsuda Jinpei, and when Matsuda Jinpei, who had reached the end of his patience, had pounced on Morofushi Hiromitsu by pulling on his police belt.
At that time, Morofushi Hiromitsu was reaching for them.
That position...
Just by looking down a little while catching them, Morofushi Hiromitsu could see the back of Ichijō Mirai's neck.
Amuro Tōru was sitting on the other side of Morofushi Hiromitsu, so if he had only paid attention at the time, he could have seen it too.
He tried to remember, thinking that he might not be able to, but instead, he recalled a clear image, so clear that it seemed like it had happened yesterday.
Clear enough to remind him that he had never forgotten.
He was stunned for a moment, then he gathered his emotions, closed his eyes, and reconstructed the image in his mind's eye: when he was tackled, Ichijō Mirai fell backward, and his neck was...
The reconstruction paused for a moment.
Amuro Tōru opened his eyes, "The collar is in the way."
The collar is blocking part of the back of the neck, possibly the red mole, he can't be sure.
Unless it was at Morofushi Hiromitsu's location.
From Morofushi Hiromitsu's point of view, even if the collar blocked the back of his neck, he could still see it if he looked down.
Amuro Tōru hesitated.
He took out his cell phone, his eyes fell on the black screen for a few seconds, and after half a second, he pressed the phone to light it up and sent out a message: [Do you have any news about Mirai-san?]
It wasn't 'Amuro Tōru', it was 'Furuya Rei'.
Furuya Rei from the police academy.