Suzuki Sonoko loves desserts.
Whether it's bread, round or triangular cakes, or pastries, if it's sweet, she likes it, and it makes it easier to eat in times of crisis.
[Blue bar rising, currently [78%].]
Suzuki Sonoko loves the color pink.
Whether it's pink ribbons, dresses, hairpins, hair bows, hair strings, shoes, pink flowers, cars, billboards, or even human tongues.
Even the human tongue.
In a tense moment, she'd see it, and she'd relax a little.
[Blue bar rising, current [83%].]
Suzuki Sonoko is afraid of spiders and creepy crawlies.
[Blue bar decreasing, current [81%].]
Suzuki Sonoko is afraid of foxes.
[Blue bar dropping, current [79%].]
But after only a few moments of fear, she was able to muster up the courage to reach out and hug the fox that had been carried to her, carefully touching the large orange-red fox tail and the tips of the pale white fox ears, and exclaiming with sparkling eyes.
[Blue bar rising, currently [81%].]
In the case of the fox, the change in the blue bar evened out.
Suzuki Sonoko likes to listen to stories about the police academy, and she draws a sense of security by simply revealing some of the academy's dramas in short bursts.
...'A few words' raises the blue bar by about the same amount as 'stopping the car and explaining it in detail'.
[Blue bar rising, currently [83%].]
Suzuki Sonoko will gain a sense of security when she arrives at the police station.
[Blue bar rising, current [85%].]
Suzuki Sonoko's sense of security increases again when she meets her parents.
[Blue bar rising, current [89%].]
Suzuki Sonoko...
The mission is over.
Ichijō Mirai leaned against the car, looking at Suzuki Sonoko, who was welling up with tears in her parents' arms, and fell into quiet reflection.
He wondered, "Where else can I get points?"
Stuck at 90%, the difference in points is a bit large, obviously not more coaxing can not be perfectly resolved, probably there is a hidden branch line, he has not yet found and resolved.
This is probably the difficulty of this mission.
What's the 'hidden thread'?
The little brat.
In the midst of his thoughts, Ichijō Mirai stood up straight and politely held out his hand to a nearby officer, "Can I borrow your gun, please?"
"Boom!"
At the deafening sound of the gunshot, red blood suddenly exploded into view like a streak of firework petals, and the scent of the blood spread so thickly that Ichijō Mirai didn't feel a thing.
Ichijō Mirai didn't feel anything. He couldn't feel the pain in his temples, he could only feel the strange sensation of a delayed character in a game, and most of his body lost consciousness for a moment.
His muscles reacted by tightening his trigger finger again, and this time no more bullets were fired.
It was like the last rays of sunset.
Ichijō Mirai's vision darkened.
The darkness was dispersed by bright light, and when his vision came back to life, he was back on the side of the road, holding the red omamori in his hand.
He felt no pain.
But under the sound of the gunshot, the strange sound of the bullet breaking through his skull, the vibration of the bones and flesh as if the soil had been broken open by the bamboo shoots, surging in the direction of the bullet still remained in his ear canal, giving him a subtle illusion of some itchiness in the depths of his skull.
In the illusion, there was a light sound that aggravated the itch that could not be scratched, and it was the sound of a song.
It was the sound of a song, so distant and indistinct that one could not recognize the words, but only the cheerful tone, and Ichijō Mirai could tell that it was the same song that he had heard when he was taking his medication.
His mind was still lost in a somewhat dull cracking thought, thinking about how to be more gentle and kind, more able to coax children?
After a few short seconds, the song, which sounded like a death effect, died down.
Ichijō Mirai rubbed the guardian and collected all the scattered thoughts, his expression didn't fluctuate, "Is this a necessary part of reading the file? If the purpose is to interfere and distract the player, it's quite useful."
It's also very hateful.
...I'll have to find a way to clean up the system.
As for now, let's start the third time.
Instead of immediately going out to claim the poor unclaimed vehicle on the street, Ichijō Mirai made a call to Onidzuka Hachizo.
He gave the address of the factory in a nice, concise voice, "I'll be there in 20 minutes. Can the police be there in half an hour?"
"Please call me when you are five minutes away from the factory and, on my instructions, turn on the alarm and shout at the robbers."
"Alert the robbers? No, rest assured that I will protect the hostages until then."
"Only a strong 'police are coming' can reassure the hostage lady who trusts the Neon Police, right?"
For the sake of the hostage girl's personal safety, Ichijō Mirai decides not to put the blame on the hostage for the time being, but to reflect on himself daily: if he didn't get a perfect score, he must not have done well enough.
It's only twice that he failed to get a perfect score, so he'll do it a few dozen times and then sharpen his sword on the hostages.
This time, he changed his plan of action once again, and instead of searching for Suzuki Sonoko, he stopped the robber who was going to report to the leader of the robbers, and begged him to stall for some time, to hold back the boss, and not to let him go up to see the hostages.
Reserve officers for the hostages to pay the effort is so touching, even Mr. robber, were moved to tears, and deeply ashamed of their own behavior, red-faced nodded forcefully agreed.
He got up from the ground, sorted out his clothes, all the traces of being touched are hidden under the clothes, or the original as bright and beautiful.
While the robber went to report the news to his superior, Ichijō Mirai settled down to stand by the window again.
The moment the alarm sounded, the police cars surrounded the factory like a tidal wave, and the police started shouting at the robbers.
As the robbers panicked, Suzuki Sonoko carefully held her breath as she peeked out from under her desk and subconsciously looked at the window, her eyes almost rounded into the curve of a rabbit's. She saw the clear glass window rise.
Just in time, she saw a flash of black rise from the clear glass window, followed by a pair of red lights.
A black-haired, red-eyed police officer pushed the window open as if he were attending a commendation ceremony, holding up a clean police officer's ID and wearing a smile that could not have been wider, like a radiant Savior, which was a bit surreal through the somewhat dirty window.
He lowered his red eyes, not knowing what he was looking at, and in the third second of looking at him, his smile took a subtle turn.
Suzuki Sonoko couldn't describe the subtlety of the moment when Ichijō Mirai changed from a polite smile to a real one, as if the world was frozen in time.
Her rounded eyes jumped with light, "Fox!"
Ichijō Mirai: "..."
It's 'fox' again.
As if he hadn't heard, he smiled as usual, pushed open the window, and held out his hand to the hostage: "I'm here to rescue you, Ms. Mochidzuki."
[Blue bar fluctuating...Currently [60%].]
If the hostage girl is left alone to listen to the gunshots, she will be frightened, but if she doesn't hear a single gunshot, Suzuki Sonoko's highest blue bar has not yet reached ninety.
Ichijō Mirai combines the two this time.
After holding Suzuki Sonoko in his arms and giving her a few urgent coaxes in a hurry to get the blue bar up, he had the 'misfortune' of meeting a handful of hijackers while retreating and killed them with a quick and handsome bang-bang-bang-bang-bang shot.
Suzuki Sonoko's blue bar drops slightly, then rises dramatically.
[[70%].]
Suzuki Sonoko meets the police and her parents.
[[80%].]
Suzuki Sonoko turned in her father's arms, her eyes glistening as she inquired of Ichijō Mirai, a little fearful, but still mustering the courage to ask, "Brother fox, what is your name?"
[[85%].]
Eighty-five!
What a stingy hostage!
He didn't even ask the hostage to call him out on his behavior, but the hostage is so mean!
Ichijō Mirai: "..."
In a fit of rage, he raised his gun and shot himself.
Familiar road, familiar guards, familiar itchy feeling in the depths of his skull, and familiar singing voice.
The song was a bit of a punch in the face.
Ichijō Mirai reflected on himself: while the police swarming him was a nice touch, and more points than taking a hostage to the police station, the time alone in between was too tight.
He's missing out on valuable scare hostages...and valuable points for coaxing hostages with dessert toys!
Fourth time.
"Fox!" After that, Ichijō Mirai slows down the pace and patiently coaxes the child during the two sessions of taking Suzuki Sonoko and the encounter with the robbers.
The results are promising, and by the end of the mission, the blue bar is at 92%.
Ichijō Mirai: "..."
What a rude hostage!!!!!
Again!
Fifth time.
Down the street, omamori, the mocking song strikes again.
Hard, Ichijō Mirai's fists are hard.
He skillfully alarms the shaker, dresses for the window, and condescendingly flashes a smile at Suzuki Sonoko.
And gets the first greeting: "F-fox... woo, angry fox!"
Blue bar final value [91%].
Sixth.
"Fox!"
[90%].
Seventh.
"Fox... woo..."
This time, the hostages seem to be frightened.
Instead of a quick battle, Ichijō Mirai's approach to the robbers' encounter has changed to a back-and-forth, seemingly even-keeled, hard-fought victory.
Shots are fired, and every now and then a bullet hits Ichijō Mirai's arm or leg.
Suzuki Sonoko's blue bar is dropping and rising.
After the battle ended, Ichijō Mirai dropped to one knee, avoided being shot in the abdomen, and wrapped his arm with several scrapes around Suzuki Sonoko, smiling even though his face was pale from the loss of blood, "You're not hurt, are you?"
"Don't cry, for a police officer, protecting people's hearts is the most important thing."
The tearful hostage is a mean kid.
[93%].
Eighth.
"Fox!"
...
Tenth.
[91%].
...
Twelfth.
Ichijō Mirai sits down on the curb.
Feeling a slight itch, he presses his knuckles against his forehead, his expression calm.
With each shift back, the song has become clearer and more blood-pressure-inducing.
The song resonates: "Seeing in the light, the appearance of the future, one day, one year, finally coming back to you..."
Ichijō Mirai's brow is throbbing.
"Ask yourself," He asked, resting his elbows against his knees and sitting on the curb with his legs bent as if he were squatting, and spoke slowly, "Could it be, that I'm not a person who can give people a sense of security, not a qualified Messiah?"
"...But even Gin thinks I'm a secure person, I shouldn't be!"
The bait is salty and the hook is straight.
The system knew that it shouldn't respond, and if it did, it would probably be swatted away, but when it heard the outrageous words, it couldn't help but pout and bite the hook even though it was willing to pucker its lips, [Huh?]
"But even Gin thinks I'm a secure person." Huh?
Does Gin know that you've slandered his personality, his character, his soul, and made him out to be a blind fool?
"Ah, what's the matter," Ichijō Mirai said calmly, flicking a glance at his wristband, "Gin never worries about me being in danger when I'm out and about, so doesn't he think I'm secure?"
When Ichijō Mirai goes out, it's other people who are in danger.
...Of course, if he doesn't go out, it's the others who are in danger.
System:[...]
I've been humiliated.
Wait a minute, so much for being embarrassed, he was caught in a rare moment of Ichijō Mirai's displeasure!
But to the system's surprise, for the past ten seconds or so, Ichijō Mirai didn't speak again, didn't make a careless snide remark about inspiring the blood pressure of all living and non-living things, didn't coil his bracelet, and sat on the side of the road with the look of a summer's day sitting in the shade of a tree.
Ichijō Mirai sent a text message to Onidzuka Hachizo with his current location, asking the instructor to forward his location to his classmates.
After sending the message, he casually put away his cell phone and continued to sit.
It wasn't four or five o'clock in the summer, but the sun was shining brightly on Ichijō Mirai's body, quickly warming up his dark hair.
[...] The system inquired, [What's wrong?]
It stammered a bit, [This difficulty is justified because, well, that,]
After a moment's hesitation, it spoke up, [It's a case of you influencing it.]
[It's not a 'game plot'.]
It's the chain reaction that Ichijō Mirai, the player, caused in the game.
He got Tokyo's criminals excited, shriveled up, excited, shriveled up, excited, shriveled up, excited, shriveled up, excited, shriveled up, excited, shriveled up.
The actions of Satan, Messiah, and Ichijō Mirai each indirectly affected the criminals, like the moon pulling the tides.
As a result of this repetition, there are criminals who are supposed to be active in the plot who discreetly disappear, and there are criminals who are supposed to be silent who become active.
"It's not a 'game plot'," Ichijō Mirai's pupils look like pendulum needles in his eyes, the vertical pupils swaying to the left and then to the right in a deliberately controlled and somewhat inhumanly frightening manner, "I see... but there's a lot of room for me to improve my sense of morality, so I don't really care about the origins of kidnapping cases, only the..."
System repeats: [Only cares...]
"So many times, the highest is only more than ninety," Ichijō Mirai changed his sitting position, put his feet back together, a bit contemplative, 'I obviously acted according to the memory of a better police officer, performed the image of a human police officer who is 'bright, beautiful, good, and the embodiment of justice.'"
He changed his sitting position again and pressed his chin into his knees, "The only thing I've got going for me is probably 'I'm acting'."
"Kids don't make sense, and even if I play normal humans and good police officers well, they can intuitively recognize it."
So the question was, was it the 'human' part that was intuitively uncomfortable, or was it the 'police officer' part?
Thinking about it, Ichijō Mirai suddenly raised his hand, "It's been a long time, and I'm here just in time."
"I've been thinking about a problem that I don't really want to think about," he turned his head at the sound of footsteps and faced his classmates who had approached him with an expression of sincerity on his face, "Now, if I say that I'm a normal human being with a normal outlook, a strong sense of morality, and a bottom line in the law, you all should agree, right?"
Matsuda Jinpei, who arrived in a hurry:"..."
He turned his head and left.