The second time we met was when Suzuki Sonoko was visiting another city.
She had already finished playing with her friends and was contentedly lying on her back in the car, twitching her ears, so she didn't look around as curiously as she did when she arrived.
While lying on her back, she suddenly heard the sharp sound of paw pads and paw tips rubbing against the ground at high speeds, so she looked up in bewilderment and saw a gray figure running at high speeds, then jumping up and pouncing on a brown bear and fighting with it.
It was a wolf.
Dumbfounded, Suzuki Sonoko was staring blankly at the wolf-bear fight when she caught a glimpse of white, and looked sideways to see a white wolf appearing on the corner of the street at some point.
...It should be a white wolf, right?
The 'white wolf' looked like an immature wolf, much smaller than a normal adult wolf, and he sat leisurely outside the battlefield, his fluffy tail flicking left and right carelessly, as if his companion was happily playing in the water, rather than fighting a brown bear to the death.
The last time they saw each other, they were canines, but now they were wolves, and although they were equally handsome, Suzuki Sonoko's eyes lit up as she stared in bewilderment.
She stared for a minute.
After a minute, a pack of wolves leaped out from the direction where the 'white wolf' was sitting, and the brown bear was quickly defeated by the wolves' bite.
The chaos from the fight had subsided, the traffic was no longer jammed, and the vehicles began to start up. Suzuki Sonoko, who had watched the entire fight from the window of the car, saw the gray wolf that had first pounced on the bears leave the battlefield, and walk over to the 'white wolf', whispering something that seemed to be very unpleasant.
...It does seem like he should be upset.
Thinking so, as the car approached, Suzuki Sonoko saw the 'White Wolf' show a smile that wasn't wolfish at all, he was still wagging his fluffy tail, and smiled like a cunning fox, "No need to be thankful, I told you that I'm a passionate citizen, of course I should be passionate about preparing you for your trials and tribulations."
"If you praise me again, I'll be happy."
When he smiled, the coldness and harshness of the wolf he belonged to was weakened, and he became more gentle and approachable, but a certain sense of danger increased instead of decreasing, making the hearts of the surrounding small animals that were burying their heads away from him beat furiously and wished they could grow more wings so that they could just leap out.
The driver kicked the gas and accelerated away.
Suzuki Sonoko's heart skipped a beat.
*
"Do you recognize me?"
Ichijō Mirai asked.
He had already closed his eyes, in a kind of sleepy, sleepy, earn-your-money kind of way, but when he heard Suzuki Sonoko's shocked words, he opened them again, and his red pupils turned into sharp vertical pupils.
After looking Suzuki Sonoko up and down for a few seconds, he actually remembered, "Oh, it's you, rabbit."
How dare you provoke his rabbit.
Ichijō Mirai was well aware of his criminal status, and of the fact that he could easily attract the police... There was no way around it, when he wasn't in disguise, he just had that 'I'm a criminal without a care in the world' vibe when compared to normal people in normal society.
And now it's the same in the animal world.
That's why, when he's digging up humans all over the world, animals often come up to him at the police academy, and at the FBI.
But both Morofushi Hiromitsu and Akai Shūichi, though they have a keen sense of smell, know a little bit of human euphemism, and don't come up with 'Criminals, aren't you? .
Suzuki Sonoko was different.
She stared straight at him with eyes brighter than the 'I'm a detective and I found a criminal! Even if Ichijō Mirai didn't look at her, she could stare at him until he was out of sight.
This is so offensive!
Couldn't you have just taken your eyes off him and tried to find out if he's a criminal in a different capacity! You're just assuming it!
...Of course, it could be a misunderstanding. After all, the hound is chasing the rabbit, and it's normal for the rabbit to keep a careful eye on the hound.
But if it's a mistake once, it can't be twice, can it? Staring cautiously could be a mistake, but staring straight ahead isn't, is it?
He's already changed races, but Suzuki Sonoko's eyes lit up the moment she noticed him, so it's clear that she recognized him in his disguise.
Even if he recognized him, it's too much to stare straight at him openly instead of quietly hiding in the police station to keep a watchful eye on him, isn't it?
It's provocative. It's provocative!
How can a detective be provocative anytime, anywhere!
Although this rabbit detective seems to be timid and bold, not very detective-like...
Ichijō Mirai is not happy.
Ichijō Mirai, who doesn't regard this world as normal time, and who opens his eyes every day either to depression or to scratching the sky and the ground in search of human beings, is unhappy with his knowledge of the animal world but not much of it.
But now he's happy.
-The detective who dared to provoke him has fallen into his hands.
With a twinkle in his eye, he wagged his tail and laughed, "I thought you lived in the city, what brings you to the wilderness?"
"I was traveling with a friend on a spaceship, but it crashed in the middle of the trip," Suzuki Sonoko replied meekly, and then asked anxiously and expectantly, "Mr. Nice Guy, have you ever seen a crashed spaceship?!"
What?
Mr. Nice Guy?
Ichijō Mirai, who was playing with his fox nature, paused, and his narrow eyes narrowed halfway like a half-curved knife, "I think I heard something falling, I thought it was a meteorite, but it was actually a spaceship," he asked in a natural, casual manner.
And naturally, he asked, "'Mr. Nice Guy'?"
"Wow, I knew you had a clue!" Suzuki Sonoko's eyes lit up like dark green cat's eyes stones, rounded with two dots on her cute cheeks, "Well, Mr. Nice Guy!"
"When I met you before..."
She shifted her eyes and lowered her voice, "I overheard a conversation between you and your friends, and you seemed to be very fond of the legendary humans, so I went to do some research..."
Said, but also very surprised to add, "I thought you did not notice me, I did not expect to actually recognize me, so powerful!"
It's just a road rabbit that she's met twice, so it's amazing that Ichijō Mirai could recognize her after so much time has passed, even though she's just a road rabbit that she's met twice!
Ichijō Mirai translates: In order to arrest you, I went to study your preferences, how about that, die in peace, right?
He translates again: You don't look too smart, but you remembered me as a great detective, so it seems that there are moments of intelligence.
This is a self-interpretation.
After being a human for a long time, as a fox Ichijō Mirai inherited the characteristics of a human, always good at interpreting from one's own point of view and willy-nilly translation, skillfully translating, he couldn't help but take a good look at Suzuki Sonoko, he didn't realize that she was so aggressive for a little rabbit as big as the palm of his hand.
"Thanks for the compliment," he smiled, "I did see what looked like a falling ship but over there..."
The fluffy fox's tail wagged, like an umbrella, sweeping over Suzuki Sonoko's head and back again, the friction brought itchiness and heat, she tried to stabilize her body which was rubbed from side to side, and even harder she tried not to look at the flexible tail, "But that way?"
"To get to where the ship crashed, you have to pass through a python, then through the lion's territory, past the cheetah's home, and on the way there's a river with crocodiles, and eagles circling in the sky, ready to swoop down and grab the smaller animals,"
As if telling a fairy tale, Ichijō Mirai's tone was relaxed, "Not to mention the cliffs in between."
"Do you really want to go?"
"Huh?" Suzuki Sonoko's eyes widened in surprise, "Is it that dangerous..."
They were all animals that could easily eat rabbits...
As a rabbit, Suzuki Sonoko was scared.
With round eyes, she made the right decision without thinking: "Go!"
Ugh.
It's dangerous, yes, and even Mr. Nice Guy says it's dangerous, so it must be even more dangerous for her, but Ran's still over there.
She didn't leave the ship with Suzuki Sonoko, she might have been lucky enough to leave the ship later, she might have landed in the territory of a dangerous predator, or she might be searching for her through thick and thin.
If the rabbit Mouri Ran had heard the news here and now, she would have been determined to find her friend.
Suzuki Sonoko was sure of it.
"Huh?" Ichijō Mirai looked at her with surprise, "Even if you get hurt?"
"Even if I get hurt."
"Even if you die?"
"Even if I die."
"Even if your friend is a cheetah with such a powerful stomp that he can easily stun a cheetah?"
"Even if... hey, Mr. Nice Guy, how did you know!"
Suzuki Sonoko's eyes widened again, this time in surprise.
"I read the news," Ichijō Mirai said calmly, "and even more so, I memorize incredible news."
That's another reason why he thinks Suzuki Sonoko is a detective. When the news showed Mouri Ran kicking the cheetah unconscious, it was labeled as a murder scene at the bottom of the screen.
...With a partner who keeps animals honest, it's no wonder Ms. Detective is staring at him provocatively.
Suzuki Sonoko smiled, "Ran is great!"
In theory, she shouldn't be worried about her friend's safety when she's so powerful.
But if everything could be rational, the world would be a paradise of reason.
"Well," Ichijō Mirai narrowed his eyes again, "I can help you."
His pupils were still dangerously vertical, but his expression was gentle, with a reassuring yet alarming sense of unease, "I've lived in the wilderness for a long time, and I know it well, so your lovely search for a friend might be easier with me."
Maybe it will be easier.
And maybe it'll go straight to the enemy's table every time.
"Hey?" Suzuki Sonoko looked hesitant, "Well..."
She didn't say yes, she didn't say no, and with her innocent eyes and three-lipped mouth, she asked in a small voice, "How should we get there?"
No animal would refuse a hand in distress, and Ichijō Mirai wagged his tail again, "All the way south."
"But now that the moon is above the treetops, why don't we rest for the day?"
We'll make it up tomorrow.
If it's late at night, we'll take the opportunity to arrange for bosses along the way, and the good carnivores will happily oblige.
Suzuki Sonoko agreed, "Okay."
She gazed meekly into Ichijō Mirai's gold-stained red pupils and said earnestly, "Thank you, Mr. Nice Guy."
Then, when the moon was slanting into the forest, blocked by the leaves and branches, and the night was so quiet that the whole world was silent, and Ichijō Mirai's eyes were closed for a long time, she quietly popped out of the fox's lair.
On the large leaf was written her sincere thanks again: [Thank you for your willingness to help me, Mr. Nice Guy, but the journey was so long and dangerous that I couldn't take the help for granted as a weakling...]
All she knew was that Ichijō Mirai was powerful.
But she didn't know how powerful he was, that he could easily drive away the poisonous snakes and beasts and move through the whole wilderness without any obstacles.
She only knew that the night journey was difficult, the beasts were scary, and that Mr. Nice Guy was very kind, but she couldn't drag Mr. Nice Guy into a life of death by wolves, tigers and leopards.
Therefore, she was very afraid of the night, very afraid of the road ahead, and very determined to go alone to save her friend, and left with a very light movement, a small group of furry in the trees gently bouncing a few times and then into the dark forest.
Behind her, a pair of eyes silently lit up in the darkness, and Ichijō Mirai's pupils were rounded without any intentional control.
With his reddish-gold pupils, he stared silently in the direction where Suzuki Sonoko had disappeared without wagging his tail for a long time.