Chapter 337: Meeting

The next morning, the Metropolitan Police Department held a press conference.

"The bomber responsible for hundreds of casualties yesterday was arrested by our department at 9:05 p.m. last night."

"The first attack, the Shinjuku bombing, exceeded our expectations. However, by the time of the second bomber's warning, the situation was already under our control. Our outstanding detective, Officer Sato, boldly analyzed the incident and successfully recovered the bomb placed between the tracks of the Todou Loop Line."

"After resolving the second bombing incident, Officer Sato immediately deduced the bomber's next target—the Beika Municipal Building."

"Thanks to her efforts, she managed to recover all the bombs alone, protecting the lives of our citizens and wresting their safety back from the bomber's hands."

The reporters quickly raised their cameras, snapping away, while their assistants took down notes to be published later.

Yesterday's explosion was indeed severe, but the Metropolitan Police Department had acted swiftly and decisively. Their performance far exceeded previous expectations.

"Because Officer Sato single-handedly defused two bomb threats, it bought precious time for the rest of our officers to mobilize."

"As a result, Inspector Megure led a large team of officers to apprehend the bomber successfully. We also found a portion of the stolen explosives in the bomber's home, thwarting his planned fourth attack, which aimed to take our officers down with him."

Usually, reporters would bombard such claims with skepticism, but not today.

After all, there were no explosions following the initial bombing yesterday.

Unless the bomber was lying, it meant the police had successfully prevented further attacks.

And it was already confirmed that the Toyo Gunpowder Storehouse had reported a theft the day before. This wasn't an exaggeration; the threat was real, and the police truly stopped it.

That made this news all the more significant.

In fact, things were just as the reporters suspected—this wasn't a trivial matter.

This was a huge deal on a societal level.

The only people still grieving were the families of the injured and deceased from the Shinjuku bombing.

However, once the news aired, all the passengers who were on the Todou Loop Line yesterday, and all the tourists who had visited the Beika Municipal Building, broke out in cold sweat.

This was no joke.

The fact that the Metropolitan Police Department made this public early in the morning proved one thing—they had walked under the scythe of death just yesterday.

"Wait, is that true? Did I almost get blown up yesterday?"

"It probably is. There was an explosion at the Shinjuku Museum around noon, then the Toyo Gunpowder Depot reported that a batch of explosives was stolen. And the police just confirmed that a bomb warning came at 4 p.m. for the Todou Loop Line. All of this matches what the police are saying now. So the bomber was real, the explosives were real, and the Municipal Building really almost got blown up."

With that, everyone who saw the news broke out in a cold sweat.

No one had realized they were so close to such danger just a day ago.

If the police hadn't acted in time, and if the bombs had gone off, many of them would have died yesterday.

But after the initial shock came a sense of relief.

"Thank goodness they caught him. The bomber was stopped."

"Maybe the police didn't make a move earlier because they were trying to lull the bomber into a false sense of security. Meanwhile, the media was just busy taking pictures, not realizing that their footage helped the bomber."

"Yeah, the bomber was probably watching the news from the other side of the TV yesterday."

The more they thought about it, the more people began to feel that the police had done an incredible job.

The bomber's plans were foiled three times in a row, and only the first bombing at the museum went off because they hadn't anticipated it.

But no one blamed the police anymore. They now placed all the blame on the bomber. If that psychopath hadn't existed, the Shinjuku bombing wouldn't have happened at all.

After the news aired, the public image of the police, once mocked as tax freeloaders, improved significantly.

At that moment, the two people responsible for resolving the bomb threat were sitting at a remote table in a family restaurant.

Sato Miwako sat with her head slightly bowed, expressing her gratitude.

"First of all, thank you for your help yesterday. Without you, things wouldn't have been resolved so smoothly."

Having experienced bomb-related cases before, she knew how difficult it was to deal with the creations of lunatics. A single misstep, and you'd be blown to pieces. But this time, aside from the initial bombing, the others were all neutralized in time.

Sato Miwako knew full well that her own actions were relatively simple yesterday. The real reason things had gone so smoothly was because of the boy sitting in front of her.

She didn't know if it was just her imagination, but Ren looked much more mature than before.

He had tidied up her messy curls a bit, and he wasn't wearing those thick glasses that usually covered half his face. His current appearance was completely different from the past.

"Don't worry about it too much, Officer Sato. I was honestly hesitating about whether or not to help yesterday. I'm not someone who enjoys getting involved in trouble, as I'm sure you can tell. Normally, I stay far away from incidents like that."

"But… someone came to visit me yesterday. Her presence may have influenced my decision."

These words piqued Sato Miwako's interest.

"Your girlfriend?"

"A 13-year-old girl. If a 13-year-old were my girlfriend, you'd have every reason to arrest me, Officer Sato."

"Uh… yeah, 13 is a bit too young..."

Thirteen years old… that would be more like a younger sister. Sato thought about it briefly, then let it go.

Realizing her misunderstanding, she quickly apologized.

"Sorry, I thought you were talking about your girlfriend. And arresting you would be going too far. If it's just a simple friendship, it's not something worth arresting for, unless it crosses into something more extreme."

(To be continued.)

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