Chapter Sixty-Two: Forgetting His Younger Sister

"Zi'ang, your uncle has to be clear with you this time." Seeing he hadn't replied, Yusuke Ashiya sent another message. "You mustn't get suspended again, because I may not be able to take you in anymore."

"According to the plan Mamoru Bajou gave us, he'll be able to use review-based bidding to keep all the case sources firmly in his grasp. He'll decide who gets what; it's entirely up to him, you understand?"

"I understand," Chen Zi'ang couldn't help but sigh.

For a law office, case sources are money, they are income.

The Northernmost City's Public Security Bureau possessed both an intelligent CCTV system and a global spiritual pressure divination array, which meant it practically monopolized the majority of case sources.

Now, with plans to transform into a channel platform and open up to the public, all the private agencies would be scrambling to curry favor with Mamoru Bajou—they wouldn't dare risk offending him, let alone shelter an unlucky soul like Chen Zi'ang, who had already upset the leadership.

This was a ruthless, top-down suppression from those in power, wielding their authority through the organization. As a low-level operative, Chen Zi'ang had no means to resist.

He was deeply troubled. Rationally, he knew that even with the introduction of private agencies, it didn't mean that Section Six operatives would be left with nothing to do.

As Yusuke Ashiya had said, they could still handle ordinary cases. But if some extremely dangerous anomaly occurred—one involving witches lurking behind the incidents—only Section Six operatives could deal with it. So they were still needed.

For colleagues like Lu Yunfeng, it simply meant they could lie low when there were no cases and avoid antagonizing the bosses.

But Chen Zi'ang was different.

He needed Sparks to gain powers and to seek a cure for his sister, so he couldn't give up these minor cases.

Yet, if he left the Bureau and went incognito to join a small firm, while he could still obtain Sparks, he would lose access to official information channels and would never again receive intelligence about the witches.

Mie Nishikawa...

The memory of her desperate and cruel expression only strengthened Chen Zi'ang's resolve: he could not let this witch continue running free, sowing more harm in the Northernmost City.

He had to find a way.

Beside him, Suzuna Tsukimiya watched all this unfold and then turned to look at Mamoru Bajou, who was busily putting on a show for the leaders. She took a deep breath, forcing down her irritation.

She quickly realized this was Bajou's counterattack—and his timing was impeccable.

With Mie Nishikawa spreading anomalies throughout the city and Section Six short on personnel, what was the solution? Bring in well-staffed private agencies to help.

This logic was flawless for convincing the leadership.

Just look at Chief Hisahiro Matsuo of the Public Security Headquarters—he obviously supported Bajou's proposal.

In times of crisis, expediency made sense. Even if she appealed to her father and pulled strings, she wouldn't be able to talk Chief Matsuo out of this.

But what about after the fact?

Once this emergency subsided, Bajou could easily normalize this temporary solution under the pretext of "compensating for manpower shortages." After all, if the system ran smoothly, the leadership, seeing no problems, would likely offer no resistance.

So, what to do?

Closing her eyes to think, Suzuna Tsukimiya quickly drew on her wealth of experience and came up with the most effective countermeasure:

Sabotage.

If Bajou wanted to bring in private agencies, she would outwardly cooperate, but in reality, use these motley crews as tools for targeted disruption. The bigger and more disastrous the accidents, the better—the higher-ups would have no choice but to return to the original system.

As for Bajou... it was his proposal, so he would bear responsibility. She wanted to see him crash and burn!

But then...

Many people would die.

Her senior would never agree to that.

Should she go behind his back and do it in secret?

What if she was found out?

No, the issue wasn't whether he'd discover it; even if she claimed it was for his own good, it would go against his deepest convictions.

He didn't care about the job itself—he wanted to protect and save as many people as possible.

If she, in trying to save his job, ended up causing more deaths, wouldn't that defeat the whole purpose? He would never be happy with that.

Damn it! How infuriating! Why can't that idiot director just drop dead!

Murderous thoughts began to swirl in Suzuna Tsukimiya's heart, but she knew this was not the moment to act. Restless, she could only pace back and forth.

Soon, Mamoru Bajou departed with the leaders, and Junosuke Takahashi gathered everyone in the adjacent conference room for a brief meeting.

In short, cases were now to be redistributed by alert level.

The majority—Level One and Level Two cases—would be completely outsourced from now on. Cases rated Level Three and above would still go to the Public Security operatives.

Additionally, if a private agency handling a Level Two case found themselves out of their depth and requested help, their unit would dispatch backup.

Everyone was distracted and dispirited, and Junosuke Takahashi knew nothing he said would make a difference, so he offered a few words of encouragement and dismissed the meeting.

Chen Zi'ang and Suzuna Tsukimiya rode the elevator down in silence, neither knowing what to say.

He had no heart to speak; she had no idea what words could comfort him. After a long pause, she finally managed, "Would you like to walk around outside for a bit, clear your head?"

Chen Zi'ang was silent for a moment, then suddenly started, "Wait! Xiao Zhu is still in the Budokan!"

——————

Inside the Budokan, the concert had finally come to a perfect close.

After the intermission, Maki Kiritani had seemed somewhat off. Her high notes were still as dazzling as ever, but the soul-stirring power had faded, replaced by a sense of sorrow and desolation.

Fortunately, Norika Hoshino quickly noticed her condition and switched to a set of melancholic love songs, so most of the audience didn't notice anything amiss—they were too busy weeping.

As for the music critics' incisive comments, they hardly mattered.

When the concert ended, the Budokan announced the dispersal of the audience. Staff began ushering out fans who lingered, reluctant to leave.

Chen Xiaozhu sat in a daze, unmoved by any of Goro Emon's attempts at persuasion.

Goro Emon grew anxious. If the young lady found out that, thanks to his inability to communicate with Miss Xiaozhu, they were both rudely ousted by the staff, he would have to commit seppuku to preserve his family's honor!

"Excuse me," came a familiar voice nearby—Satsuki Natsuri had quietly made her way to the audience stands.

According to post-concert routine, she should have been resting in the lounge, sipping water, then heading to the makeup artist to remove her makeup and change. But Suzuna Tsukimiya's words had left her uneasy, and she unconsciously found herself looking for Chen Zi'ang.

Instead, she found his sister, sitting motionless among the seats.

"Miss Kiritani," Goro Emon nodded politely in greeting.

"The event is over. The staff will be coming by soon," Satsuki Natsuri invited, "If it's inconvenient to leave now, why not come and sit with me for a while?"

Goro Emon was taken aback and glanced at Chen Xiaozhu, trying to guess her feelings.

Chen Xiaozhu stood up.