Fushimi Roku hung up Kujo Yua's call and went back to the kitchen to busy himself, planning to reheat the leftovers… being out all night gets this kind of treatment, if you want fresh food, you should have come home last night.

Before he was done, Minamoto Tamako's call came through, and she opened with: "Are you hiding something from me?"

The atmosphere turned tense, as if she was catching him cheating.

Fushimi Roku wasn't intimidated, he casually deflected: "We'll talk when you get home, it's hard to explain over the phone." Then he promptly hung up.

Minamoto Tamako didn't understand why it was hard to explain over the phone, assuming Fushimi-kun was just saving on phone bills. He was finally considering the household costs, since the monthly expenses aren't small!

She hurried home, kicked off her shoes at the door, and shouted: "I'm home! Sakurako, are you here?"

Fushimi Roku, wearing an apron, brought the food to the dining table: "She's not here."

Minamoto Tamako felt a pang in her heart, her body stiffened.

Initially, the smell of eel rice and grilled meat made her hungry, thinking about chatting while eating, but upon hearing Taira Sakurako wasn't home, her appetite vanished, leaving only deep fear.

"W-where did she go?"

Minamoto Tamako followed behind Fushimi Roku, repeatedly questioning: "Did Uesugi Shion take her too? Are you lying about Jun being sick? Why is Uesugi Shion targeting Jun? Is she pretending to be crazy? Do you know about this…"

Fushimi Roku motioned for her to calm down, pressed her to sit at the table, helped her tie a napkin, and then sat opposite her.

"I have good news and bad news, which do you want to hear?" Fushimi Roku asked with fingers interlaced.

"L-let's hear the bad news first." Minamoto Tamako's voice trembled slightly.

"The bad news is, Uesugi Shion kidnapped Jun and Taira Sakurako to threaten me into defusing a bomb." Fushimi Roku stated honestly.

There's an art to lying, he was well-versed in the montage method, telling lies nine truths to one falsehood… starting with the true parts to lower Minamoto Tamako's guard.

Minamoto Tamako believed him, as she had already suspected this might be the situation.

However, compared to Uesugi Shion's betrayal, she was more concerned about why Fushimi-kun had lied and hidden it from her.

Fushimi Roku understood this as well and continued to explain: "I can't carry out the bomb defusal mission, or I'd be playing into her hands. She might trigger the bomb when I arrive to spite me."

Minamoto Tamako nodded, thinking that Uesugi Shion would indeed do something like that: "But why did you say Jun was sick, why didn't you report it to the Police Department…"

"Who says I didn't report it? Who do you think wrote that anonymous letter to the Ikebukuro Police Station?" Fushimi Roku sighed, with a 'I'm also under great pressure' look, speaking heavily: "I can't be there, but that bomb must be defused, so this was the only way."

He paused, looking at Minamoto Tamako with a few traces of guilt in his eyes: "As for the story about Jun being sick, sorry, I was lying… I didn't want you to bear this pressure, so I hid it on my own."

Minamoto Tamako could understand this explanation, after all, Fushimi-kun was thinking of her well-being.

But she was still a little angry, after all, she wasn't like others, she required absolute honesty from her partner, and this was clearly a sign of mistrust.

"I'm not that fragile! Do you think I'd break down over something like this? You think I'd cry like a little girl? I'm a Criminal Police officer at the Police Department!" Minamoto Tamako shouted.

"I was thoughtless." Fushimi Roku frankly admitted his fault, also stating he was completely unaware of Uesugi Shion's pretenses of insanity.

Seeing his sincere attitude, Minamoto Tamako chose to temporarily set aside her feelings. She also felt that Fushimi-kun hadn't noticed Uesugi Shion's act— after all, there are many who've feigned madness in history, but those who succeed are few and far between and are usually renowned figures.

"Then what were you doing last night?" she inquired.

Fushimi Roku told the truth again, that last night he had been monitoring calls with a communicator, waiting for Uesugi Shion to call so he could track her with equipment, eventually tracing it to a real estate company under her name and getting a redirected phone from her office.

"What use is that?"

Minamoto Tamako, who had traditional thinking, felt that capturing people was paramount, and her understanding of evidence usage remained at the cop-and-thief movie level.

Trap phones are a classic film trope, where each time police trace a call, they come up empty-handed but find new clues at the scene, following them without ever considering what the phone itself might yield.

Fushimi Roku briefly explained, claiming he handed the trap phone to Kujo Yua, who with the evidence, could label the Uesugi family as a terrorist organization, leading to an emergency manhunt and would eventually catch Uesugi Shion.

Taira Sakurako's situation shouldn't be overly worried about, as last night he showed Uesugi Shion he wouldn't negotiate with terrorists, making it clear during their call. Therefore, she likely wouldn't harm the hostages rashly.

Of course, both Fushimi Roku and Minamoto Tamako knew these words were merely mutual reassurance, meant to ease their anxiety. As long as Taira Sakurako remained missing, the potential danger increased by the day.

As for the matter with Inakawa Association and Sazaki Gen, he brushed over it with a flourish of literary finesse.

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