Cop Craft – Dragnet Mirage Reloaded - Book 3: Chapter 1: (5)

Tilarna stopped her hands and looked in the new voice’s direction. A single girl was making her way through the crowd of curious onlookers, and was headed in their direction. She was beautiful. Tall, with long arms and legs, and a large chest.

Her face was clean and adult-like. Almost to the point where she didn’t look like a student. But she was wearing a uniform, so she probably was one. Unexpectedly, the boy named Ghili let Tilarna go immediately. Even if they had been seen by a teacher, he probably would not have reacted that quickly.

「Ah… Emma. No, this isn’t-」 「What were you even thinking of, choosing a girl like that as your opponent? Are you mad?」 「This bitch is insane. Just because I touched her on the shoulder-」 「I’ll hear it later. You just go over there」 「Wai-!」 「Just go. Hurry」

Ghili was trying to explain something to her, but in the end he simply dropped his shoulders and went where she told him to.

「What’s with this? …fuck’s sake…」

Tilarna watched Ghili retreat while muttering to himself, then she put the lid on her baseball bat case. The vice principal, who got to the cafeteria late, asked what it all was about, but the girl named Emma explained that “a student just got up too quickly, and fell on the food and silverware”. The vice principal seemed to trust Emma, so he just believed her words and moved on.

After the room had calmed down, Emma called Tilarna out and asked

「Are you okay? You look pale」 「Ah… thanks」

Truthfully, Tilarna was feeling down. What was she going to do? She had made a terrible mistake. It wasn’t just a matter of throwing a student across the room, but getting angry at his attitude, and even going as far as thinking of chopping his hand off.

What was with that stupid undercover officer?

「That was some incredible technique. Was that Jujutsu? You looked as strong as a ninja. Why are you so frightened?」

Jujutsu? A ninja? They were probably Dorini heroes. Be as it may, this female student, Emma, deduced that Tilarna was frightened just from the color of her face after the previous confrontation.

She took offense at being mistaken for a coward, but she probably would have to play the part.

「I was learning those physical techniques back when I was little and… me throwing him away was almost completely an accident. He suddenly startled me and…」 「Yeah. I would have been startled too」 「I did something terrible to him…」

Tilarna said, but Emma laughed

「It’s just Ghili, he’ll be fine. He’s sturdy like a buffalo, and he’s really not a bad guy. He just lost his cool earlier. I’m sorry」 「You don’t have any reason to apologize」 「But I’m friends with him… Oh, my name is Emma Sehlam by the way. It’s nice to meet you」 Emma Sehlam stretched out her right hand 「Tilarna Elnebara. I just transferred here today. Charmed, Miss Sehlam」 「Just Emma is fine. Can I call you just Tilarna as well?」 「Yeah」

As she shook hands with Emma, Tilarna was wondering. Why did Dorinies want to call her by her balbah so badly? ¹

「Okay then, Tilarna. Is it okay if I sit next to you? I haven’t had lunch yet, and I’m starving!」 「Sure. Unfortunately, my lunch was completely smashed by Ghili」

Emma laughed cheerfully.

At a distance, in a corner of the cafeteria, Tilarna noticed a male student looking in her direction. It was the boy she had met earlier, Nyath Maybell. He was eating alone, and he looked gloomy.

But just as Tilarna was about to call out to him, he averted his gaze, stood up from his chair and left the cafeteria.

「What happened, Tilarna?」 「Ah, nothing」

He looked so friendly in the morning. Had something happened to him?

~o~O~o~

Moda Norbam’s office that Matoba had to visit was located on the first floor of a building to the east of Queens Ballet, on Giraffe street in the San Juan neighborhood. Giraffe was a place rather similar to Seven Miles, so it wasn’t pretty.

The common sights in a place like Giraffe road were bailers and informal money lenders. There were plenty of men visible below the glowing neon lights. It wasn’t a place fitting for the debate show regular Moda Norbam, but maybe it was just part of his whole act.

As the spokesman for Semani refugees that had to fight large corporations, if he had gotten an 80 thousand dollar a month office on the 30th floor of Forest Tower in the Upper Ballet, where he could look down upon the scenery and live quietly, then he probably would have nobody there to support him.

Maybe his office just emphasized his upright appearance. His beloved car on the parking lot was just a used ecofriendly car, and while the entrance was worn out, it was spotless. His secretary also looked like an old lady that could just be working at the counter of a drugstore somewhere.

The modest sign at the entrance read “New Gravanni church”. However, it didn’t look like a church at all. Actually, it seemed like the church’s activities were carried out at several other locations.

「Even though my daughter died in such a way… you’re probably thinking my behavior is quite unusual, right?」

Said Norbam in a melancholic voice, when went out to greet Matoba.

「However, right now is a crucial time for us. The new elections for the city council are close. If we manage to get at least three of the five people we want to have reelected, then we could make our large civil rights ordinances become a reality. We, the New Gravanni church, the frontrunner on these issues, cannot allow our image to have any dark stains. At least until the elections are over on the 12th of next month.」 「So you’re saying that it’s okay if the person responsible for letting Norune die doesn’t get what they deserve?」

It sounded like that at first. Politicians had their own political problems. Even the amendments they were pushing for… well, Matoba had informed himself quite well by reading an article online beforehand. But there was no point in criticizing Norbam right now, and Matoba knew it. It would be better for his type to simply ask a lot of questions and have him hesitate first.

「According to the autopsy report, there is a possibility that your daughter could have been saved if she hadn’t been thrown out on the street, and instead had been taken to a hospital right away. Were you aware of that?」 「Mahni shehba…」²

Some Farbanian slipped out of Norbam’s mouth. Maybe it was the first he had heard of it.

「No… even then, my duty… remains unchanged. These elections… who knows how many tens of thousands of Semani futures depend on them…」 「I see. Then the people who fucked Norune should just go on and live a peaceful life.」 「Private Matoba, watch your words!」

Norbam became agitated immediately. He was the kind of man that could lure his opponents into getting angry during the debate shows, but it was impossible for him to keep his cool after that kind of exchange.

「No, I have no need to watch my anything. Your daughter was fucked, and left to die. This is the truth. You can stand it pretty well. A normal father would have grabbed his shotgun and gone after them to take their lives」 「…」 「Well, perhaps a man with nerves of steel would take a few deep breaths after that and put the gun away in a locker or something. But even a father like that would not start interfering with the investigation. Am I saying something crazy?」 「… Private Matoba. I know you are trying to anger me. And I will admit your scheme was successful, but what do you want me to say after you have made me so upset?」

So apparently he was upset. Seemed like his calculations were mistaken. He was actually hurting for Norune.

「Nothing…」

Replied Matoba with a calm tone

「If I said something like “and you still call yourself a father? Give us a hand to plan out a much better investigation” then your reply probably wouldn’t be a “yes”, right?」 「I already explained the situation to you」

Matoba leaned on the chair at the reception, and looked straight into the eyes of the disappointed father.

「Mister Norbam. I am a detective, so I’ve seen a lot of fathers. Even nasty conmen who would bring beat up prostitutes to the hospital crying. Those fathers would send their own daughters out to get customers so they could drink the day away with that money. Fathers who were gang leaders that had murdered dozens of their enemies would still be frightened at the idea of anything even touching their own daughters. I’ve seen a lot of shit.」 「So what?」 「You are unlike anything I have ever seen. How should I put it… Something’s not right about you. But even then, I’m a pretty serious detective, you know? And I didn’t come here to talk to you based on any theory, so to be honest, I don’t even know where to go from here.」 「I don’t get it, but…」 「I can’t see you, so I can’t see Norune. And because I can’t see Norune, I can’t see the ones behind this.」 「Well…」 「Ideally, we would be gathering a much larger team and investigating. But since we can’t do that, we’re helplessly doing what we can. To be honest I was really pissed at what you were doing… no, actually, it still bothers me, but I didn’t just come here to ruin your day. My main objective is just one: I want to make the people who let your daughter die, pay.」 「Oh…」

For the first time, Norbam was looking remorseful. He looked down, and dropped his shoulders as if a heavy weight had just been removed from them.

「I’m not lying… this really is a crucial moment… Ten years. It’s been ten years since I first came to this city, and it took me ten years to get to where I am now. There are a lot of Semanis living in San Teresa who, with wages lower than a junior high babysitter, have to provide for a family of four. It’s a horrible life. Those who can’t stand it, end up dirtying their hands with crimes. You’re an officer, so you should know…」 「Yeah…」 「A guaranteed minimum wage, and expanding the professional training programs, healthcare and education subsidies… there is a mountain of things to do. But if we don’t guarantee some basic living conditions for the refugees, the gap between Earthlings and Semanis will just keep growing.」 「Were you a refugee yourself?」 「That’s right. I was a devout priest of Moor Zelze, but we started being oppressed over there, and my entire family fled. Then I learned your language by myself, and studied about law to make a call for solidarity. It was a huge effort, but it was all for the people who came to rely on me. …But even then… no…」

He was about to say something with a bitter face, but he swallowed his words.

「But even then… what?」 「I don’t want to say it. It’s heresy.」

Matoba observed Norbam’s speaking manner very carefully. He talked about heresy, but it didn’t seem like he was talking about Moor Zelze or whatever. So maybe…

「Are you talking about Norune?」

1. balbah means first Semanian first name
2. Farbanian for “what did you just say?”