The rest of chapter 3: Fushimi is still suffering, even halfway across the globe, and Akiyama…  he’s second in suffering only to Fushimi, and even his superior makes jokes at his expens.e.xD

Chapter 3 (part 2/2) (volume 1, pages 153-168)

†

Under the blue of the cloudless sky, Fushimi Saruhiko grimaced from the dull headache. There were several reasons for his head hurting.

The first one was this relentless downpouring sunlight.

Then there were the white roof and walls of the fancy residence that reflected the d.a.m.n sunlight all too well. The swimming pool, sparkling irritatingly, and the lawn around it, emerald greed to annoyance and maintained in unspeakably stupid perfection, were forcibly imprinting themselves onto Fushimi’s eyes.

To top it off, there was also the smoke raising off of the barbeque grill.

But the worst of all were the Americans, dressed lightly in clothing with short sleeves, shorts and sandals.

A group of them was standing a little further away around a round table with a beer bottle in one hand, chatting.

“And then I said to my wife that what I’m eating is just peanut b.u.t.ter.”

Before coming to this country, Fushimi never really believed that Americans who would tell a joke with that corny the punchline could be actually found. But now he was here and saw for himself that they did, indeed, exist. Both the speaker and his listeners burst out laughing loudly, “Hahahahaha!”

‘It’s beyond me how they could find anything funny about that.’

He took a gulp of one of very few drinks in this county that was both safe to drink and conforming to his tastes - namely, water in a pet bottle.

In application to j.a.pan, the chat he just heard would probably be equal to an old man from Kansai trying to tell a killing story in appropriately overblown Kansai dialect.

"Well, I’m not a fan of either anyway.’

The same applied to this country’s foodstuffs. Beverages were either too sweet or too carbonated. Food was too bland tasting, too oily and just generally too much when it came to the size of helpings.

If possible, Fushimi just wanted to eat something light in the quiet peace of his hotel room. This was what a meal was supposed to be, to Fushimi. Absolutely not this stuffing of one’s face with tasteless beef and potato while being directly exposed to ultra-violet rays.

The thought made him sigh for the umpteenth time.

"Home party, huh. I shouldn’t have come.’

He was invited by the person who had been taking care of him since he had come to this country, and he couldn’t find it in himself to refuse.

"Is there some way to get out of here…?’

Turning over the idea in his mind, he was suddenly reminded of the Red clan’s Totsuka Tatara. If that person, so oddly good at befriending people, was here, he would already be among them and cracking an American joke or two right about now, all despite hardly speaking any English.

"That’s not something I can copy.’

Excellent language ability and communication skills were two entirely different things, after all, and Fushimi knew it all too well.

Suddenly, his thoughts were interrupted.

“Hey, Saruhiko. Are you having fun?”

A well-built mustached man walked up to him. He wore slacks with suspenders, a gold necklace on his neck and three thick rings on his fingers. His head was mostly bald, and his movements were very brisk and energetic.

A tall beautiful woman with cocoa skin and absolutely killer body was by his side.

The man was the person in whose case Fushimi was being, Matthew D Zorba, the head of the FBI National Public Security Department, and the woman by his side was Linda, his wife.

“Ah yes, I am,” Fushimi nodded. The couple were the hosts of this party. “It’s a lot of fun. All the guests are enjoyable persons,” he paid lip service where he was expected to, except his tone was dry and he didn’t even attempt to smile.

Matthew came closer, “Gahaha! Is that so, great to hear that! You’re overworking yourself, you know; you looked so pale these last few days.”

He clapped Fushimi on the shoulder with a hairy hand a few times, not really bothering to cut back on his strength.

Fushimi thought that the man was off the mark.

The reason for his bad shape wasn’t work. In terms of simple workload during working hours, it was a breather because he wasn’t doing even half of what he normally did back in j.a.pan. So it was almost like a leave to Fushimi. If he hadn’t had to consume food and keep company to overly cheerful people, that is.

If only he was left to his own devices in his hotel room, just playing games and not having to see anyone at least for a day, he would be back in shape.

As things were, though, the FBI’s bigwig, who was a police investigator in the past, with the exceptionally sharp mind and no less outstanding proactiveness, seemed completely incapable to even imagine that introverts did exist.

The man obstinately believed that anyone could rejuvenated, you just needed to expose them to the sun, talk to them by the hour and feed them a lot.

“Come on, make sure you eat plenty, Saruhiko.”

Despite looking like a model, Linda had an oddly prominent meddlesome old hen streak about her, and right now she was presenting Fushimi with a plate full of meat and potato.

“—Thank you.” Fushimi gave her a very constrained smile, barely managing to suppress the urge to click his tongue at her, as he held out his hand to take the plate.

But just then, the PDA in his pocket rang and he immediately opted to take that instead.

It was from Hidaka.

“…” Fushimi sent a glance to Matthew.
“Work?” Matthew’s eyes took on a sharp tinge. “Then don’t mind us and answer that, Saruhiko. If you don’t want anyone to hear you, go in the direction of the summer house. I often do that myself.”

That was the man who made his way up all on his own for you, he really caught on quick.

Fushimi gave him a small nod and left the poolside. Linda was watching him go with regret; Fushimi himself, on the other hand, was very relieved at having avoided to consume all that sizable ma.s.s of meat and potato that made him feel sick just from looking at it. As per Matthew’s advice, he went to the summer house further away from the pool, operating his PDA as he walked and praising Hidaka in his heart, uncharacteristically for him.

“Fushimi listening.”
“Ah, Fushimi-san? I’m calling because a terrible incident happened here in j.a.pan.”

A minute later, Fushimi did something even more uncharacteristic of him.

“What? Akiyama? Arrested?” he exclaimed loudly and in real confusion.

He wouldn’t been quite so shocked if Akiyama just got arrested. What he couldn’t believe the most was the next part…

“On the molestation charges, you say…?”

The grand news of Akiyama Himori, a key member of the Special Ops squad, having been arrested had reached even Fushimi Saruhiko across the ocean.

†

Allegedly, Akiyama was suspected in groping a high school girl’s a.s.s when riding a train. She turned around, caught him by the hand and accused him of molesting her, the promptly arrived station attendants escorted him to their office and called the police.

Of course, Akiyama adamantly denied the accusations, but since there were a lot of witnesses, he was taken to the police station and detained.

During the interrogation, Akiyama demanded a lawyer, that lawyer got in touch with Awashima, and that was how the whole of Scepter 4 learned about Akiyama’s predicament.

As a result, Doumyouji, Enomoto, Fuse, Hidaka and Gotou ended up gathering in the dining hall, exchanging uncomfortable glances. Presently, Benzai and Kamo were absent, and Munakata and Awashima were busy coming up with relief measures.

“No matter how you look at it, it’s just stupid,” Fuse declared suddenly, perhaps because he couldn’t endure the silence any longer. “There’s just no way Akiyama-san would do something like that.”

With that one remark he flatly rejected the murky suspicions that no one dared to put into words but that were weighting down on everyone’s mind nonetheless.

Evidently rea.s.sured by his a.s.sertion, Hidaka backed him up fervently, “That’s right, that’s right! It’s so awful!”

“It’s out of question. Just no way, seriously!” Enomoto slammed the palms of his hands on the table in indignation, and Gotou nodded, slowly and deeply.

But among them, there was one person who, clueless about reading the atmosphere, did voice the suspicions.

“But well, the victim girl says he did, you know? Why, I wonder? What’s in it for her?”

That person was Doumyouji.

The atmosphere reigning the dining hall was better described as the shared desire to unify all the present’s feelings on the matter by denying the accusations against Akiyama first and foremost, no matter what evidence was found against him or what testimonies the witnesses gave.

Only, Doumyouji wasn’t one to take roundabout ways around the pressing issue, just going ahead and expressing his own feelings on the matter - and this was precisely what made him Doumyouji.

It wasn’t like he doubted Akiyama. He just expressed what he thought from a perspective that literally had nothing to do with how confident in Akiyama he was.

The others, though, were clearly startled.

Hidaka tried gingerly, “…Could it be that the girl just mistook him for the actual molester?”
“Yeah, that must be it!” Fuse immediately jumped at the suggestion. “The real culprit was probably standing nearby. Akiyama-san can be surprisingly slow sometimes, after all.”
“But what about the witnesses then?” Doumyouji pointed out without any malice whatsoever. “There are several of them, allegedly. The school girl aside since she had her back to the molester when he groped her, but is it possible for all those around to make a mistake like that?”
“…” Hidaka and Gotou exchanged looks in silence. In their eyes anxiety and perplexity could be read.

Just then, Enomoto, who seemed to have thought up of something, broke the silence with a cheerfully sounding exclamation, “I know! Akiyama-san must have been set up!”
“Set up?” Hidaka asked, not quite understanding what Enomoto meant.
“Oh come on! There are plenty of such cases! Bad women accuse innocent men of molesting them to extort money from the unlucky guys.”
“…” That got Fuse and Hidaka thinking.
Enomoto continued, as if trying to convince them, “Girls these days can be scary, despite being young, you know?”

It also sounded like he was pressing them to come to an agreement and unite under this hypothesis.

Fuse and Hidaka put on forced smiles.
“I see… so that’s how it went.”
“Yeah, I agree! Akiyama-san was set up. What a nasty high school girl.”

But cold water was poured on them again, and the one to pour it was, again, Doumyouji.

“…No, that’s not possible, I think? As I’ve just pointed out, she has a few witnesses, and it’s quite a bit of a stretch to consider them all her accomplices, don’t you think?”

All the present shared one thought, "Enough already, Doumyouji-san!’

All of them believed that it was almost impossible for Akiyama to be guilty. But, although the insecurity of that off-chance “almost” turning out to be the truth was shared by all, none of them could quite voice it.

“I still don’t think he’s guilty,” Gotou remarked vacantly in an undertone.

Doumyouji folded his arms, “Hmmm.”

And this was when Enomoto suddenly exclaimed, “Ah, right! I forgot to mention something!” Feeling his comrades’ surprised looks on himself, he explained, “You see, once before, I asked Akiyama-san what type of girl he prefers. And Akiyama-san answered that he likes older women.”
“Ah, I heard something along the same lines, too,” Hidaka commented. “Benzai-san tried to tease Akiyama-san by wondering jokingly if Akiyama-san would go for a MILF, and Akiyama-san only smiled cryptically, not denying it.”
“Now that you mentioned, true. Akiyama-san totally looks like the type to have hots for MILFs,” Fuse indulged in wishful speculations.

The atmosphere was beginning to shift. Not even Doumyouji found anything to object to that argument.

Enomoto felt inspired, “So let’s a.s.sume - simply for argument’s sake, nothing more - that Akiyama-san really did want to molest someone. But with what we know about him, it’s hard to believe that he would choose a high school girl for that!”
“I see. True, I guess. If he’s into older and attractive married women, he wouldn’t choose a high school girl as his target,” Fuse decided Akiyama’s s.e.xual preferences for him on a unilateral basis.
Hidaka agreed with him again, deadly serious, “That’s right. You can’t change  at the drop of a hat what type of girl you like best.”
“Guys.” Enomoto surveyed all the present. “No matter what circ.u.mstantial evidence might show up, let’s have unshakeable faith in Akiyama-san’s fetishes!”
“Yeah!” the closely knit members of Scepter 4’s Special Ops squad responded strongly.

Gotou, sipping his tea, commented, “It’s good to be so young.”

While the others were getting fired up, swearing to support Akiyama no matter what, only Doumyouji c.o.c.ked his head in doubt, his arms still folded across his chest. “Hmmm. I can’t help wondering… How exactly did they pull off framing Akiyama?”

Perhaps, among all the present in the dining hall, he was the only one to believe in Akiyama unquestioningly and with no doubt.

†

“Well. How embarra.s.sing of Akiyama-kun. Did the stress from living in the dormitory get to him that much?”
“Captain.”

Under Awashima’s stern glare, Munakata ducked his head. “It was just a joke. I have no doubt that Akiyama-kun was framed.”
Awashima gave a p.r.o.nounced nod in agreement. “I’m of the same opinion, sir.”

“The question is…” Munakata took his usual pose, leaning an elbow on his desk and resting his chin on his palm, then continued, “…by whom. I wish it was as simple as the case of a bad girl aiming to get settlement money out of him.”
“—Do you mean there is a possibility of it being Kounomura Zenichi’s trap now that he’s back in the country, sir?” Awashima frowned. “Then the question is what good is it to frame Akiyama as a molester.”

Munakata sat up, gesturing, “That is right. And that, I have trouble interpreting, because only a person with a fondness for pranks would set up such a trap. Awashima-kun. Why did Akiyama ride a train to begin with?”
“…He was tailing Kounomura Zenichi’s former secretary who was acting suspicious. I was the one to order him to on the possibility that the secretary might get in touch with Kounomura somewhere. That is why Akiyama wore civilian clothes when the police arrested him.”
“I see. So that secretary must have been somewhere close-by at the time, huh.” Munakata touched a hand to his forehead. “Well, in that case it is safe to a.s.sume that it, indeed, was a trap by Kounomura-shi. What interests me about it though is just what tricks exactly he employed to set it up… Awashima-kun, I would like you to work together with Akiyama-kun’s lawyer and clarify what happened on that train as quick as possible.”
“Yes, sir!” Awashima gave a clipped response, and, hurrying to start gathering the requested information, left the office.

Munakata breathed out a little sigh. “It looks like Kounomura-shi really went on the offensive just like he had declared. But still, this kind of start, huh?” This was said in half-amazement and with a crooked smile.

Munakata left his seat with another “good grief” murmured under his breath, but then…

“Captain!” Awashima, looking panicked, rushed back into the office, forgetting to even knock, which was highly unusual for her.

In her hand she was gripping a PDA.

With a pale face, she forced out stumblingly, “Trouble, sir. A-Akiyama… Akiyama was…”
“Awashima-kun, "Munakata addressed her with an air of composure. "I do not know what happened, but first, please calm down. Start with taking a deep breath. Better?”

Awashima seemed to come to her senses with a start. A blush creeped up her cheeks under Munakata’s gaze, and she cleared her throat.

“I-I beg your pardon, sir. I failed to keep my calm.”
“No problem,” he chuckled. “Every person has such moments.” Lowering his voice he finally asked the main question, “So, just what on earth happened?”

Awashima’s expression stiffened as she replied, showing Munakata her PDA, “Sir, Akiyama’s case made it to the news.”

When Munakata took a closer look at the screen, he found the page of a certain tabloid’s network service there. The sensational headline read: “A government secret agent, one of the so called "Blues” arrested for molestation?!“

Munakata stared at the screen for good 5 seconds before muttering, "Hoo.”

Even he looked surprised by what he saw.

Good thing I finished translating this part before the episode,  it’s totally impossible to do anything after because of the worry weighting on you… and I think I’ve set a personal speed translation record with this part, hohoh! Now, only chapter 4+epilogue is left, chapter 4 is monstrously long though.