Whenever Kaburagi-san came to the bar as a customer, she generally only ever ordered wine. As a result, this ice ball press that had set us back 128,000 yen ($1,200 US) had yet to have its time in the spotlight. But tonight, it was finally being sortied for the first time. I was aware that I was still too young and lacking in an air of dignity to be a proper bar master. That was why I had to rely on performances using little gimmicks and tools like this to make up for it.
The picture of Detective Kumano swirling a sip of whisky in his mouth while staring into the ice in his glass was just the ultimate depiction of manly refinement. I felt like I totally lost out in a comparison of presence. How about you be the master instead? Then everything would be perfect.
“Takahashi-kun had gone easy on me,” murmured Detective Kumano suddenly. “That attack of his that froze the World Shadow in a split second. If he had used that on me at the very start, then I would have lost. He had gone easy on me so that he wouldn’t accidentally kill me.”
In lieu of backchanneling, I turned to flip the switch on our record player. I put a record inside, then dropped the needle. Moody jazz music filled the store.
“Didn’t Takahashi-kun say that it had only been a year and a half since he awakened to his superpower? When counting from when he had his first battle, that time is even shorter. Do you understand my feelings, Master? My 40 years of diligence had lost against his one and a half years...... vodka martini, shaken, not stirred.”
After having emptied his glass, Detective Kumano ordered his second drink. While I was preparing the glass and the ice for it, he candidly expressed his outrage while continuing, “You see, I hate cheaters. It had been my dream, ever since I was a boy, to pound people using shady powers, be it magic or superpowers, into the ground with my bare fists. I had something that I wanted to prove. I really wanted to prove that we humans could come out on top with our own strength. And yet, what is this? Even though he is a ball of talent, I had in essence lost to a child who had trained for less than a year and a half, and then also lost to one of those so-called World Shadows. What was the meaning behind all my blood and sweat and tears? They’re just too unfair. Superpowers are just far too unfair.”
Possibly due to the alcohol beginning to make its way to his head, Detective Kumano stopped mincing his words, poking exactly where it hurt most. If you put it that way, there’s really nothing I can say in rebuttal, man. Although I myself had spent 11 years training up my telekinesis, a normal person who dedicates every moment of his entire life to training would still never gain enough strength to destroy stars and planets. This disparity must seem even more unreasonable for martial artists who had indeed spent decades of their life honing their body and skills like Detective Kumano himself had.
Detective Kumano quickly drained his cocktail. Apparently he was in the mood to drink himself into oblivion at the moment. Well, everyone has days like that every once in a while. Allow me to stick with you to the very end tonight.
“However, he’s using that unfair power of his to protect ordinary people from the World Shadows. Are you not going to give him credit for that?”
“I know that without you having to tell me!” roared Detective Kumano, as if telling me to not interrupt him. As I froze while looking at him in dumbfounded surprise, he practically snatched the next glass from my hand and downed its contents in one swig. By this point, his face was already red. It was clear that consuming so many drinks with such high alcohol content back-to-back was beginning to get to him.
“Even us police! We are protecting the peace in Japan! We give it our all again and again and again and again, every fricking single day! Nothing as glorious as fighting against enemies of the world, oh no. We can only rely on numbers, and we go around questioning people one by one while enduring the cold, staying up entire nights on stakeouts, running about all over town only to get a tiny clue or a gem of information if we’re lucky. Whenever we get to move, it’s always after tragedy has struck. The victims wail at us, telling us that we’re too slow or that we’re too late, but this is the only way we can do things! If you want to blame something, blame the fact that Japan is a country where the rule of law prevails, how about that! But even so, we still plow on. We still do our jobs, because someone’s got to do it. That’s why I’m a policeman. I......we have to do it.”
I found myself overwhelmed by those words spewed like a fountain of blood. Those words had the weightiness of someone who had truly been protecting the peace, a weightiness that I and my inability to step out of the realm of playing make-believe would never be able to attain.
“Sure, Amaterasu might be protecting the people from the World Shadows. That’s a wonderful thing. A secret organization of a small group of elites fighting against monsters in secret? Shit, that’s goddamn cool! But you know, we’ve been protecting the peace all the way back. We’ve been protecting it the entire time! You hear me? You get me? You understand the difference?
Let us police do it.
Let me do it.
That’s what we police are for.
That’s why I joined the police force!
Goddammit, why’s a police officer being saved by a child. Why am I so powerless at the most crucial moments. I’m a police officer. I’m a protector of the peace...... goddammit......”
Detective Kumano stared into his glass, muttering incoherently under his breath. In sharp contrast to his outburst, he had abruptly gone quiet, and was now emitting a strong aura of pathos. My heart hurt just watching him.
“Here, drink up. Tonight is on the house.”