Chapter 4
The next day, Usagi managed to get to school on time thanks to Zenigata picking her up and dropping her off. Since Zenigata always has his watch a few minutes early, she actually got there early. The teacher was surprised that Usagi arrived early as she was normally late.
Miss Sakurada smiled, "Nice to see you early Usagi."
The rest of the students came into class very quickly and got to their seats apart from the blue haired girl who was already in class before Usagi got there.
Miss Sakurada exclaimed, "Good morning class!"
"Good morning Miss Sakurada", replied the students.
Miss Sakurada was giving the test results from yesterday back towards the students, she was happy with the blue haired girl, the boy with the swirly glasses and the redhead with the bow's results however when it got Usagi her happiness dropped as unlike the others that she gave out so far, it was a lower score. Her teeth gritted and her eyebrows were down as the score on the blonde dumpling girl was 45%.
Miss Sakurada shouted at Usagi, "You're doing better but that's still not good enough! I want at least 75% on your next test! Otherwise I'll call your parents and you'll be kicked out of your house for good! You... baka!"
"Listen Miss Sakurada, be more compassionate or I'll tell the headmaster that you're too immature to be a teacher and you yourself should be a student like the rest of them instead of the teacher! That blue haired girl over there could do a better job!", yelled Zenigata.
Inspector Zenigata slammed the door and Usagi smiled knowing that he was protecting her, the blue haired girl also smiled because he complimented her.
...
Back at the police station, Zenigata was still trying to figure out what the green jacketed man and the brunette were up to who were back in the interrogation room after hours of talking and not talking. Suddenly there was a knock on the door and an officer came with piles of clothes stacked really high.
The officer reported, "We have searched through one of the hideouts and found these clothes."
Zenigata was sorting through the clothes and found four items that he instantly recognised, one was a dark green dress, one was a lime green dress and the others were a red top that had a split down the middle to make the breasts more revealing and yellow trousers. They all happen to connect to the brunette as she pouted.
The brunette muttered, "They went through my apartment..."
"Oh you have an apartment now Fujiko?", sarcastically asked Zenigata.
...
Back at school, it was the end of the school day as Miss Sakurada wrote down on the board with her chalk HOMEWORK.
Miss Sakurada explained, "Your homework for today is to write an essay on either a legendary detective or a legendary thief. To make sure that there is no cheating or two people having the same person, I'll be recording on which person a class member gets to write about." She then asked, "Who are you going to choose?"
The redhead with the bow replied, "Sherlock Holmes."
"Hercule Poirot", answered the chubby redhead.
The blue haired girl shyly replied, "Arsene Lupin."
"Goemon Ishikawa", responded the boy with the swirly glasses.
Usagi was trying to think of someone however she was struggling who to choose since the well known options have already been said, her eyes were up with her forehead shrinking and looked up.
The dumpling blonde blurted out, "Zenigata?"
"Hmm... Heiji Zenigata, interesting and unusual choice Usagi", nodded Miss Sakurada.
Usagi wiped the sweat off her forehead as she managed to come up with an answer out of luck.
"It's due tomorrow and there'll be a presentation too."
As they were coming out of school, Usagi was with two other people however she stopped because she felt something in her shoe and sat down to remove it. The redhead with the bow and the boy with the swirly glasses walked past Usagi as they were talking.
The redhead with the bow with a worried look spoke, "I've heard that there have been two people missing since yesterday, Umino-kun."
"Yeah Naru-chan, Mamoru Chiba and Makoto Kino. I didn't see Motoki at the Game Center yesterday either but saw him this morning at the cafe opposite. Something is not right", replied Umino.
Usagi caught up with Naru as Umino was running out heading towards the entrance. Inspector Zenigata was outside of the school entrance with his arms crossed and frowning, Umino approached him and pulled his trenchcoat to get his attention.
Umino asked, "Officer, is it okay to ask? Do you know about the disappearances of Mamoru Chiba and Makoto Kino?"
"It's fine even though I am an inspector, not an officer. I am not aware of any disappearances, can you describe the people?", replied and asked Zenigata.
Umino articulated, "I know for certain is a man with black hair who wears a green blazer and has black trousers since I see him at the Game Center with Motoki. The other I think is a woman who has brown hair, she wears either a brown or a white dress but I heard rumours that she scares people and beats them up. She was suppose to come to school but she never turned up."
Rather than reporting the crime with his notebook, Zenigata instead knew from the description that it sounded like the two people that he locked up at the police station.
"They are Lupin the 3rd and Fujiko Mine in disguise. One is a master thief and the other is a known criminal. Since it is a leading investigation, I can not tell you any more and if I were you we never had this conversation", gruffly explained Zenigata.
Umino asked, "Can I mention it to my friends?"
"NO!", yelled Zenigata and then calmed down, "Just say that there is an investigation and we are looking into it."
"Okay Inspector, I will. Thanks", replied Umino.
Zenigata asked to himself, "Why would Fujiko want to go to school? I have to ask her back at the station."
Usagi finished talking to Naru and went straight towards Zenigata's police car to take her straight home out of safety. Usagi and Zenigata opened the door, removed their shoes, put some slippers on with Usagi having a bunny pattern on hers and went into the living room. By the living room was Toshiko who sat down on a chair reading a detective novel.
Usagi gasped, "I'm surprised to see you here, Toshi-chan!"
"Well I wanted to spend one more day with my dad and I had a feeling where he'll be. Either here or at the police station", explained Toshiko.
Zenigata sobbed, "I'm going to miss you tomorrow Toshi-kuu."
"Same here dad but at least we can spend it together", smiled Toshiko.
Zenigata noticed, "It seems quiet here."
"Well I saw Kenji and Ikuko earlier and they went shopping then having a meal out, I heard that Shingo had to go somewhere but I didn't know for sure because he was already gone when I got here", explained Toshiko.
Zenigata yelled, "It's time for you to do your homework, Usagi!"
"I don't want to do my homework! I want to be in the Game Center with Ami-chan and Rei-chan!", shouted Usagi.
Zenigata went into the kitchen to make himself a cup of coffee.
Toshiko whispered to Usagi, "If you don't do your homework, I'll tell everyone that you're Sailor Moon."
Usagi was shocked on how Toshiko managed to know her secret identity however the Zenigata family were used to people having disguises and usually but not always able to detect them as well as Toshiko got to see her transform first hand.
"I'll do it! I'll do it!", screamed Usagi into tears.
Zenigata came out of the kitchen with a cup of coffee and saw Usagi crying with her eyes closed gushing water, Toshiko even put two small pans where her tears landed.
Toshiko startled, "I didn't mean to make her upset dad!"
"I know you didn't Toshi-kuu, not everyone is used to our harsher ways", sighed Zenigata.
"Listen Usagi, there are times where we have to do stuff that we don't like. I know that you don't want to do your homework and rather be with your friends at that building but you have to. I know that you're a good kid and we want others to know that you are but you're also a slacker. We want you to try your best and not get lazy."
"Dad's right Usagi, you are a good and kind person. From what he told me, if it wasn't for you being nice to him when he saved you, he would have ran out of Azabu-Juban faster than you can say Lupin."
Zenigata nodded however he was annoyed at the same time just by the mention of Lupin. Thanks to the kind words from Zenigata and Toshiko, Usagi stopped crying and gave them a smile.
Usagi beamed, "Thanks Koichi and Toshi-chan."
"What's the assignment that you have to do anyway?", asked Zenigata.
Usagi sulked, "To write an essay on Heiji Zenigata and its due tomorrow... I have to present it too."
"Our ancestor!", replied both Zenigata and Toshiko.
Usagi felt pressured because if she fails the assignment, she would not only let her teacher down but also the Zenigatas as it was about their ancestor. She rather wanted her new friends to be happy rather than angry. Unusual for the blonde dumpling girl, she got a book and read the article on Heiji Zenigata, then in her own words wrote some stuff down on a piece of paper. Usagi turned on the TV and a show called Zenigata Heiji was on where she was watching it to think of stuff to put in. After a hour of hard work, her eyes were starting to droop, her face looked tired and her arms were aching from writing the homework.
Zenigata shouted, "It's time for a break Usagi!"
Usagi could not believe her eyes and ears because she did not expect Inspector Zenigata to say that with her eyes lighting up and grinned, even her dumplings moved by the news.
"Yay!", cheered Usagi and then she asked, "Why?"
"If you keep working, you'll get tired. By having little breaks here and there, you'll rest and get some energy", replied Zenigata.
Zenigata got out three cup noodles, one for himself, one for Toshiko and one for Usagi. He then pour boiling water on all three of the cups and stirred each of them with a fork. They were all munching on the cup noodles as they were slurping and scoffing down the noodles with their forks. While Toshiko took her time eating, Zenigata and Usagi were wolfing down seeing which of them can eat the fastest since both of them are fast, high consuming eaters. Zenigata finished his noodles just a couple of seconds before Usagi where he smiled while she frowned, Toshiko by comparison finished a few minutes later.
Toshiko had a look at Usagi's draft of the homework and while she did not smile, she was not angry either. She then whispered something to her dad.
Zenigata asked, "Usagi, do you want to see how my ancestor caught the bad guys?"
Usagi nodded, Zenigata got a coin with a square hole in the middle out of his pocket and threw the coin directly at Usagi. It hit her face as her left cheek was hurt by the coin throwing and she was rubbing where the pain was with her hand.
"Let me try", smiled Toshiko.
Toshiko picked up the coin off the floor and threw the coin exactly like her father except this time, it hit Usagi on the right cheek and like before she was rubbing where she got hurt with her hand.
Zenigata smiled back, "Like father, like daughter."
"You two are hurting me!", screamed Usagi.
Toshiko put her arm over Usagi knowing that she got hurt from the coins but also wanted to help in a kind way.
Toshiko reassured, "We are doing it gently for you, we would have used much more force if you were a criminal."
Knowing that Usagi got hurt, Zenigata rushed towards the bathroom and returned with a towel. He got hold of the wet towel and gently rubbed Usagi's face where the coins hit her.
"I was only showing you this so it can help you with your homework and your presentation, I wouldn't have done otherwise", sighed Zenigata as he finished pampering Usagi.
Usagi went back to her homework after the break scribbing down things with her pencil and spent half a hour remembering what she was taught as well as the bit about the arcade without mentioning what happened since that was not documented. Toshiko had a look at the new draft and she smiled knowing that Usagi has done good on her homework.
Toshiko noted, "I like this work Usagi but there are a few mistakes that need to be corrected."
Toshiko helped Usagi with the spelling errors as she attempts to fix them herself and gave it back to Toshiko, after five attempts at checking for mistakes as well as any additions the younger Zenigata grinned and put her arms around Usagi.
"You did a great job, I'm proud of you", smiled Toshiko and then asked, "Dad, do you want to read what Usagi wrote about our ancestor?"
"Let me see", sincerely spoke Zenigata.
Zenigata was reading the homework that Usagi wrote and when it got close to the end, it brought both a smile and a tear to Inspector Zenigata's eyes because he was happily crying.
Zenigata softly smiled, "Usagi, we are so proud of you and our ancestors would have said the same. I would like a copy."
"Me too", contented Toshiko.
There was just one problem, there was only one copy of the homework and the Zenigatas knew that getting Usagi to copy what she written twice would have been exhausting for her.
Toshiko smiled, "I've got an idea, we go to the print shop and do a few photocopies. We all go together."
"It's best that we do Toshi-kuu, we don't like this area and I don't want any of us getting hurt", advised Zenigata with a frown. He then asked himself, "I should really ask Goemon, he'll know why Azabu-Juban is so strange."
As the Zenigatas and Usagi left the Tsukino residence to head towards the print shop, back at the police station the green jacketed man and the brunette looked at each other thinking that it was the perfect opportunity to escape if Zenigata was not letting them free. They pushed the bed towards the centre of the cell above the light bulb.
The green jacketed man muttered, "It is a matter of time..."
Suddenly there was a power surge that happened around the Minato ward and the affected the Azabu-Juban area the most with the police station being out of power for 30 seconds. The green jacketed man and the brunette were electricuted with their hair getting messed up and both of them shown a shocked expression with their faces showing grins. Shortly after they landed on the ground rubbing their heads with their facial expressions changed however the shock made them weak as they were unable to talk or move much. The pins that were on the brunette were removed revealing her full hair going down to her shoulders.
There was a van that drove straight into the wall making the green jacketed man and the brunette able to escape with the walls crashing down and able to jump straight to the back of the van. A man with a black suit, a hat covering his eyes and a curved beard got out from the driver's seat and went towards the couple.
The man in the black suit smirked, "You two are looking younger than the last time we saw you."
They got back into the van with the black suited man closing the doors then driving while the green jacketed man and the brunette were at the back of the van with the latter holding a briefcase of her clothes. They arrived at a hideout that looked like a typical apartment, there were two couches on the opposite side of each other and a chair. There was a glass table with a bottle of scotch and three glasses. The black suited man with the beard laid on the couch looking relaxed, the green jacketed man laid on the other couch while the brunette was sat on the chair. Opposite the chair was a man who wore a traditional robe, had long black hair and sat down holding his sword.
The black suited man asked, "Lupin, did you manage to steal the treasure?"
"I can't remember...", sighed Lupin as he yawned.
The brunette bluntly spoke, "I'm having problems knowing who you are."
"What? Oh great! Lupin and Fujiko have some memory loss", grunted the black suited man.
The samurai muttered, "Jigen, there are tales of energy draining youma around Azabu-Juban. There might be a possibility that Lupin and Fujiko encountered those and why they can not remember while they went for the treasure."
"Damn! I knew we should have went with them Goemon!", yelled Jigen and then calmed down. "Then again they were insistant that they will do it together, so their loss."
Goemon commented, "There was also that strange building as well, even Inspector Zenigata does not like being there because all of his ancestors had died at Azabu-Juban."
Fujiko got up from her chair and went straight to the bedroom to sleep. Jigen sat up on the couch and got a glass of scotch, he pour the liquid to the glass and went back to laying down.
"I vaguely remember Zenigata before the breakout but nothing much else Jigen", Lupin breathed out.
Jigen smiled, "You go have a good rest Lupin, tomorrow we go somewhere else. I heard that Mr Kinman has a golden statue somewhere."
