On Saturday morning Fushichin was called to the bus stop near the police station by Hellen. Fushichin stood patiently as he laid his back on the wall and suddenly his eyes fell upon Hellen who walked towards him from the other side of the paveway. She came in front of him and the two exchanged awkward glances.

“Thanks for coming.” said Hellen and smiled weakly.

“What? You thought I would ditch?” said Fushichin and laughed.

“You are…unpredictable.” said Hellen.

“Heh, I’ll take that as a compliment. Honestly, I’m just surprised you’ve suddenly decided to visit them. Did you call the others?” asked Fushichin.

“No, I didn’t. It’s just you and me. The others never really cared about Hori or the household members so there is no point in calling them.” said Hellen with a grim face.

Both of them entered the bus that was going towards Dalaiking district and sat on the back seat.

The bus moved, both of them silently looked away from one another.

“Hellen, do you…have a crush on Mew or something?” asked Fushichin.

Hellen’s eyes widened and she yelled “what gave you that idea?” with surprise.

“It’s just…you visiting the prior victim’s house is new. Or were you secretly visiting many other victim’s families without telling us?” asked Fushichin.

“No, it’s just…I felt…guilty.” said Hellen sadly.

“For what? You didn’t do anything wrong.” said Fushichin.

“I couldn’t make a change. I thought I could stand my ground but…I was scared. Not just then… maybe I was always scared.” said Hellen depressingly.

“What do you mean? You’re the fiercest person I know” said Fushichin with a smirk.

“Fiercely dumb maybe. I used to hate criminals, especially murderers. And yet now I’m going to their house. Not because of the victim but because of-”

“Hori, yeah, I figured…does that mean you have a crush on Hor-”

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“Shut up” grumbled Hellen and punched Fushichin on the shoulder.

“But yeah, you did change. I can see that” said Fushichin with a smile.

Hellen sighed at the words and looked at the floor with gloom.

“Looking back, all my life I’ve been such a dunce. Maybe not just a dunce but willfully ignorant. I knew that our society wasn’t great. I knew of people who criticized our prison systems and corruption of our morals. But I didn’t want to believe that. I was so glad to become a cop. My dad was a great cop. He was a hero to me…still is. I just wanted to be a hero, a warrior of justice who helped people. But…”

Hellen’s voice became hoarse, she pulled her tears back and looked sideways.

“Do you still wanna become the hero of justice?” asked Fushichin.

“I…I don’t know. I wanted to help people. And even back then I didn’t want Mew or Hori or anyone to suffer needlessly.” said Hellen.

“Heh, that’s great. I think that alone is enough. Desiring more than that and things get difficult. Desiring anything itself is a difficulty. Your body tenses, your mind fills with dreams and mirages of your obsessions. You lose sight of reality. It’s so annoying!” grumbled Fushichin.

“Yeah, losing sight of reality. Do you remember the burglary case of Walter Hound?” asked Hellen.

“Oh, you mean the case where you solidified yourself as a true detective? Haha, yeah, I remember. You almost solved that entire case by yourself. I never saw Klancy being that happy before.” said Fushichin with a smirk.

“Yeah, I was happy…so happy that I didn’t pay any attention to the culprit, Lei. His pain…his words, his suffering. He said he only did it to get money for her daughter’s birthday. He complained and complained about how he doesn’t earn money to even afford an apartment to live in. Not just Lei but the other two as well. They didn’t talk much, probably because they concluded that we wouldn’t listen to their story. WalterHound was a rich politician. He could have simply let the robbery slide. But he didn’t…we didn’t. “ said Hellen and sighed.

“Hellen…you can’t just keep thinking about the past. It’s not healthy. And I don’t want you to lose energy over trying to change the world either. The reason things are the way they are…It’s cause of the will of the people. There is a problem in our democracy, sure. But if people really cared about one another they would have acted out against people being deemed as criminals for minor offenses like robbery, scams and drug usages.” monologued Fushichin.

“Wait? Scams and robbery are minor offenses?” asked Hellen.

“Obviously! Both scams and robbery happen because of poverty. Who would wanna live their lives tricking others or stealing from others if a better alternative exists? If only a few people have garnered and hoarded too many resources, naturally a lot of people will be deprived. Hoarding is a serious crime, robbery isn’t. Seriously tho, WalterHound was such a braggy bastard. Did you catch what he said about the real estates and stock he owned? He owned over 50 apartments and some mansions and I bet his net worth was in the top 100 richest people in the country.” grumbled Fushichin.

“Wow, that’s…what does he even do with that?” asked Hellen.

“Probably rent them for people who can’t afford to buy their own houses. Typical landlord no skill, easy money bullshit.” said Fushihchin.

“Yeah…it’s horrible. How even today, we’re still allowing all these dreadful things to happen to people and claim that we’re on the side of justice.” said Hellen miserably.

******