“Bokuchu” Us vs the Police: 700-Day War

Haetori

“No, I’ll still feel like I did something inexcusable. I put so much suspicion on customers who always buy here.”
“No, no. As long as we’re cleared of our suspicions, it’s enough.”

We continued this endless loop with the owner. (To be accurate, it was only “me”. It seems that Saijoh really wanted ** Mania and was repeating “If you say so.”)

And there appeared Chuzai-san, led by the female employee!

Chuznd said,
“Excuse me.”

And as soon as he entered the room,
“Hmm? There’s a weird smell in here.”
He noticed the remnants of the offensive smell.

“Someone shoplifting?”
As soon as he said it, he noticed us and,

“Oh… again…”
and made a very nasty looking face.

“Good afternoon, Mr. Policeman.”
We said smiling.

Owner,
“Ahh, Mr. Policeman, sorry for the disturbance. It appears that it was a misunderstanding.”

But Chuzai-san found the unidentifiable objects on the desk of the office, to be specific,
“A worn out roll of fly paper,” and
“Saijoh-kun’s mom’s worn-out underwear,” and
“Rice bran mixed with egg.”
and figured out that we did something just by looking at those items.

But still, like a police officer on duty, he said
“Well, extra effort won’t hurt anything just to make sure nothing has happened.”

Then the owner said,
“You see, the other day, you caught these kids, right? I was being cautious with them because of it…”

“Oh…”
said Chuzai-san.

“Ahhhhh, that was something personal. It’s a different case, a different case.”
Chuzai-san said nervously.

But,
“To tell you the truth, owner, I know these kids very well, but they aren’t the type to do that kind of crime. I guarantee it.”
Chuzai-san said in a rare statement to our defense. When he added,

“These guys aren’t satisfied with petty stuff like that.”

he wasn’t defending us.

“What…”
The owner got the hint that he had been “taken in,” after Chuzai-san’s neat little explanation.

“Well, but I’m happy for you guys. Cleared of your suspicions.”

The reason for the suspicion is you!
All three of us sharply glared at Chuzai-san.

The owner said,
“But the record store owner said that those guys were suspicious from before, so I…”

What!?

Record store?

Saijoh-kun and I both reacted sharply to those words. Because the “record store” was a place where we poured in more than half of our allowance. We could be called “super” regulars there, and the number of times we went there, and the amount of money spent, was not even close to the bookstore.

The record store owner…

Our next target was carved into the back of our minds.

The owner said as if he had forgotten,

“Oh… Weren’t you saying that you were going to be in big trouble if you miss the train?”

“What…? Ahh… it’s ok now.”
It was an excuse to begin with…

“No… It’s my fault that you’re late. Where are you going? I’ll take you there in my car.”

Wow… The owner’s kindness almost brought tears to my eyes.

“It’s ok, we’ll both ride on my bike or something.”

As soon as we said that,

“AHHH? I can’t let that comment slide.”

Oh. We totally forgot that this man was a police officer.

This “police officer” started saying something very unexpected.