I hurried to Mamoru-san’s house. That said, flying through the sky in broad daylight or using teleportation magic seemed too conspicuous, so I took the train instead.

"Excuse me for intruding!"

"Welcome. You got here quite quickly."

"I rushed over. More importantly, where is the fraud group?"

"I'll explain everything in order, so please calm down. Come inside."

"Ah, right. Sorry about that."

It seemed I had been too flustered from the shock, but I started to calm down a little. I carefully closed the door and followed Mamoru-san into his room.

"By the way, is Fuka-chan out today?"

"Yes, she went to the pool with her friends."

"Well, it is summer break."

"I actually wanted to go with her, but she insisted that I prioritize helping you, Tachihara-san. Ah, she really is such a thoughtful little sister!"

"...Yes, she really is."

That might be true, but I had a feeling she just didn’t want her brother tagging along. She’s in the upper grades of elementary school now—having her older brother come along to the pool with her friends would be a bit much. As always, Mamoru-san seemed overly attached to his sister.

"I believe the fraud group is hiding here."

The map displayed on Mamoru-san’s computer showed a location within the same prefecture, but quite far from here.

"That’s amazing! You found their hideout in just a day? How did you figure it out?"

"After receiving your information yesterday, I first investigated the individuals dressed as police officers and bank employees who had approached Shinozaki-san.

However, they must have left quickly by car because their trail disappeared almost immediately. Since that area doesn’t have many shops or buildings and isn’t heavily trafficked, gathering information was quite difficult."

Even though they were fake, you’d think people dressed as police officers would stand out, but I guess it wasn’t that easy. That area isn’t very crowded, so the fraudsters might have deliberately chosen it for that reason.

"However, I was able to confirm the man who withdrew the money through a surveillance camera. He turned out to be just a hired agent, but by tracking his employer’s movements, I was able to trace them to this location."

"That’s incredible! I can’t believe you pulled that off!"

"Fortunately, there were many convenience stores and shops near the bank where the money was withdrawn, meaning plenty of surveillance cameras. With proper authorization from the police, I was able to obtain footage from the surrounding stores."

…Surveillance cameras, huh? Now that I think about it, Mamoru-san had also used them to track me down during the factory explosion and the station bombing incidents.

"Modern surveillance cameras are quite advanced. Many can clearly capture what’s happening outside, even from inside a store, which is very helpful."

"I-I see. Still, wasn’t it difficult to track someone using just surveillance footage?"

"Not really. I recently developed software that uses facial recognition to track registered individuals across multiple camera feeds, so that part wasn’t an issue. What was difficult was identifying the employer who hired the money-withdrawer."

"What do you mean?"

"They met inside a certain building, but since there were no surveillance cameras inside, I couldn’t immediately tell who the employer was. I had to identify everyone who entered and exited the building at that time, then track each one through surveillance footage."

Furthermore, there was the possibility that this employer was also just another middleman, hired by someone else. So, if they entered another building or store, I had to check everyone they came into contact with.

Of course, there’s a chance they met outside in an area without cameras, but I calculated their movement speed and the time they were off-camera to determine that the likelihood was low."

".................."

"Eventually, by tracing the final locations these individuals visited, I found this suspicious building, which is not registered as a company."

I didn’t completely understand, but I could tell that even with a computer, this was an incredibly complex task. Looking closely, I noticed dark circles under Mamoru-san’s eyes—he might not have slept at all.

"Thank you so much for all your effort."

"Not at all. However, we haven’t confirmed everything yet. That’s why I called you—to discuss our next steps."

"Our next steps?"

Shouldn’t we just hand this over to the police now?

"Even if I report this to the police, they won’t move without solid evidence. I could install surveillance cameras or listening devices in the building myself, but..."

"No, I can’t ask you to go that far! I’ll go myself!"

There’s no way I could let Mamoru-san get that involved. These people are criminals—we don’t know what they might do.

That said, I could infiltrate undetected with my stealth skills, and even if they spotted me, they wouldn’t be able to hurt me with mere guns or knives.

"...They are a criminal group. I believe you’ll be fine, but please be careful."

"I will!"