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Cop Craft Volume 4 Chapter 4 Part 1

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“Translator: ClefRunner”

“Editor: Weasalopes”

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Despite the fact that falling unconscious or fainting and other similar experiences were not something an average person experienced frequently in their ordinary lives, this was the fourth time it happened to Cecil already. The first time happened back when she was in middle school. She fainted because of the heat during a track and field club practice session. The second time was as a med school student, during her first autopsy. The third time was with kei and… well, she could leave that one out.

Either way, it seemed just like all previous times, she didn’t lose her consciousness for too long. Probably somewhere around five minutes or even less than that.

Tilarna (the cat) kept crying loudly next to her.

「No…」

She got up and shook her head. That whole thing about Tilarna and Kuroi switching bodies had to be nothing more than a bad dream… or at least she hoped so as she looked at her surroundings. But nothing about the situation had changed. Tilarna (Kuroi’s soul inside her) was nonchalantly grooming herself in a half naked attire, while Kuroi (Tilarna’s soul inside her) kept pacing back and forth over the floor.

「Ah… I’m sorry, I’m so weak. I ended up fainting just with that…」

She rubbed the back of her head. The blow she took to the head was not so bad, and she didn’t feel particularly bad either, though she would have liked to have herself checked thoroughly if possible.

No, now is not the time for that…

「That’s right, the garbage truck! What happened with the garbage truck?!」
“it drove away…”

Tilarna (the cat) typed into her smartphone. She somehow seemed to remember to type the three dot character while doing all of that.

While Cecil was unconscious, the garbage truck had driven away. In her normal body she would have been able to reach it in time, but in a cat’s body she wasn’t able to open doors or windows, or go beyond that. She couldn’t do anything but watch the garbage truck drive away, while feeling hopelessly impatient.

「I’ll chase after it. We need to recover that crossbow first」
「Nyaa!」

She picked up her glasses that had fallen right next to her, and pulled on the sleeves of her coat. She walked out of the living room, and noticed Tilarna (the cat) following her from close behind.

「Are you coming as well?」
「Nyaa」
Meowed Tilarna (the cat). That probably meant “yes”.

「But… what about your body? If we leave her here by herself and something happens, then…」
「Nyaa, nyaa!」

The black cat clinged to Cecil’s leg dramatically. She was probably trying to tell her something, and then went to her smartphone.

“its okay kuroi is always a good girl”

She frantically typed on the keyboard. It seemed like she had gotten a lot quicker at it, too.

Being honest, Cecil didn’t find any use in taking Tilarna in a cat body with her. If possible, she would prefer to have her stay in the apartment, but…

The black cat was staring directly at Cecil. She was scared as well.

「Ah… okay, I got it. But don’t get away from me, okay? We would be in trouble if you got lost.」
「Nyaa」

That was probably an “understood” or a “thank you”, or something like that.

Cecil told Kuroi (the human) to “be a good girl and behave”, held Tilarna (the cat) tightly in her arms and left the apartment.

She locked up the door, and got on her beloved Cherokee, the small black cat following suit, jumping into the passenger immediately afterwards. She smoothly placed Tilarna’s smartphone on top of the seat.

「Nyaa」
「Okay, we are chasing after the garbage truck. It’s been no more than ten minutes since it drove away… so it can’t possibly be that far」

Cecil started driving around the neighborhood. Driving west down the small side road, and carefully looking both sides at every corner. The garbage truck was nowhere to be seen.

There were several garbage containers along the way, so occasionally they would stop the car, get out and check inside them. They were all empty. Clearly the garbage truck had already been there.

“are you sure this was the right way?”

Tilarna (the cat) asked with her keyboard.

「Probably… no, I don’t know. I mean, it’s not like I live near this part of town, and I don’t know it very well either」
“maybe it was the other way”
「Is that your feeling as a local?」
“i dont know too well either”
「No… agh」
“i never paid any attention to garbage collecting”
「Learn about it whenever you get the chance. This is an important aspect of Earth’s civilizations」
“youre right ill think about it”

She tried driving even further, but they couldn’t find the garbage truck anywhere. And driving beyond that point would imply going out of New Compton. They definitely had gone the wrong way, and now had to course correct, so they had to hurry.

This time they would be searching east of the house. They drove around a few blocks and found themselves once again in front of the house.

「Man, I don’t see it anywhere… they’re always driving pretty slowly, so I was confident that we would find it right away…」
「Nyaa!!」

Tilarna (the cat) yelled while clinging to the right side window.

「What? Did you see it?!」
「Nyaa! Nya! Nyaaa!」

The black cat shook her head from side to side, turned around and pointed her front paw to the second floor window.

Kuroi (the human) was sitting right next to the window, looking outside mindlessly. Her thin camisole was barely covering her, and anybody who walked by would be able to see her entire body.

「Ah… that is a little embarrassing, yeah… it would be okay if only we had rolled down the curtains earlier」
“please close the curtains”
「Hey, I get how you feel, but aren’t we in a rush right now?」
“please if somebody saw me like that i would not be able to go on”
「Okay, okay, I got it」

She got out of the car, and rushed back into the house. She managed to pacify Kuroi who had jumped right back at her once again, and closed all the curtains in the house. She worried about something happening, so she closed any gas pipes, locked the door once again, and returned to the car. This cost them yet another three minutes.

「You should be fine with this now, right? Okay, let’s get going」
“sorry”

They started looking around the neighborhood once again. New Compton used to be a storagehouse district, so there were few pedestrians around. Whenever they occasionally saw one, they would ask them if they had seen the garbage truck, but they would all shake their heads. Cecil stopped the car at the berm and sighed.

「I’m sorry, but I think we won’t be able to find it」
「Nyaa? Nyaa!」
「No, no. We won’t be able to find it looking around like this. Hey, don’t get that upset」

She pushed Tilarna (the cat) away as she was trying to cling to her, took out her own smartphone, and looked up the “San Teresa Environmental Department”

The homepage that came up was designed for computers, so the characters on the screen were small. And on top of that, there were plenty of completely unnecessary pictures and illustrations. The links within the website were also disrespectfully hard to navigate…

Ah, why are public institution websites always like this?

Although now that I think about it, isn’t our own inquest department homepage kind of like this as well? I’ll try suggesting a renovation later.

She finally reached the New Compton’s map and pickup route, and a phone number along with it. She tapped it, and took the phone to her ear.

「… We should have done this to begin with. Though I am not one to start playing cop right now」
「Nyaa」
「By the way, aren’t you a cop to begin with?」
「Nyaa…」

The tiny black cat nodded. She didn’t seem annoyed or bothered at all.

And then someone finally picked up the phone.

「Hello. New Compton office of Environment」
「Hi, there are a few questions I would like to ask. Are you guys also in charge of garbage collection?」
「Yes. Though we outsource the actual collection, and drivers but… do you have any questions?」
「No. Yeah. Eh? Well, you see, I had a little accident, and I threw out a very precious item… and it seems like the truck came by and picked it up just a while ago…」
「Haha… well that sounds pretty unfortunate. Now, if you’ll excuse me」

The clerk said in a truly sympathetic voice, and then went to hang up the phone

「Wha— wait! Don’t hang up!」
「Yes? Anything else?」
「I told you, didn’t I? It’s a very precious item. Is there really no way for me to get it back or something?」
「But even if you say that… once the garbage has been picked up, it is no longer considered your personal possession. It would be incredibly troublesome if it weren’t like that, you know? We would have all these cases where the wife threw out the important pictures after fighting with her husband, and so on… we actually receive a lot of calls asking us to give something back. But we can’t do that」

Apparently these sorts of complaints and requests were pretty common. And the office worker’s response was accordingly casual about it.

「If we made the garbage truck stop for every call we got like this, then they would never be able to pick up the garbage and the entire city would get filthy. I am extremely sorry, but please give up on that item」
「That’s not it, it’s not just some memento or souvenir. A person’s life may very well depend on this specific item!!」
「Oh… that is a big problem. Forgive me for asking, but what kind of item is this?」
「Well that’s… you know…」

A crossbow that switches two people’s souls and bodies.

There was no way he would believe an explanation like that. The worker sneered at Cecil’s lack of an answer.

「What? Come one, wasn’t it supposed to be important? In any case, just give it up. In any case I will—」
「I- it’s an important piece of evidence!」
「Eh?」
「I forgot to mention it, but I am Cecil Epps, vice director of the medical forensic department of San Teresa City. We are in the middle of the investigation of a strange case, and that item tested positive in a Luminol test. It’s important evidence. If we lost it, then our investigation may prove inconclusive and the case will remain open, so this is what it has come to. Got it? In that case then please help the forensic department」

Cecil was feeling completely hopeless about her ad-lib skills. Mentioning Luminol of all things. Even for a fake specialist, she could have come up with something better to say. Generally speaking, Luminol reactions were used merely as a provisional tool for detecting blood, so it would never be used in a more serious investigation checking important evidence.

However, the person on the phone was a regular worker and it seemed to have an effect on them.

「Oh… you should’ve said so sooner!」
「I- I’m sorry. I was in a rush…」
「No, no. I get it, Luminol reactions. That is something that even I have seen pop up in cop shows all the time, like “CSI”. You need to tell me the whole story. Oh, and talk to me about anything you need」

If anything, it now felt like the worker was going too fast.

「Understood. In any case, I really need you to stop that garbage truck near me.」
「Okay, okay. Ah… but… I definitely need to check your position directly, before I do anything like that. Could you come to the office right now?」
「To the office?」
「I’m sorry, I know it’s troublesome, but…」

Since it was the New Compton office, it couldn’t be that far.

「Understood. I’m on my way」
「Please hurry. If we take too long, the truck might arrive at the incinerators. Ah, my name is Gordon. Pleased to meet you」

Cecil hung up the phone, and started driving quickly. Tilarna (the cat) rolled over on the passenger seat and shouted, but there was no time to pay attention to her.

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