My System: An Evolved Computer I Made With My Unique Ability—

Chapter 75 Pickpocketing Incident

An amusement park is something that represented both worlds in one place. It was a place where fun and laughter abound, and yet, a sinister aura could be felt within. It is an understatement to say that an amusement park is a den of thieves, pickpockets, and a cornucopia of criminals, and the fact that this place is their playground is already the norm. One wouldn't go about their day in the amusement park without hearing about a case of kidnapping, a stolen wallet, or simply a stolen cotton candy by the front of the store itself.

However, there are a great number of children who consider the amusement park as their safe haven, a setting where they could enjoy themselves to their hearts' content without worrying about getting bored at all. Of course, such is not the case for a few children who experienced kidnapping in the amusement park.

The Nichijou Amusement Park just opened a month ago and it had already received a number of complaints about thieves and molesters running about. Despite all that, the management decided to turn a blind eye to it because frankly, it would just add to the finances of the amusement park if they were to act on it. Acting on it would mean adding more employees and guards as patrols after all.

On a certain alleyway in between stalls that sold a variety of snacks for all the visitors of the amusement park, a masked man with red eyes and scarlet hair slowly sauntered through, taking a few pauses in between to add to his innocent appearance. With his hands in his pockets, he gazed through the cracks and corners of the stall, taking in the scent of different flavors while enjoying the sight of the hardworking stall owners trying to make ends meet by shouting and promoting their consumables to the people passing by, each with a different expression to show.

"Such a lovely sight," the man muttered to himself, remembering the last time he went to an amusement park. "Now that I think about it... there was one time when that happened, huh. I was young back then, without a care in the world and ultimately arriving at the crossroads of life. And now here I am, still without a care in the world even if it burns. But the only difference is, this time, I'm doing something in order to continue living. Sigh~ those were the days, what would've happened to me if I had said yes back then?"

Lingering thoughts about his past made him snicker at such an absurd and cliche past. 'I'm here on a mission, that's all I should think about right now. Focus, Sei,' He said to himself.

Right when Sei got back to his senses, he detected a faint movement coming to his left. It came from a ramen place called Ichiroku Ramen, probably a parody of a certain ramen shop in a very popular classic series. There, a man with the same mask as Sei gestured that he come to him, making him stop short in his tracks before tackling the guy with full force.

The commotion caused a lot of people who were eating at the ramen shop to pause as they stared at Sei who seemed to have attacked the man without any valid reason. It didn't take long before Sei realized what he did and he immediately got back up and offered his hand to the man he just tackled. The man did know who he was so he didn't shout back at him nor tried to retaliate. He just kept quiet, nevertheless wondering why he was tackled.

"Sorry, force of habit," Sei said to the ramen guy while dusting him off.  "I didn't mean to do that, please don't tell the boss of my blunder."

"It's all right... but you did attract a couple of unwanted attention so that's a different issue. You know how paramount this transaction is... don't fail the boss." The ramen guy continued before speaking in Japanese and bowing towards his customers as if to apologize for a commotion that he didn't even cause.

"The paper's on your pocket. I put it there when you tackled me. I didn't know how the boss foresaw that you'll tackle me but he did instruct me to put the paper there while you tackled me. Wow, as expected of the boss." The ramen guy whispered in a hissing manner.

"Ssh! We don't talk about the boss! Even in public!" Sei said to the ramen guy before speaking in Japanese like him and bowing towards the customers— an exact replica of what the ramen guy did a few seconds ago. Without further ado, he exited the premises with the precious paper in his possession.

While walking out of the narrow alleyway, he saw something happen at least a hundred meters away from him, causing him to act before he could even think. From afar, a man wearing a black cap and a black mask were walking around, pickpocketing wallets here and there without alarming anyone. It was obvious that he was an expert at his job since no one noticed that their wallet was missing. The reason how he did that was swiftly get the wallet while replacing it with an empty one. It was a very complicated yet efficient way of robbing someone and it had worked quite so far. Sei couldn't tell how many wallets he had already stolen but there was already a lot.

Springing into action, Sei once again started his innocent act by walking with his hands in his pockets and pacing himself  just right so no one would notice his presence.  This way of walking had worked for him so far and he was confident it would work once more.

The pickpocket didn't even notice him even though he was already walking right behind him. Just when he was about to grab another man's wallet, Sei nudged him on the shoulder, causing him to drop the wallet he was holding. "Sir, your wallet?" He told the pickpocket, handing him the wallet he had just stolen from the man in front of him.

Sei's sudden  call caused the man to turn around, only to find out that his wallet was being returned to someone else instead of him. It only took him a split second to piece two by two together and he immediately yelled. "PICKPOCKET!"

p There was no way for the pickpocket to run and two guards approached him with all the intent to apprehend him. Apparently, the pickpocket Sei just caught was actually a most-wanted pickpocket called 'Sleight'.  He was an expert at switching wallets of other people and causing them to fight amongst themselves while preying upon more and more victims. There were already a lot of cases when it happened that the management realized that it was a work of a certain pickpocket or a group of them.

"Please sir, you must cooperate." One of the policemen voiced out while pulling out a pair of handcuffs.

"I already told you, that man was trying to frame me when he wasn't able to pickpocket that guy! It wasn't me! I didn't do anything wrong! You should arrest him as well as a possible suspect if you're going to arrest him."

In retrospect, the thief had a very reasonable excuse and somehow, Sei was surprised that a normal pickpocket could think of such an elaborate loophole. He smiled to himself, chuckling as the crowd started getting brainwashed by the pickpocket.

"Yeah! You should arrest him as well!"

"Yes! Yes!"

"How do we know that it wasn't him? And did he have any proof?!"

"Arrest both of them!"

"Mommy... are they bad people?"

"How dare you steal my wallet!" Even the man who got his wallet stolen joined in on the fray, pointing fingers at Sei who didn't do anything wrong.

As for Sei, it was quite a spectacle that he wasn't trying to defend himself. In fact, he even offered his hands to the policemen so they could handcuff him without asking him. "Let's see how it is then, we've got a lot of security cameras all over the amusement park. Don't tell me we won't watch that before we go to the police station? If by any chance you saw me get that pitiful of a wallet, then go ahead and sue me, frankly, I don't care because that— that— and that camera saw what happened. Far out, this is giving my tongue a bad taste."

"Well, not like you'd need those proof anyways," He shrugged, staring at the pickpocket as if expecting him to do something that would prove he was in fact the bona fide pickpocket.

Suddenly, the pickpocket's face turned into a horrible deformation before the flesh all over his body started amassing like a blob growing when it came in contact with water. He let out a scream, but that scream was liquified as if his very throat was turning into liquid itself. In just five seconds, the pickpocket was unrecognizable anymore since he'd grown thrice his size and was uglier than a blobfish out of water.

"Sike, I didn't mean it like that," Sei's jaws dropped at the sight of the monster that almost touched him due to how close he was. While he was trying to get out of the way, a familiar sight caught his attention, causing him to stop in his tracks.

"Wait, isn't that—"