Beware of t, Part 3/City's Trump Card

is the third chapter of Futo Tantei and the third part of the Be Wary of the t storyline.
==Synopsis==
Another murder has happened on the streets of Futo, a victim of the cannibalistic Road Dopant. With the client losing patience and faith in Shotaro and blinded by love, can the detectives protect him from the terror of Road before Chuuta becomes its next meal?
==Plot==
Shotaro arrives in the morning at a crime scene with the Futo Police Department there with forensics to study the corpse of the victim, all signs pointing to the same serial killer as the body has severed limbs just like the previous murders. Shotaro knew that something was up as Detective Jinno pulls him aside and as a favor lets Shotaro look at the body in exchange for any info he has later on and to contact him if he finds anything. Since Jinno is part of the Paranormal Crimes unit and is on the scene, this means that the Road Gaia Memory is behind it. Phillip agrees on this when Shotaro calls him and asks if this was in relation to Renji Tachikawa. Shotaro says the murder was more random as the victim was 22 year old Takagi Masahiro, a trade office worker from West Kazakiri. Phillip deduces that Road was running out of energy at the time, thus needed to feed on a random target to replenish its power and this eliminates the idea of Tokime having a grudge against Renji Tachikawa as a modus operandi. Shotaro also notes the victim had his belongings stolen, presumably by Tokime. Philip thinks they have all the pieces of the puzzle together to solve the case, but Shotaro is not so sure as he feels something is missing from the clues. Philip thinks Shotaro is smitten with Tokime as well and is worried that his partner's naiveté might get him in more danger this time, despite that being one of his better qualities.
Shotaro goes around Futo again to search for more clues, but most of his contacts have nothing else to give on the Witch of the T Junction. Shotaro is worried something bad will happen to Tokime if he does not find her first. Tired after several hours of searching, Shotaro rests at a cafe, frustrated he couldn't get any leads. He worries what will happen to Chuuta if he finds out Tokime is actually a murderous Dopant and how to break the news to him, when a voice calls to him. Akira Aoyama, a young middle school student and friend of Shotaro, arrives and comes to sit with him. After some talking, Shotaro confesses sometimes no matter how hard he tries to be cool, he always feels like he is in his mentor's shadow. Akira disagrees, thinking he is a great detective, he doesn't have to be on the same level as Sokichi, just try to be himself. Shotaro nearly breaks down and cries, only to be startled by Akira's girlfriend. Akira heard about the case from Akiko and he has some rumors recorded from students around his school that might be helpful that his girlfriend brought in a notebook. Akira says he wanted his girlfriend to help Shotaro because he can't do everything alone as he leaves. Shotaro admits he might have been taking too much of this burden on by himself on the case. As he reads the notebook, he sees most of the rumors are dead ends, but one catches his eye that might go somewhere.
As he rides to his destination, he narrates that two students claimed they were nearly attacked by the Witch, who was protecting a tree and refused to kill them as the "scent of their blood would ruin the fragrance", screaming for them to leave and firing energy blasts at them. Tokime had a fragrant smell on her body when she got near him, which Shotaro recognizes as the scent of a dogwood blossom. He searches across Yunagi Street for locations of dogwood trees, finding one of the largest ones near a future site of one of Mr. Tachikawa's apartment buildings. Before he can investigate, Shotaro sees Chuuta hiding behind a pile of cement pipes. Shotaro asks him to go back as Mr. Tachikawa's men could be here and could try to capture him. Chuuta refuses, thinking the detective is all talk and he is no closer to finding his beloved and he wants to look for her himself. Shotaro notices the branches of the tree moving and pushes Chuuta out of the way as a beam of energy nearly hits them and carves a tear in the pavement. Chuuta then looks in horror as he sees Tokime as the Road Dopant, who is starving and wants to feed as her energy is rapidly getting low. Upon Shotaro identifying her as the Road Dopant, she decides to target both of them as her meal so her secret does not get out. She channels her energy into a flaming wheel generated from her wrist and throws it towards Chuuta. Realizing he can't dodge it, Shotaro jumps in front of Chuuta and tells him to close his eyes and believe in him. Shotaro tells Chuuta that even if he is all talk and meanders about to find clues, he will do one thing even at the cost of his life: protect his clients. Shotaro faces the oncoming wheel heading towards him, ready to pull out the Doubledriver from his vest to become Kamen Rider Double.
To Be Continued....
==Characters==
Kamen Rider Double	Philip & Shotaro Hidari
===Allies===
*Chuuta Tsubosaki (client)
*Akira Aoyama
====Futo PD====
*Mikio Jinno
*Shun Makura
====Futo Irregulars====
*Santachan (cameo)
===Villains===
*Sabu (Road Dopant)
===Others===
*Tokime
==Notes==
*References to the Kamen Rider W TV show and series:
**Shotaro mentions that he will protect Chuuta as that is the most important priority for him as a detective. Both he and Sokichi Narumi hold the client's safety above all else as their main philosophy as private investigators. This was lectured to Akiko by Shotaro once when she acted reckless and nearly got herself and a client in danger during the Sweets Dopant case.
*First chapter where Akiko does not make an appearance.
*The image of Santachan in this chapter is an edited recycling of the same comic panel from Chapter 1.
*Due to a brief publication hiatus from Weekly Big Comic Spirits by skipping Issue 40, the Futo Tantei manga would go on hiatus for one week, then return the following week with the next 2 stories in a double issue to make up for lost time.
*This chapter marks the first appearance of the Doubledriver in the manga, albeit for a small cameo.
==Navigation==
Category:Futo Tantei
Category:Futo Tantei Chapters