Chapter 137 - Name and Reality 60 {88 Solo} (209-210 The Contents of the Letter from Motohashi)
The main text and a very small part of the cipher in the first letter, as well as the tanka in the second letter, have been significantly revised from the preceding main story. Please understand.
On the afternoon of October 2nd, Nishida was waiting at the Prefectural Police Headquarters for the express mail from Engaru to arrive. Before that, he had moved there after checking the interrogation of Oshima Kaiji at the Sapporo Detention Branch halfway through, but unfortunately—or as expected—there had been no progress there.
He had already obtained the signature of the person himself from the deposition taken when he interrogated Motohashi in Sapporo seven years ago and was prepared to perform a handwriting analysis if necessary. Originally, since it had been sent from the Engaru Post Office the previous evening, its arrival today was uncertain, but he had specifically called the Sapporo Central Post Office to ensure delivery within the day.
A female staff member from the Personnel Division of the General Affairs Bureau brought the express mail that the postal worker had delivered just before 4:00 PM to Nishida in the Criminal Investigation Bureau. He immediately checked the envelope. As instructed, it contained the envelope as it had been sent, and on that envelope, in addition to the address of Engaru Station, "Engaru Station Criminal Investigation Section" was written, followed by "Mr. Nishida" and "Mr. Takeshita" separately, certainly listed together. However, at this point, Nishida thought the handwriting was clearly different in its habits compared to Motohashi's own signature. And when he checked the back, no address was listed at all, only the name "Motohashi Yukio".
However, the moment Nishida saw that name's handwriting, he knew immediately it was different from Motohashi's own signature. Even without putting it to a handwriting analysis, it was obvious it was a different hand. It seemed the incongruity he felt when he saw the handwriting of the recipient had been correct.
It wasn't that Nishida had been expecting much, but to be honest, he couldn't say there was no disappointment. However, since it was clear that the envelope sent to Engaru Station contained something else inside, he carefully cut open the envelope with scissors just in case. Then, he confirmed that there was another, one-size-smaller envelope inside. And the moment Nishida saw it, he decided to put on the gloves he had prepared just in case and take out the envelope inside to check it.
There was no postal code written there, the address was only "Hokkaido", and it was addressed to "Engaru Station Criminal Investigation Section, Mr. Nishida, Mr. Takeshita". At this point, Nishida noticed the handwriting was different from the previous envelope, and seeing the characters for "Motohashi Yukio" on the back, he finally became excited at the possibility that it was his own signature.
He would need to have forensics formally analyze whether it was his signature later, but for now, he hurried ahead. Then, when he cut open that envelope again with scissors, he found a relatively thick bundle of several sheets of stationery folded together, and a thin one, likely one or two sheets folded together. Nishida took a deep breath, then slowly opened the bundle of sheets first. (Author's Note: Please read on the premise that it is written vertically. Also, unless you are using a computer with a large screen, various things will be hard to understand. An environment capable of displaying 37 characters or more horizontally in one line is required.)
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Dear Sirs,
The time you receive this letter will probably be around early October 2002, right? Since the person I asked to send the letter before I died doesn't know your current affiliations, I had them send it to "Engaru Station" for the time being. It might have been passed around somewhere and you ended up receiving it much later than planned, but that's not our responsibility. If you're unlucky, it's not impossible that it got lost somewhere, but if you're reading this now, then naturally that couldn't have happened.
By the way, as for the person I asked, you'll probably find out because you'll check the fingerprints on the envelope, but it's Kuboyama, who has a prior record for attempted murder. It seems the execution of the death penalty is announced suddenly on the day, and in my case, since my ties with my relatives are cut, I'm not even allowed visitations, so I asked the prison chaplain who looked after me to hand this letter to Kuboyama, and from there it went to Kuboyama, and the plan was for Kuboyama to send it later so that you'd be reading it in the autumn of 2002.
There was also a way to have Kuboyama send it in advance, but I thought it would be better to hand it over along with the will written just before the execution, or rather, that's how it should have turned out. Now, I've explained how the letter reached you. So, that Kuboyama, looking from 2002, didn't return to the group after being released eighteen years ago in order to go straight. And although he's not my immediate subordinate, he's like a younger brother figure to me.
While I was rejected twice until my death sentence was finalized, he ignored his lawyer's advice to appeal after the first trial verdict was handed down, and his sentence was finalized without an appeal. He went into the slammer exactly as the first trial verdict dictated. Even when I was excommunicated, Kuboyama, who wasn't directly involved, immediately showed his loyalty to me and was a serious guy enough to help me out. Well, I guess there's no such thing as being serious when you've committed attempted murder. However, because such a guy has no ulterior motives, he ends up on the side being used by the people above. Even when he shot the rival group's young head as a hitman, in the end, he was taken advantage of in that way. It's pitiful, if you say so, but the yakuza is just like a corporate organization after all.
However, fortunately, Kuboyama was young enough to start over. If he had returned to the group after being released, it might have been counterproductive, but he was able to go straight immediately. That aside! The Sada Minoru incident happened on September 26, 1987. Naturally, the statute of limitations has already expired, right? By the time you see this. Solving it was impossible! In other words, from the investigation of the incident, it means it'll end with the facts remaining unclear after all. Needless to say, of course, this is on the premise that the investigation probably didn't go well, and if I think about it, although you might have uncovered everything, well, that's probably not the case.
To be honest, since I've had nothing but bad luck since being excommunicated, the fact that the investigation over there wasn't going well even became a great joy to me. While watching you all running around in confusion, misled by my words and actions, I was using it to relieve stress... Especially the sight of the straight-laced Takeshita clutching his head was the best reward for me. However, on the other hand, Takeshita is quite sharp among those I know. In that sense, I think it was better than anything to be able to go up against Takeshita before I died. If Takeshita is seeing this letter, I want him to understand that's my unfeigned true intention. I'm quite happy to have won an interesting game at the end of my life. On the other hand, it probably won't be interesting for Takeshita.
Now, in this letter, considering that it might be censored when taken out, I don't intend to write anything specific, but since you'll lose investigative authority due to the statute of limitations, you've already given up, right? I'll just make a victory declaration. Even if there's a statute of limitations, it's better not to say anything until the end. I can't betray anyone, and I intend to take it to my grave just like this. By the way, since I've gained some mental leeway, I've recently awakened to studying. Originally, I was the type who could do schoolwork, but since I only focused on doing bad things in middle and high school. It's too late, if you say it's too late, to finally feel like studying, but according to the chaplain, if you have the will, age doesn't matter.
Well, there's no way the chaplain truly believes that from one to ten, but he wouldn't say such a thing if it were a complete lie. I'm taking it somewhat seriously, changing my mindset, and looking at various textbooks and the like that I once threw away more than thirty years ago. However, as expected, it wasn't so easy to make up for the debt of not having studied for all those years with just raw guts. I was especially hopeless at math. It couldn't be helped, so I started over from around the sixth grade of elementary school, but I was out by around the first year of high school. On the other hand, if it was Japanese, even high school was easy, so I'm working particularly hard on that. English was originally something I could do fairly well—oops, if I say unnecessary things, it seems I'll be prying. That's why I'm writing this while finding time between studying Japanese and English every day. I have to finish writing it somehow before the execution that will come someday. I can imagine even before that day comes that there will absolutely be no such leeway just before the execution.
Well, I've written at length with a smug face, and you're probably angry, but although I was only involved with you for a very short period, it's a fact that it was a fun time. In that sense, I'm truly grateful to you. See ya.
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The long text of the letter began by describing the reason and circumstances of why this letter was sent after Motohashi died and delivered to Nishida now, and about the person who received that request. And after that, it contained things like a victory declaration based on the misconception that the truth of the Sada Minoru case had become unknown due to the statute of limitations, and descriptions of his state of mind at the time, which seemed almost rambling, directed at the police—or rather, directly at Nishida and Takeshita.
At the end, although he was being thanked? it also served as a vent for being mocked, but Nishida muttered a small curse while being careful of his surroundings, "You've got the wrong idea about the statute of limitations, you bastard," and the fact was that this somewhat relieved his pent-up frustration. Furthermore, the handwriting of the text also looked the same as the envelope this was in. Nishida thought there was a high possibility that this was also in Motohashi's own hand.
However, at a stage before thoroughly reading this letter, Nishida had already seen through the fact that even if what was written in this letter itself contained the truth, there would be another hidden content.
This was because, similar to the cipher sent from Shiino to Motohashi in prison in '95, even though this letter only had the vertical ruled lines of the stationery, the horizontal height of the characters was also relatively neatly aligned, as if there were squares. Therefore, based on Takeshita's struggle at that time, he immediately understood, "This must be a cipher written in the same way as back then."
And he opened the other thinly folded stationery.
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Dear Sirs,
The day I am writing this is October 17, 1997. This morning, I was told of the execution by the prison officers... I knew it would come eventually, but they're a truly restless bunch. Now, in the room I was taken to, I'm writing this letter instead of a will. However, since there's almost no one I should write to, it's a pathetic state of affairs even for me that I'm forced to write even to you...
I had heard somehow that there would be time to write a will, but even so, I can't help but think what on earth can be done about this busyness. Fortunately, it was good that I was always carrying the letter I had prepared earlier just in case something like this happened, but since I was suddenly taken toward the execution chamber immediately after being told of the execution, if I hadn't had it, it would have been left behind in my solitary cell. It was really close.
That aside, it's bad that it's become a mess in this situation, but this is a letter instead of a will. I'll read a death poem in the form of a tanka that I've been studying hard lately. In a sense, it's a poem dedicated to the two of you. Look at it closely and feel even my last thoughts.
Yake no sue / Fuminukamedomo / Yomi no kata / Mireba hon'i e / Namidatsu kokochi
(T/N: At the end of desperation / Though I would step through / Toward the underworld / Looking there, toward a change of heart / A feeling of waves rising)
Oriori no Uta — Shochi
How's that? It's a well-made poem for not having much time, isn't it? The meaning of the poem is, "I was suddenly told of the execution of my sentence today and became desperate in various ways. However, in the end, I accepted the hanging and made up my mind to step through the floor that drops, but when the other world flickers before my eyes, as expected, that determination wavers, and it's a restless state of mind."
However, since I thought of it in this rush, I don't really know the kanji for the 'yake' part, and it's a flaw that it's somewhat poorly finished there. If I were in my solitary cell, there would be a dictionary there, but I can't check it here. That point is very regrettable, but it can't be helped. Other than that, it's a masterpiece... Oh, while I'm writing that, it seems I'll even run out of time to eat the sweets of my last supper. Live a long life for my sake too! Well then, truly goodbye!
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In old detective dramas and movies, there are scenes where family members and others come to see the condemned and say goodbye before the execution, but an actual execution is quite a frantic affair, where one is suddenly told of the execution around 9:00 AM on the day of the execution and is taken straight to the Buddhist room near the execution chamber.
There, a short time is given to eat a light meal such as sweets for the last time in one's life, smoke a cigarette, or write a will, and a prison chaplain (the chaplain can be a priest, minister, etc., and other than Buddhism can be selected depending on the death row inmate's faith) recites sutras or reads the Bible, which is supposed to be a formal salvation of the death row inmate's soul.
After that, the death row inmate is taken to the execution chamber, and while a prosecutor, a prosecution secretary, the detention house director, and about ten detention house staff (there are 3 to 5 people who press the execution buttons; the Tokyo Detention House is seen to have three buttons, and the Osaka Detention House five buttons. Naturally, it is not known which of them pressed the real execution button), and others such as the chaplain and a doctor are present, the hanging is carried out.
By the way, since they say the body is left hanging for 30 minutes after the button is pressed and the floor opens, it is a truly indescribable final scene, even for a heinous criminal. After that, the doctor confirms the death, and the execution of the death penalty is completed.
In the first part, I wrote that "things like detective dramas don't happen," but to be precise, it should be "currently." It is said that since a death row inmate who had been told of the execution in advance committed suicide the day before the execution at the Fukuoka Detention House in Showa 50 (1975), it has taken this form, and until then, scenes like those in dramas were apparently commonly seen.