Chapter 160 - Name and Reality 83 {111 Solo} (262-264 Takeshita's Psychological Speculation of Motohashi 3)
"In that case, what do you think was the meaning of burying only these things?"
"Kuboyama-san, I think of it this way."
Takeshita said briefly, and after closing his mouth as if to pause for effect, he began to speak in a deliberate manner.
"...This is merely my speculation... While the original purpose of these pieces of evidence being placed in an urn and buried in the grave by Motohashi-san was not primarily to serve as evidence in an emergency, but rather as a substitute for his remains, as I said earlier... It's slightly different from being a substitute for his remains in a direct sense; I believe it was a substitute for his remains as a proof of confession for Motohashi-san."
Having said that much, he gave a slight wry smile at his own difficult phrasing.
"That's a bit hard to understand. Let me break it down and explain it a little more."
He lightly tapped his own head as an apology to the two of them and continued.
"As I said earlier, Motohashi-san did not intend to confess to the murders during the investigation, interrogation, or trial process. However, on the other hand, for the sake of atonement, he made sure he would certainly be condemned. The fact that he was in a position where he couldn't confess was written specifically here, wasn't it?"
As he said this, Takeshita lightly picked up the letter that had come out of the grave, which was placed on the table of the reception set, and then put it back down.
"Of course, the fact that the meaning and weight of what Motohashi-san did were understood by Motohashi-san himself is clear from the fact that he left a situation where he would be found guilty, as I mentioned just now. Formally speaking aside, it may have taken a long time for him to clearly and strongly realize the depth of his sins and the need for atonement... To be precise, until he clearly broke away from yakuza logic and moved toward actions based on general ethics. But presumably, the clever Motohashi-san could easily imagine the mental suffering that would continue until his death, even before he was arrested... Or rather, he had probably been suffering internally to some extent since the early stages of his crimes... If so, it wouldn't be strange to think he wanted to vent that suffering to someone, right? And the only person Motohashi-san could give a 'confession of sins' to—by presenting evidence involving his Aniki-bun Takigawa, which was supposed to be kept hidden—was Hinako-san, who had already passed away. There was no fear of her telling anyone, and he wouldn't be giving the person he vented to the suffering of keeping a serious crime secret, or the suffering of 'handing over' Motohashi-san to the police... Even with his best friend Kuroda-san—no, precisely because it was the single-minded Kuroda-san—he must have hesitated to do that."
As he spoke, Takeshita lowered his gaze for a moment, empathizing with Motohashi's state of mind.
And then,
"At the same time, I suspect he deliberately avoided putting in anything unnecessary for that confession, such as Motohashi-san's direct mementos or personal effects that were already soiled by this world. However, on the other hand, there was a letter addressed to Kuboyama-san along with the evidence, but I think that was unavoidable. In the first place, he could have left it outside the urn, but for perfect preservation, inside would be more convenient, and he probably thought that much compromise was permissible... Anyway, setting the letter aside, he buried only the things necessary for confession for the crimes he committed in the urn. I speculate that this confession was a straightforward 'atonement' for his life itself, including the fact that he had strayed from the path of humanity as a yakuza in addition to the murders. In this way, he could 'co-habit' with Hinako-san not in the form of remains or mementos as remnants of a soiled previous life, but as a proper 'soul' alone... What truly became a substitute for Motohashi-san's remains was not something derived from Motohashi-san himself, but for him, it was the spirituality itself that remained after atoning for everything... Only the things that proved the 'truth' of his own murders were buried as symbols to guarantee that spirituality... And if that were the case, it seems he thought it wouldn't violate the premise of Kuroda-san's permission for burial in Hinako-san's grave, which was 'having become a katagi.' I have reached the conclusion that this is the true reason why there were no mementos at all in the urn, only evidence."
He gave a long explanation leading up to his conclusion.
After this, an atmosphere that was hard to describe rapidly dominated the office, but as if to break it, Kuroda began to speak calmly.
"Now that five years have passed since Yukio died... The truth will no longer be told from his own mouth, and... I don't accurately know what his inner thoughts were. ...However, I feel that your explanation makes enough sense to make me think so... Not only that, it's also a story that is somewhat saving for me. In that sense, I also have a wish that your thinking is correct..."
Takeshita felt grateful to have Kuroda say that, but,
"Even so, such a deduction... it can't be said to be necessary for your investigation, can it? Well, the current Takeshita-san isn't a detective... What is the reason for you, as a newspaper reporter now, to delve so deep?"
The words that followed were unexpected.
However, Takeshita remained calm.
"It is as you say. Even if I imagine Motohashi-san's state of mind this much on my own, I have no investigative authority, and unfortunately, the meaning that speculation about the reason for Motohashi-san's actions gives to the investigation itself is almost non-existent—one could even say zero... But even so! I suppose the reason is that I wanted to re-examine now the meaning of why the police and I were so thoroughly jerked around by Motohashi-san back in '95."
He analyzed his own unnecessary behavior.
"You want to re-examine it?"
Kuroda asked again in response.
"Yes. I felt this way about Motohashi-san's personality, and I heard it from Kuboyama-san earlier, but he seemed to be the type who wanted to tease people a bit, so it's true that we were played for fools during the interrogation in '95. Even so, as far as I've thought about it like this, I believe it's almost certain that the purpose of checking whether we were at a level where we could 'meet the expectations of a substitute for the accusation' was also within that behavior back then. If that's the case, deriving and verifying the reasons for Motohashi-san's actions during his lifetime from various angles one by one now is a bit of a 'payback' to Motohashi-san, and at the same time, I have a feeling it's a 'memorial service' (T/N: kyouyou)..."
After answering that much, Takeshita smiled to himself as if it were funny.
"But to be honest, I didn't have the feeling of it being a memorial service at all until today. After deciphering the letter addressed to us and coming here to Osaka, and then meeting Kuroda-san and Kuboyama-san and hearing various stories about Motohashi-san, it's a very strange emotion that has suddenly sprouted for the first time... Until then, I only had the feeling of wanting to solve the mystery Motohashi-san presented now and somehow get back at him with a seven-year time lag. It's just that through today's events, I've become interested in the human being named Motohashi Yukio anew, and I've come to want to re-grasp his character in my own way, I suppose... Naturally, since I've only seen very fragmentary parts, I think it would be very rude not only to Motohashi-san but also to the two of you who were close to him to feel like I've understood everything in this short time."
He said and scratched his head.
"Hmm... Payback and a memorial service for Yukio... I guess it's what they call 'Enshuu' (T/N: a mix of gratitude and resentment). However, considering that he set various things up before he died to leave the reopening of past cases to you now, he must have seen through your insight and reasoning power within that short interrogation time, not just your passion for investigation... I can think so just by listening to Takeshita-san's story now."
Kuroda spoke to him somberly.
"Well, I don't think he evaluated me that highly... I think I was rather half-mocked by him."
Takeshita gave a wry smile, but perhaps because being praised by Kuroda made him feel slightly uncomfortable, he suddenly changed the subject.
"After Motohashi-san was 'voluntarily' caught, the lawyer's office (Midosuji Legal Office) involved with the relatives of Diet Member Umeda of the current Umeda Faction, where Oshima Kaiji is, took on his defense. Formally, it's in the form of Motohashi-san paying the money, but the reality is likely different. That said, if the unpaid reward for the final murder was diverted there in a sense, it might have been in the form of Motohashi-san paying for it in the end..."
He abruptly resumed the explanation of the main thread of the case.
Indeed, since Motohashi had not received the final reward, it could be said that the result was the same. On top of that,
"From Takigawa's perspective, it would be unbearable if Motohashi-san gave a full confession, but on the other hand, if he asked for a lawyer related to the syndicate, that would be like exposing the involvement of the Aoi-ikka himself, so he must have been forced to request Motohashi-san's defense through the Hakozaki Faction... the current Umeda Faction, with whom he had backroom ties. With the meaning of 'I'll provide a lawyer for you, so keep quiet' to Motohashi-san... Even without that, it's truly ironic that Motohashi-san would have stayed silent anyway."
He continued. Regarding this as well, it could be said that Takeshita's deduction from seven years ago was correct.
"Really, they're the same as ever in those respects."
Kuboyama spat out, perhaps based on his own experience.
"However, Takigawa could not fully believe in Motohashi-san's loyalty until the end and was too focused on utilizing him. If Motohashi-san was going to be executed, they wanted to clearly show that they were not involved in Sada Minoru's murder at all, so they used a newspaper reporter they knew to approach Motohashi-san and tried to make the dead man shoulder everything, including Motohashi-san himself. However, even back in '95, that maneuvering backfired and instead led us to suspect that the Aoi-ikka or Oshima Kaiji was involved in something. And because we pursued that point with Motohashi-san, the Motohashi-san of that time had the feeling of 'You did something unnecessary! Now I'm suspected even more! My confession was a waste,' and I thought he had implied to us through 'a certain method' that the maneuvering was a fact. It was a confession at a level that couldn't be prosecuted, merely suggesting it somehow. But in reality, it wasn't just that level of a small payback; that maneuvering by the Takigawa and Oshima side itself had become the trigger for Motohashi-san to think of revenge, looking back now... In the end, they got what they deserved, Takigawa and the others. It's karma."
At this further explanation from Takeshita, Kuroda said,
"Even though he wasn't a bad kid yet, back when he was a primary school boy, if you made him angry, he'd pin down even a middle school delinquent... That temperament broke through the shell of loyalty to the syndicate and came to the surface."
He looked back on the childhood of the two.
"And when we synthesize these things, I think the reason why Motohashi-san wrote a letter to us seven years later that seemed to provoke us and make us conscious of being hostile to the investigation side—on the surface, based on a mistaken recognition, saying 'The statute of limitations has passed, so solving the case must have been impossible, right?'—has also been mostly clarified."
As Takeshita said this, he took out the letter that had arrived from Motohashi from his breast pocket again and showed the actual item to Kuroda. He had shown it and given a brief explanation including the code breaking on the way to Kobe, but this was the first time he had shown it properly in this setting.
Kuroda looked at the "surface" text as it was with a wry smile, but after confirming he had finished seeing it, Takeshita resumed his talk.
"To be honest, before coming here, I also had the view that because the letter written by Motohashi-san himself, which would reach us and Kuboyama-san after his death, became the trigger for a new development in a closed case, he had a desire to hide that fact. I thought that was the reason he sent it as a coded message. After all, for a yakuza, selling out one's boss is something that would get a dishonorable label attached even after death. ...No, I've put it a bit too conveniently for myself. To be precise, until I came here, I couldn't recognize it that clearly, but as was written even more clearly in the letter from Motohashi-san to Kuboyama-san that came out of Hinako-san's grave today, such a thing is undoubtedly a taboo for a yakuza. In other words, if he wanted to protect his honor as a yakuza even after death, I thought such an intention was quite possible, in a more vague form."
Takeshita spoke honestly about the speculation he had when he received and deciphered the letter in Hokkaido.
"There's no mistake that there are such aspects for a yakuza. I couldn't say who ordered the hit even if my mouth were torn. It wasn't that I didn't fear sanctions from the Aoi... In hindsight, it was ironic that staying silent not only allowed me to continue being a yakuza but also helped me wash my hands of it."
Kuboyama backed up that speculation from his own experience. However,
"But as you might have realized from what we've touched on so far, for Motohashi-san, such things no longer mattered, and it's natural to see that he was filled with the desire to take revenge on them. Or rather, in the letter that reached Kuboyama-san immediately after the execution, it was written in code that he didn't care about yakuza appearances, so that is surely the correct answer."
Takeshita showed that he had rejected his initial theory.
"That would be the part hidden in the letter to me, 'I intend to make Takigawa atone for his sins too,' exactly that part?"
Kuboyama supplemented again, but since he had been immediately rejected just before, he spoke in a somewhat hesitant manner.
"Yes. Since he had switched to such a new and strong resolution, it's unreasonable to think he was still clinging to things like yakuza appearances. If so, for what purpose did he disguise that text? It's certain that he was clearly trying to deflect the intention of the code or take it in the opposite direction. If so, there are only two possible purposes."
"What is that conclusion?"
Kuroda hurried him along.
"First, it was for the purpose of ensuring that the strategy for the accusation Motohashi-san thought of would not be exposed even if the letter was seen by a third party or a malicious enemy. Well, this is naturally a given. He wouldn't want to be obstructed. However, the other, and rather most important purpose, must have been to absolutely protect Kuroda-san 'and the others.' Even if he was going to have you cooperate in the accusation, I think he absolutely wanted to avoid causing trouble because of it."
"Huh? Protect me?"
Kuroda asked back with a dumbfounded face.
"In the letter sent to us and the letter sent to Kuboyama-san, not only the surface text but also the coded text in both cases used the name 'Tadano' instead of Kuroda-san's name. Even in the coded text where even kanji were not used in their original form, the name 'Kuroda' does not appear even once, thoroughly. Even in a coded text that is quite difficult to decipher?"
Having said that, he glanced at Kuroda to gauge his level of understanding and continued.
"Also, in the letter of instructions to Kuboyama-san that was hidden in the grave, he was referred to as 'that guy.' At the stage of April '91 when he buried it in the grave, he probably planned to use some kind of code to have Kuboyama-san go to Kuroda-san's place to ask about the location of the grave in the unlikely event of an accusation, just like this time. Therefore, despite the fact that normally only Kuboyama-san or Kuroda-san could be expected to reach that point, although he didn't use the disguise of Tadano, he still didn't use Kuroda-san's name specifically at all. To be this thorough means that the recognition that it must absolutely not leak was always in Motohashi-san's mind, without a doubt!"
Kuboyama, who was listening to this opinion, nodded silently and said,
"Since the letter that came to me had 'Tadano' written even in the code, I thought that Kuroda-han's identity must absolutely not be brought to the surface. However, according to the explanation I got from Takeshita-han this morning, the letter sent to Takeshita-han and the others—who came from Hokkaido and were only slightly involved with Aniki—similarly used the Tadano notation, but the content was such that I had to let them meet Kuroda-han... So I honestly thought, 'Isn't that strange?' It was a complex emotion, a mix of the unconvincing thought that the Hokkaido police detectives and former detectives were trusted far more than I was, and the inexplicable thought that it didn't make sense. However, as I said earlier, I'm now convinced that Aniki thoroughly trusted these people's 'obsession with the investigation.' It's a bit sad if that means human trust in them is higher than in me after a long association, but I guess it didn't mean it in that way."
He said and gave a faint smile, looking somewhat happy.
"Since it might be hard to understand, I'll explain it a bit more specifically to Kuroda-san. The only person among the yakuza who knew about the relationship between Kuroda-san and Motohashi-san was... to be precise, he's a former yakuza now, but it's almost certainly only this Kuboyama-san."
Takeshita said yakuza once, but corrected himself, thinking it was bad for Kuboyama.
"Don't worry about that, just continue, continue!"
Since Kuboyama urged him, he started over.
"If that's the case, if the letter entrusted after the execution for the purpose of the accusation Motohashi-san resolved to make were to leak to the Aoi-ikka or their henchmen... unfortunately, this includes the police... and even if the code were deciphered—though the possibility of that is quite low—if Kuroda-san's name wasn't there, the other party would have no way of knowing of Kuroda-san's existence from that alone. They wouldn't know who Tadano is. Even if they pressed Kuboyama-san, whose name was there, to tell them 'who Tadano is,' he must have trusted that Kuboyama-san would remain silent even at the risk of his life. In other words, Motohashi-san, who didn't want to cause trouble, tried to thoroughly avoid the possibility of harm being inflicted on Kuroda-san by an adversary on the assumption that he knew something. As the first line of defense, in the letter to us, he used a surface text that mocked the police, and in the letter to Kuboyama-san, he made it look like a mere story of past memories to prevent his true intentions from being exposed. And furthermore, even in the code that conveyed his true intentions, he didn't use Kuroda-san's name at all. That's how it is. Of course, there was the very important premise of strong trust in Kuboyama-san."
Takeshita spoke all at once, though slowly, and felt a strong thirst in his throat again, this time reaching for the tea.
"That guy Yukio, he thought that much of me... His sin is an unforgivable sin, but maybe I blamed him too one-sidedly..."
Kuroda's timid side showed its face again, but Kuboyama was alone and peacefully satisfied. As a younger brother figure, he must have been happy about the magnitude of trust from his Aniki-bun. And Takeshita opened his mouth without much of a pause.