Chapter 181 - Name and Reality 104 {132 Alone} (315-317 Toward Crime 2)
"After that, Kitagawa and Shinoda were found to have been involved in the murder of a work colleague named Takamura from before the war, and Isaka Daikichi was extorted because of it. You didn't hear anything about that from Daikichi, did you?"
Nishida asked, based on what he had heard from Masamitsu.
"Such a thing happened? To be honest, I haven't heard a word of it!"
He replied to Nishida with eyes wide. It seemed he truly knew nothing of the story. On top of that,
"On the other hand, Kitagawa and Shinoda didn't know that you were involved, Onodera-san, did they?"
He checked further.
"I don't know for sure, but since those fellows never said anything to this side until the end, that's probably how it was."
Oshima gave an indecisive answer, but from Masamitsu's testimony, Nishida also thought that point was likely correct.
Even so, regardless of whether Isaka Daikichi actually told Sada Minoru or not, considering he told Oshima "I leaked it to Sada" in order to involve Oshima, there should have been an option to lie to Oshima again to make him take some kind of action to eliminate Kitagawa and Shinoda, who had become nuisances. However, in reality, Daikichi did not feel that much of a threat, just as Masamitsu had testified... In other words, for the two who were also involved in crimes themselves, the meaning of that extortion probably only meant enough to "guarantee their own survival," with a little extra—meaning it was enough to demand a promotion—and Daikichi must have felt that after all.
"By the way, after you received the report from Nakagawa in Tokyo, you contacted Takigawa, didn't you?"
Nishida moved the conversation back a bit.
"Yes. I contacted him directly. I remember he was very pleased that the relationship with the Hakozaki Faction would become closer. For my part, since I hadn't had a direct connection with the Aoi until then, I thought I had crossed a 'bridge of no return,' for better or worse, including the subsequent mutual relationship. That said, since it was to protect my own position, it was also true that I was prepared not to turn back... Because if we utilized them, we couldn't ignore the possibility of being utilized in turn."
"Does that mean there was something the Aoi-ikka side asked of you afterward?"
Yoshimura pushed further.
"It was the bubble era back then... There were a few times I did things like pull strings on the edge regarding land transactions."
"I assume you paid some amount to the Aoi-ikka?"
Nishida also continued.
"I don't think the exact amount was fixed at that point, but in the end, it was two bricks (Author's Note: 'Konnyaku' = 1 million, whereas 10 million is sometimes called one block = brick. 100 million is said to be a cushion. These are terms often used not only in politics but in the underworld). In other words, over 20 million."
"2000! That much..."
Yoshimura groaned involuntarily.
"That's the success fee... I've heard it was 8 million from Motohashi, but that's separate, right?"
Nishida asked for confirmation just in case.
"Naturally. That's the portion that goes to Takigawa. The portion given to Motohashi, who executed it, is completely separate money."
He was answered bluntly.
For Oshima, it was a position he wanted to protect even if it cost nearly 30 million, and it was also a secret. However, now that Motohashi had died and he was being sold out along with Takigawa for revenge, it must be that the net of heaven has large meshes but lets nothing through, or perhaps this is what they call the impermanence of all things. Nishida involuntarily probed,
"But, though I think we'll touch on it again later, you probably never imagined it would turn out like this nearly 15 years after the incident, just before the statute of limitations expired?"
Of course, he remained silent about the fact that Motohashi had exposed the truth after his death with a clear intention.
"Well, even if there was a possibility of it being found out, I never thought it would be right at the limit of the statute of limitations... I'm not going to say I'm not angry. But there's no point in saying this or that to someone who has died, and I don't have the right to say anything to him anyway... In the world of politics, one must always be prepared for things one wants to keep hidden to come out later through betrayal, so if I think of this as an accidental mishap, I don't get that angry. To begin with, I'm the one at fault."
Oshima even went so far as to show a wry smile.
Certainly, in order to rise in the world of politics, considerable maneuvering must be carried out on a daily basis even between people who are outwardly close, in places invisible to the common people. Nishida and Yoshimura would probably never be able to truly accept that "habituation" including that insensitivity in their lives, but from the perspective of someone deeply immersed in the common sense of the political world, perhaps there is a foundation where if it happens, it can be accepted. However, Oshima would likely die without ever knowing that there was a betrayal in the true sense.
"What was the payment method for the reward? I doubt it was a bank transfer, and the expression that the amount wasn't fixed also bothers me."
Nishida was surprised that Oshima wasn't as angry with Motohashi as expected, but he feigned calmness so as not to show it and pressed further.
"I transferred my shares in a certain unlisted company to the Deputy Manager of the Sennan Branch of Hanshin Kogyo Bank, who then transferred them to a company owned by the Deputy Manager's relatives, and that finally went to an Aoi front company."
"Ah. So it was laundering using a method similar to the Recruit Scandal (Author's Note: This is a very famous case of bribery through the transfer of unlisted shares of Recruit Cosmos, a subsidiary of Recruit, but for the timeline and details, see https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%AA%E3%82%AF%E3%83%AB%E3%83%BC%E3%83%88%E4%BA%8B%E4%BB%B6). I see..."
When Nishida sighed, recalling the previous corruption scandal,
"Exactly that. In that incident, I wasn't directly involved, but Hakozaki-sensei had shares transferred to him. Although he wasn't prosecuted, well, various things happened... However, at that time it hadn't come out in the open yet, and he taught me that method. By the way, as for the bank side, the Deputy Manager, and his relatives, I didn't inform them at all about the involvement in the reward for murder, so please don't pursue them unnecessarily. Other than that, the statute of limitations should have passed."
He showed concern. Nishida speculated from Oshima's expression that he probably really hadn't informed them about this matter.
"Regarding that, given the circumstances, I think we'll probably have no choice but to take the form of a witness interview, but only as witnesses... Now, back to the story, so at a stage relatively soon after Sada's murder, Isaka came to be marked by the police, and I believe you, Onodera-san, ended up putting pressure on the police. I speculate that you used the relationship that the then Hokkaido Prefectural Police Headquarters Chief was a junior of former Prime Minister Hakozaki from university and high school?"
"That point is also correct. I, of course, and I also asked Hakozaki-sensei to pressure the Prefectural Police Headquarters, stopping the investigation in a double-layered way. Since we couldn't afford to let Isaka be caught no matter what, we were desperate on our end too."
Having obtained the answer to his question, Nishida questioned him again.
"Even there, isn't it a bit much to say that Representative Hakozaki didn't know specifically about the disappearance of Sada, who was the target of the investigation? After all, including when you asked Takigawa for the murder, didn't Representative Hakozaki know that Sada was being killed by Takigawa's subordinates?"
But Oshima was adamant.
"Even if he knew, it wouldn't be that strange, but I did not have specific talk of the murder with Hakozaki-sensei."
For Oshima, even though he was deceased, there was likely a strong consciousness of not wanting to tarnish the name of Hakozaki, who was his boss. For Oshima, his loyalty to the senior politician who had looked after him was likely a line he could not cross, even if he was reflecting.
"Even so, the police are a typical top-down organization, so if they couldn't resist such pressure, it might be said to be inevitable. However, whatever the reason, as one of their own, I am honestly disappointed that they couldn't somehow manage back then."
Nishida spoke while gritting his teeth slightly. It goes without saying that the feelings of Kosaka, who was involved in the investigation at the time, were also layered there.
"I'm sorry for you guys, but while the police are a powerful authority themselves, they are weak against higher authority... That is what the police are, and it is also your limit."
The gaze of Oshima as he spoke those words was, at this moment, rather as if he were pitying the two of them.
Even for Nishida, since he had no words to deny it despite his irritation, he shook it off and said,
"After that, the plan succeeded brilliantly, and you should have been living days of peace, but around the end of 1991, because Sada's bereaved family made a new discovery, the investigation almost started moving once, or rather, the bereaved family expected it to move. Specifically, a bond and a letter describing the circumstances of how that bond came to be, which the murdered Sada had kept, came out of a safe among his personal effects. Did this also reach your ears, Onodera-san? In reality, the investigation wasn't properly conducted in the end, and nothing moved there either."
Nishida threw out a new question.