Chapter 217 - Superstition 7 {7 Alone} (12–13 Sawai's Confession)
"I see. From Nishida's talk about the investigation earlier, it seems Yoshimura was quite helpful, and he's truly grown up... But even so, since you're in your late thirties, it's only natural you'd settle down that much... When I was your superior, I was worried because you were too frivolous for your age."
Sawai lightened the mood by intentionally disparaging him at the end, but in terms of growth as a detective, it was a fact that Yoshimura was far ahead of Nishida.
"While I'm grateful to be praised despite all that, if the timing hadn't been right, I think I would have gone all the way back to Kitami. It just happened because I had a pretext or a trigger to speak up to the Team Leader," Yoshimura said, expressing his true feelings in response to Sawai's comment, to which Oba reacted.
"What was it? That trigger?"
"It just happened that the lyrics of Murata Hideo's 'Jinsei Gekijo' (T/N: Theater of Life) flowing from the car radio..."
Since it was natural that Sawai, Kurosu, and Oba wouldn't understand from this statement alone, he explained:
"The lyrics of 'Jinsei Gekijo' saying 'If duty is abandoned, this world is darkness' caught my ear, and the feeling that it's unacceptable to coddle someone involved in a crime just because they're an (police officer's) acquaintance grew stronger... Of course, originally, even suggesting they turn themselves in is quite lenient, if you think about it. Either way, my honest feeling is that I'm glad the Boss is alive to make amends. As Nishida-san looked back earlier, we were able to visit her father's grave before the arrest."
"I see, 'Jinsei Gekijo', huh... Murata passed away earlier this spring, too..."
Sawai spoke with a certain nuance, so Yoshimura expanded the conversation:
"Come to think of it, Section Chief Sawai, you had a special attachment to 'Jinsei Gekijo', didn't you? I remember you singing it at karaoke on the day of that shooting incident where Kitamura-san died."
Takeshita seemed to remember that story, but it was clearly evident from the expressions of Kurosu and Oba that they didn't remember it at all. Nishida didn't remember it at all due to the shock of that day.
"You sure remember that well? I'd completely forgotten..."
The former superior didn't hide his genuine surprise, but he immediately continued.
"It's a story from a few years after I became a police officer, when I was a rookie detective. A superior at the station I belonged to at the time, who took care of me, used to sing it often... Because of that, it became a song with special meaning for me too. Well, when I was young, it was just that I knew the song reasonably well, but as I got older, it gradually began to sink in, and even now it's an important song to me. I still have both the record and the CD."
After saying that, he asked Yoshimura,
"But for the lyrics of 'Jinsei Gekijo' to resonate in Yoshimura's heart, have you reached an age where you can understand that kind of thing? I feel like you're still too young for that, especially in your case."
As usual, Sawai asked Yoshimura while making a light, spiteful remark.
"Unfortunately, it's not that I've come to like enka (T/N: traditional Japanese popular music), nor has it started to feel right for me yet. But those lyrics... perhaps if you've been a police officer for a while, some feelings might start to emerge from them."
Yoshimura, looking straight at his former superior, answered with a tone stronger than his phrasing.
Hearing those words, Sawai nodded many times.
"Just hearing that shows how much you've grown. I'm saying whatever I want, but I have to admit you might be more solid than I was at your age," he said, appearing satisfied. Kurosu, for his part, gave a wry smile.
"At this rate, I might actually be overtaken by Yoshimura in promotions. I have to work hard too."
As for Oba,
"Even though I thought Yoshimura-san was a good person, honestly, back in the Engaru days, there were parts where I wondered about him as a senior detective," he said, also speaking his mind freely. Even Yoshimura was quite displeased, saying,
"I can take it from Kurosu-san, but I don't need to hear that from Oba."
However, it goes without saying that they both took it as humor.
In the midst of this, Takeshita tried to lightly change the flow of the conversation as if to help Yoshimura, who was under concentrated fire.
"By the way, speaking of 'Jinsei Gekijo', both I and Nishida-san's group had a very strange experience on the day of the Boss's 'grave visit'."
Hearing that statement, Nishida and Yoshimura looked at Takeshita in confusion.
"Eh? You're going to talk about that?"
Takeshita noticed this and said,
"Well, it's fine, isn't it? We're a group of friends who know each other well... Even if it's something outlandish, I don't think we'll be treated as crazy."
"Well, if it were just us, it would be one thing, but if you say it, it'll probably be seen as having some credibility, so I guess it's fine..."
Nishida had hesitations, but since Takeshita wanted to say it, he decided to leave it to him.
"What is it, what is it? Don't keep us in suspense. Hurry up and confess," Kurosu egged him on, and Takeshita prefaced it by saying,
"I'm going to tell a story that's a bit hard to believe, but this definitely actually happened, so please listen without laughing," and first began to tell the story of what he and Takagaki experienced at the Jomon Tunnel.
When Takeshita finished his story, Kurosu said,
"If Takeshita-san and that Takagaki person saw it, then it must be true. So the ghost stories about the Jomon Tunnel were real after all..."
He accepted it quite readily, and Sawai and Oba had the same reaction. Since it was such a famous haunted spot, regardless of whether it was scientific, it seems it wasn't thought of as such an outlandish story.
"Even so, isn't it a good story in a way? Because the ghosts of the victims of the tako-beya labor entrusted Takeshita and the others with the message: 'Don't make a society that produces victims like us.' It's not a gruesome story."
Sawai summarized it, but Takeshita gently cautioned him.
"That's just a convenient interpretation by myself and Takagaki-san. There are parts that are too convenient for us."
"That might be true, but at least the fact that they were in Takeshita's car without any harm or danger when you noticed them—from my perspective, I think that's what it means."
Nishida dared to contradict Takeshita's modest words.
"If that's the case, that's fine, of course, but whether or not we're entrusted by ghosts, it's a responsibility originally laid upon us, and the fact that it's heavy remains unchanged... Well then, next, Nishida-san, please tell the ghost story about the police OB."
Takeshita spoke of his mission as a newspaper reporter, but without expanding the story further, he immediately urged Nishida to talk about Mizukami.
"So, what was Nishida's mysterious experience?"
Since Sawai turned the question to him following Takeshita's story, Nishida didn't exactly do it reluctantly, but nor did he do it joyfully.
"Well, this story is similar to Takeshita's just now..." he began.
When he carefully explained everything from the first meeting in front of the cenotaph in '95 to Matsushige's reminiscence about his relationship with Mizukami and Mizukami's background, Kurosu muttered,
"The encouragement and rebukes of a senior police ghost, huh..."
Aside from that, there was no major reaction from the three. Naturally, that wasn't a result of indifference, but because they were lost for words at a story that exceeded their imagination.
However, among them, Sawai had been listening very seriously until the middle of the story, but from then on, he kept his arms crossed and his eyes closed, remaining motionless. Yoshimura, seeing this, couldn't help but make a light remark.
"Oh? Did the Section Chief fall asleep?"
"I'm not sleeping."
Sawai briefly retorted while appearing a bit grumpy, but he remained in a state of deep thought.
Takeshita seemed to sense something from that behavior.
"Sawai-san, do you happen to have some idea about that person named Mizukami?"
Upon hearing that statement, Sawai snapped his eyes open and groaned,
"As expected of Takeshita..."
"Actually... the surname of the superior I mentioned earlier, who took care of me, was Mizukami. Judging from the appearance, age, and the fact that he was from Rubeshibe that Nishida mentioned, I'm sure it's that Mizukami-san. I was under his care at the Ikeda Station, and at that time, he was the Deputy Station Chief."
As Sawai began to say this, everyone's attention focused on him. Sawai continued his confession.
"And he retired from the police force with that post. That Mizukami-san used to hum 'Jinsei Gekijo' while drunk, even though he couldn't drink much... There was no karaoke back then like there is now... However, I never heard the reason why Mizukami-san became a police officer back then..."
When they had heard that much, Yoshimura hurriedly pressed Nishida for confirmation.
"I didn't mention it earlier, but according to the Chairman of the Jomon Tunnel Research Group, he said he was the Deputy Station Chief of the Ikeda Station at the end, didn't he?"
"He definitely said so," Nishida affirmed to Sawai.
"Then it's definitely Mizukami-san... I see, even after death, he was fixated on 'Jinsei Gekijo'... Even so, I had no idea there was such a heavy experience behind his love for 'Jinsei Gekijo'; he never said anything. I knew immediately back then that he had passed away a long time ago, but it's a great pity that I never met him again since the Ikeda Station days."
Sawai had a very complex expression; he likely felt a strong desire to have heard Mizukami's true feelings while he was still alive.
"However... 'Listen, Sawai. Whether you're a detective or just a patrolman, if we as police officers flatter someone or fail to pursue justice for the sake of self-interest, the world won't become decent. Never forget that,' he used to tell me repeatedly when I had just become a detective, and he even went out of his way to sing the 'man's soul' part as 'detective's soul'. So, although I didn't know well what was at the root of that thought, I did sense that there was some kind of strong feeling... And the 'Jinsei Gekijo' record I still have is one that Mizukami-san specifically bought for me just before his retirement. That's how much he wanted a young person like me not to repeat his mistakes, based on what I've heard from Nishida just now."
At this point, Sawai was looking back, likely using a tone that intentionally suppressed his emotions.
"In that sense, even if it was by chance, that thought was passed down through Sawai-san to his juniors, Nishida-san and Yoshimura-san."
At Oba's words, everyone nodded in silence, but Yoshimura added,
"Perhaps it wasn't by chance, but he might have known."
"That might be so," Sawai nodded with his eyes closed.
"However, unfortunately, I ended up going against Mizukami-san's teachings. It's frustrating, but that's the truth."
At Sawai's sudden further confession immediately after, Kurosu instinctively asked,
"Eh? Did something happen?"
"Yeah, it's still burned into my mind and won't leave... No, in the first place, I must never forget it... It's a story from the autumn of Showa 61 (1986)."
Sawai's words drew everyone's attention.
"At that time, I was a Team Leader in the Detective Division of the Nakashibetsu Station, but I received a call from a doctor at a hospital in town I knew, saying, 'A young female patient brought in by emergency died of a head contusion despite our treatment, but it doesn't match the family's explanation, and there might be foul play.' According to the family—specifically, the husband—the story was that she 'fell down the stairs,' but bruises different from those caused by falling down stairs were seen here and there on her body, and even if it were true that she fell down the stairs, I confirmed the body myself and started an investigation, thinking there was a possibility that the husband's violence was the cause. It's what they call domestic violence nowadays. However, the husband's father was the mayor of Shibetsu Town (of course, this is just fiction) within the Nakashibetsu Station's jurisdiction, so it was the usual pattern of pressure being put on the station... In the end, it wasn't turned into a case and was processed as just an accident. I wanted to do something about it, but I didn't have the power to overturn the judgment of those above me, nor did I have the resolve, contrary to Mizukami-san's teachings..."
When Sawai finished speaking, he wore an expression that felt more like a haunting intensity regarding his past failure than one filled with bitterness.