Chapter 218 - Superstition 8 {8 Alone} (14–15 Chorus)
"So that happened... However, as long as you're a police officer involved in front-line investigations, to a greater or lesser extent... especially if you were a police officer in the old days, isn't it something that many have experienced in some way?"
Takeshita, uncharacteristically, offered words to comfort Sawai. It might have been because he knew that blaming him now, at this late stage, wouldn't help.
"That doesn't mean it's excusable. And isn't the current result precisely because you all understand that? Above all, I think Takeshita is the one who should feel that most strongly."
No one could find a way to deny Sawai's self-reflection.
"However, considering the various actions Sawai-san took during the series of investigations in '95, when the investigation situation was getting involved in troublesome matters, it seems to me that the regret from that time was influencing you."
When Kurosu spoke words to dispel the heavy atmosphere, Sawai replied,
"At that time, I could only do things like secretly supporting your investigation... It was the bare minimum of the bare minimum."
Certainly, Sawai hadn't been proactive, but he had supported the investigation methods of Nishida and the others as they tried to resist pressure, and he himself must have faced it with a certain amount of resolve.
"That's not true. If you hadn't supported us as the Section Chief back then, we wouldn't have been able to move as we pleased!"
He wasn't the type of superior who exercised strong leadership, but Sawai's attitude as the Section Chief of the Detective Division was sufficiently reliable for his subordinates to actually investigate freely, while keeping a slight eye on the reactions of the police top brass. Nishida's statement was based on that.
"Sorry for making you worry... However, even if I could make you feel like I wasn't yielding to pressure even a little, it doesn't serve as any atonement for breaking Mizukami-san's teachings."
Sawai bit his lip hard, but continued talking.
"This might be a coincidence, but since that incident at the Nakashibetsu Station, no sound has suddenly come out of the 'Jinsei Gekijo' record I received from Mizukami-san... At first, I thought some dust had gotten into the grooves of the record, but that was irrelevant, and even after changing the needle and the player, I couldn't hear it at all; the cause is still unknown and I still can't hear it. That said, I couldn't bring myself to dispose of something I received from a benefactor, so I've come this far. However, now, based on the story I heard from Nishida, I can't help but think that Mizukami-san's anger toward me was the cause... It's unscientific, but I can't help but think so, and I've been vaguely considering that it might be the case for a long time."
"Even something like that happened..."
The cause Sawai speculated was, as he said, unscientific no matter how you thought about it, but for Nishida and the others, who had experienced various impossible things, there was no reason to strongly deny it at this point. Everyone likely generally accepted the former superior's thought, though they didn't say it clearly.
"Then, around June of this year, that record suddenly fell from the shelf... Suddenly, a naive thought occurred to me that maybe I could hear it again now, and I tried playing it on the player for the first time in a long while, but unfortunately, it was the same as ever... In the summer, I sent monaka (T/N: wafer cake with bean jam filling) to Nishida and Yoshimura here in Memuro, right?"
Since the story lacked context, the two were confused, but it was true that "Maple Monaka" from Memuro Town had been sent by Sawai in the summer as a mid-investigation gift and mid-year present.
"Yes, as I wrote in the thank-you note, I enjoyed it with my subordinates. Thank you very much."
Nishida unconsciously and mechanically stated a social courtesy.
"At that time, I was just thinking of sending something since Nishida and Yoshimura were working hard on a case I had left unfinished during my active days. In the end, the record remained unplayable, but it suddenly occurred to me that Mizukami-san loved sweets, especially bean jam wagashi (T/N: traditional Japanese confections), and among them, he liked monaka... So I decided on 'Maple Monaka' and sent it. Even when a murder case occurred at the Ikeda Station when I was active, he bought monaka as a gift for the investigation headquarters. He said, 'You have to take sweets when you're tired.'"
Sawai looked back like that.
"Eh? Was the monaka influenced by Mizukami-san's preference!?"
Both Nishida and Yoshimura were taken aback by the new fact.
"Yes, that's right. Honestly, since it was a gift for adult men, I had thought of senbei (T/N: rice crackers) or arare (T/N: small rice crackers) beforehand, but that's the reason I suddenly changed my mind," he calmly exposed the reason for the decision at the time.
Here, for the first time, the three, including Takeshita, who had heard the circumstances from Nishida and the others, finally realized that the hint obtained from that monaka leaflet was not just a coincidence.
"Well, it seems we were moved exactly as intended," Kurosu said with a wry smile, giving the final blow. Needless to say, he first explained to the other members, who didn't know the circumstances, the flow of reasoning regarding the accidental encounter between the Boss and Sada Minoru, which could be called the start of the case, and how the series of cases unfolded. Similarly, when he explained in detail that the story of Mizukami providing a towel at their reunion in front of Kanehana Station served as an initial hint for the swap between Kuwano and Oshima,
"Then there's no doubt that from Sawai-san to Nishida-san and the others, you were all just skillfully handled by a dead person," Kurosu said with a laugh, driving the point home.
"After all, were we just dancing in the palm of Mizukami-san's hand?"
Nishida seemed a bit dissatisfied, but Sawai calmly advised him,
"Among the words Mizukami-san often said to me and my colleagues was, 'In the end, you have to think for yourself.' At the very least, Nishida and Yoshimura might have received hints from Mizukami-san, but the result was based on your own thinking in the end, so there's nothing to be ashamed of in that itself."
On the other hand, Takeshita also emphasized that there was no need to disparage themselves.
"In the first place, even if the stories of Kuwano Kinya and Onodera Michitoshi, and the relationship between the Boss and Sada, were important for understanding the background of the case, they are peripheral stories that aren't necessary for the indictment itself. Even if you relied on the external power of Mizukami-san's hints, there's no need to lower the evaluation of the results of the case resolution that Nishida-san and Yoshimura achieved."
However, it must also be true that the opinions of Sawai and Takeshita were not simply meant to comfort Nishida and the others, but were based on the fact that there were such aspects.
"That's right... We didn't rely on him for everything. Yeah! I'll say with confidence that it's the result of our own investigation! In the first place, if you're going to say that, we had already borrowed Motohashi's help too," Yoshimura also puffed out his chest aggressively at this point.
"Even so, the radio request for 'Jinsei Gekijo' that ended up saving the Boss's life—there's no way to confirm it anymore, but it must have been Mizukami-san's doing. I'm convinced of that, taking Sawai-san's story into account. At the same time, whether or not to accept that help might have been a test of whether we had forgotten our duty as police officers. It was a result of saving the Boss's life because Yoshimura responded firmly to it."
Nishida also cheered up after saying that.
"With this, Sawai-san, Nishida-san, and Yoshimura all understand the circumstances and feel refreshed, right? Sawai-san, your debt to Mizukami-san was also repaid by Nishida-san and the others..."
Kurosu started to say that, but perhaps realizing that Sawai's own regret had not been resolved at all, he refrained from saying more. However, at that time, Oba began to expand on that story.
"Let's assume that, as Sawai-san thinks, Mizukami-san made even the record unplayable because you went against his teachings. However, if Mizukami-san played a part in leading Nishida-san and the others to the ideal form of a police officer, even through Sawai-san, whom he might call a traitor... Don't you think that with the results achieved by Sawai-san's subordinates, Nishida-san and Yoshimura, Mizukami-san has forgiven Sawai-san, or rather, let the past mistakes be washed away? Maybe that's too convenient... If he were someone who wouldn't forgive no matter what, would he go out of his way to use Sawai-san?"
It was the opinion of the youngest, Oba, but the atmosphere of the place became delicate, neither agreeing nor denying it as it was.
"I'm grateful to be told that, even if it's from Oba... However, I shouldn't lightly say whether or not I was forgiven by the results achieved by my juniors, Nishida and the others. And the fact that I still strongly regret it myself remains unchanged."
Sawai replied clearly. This was likely Sawai's true, unvarnished feelings.
"But if he went out of his way to use Sawai-san for the monaka incident to give such a hint, doesn't it still mean that Mizukami-san isn't rejecting Sawai-san even now? There seems to be some logic in Oba's thinking from my perspective too," Takeshita provided cover for Oba.
"If we only look at the unplayable record, unfortunately, Sawai-san might not be forgiven, but if we assume the monaka incident last year was Mizukami-san's doing, such a thought isn't out of the question," Nishida also ended up speaking quite ambiguously, but he mostly agreed with Takeshita.
"Can you play the 'Jinsei Gekijo' record now?" Oba suddenly asked Sawai.
"Yeah, the player is right there," Sawai pointed with his eyes. And everyone present understood Oba's intention.
"I see, I see! So you're going to check it with that!" Yoshimura shouted lightly while clapping his hands exaggeratedly. Receiving that, Sawai silently and slowly stood up and took out the 'Jinsei Gekijo' record with its yellow-green jacket from the shelf. Then he quietly placed it on the player and returned to his seat.
Jinsei Gekijo record jacket: http://always.kaikado.biz/?pid=45950215
After a "thump" sound the moment the needle dropped onto the disc from the record's speaker, a silence wrapped the room for a while following a faint crackling sound from the speaker. Then, when the intro part by the tone of a taishogoto (T/N: a Japanese stringed musical instrument), typical of Koga Masao (Author's Note: see below), the composer, suddenly flowed, someone—it wasn't clear who—raised their voice for a moment.
"Oh!?"
However, Takeshita calmly confirmed with Sawai,
"Since it became unplayable, you couldn't even hear the intro, right?"
Sawai nodded silently, but surprise could be seen in his expression. However, even when the intro came out, it was certain that Sawai himself was being cautious about whether it could be heard until the end.
Jinsei Gekijo (Since the video I previously featured seems to have been deleted for some reason, here is one by another person): (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zfLpTMxv04&index=2&list=RDZab9bxaz-ik)
However, immediately after the intro ended, the opening lyrics "If I decide to do it, I'll do it all the way" were heard in Murata Hideo's voice, which seemed to resonate from the bottom of his stomach. When the sound continued to flow without interruption, Sawai kept his arms crossed, while the other members all listened in silence as if praying, "Please let the sound keep coming out until the end."
When the first verse ended and Murata's singing voice continued to resonate through the second and third verses, Sawai stood up silently again after confirming it had played to the end. Kurosu said to Sawai with a face full of joy,
"You could hear it properly, couldn't you!"
But Sawai didn't react to that at all; he played it again from the beginning and then returned to his seat.
The taishogoto intro flowed again, but Sawai, with his eyes closed, began to hum along with Murata's singing voice in a groaning manner.
"If I think I'll do it, I'll do it all the way. Isn't that a man's soul? If duty is abandoned, this world is darkness. Don't stop it for no reason, the night rain."
And as he continued to sing the second and third verses alone, Nishida and the others all noticed a single tear streaming down Sawai's cheek from the corner of his closed eyes, but without anyone pointing it out, Sawai finished singing to the end. Here, for the first time, he opened his eyelids.
"Thanks to Nishida and the others, it might not be complete, but the long-standing weight on my chest has been somewhat removed. I'm truly grateful," he said, bowing his head deeply.
"No, no, not at all! We also owe it to you, Sawai-san. Please raise your head."
At the unexpected behavior of their former superior, Nishida and Yoshimura also hurriedly became solemn and bowed back.
The reason why the record's recording suddenly revived is not scientifically certain. However, as Oba said, the theory that Mizukami's spirit gave a certain evaluation to Sawai, who had played his role as a predecessor since '95 by Nishida and Yoshimura producing results in the series of investigations and not forgetting their duty as police officers, is not such a leap in logic. And the interpretation that the 'Jinsei Gekijo' record became playable again as a result of forgiving Sawai, who had once betrayed Mizukami's teachings, was something everyone present thought was not so outlandish, even if it couldn't be called scientific.
"If possible, we'd like to sing together too, especially the first verse."
At Yoshimura's proposal, everyone except Sawai agreed, saying, "Let's do that."
Sawai finally smiled at that and, while complaining,
"If that's the case, I should have set it to repeat," he stood up again and replayed 'Jinsei Gekijo'. Then, when the intro started,
"Sawai-san has already retired, but we're all active except for Takeshita-san, so let's go with 'Isn't that a detective's soul?' which is how Mizukami-san used to change the lyrics!" Kurosu spoke up.
"Alright, let's do that then!"
Nishida took the lead, and everyone began to sing loudly while huddling together to look at the lyrics printed on the record jacket.
"If I think I'll do it, I'll do it all the way. Isn't that a detective's soul? If duty is abandoned, this world is darkness. Don't stop it for no reason, the night rain."
Since six adult men began to make a loud noise in the middle of the night, Sawai's wife called out from across the room,
"It's a nuisance to the neighbors at this hour!"
But no one followed that warning. They sang 'Jinsei Gekijo' to their heart's content until the end, and it goes without saying that they even repeated it and had a grand chorus again, making Sawai's wife even angrier.
● Jinsei Gekijo Lyrics
If I think I'll do it, I'll do it all the way
Isn't that a man's soul?
If duty is abandoned, this world is darkness
Don't stop it for no reason, the night rain
I have no lingering affection for such a woman
But for some reason, tears won't stop flowing
A man's heart, if you're not a man
I gave up, thinking you wouldn't understand
Even if the times and seasons change as they will
Isn't Kira no Nikichi a man?
I also want to live like Nikichi
In this world of duty and humanity
[Author's Note]
'Jinsei Gekijo' is a representative work of Koga Masao, a master of composition in Showa-era popular songs, and his works are referred to as Koga Melodies.
For detailed information about Koga Masao, please see the Wikipedia level for now:
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%8F%A4%E8%B3%80%E6%94%BF%E7%94%B7
Furthermore, the taishogoto is a musical instrument unique to Japan that is often used in Koga Masao's compositions.
For details, please check:
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%A4%A7%E6%AD%A3%E7%90%B4
As mentioned in the first source, Koga Masao was involved in the establishment of the Mandolin Club after entering Meiji University, and is known for his deep connection with the instrument, the mandolin.