Chapter 54 - Light and Shadow 33 (176–178: Sudden Developments at the Karaoke Parlor)
On November 10th, with Motohashi's indictment for murder (the abandonment of a corpse was overlooked as he did not personally perform it, and the actual perpetrators, Kitagawa and Shinoda, were already deceased), the investigation into all the incidents pursued since June had "effectively" concluded. Consequently, Yoshimura proposed holding a celebratory party to honor their hard work. In reality, however, it functioned less as a celebration and more as a "consolation party" for failing to reach the mastermind, and as an encouragement party for Takeshita personally, who had served as the vanguard in pursuing Oshima Kaiji but ultimately suffered "defeat."
In truth, Takeshita had been devoid of spirit for the past few days, responding sluggishly to inquiries from Sawai, Nishida, and his subordinates, which had begun to worry Nishida. In that sense, Yoshimura's proposal was a godsend.
Ultimately, Yoshimura suggested going to karaoke for a change of pace, similar to their time in Osaka. (They decided to avoid a drinking party because, although Engaru was currently uninvolved, shooting incidents involving construction companies were frequent, and there was a possibility of emergency call-outs.) Sawai left it to the organizers, and a karaoke tournament was arranged for all members of the Detective Division who could attend.
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"I'd like to invite Kitamura as well, is that alright?"
Nishida remembered the conversation he had with Kitamura during the stakeout of the Isaka Group's Managing Director, Kitagawa, in the summer—about "going to karaoke in Engaru someday"—and asked Sawai for permission.
"I have no problem with it, but isn't the Kitami area quite busy right now?" came the reply.
"That's true. They're in a more pressing situation than we are with the shooting incidents... Well, I'll ask him anyway."
With that, he called Kitamura. He didn't answer at first, likely because he was on duty, but he called back about an hour later.
"This is Kitamura. Team Leader Nishida, do you need something?"
"I'm sorry to bother you with something trivial while you're busy, but there's talk of holding a karaoke tournament for the Engaru Detective Division. We're thinking of doing it this Saturday, the 11th, around 6:00 PM. We haven't decided on a place yet... Is it tough over there right now?" Nishida asked with concern.
"Section 1 is only providing support, so while we're not idle, I wouldn't go so far as to say it's 'tough.' And as luck would have it, I happen to be off-duty on the 11th! In that sense, there's no problem at all! I did promise to go to karaoke with you before, Nishida-san. Unless something urgent comes up, I'll definitely participate!"
Kitamura gave Nishida a crisp reply, typical of his character.
"I see, got it! Then I'll tell everyone you're joining. I'm looking forward to hearing you sing. I'll call you again the night before with the details, so take care."
Nishida hung up the phone.
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On the evening of November 11th, the Engaru karaoke box "Karaoke Studio Ganbou" was quite crowded, being a Saturday. They had a reservation, so there was no wait, but Nishida was feeling somewhat irritated. There were a large number of intimidating young men with short hair, likely Self-Defense Force personnel from the Engaru Garrison, and a large number of young, gal-style women who seemed to be there for a mixer, all making a huge racket. Perhaps he was simply jealous of them compared to his own group of nothing but men...
Meanwhile, Nishida was also concerned that Takeshita still lacked strength in his eyes and had a spiritless expression. It seemed the effective conclusion of the investigation had withered his morale.
The room they had reserved was quite spacious, with plenty of room for the ten-plus members of the Detective Division. Nishida was worried that Kitamura, who should have arrived by now, was still missing, but he refrained from calling in case he was driving.
However, just as the Section Chief was about to step up as the first singer, Nishida's cell phone suddenly rang. The other members all turned their gaze toward Nishida at once. Nishida tried to leave the room, but Sawai told him he could take it right there, so he answered on the spot.
"Hello, Team Leader Nishida? This is Kitamura."
"Hey, where are you?"
"I'm sorry. I'm in Rubeshibe right now."
"Still in Rubeshibe? Did you get a late start?"
"Well, the thing is... I had already entered Ikutahara, but I'm currently on my way back toward Kitami."
"?"
Nishida was at a loss for words, not understanding the meaning.
"I'm really sorry. Actually, that Matsushima... Matsushima Kotaro said he has various things he wants to talk about and wants to meet as soon as possible. A nurse, who is the sister-in-law of his girlfriend, suddenly contacted his girlfriend, and that message reached me. I'm currently making a U-turn and heading for Kyoritsu Hospital in a great hurry!" Kitamura rattled off excitedly.
"Hey, hey, you should have said that sooner!"
Hearing this, Nishida was more than just satisfied with the reason Kitamura couldn't make it to karaoke; he was naturally and honestly delighted by this unexpected turn of events.
"I wonder if his condition is getting critical... At any rate, since he's calling me out specifically, I'm hoping he might tell me something about the Sada case..."
Kitamura was thinking the same thing as Nishida. Logically, if he specifically wanted to talk to the detective he had become acquainted with through the Sada case, it was a natural conclusion to think he would provide new information regarding it.
"Is Matsushima in bad shape?"
"I wonder... It's possible he wants to say something because he's about to die, but I didn't hear anything like that over the phone. Besides, if he were really on the verge of death, I feel like it wouldn't be the time to be calling a detective, though I'm the one saying it..."
"That's true. Was it lung cancer? Well, anyway, there's a high probability of grasping some new information. It would have been better if it were a bit earlier, but there's no use saying that now."
"I hope something that connects to Oshima comes out..."
"Yeah, I honestly have high hopes for that!" Nishida said strongly.
"Anyway, that's the situation, so karaoke is impossible this time. If I manage to get information that looks like it'll lead to progress in the investigation, let's do it at a victory party next time!"
"Right. That would definitely be better! Call me as soon as the questioning is over. Also, did you notify the Kitami side?"
"No, not yet. I thought it might be better not to say anything unnecessary at this stage... I plan to call Kosaka-san right after this, though."
Hearing this, Nishida thought that since the other party had specifically named Kitamura, Kitamura believed there was a higher probability of obtaining the truth by not having the police organization as a whole intervene awkwardly at this point. On the other hand, he felt a slight hesitation about whether it was safe to leave it all to Kitamura alone, but since he had no right to complain about Kitamura's judgment, he stopped himself from saying anything about it.
"I see. Anyway, once the questioning is over, make sure to properly contact Section Chief Kurano or your other superiors in Kitami. You can call me and Kosaka-san after that."
"Understood. Well then, I want to contact Kosaka-san right away, so talk to you later."
Kitamura hung up in a hurry.
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"What happened with Kitamura?"
Sawai asked, so Nishida gave him the summary.
"That's big news, even if the timing is late!"
Sawai's face brightened, but more than that, Nishida noticed that Takeshita's expression was now beaming with joy, completely different from before. It was a transformation to the extent that one would wonder if good news could change a person this much. Takeshita asked Nishida to tell him the details, and Nishida told his subordinate exactly what had happened. After listening, Takeshita's expression tightened instead.
"There might still be a final reversal. This might be the last chance!"
"It seems the purpose of today's karaoke tournament has changed for the better, contrary to our plans."
The Section Chief said this and stepped up to the "stage" as the first singer, and the karaoke tournament finally kicked off. As the subordinates watched, the title "Jinsei Gekijo" appeared on the large monitor.
"Jinsei Gekijo... is that the one by Murata Hideo? That's the one the old man was playing at high volume on his boombox in front of the Jomon Tunnel memorial in the Kanehana district, isn't it?" Yoshimura spoke to Nishida.
Nishida also recalled meeting such an old man by chance in front of the Jomon Tunnel Martyrdom Memorial after they had gone to the Kitami Tonden Times for inquiries.
"Now that you mention it, that did happen..."
With eyes looking into the distance, he reminisced about the events of a few months ago.
"That old man was probably over seventy, right? The Section Chief is still in his early fifties. Isn't Murata Hideo a bit too old-fashioned for him?"
Unaware that he was being spoken of in such a way by his young subordinate, the Section Chief began to sing with great feeling.
"♪ If you think you'll do it, you'll do it to the end / Isn't that the soul of a detective—"
The lyrics on the monitor were "Isn't that the soul of a 'man'," but it seemed the Section Chief had changed it to "detective" on his own.
Even if an individual "thinks they'll do it," they "cannot do it to the end" depending on the convenience of the organization—it was likely the Section Chief's own "modification," filled with irony or perhaps sorrow, precisely because he was in the police force (no, that wasn't limited to the police). Looking back on the "case" they had been pursuing until recently, there were many parts that struck a chord with Nishida as well.
"♪ If duty and obligation perish, this world is darkness—"
These were the lyrics to the theme song of the so-called ninkyou (chivalry) movie "Jinsei Gekijo: Hishakaku" starring Tsuruta Koji. However, if one didn't look at it that way, the lyrics of the first verse—which could be taken as a declaration of an ideal way of life for a police officer: "If reason no longer prevails, this world becomes a worthless place. That is why I will live to the end for the sake of social justice"—were sung by the Section Chief with great gusto. As if to escape from the reality within the police force...
Incidentally, "giri" (duty/obligation) has become a word with a negative image in modern times due to yakuza movies and obligation chocolates, but it goes without saying that its original meaning is a perfectly proper word: "the correct path or way of things; the reason and logic that should be observed in human and social relationships."
During the singing, Takeshita, who was sitting on the opposite side of Yoshimura, spoke up.
"Hearing the exchange between the Team Leader and Yoshimura just now reminded me—Kosaka-san and I also stopped by the Kanehana memorial once on our way back to Engaru from our inquiries in Kitami. And just then, we met that Jinsei Gekijo old man. I think it's the same person. He was playing Jinsei Gekijo on a boombox."
"You and the others met him too? Is he famous?"
"No, at least Kosaka-san, who's from Rubeshibe, said he didn't know him, so I don't think he's famous locally or anything like that." Takeshita was cheerful, having regained his energy.
"That's true. In a depopulated area like that, there's no way someone would become a celebrity in the first place..."
Nishida laughed as if exasperated, even though he was the one who had brought it up.
While they were having this exchange, the Section Chief finished singing "Jinsei Gekijo." While he couldn't be called skilled, he demonstrated a singing style that resonated from the bottom of his stomach, and Nishida and the others welcomed the Section Chief with applause as he stepped down from the stage.
"Section Chief, that was magnificent!"
Mitsuoka praised him, but it wasn't just simple flattery; he likely actually felt that way. The others also talked him up, saying things like, "As expected of the Section Chief!"
However, Yoshimura said half-teasingly,
"Section Chief! You're still in your fifties, so a song by someone a bit younger would be fine, wouldn't it? For your generation, there must have been folk or Group Sounds, right? It's a waste of your singing talent!"
Then Sawai admonished him.
"Listen, Yoshimura! No matter how much you try to act young, once a person passes their mid-forties, things like enka start to feel right... When I was your age, I also thought the ideas of senior detectives were 'old-fashioned,' but as you get to this age, things really do start to change... It's fine if you don't listen to this as something an old person says. However, you too will eventually come to understand it naturally, for better or for worse..."
And then he spoke wistfully.
"This song... not long after I became a cop, when I was a rookie detective, a superior named Mizukami (T/N: original text notes revisions from Mizukami to Okada to Mitsuoka and back to Mizukami) who was close to retirement used to hum it often while complaining over drinks. It was a song that had become a movie theme a few years before that, but he used to sing it with parts changed, just like I did now. At the time, I also thought it was old-fashioned, but now I've become close to the age Okada-san was back then, and I'm doing the exact same thing..."
Sawai's statement, which wasn't a strong lecture nor did it simply brush off the young man's nonsense, left Yoshimura no room for further rebuttal. Nishida also realized that sometimes, words born from life experience are more persuasive than airtight logic.
After that, everyone sang their hearts out for about two hours, and just as things were still heating up, Sawai's cell phone rang. Sawai threaded his way through the subordinates' legs and tables and went out of the room. But he came bursting back in almost immediately, his face pale.
"Hey! I'm sorry, but karaoke is cut off here!"
From Sawai's expression, everyone realized it was no ordinary matter, and the harmonious atmosphere in the room turned into tension in an instant.
"It seems a shooting incident has occurred in Kitami, and there are multiple casualties! The culprits are multiple and currently at large. We're going to set up checkpoints for cars coming from the direction of Kitami, so our station is going into cooperation mode!"
At the Section Chief's rattled-off words, the detectives all grabbed their coats and stood up at once. The Section Chief immediately contacted the front desk to settle the bill, and the detectives ran toward the nearby Engaru Station.