Chapter 78 - Name and Reality 1 {Combined 1/2} (1-2, 3-4: Nishida and Yoshimura, Seven Years Later, to Full-time Investigation at the Kitami Headquarters)
Synopsis so far (While I call it a synopsis, it's quite long, but please bear with me as you won't be able to understand the subsequent developments without understanding this to some extent):
In the early morning of June 1995, the body of Yoshimi Tadayuki, a company employee living in Kitami City who had come to take photographs of trains, is discovered along the tracks near the Ikutahara-side exit of the Jomon Tunnel on the JR Hokkaido Sekihoku Main Line. It was highly likely that the camera he should have had with him had been taken by someone moving around the area. While murder was considered, it was largely judged to be an accidental death caused by tripping over a tree root and hitting his head on a stone. However, the reason for the fall was thought to be the influence of a mysterious figure who appeared to have taken the camera.
At that time, there had been reports of 'will-o'-the-wisps' by JR drivers around the scene for some time (information provided by Aida Izumi, the owner of the small restaurant 'Yusen,' which Yoshimura frequents), and it was thought that the fall might have occurred because Yoshimi panicked upon witnessing it.
Later, through Yoshimura's introduction, a veteran JR driver provided testimony denying the credibility of the series of witnessed will-o'-the-wisps, and Nishida and the others judged it to be the work of the person who had stolen the camera from Yoshimi. Seeing the nightly actions in the mountains and the apparent desire to hide their presence, they suspected some suspicious activity was being carried out and the entire station set out to search the area around the scene.
As a result, they discovered numerous memorial towers for the tako-beya laborers who were sacrificed during the construction of the Jomon Tunnel, as well as grave markers containing remains and several traces of digging. Ultimately, they discovered the body of a university student and railway enthusiast, Yoneda Masatoshi, who had gone missing in the area three years prior.
Based on the condition of the body, it was immediately ruled a murder. An investigation headquarters is established at Engaru Station with detectives from the Criminal Investigation Division 1 of the Kitami Headquarters, the superior organization.
The investigation was initially difficult as no clues were found. However, information surfaced from the owner of Yusen through Yoshimura that the planned collection of victims' remains around the scene, organized by a group called the 'Jomon Tunnel Research Group' and published in the local community paper 'Kitami Tonden Times,' might have influenced the 'ghost's' movements. In other words, they feared that if the area was dug up for the remains collection, things that shouldn't be found (such as bodies) would come to light.
From an interview with the organizer, Matsushige, the owner of the long-standing hotel 'Shochikubai' in Onneyu Onsen, Rubeshibe Town, the name of Tanaka Kiyoshi, a former JNR maintenance worker, surfaced as a key person. Furthermore, during the process of interviewing Tanaka, they became acquainted with an old man named Okuda Mitsuru, a former colleague of Tanaka's living in Kunneppu Town.
Around the same time, an interesting story was told by Kosaka, a veteran detective and support investigator from the Kitami Station who was paired with Takeshita. It was revealed that in the 'case' of the disappearance of Sada Minoru, a company owner from Sapporo, in the fall of 1987, the late Isaka Daikichi, the former president of the Isaka Group whom they had planned to interview at the time, had been a person of interest.
The reason was that Isaka had been at a dinner with then-Prefectural Assembly member Matsushima Kotaro just before Sada's disappearance. And Oshima Kaiji, a powerful local Minyu Party Diet member for whom Isaka was an influential supporter, had apparently obstructed the investigation at the time. That case had remained unsolved until this year, 1995.
The investigation continued to be difficult, but from data during the trial operation of the N-System (Automatic Number Plate Recognition), a man named Kitagawa, the Managing Director of the Isaka Group, surfaced. Kitagawa was Tanaka Kiyoshi's son-in-law and the person who had responded when Takeshita and Kosaka visited the Isaka Group for an interview. Kitagawa had risen rapidly within the Isaka Group after Sada Minoru's disappearance, and Nishida and the others suspected that this had something to do with the Sada Minoru case.
The investigation headquarters, along with the Mobile Investigation Unit (commonly known as Kisou) of the Kitami Headquarters, thoroughly monitored Kitagawa. In late July, they arrested him for a personal injury accident caused by drunk driving in a separate case. It was also confirmed that Kitagawa had taken Yoshimi's camera from the scene, based on Yoshimi's fingerprints remaining on the camera Kitagawa had given to a subordinate.
However, in early August, during questioning, Kitagawa became unconscious due to a subarachnoid hemorrhage (he died in September after life support was removed). Meanwhile, it was revealed (after a second interview with the old man Okuda, where Shinoda's name surfaced) that there was another Managing Director named Shinoda, who had been a colleague of Kitagawa's during their JNR days and had moved to the Isaka Group with him.
Shinoda's mysterious words and actions three years ago became a new focus as a key to the case (at the same time, the deduction was established that Isaka Daikichi might have been threatened by something regarding the Sada Minoru case). Also, regarding Kitagawa's unconsciousness, an information route was established with a Hokkaido Shinpo reporter named Igarashi, Takeshita's senior from university, through police criticism using the Hokkaido Shinpo, a major local newspaper, which was believed to be Oshima's doing.
Seeing Shinoda's mysterious actions (and the deduction that Isaka was being threatened), Nishida and the others re-investigated the scene, believing Shinoda was involved in Yoneda's murder. There, the possibility surfaced that a body had been buried in the same spot where Yoneda's body was buried, around eight years ago. Nishida and the others speculated that it was Sada Minoru's body, given the timing. They set out to investigate where Sada Minoru's body, which had been buried before Yoneda's, had disappeared to.
They also obtained information from the old man Okuda that Kitagawa and Shinoda had discovered three unidentified bodies (to be precise, one more was found during the police investigation after they were contacted) that were unrelated to the tako-beya labor during the 1977 remains collection activity by JNR staff volunteers.
These three bodies were judged to be from before the war as a result of appraisal, and while some showed signs of foul play, the statute of limitations had certainly passed, and nothing more was clear even after looking at the investigation materials from the time of discovery remaining at Engaru Station. However, there were some personal effects.
Then, from a chance remark by Yoshimura during the investigation and a coincidence, Nishida deciphered that Sada's remains were hidden in the 'Remote Grave Marker,' mixed with the remains of the tako-beya labor victims. In the subsequent search, they actually discovered remains believed to be Sada's from the Remote Grave Marker, and it was later confirmed by appraisal. It was finalized that the missing Sada Minoru had been murdered immediately after his disappearance eight years ago.
Nishida and the others, who were to re-investigate the Sada Minoru case, flew to Sapporo, where Sada Minoru's bereaved family lived, for the investigation. There, they obtained information from a detective at the Sapporo Nishi Station who had handled the investigation eight years ago that the late Isaka Daikichi had been threatened by someone a few years after the eight-year-old case. Nishida suspected that this was connected to Shinoda's actions during Yoneda's murder.
They also provided a letter addressed to his parents from Sada Minoru's second older brother, Toru (who had already died in action during the Pacific War), and a contract related to it, which clearly related to the case of the three bodies. These were discovered by Sada Minoru's family in the winter of four years ago (1991) and information was provided to the police, but at the time, they apparently lacked credibility and were not properly investigated.
The content of the contract itself stated that the gold dust left by an old gold panner named Senzaki would be divided equally among the three people he had employed (Kuwano Kinya, Isaka Tasuke, Hojo Masato) and the orphan (name unknown) of a man named Mende Shigeyoshi, who had been murdered by Isaka and Hojo as revenge for Mende's death immediately after Senzaki's death, along with a comrade named Takamura Tetsuo. (T/N: The text says Takamura was also killed by Isaka and Hojo).
This letter and contract were originally inherited by the eldest brother 'Yuzuru' living in Otaru, the brother of Minoru and Toru, from their deceased mother. Also, from Yuzuru's testimony, there was another contract (the one for Hojo Masato mentioned in the letter, which was provided in Showa 26 by his younger brother Masaharu, who had inherited it), and Minoru had also received that from Yuzuru and held it. However, that contract was currently missing.
The person named 'Isaka Tasuke' listed in that contract and letter was identified by Nishida's deduction as the same person as 'Isaka Daikichi.' 'Minoru' needed funds due to management problems with his company, and it was speculated that he threatened Isaka Daikichi because he knew Isaka Tasuke was Daikichi (since the fact that Isaka had committed murder was stated in Toru's letter).
Furthermore, it was deduced that Sada Minoru was murdered by Kitagawa and Shinoda, who were then ordinary employees, under instructions from Isaka. And as a reward for that, the two were confirmed to have been rapidly promoted, re-confirming the previous deduction. It was also found through appraisal that Sada had been shot to death. This point also raised a slight question mark regarding the method of murder by 'civilians' like Kitagawa and Shinoda.
Furthermore, it was found that Minoru had stayed at an inn in Engaru in August 1987, before he was murdered, and had intended to visit the scene in Ikutahara (In the winter of 1991, Sada Minoru's family, who discovered the letter and contract in the safe, were frustrated that the police did not investigate properly despite providing information, and immediately after, they distributed flyers and posted posters seeking eyewitness information around Engaru. As a result, information was provided by the owner of the inn 'Shinoyama' that the murdered Minoru had stayed there during the Obon holidays in '87).
Meanwhile, Nishida and the others searched for relatives of the Hojo brothers (the original heirs to the gold dust; the older brother Hojo Masato died in action) in the vicinity of Takikawa City, found a relative, and learned that the younger brother Hojo Masaharu was currently in Tokyo.
Nishida and Yoshimura flew to Tokyo for an interview. Hojo Masaharu was in dire straits, and in a pre-war letter from his older brother Masato to Masaharu that had been kept, there was mention that Mende Shigeyoshi's orphan was a boy, and that Kuwano Kinya had predicted the worsening of the war situation.
Also, from a story about Isaka Masamitsu's days as an employee at Daikoku Construction, heard during an interview with the current president of the Isaka Group, Daikichi's son, it was found that Masamitsu's behavior was strange in the fall of 1992, three years ago (later deduced to be because Isaka Daikichi had confessed to his son Masamitsu that he was being blackmailed by someone regarding the murder of Sada Minoru). And at the bar 'Charmant' in Shinjuku Golden Gai, which they happened to stop by, they learned of the existence of a freelance journalist named Takagaki Shinichi.
While the two were about to return to Engaru after finishing their planned investigation, shocking news broke. A former yakuza named Motohashi, whose death sentence had already been finalized for multiple murders for profit, suddenly confessed at the Osaka Detention House where he was being held to the murder of Sada Minoru, which had not been discovered until Nishida and the others found the body.
The two immediately changed their plans and headed for Osaka. Takeshita and the others from Engaru also joined them there. Takeshita, who faced Motohashi's interview there, felt suspicious of Motohashi's attitude and was lectured by the head of the Osaka Prefectural Police's Investigation Division 4 (at the time; now the Organized Crime Department), who was familiar with gangs, about the relationship between Motohashi, his affiliated Aoi-ikka, and the Hakozaki Faction of the Minyu Party.
Furthermore, they learned of the existence of a reporter named Shiino from the Tozai Shinbun, a reporter for the Hakozaki Faction who had met Motohashi just before his confession, and suspected that some code was hidden in the letter addressed to Motohashi from Shiino, which indicated the reason why Motohashi had suddenly started confessing.
Takeshita, who obtained detailed information on Shiino in exchange for providing information on Motohashi's involvement in a new crime (the fact that Motohashi had murdered Sada Minoru) to Igarashi of the Doho, began to think that Oshima Kaiji, a heavyweight of the Hakozaki Faction, was not just supporting Isaka in the Sada disappearance case but was deeply involved in the case itself.
Also, from the search of the deceased Kitagawa's house conducted by the Kitami Headquarters based on Motohashi's testimony, the missing contract originally owned by Hojo Masato, which Sada Minoru should have had, was found in a safe deposit box at Hokumo Bank (the fingerprint on the contract matched the blood seal of the Hojo Masato contract).
The existence of that contract in the safe deposit box contradicted the terms of the funding agreement concluded between Sada Minoru and Isaka Daikichi, which was found with it, stating that Sada would transfer 'Senzaki's will,' i.e., the contract, to Isaka. In any case, it was speculated that both were items that Kitagawa and Shinoda, who were cooperating when Motohashi murdered Sada, had taken from Sada's belongings to blackmail Isaka.
Meanwhile, Nishida, while staying in Osaka for the Motohashi matter, happened to read a magazine article written by Takagaki Shinichi, whom he had learned about at the bar, and learned that there was a clash between construction companies involved with Oshima Kaiji in the Kitami-Abashiri district. At the same time, he was skeptical about whether it was true.
Furthermore, he would come to speculate from a special feature article in the same magazine that Sada Minoru might have forged the contract and given the forged one to Isaka at the time. He saw that as the reason why the real contract for the Hojo brothers remained in Sada Minoru's hands and was kept by Kitagawa and the others who snatched it after his death. However, a major question also arose at the same time. It was unknown why he had brought the real Hojo brothers' contract to Kitami while giving a fake contract to Isaka Daikichi.
Also, while the Kitami Headquarters was washing through the flow of funds around the Isaka family (investigating the possibility that money moved for the request to murder Sada Minoru), they discovered a fictitious account in the name of 'Fukuda,' which was likely actually the Isaka family's, where the only Isaka family funds appeared to have moved secretly. However, that account was clearly not related to the murder case due to the timeline of the fund flow, and since there were many donations to social welfare organizations from the account, the investigation headquarters decided to overlook it, as intervention by the National Tax Agency or tax office would also interfere with the investigation.
Afterward, Nishida, Takeshita, and Yoshimura, who returned to the prefecture after transferring Motohashi from the Osaka Detention House to the Kotoni Detention Center in Sapporo, revisited Sada Minoru's bereaved family and discovered that his wife had been hiding evidence that Sada had forged the contract. It was out of a single-minded desire not to bring her husband's crimes to light. At the same time, they learned that Sada had requested some investigation from a detective agency in Sapporo eight years ago.
At that detective agency, it was found that Sada had been investigating the whereabouts of Kuwano Kinya, Hojo Masaharu, and Mende Shigeyoshi's orphan. However, regarding Kuwano and Mende's orphan, the agency had declined, saying 'search impossible.' However, afterward, Sada Minoru had told an investigator he knew at that agency that Mende's orphan had been found. Nishida and the others were skeptical about whether that was true, but they couldn't think of any benefit for Sada to lie.
Meanwhile, Takeshita, believing that some code was hidden in the letter from Shiino to Motohashi obtained in Osaka, had been thinking about the decryption method ever since Osaka but had not grasped it at all. However, after returning to Engaru, he obtained a hint from a fellow detective's words and discovered that a code was written there instructing Motohashi to confess to the murder of Sada Minoru.
Meanwhile, Nishida, although initially suspecting the magazine article written by Takagaki was 'fake,' afterward felt something 'fishy' about the fact that a conflict between a construction company and the yakuza, similar to that article, was manifesting.
Also, Nishida was to transfer Motohashi, who was being interrogated in Sapporo, to Engaru for a field reconstruction at the Sada murder scene in Ikutahara. At that time, because Kitamura, who was accompanying the transfer, was a fan of mystery novels and that was his motive for wanting to be a detective, the inside of the transport vehicle became somewhat lively with Sherlock Holmes episodes, including Motohashi.
And at the Engaru Station where Motohashi was detained, Nishida and Takeshita were able to briefly interrogate Motohashi. However, Motohashi skillfully parried the pursuit. The only thing he reacted to was the code hidden in the letter from Shiino, the Tozai Shinbun Hakozaki Faction reporter, but Nishida was bothered by the fact that he thought he saw Motohashi smile for a moment amidst his agitated behavior.
As he left, Motohashi brought up the Holmes story 'The Adventure of the Norwood Builder.' Takeshita later realized that Motohashi was making a suggestion regarding that story about 'the crime being exposed due to an unnecessary addition,' and was very frustrated. In the end, Motohashi said nothing more than his confession, was indicted, and it seemed the case would end like this.
However, on November 11, 1995, in a hospital room at Kitami Kyoritsu Hospital, former Prefectural Assembly member Matsushima—who was on the verge of death from lung cancer and had been present at the dinner between Isaka and Sada Minoru before his disappearance—a nurse in charge, and Detective Kitamura were involved in a shooting incident, and all three died instantly.
Kitamura had planned to go to karaoke with Nishida in Engaru just before, but was suddenly called to the hospital by Matsushima and was killed after returning to Kitami. Nishida was stunned, but the next day, he went to Kitami with Yoshimura to support the investigation.
And it was discovered that Kitamura had recorded his conversation with Matsushima on a portable tape recorder he happened to have brought to go to karaoke with Nishida (Nishida had heard during the monitoring of Kitagawa in the summer that Kitamura was so into karaoke that he recorded his own singing voice with it).
Moreover, from there, Nishida and the others learned about what Oshima Kaiji had committed in the past and his real name. Oshima Kaiji was the Kuwano Kinya from the contract. Also, it was found from the conversation between the culprits that had been recorded that a person with the surname 'Abe' might have been among the perpetrators of the shooting.
There, Takeshita and Kurosu, who were not involved in the direct investigation of the shooting incident and were light-footed detectives working at Engaru Station, went on a business trip to Taro Town, Iwate Prefecture, where Kuwano Kinya's permanent domicile was, at Nishida's request.
In Taro Town, it was found that Kuwano's hometown had been washed away by a great tsunami in the early Showa era (Showa Sanriku Tsunami), and his family and surrounding residents had all died or gone missing. The two sensed that the fact that Oshima Kaiji was Kuwano had not been exposed until now was due to such special conditions.
They then headed to Tokyo, where Kuwano's family register had been moved, and confirmed that he had not only stayed at the home of a woman named 'Tada Sakura' but had also become her adopted son. They heard various stories from an old man named Koshiba, over 90 years old, who knew the details, and learned about the background and process of how Kuwano Kinya became the politician Oshima Kaiji.
Also, Nishida felt that the article written by freelance journalist Takagaki Shinichi had played a role in evoking the conflict between construction companies and yakuza, which was also suspected in Matsushima's murder, and Takeshita had been instructed to investigate Takagaki in Tokyo.
However, it was discovered that Takagaki had been deceived by the magazine side related to the Tozai Shinbun, which was close to Oshima's Hakozaki Faction. Takagaki, who felt angry after hearing the story from Takeshita, offered to cooperate with the investigation and at the same time traveled to Kitami with them.
Just around that time, because the Tozai Shinbun ran an article that put pressure on the investigation headquarters, Takagaki's anger flared up again in Kitami, and in exchange for further cooperation with the investigation, he requested Nishida and the others to tell him investigation information. Nishida initially refused the risk of investigation information leaking to an anti-establishment journalist, but faced with Takeshita's 'quiet rebellion,' he decided to steel himself. He actively provided investigation information to Takagaki and, in return, succeeded in obtaining Oshima Kaiji's fingerprints in Tokyo (since Oshima was basically in Tokyo and was a politician, detectives couldn't easily approach him).
Also, during this period, a blood-stained scrap of cloth was sent from Koshiba in Tokyo, along with a letter, which he had been entrusted with by Oshima's deceased adoptive mother, Tada Sakura. It was reportedly a will that if Oshima Kaiji 'went astray,' he should be urged to reflect with that. It seemed to have been sent for the reason that it might be useful for the investigation.
However, the fingerprints Takagaki obtained did not match the thumbprint of the Kuwano Kinya from the contract at all. Having no choice, Nishida and Kosaka planned to obtain fingerprints directly from Oshima and re-confirm them, targeting the timing of Oshima's return to the prefecture. They sent Takeshita as an SP to accompany Oshima Kaiji, who was entering Kitami for a social gathering with supporters, and obtained the fingerprints.
However, since those also did not match, the investigation was completely overturned from its previous pillar of the 'Oshima Kaiji = Kuwano Kinya' framework. However, only Kurosu insisted that he felt something was off about the strangely roundabout expression attributed to Isaka Daikichi speaking to Matsushima, which remained on the late Kitamura's recording tape: 'his old name from when he snatched the inheritance (the gold dust left by Senzaki) with me before he became Tadokoro Yasuo (Oshima's current real name).'
In any case, since the framework that should have been revealed from Matsushima's testimony on the tape had suddenly become untenable, the investigation fell into extreme confusion, including a decline in the credibility of the entire content of Kitamura's recording tape where that testimony was recorded.
Furthermore, they were unable to pick up any gang-related individuals with the surname Abe (Abe, Abe, Abe, etc.) who seemed relevant, and the investigation was difficult here as well. Moreover, Nishida and the others were forced to return to their normal duties at Engaru Station at the request of the Prefectural Police Headquarters side.
In the living room of his apartment in Sapporo, Nishida was looking through New Year's cards. While his wife, Yuka, was moving around trying to add smoked salmon to the osechi cuisine they had eaten in the morning to make it a snack for her husband's sake, he confirmed a nostalgic name had appeared.
"Oh, Section Chief Sawai... He seems as energetic as ever. But he's reached that age already, the Section Chief..."
In the photo printed on the back, Sawai, who had retired from the police and returned to his hometown of Memuro Town to work as an insurance agent for police officers around Obihiro, was shown enjoying gateball.
Sawai had served as the Section Chief of the Detective Division at Takikawa Station for three years starting in the spring of 1997, after his time as the Section Chief of the Detective Division at Engaru Station, and had taken early retirement at that point. Considering that the Section Chief position at a medium-sized precinct was a post after a small-scale precinct like Engaru Station, it could be said to be a decent promotion.
And Nishida had the prior knowledge that his 'retirement' home, Memuro Town, was the birthplace of gateball. Even so, gateball, which had an image of being a sport for the elderly, and Sawai did not sit well together in Nishida's mind.
"It's already the start of 2002, after all."
As he muttered, this day was New Year's Day of 2002. Even so, in the previous year, 2001, two major events had occurred that were impressive not only to Nishida but also socially.
First, in the spring, it had happened in the presidential election of the ruling Minyu Party. Within the 'Shitetsu-kai,' a faction among the non-mainstream, 'Takamatsu Sotaro,' who was even more non-mainstream, advocated 'thorough reconstruction.' He received overwhelming support from public opinion distrustful of politics and won the presidential election by default, becoming the president of the Minyu Party. Naturally, he went on to assume the position of Prime Minister of the Japanese nation.
The assumption of the presidency and premiership through a new axis of relying on public opinion rather than the dynamics within the Minyu Party became quite big news and was a kind of sensation, involving not only general news but also wide shows.
And another major event occurred on September 11th. It was the series of aircraft terror attacks by Islamic extremists that collapsed the World Trade Center buildings in New York. Even now, nearly four months later, the images of the two collapsing towers were deeply engraved in Nishida's mind.
Note that at the end of the year, an incident also occurred in the southwestern waters of Kyushu where a suspicious vessel, believed to be a North Korean spy ship, engaged in a battle with Japan Coast Guard patrol vessels. Ultimately, the suspicious vessel blew itself up and sank. It was a year that remained unsettled until the very end.
Of course, those things had a major impact not only on personal impressions but also on many Japanese people and, naturally, the police organization. Especially immediately after '911,' although it was low-key, a state of alert was maintained for a while even among the officers of the Hokkaido Prefectural Police. It was a tumultuous year for Japan and the world, fitting for the starting year of the 21st century.
Now, during the time since he was removed from the investigation in Kitami at the end of 1995 until now, Nishida had actually been promoted smoothly, unlike before.
This was because, although it wasn't a direct resolution of the case, the discovery of Sada Minoru's remains, which had moved from the place where they were originally buried, had served as quite important corroboration of the crime, and he had earned a fairly high evaluation in terms of the Prefectural Police's personnel affairs.
Of course, it wasn't just Nishida; the fact that the entire Violent Crimes Unit of the Detective Division at Engaru Station had been given high evaluations was almost clear from looking at the subsequent treatment of other members, starting with Sawai.
Nishida also passed the promotion exam and rose from the rank of Sergeant to Inspector, and after staying in Engaru until March 1997, he was immediately welcomed as the Section Chief of the Detective and Community Safety Division at Yakumo Station in Southern Hokkaido. Two years later, in 1999, he was promoted to Section Chief of the Detective Division at Chitose Station, and from 2001, he had been serving as the Section 1 Head at the newly established Sapporo Atsubetsu Station.
From his time at Chitose Station, he had lived with his family in Sapporo, but the long-distance commute of over 40 kilometers was quite tough. However, with the transfer to Sapporo Atsubetsu Station, he had been able to lead a 'relaxed for a detective' life. Of course, compared to his days at Engaru or Yakumo, there were overwhelmingly more cases, so it could be said that it was harsh in that sense.
However, it had already been decided internally that Nishida would be transferred to the Kitami Headquarters as a Section 1 Deputy Head at the end of March this year, again on a solo assignment. In the sense of being separated from his family, there were heavy-hearted aspects, but since he was going there with his own will reflected, it was natural that he was motivated.
And the reason things turned out that way was actually a single phone call at the end of November last year from Kurano, who had been the Section 1 Head at the Kitami Headquarters until six years ago.
Kurano was scheduled to retire at the end of February this year, 2002, as the Criminal Investigation Director of the Prefectural Police Headquarters. However, as the final touch, fitting for the head of the personnel department, he proposed to Nishida to have him engage in a dedicated investigation of the 'Sada Minoru Murder Case,' for which the statute of limitations (Author's Note: Naturally, there is no statute of limitations now) was approaching, along with the shooting incident at Kitami Kyoritsu Hospital where Kitamura was murdered.
Kurano had doubts about whether the full story of the Sada Minoru murder case had been clarified at all, and he once again regretted the incomplete investigation of the case seven years ago and the fact that he couldn't fully protect Nishida and the others. This proposal seemed to have been intended to let them 'do it over' and served as an apology.
In the phone conversation, he emphasized that point and apologized to Nishida. Furthermore, the fact that a major 'movement' had emerged for the first time since the incident in the shooting case from the spring of that year (2001) also strongly pushed it forward.
The Kitami Kyoritsu Hospital shooting murder case, from which Nishida and the others were removed, had ultimately resulted in a situation where not even the shooters were apprehended, let alone a connection to Oshima. A year after the incident, the investigation headquarters was scaled down, and by 2000, there were no 'full-scale' dedicated investigators left, and it had effectively gone cold.
Also, the 'hitman' Motohashi, who was indicted for the murder of Sada Minoru, had admitted all the prosecution's claims, so his death sentence had already been finalized (according to Article 46, Paragraph 1 of the Penal Code, a finalized death row inmate is not subject to punishments other than the death penalty). Perhaps influenced by this, he had received an unusually speedy trial for a murder case.
And in late January 1996, he received a sentence of life imprisonment (it should have originally been tried together with the series of murder cases for which a final judgment had already been reached, but since the death penalty had already been finalized there, the sentence was decided as a separate individual case), and since neither he nor the prosecution appealed, the judgment was finalized in early February. Afterward, he was transferred back to the original Osaka Detention House, and a year later, in October 1997, the death penalty was executed based on the already finalized death sentence by the signature of the Minister of Justice. The fact that there wasn't much time between the finalization of the death penalty and the execution was reportedly because the maliciousness of executing a murder request for profit was viewed seriously.
However, Nishida and Yoshimura believed that wasn't the only cause. One reason was that from the end of 1996, a cabinet headed by 'Hashizume Tomio' of the Hakozaki (now Umeda) Faction was born, and 'Murofushi Akitsugu,' a proactive supporter of the death penalty, had been appointed as the Minister of Justice in the second Hashizume cabinet reshuffle.
And they saw a second cause as having a major impact when combined with the first: public opinion reacted against the fact that 'Saino Kyuzo,' who had previously been convicted in connection with the 'Rodman Incident' of former Prime Minister Tamura Maruo—known as a corruption case involving aircraft purchases—had entered the cabinet as the Director-General of the Management and Coordination Agency (at the time). As a result, the cabinet approval rating plummeted.
In other words, they planned to dispose of Motohashi early out of consideration for Oshima of the Hakozaki Faction, and furthermore, because the danger of the cabinet falling early emerged due to the sudden drop in cabinet approval, the death penalty was executed one month after the reshuffled cabinet was formed. Regarding this point, when he spoke with Takeshita on the phone, he had received complete agreement from Takeshita.
However, naturally, this was just a speculation, and even if it were true, it was thought that it would never be made public no matter how hard they tried. Of course, it would be a different story if Oshima and the others confessed...
Meanwhile, according to media reports, Motohashi's state during the execution was that of a major criminal, a quiet execution without any breakdown. Information passed down from within the police was also almost identical, so he must have met such an end without a doubt.
After the execution, according to his own wishes, he was to be provided for 'body donation' to contribute to the development of medicine. It seemed to be from a strong desire to die having been useful to people at the very end, something he couldn't do until then. His feelings themselves were likely not false.
At the same time, the secret of who had requested the murder of Sada Minoru (in the trial, Isaka Daikichi, whom he himself insisted was the 'instructor,' was treated as the client until the end) was taken to the grave. Nishida thought that while he was manly in a sense, it was also true that he was a piece of trash who died without truly reflecting.
And the crucial Oshima Kaiji remained as a heavyweight Diet member of the ruling party, as always. Although he no longer had the same prestige or power as before, he was showing that he was still vigorous as a heavyweight member, having also received the Order of the Rising Sun.
However, considering his advanced age of 87 this year, the majority of public opinion in his local electoral district is that he should retire this term, and it is seen that there will not be a next time. Hakozaki had already retired and died, so the Hakozaki Faction had transformed into the Umeda Faction led by his successor, Umeda. Oshima had settled into an advisory position for that Umeda Faction.
And one more person, the existence of Takagaki Shinichi, who had been requested by Takeshita to investigate Kuwano Kinya's academic background and who insisted on his own 'hobby and obsession' even after Nishida and the others were removed from the investigation, must not be forgotten. Because it spanned the chaos of the Showa Sanriku Tsunami and the war, and above all, because the age of the same generation was around 80, the investigation was quite difficult due to issues of lifespan other than death in action.
In fact, some of the former middle schools in the coastal areas had been washed away along with their school buildings by the tsunami, and the graduation registers of the time had also been lost. He reportedly managed to find people such as current students of the time who might fit the target age through alumni associations and asked if they knew Kuwano.
Takagaki had been doing such steady work intermittently between his original journalist activities and writing work. And finally, in the summer of 1997, he had succeeded in finding an old man named Amai, currently living in Miyako City, Iwate Prefecture, who had a firm memory of being a junior to Kuwano at the former Kamaishi Second Middle School (Author's Note: A fictional setting in the novel. Kamaishi Middle School did exist).
From that Amai, he obtained testimony that Kuwano Kinya had entered the former Second High School in Sendai (the predecessor of the current Tohoku University) in the spring of Showa 7 (1932) by skipping a grade (Author's Note: In the old school system, excellent students in ordinary elementary schools and former middle schools were allowed to skip grades. However, those who skipped ordinary elementary school were almost non-existent) after completing four years of the five-year former middle school because of his excellent grades. This story perfectly matched the assessment of Kuwano Kinya so far.
And due to the Showa Sanriku Tsunami in Showa 8 (1933), Amai's family home in Miyako at the time also suffered great damage, and he couldn't afford to worry about others, so it seems they completely lost contact. Amai also said he managed to graduate from middle school but gave up on further education because it was economically difficult (Author's Note: Regardless of disasters, the tuition for former middle schools at the time was quite high, and the historical fact is that many students actually became unable to pay and dropped out. In the majority of former middle schools at the time, the situation where there were more dropouts than graduates was a fairly common occurrence. Naturally, this included lack of academic ability and health problems).
However, Amai also knew that Kuwano's family home was in Taro, which suffered great damage in the tsunami, and he was worried at the time. On the other hand, regarding the possibility that the current Oshima Kaiji was Kuwano Kinya, when he confirmed it while obscuring it, thinking it was unlikely due to the fingerprint matter, he was reportedly laughed at: 'There's a slight resemblance, but it's impossible that they're the same person.'
However, although he started investigating his subsequent whereabouts, the former Second High School's school building was burned down in the Sendai air raid in July Showa 20 (Author's Note: This is as per historical fact; the former Second High School building in Kitanobancho, Sendai City, was destroyed in the air raid), so all registers of graduates and such had been lost.
Also, although he investigated various things through alumni associations, students who might have known Kuwano at the time did not easily appear. It was highly likely that deaths in action during the war and lifespan had an influence. However, there was also an opinion from a director of the alumni association: 'Perhaps he didn't graduate?' In fact, Takagaki also had no material to finalize that point.
Incidentally, the later Oshima Kaiji, who was likely the 'fake' Kuwano, reportedly told Koshiba in Tokyo and his adoptive mother Tada Sakura a life story that he 'could only go as far as middle school due to economic problems.' That point could also be said to be true if Oshima himself knew about Kuwano's dropout from high school (which is only a 'possibility' at this point).
Also, rather than just a statement of 'could only go as far as middle school' in the sense of impersonating Kuwano, considering the fact that Oshima Kaiji himself had the academic ability to go to university, it was possible that it was a statement based on Oshima Kaiji's own experience of having actually gone to middle school. Furthermore, it was not impossible that both were true.
Meanwhile, Takeshita, who contacted Nishida saying he had received that report from Takagaki, had ironically already retired from the police in the spring of 1996, and that information was not utilized in the investigation. Of course, Takagaki also knew that Takeshita had already retired, so it must have been an investigation of 'obsession' as he called it, knowing it wouldn't be rewarded.
The investigation of that series of dead-end cases suddenly began to move at the end of March 2001.
From the mountains of Hachioji, Tokyo, a decomposed body of an unidentified male was found by chance during restoration work on a forest road landslide, and DNA was naturally collected from the hair roots. And that data partially matched the DNA data collected from the hair roots of several hairs found in the stolen vehicle used by the culprits of the Kitami Kyoritsu Hospital shooting incident to flee. The only physical evidence directly linked to a culprit of the shooting incident was brought back to life through the coincidence of the evolution of DNA testing and the evolution of the police database. Incidentally, this is the new movement that influenced the proposal Kurano made for Nishida to be involved in the re-investigation.
That unidentified man was a member of the 'Shiun Association,' a Tokyo-based force under the Aoi-ikka, named 'Kagami Takuya.' In 1995, he was a 35-year-old junior member, but afterward, he was reportedly nothing more than a yakuza who didn't stand out except for being an executive from the time he was promoted to head of the headquarters until he was murdered.
Separately from the investigation into Kagami's own murder, detectives from the Kitami Headquarters washed through the area along with the Organized Crime Department of the Metropolitan Police Department, and they found a story that he was not seen in Tokyo from around the end of October to mid-November 1995, and they had pinpointed the possibility that he had been hiding in Hokkaido during that time, waiting for the opportunity to attack Matsushima.
On the other hand, unfortunately, they were completely unable to reach the chain of command of the Aoi-ikka's don, 'Tatsukawa Kosuke,' the Aoi-ikka main body, or the former chairman of the Shiun Association at the time, 'Kume Takashi.' They thoroughly used separate arrests and such to grill the members of the Shiun Association, but in the end, no one talked.
However, according to the detectives who handled the investigation, this kind of story is passed directly from the boss to the executioners, and it's natural that intermediate members wouldn't know. Naturally, a boss-level person wouldn't talk easily, so this outcome might have been self-evident. Also, they searched Kagami's home and such, but no evidence related to the case was found.
Note that as a result of the subsequent investigation by the Metropolitan Police Department, the circumstances under which Kagami was murdered had been revealed. He habitually used violence against his mistress, a hostess, and the hostess consulted a club waiter who was in love with her. They conspired and strangled him in December 1999 after drugging him with sleeping pills and buried him at the scene—a pathetic end for a hitman.
However, the important thing was not that, but naturally, the fact that it was finalized that one of the culprits of the Kitami Kyoritsu Hospital shooting incident was Kagami. And that was also a point that directly linked to the fact that Kagami's accomplice was 'Abe.' Since one was named 'Kagami,' the person Kagami called out to with 'Hurry up! Abe!' would necessarily be named Abe.
However, they also played the voice believed to be Kagami's from Kitamura's recording tape to Kagami's relatives and acquaintances, but the majority of the answers were non-committal: 'It doesn't seem like him, but if you ask if it's so different as to deny it...' Because the tape had been in the inner pocket of Kitamura's coat, the audio was not that clear, which seemed to be a factor in such a result, but it also seemed to be influenced by the fact that Kagami's own voice was not that distinctive.
In fact, even when Nishida listened to it at the time, the voice of the one called Abe and the voice of Kagami who called out to Abe were so similar that he couldn't really tell the difference (he hardly cared about that at the time). In other words, the two voices themselves didn't have much distinction.
However, from there on was the real problem. In the investigation by the Kitami Headquarters, which also had the cooperation of the Metropolitan Police Department's Organized Crime Department, the shadow of a person named 'Abe' could not be seen around Kagami. To be precise, it wasn't that there were none, but 'Abe,' the owner of a ramen shop he frequented, was of no use. Also, that owner certainly had an alibi around the day of the shooting in Kitami, so he couldn't even be a suspect.
Note that the Shiun Association, to which Kagami belonged, is a secondary organization of the Aoi-ikka, but despite its high 'earning power' in paying tributes to the Aoi-ikka, it was not in a position with much say within the organization. Both the chairman (boss) at the time of the incident, 'Kume Takashi,' and the current chairman, 'Makabe Norio,' are not even the young head or young head assistant within the Aoi-ikka itself. It's an organization treated as being of the 'junior' line of the Aoi-ikka boss, 'Tatsukawa Kosuke.'
The Organized Crime Department of the National Police Agency, which had stepped in due to the deadlock in the investigation, advised the Kitami investigation team that that 'distance' might have been chosen by the Aoi-ikka central command as the organization to provide the executioners, seeing it as effective for making the investigation difficult.
However, since no relevant person could be identified with the surname Abe, the National Police Agency's Organized Crime Department also investigated the possibility that the accomplice was chosen from an organization 'far' from the Shiun Association for the same purpose of disrupting the investigation, providing full cooperation. But just like seven years ago, they were unable to easily smoke out a member of the Aoi-ikka's nationwide organizations who seemed to fit the Abe surname, and the case entered 2002 still in a difficult state.
To break that situation, at the end of last year, Kurano reportedly strongly insisted on his authority to have Nishida engage in a dedicated investigation as a member of the Kitami Headquarters. To be more precise, there was also an intention to use the shooting incident to somehow settle the Sada Minoru murder case first. If it's before the statute of limitations, even for a case that is ostensibly resolved as a crime by Motohashi, Isaka, Kitagawa, and Shinoda, there is a chance to reveal Oshima's involvement.
However, as a limit for that, the wall of the statute of limitations naturally existed. On September 26th of this year, it would be the original 15-year statute of limitations from the occurrence of the case. However, the statute of limitations is not decided just like that. That's because it's legally necessary to add the period from Motohashi's indictment to the finalization of the judgment, and the period during which Oshima Kaiji, whom they see as being in a conspiratorial relationship, was traveling overseas.
In that case, it was necessary to indict Oshima by the end of this year. Conversely, depending on how you think about it, it also meant that a further grace period was created, saying they only needed to indict him by the end of the year.
However, unfortunately, Oshima had been removed from key party and government posts 15 years ago due to his advanced age, and because overseas water didn't suit him, he had hardly made any foreign visits or travels in recent years, and the total period excluded from the statute of limitations calculation was less than two weeks.
Also, regarding the Aoi-ikka don, Tatsukawa Kosuke, who was thought to have played some kind of intermediary role between Oshima and Motohashi, he was a top executive of Japan's largest yakuza organization and was treated as a major mobster, continuing to receive travel bans, so even if he wanted to go abroad, he couldn't. This was natural, as even Motohashi was at a level of travel refusal after becoming a powerful executive, including after his expulsion. It seemed it wasn't that strict a long time ago, but in recent years, both Japan and overseas have looked at yakuza-related individuals with a strict eye.
In any case, it was seen that there was almost no extension of the statute of limitations period other than for Motohashi's trial. In the first place, identifying Aoi-ikka executives who might have been involved, such as Tatsukawa, was thought to be even more difficult than identifying Oshima, if limited to pure investigation problems excluding interference. As was the case with Kagami, it's the reality that clarifying the yakuza chain of command is quite tough.
Nishida also didn't count on apprehending Aoi-ikka-affiliated yakuza executives, including the Shiun Association, for either the Sada Minoru murder or the hospital shooting incident. It might have been a de facto declaration of surrender.
Considering those circumstances comprehensively, Kurano had hinted to Nishida that the Sada Minoru murder case, for which the statute of limitations was approaching and resolution was near impossible, might be a higher priority than the Kitami Kyoritsu Hospital shooting murder case, which had become somewhat visible, despite the difference in outward priority. Naturally, Nishida also considered that chronological priority.
However, even if he prioritized that, in order to clarify the full story of Sada's murder case, since almost all those involved had passed away, Nishida currently had no choice but the process of revealing the facts through the concealment of the truth of the Sada Minoru murder, which must have been the purpose of the hospital shooting incident. In that case, he would ultimately end up back at the starting point of having to do something about the case from seven years ago first.
Also, the Kitami Headquarters had already revived a dedicated department on a small scale along with a few Kitami Station officers due to the discovery of Kagami's involvement. Therefore, there had reportedly been a debate within the 'Headquarters' upper management as to whether it was necessary to further deploy investigators for the establishment of a powerful dedicated system through transfers. Despite that, Nishida's transfer was approved as a 'parting gift' when Kurano retired. Naturally, it was a 'forced' move after obtaining Nishida's consent.
However, Nishida accepted that proposal actively and at the same time requested the transfer of his 'partner.' He requested the selection of Yoshimura, his subordinate from his days at Engaru Station, who was a Senior Staff in the Violent Crimes Unit of the Detective and Community Safety Division at Bihoro Station. While everyone else was being promoted smoothly, Yoshimura was smoldering, albeit slightly, behind the curve, but Nishida emphasized his strong luck, intuition, and the fact that he could work with him without reservation despite being a bit unreliable as a subordinate, and hoped to engage in the investigation together.
Of course, the fact that Yoshimura had already married his 'girlfriend' from his days at Muroran Station and had a child, was living in Kitami which is adjacent to Bihoro Town, and was well-versed in the series of cases also influenced Nishida's request as 'very convenient' factors.
Kurano accepted this request of Nishida's without hesitation. And at the end of 2001, it was decided that in March of the new year, he would go specifically as a Section 1 Deputy Head, the person directly responsible for the dedicated investigation of the 'Kitami Kyoritsu Hospital Shooting Incident,' at the Kitami Headquarters.
Note that the role is a demotion from his current Section Head position to Deputy Head, but since it is 'attached to the Headquarters,' which is a superior organization to a precinct, the correct recognition is that it is a lateral move or a slight 'promotion.'
As he checked the New Year's cards one after another, among the letters from his past and present bosses, subordinates, and colleagues, there were also some from his subordinates from his days at Engaru Station, other than Sawai.
Komura should be a Team Leader in the Investigation Division 2 at Asahikawa Higashi Station now. He was the type who was flawless and was likely doing reasonably well.
Sawada seems to have withdrawn from the detective field and is a Team Leader in the Personnel Division at Otaru Station. Nishida remembered that he was good at paperwork even during his days at Engaru Station, and he thought it wasn't bad at all that he had changed course to something he was originally suited for.
Kurosu is reportedly a Senior Staff in the Investigation Division 1 at Sapporo Chuo Station. It seems that his efforts in resolving a murder case that had occurred before his arrival at Nemuro Station, where he was posted after Engaru Station, were evaluated, and he was promoted to the Sapporo Chuo Station, which is a prestigious post for a precinct.
Also, due to the geographical proximity to Sawada and Kurosu, Nishida drinks with them in Susukino about once every two months.
Oba, who was the youngest, is now in the Investigation Division 2 at Obihiro Station. He still has a deep relationship with Sawai, who lives in the neighboring Memuro Town, and he jokingly lamented in his New Year's card that he was being made to sign one insurance contract after another, but Nishida also grinned as he watched, thinking that a former subordinate would be an easy mark.
Now, as for the Yoshimura in question, as mentioned before, he is at Bihoro Station now, but after Engaru Station, he was in the Detective Division at Tomakomai Station. And he had married the girlfriend he started dating during his days at Muroran Station, where he worked before Engaru Station, because he could work near her.
When Nishida was at Chitose Station, Tomakomai was the neighboring city, so Nishida had been consulted by Yoshimura about various things regarding the marriage, and their deep relationship had continued since then.
However, after his transfer to Bihoro Station, he had been grumbling to Nishida that he 'didn't get along with his boss.' The fact that he had heard that dissatisfaction from Yoshimura was also a small part of the reason why Nishida had selected Yoshimura for this Kitami Headquarters assignment. Naturally, it goes without saying that Yoshimura jumped at Nishida's offer.
In this year's New Year's card as well, his photo was printed with him, his young daughter, and his wife all making V-signs, along with the message 'I'm looking forward to March.' It's fine that he's looking forward to it, but in reality, considering the investigation that has stalled again despite having started to move, Nishida frowned slightly, thinking he was being too optimistic.