Chapter 98 - Name and Reality 21 {Solo 39} (84–86 Nishida Deciphers the Intent Behind Onodera's Actions)
In the revised version of Name and Reality 18, Takeshita was supposed to have made a statement when Oshima Kaiji (Onodera Michitoshi) fled by impersonating Kuwano Kinya, saying, "The fact that we don't know the reason he fled remains as it is."
However, the reason for fleeing was almost certainly understood to be that his impersonation would be exposed by Kuwano's colleagues from Konomai, who would come to help with rescue efforts upon learning of the accident. I felt it was a bit forced for Takeshita to have failed to recognize this point, so I have re-revised it. Please understand.
"Wait a minute... Could the 'hell' Isaka mentioned be his experience serving in the military when he was conscripted? The ages match up... Come to think of it, Oshima apparently said in Tokyo that he didn't go to the war..."
Thinking this far, Nishida began to see something. An outline was gradually becoming clear in his mind.
"So that's what that statement meant! I've read it! I see, so that was it! Even so, to think I didn't understand something so simple once I noticed it—I'm such an idiot!"
Nishida shouted for joy to himself, while at the same time, he regretted it deeply.
Naturally, the subordinates around him and the other detectives focused their gaze on Nishida's behavior, as if he had suddenly lost his mind. However, Nishida paid them no mind and called out loudly for Yoshimura, handing him a scribbled memo.
"Yoshimura! Sorry, but I need you to look into these two things urgently first thing tomorrow morning! I can't do it because I have to prepare for the reception of Higashidate! It'll be tough, but I want you to do it alone!"
Receiving the memo, Yoshimura was clearly bewildered.
"Tomorrow...? Am I not supposed to help with the preparations? I'll follow your instructions if it's an order from the Section Chief Assistant, but is it really okay to be doing this right now?"
He expressed considerable anxiety, but after Nishida, who had been shouting until a moment ago, quietly whispered a long explanation into his ear, he broke into a wide grin.
"I see! We can't be certain until I check, but it's quite logical! I'll take care of this side, so please rest easy!"
The other subordinates and fellow detectives watching the scene didn't quite grasp the situation, but the subordinates in particular seemed to vaguely understand, thinking, "Since there's no explanation for us, it must be related to the investigation into Sada Minoru."
Meanwhile, in a report from Kusaka in Sendai about twenty minutes after the program on the Battle of Okinawa ended, it seemed that Higashidate had once again answered nothing except for trivial matters and remained silent. In the end, no new facts were brought to light in Sendai, and it was decided that he would be transferred to Kitami.
For the time being, Nishida finished all his work for the day and prepared to leave, but before departing, he offered a word of thanks to Takekuma. Takekuma was humbled, not knowing exactly what he was being thanked for, but Nishida left the room while brushing it off with a vague "Well, don't worry about it." If Nishida's reading was correct, Takekuma's channel surfing, though accidental, had been a major hint for his new reasoning, so saying thanks wouldn't hurt.
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Monday, June 24th. Nishida was busy with preparations since Higashidate was being transferred that morning. An investigation headquarters (T/N: chouba) was set up again at the Kitami Station, and the system for receiving the detainee was being finalized.
The chief investigator of the headquarters was not Nishida, the direct Section Chief Assistant in charge, but as usual, Section 1 Head Mitani. However, in practice, Nishida, as the deputy chief investigator, was to direct the investigation.
Furthermore, before coming to the Kitami Station, Higashidate was to stop directly at the Kitami Branch of the Kushiro District Public Prosecutors Office to be referred, and the prosecutor was scheduled to request detention from the Kitami Branch of the Kushiro District Court.
A report came in that Higashidate and four investigators, including Kusaka, had arrived at New Chitose at 9:30 AM on a flight departing Sendai Airport early in the morning. From there, the plan was to take the highway in a police vehicle arranged by the Prefectural Police HQ, passing through Asahikawa to Kitami.
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Meanwhile, acting on Nishida's instructions, Yoshimura had requested an investigation from the Welfare and Relief Division of the Department of Health and Welfare of the Hokkaido Prefectural Government. To be precise, Nishida had only instructed him to ask the Prefectural Government, so Yoshimura himself had called around to find the correct department and division before requesting the investigation.
The purpose was to investigate the military service history of Isaka Daikichi and Tadokoro Yasuo—that is, Oshima Kaiji. If they had actually been conscripted, which unit were they in? He was told it would take about a full day, but when he said it was for an investigation, they looked it up in about two hours. While grateful, he also suspected they had overestimated the time for something that didn't take much effort.
As a result, it was found that Isaka had belonged to the Imperial Army's 24th Division, 89th Regiment since August 1944. On the other hand, according to Tadokoro's family register, just as the man himself had said in Tokyo, there was indeed no military record. However, when Yoshimura mentioned that the family register had been heavily tampered with, he was told that it might have been omitted depending on the circumstances.
The other investigation Yoshimura had been instructed to conduct was the criteria for being rejected during the conscription examinations of that time. When he told the same person in charge that he wanted to look into that, he was told it wasn't related to their current duties, but that he might find something if he asked at the Hokkaido Prefectural Archives. It was a department that stored old documents and was handled by the General Affairs Department of the Prefectural Government.
From there, he was bounced around various places within the Prefectural Government over the phone, but finally, he was connected to the person in charge at the Hokkaido Prefectural Archives and had them look up the criteria for conscription examinations at the time. Then, the materials were faxed to the Kitami Regional HQ.
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The conscription examination, as many people know, was an examination that all men who reached the age of 20 (19 from 1943) in pre-war Japan were required to take to measure their suitability for military service.
In addition to general checks like height and weight, there were, of course, medical history checks, as well as examinations of the genitals and anus, which would be considered quite humiliating today. However, one must consider that if people with tuberculosis or venereal diseases spread them within the unit (in the case of venereal diseases, through so-called comfort stations), it was a problem directly linked to the combat power of the army itself, so the military had to be quite careful.
Generally, they were conducted nationwide between April and July. Those who were physically sturdy and healthy, and also had a standard physique (as being too tall was conversely avoided), were given the highest rank of "Class A" pass and were scheduled to enter the service (almost synonymous with joining the army) as active-duty soldiers from January of the following year. However, since not that many soldiers were needed in peacetime, not everyone who passed Class A always entered the service in the pre-war era.
A "Class B" pass was a ranking for young men who were healthy but had a slightly smaller physique, and who at least had the aptitude to become active-duty soldiers. These were treated as replacements to be used if there were not enough Class A active-duty soldiers. Incidentally, setting aside the end of the war, until then, even in cases of being called up as a replacement, there was no need to serve unless one volunteered or won a lottery.
Those who passed "Class C" were in a position where their physique and health were inferior, but they could still potentially serve under the name of universal male conscription. In reality, they originally had almost no chance of serving, but at the end of the war when the situation worsened, even these Class C passers were sent to the front lines.
On the other hand, "Class D" referred to what would now be called people with disabilities, a rank that granted exemption from military service.
There was also a rank called "Class E" (T/N: boshu), but this was a ranking for examinees who were deemed unsuitable for examination at that time (for example, during or shortly after an illness) and were in a position to be re-examined the following year.
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Yoshimura was particularly concerned with whether "the loss of thumbs on both hands would be grounds for failing the conscription exam," as per Nishida's instructions. The materials sent over stated that while loss of fingers was basically treated as Class D until the war situation worsened, after the situation deteriorated, there were cases where they were passed as Class C as long as it did not hinder military duties.
Seeing this, he momentarily thought, "This is bad," but he felt relieved after seeing the subsequent entry: "If either the thumb or index finger of the right hand was missing, it was impossible to fire a handgun, so this would definitely result in a Class D exemption from military service." He reported this to Nishida, who had returned from the investigation headquarters at the Kitami Station. Apparently, handguns were supposed to be fired with the right hand regardless of the dominant hand.
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"Exemption from military service after all... This makes the purpose of Onodera, alias Oshima Kaiji, using the naval mine accident to impersonate Kuwano clear. He must have wanted to avoid going to the front lines."
Nishida nodded deeply as he spoke.
"I think the Section Chief Assistant's reasoning is definitely correct! However, the fact that Kuwano's hand disability was a major advantage (T/N: merit) for Onodera isn't that difficult to realize in hindsight, but it was a point that was hard to connect. You're impressive as always."
"Especially since I had been thinking of the fact that Kuwano survived and fled as a given... The scalpel of science and Takekuma's accidental intervention allowed me to escape from that preconception."
"It means the heavens haven't abandoned us yet!"
Yoshimura said firmly, as if to encourage himself.
"It's not yet clear if his fingers were missing at the age of the conscription exam, but in any case, judging by the deed, it's certain that both thumbs were already missing at least the year before the naval mine accident. Even if he had passed the conscription exam, he wouldn't have been called up after the injury. 1941 would be Showa 16... Kuwano would have been 26 at the time the deed was created. At the time of the mine explosion accident, he was 27... and Onodera was 23, since he hadn't had his birthday yet."
Nishida was speaking as if to himself while looking at the materials for the two men.
"But Oshima Kaiji, or rather Onodera, certainly thought of such a thing instantly at the scene of a gruesome accident. After all, his cousin had met a tragic death... It reminds me of Oshima's current cold-bloodedness."
Yoshimura criticized Oshima's plot to impersonate Kuwano to use his "conscription exemption" status with words that sounded like he was spitting them out. But Nishida dared to offer a different opinion.
"Certainly, it might seem unusually cold, but I can imagine to some extent the reason he came to think that way. When the two of us went to Tokyo, there was that letter sent from Hojo Masato that his younger brother Masaharu showed us, right?"
Saying so, Nishida stood up and took a cardboard box from a cabinet containing part of the investigation materials. Then, he took out a file containing a copy of the letter from Masato to Masaharu that had been faxed from Tokyo and showed it to Yoshimura.
"Look here."
The part Nishida pointed to read:
'Also, if you end up receiving the money in my place and happen to meet Kuwano, you should ask him various things because he can see what lies ahead. When we were working together, Kuwano said that as the war got worse, even people like us would be dragged out to the front lines, and it turned out exactly as he said.'
"I see... Kuwano was proficient in languages, and he probably grasped the situation overseas, at least back when he was at the Former Second High School. Well, even politically, it wouldn't be strange for him to have predicted that the war would reach a futile end..."
To Yoshimura, who had realized this, Nishida continued his theory fluently.
"Moreover, the other person was his own cousin. During the time they worked together at Konomai, it wouldn't be strange for him to have repeatedly and strictly told him about the danger of Japan's future. If that was strongly on his mind, the idea of instantly using Kuwano's death could occur even to someone who isn't particularly cold-hearted. Besides, since he did take a memento and flee, I think he possessed a certain amount of grief."
"There was also the scrap of cloth (T/N: hagire)... Now that you mention it, my reading might have made Oshima out to be too much of a villain..."
Yoshimura looked a little embarrassed.
"There's no need to reflect that much. He's still a villain. It's just that we don't know for sure how much of a villain Oshima was back then, right? That's all."
As he spoke, Nishida put the copy of the letter back in the file.
"However, regarding the theory I discussed with Takeshita that 'the flight from the scene was accidental,' I had thought it was 'impossible' given that Kuwano's belongings were taken out, but looking at the results, Kuwano's death in the accident was undoubtedly accidental. So I suppose I should see his opinion as having been correct... Though it seems Takeshita himself couldn't have full confidence in that idea because Kuwano's belongings had disappeared from the room."
Nishida said regretfully.
"For Onodera, by becoming Kuwano, it was important to utilize the privilege (T/N: merit) Kuwano had of not having to serve in the military. However, if the people from the workplace at Konomai who knew Kuwano and Onodera came along later, he would be exposed immediately. That's why it was essential to flee from the Yubetsu site as early as possible. And Kuwano's belongings had also been taken out for some reason by good fortune, so Onodera disappeared with them along with the deed... Well, it certainly is too convenient, but since the accident just happened by chance, I guess Takeshita-san's idea is fine. It's a bit hard to swallow, though."
Yoshimura said that, but the fact that Kuwano had taken all his belongings from the dormitory at the time was not mere coincidence, but for a simple reason. However, Nishida, and of course Takeshita, had not considered that point, and they would later realize that, just like the fingerprints, the simplest things can be unexpected blind spots.
"For now, that's the summary. With this, the most significant bottleneck—the mismatch between the fingerprints of Oshima and the Kuwano on the deed—has become entirely logical without any issues. And as for the reason Oshima had been cooperating with Isaka all this time, while I was confused for a while because the fingerprints showed Oshima and the original Kuwano were different people, I can now infer two things: in addition to the fact that Onodera, who had already become Kuwano, had snatched the gold dust along with Isaka, Isaka also knew that Oshima Kaiji's true identity was not even the real Kuwano on the family register, but his cousin Onodera. At the very least, that would be a bigger secret to protect than being the Kuwano Kinya one would find by tracing the family register. Well, even so, as Takeshita says, there's still the question of whether he could request the murder of Sada Minoru under the same conditions as when he was providing benefits like public works projects before... Regardless, the next step is how to take down Oshima... Oh, what about the investigation into Isaka's military service?"
Nishida finally remembered there was one more of the two investigations he had requested. For him, Kuwano's military exemption was more important, so he had prioritized that over the military service.
"I've looked into that too. Let's see, it seems he belonged to the 24th Division, 89th Regiment from August 1944. On the other hand, Oshima likely had no military record. This also matches with him receiving the benefit of military exemption."
Hearing this, Nishida wasn't as happy as expected.
"Did you look into what kind of combat history that 24th Division? Or 89th Regiment had?"
"Eh? No, not that far..."
To his subordinate scratching his head, Nishida gave instructions again.
"It's true my instructions were poor, but I wanted you to look that far... Because I think the key to the 'hell' Isaka mentioned lies there as well. But it's not too late even now, right? It's only noon."
"I see. Understood. I'll do it now. But where should I ask? I don't really have a clue..."
To the perplexed Yoshimura, Nishida gave advice.
"Why don't you check with the Prefectural Government contact you spoke with to see if there's something like a veterans' association for that unit? I think they'd have quite a bit of information."
However, the fact that they had snatched the gold dust together and that Isaka knew Michitoshi was the real Oshima Kaiji—while relevant to Oshima Kaiji granting favors to Isaka—was not the fundamental reason Oshima participated in Isaka's plan to murder Sada Minoru, as Takeshita had theorized. The two of them would later learn this once again.
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Watching Yoshimura set off on the investigation again, Nishida checked the clock. Since he had already received word of the arrival at New Chitose and just now heard they had gotten off the highway at Asahikawa, he needed to allow for at least three more hours from here.
"They'll arrive around 4:00 PM, then the prosecutor waiting there specifically will check Higashidate, and a detention request will likely be made to the Kitami Branch of the Kushiro District Court tonight, with a detention hearing at the branch tomorrow morning. Detention should be granted by the evening. From there, we can begin full-scale interrogation..."
A time schedule was already formed in Nishida's head.
Now that Oshima Kaiji's true identity was known, all that remained was how to break Higashidate. To reach Oshima, he needed to prove at least how Oshima was involved in the shooting incident. The end was in sight, but everything now depended on whether they could pass through the difficult terrain. He then returned to the Kitami Station building where the investigation headquarters was located.