Chapter 99 - Name and Reality 22 {Solo 40} (87–90 Yoshimura's Investigation of Military Records)
Yoshimura was introduced to a veterans' association for the 89th Regiment in Saitama by the Welfare and Relief Division of the Prefectural Government (Author's Note: I had not confirmed the existence of a veterans' association for the 89th Regiment, nor whether it was located in Tokyo if it did exist; it was a setting for the novel... but subsequent investigation suggests it is in Saitama Prefecture, so I will correct Tokyo to Saitama. Dated March 9, 2005) and immediately called to inquire. It turned out that Isaka Daikichi was not registered with the association. However, the fact that he had belonged to it seemed certain, so having no other choice, Yoshimura decided to get an overview of the 89th Regiment from the association's staff.
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The Imperial Japanese Army, 24th Division, 89th Infantry Regiment was formed in Asahikawa in 1939, moved through Manchuria and Saipan, and was finally deployed to the Battle of Okinawa starting in August 1944.
Because the unit suffered considerable casualties in Saipan, a significant number of replacement soldiers from Hokkaido were mobilized for the Battle of Okinawa as well (Author's Note: Please note that except for the point that there were many soldiers from Hokkaido, there are quite ambiguous and imprecise parts in my investigation). The person in charge explained that it was unclear whether Isaka Daikichi was mobilized as a replacement soldier at the time he was stationed in Okinawa or if he had joined before then.
Ultimately, the 89th Regiment met with the tragedy of almost all its soldiers dying in battle (an abnormal death rate of over 2,600 out of approximately 2,800 men), and most of them were from Hokkaido. In the Battle of Okinawa, among pure military personnel (Author's Note: excluding military employees. However, regarding the framework of military personnel and employees, there is a possibility of error as the victims from Okinawa Prefecture are overwhelmingly more numerous), those from Hokkaido died the most, with over 10,000 killed in action.
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The reason Isaka was not registered with the veterans' association was unknown, but since some people do not want to remember the war, it was said not to be so strange.
"I see, it certainly was hell..."
After receiving the explanation, Yoshimura had no other way to describe it. Here, Yoshimura recalled Matsushima Kotaro's recollection of his reaction to Isaka's "It was hell" comment after the dinner with Sada and Matsushima in '87. It started to bother him strangely, so he had the Welfare and Relief Division investigate Matsushima's military service record as well.
It turned out that Matsushima had been conscripted into the 7th Division, 28th Infantry Regiment in May 1944. From there, he was introduced to a veterans' association just like Isaka. Upon investigation, it seemed the 28th Regiment had been nearly wiped out at the Nomonhan Incident in 1939 and on Guadalcanal (known as Starvation Island) in 1942. After receiving the regimental colors again in 1944, they had apparently been on standby in eastern Hokkaido to prepare for a decisive battle against an Allied landing. In other words, after Matsushima was called up, they never engaged in combat, and to put it in the most exaggerated terms, he spent the end of the war peacefully within the prefecture.
In Matsushima's testimony recorded on tape, it was mentioned that the conversation between Isaka and Matsushima regarding "hell" didn't mesh well. Yoshimura thought the cause of that discrepancy might be that their military experiences were, in a sense, as different as heaven and hell.
Nishida also received Yoshimura's report and understood the content of Isaka's experience of hell. He could also deeply feel the meaning behind the words spoken to Oshima (Onodera), who was never called up, and to Matsushima: "Thanks to that name (meaning his impersonation of Kuwano Kinya), Oshima was certainly able to escape the kind of hell I experienced," and "Don't you understand, even though you're my age? You're slow on the uptake."
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"You did well to take the initiative and look into Matsushima's part too! It's not directly related to the case, but it clears up the story."
At Nishida's words of appreciation, Yoshimura replied with an affected puff of his chest.
"Well, this much is only natural."
"Now then, with things like this, all that's left is to wait for Higashidate's arrival."
To Nishida, who spoke while checking the clock, Yoshimura responded with a smile, partly because he had been praised.
"Despite everything, the investigation is making steady progress, isn't it?"
"You know this, but the real problem starts from here, right? Not just Higashidate, but how we can lead from there to Oshima's involvement in the crime—that's going to be extremely difficult."
Nishida spoke as if to caution him, but it was also true that the light of hope was stronger than when he had first taken the post. However, it was also true that he had not yet imagined that dark clouds would begin to gather again not long after.
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At 3:30 PM on June 24th, the investigators and Higashidate arrived at the Kitami Branch of the Kushiro District Public Prosecutors Office. After undergoing a brief interrogation by the prosecutor in charge, they were transferred to the detention cell at the Kitami Station in the evening.
Higashidate, who appeared before Nishida's group from the Kitami Regional HQ and the investigators from the Kitami Station waiting at the entrance, was fatter than the intrepid figure seen in the investigation file photos; at first glance, he didn't look like the same person. Here, too, the passage of seven years was felt.
In any case, after the prosecutor makes a detention request to the Kitami Branch of the Kushiro District Court tomorrow morning, and then goes through a detention hearing by a judge at the district court branch, and detention is granted, only then can interrogation after the arrest be conducted. Until then, they can only look at the prey before them with their fingers in their mouths. For the time being, Nishida instructed the investigators, other than those on night shift and the person in charge, to go home to prepare for the next day.
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On June 25th, after returning to the Kitami Station following the detention hearing, the detention warrant arrived from the court at 3:00 PM, and Higashidate was notified of the warrant in the detention cell.
Being a yakuza, Higashidate likely had some knowledge, but he did not seem to intend to appoint a defense attorney (Author's Note: The court-appointed defense system for "suspects" did not exist as a system until the 2004 revision of the Code of Criminal Procedure. It is separate from court-appointed defense for "defendants").
Since he had already left the group, he likely had already given up on that point, as he naturally lacked the funds and there was no lawyer he was familiar with, such as the legal advisor of his former group, in far-off Kitami.
Interrogation began immediately, and Nishida monitored the interrogation from behind as the investigation supervisor. Originally, he was tempted to conduct the interrogation directly himself, but at this stage, stepping forward would mean taking away his subordinates' work. He was prepared to step in directly if necessary, but for now, he had to watch from a third-party perspective as the one directing the investigation, to use an extreme expression.
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In the pre-investigation meetings, they had discussed how to break Higashidate, but as with the interrogation in Sendai, they decided to proceed with the following plan for the time being:
1) Questioning Higashidate's actions and alibi around November 11, 1995.
2) Shaking him regarding Kitami Kyoritsu Hospital and the hospital shooting incident, in connection with the DNA match obtained from hair roots left in the getaway vehicle.
3) Shaking him on whether he knows about the Shiun Association and Kagami.
The plan was to approach the questioning by linking the vehicle theft and the shooting incident. Preparations for voiceprint analysis were already complete. They had decided to deliberately withhold the "existence of the recorded tapes" of the Abe statements until the voiceprint analysis came out. This was because they calculated that the psychological pressure on the opponent would be greater if disclosed together.
As for whose instructions led to the involvement in the murder, there was little point in focusing on that at this moment, as it wouldn't come out unless Higashidate himself confessed (T/N: gero) his involvement in the incident. While the voiceprints and tapes were trump cards for Higashidate's direct involvement in the incident, anything beyond that was currently impossible to know unless Higashidate spoke.
Also, originally, Team Leader Onga was supposed to participate in the questioning, but Onga himself declined with a roundabout explanation:
"I'm very poor at interrogations and the like... Originally, I wanted to be an elementary school teacher and was aiming for an education university, but my academic ability was insufficient and my family was poor, so I ended up joining the police... It's fine if it's children, but when it's criminals, I just can't seem to yell at them properly."
In fact, considering Onga's personality, he didn't seem suited for the high-pressure interrogations used for yakuza, and Nishida accepted this. Even though he was from the high school graduate group, his personality might have been why his promotions were delayed for his age.
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However, as expected, even at the Kitami Station, Higashidate adopted a strategy of silence, basically not responding to anything other than small talk. Moreover, even when he did respond to small talk, he didn't say anything himself, usually limiting his responses to "Yeah" or "Mm-hmm."
The investigation team suspected this was a response because he recognized that in some cases, there are investigative techniques that set "traps" in such talk to create a breakthrough, but if this continued, they had to be prepared for a tough battle until the very end of the maximum 20-day detention period. Of course, a re-arrest on suspicion of murder was waiting after that, but it didn't change the fact that they wanted to break him as early as possible.
That said, humans are prone to making mistakes somewhere. Higashidate seemed to know that Kagami was already dead. When the topic of Kagami was brought up during the interrogation, he said, "I heard on the news that he was killed, so I've heard the name," but if it were truly someone he didn't know, it would be quite forced for him to remember the name of every single murder victim.
He tried to make his reason for knowing Kagami unrelated to the incident, but he had essentially dug his own grave. It would have been better to insist he didn't know him from the start. This is exactly why it's dangerous to respond properly to an interrogation, as Higashidate did initially. However, there were no other mistakes so far.
"For now, we have the final measures of DNA and voiceprint analysis, so an indictment for murder should be possible, but I wonder how we'll get to the involvement of the Aoi-ikka main body or 'those guys'..."
Yoshimura lamented with a grimace while watching the interrogation with Nishida. They interrogated him until after 11:00 PM that day, but since it was the first day, they ended it there.
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The next day, Wednesday, June 26th. Since the opponent for Germany, who had won against South Korea the previous day, would be decided in today's match between Brazil and Turkey at Saitama Stadium, the world was buzzing with that topic, but for Nishida and the others, it was like the wind blowing past as they concentrated on the interrogation of Higashidate.
However, even after interrogating him from morning until night, there was no sign of him being shaken. While Nishida was thinking in the Section 1 room, having left the monitoring to Team Leader Onga to see if there were any other strategies, he noticed a sudden news flash during the 7:00 PM news.
"This is a news report just coming in. According to the Tokyo Fire Department, there was a fire and explosion in a multi-tenant building in Shinjuku, Tokyo, shortly after 6:00 PM, and it appears there are many casualties. We will bring you more details as soon as they are known."
The announcer's voice reached Nishida's ears vaguely, but he didn't pay much attention to it and continued lost in thought.
Immediately after he vaguely recognized that a detective not assigned to this investigation had tuned the channel to the semi-finals starting after 8:00, the phone suddenly rang. Since it interrupted his thoughts, he honestly didn't want to answer, but when he did, a very panicked voice suddenly attacked Nishida.
"Hello! This is Sudo from the NPA Organized Crime Department!"
"Yes?"
"Section Chief Assistant Nishida? It's a disaster, a disaster!"
"What happened? Come on, please calm down."
Nishida said this while moving the phone away from his ear to escape Sudo's shouting voice.
"Did you see the news about the explosion in Shinjuku?"
"Uh, yeah... I think that was the flash during the 7:00 news..."
"That's the one! That's turned into something terrible!"
"Huh? I don't follow at all. Does that have anything to do with the NPA Organized Crime Department or us?"
"I can't say for sure it's related, but..."
Nishida found it strange that Sudo hesitated. He couldn't think of a reason why he would call in such a panic if he didn't know whether it was related or not.
"No, no, then wouldn't it be fine to wait until it's certain?"
"I can't say that! The place that exploded was the office of the Shiun Association! The building is also practically owned by the Shiun Association!"
"The Shiun Association, as in the one Kagami belonged to!? ...But even so, isn't that just a coincidence?"
"It would be fine if it were just a coincidence, but apparently they were having a meeting in the office at the time, and not just the Shiun Association guys, but executives from the Sunpu Group were also there and were caught right in the middle of it!"
At this point, Nishida also understood well why Sudo was panicking. Certainly, while it was unknown at this point whether the explosion had anything to do with the Kyoritsu Hospital shooting, if both the Shiun Association, which Kagami belonged to, and the Sunpu Group, which Higashidate belonged to, were involved, the possibility of a connection to the case was not zero. To be more precise, the timing—just a few days after Higashidate's arrest—also had a major influence on that thought.
"Wait a minute! The Aoi-ikka hasn't found out about Higashidate being pinched here, have they?"
Nishida instinctively checked, fearing a silencing by the Aoi-ikka. This was because if Higashidate or Kagami had received orders to kill from their direct organizations at the time, it couldn't be said that there was no point in making it impossible to perfectly prove that those orders came further from the Aoi-ikka.
"I hear Higashidate is completely cut off from the Sunpu Group now, and I don't think it leaked from the police side, but if you ask if it's absolutely impossible..."
Nishida, exasperated by Sudo's lack of clarity, questioned him irritably.
"That's a problem! We're being so careful that we haven't even told the media about the arrest! Seriously, what's the deal?"
"To be honest, it's impossible to judge right now if Higashidate's arrest is linked to this incident! In the first place, the possibility of an accident is higher!"
Sudo also responded irritably, despite having made the call himself. In reality, there was no doubt that there was clearly not enough information to judge at this point, and Nishida reflected and said:
"For now, I understand the situation. If you get more information, could you contact me sequentially?"
"Understood. I'm not directly in charge, but I'll be helping with the investigation, so I'll be busy, but I'll try to keep in touch. I'm in a hurry, so that's all!"
Holding the phone after it was abruptly hung up, Nishida began to prepare for the worst.
Nishida immediately called Yoshimura, who was monitoring the interrogation, to return, and Yoshimura came back from the neighboring Kitami Station out of breath.
"Is it true the Shiun Association and Sunpu Group were caught in an explosion?"
He asked as soon as he entered, which was a natural reaction.
"Yeah, it's a report from Section Chief Sudo, so there's no mistake. The news about the explosion was on just a moment ago."
"What do you think about it, Section Chief Assistant? Is there a fear it's linked to this arrest after all?"
"That's the thing. If that's the case, it turns into a dangerous story of silencing the entire group. Our investigation might be cut off before it reaches the Aoi-ikka main body."
Nishida ruffled his hair, unable to hide his anxiety.
"It would be good if it were just a coincidence..."
Yoshimura spoke as if to comfort his superior, but when Nishida countered with, "Even so, if the Sunpu Group executives were also there, it's a bit too convenient, isn't it?" Yoshimura could only fall silent, as if he had nothing to say.
After seeing that Yoshimura didn't respond, Nishida ordered:
"Either way, make absolutely sure Higashidate doesn't find out about this! It might make him close his mouth even more."
"Of course I know that! It's a fundamental rule to prevent a suspect from finding out about incidents that might relate to them after their arrest."
Yoshimura answered, tapping his chest as if to say he didn't need to be told.
In the end, the questioning of Higashidate ended after 11:00 PM that day, but for Nishida, the explosion was far more concerning than those "obvious" results.
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Nishida ended up staying overnight unexpectedly, waiting for detailed reports on the explosion, but no information came through other than what was reported in the news.
Even the fact that Brazil had defeated Turkey barely registered in his ears as his head was full of the explosion, but by the news around midnight, it was reported that the place that exploded was a gang office and the floor below it, and that 10 out of the dozen or so people in the office were confirmed dead, with many seriously injured.
The state of the six-story building shown on the screen certainly looked like a flashy explosion, and the Shiun Association office was apparently on the third floor. As for the cause, at that point, information was coming in that it was seen as ignition from a gas leak. Apparently, there had been a smell of gas just before, and an employee from another company in the building had contacted the gas company. If that was true, there was a high possibility it was a mere accident rather than something "intentional." If so, it was a story that could be called a blessing in disguise, and Nishida's anxiety eased somewhat, allowing him to take a nap quite calmly.
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Thursday, June 27th. The temperature, which had dropped below 10 degrees at dawn, rose sharply as the sun came up, barely exceeding 20 degrees. Interrogation had been going on since early morning, but it was the same as usual.
While peering through the one-way mirror, Nishida was still concerned about the explosion from the previous day. Since he was prepared for the interrogation not to progress, it might have been more honest to say that he was still overwhelmingly more concerned about the accident.
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When Nishida and Yoshimura went out to a coffee shop they occasionally visited for a change of pace and lunch, they asked to have the channel changed from "Waratte Iitomo" to the NHK noon news. Naturally, it was to check for follow-up reports on the accident.
At the scene the next morning, onlookers were still gathered as usual, but the atmosphere had certainly become calmer than the previous day. In the morning news, the number of deaths was still unclear, but in the noon news, the death toll was 14 among those thought to have been in the gang office, with one missing, three unconscious and seriously injured, and 18 people who were on other floors or rooms or walking on the street outside and were injured by flying glass, all of whom were lightly injured.
The timing is too good for an accident, but as he thought last night, if a gas leak was the cause, there's a high possibility it was an accident. While watching the news closely, Nishida was half-praying that an accident would be the conclusion.
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In the evening, Sudo called Nishida's cell phone again. It was from Sudo. Nishida immediately went out into the hallway and began to speak.
"Sorry for the late contact."
Starting with that, Sudo began to give his report to Nishida.