Tokyo: Rabbit Police and Her Evil Partner

Chapter 394 Repentance and Reformation!

After Fushimi Shika reminded her, Minamoto no Tamako immediately remembered, but she didn't find anything strange about the sentence; it was just that she happened to have mentioned heaven at the time, and Fujiwara no Homare just happened to ask about it.

"What's strange about it? Isn't this just a normal sentence?" she couldn't help but ask.

"You comforted him by saying that Yoshikawa Rio would go to heaven to meet her boyfriend, but he asked you if you were also a Christian..."

Fushimi Shika countered, "Do you think he's a Christian?"

Yuan Yuzi instinctively wanted to say, "Who knows?", but then she thought that this guy always said he was going to become an immortal, so he probably didn't believe in Christianity. So she shook her head.

"Then why did he say 'also'? Even if someone around him is a Christian, don't you find it strange that he would suddenly get caught up in this during the interrogation?" Fushimi Shika asked repeatedly.

"Now that you mention it, it does seem a bit... but what does that mean?" Yuan Yuzi asked, puzzled.

Fushimi Shika gestured for her to get him a bottle of cola; he needed to use his brain and wanted something sweet.

Yuan Yuzi was so eager to figure out what was going on that she didn't have time to worry about the fact that she needed to use stamps to do her work. She happily opened the refrigerator, opened a bottle of cola with a screwdriver, and even thoughtfully inserted a straw.

Fushimi Shika took the cola, took a slurp, burped, and then said slowly:

"The medieval theologian Thomas Aquinas put forward the view that life is given by God and belongs to God, and suicide is an act of disobeying God and violating His sovereignty, violating the commandment of 'Thou shalt not kill,' and is a serious sin."

"Many ancient churches even refused to hold funerals for those who committed suicide and excommunicated those who attempted suicide or survived... You've probably also heard that mainstream Christianity believes 'those who commit suicide cannot go to heaven.'"

"With this premise in mind, then listen to this recording."

As he spoke, Fushimi Shika pressed the replay button, fast-forwarding the tape to the last, most audible whisper:
"Please... help me..."

"No... absolutely not..."

……

"How could it not be important? Don't you want to avenge Ryusuke?"

"Can revenge bring him back to life? I just want to see him one more time..."

……

Minamoto no Tamako suddenly looked up, her face filled with shock: "Yoshikawa Rio is begging Fujiwara Homare to kill her?!"

Fushimi Shika shrugged and took another sip of his cola: "That's the most reasonable guess."

"That's the most bizarre thing ever! Is it really necessary? It's just that her boyfriend died, is it really necessary to go to such lengths? Even if she wanted to commit suicide together, why didn't she just jump off a building?!" Yuan Yuzi grabbed her hair, unable to understand the thought process of her fellow human being.

Sometimes even women can't understand what other women are thinking.

Fushimi Shika didn't care what Minamoto no Tamako thought. He continued to speculate, "If we think in this direction, we can understand what Fujiwara no Homare said in the interrogation room."

“At that time, you told Fujiwara Homare: ‘Fujiwara-kun, Ms. Yoshikawa will be reunited with her lover in heaven. She will not blame you after she learns the truth.’”

Then Fujiwara asked, "You're a Christian too?"

"Now you understand, right? Yoshikawa Rio wanted to go to heaven to reunite with her boyfriend, so she begged Fujiwara Homare for help—and by 'help,' I don't just mean letting Fujiwara Homare stab her; more importantly, Fujiwara Homare needed to bear the blame for 'murder.'"

"Rio Yoshikawa probably had this plan from the beginning, which is why she has many strange, non-fatal wounds on her back."

Fushimi Shika gestured with his hand behind his back and said, "She held the knife in her hand, attempting to stab herself in the back, so that Fujiwara no Homare would bear the blame for the murder. That way, in the eyes of the world, it wouldn't be considered a suicide."

"But it is no less difficult for a person to stab themselves in the back than to hang themselves with a rope. After several unsuccessful attempts, she had no choice but to ask Fujiwara Homare for help."

"The most bizarre and difficult part of this case is that Fujiwara Homare actually agreed."

"Regardless of what they said among themselves, Fujiwara Homare most likely stabbed Yoshikawa Rio to death with the last blow, giving her a quick death. At the same time, in order to fulfill her last wish, he deliberately concealed the details of the murder and took the initiative to confess to the murder, just to make everyone believe that Yoshikawa Rio did not die by suicide."

"Afterwards, a pastor will probably preside over the funeral, and after the prayers, Yoshikawa Rio's soul will be able to go to heaven."

After saying that, Fushimi Shika took another sip of his cola, making a hissing sound.

Minamoto Tamako clutched her head in disbelief, questioning the meaning of life. She couldn't help but exclaim, "This is ridiculous... Isn't Yoshikawa Rio just fooling herself?"

"Who hasn't deceived themselves?" Fushimi Shika said dismissively. "Doesn't Fujiwara no Homare often deceive himself too? He even admitted it during interrogation. Becoming an immortal was just him fooling himself."

Yuan Yuzi wanted to say, "I've never said that," but for some reason, she suddenly remembered her rabbit police officer and unconsciously shut her mouth.

According to this logic, her reasoning was flawed, which ultimately led to Fujiwara Homare being charged with intentional homicide by the prosecutor.

Now, the pressure on Yuan Yuzi was even greater; her brain was about to explode. Before, she saw others handling cases with ease, as if it were child's play, and thought she could do it too. But when she took charge of a case herself, she truly felt how much pressure one had to endure to solve a murder case.

The slightest mistake can ruin a person's life.

Genjiro was listless, her head drooping, and even her ahoge (cowlick) was hanging down. Seeing this, Fushimi Shika comforted her, "It's alright. In the end, Fujiwara no Homare still committed murder."

"But...but his motive was to help the deceased commit suicide..."

"Do you have any evidence? How can you prove what Fujiwara Homare himself was thinking?" Fushimi Shika continued slurping his cola.

"Isn't this tape evidence?"

"Do you need me to give you some legal advice?" Fushimi Shika asked in return.

“Okay, I know it doesn’t count…” Yuan Yuzi muttered, “In any case, my case closure report must be wrong.”

"It's not a big problem. Helping someone commit suicide involves the crime of murder by instruction. According to Article 202 of the Japanese Penal Code, anyone who instigates or assists another person to commit suicide, or kills another person at their request or with their consent, shall be punished with imprisonment for not less than six months but not more than seven years. Attempted acts are also considered crimes."

"Incidentally, the Japanese Penal Code stipulates that those who commit murder shall be sentenced to death, life imprisonment, or imprisonment for a term of not less than three years... However, in judicial practice, for first-time offenders who kill only one person and whose crimes are relatively minor, there is a possibility of being sentenced to imprisonment for a term of not more than five years."

Fushimi Shika gave a brief explanation of Japanese criminal law, concluding with, "From a sentencing perspective, there's actually not much difference between the two charges."

"what?"

Yuan Yuzi felt this was unreasonable, saying that the sentences for these two crimes should be the same. From a personal perspective, she felt this was very unreasonable.

"That's how the court ruled. If you're not happy, you can file a complaint," Fushimi Shika joked, finishing his cola and letting out an incredibly long burp.

Minamoto Tamako understood what he meant. In terms of the outcome, her case report had no substantial impact. The only difference was that Fujiwara Homare's motive had changed. Her dilemma lay precisely there, because she had been relentlessly pursuing a perfect reconstruction of the truth behind the murder.

After careful consideration, she suddenly realized that in judicial practice, the complete truth is not important.

—Because no one can perfectly recreate the truth.

Even if Fushimi's speculation is reasonable, there is still a one in a thousand chance that it has flaws; even if the person involved tells the truth, it will still be subject to personal subjectivity.

As Fushimi once said, there are a thousand different truths among a thousand people, but there is only one fact.

Only now did she fully understand the meaning of those words.

"What should I do now?" Yuan Yuzi asked, her face full of worry. She didn't know what to do.

She had already submitted the case file, and Section Chief Kinoshita had probably already signed it. It was already past 6 p.m., and barring any unforeseen circumstances, Section Chief Kinoshita had already handed the case file over to the prosecutor... If she were to declare at this point that there were errors in the case file, she would not only be punished herself, but she would also implicate Section Chief Kinoshita, who had signed the case file.

The director also signed it, so he might get criticized too.

Yuan Yuzi felt she had made a huge mistake. The patrol officers had been calling her "Senior Yuzi" so sweetly that she felt quite proud. But now she was back to reality—she was just a trainee detective who had been on the job for less than a year and had not yet been officially hired.

"Want some advice?" Fushimi Shika added insult to injury: "How about adding another stamp?"

Yuan Yuzi had no intention of arguing with him. She dejectedly opened the notebook and stamped it heavily: "Here."

"There's nothing we can do," Fushimi Shika said with a grin.

Even with her good upbringing, Yuan Yuzi couldn't help but want to curse. A bunch of vicious words popped into her mind, and after stammering for a long time, she finally said, "You, you're going too far!!"

"How is this going too far? This is called responding to all changes with constancy!" Fushimi Shika said emphatically.

Minamoto no Tamako dismissed it as a fart and crossed out the stamp with her hand, indicating that it was invalid. Fushimi Shika argued that giving advice was one thing, but Minamoto no Tamako's rejection of it was another; how could she take back her payment just because her advice wasn't adopted?

Yuan Yuzi had no interest in arguing with this guy. After thinking it over, she still couldn't stand idly by. She decided to report the situation to Section Chief Kinoshita and request that the case be withdrawn and reinvestigated—even if she would be punished, she would accept it; if it implicated the chief and Section Chief Kinoshita, she would apologize and try her best to make amends.

Now that we've discovered the mistake, we must correct it!
Gen Tamako mustered her courage, rubbing her hands together as she stood beside the landline, pacing back and forth anxiously, biting her thumb and shaking her leg. After a fierce internal struggle, she picked up the receiver, took deep breaths, and dialed Section Chief Kinoshita's number.

"Moshi moshi... It's me, Section Chief Kinoshita. There's something I must report to you..."

Genji confessed everything in one go.

Fushimi Shika sat on the sofa behind her, craning her neck to watch the commotion. She saw Minamoto no Tamako's expression change several times. After a few uttering "uh-huhs" and "ah-ahs," she said with a pale face, "I understand, thank you for letting me know..." and then hung up the phone.

"How is it?" Fushimi Shika asked.

“It’s all over,” Minamoto Tamako muttered. “The prosecutor has already filed a lawsuit with the court.”

(End of this chapter)