Tokyo: Rabbit Police and Her Evil Partner

Chapter 534 Marriage Mediator

The shout was so loud that Yuan Yuzi, who was standing outside the door, could hear it clearly.

She was startled and didn't dare to bang on the door to provoke the criminal. Instead, she shouted loudly to dissuade him, "Sir, please don't get agitated! I'm here to mediate! Please calm down and don't do anything you'll regret!"

After saying that, Minamoto no Tamako ran wildly towards the end of the U-shaped corridor, ran all the way to the stairwell, climbed out of the stairwell window, and moved along the window ledge toward the Kuroda family's room.

It sounds a bit scary, but the Kuroda family's house was actually on the second floor. Japanese buildings are known for being short, only a little over two meters high... Falling from a two-meter-high window would at most result in a broken leg.

Yuan Yuzi placed her hands on the outside of the window and quietly peeked inside to observe the situation.

Old-style Sugamo apartments typically lack a living room, and the bedroom is directly visible from the window. The couple was arguing, and their shouting could be heard clearly through the window.
"If you keep doing this, don't blame me! I'll kill you too!"

"Come on, you old hag! Let's see who kills whom! Believe me or not, I'll stab you to death!"

Through the glass window, Yuan Yuzi saw the couple, each holding a kitchen knife, standing two meters apart, waving them at each other in a threatening manner.

"stop!!"

Detective Yuko shouted and jumped through the window.

Seeing this, the Kuroda couple both pointed their knives at Minamoto no Tamako and shouted in unison, "Don't come any closer!"

Yuan Yuzi thought to herself that it was good she had brought her police gun. She took out her service weapon, assumed a standard aiming position, and shouted according to the arrest procedure, "Police! Put down your weapons immediately!"

When the Kuroda couple saw that she was serious, they looked at each other for a moment, then loosened their grip, and the two fruit knives clattered to the floor.

Yuan Yuzi immediately made a phone call, summoning the nearest police station to send two patrol officers to arrest the suspects. She stayed there, trying to calm the two suspects down.

Kotaro Kuroda deflated like a punctured balloon, his previous arrogance gone. Instead, he became like a servile middle-aged man, bowing and whispering to Tamako, "Isn't it unnecessary to detain him? It was just an argument... I have to go to work tomorrow... Could you please make an exception..."

“No way!” Gen Tamako refused with a serious face.

This is clearly a situation of 'crime in progress'. Kuroda Kotaro is guilty of 'attempted intentional injury', and he certainly cannot be let off so easily.

If we just leave it like this, who knows what heinous things Kuroda Kotaro might do! You know, there are quite a few cases of wives being murdered in Japan!

Mutsuko Sakai clapped her hands in delight and exclaimed, "That's right! That's exactly how it should be!"

But Minamoto no Tamako didn't let her off the hook, saying, "It's too early to judge Mr. Kuroda as the party at fault. If this matter was provoked by Ms. Mutsuko, it could very well be considered mutual fighting or provocation."

Mutsuko Sakai's head drooped down immediately, and she fell silent.

Soon, two patrol officers arrived at the scene and handcuffed the Kuroda couple. The two obediently followed the officer back to the police station and sat in the office area, where Detective Tamako mediated the situation.

Gen Tamako sat down between the two, holding a small notebook, and first asked the person who reported the incident, "Ms. Mutsuko, what just happened? Why did you report it?"

Kotaro Kuroda interrupted, "That wretched woman took my money to gamble again! She lost it all in one go!"

He was thin, but had a very loud voice, and when he shouted, he had a volatile and unforgiving manner.

Mutsuko Sakai's figure is the opposite of her husband's; she has three layers of fat on her stomach and two layers on her chin. She speaks in a soft, gentle voice, sounding like a cute girl: "That's because you hit me! I was so angry that I took money to play pachinko!"

Yuan Yuzi quickly stretched out her hands and said, "Alright, alright! Stop arguing!"

No one paid any attention to her. Kuroda Kotaro and Sakai Mutsuko argued more and more fiercely, and their saliva was evenly sprayed onto both sides of Minamoto Tamako's cheeks, making her feel very uncomfortable in the middle.

The argument lasted for about ten minutes before Yuan Yuzi finally understood what had happened and wrote it down in her notebook.

There's not much to say, really. It's just that Mutsuko Sakai used her living expenses to gamble on pachinko again and lost it all. The couple's conflict reached its peak, which led to an argument.

The point of contention in their argument lay in their "gambling motives".

Mutsuko Sakai insists that she was a victim of domestic violence and that she gambled in order to get revenge on her husband.
Kotaro Kuroda insisted that his wife had gambled first, that he worked himself to the bone outside, and that all the money he earned was lost by his wife, which was why he lost his temper and became out of control. He claimed it was entirely his wife's fault!
The two argued endlessly about this, and if it went to court, it would certainly be a focal point of their defense.

The patrol officers tried to persuade the husband, Kotaro Kuroda, to be more forgiving, and the wife, Mutsuko Sakai, to admit her mistake, apologize, and promise never to gamble again... but neither of them agreed, and they even pointed their handcuffed fingers at each other's noses and cursed.

Yuan Yuzi thought to herself, "No wonder the patrol officers couldn't mediate. They're just talking without understanding the situation at all!"
She believes it is necessary to find out who is at fault in this matter, and only by clarifying the facts can better negotiations take place.

Therefore, Gen Tamako washed her face and returned to further question him: "Mr. Kuroda, you said that your wife gambled first, which is why you were so angry... When did you first discover that your wife was gambling?"

Kotaro Kuroda was taken aback. He clearly hadn't expected the police to investigate this matter so thoroughly. He tilted his head and pondered for a moment, then lowered his voice by eight octaves and said rather unconfidently, "This... I don't remember very clearly... She had a gambling habit a long time ago."

Mutsuko Sakai started yelling again, retorting loudly in a cute girl's voice, "You're talking nonsense! When have I ever had a gambling habit?"

"You often buy useless lottery tickets! And those scratch-off and lottery machine tickets too, it's just that the amount is small, so I've been holding back from saying anything to you!" Kuroda Kotaro's voice also rose.

Mutsuko Sakai stomped her foot and shouted, "That was my own money, why can't I buy it? I didn't use your money to buy it! So you assumed I was gambling, right? And then you made excuses and said it was my fault! You pinned all the domestic violence on me! You're such a jerk!"

Kotaro Kuroda became agitated again: "I only pushed you a few times! It doesn't count as domestic violence at all!"

Mutsuko Sakai pulled up her sleeve, revealing arms covered in bruises and swelling: "Nonsense! You liar! Last time you hit me in front of other people! You even hit me on the head with a bottle! My nails were broken, and I couldn't feel my legs. I crawled home by myself!"

"That's all because of your gambling!" Kuroda Kotaro shouted.

“It was you who started the domestic violence, that’s why I went gambling!” Mutsuko Sakai followed up.

The scene devolved into a war of words again. This time, Yuan Yuzi was more experienced, holding up two whiteboards to block the view on either side. She mentally reviewed the points of their argument and realized that the conflict had shifted from the "reasons for gambling" to the question of "whether small-stakes betting counts as gambling."

This……

Genji Tamako questioned Kuroda Kotaro again, asking if he considered betting to be gambling.

Without hesitation, Kotaro Kuroda said, "Of course it is," and the argument shifted from "whether small bets count as gambling" to "whether money earned separately by the couple is considered joint property." Kuroda felt that although Mutsuko Sakai earned that money, it should also be considered joint property, since she had spent a lot of his money while he hadn't received a single penny from her, so it was still Mutsuko's fault.

However, Mutsuko Sakai disagreed. She immediately countered, claiming that after their marriage, it was Kotaro Kuroda who forcefully demanded that she quit her job and became a full-time housewife. She argued that it was entirely because of Kotaro Kuroda's personal pride that the family lost a portion of its income.

She didn't want to be a full-time housewife at all; she wanted to be self-reliant and run her own shop. However, she couldn't go out to work and had no way to save up the capital to open the shop, so she thought of changing her life through gambling.

Therefore, the point of contention in the argument became "whether being a full-time housewife is right or wrong".

The more Yuan Yuzi asked, the more confused she became, discovering that the problem and contradictions kept shifting from east to west and then from west to east... Both sides had their own reasons, but both sides had their own problems.

How can this be mediated?
She was truly at a loss, and finally understood why the patrolman kept repeating the same things – probably because only by saying these things could he slightly dissuade the two of them.

As the saying goes, even an upright official finds it hard to settle family disputes. Even if Yuan Yuzi were Bao Zheng reincarnated, she wouldn't be able to make a decision right away.

No wonder Section Chief Kinoshita told her not to underestimate this kind of case...

Gen Tamako took a deep breath to calm herself down, and once again called a halt midway through the argument: "Stop arguing! This is the Koban, not your home!"

Kotaro Kuroda and Mutsuko Sakai shut up sullenly, turning their faces away at the same time, looking as if they had a deep-seated grudge.

"Case handling requires evidence. From now on, we can't assume what the other party is thinking. If you accuse someone, you must produce evidence!" Gen Tamako slammed her hand on the table, intending to adopt a courtroom defense approach: "Ms. Mutsuko, you go first! What do you think is wrong with Mr. Kuroda?"

“He’s abusive!” Mutsuko Sakai pointed at Kotaro Kuroda’s nose.

"What evidence do you have to prove that Mr. Kuroda committed domestic violence?" Minamoto Tamako asked.

Mutsuko Sakai then rolled up her sleeves, pointed to the wounds on her body, and said that the neighbors had all heard and seen it and could serve as witnesses!
Gen Tamako nodded in agreement, indicating that Sakai Mutsuko could undergo a forensic examination, as there was both witness testimony and physical evidence.

So she turned to Kuroda Kotaro and asked, "Now it's Mr. Kuroda's turn to speak. What do you think is wrong with Ms. Mutsuko?"

“She gambles!” Kotaro Kuroda pointed back at Mutsuko Sakai’s nose.

Minamoto Tamako continued, "What evidence do you have to prove that Ms. Mutsuko gambled?"

Kotaro Kuroda pulled out his bankbook and showed his bank statements. He then said that the pachinko parlor manager in the vicinity could testify, as could the owners of the gambling shops!

Yuan Yuzi nodded, still agreeing. The gambling was well-documented with witnesses and evidence, so there was no point in denying it.

She further inquired, "Okay, since Mr. Kuroda says his domestic violence was caused by his wife's gambling, what evidence do you have to prove this?"

"This..." Kuroda Kotaro was speechless for a moment.

Genji turned to Sakai Mutsuko and asked, "Ms. Mutsuko just said that her gambling was caused by her husband's domestic violence. Do you have any evidence to prove this?"

"Can……"

Mutsuko Sakai reacted faster than Kotaro Kuroda, quickly saying, "Officer, you have to consider my situation! I'm a forced full-time housewife, suffering domestic violence every day. Can you imagine what kind of life I'm living? As a woman myself, you should be able to understand how I feel, right?"

Gen Tamako was a little confused. She scratched her head and said, "But...didn't you choose to marry Mr. Kuroda yourself? If you think Mr. Kuroda is going too far, why haven't you divorced him all these years?"

"This..." Mutsuko Sakai was speechless.

Gen Tamako looked them over from left to right, and now that they had both calmed down, she was very satisfied. She then asked them if they wanted to sue each other.

Mutsuko Sakai and Kotaro Kuroda exchanged a glance, shook their heads simultaneously, and said somewhat awkwardly, "Let's not... We're very sorry to have troubled you..."

Minamoto Tamako pondered whether to file a public prosecution, since she felt she had prevented a crime from happening. But Sakai Mutsuko and Kuroda Kotaro didn't give her the chance. Clearly, this wasn't their first time coming to report for duty. After apologizing, they added a few disclaimers.

"We were just joking around," "We weren't really angry," "We were just about to peel some fruit, it was just a casual gesture," "It was a complete misunderstanding, it's all the fault of the detective for barging in without permission"...

Once such vague statements are made, the police have no way to pursue the matter further.

After all, going to court requires evidence. Even when it comes to motives, it must be based on the person's testimony, not on the subjective assumptions of a third party.

Since there's no way to prosecute, this case will end here.

Gen Tamako unlocked the handcuffs and released the person, instructing Ms. Sakai Mutsuko to call the police at any time if she wanted to file a lawsuit for domestic violence or divorce, and to protect herself at all times, while also telling her to quit her gambling habit. She then instructed Kuroda Kotaro to call the police at any time if he wanted to file a lawsuit for marital fraud or asset transfer, to protect his wages at all times, and to correct his habit of domestic violence.

Kotaro Kuroda and Mutsuko Sakai nodded repeatedly and waved goodbye to Tamako Minamoto at the entrance of the business hall.

Gen Tamako felt a great sense of accomplishment and felt much more relaxed. When she turned around, she found that her junior colleagues were all looking at her with admiration. They all applauded and praised her, saying, "No wonder she is the youngest detective, Tamako."

Yuan Yuzi was flattered by the praise and said shyly, "Not at all."

On her way back to the police station, she skipped and hopped, overjoyed, feeling that she had successfully handled a case, written a case closure report, and submitted it to Section Chief Kinoshita before leaving get off work.

Kinoshita Shojin skimmed through the text and said, "Well done, thank you for your hard work." Minamoto Tamako snapped to attention and saluted, replying loudly, "It's nothing, it's all what I should do!"

"Alright, you've had a busy day, let's go home early." Kinoshita Shojin waved his hand.

Genji nodded, clocked out of get off work, and couldn't wait to go home to share the story with Fushimi, who was curled up on the sofa watching TV.

After listening, Fushimi Shika simply gave a nonchalant "Eh," and then said nothing more.

Genji frowned slightly, took off her suit jacket, draped it over the sofa armrest, rested her hands on the back of the sofa, and leaned forward to ask, "What does 'Eh' mean?"

Fushimi Shika, staring intently at the television, said without looking away, "It means 'You messed it up'."

(End of this chapter)