Tokyo: Rabbit Police and Her Evil Partner

Chapter 536 Feelings Deteriorated
Fushimi Shika borrowed the case file and read it carefully. Only then did he realize that the rumors among his colleagues were wrong. It was not that Mutsuko Sakai stabbed her husband to death on her own, but that the couple stabbed each other.

However, Mutsuko Sakai had a thick layer of fat, and Kotaro Kuroda was unable to pierce her internal organs despite several stabs, which is why she survived and successfully killed her husband.

Therefore, it is reasonable for ancient generals to have "general's bellies".

Minamoto Tamako felt extremely guilty, believing that she had failed to mediate the conflict and instead triggered it, which indirectly led to the murder... If she had gone to the Kuroda family last night to dissuade them, she could have saved a life!

The other colleagues were already used to it and didn't even take it to heart. The police had mediated several times, but the couple wouldn't listen. Who could they blame? Did they expect the police to install cameras in the couple's home?

It would be strange if it were Minamoto no Tamako who felt guilty about this.

By putting on this show, they appeared to be cold-blooded, heartless, and irresponsible police officers, so they naturally gathered together and whispered among themselves, mainly discussing whether Yuan Yuzi was faking it or genuinely felt guilty.

Yuan Yuzi had sharp ears and heard everything clearly. Unable to stay at the police station any longer, she applied for a field assignment to handle this murder case.

To be honest, there's not much to investigate in this case. Mutsuko Sakai called the police immediately after killing him—at the time, she didn't know her husband was going to die; she just thought he had passed out.

She later confessed and recounted the entire incident without any doubt. There were witnesses and physical evidence, and all that remained was for the prosecutor to file charges and for the deceased's family to file a lawsuit.

But Minako still wanted to know the truth: if they hated each other so much, why didn't they get a divorce? Why did they have to hurt each other to this point? Couldn't they have separated peacefully?

Fushimi Shika noticed that something was wrong with her and hurriedly followed, suggesting that she go on a field mission with her. Minamoto Tamako readily agreed, but she had lost the excitement of investigating a murder case with the detective team, leaving only guilt and a bit of fear.

She didn't know how to face Mutsuko Sakai.

The two took a tram to the hospital. Mutsuko Sakai is currently on medical parole, awaiting the healing of her knife wounds before being transferred to a detention center.

When she arrived at the ward door, Yuan Yuzi hesitated and dared not go in.

Fushimi Shika pushed open the door and peeked inside. There were two rows of hospital beds, with three patients on each side. Sakai Mutsuko was lying in the middle, with a police officer beside her. After all, it was a murder case, so a police officer had to accompany her to prevent the suspect from escaping.

"How does Miss Mutsuko look?" Minamoto Tamako asked softly. "Is she badly injured? Is she awake or still sleeping?"

Fushimi Shika stepped aside from the doorway and said, "Why don't you go in and take a look for yourself?"

With a determined look, Yuan Yuzi entered the ward and said, bowing her head, "Excuse me." The patrol officer saw her, stood up, and greeted her politely; Yuan Yuzi was now considered a senior officer.

"Ah, you're that female detective from that day!" Mutsuko Sakai exclaimed, pointing at Tamako Minamoto.

She was wearing an oversized hospital gown that was stretched taut, with the outline of gauze patches underneath. The main injury was on her abdomen, but it was impossible to tell how serious it was.

“It’s me,” Yuan Yuzi introduced herself again, putting on a respectful air of a sister-in-law, and sat down by the hospital bed: “I’m also in charge of this murder case…”

Before she could finish speaking, Mutsuko Sakai shouted, "I acted in self-defense! I acted in self-defense! He stabbed me first!"

Yuan Yuzi gestured for her to calm down; no one was accusing her of murder, they just had some questions to ask.

Mutsuko Sakai remained uneasy and wary, asking, "What do you want to ask? I've already said everything I needed to..."

“It’s about your marital relationship,” Minamoto Tamako began, but she didn’t know what to ask. She hesitated for a moment, prepared her answer, and then continued, “Why did you and Mr. Kuroda end up like this?”

"what?"

Mutsuko Sakai's chubby face trembled, and her expression changed from wary to puzzled.

Yuan Yuzi placed the file folder flat on her lap, her legs together, palms flat, and back straight. She asked earnestly, "You two must have gotten married because you loved each other, right? If that's the case, why have things turned out this way, with you hating each other?"

"This...this is my personal matter, isn't it? It has absolutely nothing to do with self-defense! Why are you asking about these private matters?" Mutsuko Sakai was reluctant to speak.

Yuan Yuzi persisted, leaning forward slightly, adopting the posture of a female lead in a morning drama asking, "Even if you don't like the other person anymore, can't you break up peacefully? Can't you still be friends in the future?"

Mutsuko Sakai leaned back slightly, resting on the hospital bed. She looked around and said to the patrol officer and Shika Fushimi beside her, "What's going on? Is this some kind of relationship reality show? Are there any hidden cameras in the corner?"

Fushimi Shika shrugged and added for Minamoto Tamako, "If you speak properly now, you might be able to garner sympathy votes in court, which would be beneficial to your later judgment."

Upon hearing this, Mutsuko Sakai turned her head again and opened her heart to Tamako Minamoto, telling her about how she met, fell in love with, and married Kotaro Kuroda.

Back then, she wasn't this fat; she just had a little bit of chubby cheeks and was considered cute. She had many suitors, one of whom was Kotaro Kuroda.

To prove she wasn't lying, Mutsuko Sakai even pulled a photo out of her wallet—a wedding headshot.

Fushimi Shika glanced at the photo from the side and was surprised to find that what Mutsuko Sakai said was true. The woman in the photo was just a little chubby, the kawaii type, and the bear was very big. To put it bluntly, he was a giant with a baby face... He originally thought that Mutsuko Sakai was deliberately beautifying her, since the fat man's standard of being slightly chubby was not very accurate.

The photo shows Kotaro Kuroda looking quite good, with delicate features, not as thin as he is now, and without that depressed and slightly neurotic air about him.

Mutsuko Sakai's expression was complicated. After showing the photo, she folded it in half and put it back in her wallet.
"Back then, the people around me were very malicious. Men would fawn over me, saying they liked my type, but in reality, they just wanted to sleep with me. They were too embarrassed to bring me along when meeting friends or going to parties..."

"That's just how men are; the type they like in bed is completely different from the type they like in social situations."

“They would feel ashamed if their girlfriend wasn’t good-looking, especially in social situations. If a guy brought a chubby girlfriend, his friends wouldn’t say anything to his face, but they would definitely tease him behind his back…”

“Kotaro is different from those other people. He genuinely doesn’t care that I’m fat, and he’s not after my body. He said he likes my energetic self…”

"Later, I gained weight, but Kotaro's attitude towards me remained unchanged. He didn't feel ashamed for taking me out. If his friends teased me about my figure, whether to my face or behind my back, he would scold them back fiercely... If his friends didn't change, he would break off the friendship with them."

……

As she spoke, Mutsuko Sakai's expression gradually became numb, tinged with a hint of confusion. She felt as if she were talking about someone else's story. Although the memories remained vivid, they felt incredibly distant, making it impossible to resonate with the feelings she had at the time.

The more Minamoto Tamako listened, the more confused she became. She asked softly, "If that's the case, Mr. Kuroda should have been a very good husband... How did things turn out like this?"

Mutsuko Sakai scratched at the loose thread on her wallet and said, "I don't know. In the years after we got married, I felt that he had changed, and I also felt that I had changed. It wasn't just my physique, but my personality had changed even more."

Gen Tamako suddenly became nervous: "Why did it change?"

Mutsuko Sakai still said "I don't know," then paused and added, "There could be various reasons. For example, the thing we talk about most after we got married is actually living expenses..."

"After Kotaro started working for a big company, he gradually became more concerned about 'a man's face.' He made me quit my job and become a full-time housewife, saying he didn't want me to suffer, but I felt he was just satisfying his own ego..."

“But he feels that he works hard to support me, while I only need to stay at home and enjoy myself. I've also said that housework is actually very tiring, and even if I went out to do cleaning, I could earn a lot of money to supplement the family income, but he wouldn't listen, he just finds it annoying…”

"Once, his company president came to visit, and I cooked for him. I overheard the president making sarcastic remarks, such as, 'Why did you marry a fat woman?', 'Does Hiroki like this kind of thing?', and 'But you do have big breasts...' This time, Hiroki didn't argue back. Instead, he poured the president a drink, showing a 'man's shame' for the first time."

"Later, Kotaro earned more and more, but it was as if there was a barrier between us, invisible and intangible, but it was real and difficult to overcome."

"I do still have feelings for him, and he probably has feelings for me too, otherwise he wouldn't have kept giving me living expenses and letting me manage his salary..."

"Thinking about it carefully, if I just ate a little less, it would be fine. Maybe it's really because I'm too fat that Kotaro gradually couldn't stand it anymore, and it kept embarrassing him and making him lose face in public."

"He makes so much money, yet he doesn't marry a beautiful woman or keep a slim mistress. Everyone's saying that Kotaro has a fetish for fat women..."

"Of course I've thought about losing weight; what woman doesn't like to be beautiful? But every time Kotaro looks like a 'man is ashamed,' I can't help but feel disgusted. I don't want to lose weight because of that, and a rebellious feeling inexplicably arises in my heart."

"It sounds like I'm making excuses, and maybe I really was making excuses for myself back then. I don't even understand what I was thinking before. Even though Kotaro was sleeping right next to me, I always felt uneasy..."

At this point, Mutsuko Sakai suddenly paused, looked up at the IV drip bottle, and said with a strange sigh, "Ah, so in that sense, I've become a fat, ugly, extravagant, and selfish woman."

……

The ward fell silent, and no one spoke.

The junior police officer standing nearby wanted to offer some words of comfort, but didn't know what to say, so he could only turn his gaze to Senior Tamako.

Meanwhile, Minamoto no Tamako was also enveloped by a huge sense of unease. She couldn't help but reach out and touch her lower abdomen, turning her gaze to Fushimi Shika.

Will Fushimi-kun change in the future?
Will I change in the future?
Will we become like the Kuroda couple in the future?

The more Minamoto Tamako thought about it, the more anxious she became. The Kuroda couple were not short of money, yet their lives were a mess. Her parents were the same; they had never lacked money before, but they still ended up divorcing. This showed that a solid economic foundation was not a panacea for family harmony.

So where did the problem lie?
Has the relationship soured?
That doesn't make sense. The Kuroda couple clearly still had feelings for each other, so how did they end up turning against each other with swords drawn?
Minamoto no Tamako couldn't understand it at all. She looked away and turned to Sakai Mutsuko again, unable to help but ask, "Why did it turn out like this?"

Mutsuko Sakai gave the same answer as always: "I don't know."

Yuan Yuzi was speechless for a moment. She could only offer a few words of comfort, and after exchanging polite words, she got up to take her leave and returned to the police station to begin writing the case report.

She didn't speak to Fushimi Shika the whole way.

Fushimi Shika saw what was troubling Minamoto Tamako. But there was nothing he could do to help; he could only wait for her to figure it out herself.

For the next few days, Minamoto no Tamako was in a low mood. She regained her self-discipline and insisted on running and exercising every day, but she was not as energetic as before.

News came from Hokkaido regarding Kujo Hikaru's verdict, which was within Fushimi Shika's conservative expectations. The judge sentenced him to life imprisonment, and neither Kujo Hikaru nor the Kujo family appealed, so this was the final result.

After all, the threshold for a death sentence in Japan is quite high; you can't really call yourself a death row inmate unless you've killed seven or eight people. Kujo Hikaru is currently the ringleader, so getting a life sentence is already pretty good.

Fushimi Shika was neither entirely satisfied nor dissatisfied; it was just a matter of official business, and he didn't intend to pursue the matter further.

Kujo Mutsu called several times to say hello and occasionally subtly inquired when he was interested in getting engaged.

Given Minamoto no Tamako's half-dead state, Fushimi Shika felt that bringing up engagement now would only backfire. It was too hasty to say anything; haste makes waste. Relationships can only be developed slowly.

This went on for half a month, and the Sakai Mutsuko murder case finally came to a slow and painstaking conclusion.

Minamoto no Tamako wanted to secretly observe the trial. She didn't mention it to Fushimi Shika, but Fushimi Shika still followed her. He learned about it from Hiraoko.

In ordinary cases, not many people come to watch. For a crime of passion like the one committed by Mutsuko Sakai, no one is interested. So the only people present to watch were the victim's family members, Fushimi Shika, and Minamoto Tamako.

Before the trial began, both defense lawyers sat down, looking down at their phones and replying to text messages, seemingly not taking the matter seriously.

Genji Tamako felt inexplicably nervous and asked, "What kind of punishment do you think Mutsuko will receive?"

Fushimi Shika recalled the testimony and said with reservations, "If the judge is objective enough, and if the prosecutor doesn't engage in plea bargaining, it's probably self-defense, or at most excessive self-defense. After all, Kuroda Kotaro stabbed first, and Sakai Mutsuko was the weaker party... For public opinion, such a result is hard for the general public to accept. Murder should be punished with death, and Sakai Mutsuko was a gambling addict, so the jury might feel it's unfair."

"I see..." Gen Tamako didn't know if this result was good or not.

Soon, the judge arrived and struck the gavel. A bailiff led a nervous-looking Mutsuko Sakai to the defendant's seat. Shika Fushimi glanced at her, recognized her scent, and quickly changed his words:

"The prosecutor has filed charges, so it's basically over. Mutsuko Sakai will most likely be sentenced."

(End of this chapter)