Tokyo: Rabbit Police and Her Evil Partner

Chapter 576 The Fifth Day

Kotaro Kanesaka understood the meaning behind his words.

The first shooting had no perpetrator; the so-called divine punishment was merely giving the living closure. The second massacre, however, was a case of the victims getting what they deserved; the so-called divine punishment was exactly as it sounded…

Presumably, the third and fourth cases will be the same.

If the murderer is the groom, the wedding will definitely be canceled once they uncover the truth.

They received the prize money and were overjoyed; but Minamoto no Tamako would be heartbroken, Kawai's death would be tainted, Ishizuka Kazuo's atonement would become meaningless, and Hirako and Yasukawa Seiji might be drawn into the vortex again...

Standing at the apartment door, Mouri Nai pondered for a long time before gradually realizing what was happening.

If the price of receiving ten million is causing suffering to innocent people, then she would rather not have it.

She couldn't help but look at Mr. Kanesaka, whose expression was equally somber.

"Um, what should we do?" Mouri asked.

"What do you mean, what to do? A detective has only one mission: once he accepts a case, he must find out the truth no matter what." Kanesaka Kotaro's tone was very stiff.

Mouri Naru couldn't bear it: "What about Ms. Gen? She seems to love Mr. Fushimi very much, and has even decided to quit her job after the wedding..."

"What does this have to do with us? We haven't even spoken more than a few words to them. Miss Yuan entrusted us to investigate the case. How she handles the truth is her own business. To put it another way, fabricating evidence, intentional homicide, and intentional assault—aren't they all illegal and criminal acts? If you do something wrong, you should be punished by law. There is no excuse for someone to bypass the law to judge others."

Kotaro Kanesaka made a clear distinction between these two things; his sympathy was not yet so excessive.

Mouri Nai was somewhat unconvinced: "If I gave you a reward of 25 million, would you still tell the truth?"

"You have 25 million?" Kanesaka Kotaro asked back.

"Not yet, but..."

"What's there to say?" Kanesaka Kotaro turned and left. He planned to go to the Sugamo Police Station to use his connections to get the original case files from the massacre.

Mouri hurriedly followed, angrily saying, "You're just after the money!"

"Yes, I admit it, I did it for the money, and I don't think there's anything shameful about it."

Kotaro Kanesaka shrugged, his stiff expression gradually turning numb and indifferent: "I've taken on countless requests like this. Wives asking me to investigate their husbands' infidelity, fathers asking me to investigate their sons' bloodlines, older brothers asking me to investigate their younger brothers' thefts... If it weren't for the money, why would I investigate these things? Don't the parties involved have the right to know?"

“This…” Mouri Nai was stumped by the question.

“Unlike you, I can’t make a lot of money just by writing,” said Kotaro Kanesaka.

“Writing novels is hard work too, you know!” Mouri Nai argued.

Kotaro Kanesaka waved his hand, indicating that this wasn't the point. He then hailed a taxi and headed to the Sugamo Police Station. Although Mouri was angry, she still paid the fare.

Throughout the journey, Mouri Nai kept thinking that such a wonderful story must have a perfect ending—she didn't want the story to end with only regret.

Is there any way to satisfy everyone?

Even at the police station, Mouri was still thinking about it. She didn't hear a single word of the officer's conversation with Kensaka Kotaro; her mind was completely absorbed in figuring out how to make everyone happy.

There are a thousand truths in a thousand people's eyes...

So what does the truth look like in my eyes?

Mouri Nai vaguely grasped the thread, but always felt there was a veil between them, and couldn't get satisfied no matter how she thought about it.

Before she could react, Kotaro Kanesaka suddenly got into a conflict with the police officers. The two sides shouted loudly, and two more officers came over. The three of them handcuffed Kotaro Kanesaka and Nao Mori together.

"I already said! I don't know anything about any videotapes! We're not reporters here to investigate the Cat Island incident!"

Despite Kanesaka Kotaro's repeated explanations, the two were still locked in a detention cell for obstructing official business, and could only be released on bail.

Mouri Nai finally came to her senses. She gripped the bars of the detention cell with both hands and shouted, "I'm a writer! I'm Utada Risa! This is a misunderstanding!"

Unfortunately, no one paid any attention to them.

Kotaro Kanesaka, standing to the side with both hands gripping the fence, also shouted, "I want to see a lawyer! I have the right to make a phone call!"

This time, the criminal police finally responded.

Four police officers opened the detention cell, handcuffed the two men, and led them into two separate interrogation rooms.

Mouri looked bewildered, not knowing how things had turned out this way.

She sat on the iron chair, waiting and waiting, but no one came in to give her an explanation, which made her increasingly anxious and uneasy, and she desperately wanted to find someone to talk to.

However, Kotaro Kanesaka did not receive such favorable treatment.

He sat in the interrogation room for half an hour, waiting for two middle-aged men to arrive.

One of them was not wearing a police uniform, but a simple suit and trousers. Judging from his demeanor, he should be an officer of the rank of superintendent. The other person should be the head of the criminal investigation department, with a department head badge pinned to his chest.

The two men took their seats one after the other and introduced themselves. The former was Kengo Takeda, the head of the criminal investigation department of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department; the latter was Shoji Kinoshita, the head of the criminal investigation division of the Sugamo Police Station.

Kotaro Kanesaka thought the two of them could sit down and have a proper talk, but to his surprise, Shojin Kinoshita bluntly asked, "What is your relationship with Kei Horie?"

"What relationship? I don't know this person at all!" Kanesaka Kotaro tried to clear himself of suspicion.

Kinoshita Shojin refused to give up, relentlessly pressuring Kanesaka Kotaro to reveal the truth.

Kotaro Kanesaka gradually realized that he had read in the newspaper a while ago that a madman had assassinated an official and left behind blood-red words related to "divine punishment" at the scene.

He has now disguised himself as a reporter and sneaked into the police station to inquire about information related to divine punishment. Naturally, the police have mistaken him for Horie Kei's accomplice and arrested him without saying a word, intending to torture him to extract a confession.

"It's a misunderstanding, all a misunderstanding! We're investigating the Hokkaido Heavenly Punishment Case... Haven't you heard? The Hokkaido Police Department auditorium shooting... and the apartment massacre in Sugamo..."

Before Kanesaka Kotaro could finish speaking, Kinoshita Shojin delivered an elbow strike to his chest, then tore off a phone book, soaked it in water, and covered his face page by page.

"You're not going to tell the truth, are you? I have plenty of time to waste with you!" Kinoshita Shojin said coldly.

He received a call from Fushimi Shika a couple of days ago, who warned him that Horie Kei's accomplices might become restless and start gathering information about the Tenpo case and collecting public opinion, attempting to incite a riot by exploiting public discontent.

Just like the Sugamo riots back then.

Yes, Fushimi Shika used a dirty trick. He's not stupid; he wouldn't just stand there and let the detectives investigate.

Upon hearing the news, Kinoshita Shojin became extremely tense and sensitive. The horrific scene of the last Sugamo riot was still vivid in his mind; back then, the Metropolitan Police Department's reputation wasn't this bad. Now, with the cat island videotapes leaked and public sentiment boiling over, he dared not even imagine how serious things would become if it triggered a riot.

There are now two people sneaking around investigating the Heavenly Punishment Case, which Kinoshita Shojin can't help but take seriously.

Before Kotaro Kanesaka could even protest his innocence, he was subjected to waterboarding.

After choking back and forth four or five times, he vomited violently on the table. His mind was completely blank, and he could only rely on instinct to beg for mercy: "I confess... I confess... I'll tell you everything..."

Kinoshita Shojin was secretly pleased, feeling he had performed exceptionally well. He glanced back at the head of the criminal investigation department, whose gaze held a hint of approval.

Not bad, not bad. If we can really get results from the investigation, he will definitely deserve the credit!
Kinoshita Shojin, without bothering to wipe away the vomit, hurriedly questioned the suspect.

Kotaro Kanesaka recounted everything about attending the wedding, leaving nothing out, including the clues he had uncovered, his suspicion that the groom was the true culprit behind the divine punishment, and so on...

After listening, Kinoshita Shojin felt that the guy wasn't lying. He calmed down, thought about it carefully, and finally realized that he had been used as a pawn by Fushimi Shika.

He didn't care at all about weddings or shootings in wedding halls. In the face of public opinion, these things were insignificant.

Since Kensaka Kotaro was not Horie Kei's accomplice and could not provide any clues, he immediately lost interest and didn't even bother to look at him again. He led his superior out of the interrogation room to conduct the next investigation and report.

As for what to do with Kanesaka Kotaro and Mori Nai... it's simple, just lock them up for a week, and release them once Kanesaka Kotaro's wounds have healed.

Afterwards, they said they were asking citizens to cooperate with the investigation. Even if Kanesaka Kotaro and others sued the police station, there would be no evidence. They could also do Fushimi Shika a favor, killing two birds with one stone.

The detectives took Kotaro Kanesaka back to the detention room, and Kinoshita Shojin quickly put the matter out of his mind.

Kotaro Kanesaka lay on the hard wooden bed for two or three hours before he recovered.

Mouri Na was locked in the next room. She saw Kanesaka Kotaro being dragged in and kept calling for her partner.

"Stop shouting... I'm not dead..." Kensaka Kotaro said weakly.

"Thank goodness, Mr. Kanesaka, I'm so glad you're alright..." Mori Nai breathed a sigh of relief.

She immediately rallied and discussed with Kotaro Kanesaka how to find a lawyer and how to expedite the case.

"It's no use. The police will use the 'principle of confidentiality in investigating major cases' to refuse the suspect's meeting with his lawyer... He'll be detained for about a week, and once his injuries have healed, they'll release him... It's a common tactic they've used in recent years..."

Kotaro Kanesaka sighed deeply: "If we waste a week here, we can forget about solving the case, and we'll miss out on the reward money..."

He shielded his eyes with the back of his hand, while his other hand involuntarily pounded the wall: "Damn it! It was so close..."

Mouri shouted encouragingly, "Don't give up! There's always a way!"

In fact, no.

They spent two days in detention, missed two cases, and there was basically no hope of solving them.

Kensaka Kotaro was utterly despondent, but fortunately, on the third day, a new person came in to keep him company—Aoshima, who had been searching for clues about the divine punishment, was also caught up with.

The two happened to be in the same detention cell, so they had plenty of time to chat.

Qingdao originally didn't intend to give up; he felt he still had a chance to win the prize money.
“My partner is still in Hokkaido. I had already thought it through when I left. If the third case is also in Tokyo, handling cases in two locations can save a lot of time. You can't put all your eggs in one basket…”

"And what happened? Where is the third case?" Kanesaka Kotaro asked.

"The remaining two cases are both in Tokyo. I've investigated them. The Snowfield Punishment case is most likely a copycat crime, with a deep connection to Kazama Takusai's daughter, but it has nothing to do with the perpetrator of the auditorium shooting." Aoshima sat by the fence, fiddling with something in his hands, making a soft creaking sound.

"What's the situation with the fourth case?" Kanesaka Kotaro asked curiously.

"The female corpse in the desolate mountains, not even all the bones could be found, no clothes, no traces, the only clue is the divine punishment carved on the stone, there's no way to investigate it." Qingdao Yuan was telling the truth, this kind of case is 100% unsolved.

"Have you reached a conclusion? Have you discussed it with your partner?"

Kotaro Kanesaka was in great pain, watching helplessly as 25 million yen was taken away, which was more painful than waterboarding.

"I told you, it doesn't matter if I'm not there. He'll reveal the answer for me on the last day of the wedding."

Qingdao Yuan paused for a moment, then turned around and said, "Actually, it's not a big problem if you miss these two cases. There's not much to investigate, and it might even interfere with your judgment."

"You think the same way I do?" Kotaro Kanesaka's heart ached even more: "Do you have any proof?"

“Yes, I think the same way.” Qingdao Yuan nodded: “There is no evidence, but didn’t the bride say it at the beginning? [Logically consistent inference] is equally valid.”

Kotaro Kanesaka felt pain even breathing; if that were the case, he could already win the 25 million yen prize...

I should have known better than to bring Mouri Nai; you can't put all your eggs in one basket.

Kotaro Kanesaka was disheartened and lay on the hard bed like a dead pig, feeling that his life was bleak and his future was a pile of dog shit.

Just then, Mouri Nai's pleading voice came from next door again. From the first day she entered the detention center, Mouri Nai had been constantly harassing the on-duty detective, begging them to let them go and promising not to prosecute the police station.

To this day, no one pays any attention to her.

Kotaro Kanesaka wanted to tell her to shut up so he could have some peace and quiet. Anything he did now was pointless; he might as well just lie in bed and suffer…

"Hey, is that you, Mr. Mori? What are you doing here?" a familiar voice rang out.

Kotaro Kanesaka was taken aback. He sat up and listened carefully, discovering that the police officer on duty today was the fan he had met earlier. Not only had he asked Mori Na for an autograph, but he had also personally escorted them to Kazama Takusai's doorstep.

Mouri quickly explained the whole situation and begged the police officers to help them leave.

The officer hesitated for a moment, thinking that the section chief might not care about such a trivial matter. After Mouri repeatedly assured him that he would not prosecute, he surprisingly agreed to release the man—but he wanted to personally sign the next novel, and it had to be a collector's edition.

"No problem! Thank you!" Mouri Nai cheered loudly.

The police officers released Mouri Nai and were about to release Kanesaka Kotaro and the others when they discovered that the fence had been filed.

He felt a chill run down his spine and carefully searched the body, finding a file on Qingdao Yuan's person.

This guy actually tried to 'escape from prison'!
The officer's expression turned stern as he pushed Qingdao Yuan back: "Sorry, they can leave, but you can't."

"Ah, this..." Qingdao Yuan was stunned.

Kotaro Kanesaka took off running, afraid of being a step too slow. His most formidable rival had been tied down; he wouldn't let this opportunity slip by!

(End of this chapter)