Tokyo Unnatural Forensics

Chapter 217, Floating Corpse Pieces in Tokyo Bay
P.S.: The sudden temperature spike to 33°C has completely scrambled my neck. I didn't sleep well all night; the sheets were soaked with sweat. Turning on the air conditioner gave me a cold and a runny nose. So frustrating! Sorry, only one update of 4600 words today.
Due to the suddenness of the situation, Uesugi Muneyuki had to temporarily cancel Saito Asuka and Ishihara Mikoto's meeting. He called a taxi for the girl to return to the Sakata Bridge Tower by herself, while he took Erena and Mikoto to the port terminal in Ota Ward, Tokyo.

When he arrived at the port, there were already more than a dozen police cars parked on the roadside. The police station in Daejeon Ward and the Metropolitan Police Department headquarters had dispatched a large number of police officers. Yellow tape had been put up at the scene, and outside the yellow tape, a group of reporters had gathered near the port, wanting to find out what had happened.

The police officers at the scene all stood with their hands behind their backs and remained silent, leaving the reporters with nothing.

Upon seeing Uesugi Muneyuki appear, the nearby reporters immediately sensed something was up and abandoned their own surroundings to surround him.

"Forensic Officer Uesugi? What happened? Why did the Metropolitan Police Department send you here personally?"

"For a Special Missions unit to be involved, it must be a very significant event, right?"

"Has a body been found?"

"Forensic Officer Uesugi, this is Asahi Shimbun. Could you please share your thoughts on the disappearance of the female executive at Sumitomo Mitsui in Kanagawa Prefecture? Do you believe it was a voluntary or involuntary disappearance?"

"May I ask what your relationship is with this beautiful forensic doctor next to you? There are rumors that she is pregnant with your child?"

"Forensic Inspector Uesugi, we noticed that public security police were present. Does this mean that this case is related to terrorists?"

The reporters all swarmed around, and there seemed to be some strange people mixed in with them.

"Quiet, everyone." Uesugi Muneyuki smiled and gestured for everyone to be quiet. After the reporters had all shut up, he pointed to his casual cashmere short-sleeved shirt and white trousers: "Compared to you, I'm more interested in knowing what happened. I was urgently summoned here during my day off."

"So please step aside for now, I need to go in and see what's going on."

After saying that, Uesugi Muneyuki gestured for everyone to move aside, otherwise it would be obstructing official business.

"Forensic Officer Uesugi! Forensic Officer Uesugi!" The reporters wanted to keep pressing, but the police stopped them and put up a yellow line for Uesugi Muneyuki: "Thank you for your hard work, Forensic Officer Uesugi, Inspector Ikeda."

"Well, hard work."

When Uesugi Muneyuki entered the dock, he found that Inspector Kashiwagi Jin from the Third Division of the Second Investigation Section was already there, along with a large group of employees from Tokyo Marine Holdings. In addition, Uesugi Muneyuki was surprised to find that several police inspectors from the Metropolitan Police Department's Public Security Division's Organization Countermeasures Section were also there.

"You're here?" Kashiwagi Jin jogged up to Uesugi Muneyuki. "Come and take a look."

“This morning, Mr. Kobayashi of Tokyo Marine Holdings discovered something hitting the stern of the barge while he was operating it…” Kashiwagi Jin said to Uesugi Muneyuki, then gestured for the Tokyo Marine Holdings employee to speak for him.

According to Mr. Kobayashi of Tokyo Marine Holdings, when the barge was being towed, he noticed something hitting the stern. At first, he thought it was some kind of trash, but for safety reasons, he decided to retrieve it. After retrieving it, he found it was a black plastic bag containing pieces of meat that had been soaked in seawater and turned white.

Mr. Kobayashi couldn't tell whether the meat was from an animal or a human, but based on his experience, the way the plastic bag was used was a relatively traditional packing method used by skilled workers in the seafood industry.

But this is for packaged seafood, not for packaged raw meat!
Unfortunately, many people in Japan who are now engaged in low-level aquaculture have some degree of Yakuza background.

Therefore, Mr. Kobayashi immediately decided to call the police, and the police cordoned off the scene after they arrived.

After listening to Mr. Kobayashi's assessment, Kashiwagi Jin found it reasonable and immediately reported it to the Metropolitan Police Department. The Metropolitan Police Department sent the Organization and Countermeasures Department, and the Public Security Bureau also volunteered to come along because it might involve terrorism.

"We had a doctor from a nearby hospital examine it, and they confirmed it's a human body part." Kashiwagi Jin said seriously, "Uesugi-san, could you take a look?"

"Is this the only piece?" Uesugi Muneyuki approached the human body part on the ground in front of him.

Due to some reasons that cannot be explained, the specific details will not be described in detail.

This is a piece of human remains located between the navel and the groin, approximately 30cm long and 28cm wide. The wound was cut very neatly, as smooth as if it had been sliced ​​by a lightsaber from Star Wars. Due to being soaked in seawater, it had decomposed severely, and the location could only be vaguely identified.

Uesugi Muneyuki tentatively raised his right hand to trigger the Soul Contract. There were still faint traces of spirit on the body parts, but the soul's reaction was very weak, and because the body was incomplete, communication was impossible.

Based on his experience, Uesugi Muneyuki immediately judged: "This is a woman, aged between 25 and 50. She hasn't been dead for very long, but judging from the signs of decomposition, she must have been in the seawater for at least 5 days. I can only use professional tools and techniques to cut her up. Apart from that, I can't get any more information."

"You all examine it first. I'll take this thing back to the Metropolitan Police Department and hand it over to the forensic department for dissection and analysis," Uesugi Muneyuki said to the group.

"I'm counting on you." Kashiwagi nodded.

"How are we supposed to perform an autopsy on this, Uesugi?" Sure enough, on the way back, the curious Erina habitually asked, "The blood has all drained out, and the flesh has all rotted away. You can't possibly detect anything like this, right?"

Uesugi Muneyuki didn't speak when he heard this, because he knew someone would answer for him.

"Inspector General Ikeda, you'd better not ask." Sure enough, Mikoto looked impatient: "So what if the flesh is rotten, so what if the blood has dried up? We can still extract DNA from the bones, prioritize collecting bone marrow from the pubic symphysis or iliac bone to measure DNA, and we can also perform pubic morphology analysis to determine sex and age through the inguinal bone."

"In addition, we can use 3D laser scanning to reconstruct the cut surface, electron microscopy to detect residual metal particles, analyze muscle atrophy traces to determine whether the body was restrained before death, and determine whether the body was dumped in Tokyo Bay or drifted from elsewhere based on the degree of cell deformation caused by seawater osmotic pressure."

“Yes.” Uesugi Muneyuki nodded: “By comparing the residual ice crystals on the plastic bags, we can even trace which seafood market the plastic bags came from.”

"Oh? Uesugi-kun, your forensic science has indeed improved a lot!" Mikoto's eyes lit up, her slightly full and sexy lips pursed, and a blush involuntarily rose on her face.

She enjoys high-quality conversations like these academic exchanges, professional Q&A sessions, and brainstorming sessions; it makes her crave them.

Erena's experience was not so good. She thought to herself, "Who understands what you're saying?"

Could you please explain more clearly? You're using a whole bunch of technical terms right off the bat!

Uesugi, say something!

Erina pouted and looked at Uesugi Muneyuki with a wronged expression.

However, Uesugi Muneyuki didn't notice that he was currently thinking about the strange body part.

Yakuza? Bodies dumped in Tokyo Bay?
Professional meat processing plant cutting tools? It's been dead for several days, but not particularly long.
I can sense that a soul contract can be triggered, but the remaining soul fragments in the existing corpse parts are insufficient for communication?

Uesugi Muneyuki keenly realized that this body part might not be simple.

The three returned to Sakuradamon under the escort of the Metropolitan Police Department's Public Security Police and arrived at the Forensic Division. Unfortunately, Higashiyama Takeshi and Kamioka Hideo were both busy today, and only Nakado was still there.

"Where is Dr. Nakado?" Uesugi Muneyuki asked.

"In the dissection room," Higashiyama Takeshi replied helplessly. "I'm resting in the dissection room."

"what?"

Ishihara Mikoto changed into her work clothes, and Erena changed back into her police uniform. Uesugi Muneyuki found Nakado fast asleep on the autopsy table in the dissection room, covered with a shroud and a towel over his face. "Get up, get up, little writer! You haven't written anything for today! How could you sleep like that!" Uesugi Muneyuki turned on the incandescent operating light. "If you keep this up, you won't get the perfect attendance bonus, you won't be able to pay the rent, and you won't get to eat sea bream tempura!"

"No way! No way! No way!" Zhongtang stood up from the dissection table, ripped off the towel from his face and pulled off the shroud: "Who do you think made us go through all this trouble? You're a forensic doctor too, you don't do the autopsies yourself, you just dump everything on us!"

"You're right, Dr. Nakado. If you can be like me, able to examine up to 20 corpses a day, and determine the cause of death and whether it was homicide, suicide, or accidental death without autopsy, and confirm 5 suicide cases a day, you can let me do the autopsies. You can be my Special Task Force Forensic Officer, responsible for running around all 23 wards, 26 cities, 5 towns, and 8 villages in Tokyo. How about that?"

Uesugi Muneyuki said calmly, "Let's talk about fairness when you catch up with my performance."

"What the heck! What's it this time?"

Dr. Nakado shook his head in anger, while behind Uesugi Muneyuki, Ishihara Mikoto couldn't help but cover her mouth and chuckle.

"This time, the body parts were recovered from Tokyo Bay. This morning, Tokio Marine Holdings..."

The autopsy was quick, since there was nothing to begin with. With the combined efforts of Nakado and Mikoto, and under the watchful eyes of Uesugi Muneyuki and Ikeda Erena, the forensic team quickly extracted the deceased's DNA. By measuring the bones, they determined the deceased's gender and approximate age.

The deceased was a woman, approximately 30-40 years old, and not very tall.

Other details still require further testing, but at this moment, Uesugi Muneyuki had already thought of something.

He immediately contacted the head of the criminal investigation department, Uchimura.

"We need to perform a DNA comparison!"

Upon hearing Uesugi Muneyuki's assessment, the Metropolitan Police Department immediately took the matter seriously. The belatedly arrived Ms. Minami formally sent an official letter to the Kanagawa Prefectural Police, requesting that they provide the DNA of the missing person, Igarashi Aiko.

The Kanagawa police were somewhat reluctant, but they had no choice but to cooperate.

At this moment, even Superintendent General Eiji Watanabe sensed something was wrong. A large group of officers from the Criminal Investigation Department gathered outside the Forensic Science Division, awaiting the results.

The results came out very quickly.

Uesugi Muneyuki's forensic assistant, Ishihara Mikoto, changed back into her professional office lady attire, wearing a white coat and high heels. Her face was filled with undisguised horror as she held up the documents in her hand to the Criminal Investigation Department and First Investigation Division police officers who were waiting outside.

"The results are out!"

"According to STR testing, all 20 loci match! The probability that this body part is not Aiko Igarashi is less than one in ten trillion, so it can be confirmed with 100% certainty that this is a part of the body of Aiko Igarashi, the project manager of Mitsui in the Yokohama disappearance case!"

Upon hearing this news, the expressions of the male inspectors outside, from Sugishita Ukyo, the head of the First Investigation Division, to several subordinates of the Second Division in charge of investigating the case, changed drastically.

The body parts recovered from Tokyo Bay turned out to be those of Aiko Igarashi, the missing female executive of Mitsui Properties in Kanagawa Prefecture.
She was actually dumped in Tokyo Bay?
Furthermore, according to the assessment of Tokyo Marine Holdings and its countermeasures department, that knotting method does indeed resemble the work of low-level Yakuza fishmongers...

Wait a minute, didn't the Kanagawa police announce that this case was most likely committed by Sato, Aiko Igarashi's superior?

In any case, the DNA test will not be wrong. This corpse is indeed Igarashi Aiko herself. Therefore, Igarashi Aiko is not just in grave danger, but she is definitely dead!
The thought of this made everyone in the Criminal Investigation Department's heads spin.

It's important to know that Aiko Igarashi is the daughter of Masataka Igarashi, the former head of the Second Investigation Division! Father and daughter are currently a board member of Mitsui Properties and a project manager at Mitsui Properties, respectively!
If a missing person case is upgraded to a criminal case, the scope of the issues involved will expand many times over.

Moreover, the fact that a senior executive of the prestigious Sumitomo Mitsui Group would have his body dumped in Tokyo Bay is an insult to the conglomerate, an insult to all the police in Japan, and an insult to the image of all Japan!

With things like this, will foreigners still dare to come for tourism? Will foreign businesses still dare to invest? Will foreign cargo ships still dare to unload their cargo in Yokohama?
This criminal case also involves the entire Yokohama Port revitalization plan, a massive project with a total budget exceeding 1.5 trillion yen. If it falls through because of this, it might lead to the resignation of the entire Kanagawa Prefectural Government!

The detectives in the Criminal Investigation Department are now relieved that the incident didn't happen in Tokyo, but in Kanagawa.

This idea is extremely despicable and shameless, and also extremely sophisticated and selfish. However, apart from Erena, most people think this way. Even if they feel ashamed, they are still very happy.

However, since the body was found within the Tokyo metropolitan area, the Metropolitan Police Department undeniably bears responsibility and obligation.

This is a serious matter.

Before the head of the First Investigation Division, Sugishita Ukyo, could say anything, Criminal Investigation Department Chief Uchimura Kanji immediately rushed out of the crowd and snatched the documents from Ishihara Mikoto's hands: "Kashiwagi, Uesugi, come with me, let's go together to report this to the Director!"

"Yes!" Uesugi Muneyuki and Kashiwagi Jin exchanged a glance and quickly followed.

Five minutes later, in the Superintendent General's office, the three men reported their findings to Eiji Watanabe.

The body parts found in Tokyo Bay this morning belong to the missing Aiko Igarashi!
Eiji Watanabe's expression also betrayed his shock.

The Superintendent General of Police could tell from the investigation results alone that this case involved yakuza issues, a massive project with a budget of 1.5 trillion yen, the Sumitomo Mitsui Group, the Kanagawa Prefectural Government, and a large number of retired high-ranking officials within the Metropolitan Police Department.

Eiji Watanabe paced back and forth for a few minutes before beginning his arrangements.

"Send someone to inform former Section Chief Igarashi of this terrible news!"

"Send someone to notify the Mitsui Sumitomo Group that the Metropolitan Police Department has confirmed the death of Aiko Igarashi and inquire about their plans and how they intend to classify this incident."

"Notify the Public Relations Division to release the news that the body parts retrieved from Tokyo Bay this morning have been confirmed to be those of Aiko Igarashi. The Metropolitan Police Department will hold a press conference to announce this."

"We requested assistance from Tokio Marine Holdings and the Japan Coast Guard headquarters, requesting the closure of the nearby waters and the dispatch of vessels to retrieve more possible body parts to see if any new discoveries can be made."

"Yes!" Criminal Investigation Department Chief Kanji Uchimura swallowed hard. "Then, the support from the Public Security Bureau and the Organized Crime Countermeasures Department..."

"We request support from the Public Security and Organized Crime Countermeasures Department!" Watanabe Eiji said sternly. "This matter concerns the reputation of our entire Metropolitan Police Department, and even the entire Japanese police force!"

“Yes…” Uchimura Kanji thought to himself, “Why am I so unlucky? This has happened after only a few months in office!”

"Director, I request to join this investigation." Uesugi Muneyuki stepped forward.

Upon hearing this, Watanabe Eiji paused, staring intently at his adopted son, and said with a hint of bitterness, "We have no choice but to join the Special Missions Unit, Uesugi Forensic Officer... I never imagined that in just over a year since we came to the Metropolitan Police Department, we would encounter so many major events. Is this our good fortune or our misfortune? I can't say."

Uesugi Muneyuki nodded and exchanged a glance with Kashiwagi Jin beside him. He saw an indescribable fighting spirit, just like his own.

One can imagine how shocking it would be to the entire Kanto region, and even the whole of Japan, once the news that the body parts were confirmed to be from Aiko Igarashi's body was released.

The heavy burden will once again fall on the shoulders of Uesugi Muneyuki and Watanabe Eiji, who are both father-in-law and son-in-law.

(End of this chapter)