Tokyo Unnatural Forensics

Chapter 283, Turning the Tables Upside Down

The next day, early in the morning.

In November, the restlessness of autumn faded from the Kanagawa Prefecture coastline. Lead-gray clouds hung low in the sky, and a hazy mist floated where they met the inky black sea. Uesugi Muneyuki in the car saw the Enoshima Lighthouse appearing and disappearing in the thin mist. The beach after the tide receded was littered with the remains of seashells, and a few wooden fishing boats were stuck at an angle among the gravel.

The sea breeze, carrying a salty chill, swept across the embankment. Waves crashed against the breakwater, splashing up fine, snow-like foam. In the distance, the pine forests of the Shonan coast surged with pale blue waves, and faded red leaves hung sparsely on the branches, seemingly not welcoming Uesugi Sakurada Morimuneyuki's second appearance.

As dawn broke, Uesugi Muneyuki and his three companions rode in a special mission vehicle, a Toyota Camry, on their way to Kanagawa.

Minami, as the head of the Special Missions Division, did not come. Instead, the acting head of the Special Missions Division, Masayoshi Okada, the forensic officer, Muneyuki Uesugi, the forensic assistant, Mikoto Ishihara, and of course, Muneyuki Uesugi's beloved, tall, beautiful, long-legged judo policewoman, Ena Ikeda.

Unlike Rena Ikeda, who wore a very formal women's suit and trousers uniform with standard patent leather low heels, the forensic beauty Mikoto Ishihara was dressed quite seriously today. She was slender and neat, with slightly curled short hair that reached her neck and had a soft chestnut brown sheen. She wore a well-tailored beige suit jacket over a cherry red mature-style suit skirt. Her legs were encased in matte gray stockings under the dark pencil skirt, which outlined her smooth leg lines. Her 7cm black suede high heels accentuated her slender ankles, and the rhythm of the heels tapping the ground was crisp and composed as she walked. Her makeup was very light, with only coral lipstick as an accent. Her almond-shaped eyes were filled with rational and focused light, and two pearls on her earlobes swayed slightly with her movements.

Ishihara Mikoto usually likes to wear all kinds of fashionable clothes to work, which Erena dislikes. In the eyes of the tall beauty, it is enough to wear business attire and sportswear for daily life. The nice clothes and stockings are for when she is with Uesugi Muneyuki in private.

It's worth mentioning that before meeting Uesugi Muneyuki, Erena only had a few sets of business attire and sportswear in her wardrobe, and they were all exactly the same style with almost no changes.

Mikoto Ishihara didn't care about any of that. She always came to work dressed in flamboyant clothes, adding a splash of color to the otherwise serious Metropolitan Police Department. Of course, there was no shortage of gossip behind her back, but the forensic beauty didn't care at all. She wanted to seize her last moment of glory and live the life she wanted.

"Why is everything in Kanagawa always so bad?" Uesugi Muneyuki, sitting in the front seat, couldn't help but complain, "Will we have to fight five battles at Kawanakajima like Kenshin, or launch six expeditions to Qishan like Zhuge Liang?"

“Well, this kind of thing is actually quite common in Japan.” Inspector Okada, who was driving, replied casually when he heard Uesugi Muneyuki’s complaint: “Every year there are many cases of ‘disappearance’ in Japan, most of which just have no follow-up. If you really ask, just say that they were kidnapped by North Korea, and that’s always right.”

"Pfft!" "Hahahaha~" When Inspector Okada said that, Uesugi Muneyuki and Ishihara Mikoto both laughed, but Ikeda Erena was completely confused and didn't understand.

After the Korean War, North Korea and South Korea only signed an armistice agreement and did not truly achieve peace. The infiltration of spies by both sides has never stopped. However, due to North Korea's unique national circumstances, the spies they have trained have a strange "Juche" flavor, and their behavior is easily detected by South Korea.

Therefore, starting in the 1970s, North Korea began to kidnap Japanese people in large numbers both in Japan and overseas, train them, and then disguise them as "Japanese-Koreans" to carry out espionage activities, so that South Koreans could not distinguish them at first glance.

The kidnappings continued from the late 1970s through the 1980s, until after the millennium. In order to obtain 500,000 yen (specifically, 10 million US dollars worth of medical supplies and 500,000 tons of food aid, equivalent to about 100 million US dollars) from Japan, Ni Taiyang was forced to admit that he had kidnapped many Japanese citizens. He initially admitted to kidnapping 13 people, and later added 4 more, forcing him to admit to kidnapping 17 people. Of these, 5 people returned to Japan, and the rest died (but DNA testing of the ashes of kidnapped person Matsuki Kaoru after his return to Japan revealed that they were not his ashes at all).

However, is it really only 17 people? In fact, Japan believes that there are far more than that. There are nearly 100 missing persons with evidence linking them to North Korea. The Japanese group "Family Association" estimates that North Korea was responsible for 880 missing persons cases during this period.

880 is an exaggeration, but 100 people should be a reasonable number. Unfortunately, Nissō immediately reneged on his promise after receiving the money and goods, and Japan couldn't investigate, so the matter was dropped.

So there's a Japanese saying that if someone goes missing, someone will immediately say, "They must have been kidnapped to North Korea." But in reality, kidnappings mainly happen along the coast and overseas, not deep in the mountains. But this has become a stereotype, not to mention that they actually did it, so it has become a universal excuse.

........................

When Uesugi Muneyuki and his entourage stopped in front of the Kanagawa Prefectural Police Headquarters, reporters swarmed around the car in a frenzy.

"It's him, it's him, it really is him! The Metropolitan Police Department really sent him!"

"Uesugi-san, Uesugi-san, what are your thoughts on this case?"

"Uesugi-san, did Nikaido Kei really commit suicide by drowning? If not, what evidence do you have?"

“Uesugi-san…”

Uesugi Muneyuki first gestured for everyone to be quiet and listen to him. After everyone quieted down, he said in a deep voice, "I came to Kanagawa to do only three things!"

"The truth, the truth, and the truth again!"

After saying that, Uesugi Muneyuki ignored everyone and strode into the Kanagawa Police Headquarters, leaving behind the disheveled police officers on duty who were fending off reporters and demonstrators at the entrance.

"Uesugi! Uesugi! Uesugi!" The elderly men and women at the door shouted Uesugi Muneyuki's name, and the housewives screamed as they watched his retreating figure. With Uesugi Muneyuki here, the world is at peace!

Didn't you see the cherry blossom badge on his clothes?!

This is the badge of the Special Missions Unit, First Investigation Division, Criminal Investigation Department, Metropolitan Police Department!
Upon entering the police headquarters, Uesugi Muneyuki discovered that Kanagawa Prefecture Chief Kobayashi Shoji was already there, along with several of Nikaido Kei's family members: his wife, parents, siblings, and his child, who was five years old when he died and was now ten.

Upon seeing that it was indeed Uesugi Muneyuki, the deceased's parents said nothing, but bowed deeply before him. Nikaido's wife, Nikaido Misaki, knelt down on both knees: "In the past five years, we have called the police nine times and filed six appeals. We know that even if we do this, we cannot bring back our beloved's life, but we just want an answer. How did my husband die? Uesugi-san, can we believe you?"

“I understand how you feel.” Uesugi Muneyuki did not refuse; he accepted the deceased’s wife’s kneeling homage with equanimity, and then said, “I can tell you something now.”

"I can't be sure whether Mr. Nikaido committed suicide, but he definitely didn't drown! Absolutely!"

Upon hearing this, everyone present immediately changed their expressions, especially the representative from Kanagawa University, whose face turned ashen.

Uesugi Muneyuki, are you trying to challenge Kanagawa University?
Many of the police officers from Kanagawa Prefecture at the scene looked grim, as this incident seemed to have occurred once before, two months prior.

This is outrageous! Uesugi, you bastard, are you trying to ruin the Japanese police force?
Once the trend of overturning a verdict is started, what will happen next?

In the conference room, representatives from various parties were seated: the Special Missions Unit, the Kanagawa Police, the Kanagawa District Public Prosecutors Office, the deceased's family, and Kanagawa University, forming five groups. Uesugi Muneyuki immediately raised a very pointed question.

As mentioned earlier, drowning in the lungs should indicate severe edema.

"If the weight is incorrect, why does it indicate that the possibility of drowning cannot be ruled out? Why issue such an ambiguous decision?" Uesugi Muneyuki slammed the forensic report on the table and questioned sharply.

A representative from Kanagawa University stated, "Our forensic medicine department at Kanagawa University has a long history of development and rich experience in forensic medicine."

“Since you have extensive experience as a forensic pathologist, and drowning is a very common cause of death, you should be aware of that.” Uesugi Muneyuki could tell at a glance that the representative from Kanagawa University was not the person who performed the autopsy at the time: “As forensic pathologists, once you accept a commission, you should provide a clear conclusion based on your own convictions!”

"Our autopsy was very rigorous, and it was a forensic autopsy within the limits of the technology and capabilities available at the time," said the representative from Kanagawa University, sweating profusely.

"Does 'meeting the technical standard' mean simply following the procedure? Does 'meeting the technical standard' mean not even noticing an imbalance in lung weight? Is it just about emphasizing the absence of cancer and external injury? Any intern could perform this level of forensic autopsy; why would you need to conduct a professional forensic autopsy? Have you lost your conscience? Or is the annual forensic autopsy budget just going to waste?"

Uesugi Muneyuki's roar was heard even by the guards outside the door.

"Stop talking, stop talking!" The Kanagawa University representative was utterly bewildered by Uesugi Muneyuki's outburst.

"I'm asking you questions now!" Uesugi Muneyuki pressed, "Where is Professor Ogiwara, who performed the autopsy? Did his report observe any bleeding within the pylorus? What was the estimated time of submersion? Were there any contusions? None of these are mentioned in the report, so on what grounds does he say that drowning cannot be ruled out?"

"Stop talking, stop talking." Kanagawa University completely backed down.

They had originally intended to pressure Uesugi Muneyuki with disrespectful remarks about his senior, but Uesugi Muneyuki preemptively spoke first, leaving them muttering incoherently for a long time.

With Kanagawa University side down, Uesugi Muneyuki immediately turned to the Kanagawa police.

"Who was in charge of this case at the time? Besides Inspector Kenta Sato, who else was the first to discover the crime scene? Step forward!"

The room fell silent; no one dared to move, until Shoji Kobayashi, the acting head of Kanagawa Prefecture, spoke up: "Sonoda?"

"Yes~" A weak male voice squeezed out from the crowd, and a patrolman of about 30 years old wearing glasses stepped out with a hunched back: "Yes, it's me!"

"Very well, please tell us about the situation at that time!" The image of Aizen Myōō behind Uesugi Muneyuki shone brightly, and his aura directly overwhelmed everyone and overturned the entire scene.

The greater good lies with Uesugi!
(End of this chapter)