Tokyo Unnatural Forensics

Chapter 409, The Fifteen-Year Cold Case is Finally Solved!
After Uesugi Muneyuki and the others returned to Sakuradamon, they learned that Minami-sama had gone to the hospital to take care of Inspector Okada.

It wasn't that Miss Minami didn't want to participate in the interrogation, but with even the Commissioner of the National Police Agency personally present, the lowest-ranking officer in the control room was Superintendent Sugishita Ukyo, the head of the First Investigation Division.

In the Japanese police rank system, if the step from inspector to superintendent is a hurdle, then the step from superintendent to superintendent is another hurdle.

Because the number of police inspector positions can theoretically be increased significantly. For example, there can be only one superintendent in the First Investigation Division, or a superintendent could be set up above each department. However, starting from the superintendent level, each position is fixed and there is only one person in one spot.

If those who came before don't give up their positions, those who come after will never be able to rise to the top.

This is why many professional teams will retire and leave after failing to get promoted in two or three consecutive promotion cycles. The reason is simple: since there is a high probability that they will never have another chance in their lifetime, they might as well step aside and make way for the next generation.

Minami, a mere police inspector, was not qualified to squeeze into the control room where the big shots were gathered! Seeing that she couldn't get in, she had no choice but to go to the hospital to visit her injured subordinate first.

Uesugi Muneyuki was stuck in traffic for quite a while. After returning to the Metropolitan Police Department, he only had time to tidy up before receiving a call from the control room below.

“Uesugi-kun, please come here immediately. Sakuma Kaito, the ghost guest from Ikebukuro, requests to see you. In exchange, he has agreed to tell you everything,” Section Chief Sugishita Ukyo said gently.

“…Very well, I also want to meet the mastermind behind this family annihilation.” Uesugi Muneyuki narrowed his eyes, then nodded hesitantly: “Ask him, how and why?”

Naturally, Igarashi Kai Ikeda and others also wanted to listen in, but unfortunately they were not qualified—the control room was too crowded after the District Public Prosecutors Office arrived.

And so, under the escort of four SATs, Uesugi Muneyuki finally met Sakuma Kaito, the "ghost of Ikebukuro" who committed a shocking massacre of his entire family fifteen years ago, in the interrogation room.

He and Sakuma both refused to be questioned through the control room and demanded to meet face-to-face. In return, Sakuma was not only bound in a straitjacket with his wrists, ankles and neck tied, but also subjected to the latest monitoring device—which would immediately trigger an electric shock if any muscle contraction occurred. At the same time, at least two of the four SATs would continuously keep their guns at bay, with red dot sights always aimed at the non-lethal parts of his body.

It wasn't that the police were too nervous or sensitive, but rather that this guy's previous performance was truly comparable to that of a special forces king in many urban novels.

"I am Uesugi Muneyuki, and I am Sakuma Kaito. If I'm not mistaken, you must have watched that episode of 'God's Hand,' right?" Uesugi Muneyuki said slowly as he sat down opposite Sakuma Kaito, scrutinizing the ghost who had at least six lives on his hands.

He was of average height and build, neither too fat nor too thin. Even though he was bound by straitjackets, he had a streamlined physique and an unremarkable appearance that made him easily forgettable. If it weren't for the DNA test results matching, it would be hard to imagine that this person was the family-wiping murderer.

Upon finally meeting Uesugi Muneyuki, Sakuma Kaito's lips curled into a faint, enigmatic smile, a smile that seemed both mocking and genuinely puzzled: "How...did you find out?"

"The park. What... of mine... touched you?"

His tone was as calm as if he were asking about the weather, yet it carried a chilling thirst for knowledge. He didn't care about being arrested, about the trial, or even about life or death.

He only wanted to unravel the only out-of-control mystery in his "perfect" crime—Uesugi Muneyuki, how did you recognize me at first glance?

Uesugi Muneyuki was silent for a moment, then said, "It's your gaze. I felt your gaze. According to criminal psychology, every murderer likes to return to the crime scene. Your gaze is abnormal."

“Besides that, it’s this.” Uesugi Muneyuki took out the excuse he had prepared beforehand, and pulled out a few strands of hair from the evidence bag: “It’s hair.”

"The wind blew by, messing up the hair on your forehead, and the sun was rising behind you, with that unique color and texture."

"Those fibers left in the tool shed on site, are they actually your own hair? It's a rare hair type with Caucasian ancestry. Normally, from the outside, it doesn't look any different from traditional Japanese black hair, but if it's exposed to sunlight, it will take on a special brownish hue."

Uesugi Muneyuki was simply stating the facts. With each sentence he spoke, he picked up an evidence bag from the control panel and showed it to Sakuma Kaito through the glass: a bag containing "fibers" (actually hair) from the scene, a close-up of hair strands from a scene photo taken 15 years ago, and a blurry screenshot of Sakuma Kaito fixing his hair captured by park surveillance cameras.

Sakuma Kaito listened quietly, looking at the evidence. The slight smile on his face vanished, replaced by an almost blank expression. After a long while, he nodded very slightly, as if he had solved a long-standing mathematical problem: "I see."

"That's fucking stupid. I'm speechless that they would be found out for such a reason."

After a brief silence, Sakuma Kaito seemed to have lost all interest in conversation. He lowered his eyes again, as if about to fall asleep. Watanabe Eiji immediately seized the opportunity and asked his core question: "Sakuma! Your request has been fulfilled! Now answer me, fifteen years ago, from February 23rd to February 24th, XX year! Were you the one who broke into the Sato Takeru family home in Toshima Ward and murdered all four members of the family?!"

Sakuma Kaito didn't answer immediately. Time ticked by, and his vital signs on the monitor were eerily stable. Just as Watanabe Eiji was about to repeat the question, Sakuma spoke, his voice flat and emotionless: "Since you've brought Uesugi here, fine, he'll stay. I'll tell you what happened."

"Yes, that's right, I did it."

“At the age of 25, I completed another ocean voyage and returned to Tokyo. I had no relatives or friends. By chance, I remembered Mr. Kenichi and Mrs. Miwako, who had taken care of me, and I wanted to see them.” “At first, I didn’t think about killing them.”

"However, the laughter of that family and the lights in their house were extremely infuriating."

"So I went into the tool shed and found some tools."

“I waited in the tool shed for a long time, and I kept convincing myself that Mr. Kenichi was a good person and I couldn’t do that.”

"But once you start, you can't stop."

"It's just because that family looks so happy."

He raised his head and looked at Uesugi Muneyuki again, his eyes as empty as the abyss of the universe: "I heard you are of Chinese descent and have both parents. You must be very happy and unable to understand my feelings, right?"

"The reason is this kind of thing."

Inside and outside the interrogation room, there was a deathly silence.

A 15-year-old cold case has finally been solved!

Eiji Watanabe gripped the table tightly, his knuckles cracking softly from the force. The middle-aged man's body trembled slightly. Fifteen years of persistence, the blood and tears of countless people, had ultimately yielded such a bland, absurd, yet chilling "reason."

Police Chief Souichiro Kamishiro took a deep breath, suppressing his turbulent emotions, and said in a calm voice, "It's on record."

Prosecutor Shinbayashi's expression was also unusually grim. The "perfect" statement of motive he desired hadn't materialized, but this bland, devilish whisper was far more impactful than any gory description. He waved his hand, signaling his assistant to take notes.

Section Chief Sugishita Ukyo closed his eyes, as if he had aged ten years in an instant.

Inside the interrogation room, Uesugi Muneyuki was also deeply shocked by Sakuma Kaito's reasons.

Although the other party only revealed the tip of the iceberg, the amount of information contained within it was outrageous!
Kaito Sakuma clearly knows the Sato family, at least Kenichi Sato and his wife Miwako Sato! He even stated that he received preferential treatment from them!

Kaito Sakuma was already a deep-sea sailor at the time, no wonder the entire Metropolitan Police Department searched high and low in Tokyo but couldn't find him! He only docked briefly, committed the crime, and then boarded the ship and left.

He did not come to Sato’s residence in Ikebukuro, Toshima Ward, to commit a crime, but to visit someone!

"You knew Kenichi Sato and his family before?" Muneyuki Uesugi asked, frowning.

Strange, Japanese police are best at investigating interpersonal relationships, so why didn't they find him?

“I know him. Mr. Kenichi took care of me when I was only seventeen years old. That was twenty-three years ago.” Sakuma Kaito suddenly smiled. “My mother died in a car accident. I was all alone and working as a porter at the fish market in Tsukiji. One day, I was so hungry and tired that I fainted while delivering goods to Mr. Kenichi. Mr. Kenichi not only saved me, but also gave me pickled radishes and rice balls to eat.”

"After that, I worked temporarily for Mr. Kenichi for a few days. Mr. Kenichi took good care of me and even shared cigarettes with me. But I didn't really like him. Whenever he took out his Zippo lighter to light a cigarette, I knew he was going to brag about how great his wife and children were."

"Wait, wait!" At this moment, Watanabe Eiji finally couldn't help but speak up: "We don't know any of this, Sakuma Kaito. We haven't found any information related to you! Tell me from the beginning, who is your father? Who is your mother? Why don't you have a birth certificate? What have you been doing all these years?"

“Useless is useless, Japanese police will always be like this.” To everyone’s surprise, Sakuma Kaito couldn’t help but scoff and shake his head: “Well, it’s understandable that they can’t find out who I am.”

"Since Uesugi Muneyuki was able to find me, I'll tell you."

“My father’s name is Benjamin J. Thomas. He served in the 70s at the Yokota U.S. military base in Japan as a Marine Corps officer.”

“My mother’s name is Yumiko Sakuma. She was a high school girl near Yokota. Back then, Japanese women were as cheap as Argentine steaks! She got pregnant shortly after she started dating my father. However, my father only left her two thousand dollars and went back to the United States after his military service ended. I only found out a few years ago that he died in Nevada shortly after returning home due to excessive drinking and an accidental discharge of a gun.”

"I am a born ghost!"

(End of this chapter)