Tokyo Unnatural Forensics

Chapter 449, The Corpse with Only Half-Known Facts
The death of this 83-year-old man was not a suicide or an accident; it was most likely a homicide.

Kitano Kinya's soul is protesting its innocence.

He did not commit suicide or die accidentally!

He was drunk and wanted to sit by the roadside to rest for a while. In his dazed state, he was bumped by something, which caused him to fall into the sand pit and die!

Therefore, this was not an accident, but a homicide.

But the old man didn't know who did it or what enemies he had. He was too drunk to think clearly.

This presented Uesugi Muneyuki with a significant challenge, as he needed scientific evidence to make his judgment.

After some thought, Uesugi Muneyuki did not rush to a conclusion. He carefully observed the scene and, after consulting with the family and local police, obtained the family's consent to conduct an administrative autopsy on the deceased.
This aspect was naturally handled by Ishihara Mikoto. Uesugi Muneyuki himself didn't actually do much of this kind of autopsy work. However, Inspector Higurashi, the only one who had personally witnessed Uesugi Muneyuki perform an autopsy, was most fond of boasting to people at the Metropolitan Police Department about:
Oh yeah, I've seen Uesugi before~ (At the scene of the Bunkyo Ward fire, Uesugi used a scalpel to cut open the deceased's trachea to prove that he did not die from asphyxiation in the fire).
"Kai, Date, Igarashi, go check the nearby surveillance footage and investigate the surrounding area to see if anyone has any clues about what happened this morning. Ikeda, you come with me. Mikoto, you'll be in charge of the administrative autopsy." Uesugi Muneyuki calmly ordered, "I believe this case may be a homicide."

"Alright, Date, Igarashi, let's go!" Kai Toru was eager to try.

The special mission was divided into two groups, with the hospital side immediately beginning the autopsy work.

The autopsy report came out in the afternoon.

1. Fractures of the first to ninth and eleventh ribs on the left side.

II. Injury to the left upper lobe of the lung (injury caused by rib fracture).

III. Hemopneumothorax 600 ml.

Fourth, fractures of the third and fourth lumbar vertebrae.

5. Fracture of the left femur.

6. Blood alcohol concentration is 2.4 mg/ml, indicating a state of severe intoxication.

After the autopsy was completed, Uesugi Muneyuki and Ishihara Mikoto discussed the issue.

"As for the cause of death, I tend to think it was invasive shock." Mikoto looked a little tired after working overtime to complete the autopsy. She was eating the beef stir-fried udon and oolong tea that Ikeda Erena had bought when she said, "The cause of death is accidental death due to intoxication."

“I see.” Uesugi Muneyuki thought for a moment and said, “If we look at the autopsy alone, this is an accidental death due to intoxication. However, I don’t think it was a simple accident. If we look at the condition of the body, is there anything that can verify my statement? Is there any possibility that a third party caused the fall?”

“If you insist on explaining it this way, Zong Xue, it makes sense.” The forensic expert frowned and said softly, “According to the testimony, the deceased was found in a prone position, with the head located about 40 to 50 centimeters from the wall of the promenade, and the feet located further away.”

"As friends who often die from accidental falls know, if you are sitting and roll backwards from a height of 4 meters, you should fall headfirst with your back to the wall. So you should land with your back feet facing the wall, your head facing outwards, and in a supine position."

"If the body looks like this, then it is highly likely that it was an accidental death caused by falling while intoxicated."

Mikoto Ishihara pointed to the report and said.

Uesugi Muneyuki nodded. This was the same situation as the suicide case he encountered before the Fujidai Odaiba building closure case. In such cases, the head would usually suffer a great impact, resulting in scalp contusions, comminuted skull fractures, brain contusions, etc. The person would die on the spot, accompanied by massive bleeding.

However, in this case, no head injury was found on the deceased. Moreover, the deceased was not lying supine but prone, with his head near the wall, a completely opposite state.

Therefore, it is determined that this case was not an accident caused by negligence, and no reasonable explanation can be given.

But if we follow Uesugi Muneyuki's hypothesis that the person was deliberately pushed, what would the corpse look like?
“If a third party pushes the body, it will accelerate and rotate about 270 degrees, landing face down. This would make it reasonable for the head to be closer to the wall and the feet farther away,” Uesugi Muneyuki said carefully. “The deceased’s face would have suffered a great impact, resulting in facial fractures, skull fractures, facial deformities, and massive bleeding.”

"Furthermore, due to the impact to the chest, multiple rib fractures may occur in the anterior chest. The rib fractures may pierce the lungs, causing lung damage and hemopneumothorax. In such cases, heart rupture may also occur. However, humans have an instinctive reaction to danger. If you cover your face with your hands or subconsciously avoid it, you may not suffer skull fractures and facial fractures."

"In that case, the autopsy results make perfect sense!" Uesugi Muneyuki and Ishihara Mikoto exchanged a glance and said with great certainty, "That's right, this wasn't an accidental fall, but a fall involving third-party intervention!"

"Inform the local police station of the findings and begin the investigation immediately! This was a homicide!!!"

Uesugi Muneyuki makes the judgment, and Ishihara Mikoto finds reasons and evidence. After brainstorming by turning cause into effect, a complete and flawless logical chain of evidence is born. This is a tacit understanding that belongs only to him and Mikoto.

Only the tall, beautiful woman next to her was angry and depressed, pouting.

These two people are so professional!
I couldn't get a word in edgewise!
After Uesugi Muneyuki made his judgment, the local police station, which wanted to settle the matter peacefully, was quite helpless. However, faced with the appearance of Uesugi Muneyuki, the chief investigator, they could only accept their bad luck and immediately formed a special task force to investigate.

Unexpectedly, Uesugi Muneyuki's prediction was correct again.

After a preliminary investigation into possible murder and a thorough review of nearby surveillance footage of suspicious individuals, police quickly identified a suspect with strong evidence of the crime.

Takeuchi Masashi, 38, a corporate slave who missed the last train, went to a place to get completely drunk. He was furious about how he had worked hard for more than ten years and was still living in a rented room as a temporary employee, unable to afford to get married and have children. Unfortunately, he ran into Kitano, the president of the company, who was also bragging in an izakaya.

At this moment, President Kitano was sharing his "business acumen" with others.

His Akasaka Takeshita Metal Company has always been known for its preference for hiring older people over younger ones, and when others asked him why, President Kitano was very proud of it.

Old people are great, we need to hire them!
In Tokyo, although the minimum hourly wage is 1050 yen, young people are unwilling to work in the metal industry, which requires factory work. They won't be willing to do jobs unless they are paid 1500-1700 yen per hour. Moreover, companies have to pay social security and pension contributions for these young people, so the actual labor cost is higher than 2300 yen per hour.

In this way, the company won't make much profit.

The elderly were different. They were willing to work for a very meager wage of 1200-1300 yen per hour (equivalent to about 70-80 RMB per hour at the time). Moreover, the elderly in the Showa era were quite hardworking and skilled, far more so than young people.

More importantly, there's no need to pay social security for the elderly; only work injury insurance and accident insurance are required.

Therefore, hiring older employees actually greatly reduces business costs.

President Kitano proudly stated that his company would further reduce the number of young and full-time employees, make greater use of temporary workers and hire more older employees to save costs!
"These elderly people are the wealth of our nation! The last dividend of the Showa era!"

As a result, Takeuchi Masaru, who was standing next to him, overheard this conversation. The middle-aged office worker was so angry that he gritted his teeth and naturally hated the old man.

The thought of being homeless, earning a meager wage of 1200 yen an hour, unable to afford marriage and children, and experiencing one failure after another in his life filled him with rage. He hated the bureaucrats, the zaibatsu, this person, and that person. In the end, he never expected that the person who would take away his job opportunity would be an elderly person from his own country!

So the stronger he became, the angrier he grew, and the more he thought about it, the more grief-stricken he became.

Just then, after taking a night stroll, he was looking for a place to sleep when he ran into President Kitano, who was resting on the monument platform.

With no one around, Takeuchi Masaru, in a fit of anger, decided to do something about his failed life.

He pushed President Kitano, causing him to fall off the monument platform.

When questioned by the police, Takeuchi Masashi retorted matter-of-factly, "I didn't commit murder!"

"I did this for this country, for the future of Japan!"

"If we don't completely get rid of these elderly people, the country will have no future! The people will have no way out!"

"I am acting on behalf of Heaven, I am... fulfilling my duty to the country, I..."

When the police at the scene saw that the man was talking nonsense, they decided to shut him up.

Only Uesugi Muneyuki stood outside the interrogation room, coldly watching this middle-aged corporate slave who had lost all hope.

People instinctively hate those who take away their jobs; it's human nature. And if this is amplified, regional discrimination, nationalism, and statism will inevitably emerge.

However, the situation in Japan where the elderly are taking jobs away from the young, and where the excessive social security and pension burden on enterprises leads to higher labor costs, is still very rare in the world.

This has led to a very serious "anti-elderly" sentiment in Japanese society, with the younger generation disliking the elderly, and many invincible individuals indiscriminately attacking the elderly.

In contrast, South Korea is "child-malignant." The reason is simple: raising a child is too difficult, tiring, and costly, leading most young people in South Korea to be unwilling to have children. Since they don't want to have children, they naturally don't need to empathize with children and have negative thoughts about children in society. As a result, nearly 30% of shops in Seoul explicitly do not welcome children.

Japan's aversion to aging and South Korea's aversion to children are truly rare and bizarre phenomena.

Uesugi Muneyuki thought to himself, "Luckily this is Japan. This kind of phenomenon is less common in other countries. Congratulations!"
And just like that, the case of Kitano Kinya, president of Akasaka Takeshita Metal Company, who died after falling from a drunken stupor, was solved in one day!
After the Toshima Ward ghost case, Uesugi Muneyuki, who had once been overshadowed by Kashiwagi Jin, once again proved his true strength!

Throughout March, the Special Missions Unit, under the guidance of Chief Inspector Uesugi Muneyuki, continuously solved various cases with his equipment, actions, and impeccable crime-solving abilities. Meanwhile, the entire Metropolitan Police Department was busy with massive personnel reshuffles and punishments. In addition, Tokyo was unusually silent, and criminal cases seemed to have decreased significantly after the concentrated outbreak of ghost cases in Toshima Ward.

The First Investigation Division even encountered a bizarrely quiet period with no cases for three consecutive days, leaving the office's overworked detectives exclaiming that they couldn't adapt. They never thought they would have a day where they could drink coffee, read newspapers, and wait in the office.

And so, April arrived.

After more than a month of recuperating from his injuries, Masayoshi Okada, the national hero police inspector and head of the Special Missions Division, is finally nearing discharge from the hospital.

April 14th, Black Valentine's Day.

Today was supposed to be Masayoshi Okada's follow-up appointment, but Inspector Hero couldn't stand being in the hospital for over a month. Without notifying the hospital, he secretly slipped out, wanting to go home. On the way, he bought a large bouquet of roses, his heart filled with the satisfaction of surviving a close call.

Hehe, Miki, I have a surprise for you!
(End of this chapter)