Chapter 134: Am I the Clown All Along? Blow Things Wide Open

"A shootout occurred last night in a wasteland far from the highway on the border of Tokyo and Kanagawa Prefecture, leaving ten bodies at the scene with nearly a hundred rounds exchanged..."

"This is the deadliest firearms-related incident in Japan's recent history. Hikawa Juro, Chairman of the National Public Safety Commission, attaches great importance to the case, and Superintendent General Kunio Ninpaku has announced that elite personnel will be drawn from the police force to establish a Special Investigation Headquarters to wipe out these dangerous elements once and for all!"

Listening to the shocking news broadcast on television, Aoyama Hidenobu felt, for some inexplicable reason, that this shootout was likely inextricably linked to the money Shinichi Nakamura had mistakenly taken.

Putting the pieces together: two criminal factions engaged in a shady transaction, only for a third party to mistakenly walk away with the cash. The buyers assumed the sellers had double-crossed them and demanded their goods, while the sellers, having never received the money, refused to deliver. Both sides suspected the other of foul play.

One refusing to pay, the other refusing to deliver—under such a stalemate, a shootout was bound to break out. It made complete sense...

And judging by the devastating casualty toll, both factions were genuine desperadoes. Once the buyers figured out what happened, they would undoubtedly try to track down the missing money.

Aoyama Hidenobu instantly lost his appetite. After all, his money might be stolen by someone; how could he let that happen?

"Hidenobu, what are you thinking about? Eat up, or it'll get cold," Haruko Aoyama gently reminded him.

"Sister-in-law, I'm done." He dropped his bowl and chopsticks and stood up to leave. Once outside, he instinctively thought of calling Shinichi Nakamura, but after a moment of hesitation, he called Ryoichi Fujimoto instead. Once the call connected, he instructed, "Using the pretext of an investigation, go immediately and retrieve the surveillance footage from all shops along the route from Nakamura's house to the Inoue Electronics Corporation in Arakawa Ward, covering last night between 10:00 PM and 11:00 PM. They should just be opening up right about now."

In Japan, streets weren't heavily lined with government-installed surveillance cameras back then, but many commercial establishments had their own.

"Yes, sir!" Although Ryoichi Fujimoto had no idea what had happened, he could tell from Aoyama Hidenobu's tone that the matter was extremely urgent.

After hanging up, he immediately set off to carry out the task.

Meanwhile, Aoyama Hidenobu headed to the Metropolitan Police Department for work.

As he was parking his car, he happened to run into Aya Asai. Before he could even speak, Aya Asai said first, "What a coincidence today. Come on, let's head to the conference room together."

"What conference?" Aoyama Hidenobu asked, blankly.

Aya Asai paused, furrowed her delicate brows, and asked suspiciously, "The establishment meeting for the Special Investigation Headquarters regarding the Kanagawa Prefecture mega-shootout case, of course. Didn't the Superintendent General inform you? How could he not have transferred you?"

Given the capabilities Aoyama Hidenobu had demonstrated, he should certainly have been assigned to the team if a Special Investigation Headquarters was being formed for such a major case. But judging by his reaction, he clearly hadn't heard a single whisper about it.

"Indeed I haven't. It seems I don't have that honor!" Aoyama Hidenobu shrugged with feigned nonchalance, though his back teeth were practically grinding to dust. When he saw the news earlier, he had already mentally placed himself as a member of the Special Investigation Headquarters, but he hadn't expected to turn into the village idiot.

Kunio Ninpaku held quite a deep grudge against him!

He had originally thought the Superintendent was just trying to teach him a lesson through the serial murder case, but now it seemed there was more to it.

Aya Asai immediately became displeased. "I'm going to see the Superintendent and ask why you weren't transferred to join."

"Forget it. The vast Police Department is not short of talented investigators," Aoyama Hidenobu caught her arm and let out a slow breath. "Besides, perhaps he knew I was investigating the serial murder case and didn't want to pile more burdens on me."

Leaving aside whether Aya Asai could actually persuade Kunio Ninpaku, even if she succeeded, would an assignment handed over through someone else's intervention be the same as one earned on his own merits?

Aoyama Hidenobu wasn't that cheap.

"All right then," Aya Asai sighed helplessly.

Aoyama Hidenobu patted her arm and said with a smile, "Hurry off to your meeting, Superintendent Asai."

Aya Asai nodded, turned, and hurried away.

Watching her retreating figure, Aoyama Hidenobu leaned against the car, pulled out a cigarette, lit it, and blew out a cloud of smoke.

The morning breeze whipped his tie across his chest, and his thoughts drifted along with it. Having a top leader hold a grudge against him boded ill; his career advancement would undoubtedly be hindered.

***

"Clang!"

The sound of a car door shutting snapped him out of his reverie. He turned his head and saw Hirofumi Asano.

"Good morning, Inspector Aoyama." Seeing him turn around, Hirofumi Asano bowed expressionlessly.

The proper etiquette still had to be maintained.

Aoyama Hidenobu flicked the ash from his cigarette. "Good morning, Inspector Asano. Please make sure you pay close attention to the case I handed over to you; the victim's family is still waiting for justice."

"Don't worry, Inspector Aoyama. I will deliver justice to the victim," Hirofumi Asano replied with a double meaning.

Aoyama Hidenobu smiled, stubbed out the cigarette butt, tossed it away casually, and walked toward the office building with one hand in his pocket.

Hirofumi Asano frowned, stepped forward, used a piece of tissue to pick up the cigarette butt Aoyama Hidenobu had discarded, and threw it into a trash can. "What an uncultured fellow. If foreigners saw that, it would completely ruin the reputation of the Japanese."

Aoyama Hidenobu: Ha! Such a wonderful thing?

Shinichi Nakamura was waiting for him outside his office door and reported, "Inspector, Noda was just taken away by people from the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office."

"Mm, then the Ayase Michi case is drawing to a close," Aoyama Hidenobu nodded, assuming it was just standard investigative procedure. After all, once he signed the case closure report yesterday and submitted it to the prosecutors, it was completely normal for them to take custody of the suspect. The next step would be formal indictment by the prosecutors.

Shinichi Nakamura looked a bit worried. "Right now, I'm just afraid Noda might retract all his confessions at the prosecutor's office."

"You have that little confidence in your own interrogation methods?" Aoyama Hidenobu chuckled, then dismissively added, "Noda is an adult. If he has any sense, he knows that doing so is the wise choice. Besides, we have our own people at the District Prosecutors Office. Even if Noda wanted to retract his confession—well, if he annoyed me, I'd make it hard for him to even turn over in his sleep at night. So, you can set your mind at ease."

His good buddy Yuzuki Yamada, who had helped him take down Shin Kurozawa, was the Director of the Special Investigation Department. Even if Noda wanted to beg the prosecutors to intervene, as long as Yuzuki stepped in and said a word, would an ordinary prosecutor dare disobey?

"Yes, sir!" Shinichi Nakamura nodded. Looking left and right, he instinctively lowered his voice and asked, "Shall I deliver that money directly to your house tonight?"

"Deliver it to the Nohara residence," Aoyama Hidenobu replied.

Inohara was his capable assistant behind the scenes and would launder that money by channeling it into the Inohara Financial Corporation.

Nakamura acknowledged, "Yes, sir!"

"However, you still need to keep an eye on Hirofumi Asano to prevent him from stirring up trouble. Also, pay attention to the progress at the District Prosecutors Office and see when they plan to file charges."

"Yes, sir!"

***

Tokyo District Prosecutors Office, Interrogation Room No. 3.

"Noda, do you have any objections to the statements in this report?" asked Junko Suzuki, dressed in a white office lady skirt suit, wearing a stern expression. Her baby face, however, completely ruined the atmosphere.

She looked like a child trying to act solemn.

Noda's eyes were hollow. He glanced at the report before him, sneered, and shook his head. "No."

"Are you certain?" Junko Suzuki countered, tapping the report with a slender finger. "Once you admit to this, you will face charges of robbery and murder. Given your criminal record, the judge will impose a harsher sentence—at least twenty years."

"I know! I know better than you!" Noda snapped impatiently, annoyed that she was dragging out the process with trivial warnings. "I plead guilty. I killed that Ayase Michi, and I stole her money, too."

"Noda, calm down. I'm here to help you. Ayase Michi wasn't killed by you, right? You were coerced and induced, beaten into a false confession, weren't you?" Junko Suzuki bit her red lips and looked at him with sincere eyes.

Noda's breathing stalled for a fraction of a second. Meeting Junko Suzuki's clear gaze, hesitation flashed across his face, but a moment later, recalling something, his emotions spiked and he shouted wildly, "Stop testing me! I am not going to retract my confession! I plead guilty, I really do plead guilty!"

Clearly, Shinichi Nakamura had tortured him thoroughly.

This made him completely unable to tell whether what she was saying was the truth or just another one of Shinichi Nakamura's psychological tests.

Noda was terrified that the moment he nodded, Shinichi Nakamura would push open the door with that familiar, chilling sneer, subjecting him to a fresh round of psychological and physical torment. That guy was a demon, a lunatic!

"Noda! Noda!" Junko Suzuki raised her voice to call out to him a few times, feeling a surge of genuine indignation inside. A perfectly normal person had been tortured to this extent.

Even criminals possessed human rights!

That crooked cop Aoyama Hidenobu deserved severe punishment!

She looked at Noda and said, "I know what you're afraid of, I know what you've been through, but please believe me—I really want to help you. This is your last chance, Noda. If you reject my goodwill, you'll spend the rest of your life in prison."

Noda looked at her with flickering eyes and remained silent.

"Noda, give it a try. You've already suffered so much torture. If you guess wrong, it's just going through it all over again. But what if you guess right? What if I really want to help you? Wouldn't you be free then?"

Junko Suzuki encouraged him, her gaze and tone brimming with sincerity, carrying a powerful, infectious conviction.

"I... I..." Noda stammered intermittently, finally mustering the courage to say, "When I broke in, the person was already dead! I didn't kill anyone! I didn't steal anything! Shinichi Nakamura used all sorts of methods to torture me, coercing and trapping me into a false confession! Ahhhhh, come at me, Shinichi Nakamura, come on!"

With that, he closed his eyes, his muscles tensed as he screamed at the top of his lungs, bracing himself for another round of torture.

Yet, after a long while, nothing happened. Cautiously, he cracked open his eyes. There was no sign of the demon Shinichi Nakamura—only the angel Junko Suzuki. Tears instantly streamed down his face from overwhelming emotion.

"Wuwuwu, wuwuwu..."

To reduce a hardened criminal with numerous past convictions and a history of murder to such a state proved that while Shinichi Nakamura looked cultured, his interrogation methods were undeniably ruthless and effective.

"Go on," Junko Suzuki smiled gently, pulling a few tissues from her bag to wipe away his tears.

"Mm, mm, mm," Noda nodded repeatedly. Convinced that she genuinely wanted to help him, he spilled everything. "Kobayashi hired us on behalf of his boss to kill Ayase Michi, but when I got inside, she was already dead. My partner and I quietly left..."

He confessed everything in full detail, ending with a frantic plea: "Please, you must help me! I didn't kill anyone, I don't want to go to prison, I'm begging you!"

"Don't worry, Noda-kun. I will never wrong an innocent person, nor will I let any evildoer escape," Junko Suzuki promised solemnly.

Afterwards, she stood up, walked out of the interrogation room, and called Hirofumi Asano. "Senior Brother Asano, Noda just retracted his confession. He denied all the charges against him in Shinichi Nakamura's report. I don't think this matter should be investigated in secret; we have to blow it wide open. Once enough public attention is focused on it, the maneuvering room for the Kimura family shrinks."

"I want to indict Noda as soon as possible, have him retract his confession in court, and accuse Shinichi Nakamura of extortionate interrogation and other abuses. Once the scandal breaks, the case will inevitably be reinvestigated under the full supervision of the entire citizenry."

"With a public investigation, the Kimura family and Aoyama Hidenobu won't find it so easy to tamper with things. A secret investigation, on the other hand, leaves us constrained at every turn, and the moment we're discovered, they can react immediately. Of course, this is just my simple thought. What do you think, Senior Brother Asano?"

"Junko, you've grown up," Hirofumi Asano praised after listening. "You're getting smarter by the day."

"Oh, come on, no I'm not," Junko Suzuki felt a sweet warmth blooming inside her, as if she had eaten honey.

She was simply overjoyed to be of help to Senior Brother Asano.

Hirofumi Asano said, "Just do as you suggested. Blow the matter wide open, and fight those evil forces in broad daylight. I believe that justice will always prevail over evil!"

Aoyama Hidenobu, you are finished.

"Yes, sir!" Junko Suzuki felt her blood boiling with excitement as well.