How about meeting once again
- for the Universal Cinema purchase? - What's the point in that?
The management won't approve an aggressive acquisition.
They'll fight you again.
Before that happens we'll just get rid of all of them.
President!
This article...
it says here your marrow transplant was
not legally obtained.
Should we file a report?
- No. There's no need. - Uh...
You shouldn't be surprised by now.
As his secretary you should know what kind of person...
the President is.
Good morning.
President?
President!
The so-called darling of IT,
Future Steps President Masuyama
was murdered 3 months ago,
and still no arrest has been made.
There is a great number
of people who are known
to hold a grudge against him
for his aggressive buying style.
Yokokawa-san, at the stockholder's meeting they selected you as the next President.
Do you have any comment to make?
I want to get over the loss of President Masuyama and move our company forward.
I hope that the murderer is caught as soon as possible.
Thank you.
Do you intend to keep following Masuyama's aggressive strategy?
Do you really know nothing about who did it?
The accused Kido Satoshi, on June 22, 2006,
travelled to Roppongi and entered the Future Steps building.
Once inside, he went to President's Masuyama's office.
On entering the President's office, he stabbed him in the chest, which resulted in his death.
The crime is murder. Article 199 of the penal code.
Does the accused have anything to say about the indictment?
Yes, I do.
Huh?
Please state any discrepancy from the indictment.
I didn't do it!
Quiet!
- Counsel, your opinion? - Yes.
I believe, that mistakes were made with this investigation
when the Investigations Unit reopened the case.
In this case the accused...
did not commit the murder.
Zettai Reido (Absolute Zero) - Case 7
You are Kurata of Investigations, correct?
Yes.
Could you start by telling us
what evidence led you to believe that the accused
was the murderer in this case?
It was 2 months ago.
- We've got a reopened case. - What is it?
The murder of that IT President in Roppongi 4 years ago.
Oh, the one who could buy anything?
His aggressive purchasing style must have made him a lot of enemies.
But they couldn't find one piece of evidence linking it to anyone.
We've got a completely different lead now.
We have some new information from his former secretary,
Yoshioka Chikako, who was the first person to discover his body.
She happened to see a man at an izakaya* (bar serving food)
apparently, wearing a favorite wristwatch of his from that time.
A wristwatch?
And she also remembers him from before.
Huh?
The company used to guard the victim's building was Tokyo International Security.
It seems this man was a guard at the building.
Security guard? Now that's surprising.
Get some information and let's close this quickly.
- Okay.
I'll ask you again.
Why did you have that watch?
And this antique knife, it was the President's, right?
It's quite obvious that it's a dangerous weapon.
So why was it at your place?
How much longer can he stand it?
Kido isn't the type to keep his emotions under control.
He won't be able to last for much longer.
- It's me! I did it! - Why'd you do it?
His eyes.
He always looked down on us with those eyes.
It always bothered me.
So you presented evidence and he confessed to it?
- Yes. - So then there's
nothing improper with the way you got the confession?
You kept clicking on your pen the whole time you were interviewing him.
And not just that.
The defendant told me that during the interrogation
you pulled his hair... stepped on his foot.
And shouted in his ear "you did it!".
You exhausted his body and mind
until he confessed "I did it".
That's a lie!
Kurata did nothing wrong!
- Shiraishi-san, calm down. - He did it!
It's an excuse.
- Shiraishi-san. - Order!
Any other comments and I'll expel you from the courtroom.
Please sit down.
At the bar you manage,
you've seen the victim and the defendant drink together, isn't that right?
Yes. I remember seeing them together a few times.
This is the first I've heard of them being acquaintances.
The victim and defendant were quite friendly and often drank together.
So there's nothing strange about receiving gifts from a friend.
Also, they were unable to get any DNA results from the knife.
Objection!
That's because a strong solvent was used to remove all forensic material.
- Evidence of this solvent was found. - If so, then
there is no proof to link the defendant to this crime.
Judge, with this information now
there is no conclusive proof presented
that the defendant committed this murder.
Defense rests.
How did you miss that the two of them were friends?!
I'm very sorry.
If the worst happens, how will you take responsibility?
I heard a complaint was lodged with
the Department Chief asking for my removal from the case.
Yes.
I'm very sorry.
But, I'd like to see this out to the end.
Please let me lead the re-investigation.
If not you, who would take charge then?
I'll inform the Department Chief of the situation.
You'll have to make quite a request.
Well then Kurata, you will have to solve this case.
We can not leave this case unsolved.
Yes.
But we have the evidence. No matter how you look at it, it was Kido.
The lawyer said that even though we have a confession
there is no definite proof that he really committed the crime.
That's the point.
To cause doubt in cross-examination and aim for acquittal.
That's the point of focusing on investigative mistakes.
So...
So, no punishment where there's doubt.
All the evidence is dismissed just because they were friends.
We've decided to open up another investigation.
The evidence and confession makes it obvious that Kido is the murderer.
But the truth is we made some mistakes in this investigation.
We will find some new evidence to take back to the trial. We can't fail again.
The point of this new investigation
is to look into the relationship between Kido and the victim.
Kido never mentioned anything about this during the interrogation.
It was probably incriminating evidence.
Incriminating evidence.
I'll check out the testimony of that bar manager.
- I'll come with you. - Thanks.
Let's check out every person possibly connected to this case.
- Yes.
- Sorry for making you come all this way. - It's no problem.
I'm concerned about reports saying the evidence was not conclusive.
Could you tell us everything?
What was the kind of relationship between President Masuyama and Kido?
Sure. I said the same thing before.
Money was most important to Masuyama.
Buying Japan Trust Securities?
Don't worry about it.
But President Komatsu is from your hometown, isn't he like family to you?
You both struggled with losing your parents early...
I have no desire to relive the past.
I have no trust in what people say.
Of course, the same goes for people in my company.
The only think you can trust... is money.
He used his cell phone to buy stocks, currency and even purchase antiques, right?
Yes. He was always flashy with his work but
I never saw him make a private phone call at all.
So he had no friends?
I didn't think he was the type to make friends.
But he was acquainted with the security guard.
I don't believe that he was.
Those who ranked below him,
people he thought of as inferior, wouldn't even get a greeting from him.
Do you remember anything else?
Hmm....
Oh, Yume-chan.
Yume-chan?
Excuse me.
President, isn't that the Yume-chan all the kids like?
I intend to buy the company that holds the copyright of this character.
He was talking about buying up that company but all of a sudden the talks came to a stop.
Yume-chan, that's the cat character holding dreams in both her arms?
I guess so.
Like this...
Give it to me.
Oh, you're pretty good!
I saw it once in a magazine.
I've got a good photographic memory. But your memory definitely isn't that good.
Ignore my praise, then.
When did that story take place?
I think, about a month before he was murdered.
He was always ruthless when it came to business,
there must have been some trouble for him to call it off so suddenly.
Good work, everyone. How is the next round going?
Not the next round, but the next, next round.
It is quite an unreasonable request to ask us to go through everything all over again.
- Is something up? - Well...
this morning her pet iguana didn't have an appetite.
Iguana? What the?
What if Sakuragi, something was to happen to...
It's quite important to a single lady her age.
It's the first time Suzuki's ever eaten lettuce.
The name of your pet is Suzuki? Man, she has no sense.
We're re-testing and looking at the results from a different perspective.
Thanks.
Oh, there's one thing that's got my attention.
Yes?
So this is the victim's laptop.
He made sure to save this article specifically.
Ten million in the mail.
Ando-san from Saitama?
- Why this article? - Right?
And here...
this was in the bookmarks.
- Oh Yume-chan. - Was he a Yume Dreamer?
Yume Dreamer?
Fans who truly love Yume-chan, who holds dreams in her arms!
Ah, it seemed that President Masuyama was going to buy that company.
What! Buy it?!
- Yume Dreamers would never stand for that! - Why are you so worked up?
I'm a Yume Dreamer too.
- Oh man, this isn't like you at all. - Akiyama, you're disgusting.
Don't worry! I don't think you are!
- Yume-chan. - Disgusting!
Acute bone marrow leukemia.
They said I'll need a HLA* white blood cell donor for it to be successful.
* HLA's are proteins carried on white blood cells.
A '1 in 4' chance of a match with relatives.
With others, it's one in a million.
What do you intend to do?
I have no relatives.
But with money, you can do anything.
If I find a donor, I'll pay them quite a bit.
Is there anything money can't buy?
It surprised me when he found a donor so soon.
The bone marrow bank denies ever receiving any money from him.
But the reality is money does buy things.
Still, this is all just conjecture.
Please.
At that time, you were in charge of accounts.
Just 3 months after President Masuyama died,
you became President.
You want to say I profited from his death but my promotion was decided by the Board.
What about the rumor, that President Masuyama and the guard Kido knew each other?
That's the first I've heard of it.
You spoke with President Masuyama on the phone right before he died, right?
I've said it again and again.
That was about an upcoming acquisition of his.
I have one question to ask.
These are all antiques and pieces of art?
Oh, collecting them was President Masuyama's hobby.
As I have taken over, I will continue on collecting.
I was just wondering... how much would they cost?
The cheapest is around 4 million.
That vase over there is about 10 million.
10 million. Wow!
Yokokawa is hiding something. When people lie
they get nervous and you can see subtle signs on their face.
- Tsukamoto-san? - Hmm?
- You're quiet. Anything wrong? - Ah, no. Nothing.
It feels like Yokokawa is hiding something about the murder.
Okay. But even so, we can't just simply ask him about it.
Yes.
It was true that President Masuyama and Kido met at a bar. But,
I'm not sure if they were actually friends.
Masuyama could get anything with money.
There is probably some connection to money here then.
Kido might've received a lot of money to be involved in something dirty.
Tied to money.
Masuyama had multiple internet bank accounts.
We should take another look at the money movement.
Kido was dispatched from the Aoyama Guard Facility.
We may need to look into that too.
Last time we focused our investigation too much on individuals and didn't look at other sources.
Maybe we should get help from investigators experienced in economic crime.
- I'll get the Chief to put in a request. - Okay.
Economic crime.
They'll probably get my fingerprints off it...
- Tsukamoto. - Yes!
What's wrong, you look terrible.
Ah, well... I just feel a bit sick.
Ah, Michii-chan.
That "cat punch" is really interesting.
Ah, I got it. I'm the tsubo* (target) too.
* Tsubo can mean "vase" or "target".
- Tsubo? - And I
really like the "cat kiss" joke too.
- So cute! - Me too!
Michii-chan, you're like me. The tsubo (target) of laughs.
Tsubo?
Tsubo, tsubo! Be quiet!
Boss, are you staying the night?
Yes, we don't have a lot of time till the next court date.
I want to do whatever I can to get some new information.
I'll do whatever I can too.
Please do. Ah, Sakuragi. Here.
Sorry. Thank you very much.
Of course you spent the night again, Rookie.
Good morning, Chief.
Maybe we should take some rent moneyfrom your salary.
- Huh? - Kurata.
- Yes? - A drink?
Please. Thank you.
So then, how's the new investigation going?
- Ah... - What is this ah?
There's no spirit in that reply.
Honestly, I don't know what kind of person President Masuyama was.
This is a first for me, but from the start of the investigation,
I just couldn't empathize with him.
Can't understand why?
It seems like he was all about money.
Rookie. People aren't that simple.
Even if they smile, you don't really know what they're thinking.
And even if they're sad outside, they could be happy on the inside.
Someone who puts on a happy exterior
may have something hidden behind that.
If you don't figure it out,
you may never get to the truth of the crime.
March 2005.
With his anemia getting worse, President Masuyama
checked himself into a hospital.
That's where he found out about the acute bone marrow leukemia.
If Masuyama didn't get a bone marrow transplant,
the chance he could die would increase greatly in a few years.
So he quickly got in touch with a bone marrow bank.
However, with no relatives,
the chance of finding a donor would be one in a million.
What do you mean I can't pay for it?
What? I have to wait!
Forget it!
In the end, he couldn't find a donor.
If he could find one,
he would've used money to get special treatment.
But preferential treatment was refused.
He even tried going overseas
where he thought money could buy anything
but, didn't find a match there either.
I wonder how President Masuyama was feeling at that time?
And then 3 months later, he miraculously found a donor.
After receiving the bone marrow treatment,
he was asked by a publisher to write his autobiography.
"Future Steps started in a small apartment
with my university friend, Mano Seiichi and just one computer..."
- Thanks as always. - Thank you very much.
- Thank you. - Ah, welcome.
Running a bread shop out here?
You!
What do you want?
From once having millions of yen...
to working a 100 yen bread shop.
Can I have one?
- One of your famous melon bread. - We have nothing to sell to you.
You exiled me from the company
and now you're worried about the life I lead?
But you know, I'm thankful to you.
I think it was a good thing you cut me out.
I see.
You're all about money, so you'll never understand.
There are people who get excited just to get some 100 yen melon bread.
Do you know what kind of happiness that is?
You're happy?
Sorry to have bothered you.
When was that?
About 2 months before he was killed.
I have no idea why he suddenly showed up here.
Was President Masuyama always someone who didn't trust in people,
but only trusted in money?
So, what about our company name?
How about Future Steps?
Stairway to the Future? How lame!
It's fine.
He used to smile a lot then.
He'd lost his parents early on,
so he put a lot of value in the people he met.
He did?
But that was until the company took off.
At first he was good at raising funds
but then he started to change.
And that's when he stopped smiling.
But until that day he hadn't smiled in a while.
President Masuyama...
was miraculously saved by a donor.
He must have felt like a new person.
I'll look into it again.
What his reason was for coming to visit you.
I'll come back when I figure it out.
Thank you.
Something bothered me about this knife so I decided to run some more tests on it.
This type of knife was used in 19th century France, right?
Yes, from the time of Napoleon.
The metal in the handle contains a small amount of modern day impurities.
Huh? So then that means...
Ah, Shiraishi-san.
- Yes. - I have a question for you...
- Out with it! - Well, a vase...
We got something from forensics!
The metal on the knife handle seems to have been manufactured recently.
President Masuyama has been buying antiques for many years
and the collection has been valued from 10 to 30 million yen.
So we should look into the antiques.
- What do you mean? - You don't get it yet?
The antique knife is a fake.
Huh?
So if all the antiques in the collection are fakes,
then there's probably an account someplace where all the money is stored.
So Kido may be involved in that.
Probably for tax evasion.
Right after Masuyama's death, Yokokawa kept on buying antiques.
- He's in it too. - They're all fakes?
Boss, can you leave the issue of the antiques to me?
I have a colleague in the Hyogo police. I'll look right into it.
Here's information from an antique dealer in Kobe.
It's a one person shop run by an old man, but something's not right.
Here's the register.
For a small antique shop it has so many workers.
So tax evasion isn't the objective.
Okay. Tsukamoto and I will investigate the dealer.
Fukuzawa and Shiraishi-san, I want you to do a thorough investigation into Aoyama Security.
- Okay.
Writing contest.
Takes me back.
Judge Masuyama.
Yume-chan.
Saitama... Ando.
So this is the victim's laptop,
he made sure to save this article specifically.
Takamine-san, look.
My father was a carpenter.
Three months ago, on the way home from work, he died in a traffic accident.
I used to cry every day, but I remembered that
before he died, he donated his bone marrow to someone who really needed it.
When he heard that the patient recovered, my dad was very happy.
I was happy too!
To my father's recipient,
I hope to hear from you. I'm writing to you on my favorite Yume-chan stationery.
My father may be in heaven now
but knowing that someone feels better because of my father
makes me a little happier.
After the writing contest,
the sponsoring newspaper had a letter for my daughter from a Sato-san.
May I?
So from that point, my daughter started to write back to Sato-san, but is he...
We think there's a good chance it was President Masuyama.
Wow, so it looks like...
President Masuyama was writing to his donor's daughter?
Why did he use a fake name?
It looks like there are some rules about patient and donor interaction.
You can only contact them twice by letter, within a year of the transplant via the donor bank.
And you can't write anything that would reveal who you are.
So he figured out who it was and went ahead and broke the rules.
Now that's unexpected.
So he used another name.
The donor who gave him his life unfortunately, lost his own.
And even though he lived,
Masuyama still had a reputation for getting anything he wanted with money.
Got it. Bring it here right away.
We've got some new information.
Excuse me.
We found Chihiro-chan's letter.
It was in a storage room in Masuyama parents' old house. It's now in our possession.
By the way, something surprising happened!
There was a letter in our mailbox that said "thank you so much to your father"
and there was a lot of money in with the letter.
My mother was so worried so she gave the money to the police.
"We don't need money."
When my father was alive he always said that.
I intend to buy the company that holds the copyright of this character.
Your father must have registered at a donor bank.
I guess it wasn't for money.
Some people don't need rewards, they do things just because they can.
Someone who throws money around wouldn't understand that.
So you wrote letters to him for over 3 months, right?
He said he used to hold a dream
just like Yume-chan did with both of her hands.
But he realized that he'd lost sight of that dream.
He said he did a lot of bad things.
Was he really a bad man?
He probably was.
But, he changed when he met you.
I think the last thing that Masuyama-san wrote was...
his true feelings.
He'd changed, but why was he killed?
My dad died.
And, the person my dad saved died too.
Why?
What did President Masuyama do to get himself murdered?
Go and find out the truth.
- Right.
- Shiraishi-san. - Oh.
There was a loan under the name of the first stockholder in Aoyama Security, Toda.
I heard from headquarters that he's a prominent person.
- Let's do a complete check on him. - Okay.
Here, look at this.
This company was registered but it's meaningless, it's just a front.
How many dummy companies are connected here?
I'll get the Second Department to help.
- Okay.
I really don't understand what's going on.
Basically, he created a lot of fake companies
and used people to make a lot of money.
So then, he really did do something wrong.
Everyone, please eat.
There's miso soup too.
Looks like the two of you are getting along really well?
Second Department sent us a complete report.
There's something amazing linked to the Kobe antique shop,
and the 5 dummy companies.
Oh, Chief.
While investigating Toda,
we found that Kido's employer, Aoyama Security
is connected to the Yamato Group.
So there's the link.
Money comes from the Yamato Group?
I wanted them to be a silent partner.
So, why was I hired then?
I've been misled.
The same goes for me.
We weren't able to raise the funds we needed for our listing.
So we had to do something to get the money.
Now, we have people wanting to invest in us.
Working with them let us get this far.
I've only just realized how dangerous this was.
So now we're associated with the Yamato Group.
Yes.
This lawyer Kurosaki said he would help with the accounts.
He also works for Aoyama Security.
He's good at hiding things
and should take care of everything connected to the Yamato Group.
What if, I refuse to be involved?
I'm sorry.
We can't go back now.
Kido was a member of the Yamato Group.
Why did you use the yakuza as the security group for your company?
I cannot say anything.
So you're unable to talk because you'd be in danger.
President Masuyama...
hid the real books in his parents' house.
They detail the illegal flow of money
to the Yamato Group using the antique shop as a front.
We'll do what we can to protect you.
So tell us everything.
Don't you want to live your life not having to
watch over your shoulder?
There is no doubt that the accused here is the murderer.
He is an associate member of the Yamato Group.
He worked at the company as a security guard
so as to keep track of the victim's movements.
He even intruded into his private life
meeting on occasions at a bar.
The murder of the victim by the accused
is nothing more than an act of yakuza violence.
Objection!
His membership in the Yamato Group
is just unfounded speculation.
There is no speculation here.
Yokokawa, the current President of Future Steps,
revealed the whole truth to us
on the condition he would be placed under police protection!
What do you mean you're breaking from the Yamato Group?
I just informed them of this now.
They can have this company.
I'm going to start over.
Wait, wait a minute!
Then I'll...
Yokokawa... I'm sorry but you'll have to think about the future too.
President... Hello! President!
I just stabbed him.
Who are you?
Yokokawa... if you betray us the same thing will happen to you.
They didn't have to order me to kill you.
I've been waiting.
You've outlived your usefulness to the organisation.
Does the defense have any reply to this information?
None.
Hey! You're not defending me!
So he was just a common yakuza.
That lawyer really stirred things up.
He confirmed that Kido knew President Masuyama.
It seems that Yokokawa betrayed us. Yes, take care of it now. Goodbye.
Don't think you'll get away.
The police will chase you anywhere.
We don't forget lost lives.
Mister, I bought it like you asked! Here.
Thanks.
This is yours.
Thanks! Bye bye!
So good.
Today, I had melon bread my friend made.
It was very good.
Just like your father said...
Life, family, friends.
There are many things in this world money can't buy.
I want to start treasuring
those words your father said.
I wonder if I can.
But, I'll start over again from the house I grew up in.
I've been looking at
some big companies' buildings a lot recently.
Someday I wonder if we can make a building
higher than theirs.
But anyway, my neck is hurting from looking so high up.
Are you stupid or what?
- Hey Mano. - Huh?
Do you think we'll reach...
the top someday?
Yeah. Hurry, get to work.
So, he was changing.
Yes.
He wrote about why he came to see you.
To apologize.
He wanted to make up and return to way things were.
We can't return to back to those days.
Hmm?
I think he knew that too.
We chose different paths in life.
No matter what we do, we can't go back.
And even if I wanted to, I can't go back there now.
He isn't in this world anymore.
Thank you for telling me about this.
That smiling face of Masuyama's when he asked if I was happy.
I will never forget it.
I've been looking at...
some big companies' buildings a lot recently.
Someday I wonder if we can make a building higher than theirs.
But anyway, my neck is hurting from looking so high up.
Hey Rookie.
What are you doing?
Oh, this is...
melon bread made by an old friend of President Masuyama.
Chief, please.
I see.
President Masuyama had pure dreams after all.
But he still got caught up in other things along the way.
He did some bad things.
But at the end, he wanted to start over.
Rookie...
I said people weren't that simple.
Living your life is the same.
There's lot of times we realize we've lost something important.
Times when we can't tell the other person how we feel.
And the moment we decide to change our lives, we die.
It's just so...
sad and terrible.
Rookie, in the good and bad times,
President Masuyama was moved by the struggles of his life.
Hmm. It's good. Rookie, try it out.
Okay.
This way.