Rigor mortis dissipated awfully fast just on the right half of the body.
Are you saying someone tried to
manipulate the estimated time of death?
A woman who wiped out her presence and vanished.
Homicide is starting to look like a good possibility.
I'm sure this woman knows something.
Harukawa Mitsuyo, where are you?
Something he didn't want Harukawa Mitsuyo to know.
That's why he was receiving them here in secret.
Isn't this Kanbe Yoshitaka,
the guy who was shot and killed the other day?
And this is Takami Yukihiko, whose body was found this morning.
But why did Kishitani have pictures of the two bosses who were killed?
I may have been mistaken all this time.
Sorry to call on you suddenly.
I'm used to your suddenly.
That makes it easier for me to ask you for a favor.
What is it?
It's about these. I thought Hayashi-san who's known as
the demon of crime scene data might remember some of these faces.
I wish you'd stop calling me a demon.
Once I get home, I'm completely under the wife's thumb.
-I see. -Then you do know them?
The things you bring in are, you know.
Always somewhat troublesome.
So they're troublesome people, as I suspected.
This guy's this.
Iwakura Takenobu, the No. 2 man of Hakuro-kai, an affiliate of Yamato-kai.
He was shot to death 3 years ago. The killer hasn't been captured yet.
-What? -And this woman.
Yes. She was the president of a company that handled
things like event planning under the umbrella of Yamato-kai.
Nakatani Yuko. She was killed as well.
-Was she shot to death? -Yeah.
And this guy.
I'll get it.
Kimura Junichi. He's not affiliated with Yamato-kai, but
he was a drug dealer.
He, too, was shot to death. 4 years ago.
And this and this.
Yamato-kai's affiliate Kanbe-gumi's boss Kanbe Yoshitaka and
Jinwa-kai's affiliate Takami-gumi's boss Takami Yukihiko, who were killed the other day.
I don't know about the rest off the top of my head, but
if you investigate with perseverance, most likely they were all...
-Killed. -Probably.
And I think that "probably" is infinitely close to 100 percent.
Thank you very much. You've been a big help.
What next? Do you want me to
-find out about these 6 too? -Please.
Then wait a minutes while I scan them into my PC.
Yes.
Eleven people.
Assuming they were all killed, plus...
Charged with manslaughter when he was 17.
Sentenced to 11 years for murder when he was 29.
One person respectively at 17 and 29,
for a total of 13 people.
13...13.
There are 13 pieces in all.
There were 13 wood pieces too.
Geez, didn't I tell her to wait?
Chief Imaizumi. Do you have a minute?
Did you find out? Whether the body in the apartment was suicide or homicide.
I found out something bigger than that.
What? You found out who killed Kanbe and Takami?
That's not all. I found out the culprit of the
nine unresolved shooting murder incidents in the past 5 years.
-What? -Take a look at these.
These were held secretly in a privately operated PO box by
Kishitani, whose body was found in an apartment in Tabata the other day.
Every one of these 11 people was shot to death.
-More than likely. -More than likely isn't what I want to hear.
Assistant Inspector Hayashi at the Special Crime Scene File Room is working on confirming it.
Are you saying that this Kishitani
killed all these people?
Kishitani is Yamato-kai Group's hitman. I'm convinced of that.
Thirteen pieces of wood carvings were found
in Kishitani's apartment. These.
So what about them?
Kishitani served time for killing two people,
when he was 17 and 29, respectively. If you add those 2 to this 11, that's 13.
-So? -Kishitani was carving
the same number of wood pieces as the number of people he killed.
-What for? -I'm not sure. Maybe commemoration?
-Listen, Himekawa. -Please allow my team to join the
shooting murder task force. Please.
Surely you're not going to allow that, are you, Chief Imaizumi?
Oh, Kusaka.
Himekawa. This happens every time, but
I'm still amazed how you keep coming up with these baseless arguments.
What do you mean by baseless arguments? Moreover, were you eavesdropping?
What you're saying isn't supported by concrete evidence.
In other words, you don't have enough information to make a determination.
In the first place, why did Kishitani die?
Was he murdered? Did he kill himself?
I thought he was murdered, but now I think it was suicide.
-On what grounds? -I don't have any clear-cut grounds.
So you changed your mind from homicide to suicide without any grounds.
In the first place, why did the rigor mortis on the
right and left half of the body dissipate at a different rate?
-Why do you know that? -Well, Himekawa, do you have an answer?
Or did you determine that
wasn't very important?
Then how did you reach that determination?
I never said that wasn't important.
I see. You just haven't investigated it.
How can you say you're convinced when you have even investigated that.
There's a big difference between conviction and concrete evidence.
Your off-the-wall conviction based on your intuition
only serves to muddle the investigation.
Kusaka.
Well, that's true.
Himekawa.
Don't speculate to string together information.
Fill in the blanks before reporting to me. You got that?
Alright.
Excuse me.
For crying out loud,
can't you guys somehow compromise?
You both belong to the 10th Unit, you know.
I believe I'm doing more than my share to compromise.
Excuse me.
How did it go?
Messing around with me, huh?
She's dauntless, isn't she?
Shunin.
You wouldn't have any, would you? Since you don't smoke, huh? Kikuta.
-I'll go buy some. -Never mind.
Forget it.
Making a subordinate go buy cigarettes would make me feel really low.
You don't have to feel that way.
When there's a criminal incident, we investigate, right?
Then normally, it leads to arrest.
But in detective dramas, it doesn't happen like that.
-Drama? -Yes.
As they investigate, that investigation hits a brick wall, or
or stalls...
Oh, I guess that happens in real life too. Well anyway,
they're struggling with nowhere to go,
but eventually everyone puts their head together and
finds a small breakthrough which finally leads to arrest.
Good detective dramas usually work like that.
I used to watch them a lot when I was a kid.
-Kikuta. -Yes.
By any chance, were you trying to back me up?
We're going.
Anyway, our first priority is to find Harukawa Mitsuyo.
Only then will we begin to see the whole picture.
Once again, Nori, start from the apartment and the surrounding area.
Tamotsu-san and Kouhei, trace Mitsuyo's tracks
from the bar "Kaede" where she worked.
-Right. -Got it.
Why do you suppose Kishitani had this picture
with these suspicious pictures he was hiding?
I think the picture was his solace.
Solace?
She has a genuine smile.
I think he took solace in her smile here.
So Kishitani must've taken this picture.
I'm positive. This shot was taken by Kishitani.
But
where is this?
This island.
-Ajiro? -Ajiro in Izu.
And you think Harukawa Mitsuyo's there?
We found out that this small island in the background is
Hatsushima as seen from Ajiro.
-That's the only reason? -I don't have concrete evidence
-but I have my conviction. -You don't learn, do you?
-Please give us permission to go. -You want me to trust
-your intuition? -Please.
A random thought can
unexpectedly lead to valuable clue at times.
Those random thoughts helped me out a lot too.
Chief.
I'll contact the Shizuoka Prefectural Police.
Don't come back empty-handed.
Thank you.
Can we talk?
-What? -When it comes to
Reiko-chan...
Himekawa Shunin, why do you get so angry?
Well, yes, I do understand you're rivals
as shunin in the same 10th Unit.
Thanks. Your investigation method of information and intuition is completely different too.
But still, why do you come down so hard on her?
I don't get angry.
Yes you do. Can you pass me the soba broth?
It's absolutely imperative that cops have intuition.
Even I recognize that.
But to narrow down your search based on that is too dangerous.
That's all I'm saying.
To be honest, that part of Himekawa scares me.
I'm afraid she might make a catastrophic mistake one day
and it's nerve-racking to watch her.
You two's relationship is more nerve-racking.
That's the only feeling I have towards Himekawa.
I don't particularly dislike her.
Are you sure?
Soba broth.
But that's not the case with her.
She obviously dislikes me.
But I can't figure out the reason. I don't have any data to base it on.
Are you sure you didn't do something to her?
Something you did without realizing that would make Himekawa Shunin dislike you.
-Something like what? -Like, for example,
forced yourself on her and sexually harassed her by stalking or something.
Never.
It's here.
Igarashi Kogyou? Oh, yakuza-san's shop.
What're you bastards doing here?
Which gang you with?
Is your boss here?
-I'd like to ask him a few questions. -Wow, he's unexpectedly aggressive.
This is where the picture was taken.
Yes. I'll trust your intuition from here on.
I'm lucky in drawings, you know.
When I think "This is it" and pick, most of the time I win.
Like the drawings at shopping centers.
-Really? -What?
I mean, you know...
they say people are born with a predetermined amount of luck.
It's best not to waste it.
You're so negative that way, Kikuta.
Isn't that why you never win Pachinko?
-Listen now... -Come on, let's go. Hurry up.
This woman.
Have you ever seen her?
She lived around here about 4 years ago.
Excuse me. We're with the police.
I don't really know
-Never seen her. -Is that right.
-Thank you. -Thank you.
Have you ever seen this woman? About 4 years ago...
Kikuta.
-Yes. -The number of sighs
-corresponds to the number of lost leads. -I'm sorry.
Harukawa Mitsuyo is here. I'm sure she'll appear before me.
I'm sure.
-Here. -Thanks.
Hey.
Do you remember seeing this woman?
I know this person.
-You know her? -Yeah.
When you're done with that, help us with the trays.
Excuse me.
You're Harukawa Mitsuyo-san, aren't you?
Yes, this is Hayama.
-Shunin did? -Yeah.
She found Harukawa Mitsuyo. They're on their way to Nishigahara Precinct.
The person who reported that a man was found dead in a room
was you, Harukawa-san. Is that correct?
-Yes. -Then why
didn't you wait until the police arrived at the scene?
You were living with the man who was found dead.
Murata Kazuo. Actually,
his real name is Kishitani Seiji.
You erased all signs that you were living with Kishitani before leaving the room.
Why did you do that?
Let me change the question.
Did you know that Kishitani had a criminal record?
You knew, didn't you?
At 17, he was charged with manslaughter, at 19, murder.
Were you aware of any other crimes after that?
Let me ask you specifically.
Did you know that Kishitani was a professional killer?
I killed him.
Who did you kill?
Kishitani.
I...
I killed Kishitani...
Kishitani Seiji...
I killed him.
What happened between Kishitani and you that day?
Harukawa-san.
Now that you said you killed him,
we can't let you go.
Please tell us everything.
-How did it go? -She's not talking, huh?
She did admit to it. That she killed Kishitani.
But beyond that, she won't say anything.
It's hard for me to believe that she's telling the truth.
Then you don't think Harukawa Mitsuyo did it?
What happened that day?
Why is the dissipation rate of rigor mortis different for the right and left half of the body?
Something cold.
By chilling the right half of the body with something cold for a period of time,
the cooling of body temperature was expedited.
Why did Harukawa Mitsuyo do such a thing?
Reiko-chan.
You again.
-What are you thinking about so hard? -Nothing in particular.
Perhaps you're feeling lonely living in a hotel by yourself?
-Excuse me? -Aw,
if that's the case, just tell me and I'd be there in a flash.
Oh yeah, better yet,
why don't we rent a condo around here and live together?
Even if I rented one, I'd never tell you.
Are you really gonna rent one?
Listen, my mind is preoccupied. Will you disappear?
You're so cold, as usual.
By the way, Kusaka Shunin did it.
-Huh? -Diligently worked up from a minor detail.
I finally saw it with my own eyes.
-Did Kusaka latch on to something? -It's huge.
They were connected.
The bosses of the rival gangs Kanbe-gumi and Takami-gumi.
-What? -As you know,
Kanbe-gumi belongs to Yamato-kai Group, right?
At Yamato-kai's final meeting of the year,
Kanbe-gumi's boss was passed over for an executive position.
Evidently, work was in progress behind closed doors
to kick Kanbe down.
And so Kanbe decided to cut off ties with Yamato-kai
and joined hands with Jinwa-kai Group's Takami-gumi.
That's how Kanbe was planning revenge
against those people who kicked him down.
But that plan leaked out to Yamato-kai.
Both Takami and Kanbe were killed.
That's right.
By Yamato-kai's hitman.
So right now, the task force is in an uproar.
Being that executive members of Yamato-kai, one of the biggest regionally designated
crime syndicate, was at the heart of the case.
Kusaka got that information?
Yes. Well, thanks to being with me.
H-hey.
Diligently from minor things. I'm trying to put that in practice too.
-Listen. -But anyway,
being this close no matter what the circumstance,
is a little awkward, isn't it?
Oh, excuse me.
Don't move away.
Stay where you are.
-You're kidding? -Stay.
My feeling finally reached you.
This is how it should be. For people,
physical intimacy is a very important thing.
I'm thrilled.
-Reiko-chan... -That's it!
-So that's what it is. -Yes, that's what it is.
Would a spacious one-bedroom condo be alright with you?
-It's the opposite. -Opposite?
What does that mean?
Bingo!
-It was the opposite. -Opposite?
I confirmed it with Kunioku Sensei too.
It wasn't that the right half of the body was cooled with something cold.
If something warm was on the left half of the body for a long period of time,
he said the dissipation rate of rigor mortis could be different too.
Thanks.
Were you able to sleep last night?
Yes.
I'm glad to hear that.
Kishitani's body,
the dissipation rate of rigor mortis was different for the right and left half.
I was puzzled by that all this time.
I thought maybe the murderer tried to
manipulate the estimated time of death.
But
I finally know the reason.
Harukawa-san. It's because
you were sleeping right next to Kishitani all night.
Yesterday you told me you killed Kishitani, but
Kishitani committed suicide without a doubt.
-Kikuta. -Yes.
I understand why you'd want to lock up
everything about Kishitani in your heart.
But I think that's a far more painful thing to do
than you think.
What Kishitani did, why he died...
we probably already know the answer.
But
I want to hear that from you.
Not as a police officer,
but as a woman.
I met Kishitani...
about 6 years ago.
It was in Osaka.
I was 31 or 32.
He was 38.
It as right after he was released from prison.
Oh, is the manager in?
Manager.
Thank you.
He was a man of few words.
But when he did smile once in a while,
he looked like a child and he was so cute.
Soon after that,
we started living together at a apartment in Nanba.
But about 6 months later,
Kishitani suddenly...
What? What happened?
We're leaving Osaka right now.
I didn't know what was going on, but
I sensed from him that it was something serious.
So I went along with him.
From then on,
we moved around all over the country...
Gifu, Nagano, Shizuoka.
But no matter where we went...
it felt like someone was chasing after him.
I didn't know who was chasing after him, but
someone was definitely after him.
It was Yamato-kai, wasn't it?
I wouldn't know.
We came back to Tokyo 3 months ago.
What are you going to do with that?
We were happy.
But
our happiness didn't last long here either.
After a while...
Mitsuyo. Are you home?
Long time no see, Kishitani.
Don't move.
If you move, she dies.
Can't you just leave me alone?
Can't do that.
Don't you care what happens to her?
Run.
Don't mind me. Go.
Mitsuyo.
She's an obedient woman, ain't she?
We're gonna enjoy her a lot.
What're you gonna do, Kishitani?
Alright.
I'll do it.
After that, Kishitani...
was, like, more cheerful
than before, and
it appeared as if he snapped out of something.
But...
all of a sudden 10 days ago,
Kishitani said we should break up.
He said "You'll be unhappy if you're with me."
Get out!
No, no!
I'm telling you to get out.
Open the door. Please. Open the door.
The next day, Kanbe-gumi's boss was shot to death.
That day...
I smelled gunpowder on Kishitani.
I can't get rid of it. I can't get rid of it still.
That's when I knew.
What he was being made to do.
It won't go away.
-It won't, it won't. -Stop it.
-I can't get rid of it!
It was the following day that
Kishitani started carving scented wood pieces.
It doesn't look like Jizo*, does it? (*Buddhist deity who helps the souls of the departed)
I really suck.
I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
To me, it sounded like
his heart was being carved out.
Kishitani called me at the bar
the next day.
Excuse me.
Hello?
Let's end it.
Mitsuyo...thanks.
Wait.
Hello? Hello?
I...
instinctively knew that Kishitani intended to die.
But...
I got there too late.
Surprisingly, I wasn't sad.
Because I felt that he was finally at peace.
I almost felt relieved.
And so you lay down beside him.
It was my last night with him.
But why did you erase all sign
of your presence and leave after you notified the police?
I notified the police because it would be
just too sad if no one ever found him.
I left the air condition on
hoping that it would delay the decomposition.
And the reason you left?
Why?
You're
pregnant, aren't you?
Did you leave
for the sake of your unborn child?
The father
was a hitman...
if this child found that out...
I wanted to erase it.
For the sake of Kishitani too, who was tormented by it.
But in the end, I couldn't save him.
Kishitani had this picture carefully stashed away.
To him too,
I think you were an invaluable loved one.
You were the one bright saving grace in his dark life.
Come on in.
The charges were dismissed.
Now that Kishitani's dead,
no matter what crimes he committed in the past, all charges were dismissed.
The most extreme case of everything left shrouded in darkness.
It's an empty feeling, isn't it?
That we can't trace back to Yamato-kai who
ordered Kishitani to kill.
They're one of the most powerful regionally designated crime syndicate.
It's not an easy thing to do.
But still.
-One of these days for sure. -That's my job.
Not yours.
Even if you take a shot in the dark as long as it hits something it's okay.
I won't acknowledge the way you investigate.
Me too.
Like forever picking on the food on your plate,
the irritating way you investigate,
I hate it.
Excuse me.
Lighter this time?
What bad luck.
I never seem to have both lighter and cigarettes at the same time lately.
I don't want you to use your luck for something like this, but
if you don't mind.
Pachinko.
You finally won?
Life is easy when you have a thoughtful subordinate.
Thank you.
The crime lab called earlier
about the wood pieces.
-Yeah? -Those wood pieces
were from a tree called shikimi*. (*Japanese star anise)
-Shikimi? -Yes.
It's an evergreen from the magnolia family.
It originates from the words "warui shiki mi" (bad fruit), read "a shiki mi."
The "a" came off and became "shikimi." That's one explanation.
The fruit of shikimi is very toxic so
that's probably how it got that name.
I wonder if Kishitani knew that.
Bad fruit.