The story, names, characters, places, locations, and laws in this work are fictitious.
No identification with actual ideas or beliefs is intended.
It all started one month ago.
Shiniki.
A new initiative that originated in an island country in the far east
was broadcast on the news and spread around the world.
But three cities have already said they're going to allow suicide.
Isn't suicide bad?
This is an indiscriminate attack by an ideology.
It's terrorism.
The fourth city, huh?
I can't believe it's happening in Hartford, in our own country.
But I still believe
that most problems in life can be solved if you keep thinking about them.
But there's always a time limit in the real world.
That's my biggest problem.
The population of Hartford is 125,000.
This figure only includes the residents.
The number of people active in the city is actually 1.2 million.
The city was once well-known as a trading hub.
Many insurance companies are still located there today.
The current mayor, Benicio Flores, is from Puerto Rico.
He went to the University of Hartford, and then the University of Connecticut.
This is his second term.
He's a Republican, huh? What's he like?
He's mild-mannered. He's a moderate. He's a politician with a clean image.
Is he clean enough to make the residents go along with the suicide law?
Well, I'm not sure.
-Were you able to contact him? -Yes.
Apparently, he hasn't refused to talk to the government yet.
Then...
We'll talk to him on the phone in one hour.
Yeah. Thanks.
And contact the CIA and the FBI also.
Well, just take care of this.
We have a meeting with France coming up soon, and now this?
Well, we should prioritize domestic affairs.
Mr. President, have you reached a conclusion yet?
Well,
I'm still missing
a lot of pieces.
Mr. President,
I'm just carrying out my normal duties as the mayor.
And what are those?
A mayor's job is to provide the residents with a safe, healthy, and prosperous lifestyle.
I heard about a law
that embodies a new initiative, known as the suicide law.
I decided that adopting this law
would improve the lives of the 125,000 residents of Hartford.
I see.
But I still feel that you're rushing the matter too much.
Why did you skip the necessary processes
and hurry to adopt the suicide law?
Well...
Excuse me. You're right.
President, the reason is a little abstract.
It's not logical, but...
I don't mind. Continue.
Yes.
For example, if you trace the roots of our country, the United States, back in history,
you'll find that it starts with Columbus' discovery of the new continent.
The passion felt by the people in search of the new continent
was what paved the way to this new land.
And in the 19th century, our country experienced the gold rush.
People tamed the wild lands in the west in search of gold.
They had the will, the dynamism, and the courage to set foot into untrodden lands.
We still have it.
The frontier spirit.
I saw the frontier of mankind within the suicide law.
It's just as you said, president.
I could've spent more time investigating it thoroughly,
but I couldn't stop.
I know I might be overstepping, but in my opinion, this is what it means to have courage.
Powers that have not been delegated by the Constitution of the United States belong to the state and the people.
In principle, we don't have the power to object
to Hartford's adoption of the suicide law.
I just wanted to tell you that we have no intention of fighting against your state.
President--
But it's not that I completely approve either.
I'm just putting this on hold.
The government and I both have our own powers, of course.
If it comes down to it, I can sign an executive order to deploy troops to Connecticut.
What?
Well, let's stay in close contact.
That was more than enough, Mr. President.
I wonder how many cities are going to adopt the suicide law.
The think tanks are analyzing it right now.
First, we need to determine whether
the adoption of the suicide law in those three cities was really something that happened naturally.
Do you mean a conspiracy?
The cities each made the decision so fast.
Rather than being influenced by one another,
I think it's more likely that the cities were in contact behind the scenes
and coordinated the timing of their announcements.
Do you have evidence?
The investigations are ongoing,
but it's still just a guess.
Well, I feel the same way.
It's more likely that people are up to something in secret.
Please, continue the investigation.
Dead slow ahead. As usual, huh?
He's always like this.
His nickname fits. "The Thinker."
I have another one. "The Honest Man."
Yeah, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.
He was able to stop Flores by hinting that he'd send the army.
Honesty can turn out to be a tough weapon sometimes.
Well, we often get hurt because of that double-edged sword.
You know, I don't have the time to start a serious discussion
about a stupid, childish house rule
cooked up by the mayor of a small town in Asia.
Right. That's what I wanted to talk about.
Aren't you going to see the mayor of Grenoble?
He's not important. I don't even remember his name.
He's just an average guy who's only talent is raising money.
I bet he just went along with the law because he thought it would bring in good business.
You're being pretty careless.
I think this is a huge social problem.
Are you making light of him, or are you making light of the problem itself?
Alex, I'll tell you.
I'm not making light of the problem.
I'm making it less of a problem.
Politics is equivalent to controlling the sentiment of the people.
For stupid initiatives like the suicide law,
all you have to do is treat them like low quality fads and stamp them out.
You don't have to keep up the charade those crazy youngsters started.
Are you talking about Itsuki Kaika?
I think he's the important one.
I think he still has something up his sleeve.
Some cards he hasn't laid out on the table yet.
It's just a gut feeling, though.
I don't know about that. I'm not interested either.
I'm a little interested in it, though.
I said, I don't know.
Why don't you ask him directly?
You...
Do we have the option of meeting Itsuki?
No.
-But-- -No!
Politics is equivalent to controlling the sentiment of the people. Luca has a point.
During the televised debate, Itsuki appealed to the peoples' emotions.
He's still popular now.
If you make an appearance, Itsuki would make a great performance out of it.
Okay. Let's forget about it, then.
Apocalypticism.
Is he planning to resurrect the devil again?
An evil person.
Someone who's going to destroy the world.
Do you really have conclusive evidence?
I see.
Then let's notify the president tomorrow.
What's this?
It's information about the existence of a particular person.
Does that person have anything to do with the problems going on with the suicide law?
She might also be involved in the adoption of the law by countries around the world.
You're right.
If that report really is true,
then it's a real possibility.
By the way, director, which one are you talking about?
They're all the same person.
Please, explain more.
President,
do you mind if I bring an investigator here?
Sure, go ahead.
Welcome to the White House. Let's get down to business.
Can you tell me what you know?
Yes, sir.
In other words,
it's like hypnotism?
That's the idea, more or less.
However, it's much more effective, by sheer magnitude.
With just one word? And then it's already over?
Yes.
She doesn't need a lot of time.
She can make people end up like that just by whispering in their ear.
Do you mean that they choose suicide?
They give in to the temptation.
Magase can lead people astray without laying a single finger on them.
She can make them cross the line.
And once they've crossed it, they end up wanting to die.
Do you think this woman is involved in the increase in the number of cities allowing suicide?
Probably.
Itsuki and Magase are up to something on a global scale.
They'll try to bring about something horrible once the suicide law is in effect.
That's what I think.
And in order to stop that from happening,
I came to the United States.
He seems a little tormented.
I think we should check whether his information is credible.
How are we supposed to catch a woman who could be traveling around the world
when we don't know what she looks like?
We won't be able to track her through passenger manifests,
and we won't be able to find her in camera footage.
Then what should we do?
I'm going to send him to Hartford with one of my men.
They might have left behind a few traces.
By the way, Mr. President,
he wants to become an official investigator for the FBI.
-Official? -Yes.
He's still a special appointment.
He doesn't have the authority granted to normal investigators yet.
I looked through the documents. He's not a U.S. citizen, right?
Granting him the status of official FBI investigator would be difficult.
You could grant it to him, no problem, if you use your executive privilege.
To hire him through the normal route, he would've had to have served a specified number of hours,
but if you ordered it, he wouldn't need to do that either.
I recommend him too.
Can you appoint him?
You too? Why are you so adamant about it?
I have three reasons.
The first is, he used to be in Special Investigations in the Public Prosecutors Office in Japan.
He is highly capable.
The second is that he's an important witness in the case we're investigating right now.
He's the person who's come the closest to the criminal.
And the third is that
that man is dangerous.
I could tell as soon as I met him.
During my time as an investigator, I've seen a lot of men with eyes like his.
I sense insanity in his obsession with chasing down Magase.
And I think that he may be hiding something.
I see.
I'll leave the investigation up to you,
but give me some time to think about the appointment.
Villain.
I don't recognize them.
I've never met these women or spoken to them.
I see.
Mayor, can I ask you something?
What made you want to adopt the suicide law?
What was the reason?
When was the moment that you decided you were going to adopt the suicide law?
Well, when was it?
Before I even realized, I had already felt deeply moved by the idea behind the law.
One more question.
Didn't it turn into the basis upon which you judge good and evil?
Hey.
Please, answer.
Good and evil, huh?
The great writer Mark Twain, who was also from Hartford,
said this in The Mysterious Stranger:
"Of all the animals, man is the only one that is cruel.
He is the only one that inflicts pain for the pleasure of doing it.
And the goodness of peoples' hearts is born out of that.
Evil exists because of good."
Can you understand?
Good and evil aren't significant enough or different enough to form a basis for judgment.
Hey, Zen.
Why did you say that to the mayor?
I was looking for clues.
It didn't seem like he was lying, though.
I see.
This is a record of visitors who came to see Flores this past month.
There's also a list of all his public and private phone calls.
The FBI looked it up for me.
Thanks.
I don't see any suspicious calls on the list.
It's possible they talked to him even earlier.
I don't think so.
Why?
Hartford is known as the insurance capital of the world.
The economy depends on the insurance industry.
Naturally, there's a fat pipe connecting Mayor Flores and the insurance companies.
But still...
If some time had passed after the decision to adopt the suicide law,
then they would have already finished coordinating.
If Magase did make contact with Flores, it would have been recent.
Within the last week.
In that case,
what about this?
Two days before the announcement of the suicide law, he visited an end-of-life care facility.
Mayor Flores visited three patients.
The mayor greeted them with kindness.
Was one of them a woman?
Yes, there was.
Please, let me see her.
Yes.
It's just that she's...
It's going to be okay, Mom.
What a brave child.
She's not crying over the death of her mother.
What's this?
What's wrong?
It's the schedule for the time between Flores visiting the patients and the time he left.
It's late by ten minutes.
We received a phone call.
There was a call from a family member of someone who had passed away while here.
They wanted to talk to the mayor.
Tell me the details.
Did you hear that person's voice?
No.
I have a recording, though.
As a policy of our facility, we record all our phone calls.
This is Flores.
Mayor?
I was there
with my grandmother
in her final moments at this facility.
Thank you for all your support.
I'm glad we could help.
Thanks to you,
my grandmother
was able to depart this world in peace.
I will continue to strive to improve the state of end-of-life care in Hartford.
Now that your grandmother has been called to God's side, may she rest in peace.
Is something wrong?
Mayor?
Yes?
Mayor?
What?
-Mr. Seizaki? -Mayor?
Zen?
Are you listening?
I'm listening.
You know,
we don't get called to God's side.
What did you say?
God doesn't exist.
What in the world?
I'll tell you.
You know, Mr. Seizaki,
when you die,
it's over.