In connection with the case of a 55-year-old man
who was found dead on the 23rd of this month in an apartment in Tokyo,
MPD is considering the possibility of a serial murder from the
resemblance it bears to the murder case which occurred in February,
and is continuing their investigation. This case occurred on the 23rd of this month
when Yanagawa Kouichiro-san, a business manager, 55,
was found stabbed to death in a
room in his Tokyo apartment
by a man who came to visit him.
We talked to an expert about this case.
Looking at the technique, this is a serial murder case.
And a message from an individual claiming to be "The Hand of Death"...
What?
Look at this.
"Young Bureaucrat. The New Leader to Nurture Japan" What about it?
I'm going to be featured in this month's issue.
-They're coming to interview me soon. -So?
-This is not good. -What isn't?
Compared to the guys from the other agencies, I'm simply too cool.
There's a glaring difference in the quality.
What if the agencies bump heads over something like this?
Seriously. This sinful good looks of mine.
Hey. Wait, Eriko.
I'm busy. I don't have time to listen to your gibberish.
How do I look? Should I go for a more youthful look?
I'm Sagami from Bun'eikan.
Sagami-san, I was waiting for you. Let's go.
We look forward to working with you.
Okay. This time with a stern look.
Yes, yes. That's good.
Is he stupid?
-What are they doing? -Interview for a magazine.
It's supposedly about an elite who works in the front line with his subordinates.
But he never works.
-He's so cool. -Nodate-san?!
No, not him. Sagami Kouichi-san, the editor.
Ah... He's a famous editor, isn't he?
Is he famous or what. Three of his writers got the Akutagawa Prize,
and 4 of his magazines achieved great success.
He was featured in "Nekketsu Tairiku" too.
What a good looking dude. Whatcha think.
-We're done now. -What?
-Done already? -Yes.
Are those gonna fill up 30 pages? Well...
Oh. If you like, you want me to shoot? Magnum 44.
Hey!
He's very interesting. I guess because the chief's like that,
his people are able to work freely.
-I mean it in a good way, you know. -Seriously...
The folks who work for him look interesting too.
Can we interview the members of the Incident Response Team soon?
What?! But...
Please. I'm sure it'll be entertaining.
Oh, excuse me.
Hello.
Serial murder? A fourth victim?
Hello. Shachou* was murdered?! (*president of a company)
The victim is Aoi Yuusuke-san. 35 years old. President of Bun'eikan, a publicly traded publishing company.
Estimated time of death is yesterday between 5 pm and 6 pm.
He was murdered in the living room of his condo,
stabbed 4 times with a sharp knife.
The First Investigation Division was handling this case,
but we've been asked to assist them.
So far 3 people have been killed in this serial murder case.
The first victim was a 45-year-old tax accountant. The second was a business manager.
-The third was a doctor in private practice. -From the fact that the locks were picked,
nothing was stolen, the victims were killed in their homes,
and the footprints found at the scenes matched,
these three cases are believed to be serial murders committed by the same person.
And unfortunately, we have a fourth victim.
So far we haven't found anything linking the victims to each other.
-So does that mean random murder? -There's a good possibility they are.
The murderer didn't leave anything behind. The only lead we have is that
an individual claiming to be "The Hand of Death"
sent a declaration to a newspaper claiming responsibility after the first murder.
"The Hand of Death" is...
Have you heard of Henry Lucas?
Wasn't he one of the models for Dr. Hannibal Lector
-of "Silence of the Lambs" ? -Yes.
He's an American serial killer.
The name of the cult he claims he belonged to is "The Hand of Death."
But then, whether such a cult actually existed is doubtful.
-So they're copycat murders? -The murderer
may very well be a crime mania.
Iwai, check out the declaration claiming responsibility.
Hanagata and Tadokoro, check out the crime scene where Aoi-san was murdered
Yamamura-san, get Kurohara and have her analyze the criminal's behavior pattern.
Katagiri and I will investigate Aoi-san's acquaintances.
Okay, go.
-Is that a novel? -Yes.
It's a series Bun'eikan's Sagami-san handled.
-I love this series. -Is that right.
Or rather, we have to investigate!
I find it offensive. A place where someone died.
But that's our job.
Oh, a trail of blood. Measure the width of that bloodstain.
Impact angle. That's the arcsine calculated by dividing the width of the bloodstain by the length.
Once we figure out the impact angle, by tracing that to the point of origin
we can find out the positional relationship of the murderer and the victim.
Got it. You mean I'm doing this alone?!
It's amazing. That with only this much data you can project the next crime scene.
Canter's theory. Criminals do not commit crimes near their homes.
They leave a certain amount of distance.
And once they commit a crime, they avoid the direction of that crime scene.
Then the crime scene is narrowed down to this donut shaped area.
Then..then...um...
Can you project the probability of me getting married?
Convert to numbers various qualifications like age, hair, looks, etc.
Analyze the average marriage age, average life span and other stats in Japan
using multiple logistic regression, and the result is...
What's the percentage?
According to my calculation, you'll die 3 times before you get married.
How are things going in the office?
There's quite an uproar.
The company name Bun'eikan was released so
the phones are ringing off the hook with inquiries.
Yes, we understand. We're in the process of making adjustments.
Everything will be fine. They'll definitely be up, so please don't worry. Yes.
Osawa-san. Hello.
Was it a complaint or something?
Oh. He wanted to make sure that the article about him was still going to appear.
I guess he got worried and called.
-That was Nodate-san. -That idiot!
What's he worrying about, that guy.
Making inquiries?
That must be tough. We'll do anything we can do to help.
Oh that's right. Have everyone agreed to be interviewed?
But at a time like this when Shachou just died...
To publish as many good books as we can is the best offering we can give him.
-Then... -Good bye.
Our company is more or less sustained by Sagami-san.
From magazines to books,
everything he touches become big hits.
We were originally a conservative publishing house for scholastic magazines,
but the one who dramatically changed that was Sagami-san.
This building is even called Sagami Building.
Katou.
-Have you finished proofing the special feature? -Oh, I was getting ready to do that.
You'll mess it up anyway, so turn it in ahead of time.
Think about me who has to put up with checking your work.
-Yes. I'm sorry. -Do it over.
Sagami-san's rival.
She glares at anyone who even talks to Sagami-san.
Bosses are tough everywhere.
Interpersonal relationship at a publishing firm is quite muddled, you know.
Boss.
Excuse me. Is the person who handled
-this book here? -Oh, the macabre series.
That must be Kobori-san.
Kobori-san's about the only one here who would take on this genre.
Oh, he's over there.
First, the declaration from "The Hand of Death." No fingerprints or anything else was found.
The crimes were committed at 11 am, 4 pm, 9 pm, and 5 pm.
-They're not consistent. -The criminal is
someone with a pretty flexible work schedule or a student.
The first victim was stabbed 3 times,
the second and third, once, and the fourth 4 times.
The weapon is a knife with a 7-8 cm long blade.
Looks like we're going to have to re-investigate thoroughly .
-Boss, something's happened. -Fifth victim?
Well...
The suspect of the serial murder case,
who claimed to be "The Hand of Death," was arrested.
He was arrested?
A piece of skin other than the victim's was found
between the nail of the first victim.
He must have scratched the criminal when he fought back.
When the DNA from that skin was checked, the guy had a criminal record.
Today, at approximately 8 am, the suspect broke into
an office worker, Saito Tetsuo-san's residence,
and was arrested at the scene by an undercover detective from the Tokyo MPD.
The suspect, Noguchi Takeo, who was arrested on suspicion of
killing four men in succession in the metropolitan area,
is said to have admitted to committing the murders.
Looks like he 'fessed up, so the case is closed, isn't it?
Human bodies don't have much resistance.
It's like stabbing tofu. Slides right in.
It's amusing...that face.
What a bastard.
The press conference is at 10 tomorrow.
We didn't have to bother you guys after all. Thanks anyway.
Something's not right.
The way he talks so calmly,
Noguchi fits the criminal profile of the first three murders.
But in the fourth case, the crime seems to be lacking composure.
-What does that mean? -In the case of serial killers
who crave to be in the limelight, they tend to exaggerate everything.
Henry Lucas claimed he killed 300 people,
although it's unknown how true that is.
Hey, Eriko.
You bastard, cut out that bullshit!
Now, now, Ryu-san. Calm down.
So you admire Henry Lucas.
But if that's the case, your method's pretty sloppy.
The first victim, Yokoyama-san, was stabbed 3 times.
The second and third, once. but only the fourth was stabbed 4 times.
Serial killers normally refine their technique gradually, don't they?
What are you doing making more work for yourself?
Yes, you were scared, weren't you? He's a pretty big man.
You were so scared, you panicked and stabbed him 4 times?
You're trying to act cool, but stabbing people
scares you to death, doesn't it?
What Henry Lucas? Henry is turning over in his grave.
He's saying don't put this cowardly criminal in my class.
-This guy wasn't... -What?
-I said this guy wasn't me! -Hey Noguchi!
-Try saying that one more time! -Settle down!
The fourth victim wasn't him?
Only Aoi Shachou, the fourth victim, was sitting when he was stabbed.
In other words, he was stabbed while conversing with an acquaintance.
If a stranger came in, any one would stand up.
Plus, the former three victims' wounds were concentrated on the left side of the body.
But the fourth victim was stabbed 4 times on the right side.
The murderer is probably left-handed. Noguchi is right-handed.
Furthermore, there were more knife wounds because the criminal's not accustomed to killing.
What about the picked lock?
After he was done, he simply made scratches on around the keyhole as he left.
We're stumped. Back to square one.
Someone pretended to be "The Hand of Death"
and committed the murder, making it look like the serial killer did it.
Let's start all over,
-concentrating on Aoi Shachou's personal relationships. -Got it.
Anyway, my style is to attack them
with my youthfulness. You could say it's my era now.
-Investigate first, not interview! -Yes.
Aoi Shachou doesn't have a very good reputation.
Aoi-san's the third generation pampered son who became the president without having to work for it,
so he knew nothing about managing a publishing company.
I'm seriously thinking about marriage this year.
My ideal type is AKB's Oshima-san. Someone with big eyes... Hot, hot!
Day in and day out he was living it up in Ginza on company money. There's talk that he had a mistress too.
People see him as the very man who brought on the company's financial crisis.
Well, I like the so-called wild type, you know...
Or should I say, I prefer a manly person.
Or rather, well, recently,
I'm wondering if I should be the girl...
Thank you.
Because of Aoi Shachou's lax management,
there's talk of discontinuing or selling off a number of magazines.
There would have been few people who wanted to kill him.
The work's not all that exciting. Plus the Boss is rather voracious.
It's like, I don't want to become like that. Does your company happen to be hiring?
Oh, no.
Myself, I'm incompet...
So, the powerful executives next to Aoi Shachou are
Sagami Kouichi-san and Yamachi Tomoko-san.
Sagami-san is the money maker who sustains Bun'eikan.
However, Sagami-san joined the company mid-career, and is not on good terms with the founding family.
Rumors that he's quitting and starting his own business never cease.
On the other hand, the one favored by the previous president and a trueborn executive
is this Yamachi-san. Before Aoi Shachou, people thought
that she might be the first president not from the Aoi family.
-She's pretty harsh, huh? -You should talk.
Of course, Yamachi-san's reputation is not so good either
as there's rumors like she was sleeping with the previous president.
At any rate, of the people in this company the ones who had the most to gain from the Shachou's death
were Yamachi-san and Sagami-san, with whom he fought like cat and dog.
When Aoi Shachou was murdered, Sagami-san was
here, preparing for the interview.
Look!
It says because of Shachou's involvement in the incident,
"We apologize from the bottom our heart
for causing much inconvenience and concern."
They say magazines are viable thanks to advertisers, so
didn't they do this out of consideration for the sponsors?
But this is a monthly magazine. Aren't they too well prepared?
The editor is Kobori Keisuke.
He was left-handed, wasn't he?
Kobori is a recognized by all as a crime enthusiast. He has a pretty bad reputation.
He doesn't work. His personal lifestyle is lax too.
There are also rumors like he's colluding with advertisers and he's embezzling.
Maybe Shachou found out about that and berated him, but Kobori became infuriated instead.
The 27th? Let's see, what was I doing?
Ah. That day was Terada Bunichi Sensei's
-book launching party. -I see.
-The murderer was arrested, wasn't he? -Well, yes. It's just for confirmation.
Oh, and about this apology page..
Oh, excuse me. May I go now?
I need to go out.
Thank you.
Hello.
Thank you for letting me interview your people.
Really. They got into that more than the investigation.
You're the only one left. I've heard a lot about you.
That you have outstanding skills, but very demanding when it comes to work.
You too, Sagami-san.
I heard you show no mercy to incompetent subordinates.
I was in the process of deciding which of our magazines to discontinue next.
Discontinue?! That's such a good magazine. I used to read that when I was a child too.
-But you don't buy it now. -You're right.
It's a bad custom of an established publishing company.
They hang on to magazines that don't sell under the name of tradition.
So no matter how much profit I bring in, it's all offset by the losses.
What's your secret to publishing so many bestsellers?
Let's see. Simply put, it's the story.
-Story? -Writers, athletes, celebrities.
No matter what the subject matter, it's the tale that moves people. It's the story.
People who stand out always have stories behind them.
All I do is simply bring that out.
Even so, you must have great passion for your work to push out so many volumes.
Passion? I don't have an ounce of it. It's just business to me.
But if I were to say anything, I'm an ordinary person
and don't have a story. That's why I'm interested
-in other people's stories. -Is that really so?
Doesn't everyone have a story to tell?
-Meaning? -My work is similar too.
Of all the crimes, murder is the only crime
where we can't hear the victim's story.
That's why we place ourselves in the victims' shoes
and try to think of the story behind their murder.
The victim's story. The offender's story.
-That's what investigation is all about. -I see. That's interesting.
But what about in the case of bizarre murders like this?
No matter what the crime, there's a story. Without fail.
I'll be looking forward to hearing that story.
-Excuse me then. -Good bye.
It's true he attended the party.
Looks like all the prominent people from Bun'eikan attended.
How long have you been working here?
I said it looks like all the prominent people from Bun'eikan attended.
Okay. It started at 3, and
ended at 6. The time of the crime was 5.
And the scene is 10 minutes from here by car.
And this is a huge hall that holds 250 people, right?
No matter how you look at it, it's possible to slip out unnoticed, isn't it?
-Right? -Hey, what are you doing?
-So that means Kobori doesn't have an alibi. -Anything besides that?
Well, just some trivial information that Sagami-san's wife was
-Kobori's classmate. -Sagami-san's married?!
But they divorced 2 years ago. They were only married for 2 years.
-That's a relief. -What's a relief?
Then was Kobori and Sagami-san close?
No. Sagami-san disliked the incompetent Kobori.
When they got assigned to the same section previously, he immediately transferred him.
Let's have Kobori come in for voluntary questioning.
I hear you like to gamble a lot.
Didn't you embezzle the company money to
-pay back those debts? -That's just a rumor.
You got infuriated because Shachou found out, so you killed him, didn't you?
-Hey! -I told you I don't know anything about it.
Take a look at this. It's Kobori's bank account.
Every month close to 1 million yen is deposited by agents and sponsors
to a company called K Company. The entire amount is withdrawn the next day.
This is just a paper company created by Kobori.
He was using this company to embezzle the ad fees.
The DNA from the strand of hair found at the murder scene of Aoi Shachou
and the DNA from the saliva on the paper cup Kobori was drinking out of
in the interrogation room matched.
-Hanagata, go around to the front. -Got it.
-Kobori-san. -Kobori-san.
Kobori-san.
Boss.
There were several hesitation wounds too.
Clothes with Aoi's bloodstain and a knife were found in the closet.
-Suicide...what the... -What about the contents of his stomach?
Just a few nuts. The blood alcohol content was 2.5%.
It seems he committed suicide under the influence of alcohol.
It's true, there were a few liquor bottles laying around in the room.
Sounds like something a wimpish guy like him would do.
You idiots! You drove the suspect into committing suicide?!
If the media gets a hold of this, they're going to gang up on us again.
What are you going to do about it, huh?
Sir.
First of all, let me deal with these guys.
-What? -I will take appropriate action.
-This is your responsibility as well, you know. -I'm aware of that.
-Are you sure? -Yes.
Oh, Rika-rin.
It's a popular topic on the internet now.
That the police might have messed up.
Now, now, now. Oh, that's right.
I'm glad I ran into you. Why don't you keep this Os-san (old man)
company for a change of pace? I mean, Onii-san.
Kobori didn't commit suicide.
Kobori wasn't much of a drinker.
For Kobori, blood alcohol content of 2.5% is a state of extreme intoxication
He wouldn't be able to slit his wrist in that condition.
But what about the hesitation wounds? The main difference between suicide and fake suicide
is the presence or absence of hesitation wounds, isn't it?
The blood alcohol content goes down a bit when a person dies, so
it was actually higher. In that condition,
he wouldn't feel any pain from minor incisions. He wouldn't be able to resist either.
So you're saying someone got him drunk and slit his wrist?
-You're good, Rika-rin. -You're too weak.
You wanna go on to the next one? Chess, shogi, whatever.
I'm good at them all.
But is it okay for you to be playing around like this?
-Didn't the suspect die? -The people on top just has to look unaffected
and take responsibility. The rest is the subordinates' job.
White things become black. Black things become white.
The story's just beginning.
Thank you for finally making some time for me.
I always turn it off during interviews or meetings with important people.
To give my undivided attention to the person in front of me. That's my policy.
Please tell me your alibi on the night Kobori-san died.
That's the reason I came today.
Didn't Kobori commit suicide?
There's a possibility of murder too.
Interesting. So I'm a suspect too.
I finished work early that day so I was at home.
Is there anyone who can prove that?
I live alone, so no, there isn't.
I heard that your ex-wife and Kobori-san were classmates.
Yes. He was coincidentally my ex-wife's classmate, but
that's all.
I hate incompetent people more than anything else.
We've made a lot of inquiries about you. Sagami-san, you're a genius at attracting people.
But once you have no use for them, you're quick to discard them.
Then you must have heard this too.
That applies to my personal life too. My marriage failed after 2 years.
An inhuman guy who just gives child support to his ex-wife and child
and makes no attempt whatsoever to see them.
I won't deny it. Work comes before anything else for me.
I wasn't cut out to have a family. I realized it, that's all.
I see.
See? My story's boring, isn't it?
Let me hear Osawa-san's story.
I investigated Sagami's background.
-What did you find out? -Well...
He was born into a well to do family, but
when he was 7 years old, his father's business failed.
From around that time, his father started drinking heavily
and Sagami was physically abused frequently.
His mother died from an illness.
Shortly thereafter, his father died too, and his grandmother took him in.
This is the only photo
of him as a child that appeared in the media.
A boring story, huh...
This is the first time I'm seeing this picture.
He hardly told me anything about his family.
I see. How was he at home?
He was hardly ever home.
He was always a busy man, but more so after our son was born.
It seemed to me that being in the house...no,
family, itself, made him uncomfortable.
It looked like he was intentionally keeping himself busy.
That's why you divorced?
We exchanged a few words about some trivial matter.
He hit me. He slapped my cheek. And that was the end.
I don't think he liked it...the thing called family.
You haven't seen Sagami-san since?
Not since we talked for just a bit last spring.
Where were you on the night of the 4th when Kobori-san died?
I was at a movie that day. I'm in charge of movie magazines too.
But is it true he was killed?
-Wasn't it suicide? -We don't know yet.
Kobori-san's memorial service is today, isn't it?
He was your subordinate. Aren't you going?
I sent a condolence gift. I have weekly magazines too.
Just because someone died, I can't stop publishing books.
Besides, to be honest, he wasn't a good worker.
I knew he would cause trouble someday.
Do you have a meeting?
Yes. An important meeting to draw up our plan for the year.
We'll be discussing the launching and discontinuation of magazines.
We don't have the luxury of hanging on to magazines that don't sell.
Is "Shounen Jidai" going to be discontinued?
I certainly hope so. It's tough for this type of magazine these days.
-Well, anyway, that will be discussed later. -Thank you.
What a creepy room.
Take that computer.
An impression on a note pad in Kobori's room.
It's an impression of something that was written on the paper above it.
This is what we got after Forensics ran it through ESDA*. (*Electrostatic Detection Apparatus)
Monday Ginza until past midnight
Tuesday Meeting Home by 7 pm
This is what Aoi Shachou did that week.
It's certain that someone was
letting Kobori know.
Kurohara's analyzing Kobori's cell phone and computer right now.
We collected all the fingerprints around his desk area at work too.
There were a lot of unclear fingerprints and they couldn't be identified.
However, there were two other fingerprints
other than Kobori's on this picture. One of them,
from the makeup and trend of the pattern,
is very similar to the fingerprint here...
In other words, Sagami-san's fingerprint.
-Are they the same? -We haven't determined that yet.
The fingerprint on the paper is very light.
On top of that, it's only partial.
Let's ask him.
I don't know about that drawing,
but I go through mounds of paper submitted by my subordinates.
I may have touched it then, don't you think?
You're probably right.
Am I still under suspicion? What's my motive?
You couldn't forgive the incompetent Kobori and Aoi Shachou.
I'm not that stoic.
How about this then?
If Shachou dies, his position will be within your reach.
You caught on to Kobori's embezzlement,
hinted around about ratting on him to Shachou, and made him kill him.
And to silence Kobori, you killed him too.
So that's the story Osawa-san came up with.
I'm afraid that's not going to sell.
2 months from now, I'll assume the post of shachou there.
It's said that Chisui Publishing will eventually take over Bun'eikan.
I'm sorry to say this company
means nothing to me.
I was able to restore them. That Kobori guy's e-mails.
Got it. Prepare for voluntary questioning. Get a search warrant too.
-Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule. -Thank you.
-By voluntary questioning, you mean Yamachi? -Yes.
We found out that she was with Kobori on the day he died.
Excuse me.
When we analyzed the e-mails on Kobori's cell phone,
we found this.
You said you were watching a movie that day, didn't you?
Can you explain this to us?
That's not all. Look!
This is an image from a surveillance camera near that dining bar.
That's you and Kobori in the picture, isn't it?
-It's true we went out for a drink that day. -Why didn't you say so then?
I got scared when I heard he was killed.
You? Scared? Give me a break.
You didn't have any drinks, but encouraged Kobori to drink.
I wasn't feeling good that day.
It's true. Kobori's the one who said let's go for a drink.
He said he wanted my advice about his project.
Kobori had a project?
Kobori's the one who aggressively invited me.
Wow! Nice.
Do publishing companies pay that well?
Boss! In the last 6 months
Yamachi's been spending several hundred thousand yen every month.
Maybe she's been getting the money
believed to have been embezzled by Kobori too.
If Kobori's embezzlement comes to light, she'll suffer the consequence too.
So she had Kobori kill Shachou.
-Any evidence from his house? -We didn't find anything.
-Why didn't you tell us? -What's it to you?
Why do I have to report everything to you?
Shachou was murdered, you know.
Looks like you were doing pretty well.
Although you make over 10 million yen a year,
can you still afford to buy a condo and all those Birkins?
Weren't you embezzling in collusion with Kobori?
Aoi Shachou bought them for me. It's only natural since we were going out, isn't it?
You were going out?
It's true after all that children who were physically abused
early childhood, will become abusers themselves
-when they grow up, isn't it? -There is that tendency.
I'm sorry for calling you out.
That's alright.
The office is in state of panic. We can't get any work done anyway.
What kind of a person is she?
She sold her soul for her ambition.
The last person who should be in the publishing business.
She would stop at nothing to be the president of Bun'eikan?
That's a possibility.
Are you sure Yamachi did it?
Circumstantially, yes.
She was seen encouraging Kobori to have several drinks at the bar.
But we don't have the conclusive evidence yet.
That's why we can only bring her in for voluntary questioning.
-I see. -We're so close.
Boss. I was able to confirm it.
The other party is an up-and-coming game maker.
Is that right?
I heard that you found it.
Yes. A towel with Kobori's bloodstain was found in the bag.
I see. An unassailable evidence was found.
Yes. Yours.
What are you talking about?
The one who had Kobori kill Aoi Shachou is you.
Somehow you found out about Kobori's embezzlement.
You threatened him and drove him to kill Shachou.
And when Kobori came home slightly tipsy,
you probably made him drink some more until he became extremely intoxicated,
and killed him by slitting his wrist.
In order to pin the crime on Yamachi,
the one who had Kobori invite Yamachi out is you too.
What are you saying?
This bag isn't Yamachi-san's bag.
I bought this in New York.
Yamachi-san owns a lot of bags, but
for some reason, she doesn't have a blue bag.
-But... -The only time
Yamachi-san had this bag
was when we saw her from the cafe.
In other words, the only one who would think this belongs to Yamachi-san
is you.
I suspected you from the beginning.
You said you don't pick up your cell during important interviews.
But you picked up your cell when Aoi Shachou died.
[Hello. Shachou was murdered?!]
You did that to impress upon us your alibi at the time of the murder.
What's the motive?
That's what I couldn't figure out. Your story.
At first, I thought it was because you hated Shachou.
But if that's the case, you could have just left the company. You would have had plenty of offers.
In actuality, you were already unofficially assigned to be the president of Chisui Publishing.
-You're right. -So I thought about it from the opposite angle.
There was a reason you had to stay at the company.
Your motive is because
Aoi Shachou was about to sell off "Shonen Jidai," a magazine with 40 years of history.
The buyer is a game maker interested in entering the publishing business.
The easiest way to do that is to buy the magazine from its owner.
The game maker was going to buy "Shonen Jidai" and make it a gaming magazine
Rumor had it that it was Aoi's lax management that led to the company being taken over,
so he desperately needed the capital.
You were pressed. After assuming the position of president at Chisui Publishing,
you were even thinking about taking over Bun'eikan, but
before you could do that, Shachou was about to sell "Shonen Jidai" to a game maker.
You tried to prevent that by killing Shachou.
Yamachi was planning to discontinue "Shonen Jidai" as well.
So you tried to pin the crime on her.
Why would I, for a mere magazine? It's a magazine that's about to be discontinued.
Because it's a magazine that holds memories of your father.
I didn't notice them at first, but when we analyzed the picture of the bookshelf,
volumes of "Shonen Jidai" were lined up.
You told your neighbor that before you went to bed,
your father would often read "Shonen Jidai" to you.
In order to preserve that memory, you committed murder.
That's your story.
You're too optimistic. That's just your conjecture.
The reason you got a divorce is because you were scared of your DV, wasn't it?
There's a tendency for abused children to
be the abusers when they become parents.
You were under that impression and abandoned your family.
What are you talking about.
But children don't forget
the memories of the good times, no matter what kind of parents they are.
-What are you saying. -Just as your
4-year-old son Naoki-kun doesn't forget about you.
Your wife, Hiroko-san.
She used to entrust letters addressed to you to her classmate Kobori
[Here.]
[All he's gonna do is tear it up.]
Since that's what you would do anyway, Kobori was throwing them away without giving them to you,
but it seems he couldn't get himself to throw this one away.
It's your face that Naoki-kun drew.
There was a fingerprint on that picture.
It's hard to detect small children's fingerprints, but
the makeup and trend of the pattern was exactly like yours.
Ironically, that picture gave us the hint to tie you to the crime.
Do you see the stick-like figure in the picture?
That's a cherry tree.
Last spring you happened to see Naoki-kun
when you went to deliver the child support.
Naoki-kun remembers that.
Children remember their fathers even if they were abandoned by them.
Just like you.
In a child's mind, the father is always smiling.
[The Phantom said, "Fine. I'll show you."]
[He threw off his coat
and poof! he was gone.]
[The coat that enwrapped the Phantom and the mask and the hat
dropped to the ground.]
["What?! What happened? He eluded me again."]
Are you sure?
Even if it was to lure Sagami out,
we're sorry.
He wanted to protect it, even if he had to go to that extreme.
What are you going to do with "Shonen Jidai"?
In the end, people's feelings create books.
If I don't cherish those feelings, there's no meaning for me to be here.
People are so complicated.
Much more than chess or shogi.
That's our job to unravel them.
You really suck at both chess and shogi.
I'm good at shogi kuzushi*, though, Rika-rin. (game similar to Jenga using shogi pieces.)
DV...Sagami-san...
You have to eat dinner so don't eat snack too much.
Okay.
Story, huh?
[Sender: Kimoto Mami]
Damn. They're not gonna use these.
So what. No big deal.
You idiot. My fans are eagerly awaiting...
Dashingly handsome indeed.
Don't want to hear that from Heisuke-san.
-Who? -Oh you know what.
-This place has great kara-age. -Did you say kara-age?
That shows your lack of respect for chickens.
Excuse me. Fried chicken, please.