The case is not yet over at this point, and the police still have a lot of finishing work to do.
The criminal police frequently interrogated Fushimi Roku, mentioning Kazama Chihime’s cause of death. Fushimi Roku insisted he was a victim—indeed, Kazama Chihime had insisted on jumping out of the car while holding him.
"I told her no, really no, if we jumped, we would die. Wouldn’t it be better to surrender for trial? Even if it meant the death penalty, that would come later! But she wouldn’t listen, insisting that to live in disgrace was worse than to die well. I was caught off guard and got pushed off the car by her..."
Fushimi Roku was describing it animatedly and felt a bit dry in the mouth, so he made a gesture to the side. Minamoto Tamako fed him fruit with a toothpick and casually asked, "But wasn’t she behind you at the time? How could she push you out of the car?"
"Did you see it clearly?" Fushimi Roku countered.
"No... no..." Minamoto Tamako was embarrassed to admit that she had been crying, her tears blurred her vision, causing her to see everything in double vision.
"Then don’t talk nonsense, or I’ll sue you for slander!" Fushimi Roku was very displeased. As his partner, she was siding with outsiders, which was really outrageous.
"Uh, sorry," Minamoto Tamako shrank back.
She felt that something about Mr. Fushimi’s aura had changed, but couldn’t pinpoint exactly what... if she had to analyze it in detail, it seemed he was better at giving orders than before.
However, Mr. Fushimi did risk his life to save people. At the critical moment, he even threw her back onto the car, saying something like ’this is true justice’... Hmm, not to say it wasn’t quite heroic, perfectly fitting the image of the famous police chief she idealized, just like the protagonists in dramas who show great skill at critical moments.
So before Mr. Fushimi was discharged, she felt it was okay to be ordered around a bit.
After all, they were good partners, definitely should take care of each other! Mr. Fushimi was too proud to ask for help easily, and since life was inconvenient during recovery, it was time for Officer Tamako to step in!
But speaking of which, during this time, Minamoto Tamako’s mood wasn’t particularly good either, so she didn’t have the energy to quibble with Fushimi Roku.
Her mind was constantly preoccupied with messy thoughts, and the confusion about her future path still lingered. Though Mr. Fushimi’s words had momentum, they still couldn’t resolve the doubts in her heart.
Senior Feng disappeared again, and Kazama Chihime turned out to really be the leader of the Heavenly Punishment Group, while Yougetsu Tsubaki was the one who tampered with the switch... After learning the truth, Minamoto Tamako was at a loss for words about how she felt inside.
It was distressing, a suffocating feeling.
The moment Kamei Riko shook her head in court, Minamoto Tamako suddenly realized a lot: why law enforcement ignored suicidal incidents, why the criminal police chief was negligent and greedy, and why Fushimi Roku was always slacking off... The world itself is muddled, and she was thinking too purely.
The darkness in people’s hearts can never be eradicated, and the subtleties of the law are countless.
Just as Fushimi Roku said, there is a space beyond the law within a mere inch.
If the law doesn’t forbid it, it can be done. People’s hearts always maintain absolute freedom, and the abyss of depravity seems to be omnipresent... Everyone says human life is priceless, but when something happens, isn’t it measured by money? This society operates on the survival of the fittest; those who do not assimilate are the outliers.
She felt her police mission was being eroded, the sense of justice in her heart becoming a shackle imposed by authority.
On the train, she hadn’t been able to help much. Even if she understood the path ahead, without enough ability to take steps forward, what would be the point?
Fushimi Roku enjoyed the services of the ’complaining nurse-policewoman’ version and reiterated his victimization experience, causing Kinosaki Shoujin, who was in charge of taking notes, to have a headache and want to critique but not knowing how to start.
He simply changed the subject proactively and said to his assistant, "By the way, I haven’t seen Watanabe-kun in a long time... Where is he during such a busy time?"
"I don’t know, he’s been absent these past few days..."
Before the assistant could finish speaking, Fushimi Roku slapped his forehead, suddenly realizing, "I remember now, how could I forget him!"
Seeing Kinosaki Shoujin’s puzzled gaze, Fushimi Roku took the initiative to explain: For some time, Watanabe-kun had been looking for Kazama Tatsuya, going out every day, getting eight shades darker. Three days ago, Watanabe-kun was proudly telling Fushimi Roku that he found some witnesses in a remote suburb and was conducting further investigations... then there was suddenly no news, and he disappeared.
The next day, Kazama Tatsuya, who had been missing for a long time, showed up on the train.
Fushimi Roku guessed that Watanabe Shun had discovered something while searching for Kazama Tatsuya and was imprisoned by him... It’s been three days now, and if it drags on, the police’s list of fallen officers might have to add another person.
Kinosaki Shoujin couldn’t continue taking notes, so he gathered personnel for an emergency search. Fortunately, Watanabe Shun’s features were too distinctive, and anyone who had seen him had a deep impression of him: "Ah, that guy with the shaved sides and a tuft of hair in the middle? He went that way..."
Yes, Watanabe Shun was going through an awkward hair growing phase.
By evening, the police found Watanabe Shun in the basement of an abandoned shop in the Negishi area—he was lying in a sleeping bag, absentmindedly eating canned red beans.
When Kinosaki Shoujin asked how Watanabe Shun got imprisoned there, the latter evaded and said he accidentally got lost, still clamoring to find Kazama Tatsuya, as he had something very important to say.
——He wanted to persuade Kazama Tatsuya to confess, not to cover for his daughter anymore, to avoid making the same mistake as Kamei Riko.
Kinosaki Shoujin narrowed his eyes, too lazy to expose him.
When a daughter makes a mistake, a father’s bias is understandable to anyone. Besides, Kazama Tatsuya’s act of putting justice above family on the train was witnessed by all the criminal police, and he wasn’t even an accomplice, at most just negligent.
If Kazama Tatsuya sincerely did a self-reflection, he might even be able to keep his rank and get a job as a police school instructor — at least, that’s what Kinosaki Shoujin thought.
"What? Everyone knows his daughter was in the Heavenly Punishment Group?" Watanabe Shun bought a newspaper by the roadside and widened his eyes: "What? Arrest operation? Train collision? Jumping out to avoid dying? How did so many things happen in these few days I was gone?!"
He followed Kinosaki Shoujin back to the police station in bewilderment, listening to colleagues recount the case along the way, trying to digest the information... Just as he entered the police station office door, he happened to bump into ’captured’ Kazama Tatsuya.
Yesterday evening, patrol officers and marine personnel were searching for the missing person who jumped into the sea, and they found Kazama Tatsuya on the shore.
He was lying on the rocky shore, motionless, as if dead. Upon examination, aside from some inflammation at the break of his left arm, he was otherwise unharmed.
Watanabe Shun wanted to greet his boss, but thinking of the boss who lost a daughter, he didn’t know how to start. Seeing Kazama Tatsuya’s lost and desperate look, Watanabe Shun felt uneasy.
The assistant took a statement from Kazama Tatsuya, who was silent for a long time before suddenly saying he wanted to confess.
"It’s okay, it’s not your fault. Even if you don’t say it, no one will hold you accountable," Kinosaki Shoujin patted his shoulder, hinting at taking the wise course: "We already know about your daughter..."
"No, you don’t know."
Kazama Tatsuya sat by the office desk, his head bowed, speaking hoarsely: "Four years ago, she killed someone, and I was an accomplice."