Chapter 47: Disappearance and Trial

The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department is the police authority governing Tokyo's public safety, directly supervised and managed by the National Police Agency of Japan. With over 43,000 police officers and direct management of 102 police stations within Tokyo, it can truly be called a behemoth.

It is located in Chiyoda Ward, the political, administrative, and judicial center of Japan.

Akiwara Yuto rode in Asano Aiko's car the entire way there.

Through the car window, he saw the Metropolitan Police Department building from afar.

To be honest, there was nothing particularly special about it—it consisted of two buildings about 20 stories high, looking a bit like some of the prefectural-level government buildings he had seen in his past life.

Asano Aiko parked the car in a nearby parking lot and then led Akiwara Yuto to a nearby cafe—today they were visiting in a private capacity, so they could only wait nearby.

Because it was almost the agreed-upon time, the two of them walked into the cafe and ordered three coffees first.

Akiwara Yuto looked at Asano Aiko and discovered she didn't really want to talk to him, feeling a bit helpless for a moment.

Yesterday, he had asked Asano Aiko to help him find a police officer, but he suddenly felt playful and tricked her, saying he had done something wrong and was preparing to turn himself in.

He had even made up the reason at the time: to gain writing inspiration, he had strangled a homeless person in the dark and thrown the body under a bridge to fake a suicide.

But upon noticing Asano Aiko's panic, he immediately abandoned the joke and hurriedly explained it to her.

Realizing she had been deceived, Asano Aiko was so angry she hung up the phone.

Akiwara Yuto realized he had gone too far and immediately called to apologize, but it took three calls before she answered.

After Asano Aiko answered the phone, she remained silent for a long time; later, she verbally accepted the apology and agreed to help find a relevant person in the police force. But when they met today, she still acted as if she didn't want to talk to him.

Akiwara Yuto looked at her profile, pondering how he could express his apologies.

Just then, a middle-aged man in a gray uniform walked up to the table.

Asano Aiko stood up immediately to salute and said politely, "Uncle Tsutsumi, sorry to trouble you."

Akiwara Yuto followed suit and stood up, simultaneously sizing up the man.

The middle-aged man was about 40 years old, stood a little over 1.7 meters tall, and was on the thin side, looking a bit like a bamboo pole. His appearance was ordinary, the kind you wouldn't notice in a crowd, but the expression on his face looked very serious.

However, upon seeing Asano Aiko, the serious expression on the man's face vanished without a trace, and he said with a smile, "Aiko-chan, given the relationship between your father and me, there's no need to be so formal."

Asano Aiko smiled and then began to introduce them to each other: "Uncle Tsutsumi, this is Mr. Akiwara Yuto, the author I am currently responsible for; Mr. Akiwara, this is my father's good friend, Uncle Tsutsumi Kohei, who is also a Police Sergeant at the Metropolitan Police Department."

Akiwara Yuto was a bit surprised; he hadn't expected Asano Aiko's family to have this kind of connection.

Although the position of Police Sergeant is generally for those unlucky souls who haven't become a Police Inspector after 10 years, it still counts as a local power player with a bit of authority.

Without thinking too much, he bowed to Officer Tsutsumi and introduced himself, explaining that he wanted to understand the situation at the Metropolitan Police Department to facilitate his literary creation.

Upon learning his intent, Tsutsumi Kohei was a bit puzzled: "Mr. Akiwara, I am quite close with the Asano family, so feel free to speak plainly if you have any questions."

He was genuinely curious; he had been in the police force for many years, dealing either with parties involved in cases or local media, and this was the first time he had been consulted by a detective novelist.

Strange as it was, he would have a new topic to talk about when drinking with his colleagues tonight.

Hearing him say that, Akiwara Yuto didn't stand on ceremony and asked straightforwardly: "I want to write a story about a missing persons case, so I would like to ask Officer Tsutsumi to talk about the aspect of disappearances... if it's convenient, please tell me more about things the outside world isn't aware of."

"That shouldn't be a problem." Tsutsumi Kohei pondered for a moment, went through his mind, and found there were no secrets he couldn't talk about, so he asked directly: "Mr. Akiwara, do you know what the filing procedure for missing persons in Japan is?"

"Isn't it just reporting to the police after discovering someone is missing?" Akiwara Yuto asked, puzzled.

"No, it isn't." Seeing Akiwara Yuto take out paper and pen to start recording, Tsutsumi Kohei began to explain it to him in detail.

Actually, he had kept many things to himself that he hadn't said, but he could talk about them this time; after all, the other party was recommended by Asano Aiko, so it shouldn't be a big deal.

Through his introduction, Akiwara Yuto began to understand the missing persons reporting procedure in Japan much better.

In Japan, nearly 100,000 people go missing every year; among them are the elderly and children, but more are world-weary adult men and women.

Therefore, to reduce the workload, the police set it so that only immediate family members can report it. This leads to many victims being missing without friends' reports being effective, so they often cannot receive rescue in the first instance.

Besides that, the police's attitude toward searching for missing persons is generally not proactive.

Unless it is a case with very high social attention, such as the disappearance of a minor, the police will not dispatch a large number of police officers to search.

Otherwise, it often ends after making a few missing person posters.

This creates a huge drawback; many people might have been intentionally murdered and buried, but because the police did not pay attention to the whereabouts of the victims, many criminals remain at large.

Akiwara Yuto wrote all of this down, but in his heart, he was speechless about Japan's police system. Is this the Japanese-style police system? It really takes the "fear of trouble" to the extreme.

Clearly, there is a large amount of police force spent every day on trivial matters like managing noise and taking out the trash, yet no one investigates major life-and-death matters like disappearances.

He shook his head, a bit worried about his own life safety, and considered whether he should just immigrate back to China, though it seemed that citizenship wasn't easy to get.

Forget it, let's not think about that for now.

He snapped out of it, looked at his notes, confirmed he had written down everything just now, and asked a slightly over-the-line question: "Officer Tsutsumi, when the Metropolitan Police Department interrogates suspects, do cases of torture and forced confessions occur?"

Tsutsumi Kohei didn't expect to be asked this question; this was different from before and already involved some secrets, so he looked at Akiwara Yuto in surprise.

Akiwara Yuto saw his concerns and immediately guaranteed: "Officer Tsutsumi, everything I learned in the cafe today is what I understood myself, and it will have nothing to do with you."

Although he received the guarantee, Tsutsumi Kohei was a bit hesitant.

He looked at Asano Aiko, feeling that since she was the daughter of a family friend, she shouldn't set him up, so he was silent for a while but still opened his mouth.

"I don't know the situation at the Metropolitan Police Department, but in other regions, I have heard of precedents where suspects died due to interrogation."

Akiwara Yuto nodded, indicating he understood, while in his heart, he had already automatically replaced the "other regions" the other party mentioned with "Metropolitan Police Department." After all, as a mere Police Sergeant, how could he know so much about other regions?

He thought for a moment and followed up: "What is the cause of the suspects' deaths? Have there been excessive measures?"

Tsutsumi Kohei hesitated but still said: "The death situation is unclear, but generally it should be wheel interrogation, light interrogation, or psychological intimidation."

Hearing these terms, Akiwara Yuto was a bit confused for a moment, but Tsutsumi Kohei quickly explained these terms in detail and introduced the reasons why they do this.

Because the standard for torture and forced confession in Japan is that there cannot be physical damage, if they want to make a suspect confess to a crime now, they generally adopt "mental" torture.

First is wheel interrogation, constantly arranging police to interrogate the suspect, so the suspect cannot sleep, causing mental fatigue and pressure. In this situation, as long as they interrogate continuously for about 40 hours, the suspect will voluntarily confess.

Light interrogation is similar; through high-intensity floodlights, the prisoner is kept in a state of being unable to sleep, and their mind is in a state of anxiety.

As for psychological intimidation, it is to create the illusion that the suspect will definitely be sentenced to a heavy penalty. Under this fear, in order to reduce the punishment, the suspect will often voluntarily confess.

Akiwara Yuto was even more speechless after hearing this; missing person searches are not taken seriously, but torture and forced confessions are so well-played—Japan is really doomed!

Speaking of which, in 2017 in his past life, Japan seemed to have introduced a "conspiracy crime" law, allowing police to arrest and judge people based solely on subjective judgment without criminal facts.

No wonder they could film a TV series like "Legal High"; he thought it was all fake at the time. It seems art really does come from reality.

However, having learned so much today, the difficulty of the subsequent adaptation work is much smaller.

The two chatted about some other aspects, including the daily work of the investigation division police, the authority of police in different positions, and the influence of politicians on the Metropolitan Police Department.

They chatted for a full 30 minutes before ending this interview.

Akiwara Yuto and Asano Aiko expressed their gratitude to Officer Tsutsumi. Before leaving, Akiwara Yuto even used his reputation to guarantee that he would never let the outside world know that he had obtained this information from him.

Sitting in the car on the way back, he organized today's notes and suddenly remembered the phone call Ikawa Akemi had made to him earlier.

He looked at Asano Aiko, who was driving, and tentatively asked: "Asano, are you free this Friday?"

"Is there something? If it's still about turning yourself in, please don't call me."

Akiwara Yuto saw that she was still a bit angry and said helplessly: "It's not about turning myself in, I just want to invite you to accompany me to a school festival."

Asano Aiko subconsciously glanced at him, feeling a bit puzzled for a moment.

This has nothing to do with work, right? Could it be a date?

However, isn't Akiwara pursuing that Miss Ikawa? ===== CHAPTER 48 =====