Chapter 157: Who is on our side?

"I have never seen such a small-scale Special Investigation Headquarters."

Uesugi Muneyuki did not answer Police Inspector Kosaka's question; he said quite calmly, "I remember how many people came to the Chiba Prefecture Joint Special Investigation Headquarters last time? One thousand? How many came this time, are there even 50?"

"41 people." Police Inspector Kosaka sighed. The two stood together in the basement air conditioning room of the Oiwake Dormitory, examining the dust on the entrance door handle: "Normally, the Metropolitan Police Department should draw personnel from local police stations, but the University of Tokyo won't allow it."

"Is it that the University of Tokyo won't allow it, or does the Metropolitan Police Department not want to investigate at all?" Uesugi Muneyuki noticed that the door handle leading from the air conditioning room to the other buildings had been locked and was also covered in dust.

"That is clearly the question I wanted to ask you." Police Inspector Kosaka had his hands in his pockets. He was tall and slender, looking quite capable in his suit uniform, but his face carried a deep, indelible worry: "What exactly is the Metropolitan Police Department thinking?"

"What exactly are you thinking?" Uesugi Muneyuki answered a question with a question: "Tell me first, was it you who leaked the information?"

Upon hearing this topic, Police Inspector Kosaka's body subconsciously stiffened. He frowned: "You suspect me too?"

"Because I found that you seem particularly obsessed with this case; normally, it shouldn't be like this." Uesugi Muneyuki shook his head: "You are Non-Career Track; without the protection of a high-ranking Public Servant status, you can be sent to the provinces at any time. Why?"

"That is a baseless inference." Police Inspector Kosaka did not answer this question directly either: "You see the situation now; it's a dilemma whether to investigate or not."

Many times, not answering is the best answer.

Uesugi Muneyuki did not dwell on this question; he leaned against the railing of the air conditioning room: "The reason is also very simple, because the woman Professor Tsuda saw was not Mrs. Tsuda at all!"

"?!" Police Inspector Kosaka's eyes widened: "Then who was it?"

"It was Watanabe Minami." Uesugi Muneyuki smiled: "160 cm tall, petite build, plus a down jacket. It was filmed at five o'clock this morning. Do you know how much effort it took me to convince her?"

"What??? This is... this is fake evidence! This is illegal!" Police Inspector Kosaka was shocked at first, but immediately became excited: "Wait, if Professor Tsuda chose to accept it, that means he..."

"What fake evidence? We didn't say that; he confirmed it himself." Uesugi Muneyuki rolled his eyes: "That's right, Professor Tsuda should be very clear that this is not his wife at all, but he still admitted it, because as long as he admits it, he can not only clear his suspicion but also lead the investigation in the wrong direction."

"But he didn't anticipate that, in fact, we also had no idea which direction to investigate. Was Mrs. Tsuda's disappearance active or passive? Does Professor Tsuda know or not know about his wife running away from home?" Uesugi Muneyuki said in a low voice: "But through this method, we can figure out one thing: Professor Tsuda not only knows the inside story of his wife's departure, but he is also very clear about his wife's whereabouts. He knew he couldn't see his wife's figure on the surveillance in that location. Do you know what this means?"

"Professor Tsuda has major suspicion." Police Inspector Kosaka was convinced by Uesugi Muneyuki's deduction and technical methods: "Sure enough, it's always the husband."

"It is too early to conclude that he murdered Mrs. Tsuda. I went to his house yesterday, but I didn't find anything, and I didn't smell any corpse odor. So there is a question: where did Mrs. Tsuda go?" Uesugi Muneyuki was very cautious: "So the question must return to the core—the PT Project that Professor Tsuda is in charge of, and the reason why Mrs. Tsuda repeatedly transferred money overseas."

"However, this is hard to investigate." Uesugi Muneyuki smiled bitterly: "Minami will agree to help play the role of the 'runaway' Mrs. Tsuda, but she might not agree to let me continue to investigate deeper. Okada... I am still not very familiar with him. I don't know what he is thinking, nor do I know if he will support us. I am a Forensic Pathologist; I have to make things clear."

The "we" in Uesugi Muneyuki's mouth gave Police Inspector Kosaka great comfort.

"Yes, Kashiwagi and Shiratori are both graduates of the University of Tokyo." Police Inspector Kosaka shook his head bitterly.

"And you?" Uesugi Muneyuki asked casually.

"Private Honan High School."

"Then I have to tell you what the logic of University of Tokyo people is regarding this kind of thing." Uesugi Muneyuki laughed: "If they lose, they hold a grudge; if they win, they retaliate. It would be best if we had solid evidence, but even if we really had solid evidence to nail them, the University of Tokyo would not let us go. In the future, there would be no place for us in Tokyo, or rather, I might be slightly punished and let off lightly, but you would be completely finished. Kosaka, this is probably why you are going all out, right?"

"............" Uesugi Muneyuki's words truly laid out the desperate situation facing the Metropolitan Police Department and Kosaka Shinichiro. The 41-year-old middle-aged man slumped his head against the wall.

To investigate is death, not to investigate is death; to obey orders is death, not to obey orders is also death!

Who can understand the pain of someone like him, a Non-Career Track officer with no backing in the Metropolitan Police Department and no alumni association support?

"But at least, they are still on our side." Uesugi Muneyuki signaled not to be so desperate, there was still a chance.

"They? You mean the Metropolitan Police Department?" Kosaka Shinichiro finally got some good news: "As expected of Director General Watanabe, he really is a courageous and upright person..."

"No, I mean the Americans. In this investigation, only the Americans are on our side."

Uesugi Muneyuki's answer made Kosaka Shinichiro laugh in anger: "Enemies often disguise themselves as partners."

Come to think of it, it's true. In the Todai Case, the only ones who could be considered on the side of justice were indeed the Americans, that conservative Puritan old professor, William Edwards.

Huh?

Uesugi Muneyuki's hint suddenly made Police Inspector Kosaka think of something: "You mean?"

"Yes, the District Public Prosecutors Office, the Special Investigation Department of the District Public Prosecutors Office." Uesugi Muneyuki put his hands behind his back: "At this very moment, the District Public Prosecutors Office should already smell the blood."

The Special Investigation Department of the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office is a precious legacy of Five-Star MacArthur, typically described as "the intention cannot be said to be good or bad, but the job was done well."

And only the Special Investigation Department of the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office, with the Americans backing them, dared to strike hard against political, gatekeeper, and business factions without fearing liquidation afterward.

And Five-Star MacArthur left Japan with many such legacies, including land reform that was more thorough than most countries, the banning of outcasts and illegal industries, the post-war liquidation of the old system, the reconstruction of the national education system, reducing the proportion of hereditary lawmakers in Japan from 60% to 3%, enacting laws for gender equality, dismantling and confiscating the assets of the zaibatsu, and securing several astronomical orders for post-war Japanese industry (Korean War). To be honest, if MacArthur were not a devout Christian, all Japanese shrines would have to reserve a deity seat for him in the side hall.

The famous Five-Star General MacArthur once said: "I want to say to those who have never left and always believed in us, this fifth crown (referring to the fifth star on his shoulder) is dedicated to all of you."

However, what Uesugi Muneyuki and Kosaka Shinichiro did not expect was that on the other side of the small locked door of the air conditioning room where they were, stood a Detective.

Police Inspector Kashiwagi Jin of the Second Division of Investigation Division 1 had also come here to investigate, but he was investigating the other side and did not expect that he would hear the conversation between Uesugi and Kosaka through the door.

However, Police Inspector Kashiwagi's attention was not on the leak or the conspiracy; his attention was entirely focused on "Professor Tsuda has major suspicion."

Always the husband!

I knew it! Authentic mystery is never wrong! It's the person involved! It's the person involved!!!

……………………

After the two compared notes, the subsequent investigation actions became much simpler.

Uesugi Muneyuki used this behavior to make the University of Tokyo and Professor Tsuda relax their vigilance. They expressed their request to continue viewing surveillance footage and asking teachers and students if they had seen any subsequent traces of Mrs. Tsuda.

Professor Tsuda also wanted to close the case quickly, and out of respect for Uesugi Muneyuki's grandfather, Uesugi Kuninori, he relented and agreed.

Thus, Uesugi Muneyuki got the opportunity to contact Professor Tsuda's students, while Police Inspector Kosaka gathered everyone in his division, using the excuse of looking for Mrs. Tsuda's subsequent whereabouts, but actually looking at Professor Tsuda's movement trajectory over these days.

Upon checking this, they indeed made a discovery.

Early on the morning of May 7th, Professor Tsuda did not appear on the elevator's surveillance camera, but the laboratory building's surveillance captured him pushing a large amount of equipment into the experimental site. In the footage, Professor Tsuda's expression was calm and composed, pushing the cart just like he did every day for experiments, nothing special.

However, with Uesugi Muneyuki's successful probing, Police Inspector Kosaka and the others shot the arrow first and then drew the target. Knowing in advance that Professor Tsuda had a problem, they indeed found some traces!

Because the PT Project involved academic secrets, there was no surveillance inside, but from May 7th to May 10th, Professor Tsuda entered and exited the laboratory building alone from beginning to end, and did not call any students to continue the project experiments at all.

Subsequently, Uesugi Muneyuki's questioning of the project team students confirmed this point. On May 7th, the project team students received a notice from the professor to go to Kyoto University to attend a biology lecture and inspect the advanced frontier experimental results of Kyoto University. The project team did not return to Tokyo until May 10th.

And that day happened to be the day Professor Tsuda reported the case.

The inside story of the case began to have some progress. Ikeda Erena was very excited, Uesugi Muneyuki was lost in thought, Okada Masayoshi was inscrutable, while Watanabe Minami had a complex expression.

Getting closer to the inside story meant... they were also gradually getting closer to danger.

Young Lady Minami decided that she still had to warn Uesugi Muneyuki about what could be investigated and what could not.

After dinner, returning to the Special Investigation Headquarters at the Honfuji Police Station, Young Lady Minami decided to have a private talk with Uesugi Muneyuki.

But when she arrived at the door of Uesugi Muneyuki's room, she heard a sound coming from inside.

The voice was very thin and very faint, making it impossible to hear what the two people were saying, but Miss Minami's internal alarm bells rang out instantly!

Because she recognized this voice!

The National Actress of the Soul Agency, Shirakawa Mai!

(End of chapter)