Chapter 159: Investigation and Planning

The appearance of Ikeda Erena caused the attention of both Shirakawa Mai and Watanabe Minami to shift toward this policewoman.

At first glance, Shirakawa Mai noticed the tall policewoman's figure; she realized she couldn't quite use "pretty" to describe her, as she had absolute confidence in her own beauty, but with that overwhelming aura of temptation, the flush on her face, and that smile clearly implying sexual arousal, Shirakawa Mai immediately concluded that she must have slept with Uesugi Muneyuki and had come seeking intimacy of her own accord.

Tsk, tsk, tsk, aren't women like this actually the most popular with men?

Shirakawa Mai's own height was 163cm; if she wore high-heeled shoes, she would be about 168cm. She actually couldn't afford to be any taller, or it would be difficult to act alongside other actors.

Meanwhile, Ikeda Erena's height was 170cm, and wearing high-heeled shoes brought her height to a towering 175cm.

This height, this figure, these proportions...

Shirakawa Mai finally understood why Uesugi Muneyuki could not resist the temptation of this tall policewoman.

Looking at her, her entire body was filled with the scent of her junior, and her belly was stuffed full of Inner World energy, with the Aizen Seal on her lower abdomen almost fully formed.

Senior Mai even felt a bit jealous, thinking it was such a waste to give so much energy to her.

At the same time, the young lady Minami, who was beside Uesugi Muneyuki, also had a resentful look in her eyes.

Her height was about 159cm, not quite 160cm, and she prided herself on having a 99 out of 100 score for looks compared to Senior Mai, but the gap in figure between her and Ikeda was huge.

If only I could have Ikeda's height and figure, while keeping my own looks!

No, that doesn't seem quite right either; Uesugi-kun's family surely wants a traditional, pure-blooded Yamato Nadeshiko. What's with being too tall, too athletic, and having an exotic flair?

At this moment, Ikeda Erena was also completely confused; she hadn't understood at all what was happening inside, and the situation before her caused her CPU to overheat, so habitually, Erena cast her gaze toward Uesugi Muneyuki.

Hurry up and explain, Uesugi!

Uesugi Muneyuki immediately felt immense pressure.

The three women present: one was his Inner World-side oath-taker and mentor-level powerhouse, one was his direct superior and the Metropolitan Police Department backer who had cultivated him along the way, and one was his martial arts master, intimate bed partner, and personal bodyguard.

How is one supposed to balance this?

However, Uesugi Muneyuki still decided to handle the problem personally; he instinctively stood up, wanting to introduce Shirakawa Mai to Erena.

But when he stood up, his two hands were gripped separately by Senior Mai and the young lady Minami, one on the left and one on the right.

Whether it was Senior Mai or the young lady Minami, their eyes were filled with an unwavering determination.

I will absolutely not let go.

At this time, one must absolutely not yield!

With this delay, Ikeda Erena's brain finally responded; sure enough, anger began to accumulate in the eyes of the tall beauty as well.

This is the Special Investigation Headquarters! What are you three trying to do here?

Also, Uesugi is my property; who gave you permission to touch him? He already has me!

It wasn't until Ikeda walked over quickly and grabbed Uesugi Muneyuki that the two hands relaxed slightly; Uesugi Muneyuki introduced Shirakawa Mai to Ikeda Erena, though in fact, both parties had met during the Fuji TV Case, but they had never been formally introduced.

Ikeda Erena still held Shirakawa Mai in high regard, especially liking some of Shirakawa Mai's remarks, so she pursed her lips, her expression complex.

After the introduction, no one spoke; for a moment, the atmosphere inside the small room was extremely eerie, with indescribable chaos ready to mutate at any time—Senior Mai waited leisurely for a challenge, the young lady Minami plotted something within her formulaic smile, while Erena's anger level fluctuated, unsure whether she should first ask Senior Mai for an autograph or throw her out of the room first.

Just then, footsteps were heard outside the room; Police Inspector Kosaka of the First Division also didn't knock, pushing the door open with a clatter: "Uesugi-kun, do you have a moment? I have something I'd like to discuss with you."

"Eh?"

Seeing the scene in the room, even Kosaka, who was well-experienced and had worked his way from a branch station to the Metropolitan Police Department headquarters as a Non-Career Track officer, was stunned.

What is the situation?

"Kosaka, any new discoveries?" Uesugi Muneyuki arrived in front of Police Inspector Kosaka with lightning speed, signaling him to come in and talk.

A savior!

"Uh... I..." Police Inspector Kosaka still wanted to step back and signal that if he was busy, he would wait, but he saw Uesugi Muneyuki's pleading eyes, and his wrist was being grabbed and pulled into the room, so he had no choice but to enter: "Alright, I was saying."

"Then I shall take my leave." Seeing that a fight wouldn't break out, Senior Mai took the initiative to stand up and excuse herself.

She possessed a special ability to mask her own presence and being observed; as she activated this power, Police Inspector Kosaka only responded blankly, quickly ignoring the fact that the National Actress had actually appeared in the police station, and the young lady Minami and Erena also quickly stopped caring about Senior Mai's departure from their initial "don't you dare run away."

According to Senior Mai, Uesugi Muneyuki would also be able to learn this from her in the future.

Learn it through the exchange of bodily fluids.

After saying goodbye to Senior Mai, Police Inspector Kosaka peered at the doorway for a while, and seeing that no one was outside, he began to discuss business inside the room.

After two days of investigation, it was now the evening of May 14th; the Special Investigation Headquarters had vaguely grasped some directions, but had consistently failed to obtain decisive evidence.

Through the trick of filming and producing fake videos, Kosaka and Uesugi had already confirmed that Professor Tsuda was involved in this matter; through investigating Professor Tsuda's actions, Kosaka discovered that on May 7th, the very day Mrs. Tsuda was found missing, Professor Tsuda had arranged for students in his research group to visit Kyoto University, and the day he reported it to the police, May 10th, was exactly when the professor went to the Police Station to file the report.

The coincidence in timing was suspicious, yet these were all indirect inferences; there was no actual evidence, nor had a body been found.

"So the key to the problem lies in the Overseas Accounts of Mrs. Tsuda and Professor Tsuda." Police Inspector Kosaka put his hands in his pockets: "If only there were a way to check them."

"That's right, I've also been thinking, why don't we just check the flow of Mrs. Tsuda's Overseas Account directly!" Ikeda Erena suddenly realized, the tall beauty sitting beside Uesugi Muneyuki having discovered the blind spot: "If we could find out the flow of funds, wouldn't we be able to understand what happened behind the scenes?"

Who knew that as soon as these words were spoken, Kosaka, Minami, and Uesugi all looked at her with strange expressions.

"Master Erena, we are Investigation Division 1." Uesugi Muneyuki still decided to speak up: "Investigation Division 1 does not deal with economic cases, nor do we have the authority to query Professor Tsuda's accounts; the only ones who can query his accounts are..."

"Only the District Public Prosecutors Office and Investigation Division 2." The young lady Minami continued Uesugi Muneyuki's words: "Among them, the District Public Prosecutors Office and our Metropolitan Police Department criminal faction are in an adversarial relationship; if we dare to ask for help, the District Public Prosecutors Office will definitely dare to reject it. They can go check it themselves, but they will never help us check."

"Like that... then we can just request help from Investigation Division 2." Erena asked quite naturally.

"Division 1 and Division 2 are also in an adversarial relationship." Police Inspector Kosaka shook his head with a bitter smile: "As long as there is any room for refusal, Division 2 will never assist Division 1."

Erena's beautiful, profound face immediately became tangled, also carrying a faint sense of disgust.

Factions, opposition, impossible—she was truly tired of hearing these words.

Can't everyone just unite, work together, and strive to solve the case?

"Father wouldn't agree either; don't forget, Uesugi, Kosaka, Father is also a graduate of the University of Tokyo." The young lady Minami continued.

"So I have a question, Chief of the Special Mission Unit, Police Inspector Watanabe Minami, which side are you actually on?" Police Inspector Kosaka finally asked the most important question of the night.

"She will only stand on the winning side." Uesugi Muneyuki answered directly for the young lady Minami; he gently pinched her small hand and smiled: "If we can successfully close the case, she will stand on our side; if we cannot close the case in a suitable way, she will stand on the side of the University of Tokyo."

The young lady Minami looked away, thinking that if it weren't for you, I would definitely be standing on the side of the University of Tokyo; it's only because I have confidence in you that this young lady is sitting on your side of the seat—you better thank this young lady properly! Kora!

"And that is exactly why we are looking for you!" Police Inspector Kosaka suddenly looked agitated: "Watanabe-san! Do you have confidence in Police Inspector Okada? Do you think he is reliable? Do you think he... will stand on our side?!"

"What are you..." The young lady Minami had only said a few words when the Face of the Metropolitan Police Department suddenly stopped the topic abruptly, her beautiful, sweet almond-shaped eyes wide open.

Kousaka, what great ambition! What a terrifying person!

Uesugi Muneyuki wore the same expression; he also looked at this Chief of the First Division of Investigation Division 1 with a brand-new expression.

Among the few people present, only Eirina did not understand; she tugged at Uesugi Muneyuki's sleeve, signaling for him to explain.

Uesugi Muneyuki then explained it to Eirina.

Under normal circumstances, without an explicit order from Metropolitan Police Department high-ranking officials at or above the rank of Assistant Commissioner, it is absolutely impossible for Investigation Division 2 to provide support to Investigation Division 1; the two sides are like fire and water, irreconcilable, mortal enemies, and as incompatible as ice and charcoal.

However, there is an extremely special situation here.

Okada Masayoshi's father, Okada Masahide, is the Japan Financial Services Agency Commissioner!

If Okada Masayoshi were to make a request to Investigation Division 2, Investigation Division 2 would very likely provide support for this investigation!

Kousaka, are you even going to make use of this? Or is it that he has already planned this in advance?

Investigating up to this point, Uesugi Muneyuki and Watanabe Minami discussed it and decided to give it a try.

So they changed locations and called for Okada Masayoshi to meet them in the basement of an office building near the Police Station.

But what they did not expect was that following Okada Masayoshi, there also appeared Police Inspector Kashiwagi Jin from the Second Division!

Why did he come?

Uesugi Muneyuki felt very displeased seeing this guy; he asked Okada Masayoshi with his eyes: Don't you know he has a grudge against me?

Okada Keibu made an apologetic gesture, and he was somewhat out of breath: "Sorry... for being late, it's mainly because... Police Inspector Kashiwagi has important clues he wants to tell us."

"Important clues?" Uesugi Muneyuki looked toward Kashiwagi Jin. This Star Inspector with the appearance of a playboy was somewhat silent. He slowly approached, glanced at Uesugi Muneyuki with a slightly evasive look, and instead said to Kosaka and Miss Minami: "I have some news here that you might be interested in."

"During the investigation, I learned from Professor Tsuda's student, Hayakawa Nanami, that there is academic misconduct within the PT Project."

However, Uesugi Muneyuki scoffed at Police Inspector Kashiwagi's news: "Almost every project within these elite national universities has academic misconduct; which one are you talking about?"

"It's not..." Police Inspector Kashiwagi seemed eager to prove his sincerity: "It's not the kind of academic misconduct involving appropriate data adjustment or abandoning some coupling points, or filling in missing samples with other types of samples."

"Hayakawa Nanami told me that many of the experimental results and experimental data regarding the PT Project are forged; they never actually conducted the experiments at all!"

Kashiwagi Jin emphasized: "According to her, the project team successively withdrew 83.6 million yen and 46 million yen from the project fund in the name of conducting experiments, but they never actually conducted the experiments. This money was successfully reimbursed under the pretext of experimental expenses and personnel costs, and its whereabouts are unknown."

"I knew it..." Kosaka closed his eyes.

"Wait, how did you get this news?" Uesugi Muneyuki was still questioning: "Also, why did you come to find us?"

"I..."

(End of chapter)