Chapter 216: Bad News from Kanagawa

September 7th, Uesugi Era year 2.

The Lakewood Golf Club, Kanagawa Prefecture, west of Tokyo.

Today is a joyous day for Sumitomo Mitsui Real Estate.

The most important project of the "Yokohama Port Revitalization Plan," which the Sumitomo Mitsui Group has been preparing for a long time, the "Yokohama Large-Scale International Logistics Hub," has entered its final preparatory stage.

Yokohama is an important city in the Tokyo Metropolitan Area, one of Japan's three major metropolitan areas; it is located in the southern part of the Kanto region, faces Tokyo Bay to the east, borders cities like Yokosuka to the south, and connects to Kawasaki in the north. It is the capital of Kanagawa Prefecture, a government-designated city of Japan, and the center of the KeihinIndustrialZone, serving as Japan's third-largest industrial hub, second only to Tokyo and Osaka.

Japan's largest international commercial port is the symbol of Yokohama, with trade relations with over a hundred countries worldwide. YokohamaPort is also one of the world's premier trading ports, playing an important role in the Japanese economy.

The Sumitomo Mitsui Group is deeply involved in the Yokohama revitalization plan this time, and the Yokohama Large-Scale International Logistics Hub they have prepared is already in the final stages of planning and can begin construction in a few days.

Therefore, today, Executive Director Sato of the Sumitomo Mitsui Group Board of Directors, who is in charge of this project, held a team-building event at a golf course in AobaWard, Yokohama. Over a hundred employees gathered to play golf, grouping up in twos and threes under the sun, practicing their swings on the lush green lawn, with smiles on everyone's faces.

Japanese people love playing golf, especially older ones who experienced the bubble era. Since its introduction to Japan in the early 20th century, golf has gradually become an important tool for business socializing. During the bubble economy, almost all Japanese people played golf; even small company clerks were getting membership cards. Finding it tiring to drive, they even spurred the birth of golf designated driving and helicopter services. One manufacturer released a three-piece set of diamond-encrusted clubs priced at 100 million yen, and all 650 sets were sold out within 3 days.

There are a total of 2,400 golf courses in all of Japan, the second most in the world.

Therefore, whether it is "Doraemon" or "Crayon Shin-chan," there are many plotlines where Shin-chan's or Nobita's fathers go to play golf on their days off as company employees.

After the bubble economy burst, this aristocratic sport of golf naturally suffered a setback, but clubs everywhere decisively maintained a certain level of popularity by lowering prices and entry thresholds. Middle-aged and elderly people under sixty like Executive Director Sato have a pathological obsession with golf.

He is currently announcing the groupings.

"The members of the first group are..., the members of the second group are..."

Everyone from the Sumitomo Mitsui Group is listening below.

Executive Director Sato is a good leader; he is capable, can command respect, knows how to take care of his subordinates, and is not as stubborn as the Japanese who came through the golden age. However, he has one troublesome shortcoming: his insistence on "golf team-building." He must hold regular golf team-building events, and everyone must be present, or he will fly into a rage.

You don't have to play golf; you can come and sit in the shade, you can drive the little carts around, but you cannot not come.

But today, one person did not arrive, and they hadn't even asked for leave.

The Project Manager in charge of the Yokohama Large-Scale International Logistics Hub, Igarashi Aiko, never appeared.

"Hey, hasn't Aiko arrived yet?" a colleague asked below.

"I haven't seen the Project Manager, and the phone won't go through either!"

"Oh no, oh no, this is Executive Director Sato's team-building!"

"Call again, say she was delayed on the road and will be here soon. Which one of you will cover for the Project Manager?"

"Who would dare?"

After a wave of whispering below, Executive Director Sato read the name of his favorite subordinate: "Igarashi Aiko? Is Aiko here?"

No one answered below.

"Aiko? She didn't come?" Executive Director Sato's expression immediately turned from sunny to overcast. The elderly Sumitomo Mitsui Group director hates nothing more than people missing his team-building events.

"Executive Director, the Project Manager's phone won't go through; we can't reach her," someone said below.

"?" Executive Director Sato's expression became even uglier. He thought to himself that Aiko hadn't asked him for leave.

Igarashi Aiko, Project Manager of MitsuiRealEstateGroup, is in charge of the Yokohama Large-Scale International Logistics Hub project. She counts as an Executive of the group and is a capable subordinate of Executive Director Sato. Moreover, unlike other employees, Igarashi Aiko herself quite likes playing golf.

Just because one person didn't come, Executive Director Sato immediately lost the desire for happy golf. With a gloomy face, he announced that everyone should practice on their own and urged his subordinates to keep calling.

The phone still went unanswered.

Just like that, a full half-hour passed.

Executive Director Sato of the Sumitomo Mitsui Group's expression grew increasingly gloomy. He simply announced that today's golf team-building was canceled!

Not a single one of Igarashi Aiko's subordinates is allowed to leave; everyone must follow him to Igarashi Aiko's home in Yokohama to demand an explanation from her personally!

To think she would dare to skip this Executive Director's team-building! This is no longer just an ordinary Project Manager; he must strike with a heavy hand!

Just like that, a group of over a dozen people drove three cars and charged aggressively toward Project Manager Igarashi Aiko's home in Yokohama.

Igarashi Aiko's residence in Kanagawa is a two-story detached house. It was the residence left behind by her grandmother; it had been unoccupied, but since they were preparing for the new project, it was put back into use, and she moved in.

After knocking on the door many times with no response, Executive Director Sato was so angry that his hemorrhoids burst. A lot of blood flowed onto his golf pants. He had a colleague who was close to Project Manager Igarashi call her parents.

This time the call went through, but Igarashi Aiko's parents didn't know where their daughter had gone either.

"Executive Director Sato!" Just then, a male subordinate discovered a blind spot in the detached house: "It seems we can climb over from here."

The back door of the detached house was just a low fence. The male subordinate discovered he could climb over it and then enter the house from the backyard to open the door.

"Climb," Executive Director Sato said without hesitation.

Having received a clear order from his superior, the male subordinate climbed over the fence, entered the detached house from the sliding door in the backyard, and opened the front door.

"Aiko? Aiko, are you here?" The group entered the detached house just like that. The dozen or so people quickly filled the house to the brim. Everyone searched the house, but they did not see any trace of Project Manager Igarashi.

She wasn't at home, she hadn't returned to Tokyo, and she couldn't be reached by phone.

Executive Director Sato slowly squatted at the entrance. He discovered that the golf bag was placed at the entrance, and a section of a golf club was sticking out of the bag.

"?" Executive Director Sato was different from all the subordinates present.

Executive Director Sato, who is under sixty this year, is an old man born in the late fifties. He experienced the era when public security was not as good as it is now. After seeing the golf bag at the entrance and the anomaly in the house, Executive Director Sato calmly went to the bathroom and then signaled his subordinates.

"Kawana."

"Executive Director, we've searched every part of the house! We didn't find the Project Manager..."

"Call the police," Executive Director Sato said calmly, his face grimacing in pain as his hemorrhoids burst.

"Executive Director? Call the police? You mean... call the police now?" The subordinates were clearly shocked by Executive Director Sato's words.

"Call the police!" Executive Director Sato said coldly: "Which one of you found Aiko's Briefcase?"

"It contains the key agreements and construction details for this Yokohama logistics hub!" Executive Director Sato's eyes were already staring blankly: "She is missing now, and she is the one responsible for the construction plan, budget adjustments, supplier selection, and financing!"

"Call the police immediately!"

"Yes!"

The employees of MitsuiRealEstate and MitsuiConstruction immediately dialed the police.

The Kanagawa Prefectural Police Headquarters received the report, and after dawdling for over an hour, they finally brought officers to the scene.

However, because the incident was sudden and the Kanagawa police did not keep a low profile, the outside world somehow learned that a female Executive of the Sumitomo Mitsui Group had mysteriously disappeared from her home!

And this female Executive is none other than the Project Manager responsible for the entire massive multinational project, the Yokohama Port Revitalization Plan's international logistics distribution center, Igarashi Aiko!

In an instant, this disappearance case cast a shadow over the entire Yokohama Port Revitalization Plan, and even the entire Tokyo Metropolitan Area.

……………………

The next day, Tokyo's Oi Racecourse, VIP lounge.

Crystal chandeliers reflected the green track outside the floor-to-ceiling windows, the dark brown leather sofa and ebony coffee table glowed with a matte finish, champagne flutes overflowed with pale gold bubbles, silver trays held wagyu sushi and caviar; Superintendent General Watanabe Eiji took a newspaper from a waiter, leaned back in the comfortable sofa chair, watched the jockeys' colorful silks turn into streaks of speed, and calculated the odds on his 500-yen betting ticket.

"Watching horse racing all day is so much fun~"

Opposite him, Criminal Investigation Department Chief Uchimura Kanji and Chiba Prefectural Police Headquarters Chief Mouri Takayoshi were also observing the odds numbers jumping on the big screen.

Uesugi Muneyuki and Watanabe Minami sat on the other side; the Face of the Metropolitan Police Department was wearing a misty rainbow-colored dress today, youthful and invincible, stunningly beautiful.

"Dining at the racecourse, team building at the racecourse, meetings at the racecourse; Father-in-law, you might as well move the Metropolitan Police Department to the racecourse," Uesugi Muneyuki couldn't help but retort, "It would save you from running all over the place."

"Hahaha~" Watanabe Eiji laughed quite contentedly and shook his head repeatedly, "You've been in the Metropolitan Police Department for so long, Muneyuki, and you still don't understand it here? Small matters get big meetings, big matters get small meetings, and important matters get no meetings; that is the Metropolitan Police Department."

"And if there's nothing to do?"

"If there's nothing to do, we hold a general meeting to prove we're working. Uesugi-kun, you must understand, the Metropolitan Police Department is very busy even if it's not handling any cases. The General Affairs Department is responsible for coordinating and responding to various emergencies, the Police Affairs Department is responsible for formulating annual plans and personnel transfer proposals while supervising other departments in the headquarters, the Finance Department is responsible for appropriations, salaries, and balancing the books and cash flow, the Security Department procures supplies and police equipment while planning security operations, and there's also technology, construction, management and coordination of local branches, maintenance and cleaning, and what you like most, Uesugi-kun, cafeteria management."

Headquarters Chief Mouri laughed, "Everyone is very busy, serving the nation!"

"Busy increasing administrative staff to manage administrative staff, right?" Uesugi Muneyuki shook his head repeatedly, "I finally understand why only 40% of Tokyo's 80,000 police officers are Field Unit, and the rest are Administrative Unit."

"Right, and that's without handling cases; if we were handling cases, we'd be even busier."

Just then, a news flash suddenly interrupted on the television.

"Earlier today, tragic news came from Kanagawa Prefecture: the Mitsui Sumitomo Group Executive and Project Manager, Ms. Igarashi Aiko, who is in charge of the Yokohama Port Revitalization Plan, is currently missing... This has cast a shadow over the Yokohama super-large multinational logistics center, which is roughly completed and about to begin construction..."

Uesugi Muneyuki only took a casual glance, yet upon hearing this name, the three high-ranking police officials, Watanabe Eiji, Mouri Takayoshi, and Uchimura Kanji, instantly changed their expressions.

"What, Aiko is missing?" Watanabe Eiji blurted out first, "This is trouble!"

"???" Uesugi Muneyuki hadn't reacted yet, and Miss Minami immediately explained, "She is the daughter of the former Investigation Division 2 Chief, Igarashi Masataka!"

"This is very dangerous, dangerous!" Mouri Takayoshi also looked grim.

"Shimatta!" Department Manager Uchimura had already lost his composure.

"Wait, what exactly is going on?" Uesugi Muneyuki was still in the dark.

"To put it simply, this is tragic news."

Tragic news from Kanagawa Prefecture?

(End of chapter)