Chapter 377

By 2:30 PM, Kashiwagi Misa returned to the Equipment Management Department, walking unsteadily; her expression was strange, as if she bore a deep shame, yet also as if she had been relieved of a heavy burden — in any case, her spirits were much better than before, only that always mixed-race, cold-beautiful face could no longer maintain its former ice-queen aura; she held her lower abdomen and slowly returned to her workstation.

This puzzled the busy desk-duty officers; even stranger was how the Section Chief's stockings had changed — how they had gone from the previous dark-brown pantyhose to a pair of matte-gray opaque pantyhose?

But the Section Chief said nothing, and they dared not ask; after all, she was the former Face of the Metropolitan Police Department, and her husband was the renowned Star Inspector Kashiwagi Jin, famous throughout Tokyo, who had forced Odagiri father and son, directors of Fujitsu, to voluntarily confess in the Kintokei case!

Only instinctively pressing down her skirt hem, glancing around nervously, and the moment she sat down hurriedly closing her legs, Kashiwagi Misa pursed her lips, feeling intense shame in the workplace and the bizarre comfort of being completely embraced by the pantyhose Uesugi had given her.

Damn it, why does this feeling feel so weird, yet so comfortable — if this keeps up, there'll be no going back.

The sorrowful, ashamed married policewoman scanned her surroundings without changing expression, hoping no one would notice anything off about her.

Fortunately, it seemed no one had.

Kashiwagi Misa let out a breath, her face flushed red: If this can help Jin, then I can only agree to Uesugi's demands; next time too, and the time after that, I can only agree — after all, I myself am no good, I can't do it.

Jin, for you, I'll do my best!

Kashiwagi Misa convinced herself quite easily, then threw all her energy back into work.

Mmm, what style of pantyhose is this, wearing it feels too comfortable — she couldn't help rubbing her legs together slightly.

That guy Uesugi, so bad.

That whole day, from morning to afternoon, National Diet Member Suo Masao spent the entire time in extreme anxiety and anguish; as a father, he could only sit helplessly in the hallway, waiting for one emergency surgery after another at the University of Tokyo Hospital.

The entire University of Tokyo Hospital was busy for Suruga Ryohei.

After the helicopter arrived, the University of Tokyo Hospital first spent an hour on trauma assessment and resuscitation, doing everything possible to prevent Suruga Ryohei's immediate death; the ER used 18 units of blood products.

Then the first round of surgery began: vascular ligation + pelvic external fixation + vesicostomy; the University of Tokyo's senior medical professors took turns operating on standby; in the cold of January they sweated profusely one by one; and after six hours of continuous surgery and resuscitation, having used 26 units of blood products, the University of Tokyo Hospital successfully controlled the massive hemorrhage.

By now it was past 4 PM; University of Tokyo Hospital Director Professor Funao finally told Suo Masao that his son's probability of death had dropped below 5%.

The University of Tokyo Hospital is, after all, this country's highest-rank hospital, a world-top-ten comprehensive hospital (earlier text had an error; later verified that the University of Tokyo Hospital ranked eighth worldwide in comprehensive ranking that year); it forcibly snatched Suruga Ryohei's life back from the Grim Reaper.

"The young master should not end up paraplegic; this hospital has the ability to reconstruct the pelvis and hip joint, but... the patient has permanently lost reproductive function and fertility, will require lifelong vesicostomy for urination, and pelvic malunion may cause chronic pain and limp. Physiological gender characteristics have substantially disappeared; psychological gender reconstruction consultation is recommended." University of Tokyo Hospital Director Professor Funao said in a low voice: "My apologies, Your Excellency, we did our best."

Suo Masao, eyes bloodshot, glared viciously at Professor Funao; those eyes were like Horus preparing to celebrate the Emperor's birthday — the tiniest spark could set the entire galaxy ablaze!

"Can I go in and see Ryohei?"

"Please do so as soon as possible."

Thus Suo Masao saw a whole bucket of blood-soaked gauze, and the many doctors busy debriding and defibrillating Suruga Ryohei again; after receiving Professor Morimoto's guarantee that he was out of mortal danger, Suo Masao finally ate a little something.

And just as the Diet member worried for his son, Kashiwagi Jin, investigating at the Ebisu Gym ahead, made a different discovery.

Outside, equipment inspection was underway; according to the Forensic Examination Division officers' examination, it was clearly found that the limit pin screws had loosened and sheared off (metal fatigue), and the buffer device had failed (seal ring aging and air leakage) — this was an obvious equipment maintenance issue.

At the same time, Itami Kenichi, by repeatedly reviewing surveillance footage, also found that Suruga Ryohei's condition that day was poor (obvious hangover); with the female trainer's help he set an excessive weight, his foot posture was clearly wrong, and he clearly lost control on the return — this fully conforms to the logic of "improper user operation, compounded by equipment aging and failure, leading to a serious accident."

In other words, this case is undoubtedly an accidental incident, and an undeniable accidental incident at that.

But Kashiwagi Jin always felt it wasn't that simple; leaving aside everything else, for one person to just happen to be hungover and weak + just happen to have loose screws + just happen to have buffer failure — isn't that too much of a coincidence?

At the same time, surveillance and audio recordings also showed that at 9:36 AM, Suruga Ryohei arrived at the gym.

At 9:41 AM, the accident occurred.

In between, the suspicion against female trainer Sayaka could never be determined; in the morning she was at Chiba Prefecture Disneyland, with surveillance as proof,

therefore it can be judged that the person who came to the gym was not her, but someone who looked very much like her.

This is very suspicious.

However, the surveillance also showed that increasing the weight from 180kg to 230kg was proposed by Suruga Ryohei himself, instructed by him personally; this looks unrelated to the case again, and from the blood analysis collected on site, Suruga Ryohei's blood alcohol concentration was clearly over the limit.

This plunged the whole case into an extremely bizarre situation: the female trainer seems suspicious yet multiple pieces of evidence show she isn't; this accident looks like an accident yet from multiple angles the probability of occurrence is no higher than three in a hundred thousand.

Itami Kenichi appears ready to close the case as an "accidental incident," but Kashiwagi Jin is still exploring.

And compared to Itami, he indeed has an incomparably huge advantage — he has a super-handsome playboy face and a pair of deep, affectionate peach-blossom eyes; that morning the Yoga Practitioners gave Itami the cold shoulder, but faced with Kashiwagi Jin's questions they were exceptionally enthusiastic, doing everything they could.

Among them, two young ladies repeatedly mentioned that gym female trainer Sayaka often introduced them to a nearby Burning Bar to drink until blackout, and every time Sayaka brought them to yoga she would cast a prey-selecting gaze, making them uncomfortable; moreover, a girl named Chihiro had disappeared ever since being taken away, and no one had seen her since.

A prey-selecting gaze?

Kashiwagi Jin indicated he understood; he comforted these Yoga Practitioners, told them this matter had nothing to do with them, then focused his attention once more on the yoga room inside the gym.

I must have missed something!

Just as the search was ongoing outside, Kashiwagi Jin entered the yoga room without changing expression; taking advantage of everyone's inattention, he gently took out his flashlight, turned off the lights, and searched carefully.

This is the advantage Kashiwagi Jin's rich investigative experience gave him; he knew that by observing through a special filter or eyepiece, a camera lens would reflect a very bright, clear point of light like a cat's eye, different from the reflection of a human eye or other objects, allowing him to easily find those hidden cameras.

After searching for a while, got it!

On a power socket board in the yoga room, Kashiwagi Jin saw a bright reflection!

It's a hidden camera!

Kashiwagi Jin decisively removed the power socket board, and sure enough found a hidden camera in the small hole on the side.

This gym is creepy! The missing female cadets, the strange female trainer appearing simultaneously at the scene and Disneyland, the hidden camera in the yoga room, and the incomparably bizarre "mathematical probability murder" — all of this shows that this gym is absolutely not as simple as it appears on the surface.

Kashiwagi Jin thought for a moment, didn't tell everyone, but secretly placed the evidence into an evidence bag and hid it inside his clothes without changing expression.

"Wrap up! Back to Sakuradamon!"

That night, Suo Masao learned from the Secretary's Office the police's preliminary investigation conclusion.

Accidental incident?

Absolutely impossible!!!

Suo Masao made a phone call.

That night at 6 PM, Sakuradamon, Metropolitan Police Department Headquarters, National Police Agency Commissioner's Office; Watanabe Eiji was giving instructions on tasks preparing to leave work when the phone rang.

"Eiji!!!" Suo Masao roared into the phone: "Look at your people! What kind of stupid things are they doing!!!"

Watanabe Eiji's scalp went numb instantly; he heard a father's anger at losing his son, and a political faction leader's anger at losing his heir.

Though the Superintendent General holds high position and authority, there is still a slight gap from a National Diet Member; usually the two sides keep to their own spheres, since politicians frequently rotate while career officials serve long terms: "Lord Suo? This is only this Bureau's preliminary conclusion; more time is still needed for investigation———"

"Investigation! Only two departments, 30 people, and you call that investigation? I'll search your ***" Suo Masao raged for a while, then gritted his teeth: "First, I absolutely refuse to acknowledge! Absolutely refuse to acknowledge that Ryohei's matter is an accident; my son was murdered! Investigate! Investigate thoroughly! From the beginning!"

"Then, what can 30 people do? I demand the formation of a Special Investigation Headquarters! Investigation Division 1 Chief personally deployed! Assemble at least 200 people 1

"Yes." The National Diet member demanded a full upgrade, and Watanabe Eiji could only agree: "I will order the Criminal Investigation Department Chief Uchimura to form the Special Investigation Headquarters, with Investigation Division 1 Chief Sugishita Ukyo as its head, and the assembly will be tomorrow morning at eight."

Hearing that Superintendent General Watanabe Eiji had compromised, Suo Masao knew that by forcefully using the authority of the National Diet member to coerce the Metropolitan Police Department into raising the level, he was actually making the Metropolitan Police Department "follow normal procedure," and perhaps after searching around, tormenting for several days, it would still end in an accidental closure.

Damn it, how dark the Japanese police are!

Is there anyone willing to truly investigate further? Is there anyone who can truly withstand the pressure to uncover the truth behind Ryouhei's death?

A name suddenly came to Suo Masao's mind, so he then instructed Watanabe Eiji.

"Call Uesugi! Call Uesugi!" the lawmaker's voice hoarse.

"Let the Special Mission Unit join the Special Investigation Headquarters! This is my demand!"