Chapter 514

Within the Imperial Palace, the summons went out; only Watanabe Eiji, Uesugi Muneyuki, and Watanabe Minami were qualified to draw near — the other Special Mission Unit members could at most watch from afar. Kai Toru, who had contributed the greatest merit, had also been specially designated by the Palace, but word was he was already wounded and hospitalized; the other side said nothing further, merely signaling Palace Director Maeda Toshisuke to remember to arrange it next time.

Contrary to Uesugi Muneyuki's expectations, he did not meet the reigning Emperor, but rather that "Retired Emperor" who had once climbed the Great Wall. The man was short in stature with a kindly face; upon seeing Uesugi Muneyuki he specially greeted him, said nothing more, shook hands with the three in turn, and in a low voice told everyone: "You've worked hard; for your distinguished service, on behalf of the Palace I express heartfelt thanks." With that, this brief audience came to an end.

As a result, the Imperial Household Agency would urgently relocate the Imperial Family elsewhere — where exactly, even Watanabe Eiji had no clearance to know. At the same time, the entire Imperial Police and Imperial Household Agency were to conduct an extremely thorough sweep of the Imperial Palace.

Before leaving, Palace Director Maeda Toshisuke came over specially and said: "Please, members of the Special Mission Unit and Director Watanabe, do not leave Akasaka for the time being. Tonight, stay at the Akasaka Rikyū (Kokuhinkan); we have already prepared a victory banquet for you."

Stay at the Kokuhinkan?

Uesugi Muneyuki thought to himself that this was indeed the highest-class reward, but besides the reward, the Palace side probably also realized that Uesugi Muneyuki's group knew too many inside details, feared they would speak carelessly outside, so today they would keep them here first, then outside they would aggressively handle PR and hold press conferences to explain the situation while avoiding the heavy points; by the time the Special Mission Unit left tomorrow, the overall situation would be settled and nothing more could be said.

This was an exceptionally high courtesy that could not be refused and did not permit refusal; Uesugi Muneyuki could only agree.

After discussions concluded, Uesugi Muneyuki discovered that, unbeknownst to him, large numbers of Public Security police and SAT had already appeared around the Imperial Palace. At this moment, two Metropolitan Police Department Public Security officers came jogging over and said to Watanabe Eiji: "Director!"

"What is it?" Watanabe Eiji was still immersed in the endless honor of meeting and shaking hands with that "Retired Emperor" and had not snapped back; seeing Public Security police appear, his nerves instantly tensed: "What happened?"

With the bomb resolved, large numbers of Public Security police arrived in its wake, along with countless live-ammo SAT; National Police Agency Security Bureau Director Shinzou Kamiya and National Police Agency Commissioner's Secretariat Director Onoda Kimiaki also arrived in succession.

For them to come find Watanabe Eiji at this moment — it was absolutely a major matter!

"At Horiguchi Nen's apartment, we have some findings; please come see for yourself." The Public Security officer said quietly.

"?" From that Public Security officer's expression, Watanabe Eiji immediately realized there must be a serious discovery. He immediately told Uesugi Muneyuki and Watanabe Minami: "Sōsetsu, Minami, tired? Go to the Rikyū and rest well; I'll be right back."

"I'm going too." Uesugi Muneyuki sharply realized there might be another earth-shattering scoop.

"—Sōsetsu!" Watanabe Eiji's expression hardened; he said with slight reproach: "You just don't go—"

"I'm not discussing this with you, Father." Uesugi Muneyuki said with a half-smile: "I can not care what the outside press spokesman is saying right now, but what exactly is going on with Horiguchi — I have to know!"

"—Minami, you handle things here first; Sōsetsu and I will be right back." Watanabe Eiji sharply realized that Uesugi Muneyuki's status was now different; he was not only no longer that little nobody he could casually push around, but also faintly showed a tendency to slip out of Metropolitan Police Department control.

Fortunately, Uesugi Muneyuki and he still had another layer of relationship; faced with his adopted son-in-law's request, Watanabe Eiji could only agree: "You can come with me, but remember to speak little, just watch, and you cannot speak of it outside."

"Fine."

"Understood." Minami actually wanted to go too, but she was truly exhausted; Eirina also wanted to go, but she lacked the qualification.

Nango Yui was a smart person; he immediately realized there was definitely a big scoop. Unlike others, he wasn't curious, and used his gaze to stop Date and Igarashi from being curious as well.

"Please, everyone, follow me; the Rikyū side is already preparing." The bureaucrat arranged by Vice-Director of the Imperial Household Agency Nakajima said. On the way, Uesugi Muneyuki and Watanabe Eiji learned another piece of news.

SAT and Security Bureau bomb disposal experts tested the ANFO bomb removed from Horiguchi Nen's body.

Without a doubt, the bomb on Horiguchi Nen was indeed the real thing; if that type of bomb successfully detonated, at close range it would absolutely be fatal and cause damage to surrounding buildings — its authenticity and danger were beyond question.

Likewise, Date Nagamune's judgment was also correct: the homemade IED detonator itself was extremely unstable, and could explode at any time due to touch,

pressure, impact, or even temperature — extremely dangerous.

However, according to the bomb disposal experts' judgment, the bomb device on Horiguchi Nen was actually insufficient to blow up the entire Imperial Palace; at most it could only blow up a quarter of the area and destroy nearby buildings.

No wonder he kept approaching the Imperial Palace Honmaru — turns out the power wasn't enough.

Uesugi Muneyuki pinched his chin, thinking: Who gave him the bomb in the end? If it was Inner World people who sent it in, then what was the purpose? Why give it to him instead of blowing themselves up? What exactly was this bomb for?

Likewise, Watanabe Eiji also felt considerable lingering fear; the Superintendent General viciously said "Truly insane," yet didn't dare say more. Inside the Palace, everywhere were ears and eyes and surveillance; in this extremely sensitive environment, one had to speak and act with caution.

All along the way, the two men — both father-in-law/son-in-law and father/son — did not utter a word.

Standing in the center of Horiguchi Nen's narrow, shabbily furnished apartment living room, surrounded by Public Security police carefully searching.

Seeing Watanabe Eiji and Uesugi Muneyuki arrive, Metropolitan Police Public Security Superintendent Ichijo hurriedly nodded; on the other side, National Police Agency Security Bureau Inspector Kino also saluted Watanabe Eiji. Seeing Uesugi Muneyuki arrive, he hesitated a moment, then signaled to let Uesugi enter.

Uesugi Muneyuki always treated police as friends, but the Metropolitan Police Department always treated him as a father!

Now not to mention the Metropolitan Police Department, even the National Police Agency has this tendency!

The air was oppressive, only the sound of paper turning and items being gently picked up and set down; Watanabe Eiji's expression was grave, while Uesugi Muneyuki scanned every book on the bookshelf with the sharp gaze unique to a scholar.

"Director, Chief, please look at this." Superintendent Ichijo handed over a thick *Nihon Shoki*; the spine showed obvious wear, but it seemed rarely truly read: "It's this one!"

Uesugi Muneyuki took it, fingers brushing the spine, keenly detecting a faint sense of incongruity. He exerted slight force, and the leather spine cover was actually pried open a crack — the inside had been hollowed out! Hidden inside was a thin handwritten notebook carefully wrapped in plastic, and several sheets that looked like photocopies of medical documents.

Watanabe Eiji leaned in; Uesugi Muneyuki opened the notebook. The earlier contents were merely complaints about social injustice and abstruse philosophical excerpts, but further on the handwriting grew increasingly wild, the content ever more radical, filled with bone-deep hatred for the "Symbolic Emperor System" and its attendant "privileged class."

But it didn't write what the reason actually was?

Uesugi Muneyuki thought this didn't count as very explosive?

If it's just suffering in the Imperial Household Agency Library Division for over a decade without promotion — what kind of explosive point is that? There are only so many positions; even if each person served one year, more than half would never rise in a lifetime. There might indeed be resentment in his heart, but not to the point of dragging the Imperial Palace to blow up together.

Also, where are the left-wing radical statements I'm missing?

Uesugi Muneyuki patiently kept turning pages.

And when their gazes fell on those few medical documents, both men's faces instantly changed drastically!

It was a photocopy of an organ transplant waiting list, and several formal reply letters from the hospital refusing him.

Patient name: Horikawa Shiori (Horiguchi Nen's wife).

Required transplant organ: Liver.

Reasons for refusal were uniformly "no suitable donor available" or "does not meet priority sequence."

But what truly made Watanabe Eiji suck in a cold breath and Uesugi Muneyuki's pupils contract was a fragment of an internal briefing sandwiched among them, circled in red pen in a frenzy.

The briefing concerned a certain person closely connected to the Imperial Household Agency who, like Horikawa Shiori, suffered liver cancer and needed a liver transplant; yet, faced with Horikawa they sternly refused, while for that Imperial Household Agency-connected person, the Palace and hospital in an extremely short time, with priority far exceeding convention, obtained a liver transplant surgery.

The briefing did not explicitly name who the connected person was, but that annotation "closely connected to the Imperial Household Agency," and the unimaginable medical resource privilege implied behind it, were like a poisoned dagger piercing through all disguises.

"Th-this is..." Watanabe Eiji's lips were somewhat dry.

As a top figure in the police world, he knew the unspoken rules in certain domains, but such naked evidence placed before him still made him feel a chill. This was not merely resentment; this was a blood-and-tears indictment pointing at the dark side of the highest privileged class.

"I recall that the Retired Emperor's brother, Chōyō no miya, now 83, due to excessive drinking..." Uesugi Muneyuki suddenly recalled something.

"Don't say it!" Watanabe Eiji sharply said.

"Why can't I say it? It's obvious, Horiguchi is because of this—" Uesugi Muneyuki said sternly: "Horikawa's wife needed an organ transplant and waited several years with none, yet look at this report — once the connected person had a need, within a month the Imperial Household Agency found a suitable liver—"

"Sōsetsu! Don't say any more!" Watanabe Eiji, angry, hurriedly covered his mouth: "The people all yearn for fairness, but some people are just more fair than others!"

Uesugi Muneyuki fell silent, but his tightly pressed lips and the shock and realization flashing in his eyes showed he likewise instantly understood the tragic causality behind this.

Academic rationality made him immediately think this could serve as an excellent case study for the causes of extremism, but the human part of him felt a heaviness.

Just then, a confused clatter of footsteps came from outside.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Onoda Kimiaki and National Police Agency Commissioner's Secretariat Director Onoda Kimiaki, the two brothers, arrived together, followed by National Police Agency Security Bureau Director Shinzou Kamiya.

Uesugi Muneyuki and Watanabe Eiji's expressions changed.

"Commissioner (Chief Cabinet Secretary Onoda Kimiaki), Commissioner's Secretariat Director (National Police Agency Commissioner's Secretariat Director Onoda Kimiaki), Kamiya." Watanabe Eiji immediately bowed his head, simultaneously patting Uesugi Muneyuki.

"Minister, Commissioner's Secretariat Director, Division Director Kamiya!" Uesugi Muneyuki's facial muscles twitched once, and he could only bow his head.

They arrived fast!

But, since Public Security discovered it, not reporting it was indeed impossible.

"As expected of Director General Watanabe and Chief Uesugi — Director General Watanabe, always troubling you and the Metropolitan Police Department, truly inexcusable; all along, in every aspect, we have received your care, truly grateful beyond words. With you holding the fort at the Metropolitan Police Department, we (the Cabinet) can feel true peace of mind and trust." Chief Cabinet Secretary Onoda Kimiaki could not have been more genial toward Watanabe Eiji and Uesugi Muneyuki; he even used honorifics when speaking to the Superintendent General!

This is a public occasion; the Chief Cabinet Secretary's words represent the attitude of the entire Cabinet, indeed the entire Japanese bureaucratic system!

But not giving Watanabe Eiji and Uesugi Muneyuki a chance to react, Onoda Kimiaki stepped forward: "It seems you two have already figured out Horikawa Nen's motive."

Onoda Kimiaki immediately extended his hand: "Hand it over to us."

—." Watanabe Eiji glanced at Uesugi Muneyuki." Uesugi Muneyuki did not react.

"Sō~setsu~kun?" Onoda Kimiaki continued reaching forward; behind his thick eye bags, a pair of small eyes showed no ripple, and behind him, quite a few plainclothes officers had already blocked the hallway.

"Sōsetsu!" Watanabe Eiji signaled his adopted son-in-law to give it to Onoda!

"." Uesugi Muneyuki ultimately still handed the briefing to Onoda Kimiaki; after all, an outdated medical briefing actually has no use, and cannot serve as evidence at all.

He merely felt the darkness of the Imperial Household Agency once again.

"Very good, hard work, you two; we are currently interrogating Horikawa Nen, may I ask you two — interested in listening in?" Onoda Kimiaki took the briefing from Uesugi Muneyuki's hand with satisfaction, suddenly speaking: "Our Public Security has some findings on Horikawa's prepaid mobile phone and a specific encrypted online forum."

"Is that allowed?" Uesugi Muneyuki grew interested.

"Of course; after all, this also counts as a kind of exchange and reward." Onoda Kimiaki shook the medical briefing and handwritten notes in his hand: "Given Sōsetsu-kun's personality, he certainly wants to know why."

"So this time, we can make an exception and let you observe the interrogation of Horikawa Nen."

"Good!" This was a satisfactory deal; Uesugi Muneyuki felt somewhat better at heart.

"You two, please!"