Chapter 812

Not yet fully understanding the situation in Saitama Prefecture, Uesugi Muneyuki arrived again at a riverside in Chiba Prefecture, the wind carrying the last summer humidity and an indescribable fishy smell.

Ikeda Erena, Maeda Toshihide, and Kai Toru came with him, as usual, with Ikeda Erena driving.

Uesugi Muneyuki crouched by the bank, wearing rubber gloves, facing a corpse already soaked until its skin turned pale and bloated.

Ikeda Erena stood not far behind him, holding a record board, her gaze fixed on the corpse, her expression unchanged, clearly accustomed to it. Maeda Toshihide stood farther away, one hand in his pocket, the other covering his nose, brows furrowed tightly enough to trap a fly. "How is it, Uesugi-san? Suicide or homicide?" Kai Toru crouched beside Uesugi Muneyuki, asking in a low voice.

Uesugi Muneyuki raised his hand to signal him to be quiet.

He was communicating with the dead soul of this old man.

Hmm.

This old man seemed not yet aware that he was already dead.

When he awakened the old man using the Death Soul Contract, the man still thought he had been splashed awake after drinking too much, opening his mouth to unleash a mouthful of thick Boso Peninsula accent.

"Oh my mother! The water here in Chiba by the sea is just fishy…… I went to Fujido, forty-eight, spent ten years squatting at the sea market, yesterday I drank too much again, sake mixed with water? I can drink six bowls! My wife ran back to Hokkaido, my daughter despises me for losing face…… hehe, but I have Kirin beer, life ain't bad! What do you think, this taste hits the spot?"

Clearly, it was not homicide.

Uesugi Muneyuki quickly learned from the old man that this guy was a social marginal, working in the fisheries industry but unable to quit his drinking habit, his wife had left, his daughter despised him and cut ties, he alone wandered doing odd jobs, and on payday he drank too much, lost his footing, and fell into the water…… his face was already unrecognizable, skin showing the typical "washerwoman's hand" condition, wrinkled and whitened, nails loosened.

He lifted the corpse's eyelids, pupils clouded, seeing nothing of value.

Neck and torso showed no obvious trauma, limbs intact, rib palpation revealed no fractures, pressing again on the chest and abdomen, gas and liquid escaped from mouth and nose, the decay level matched about a week of submersion in water.

"No trauma, no fractures, no signs of restraint." He stood up, removed his gloves, and said to Ikeda Erena: "The alcohol smell is strong, in mouth and nasal cavity. Most likely he got drunk and fell into the river to drown, or drank to unconsciousness and died right on the bank, the corpse sliding into the water. Have the Forensic Science Laboratory take a blood sample to check blood alcohol level—then we'll know."

"I see." Kai Toru noted with a pen: "Can we confirm identity?"

"Clothes are old Uniqlo, shoes are cheap supermarket bucks, pockets empty—no wallet, no phone, no ID. Dental records have no match, fingerprints are insufficient. This kind of social marginal group, no one reports, no one searches, identifying them is harder than determining cause of death." Uesugi Muneyuki said with a bitter smile.

Maeda Toshihide finally lowered his hand from his nose, stepped forward, glanced at the corpse, then quickly retreated.

His expression held an undisguised disgust, not toward the corpse, but since joining the Special Mission Division he had seen many corpses, not to the point of disgust toward this manner of death, but disgust toward this way of living.

"Alcoholism, fell into the river and drowned." He said, tone carrying a superior disdain: "Such people contribute nothing to society while alive, and even in death waste police resources. Our Kanazawa Maeda Clan's family precept is 'Great talent matures late,' but the premise is you must first become capable. Those like this self-abandoning……"

He did not finish, because Uesugi Muneyuki glanced at him.

That glance was not heavy, carried no emotion, just calmly looking at him, but Maeda Toshihide suddenly felt a bit embarrassed, swallowing the rest of his words.

Uesugi Muneyuki did not blame him, merely turned his body, gazing at the ripples on the river stirred by autumn wind, and said an unrelated sentence: "Have you been to Nishiku in Osaka?"

Maeda Toshihide blinked: "What?"

"Nishiku, Osaka's largest slum. A gathering place for day laborers, working one day, eating the next, no fixed residence, no medical insurance, no pension. Average lifespan there is ten years below Osaka's average. Alcoholics are especially numerous, in winter people often freeze to death on the roadside. Not because they want this, but because from a certain point in their lives, there is no other path left."

Uesugi Muneyuki said: "There, 200-yen bento, 200-yen udon, 80-yen yakitori, 300-yen per night rooms, many former construction workers unemployed can only hang out there."

Kai Toru added beside him: "Tokyo has it too. Yaya, Minami-Senju, Jūto. Those blue plastic sheet tents in Ueno Park—didn't you notice them when you passed?"

Maeda Toshihide opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but didn't know what to say.

His family is in Kanazawa, the Maeda residence near the old site of Kanazawa Castle, the yard has a hundred-year-old pine tree, the threshold of the genkan is higher than his shin. "But alcoholism is indeed bad, he brought this on himself." Uesugi Muneyuki said nothing more, his own alcoholism-induced slip and fall into water was indeed self-inflicted, drinking to excess on payday is part of Japanese social culture, one must partake: "Alright, case closed!"

"Death by accidental fall into water, based on identity check, he should be a day laborer nearby, uh, not a permanent employee, you go search nearby fisheries and similar day laborer groups, someone should know who he is." Uesugi Muneyuki instructed the Chiba Prefectural Police. "Deeply grateful!" The Chiba Prefectural Police felt a great weight lift from their hearts.

On the return trip, Uesugi Muneyuki sat in the passenger seat, silent all along, watching farmland and factories recede rapidly outside the window, wondering what he was thinking. The car entered the highway, the TV turned on by Maeda Toshihide. FM finished an old song, the host switched to an excited tone, that tone you hear and know big news is coming.

"Listen up! The viewership ratings for the mid-special episode 'Four Ten Thousand Virtue Hall Murder Case' of Fuji TV's Moon Nine Drama 'God's Hand,' broadcast last week, have finally been announced!"

Maeda Toshihide's hand paused on the volume knob. In the back seat, Uesugi Muneyuki's eyes opened.

"Average viewership 39.2%! Peak instantaneous viewership competing to reach -45.1%! At that moment, the screen was showing Uesugi Muneyuki's teacher and Shirakawa Mai facing each other in the hot spring, foreheads touching!"

Maeda Toshihide whistled, Kai Toru excitedly punched his own thigh with his fist, feeling honored to share in the glory.

Ikeda Erena's lips curled slightly, but soon flattened again, wondering if this was good or bad.

Uesugi Muneyuki's face was expressionless, but his ears seemed slightly red, hard to tell in the dim cabin light.

The host continued speaking, voice rapid like a string of firecrackers: "On SNS, that segment was praised as 'cried,' 'this year's most exciting plot,' 'Uesugi teacher and Mai's distance is too perfect,' acclaim pouring in! Especially Shirakawa Mai, as an actress, her reviews soared! Furthermore, Miyawaki Sakura, who played the second female lead Fujitō Sakura, became famous overnight from this broadcast! Fans affectionately call her 'Little Sakura,' her fan count surged!" "Oh oh oh, Little Sakura Flower is really red now!" Kai Toru exclaimed excitedly.

Ikeda Erena softly said: "She really worked hard."

As the martial arts instructor and embodiment of leading by example for Little Sakura Flower, and also the real-life prototype of the character 'Fujitō Sakura,' Ikeda Erena knows how hard Little Sakura Flower has worked.

Uesugi Muneyuki did not respond.

He of course knows Miyawaki Sakura is famous, Tei Reiji is famous, and Shirakawa Mai is even more famous.

This drama pushed three women to national-level attention, while he, as the prototype of this drama and a 'special appearance' of ten minutes per episode, has a workload more than double that before filming.

Cases come one after another, September not yet over, he has already made one trip to Chiba, two to Saitama, one to Kanagawa, one to Yamanashi Prefecture, one to Shizuoka, and one to Ibaraki.

Exhausting!

At this moment, his phone rang once.

It was from Saito Asuka.

"Muneyuki! Mikoto came to your home, and Mai-sama and Sakura also came, Minami-senpai told you to hurry back home."

"Mikoto said she……said she is pregnant!"