Chapter 86: Miss Minami Wants Me to Confess

The serial murder case in Chiba Prefecture was causing quite a stir; when another Monday arrived and Uesugi Muneyuki carried his Briefcase to work, he could clearly feel that even the atmosphere at the Metropolitan Police Department had been affected by this case.

The Metropolitan Police Department felt that Chiba Prefecture's refusal to proactively request assistance until now had severely wounded their pride; on the other hand, these two serial murder cases were also quite bizarre.

For instance, the Special Investigation Headquarters, composed of the Chiba Prefectural Police Headquarters and the Public Security Police, still refused to acknowledge a definitive link between the two cases, saying only that they would consolidate the two cases for investigation.

Consequently, over the two days of Saturday and Sunday, all the Yakuza and extremist organizations in the entirety of Chiba Prefecture suffered.

The Public Security Police, having made a huge fool of themselves in front of the public, were truly desperate this time; the Director of the Police Agency Security Bureau, Kudo Tsuyoshi, officially announced the raising of the alert level to the highest degree, and almost all major departments of Public Security were deployed.

Targeting the potential profile of the killer, the Public Security Department first focused its crackdown on the Yakuza in Chiba Prefecture.

In Japan, the issue of Yakuza gangs has existed for a long time, and its history can be described as long-standing.

The origin of the Japanese underworld is generally considered to be after the Meiji Restoration, when a large number of the Samurai class, having lost their land and rice stipends, lost their means of livelihood and thus had to start acting as "evil parties," gradually evolving into the predecessors of gangs.

But in fact, the origin of the underworld dates back far before the Meiji Restoration, appearing in the so-called mid-Edo period, and many were evolved from the hatamoto and landless ronin of the Tokugawa Shogunate.

After the Tokugawa Shogunate was established, there were no more major wars; the old turtle Tokugawa Ieyasu also intentionally drove over a hundred thousand ronin to Osaka Castle via the Siege of Osaka to wipe them out all at once through war, so when the Tokugawa Shogunate first opened, the world was very peaceful.

However, the Samurai class was ultimately non-productive; after there were no more wars in the world, the Samurai could only put their Swords in storage and put their horses out to pasture. Also, because of the Shogunate's restrictions, they basically could only live on fixed stipends while still having to maintain the dignity of a Samurai. Thus, very quickly, the hatamoto Samurai of the Shogunate began to borrow from merchants, becoming insolvent, unable to pay interest with their stipends, and selling their children.

This kind of thing had already happened in the Kamakura Shogunate, and it can be said to be one of the important reasons that led to the fall of the Kamakura Shogunate.

The Shogunate also consistently worked to solve this problem, but it could never be cured at the root. In the end, the third Shogun, Tokugawa Iemitsu, forced by circumstances, simply used the massive amount of gold and silver left behind by Tokugawa Ieyasu to help all the hatamoto Samurai pay off all their debts at once.

But this was only treating the symptoms, not the disease. After ten or twenty years, the hatamoto Samurai began to pile up debts again, and the Edo Shogunate could not possibly help the hatamoto Samurai pay off their debts a second time, so many hatamoto Samurai could only take up "side jobs."

This was the predecessor of the gangs. Then, this group of down-and-out hatamoto Samurai, together with the hatamoto Samurai who lost their land and stipends after the Meiji Restoration, formed the gangs. This thing can be found in almost every country in modern times, so I won't talk about it.

What truly made Japanese gangs particularly famous was after the war. As everyone knows, post-war Japan basically collapsed, and the entire society was in a state of chaos and disorder. At this time, the massive number of Korean immigrants to Japan, or rather, those of Korean descent, took the opportunity to rise up and established a large number of underworld organizations, killing and looting, committing all kinds of crimes. Faced with the solidarity of those of Korean descent, the local Japanese also formed a large number of organizations to resist, which is the origin of modern Japanese gangs.

The GHQ turned a blind eye to this; as long as it didn't cause a huge scene, they didn't care or ask.

And the peak of Japanese gangs was in the 70s. In the 70s, with the third renewal of the US-Japan Security Treaty, the United States forces began to withdraw from Japan on a large scale, no longer controlling everything as they did with the first security treaty in the 50s. After the US forces withdrew, they left a large vacuum in society, and it was during this period that the power of the Japanese underworld reached its peak.

The most famous is the so-called "Yamaguchi-gumi annual net profit of 50 billion USD" marketing article literature.

This is pure nonsense. Microsoft's annual net profit might not even reach 50 billion USD, the annual net profit of the world's top 500 company, Walmart, is generally only around 10-15 billion USD, and Apple's peak annual net profit barely approached 100 billion USD.

This figure is actually in Yen, and it is not net profit, but total revenue.

But even so, that was 50 billion Yen in the 70s, which shows the great power of the gangs in that era. The industries of the Yamaguchi-gumi covered almost a large number of black and gray areas. At their peak, they were indeed arrogant; to say nothing else, the entertainment industry, film industry, singing world, and the manzai and rakugo worlds were all finished off by these gangs.

Famous artist Takakura Ken (the one who acted in "Manhunt"), often in the film crew, would be playing an anti-gang fighter in one scene, and in the next, he would have to go to a boss's birthday banquet to sing "Happy Birthday."

Even the "Yakuza" series only dares to tell stories from the bubble economy era, and does not dare to go back further to tell the grand scene of the gangs in the 70s.

However, the authorities were not just sitting around. With the economic recovery and the gradual takeover of areas released by the US Empire, the endless violent assassinations and gunfights during the peak of the Yamaguchi-gumi made the authorities realize that these were no longer ordinary citizens. They needed to be treated to purple eggs and loyal oranges, with six sticks per second being prepared.

Violence Group Countermeasures Outline, First Top Operation, Third Top Operation, Violence Group Countermeasures Law, Organized Crime Countermeasures Office.

Many self-media like to say that "Japan is the only country that recognizes gangs as legal." This theory is both right and wrong. First of all, gangs don't call themselves "gangs"; most of them are established as legal associations, and the Japanese Constitution stipulates that citizens have the freedom of association, so looking at it this way, Japan does indeed recognize "gangs as legal."

However, "legality" comes at a price.

If you don't accept this "legal" label, then you are an "illegal organization." Since it is illegal, then whatever the police do to you is reasonable! Don't blame us for shooting directly! After all, you are illegal.

And since you have accepted "legality," then you must abide by our Violence Group Countermeasures Law.

You cannot open a bank card because you are Yakuza; you cannot get documents because you are Yakuza.

You cannot register a car, rent a house, enter some normal places, or get insurance. Even if others do it for you, as long as it is confirmed that there is a Yakuza in the insurance, the insurance company can naturally refuse to pay, or even call the police to send you to prison, saying you are committing insurance fraud.

Children cannot enroll in school because you are Yakuza; your direct relatives' jobs will be affected because you are Yakuza.

Police generally need evidence to arrest people, but Yakuza don't; police need a search warrant to search a residence, but Yakuza don't; police will do their best to reduce the use of force to avoid being complained about, but as for Yakuza, if they are beaten, they are beaten in vain. If you dare to resist, you will have holes opened in your body. Who told you to be Yakuza?

This is the price of "legalization," and to a certain extent, it is actually "legal pariah-ization" and "forced public-ization."

But it is undeniable that although "legalization" made gangs into rats in the sewer and dehumanized pariahs, it also left them some room for survival, such as selling bento boxes on the street, setting up stalls, valet parking, the sex industry, the transportation industry, Pachinko, the construction and civil engineering industry, and the fishing industry. These industries all have a considerable degree of gray areas to a greater or lesser extent.

Locking this group of people into these gray areas, monitoring them, and letting them consume each other while also giving them a sliver of a way to live—this is Japan's approach. As for whether it is good or bad, everyone can judge for themselves.

Chiba Prefecture's aquatic and transportation industries are both very developed, so naturally, it is unavoidable that some violent groups are attached to them. Usually, Public Security can ignore them, but now that they are desperate, they are striking with heavy blows.

The camera shifts back to the Metropolitan Police Department.

Uesugi Muneyuki found Minami, who was working in the Personnel Division; she was intently looking at a report on the computer.

"Watanabe, how is it? What's the situation?" Uesugi Muneyuki walked to the side of Watanabe Minami and casually pulled over a chair to sit down.

Watanabe Minami glanced at him crossly; Minami when working was in her haughty beauty mode: "They opened fire, killed three people, and wounded five. You know if you look at the news; they all resisted fiercely."

"I'm not asking about that; I'm asking if there are any new clues about the killer of the case?" Uesugi Muneyuki nodded; he had seen the news in the morning.

Watanabe Minami became curious: "I say, why are you so concerned about this case? Uesugi, you seem to come and ask every day."

"Every day? I guess so." Uesugi Muneyuki said to himself: "I'm just curious, that's all."

Watanabe Minami sneered and shook her head repeatedly: "It's clearly your single-minded occupational disease acting up. Uesugi-kun, I really don't know how many people you are going to offend with this personality of yours."

After hearing this, Uesugi Muneyuki chuckled: "Isn't that why I have you? That's why I came to ask you, my dear Minami."

Watanabe Minami nodded in her heart upon hearing this, and said faintly: "Didn't I tell you that I would notify you the first moment there is new news?"

The Face of the Metropolitan Police Department rested her chin in her small hands inside the long sleeves of her police uniform, and said with a playful look in her eyes: "Don't think I don't know that you secretly went to Chiba on Sunday! Uesugi, don't you think you're being a bit excessive? This is an illegal investigation!"

"Father has already promised you to find a way to let the Metropolitan Police Department intervene in this matter. As long as I get permission, I will let you intervene in the investigation and let you perform the Autopsy at the first opportunity. Can't you just wait a little longer?"

Minami's cold and arrogant tone carried an inherent, overbearing deterrent force.

Perhaps it was her outstanding appearance, perhaps it was her lady-like temperament, or perhaps it was the power of her father.

Although she spoke in a very low voice that only Uesugi Muneyuki could hear, as she raised her head and revealed a sharp gaze, it seemed as if she had a conflict with Uesugi Muneyuki. The temperature in the Personnel Division dropped by a few degrees, and the nosy crowd around and the few policewomen who were chatting immediately became trembling and dared not speak.

Uesugi Muneyuki paused slightly; he hadn't expected Minami to have this kind of attitude.

"We looked, we looked for hundreds of people, and very few of them fit the killer's profile. You know that the Yakuza are aging seriously now; there are no young people doing this at all. The few that are left don't fit, or they have a clear alibi."

A smile played on the corners of Minami's mouth as she switched the topic back to business.

She didn't want to clash with Uesugi Muneyuki, but she had to maintain the initiative while covering up the embarrassment that her father, Watanabe Eiji, had tried every way to intervene in the Chiba Prefecture case but failed. The Metropolitan Police Department was, after all, a local department.

She had boasted earlier, promising that you would be responsible for the Autopsy and deduction, and I would handle the rest; that promise was no longer working so quickly, so she had to suppress this guy's arrogance a bit.

Behave yourself!

Minami thought with a black-bellied intent.

After a period of contact, what Miss Minami liked to see most was Uesugi Muneyuki revealing an expression of surprise.

More accurately, she liked Uesugi Muneyuki to reveal an expression of surprise under her hand.

This was a wicked hobby of hers after witnessing Uesugi Muneyuki's judgments at many Autopsy scenes with her own eyes.

This man was a double-edged Sword, very sharp and very useful, but he possessed a certain stubbornness and uncontrollability.

Miss Minami chose to accept the challenge.

She wanted to seize the initiative, grasp the dominant position, and make this man be used by her.

A tool should just be a good tool! You are the best tool, and I am your best Sword-wielder.

The Partner duo we form can solve all difficulties.

Perfect!

Someone once mentioned a yakuza miss; this is purely naive imagination. In reality, such people are social outcasts, and anyone with even a slightly clean background would not consider them.

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(End of this chapter)