Chapter 897

New Year holiday, Kobe.

The home ground of the Orix Buffaloes, Kobe Comprehensive Sports Park Baseball Stadium—during the off-season it looked like a slumbering giant beast. Looking up, the sky was empty; a thin layer of frost lay on the grass, and the black screen of the scoreboard reflected the overcast winter sky.

Most shops along the commercial street near the stadium had closed their doors, with red paper slips saying "Congratulations on the New Year" pasted on the roller shutters, their edges slightly curled in the cold wind.

The parking lot was empty except for a few long-abandoned light automobiles left for long-term parking, their tires flat and bodies covered in bird droppings. This area was one of Kobe's liveliest spots during the season, but during the New Year it felt like a forgotten little town.

Japan has two baseball corporate entities, namely the "Central League" and the "Pacific League," with the Orix Buffaloes belonging to the Pacific League. Japanese professional baseball does not operate during the New Year holiday, and the teams do not train, so there is hardly anyone around at this time.

Japan is also the only one among the three East Asian countries that completely abolished the lunar new year and switched to the Gregorian new year, and Japan's New Year holiday is relatively short, generally five days from January 1 to January 5.

It was just past seven in the morning, and the sky had just become fully light.

A family of four came out from the residential area beside the stadium: the father wore a dark blue down jacket, the mother wrapped a red scarf around her neck, and the two children walked ahead—the boy was about seven or eight years old, wearing a Hanshin Tigers jersey with a cotton vest over it, while the girl was a bit younger, five or six, with two little braids, clutching a bun in her hand as she walked and nibbled.

They were baseball fans; although the Orix Buffaloes were the home team, the father was a die-hard Hanshin Tigers supporter, taking the family on a trip to Kobe during the New Year holiday and staying at a hotel near the stadium. This morning's plan was to go to the seaside to have a look, walking along the small path outside the stadium.

The boy ran ahead, crossed the traffic lights at the intersection, ran past the row of closed shops, and reached a quiet alley on the west side of the stadium. "Dad, Dad, look at me, look at me!" the little boy shouted, holding a Bandai toy in his hand: "Awaken, Oubu Original God!"

"Oubu Curry Stick!"

After saying that, the boy fiercely flicked the toy's wheel.

A familiar hometown tune played, and the boy roared loudly: "This is the true Wadashi!"

"Oubu Original God! Heaven Moving Myriad Phenomena!"

"Goo-goo ga-ga, goo-goo ga-ga," the little sister also shouted along.

"Hmm~ There will always be earthly spirits daring to face the thunder's radiance! Upon this sword's emergence, there is no thought!" the boy waved the Oubu Curry Stick in his hand: "One cut, two parts, as desired Divine Sword! I……"

At that moment, the boy came to a stop.

He saw something.

That thing lay on the road at the alley entrance, in the morning light presenting an unreal outline, like a discarded human mannequin. He tilted his head and looked at it for a few seconds, then took two steps toward that direction.

"Dad, there seems to be something over there."

"What is it?" the father didn't pay attention, laughing hohoho as he followed his son in the chuuni act: "Phoo-bee jee-bee? Phoo-bee jee-bee?" "Dad, there's a doll over there!" the son put down the Oubu Holy Sword in his hand and pointed the sword tip at a nearby spot.

"Jee-bee?" the father was still in chuuni mode, quickening his steps to approach, looking in the direction his son pointed.

His first reaction was also "doll"—the kind of mannequin used in clothing store windows to display clothes, discarded by the roadside. He walked a few steps closer, and morning light happened to leak through a gap in the clouds, shining onto the surface of that thing.

Damn it, Japan's public safety and hygiene are getting worse and worse, collecting so much tax from us! And yet no one cleans up the garbage!

The father complained in two sentences, then his steps stopped.

Wait a moment.

Something seems off?

That looks……not like a doll.

A doll's skin wouldn't have that bluish-gray, waxy luster texture, and a doll's cross-section wouldn't have that deep red, semi-solidified in the cold, jelly-like tissue.

A doll wouldn't be neatly split into upper and lower parts at the waist.

That's not a doll.

That is……that is………

The father almost instantly reached out, blocking the son and daughter's view; the daughter hadn't yet understood what had happened, and the five- or six-year-old was still shouting "Goo-goo ga-ga" with all her might, but the son felt his father's hand trembling, and his voice also trembled.

"Ah, ah ah ah ah, ah ah ah ah ah~" intermittent exclamations burst from the father's mouth as he clutched his mouth tightly. "Ryota, don't……look……" the father's hands were violently shaking, and at the same time his voice trembled: "Ribbon, step back, take the children, step back?"

"What?" the wife stared blankly, then her face began to turn pale, almost like an old hen protecting her chicks, she immediately hugged the son and daughter and stepped back.

The husband's other hand reached into his pocket and felt for his phone.

When dialing, his fingers pressed the wrong buttons twice on the screen, and only on the third try did he press correctly.

110.

"Hello, this is……Kobe City……Comprehensive Sports Park……west side path……there……there is a corpse. Cut in half. Cut across the waist."

"Yes, I confirm, I'm not lying, I saw it with my own eyes!"

"It's not a doll, at least……it doesn't look like one, not a prop!"

"In any case, please come and take a look!"

The operator on the other end of the phone asked him several questions, and his answers were fragmented.

The mother had already pulled the two children behind her, using her body to block their view.

The daughter kept asking "Mom? What's wrong?", while the boy didn't ask, his eyes wide open, lips pressed into a line, already sensing something.

The Kobe City Police Department's alarm center received this call just past seven in the morning.

The female operator wrote on her log: "Comprehensive Sports Park, suspected corpse, waist severed," and she rolled her eyes.

If this is true, I hope it's false; if this is false, I hope it's true.

Don't add to the workload of our very busy national public servants!

Every New Year, a large number of people call in saying they found a corpse.

You found a der!

Most so-called "finding a corpse" cases are drunkards lying by the roadside, discarded mannequins thrown away, or morning mist under streetlights creating visual illusions.

She categorized this call as "needs confirmation" and dispatched the nearest patrol car.

The two officers on the patrol car glanced at each other after receiving the order.

On a freezing New Year holiday morning, would they go look at a doll or a vagrant?

The older officer sighed, the younger said nothing, and turned the car key.

Unlike Kanto, Kansai people are more enthusiastic, also more clingy, love to pour drinks, and the New Year holiday is a peak period for various year-end parties, year-end gatherings, and company dinners; Kansai superiors like to pour drinks for their subordinates and incidentally get drunk themselves, then all drunk together collapse by the roadside.

Japan has a famous news story saying that in 1996, after the bubble economy completely collapsed, Osaka's West District was filled with various vagrants squeezed into cardboard boxes by the roadside, shivering from the cold, and then the scene shifted, saying that even so, there were still many drunks collapsed by the roadside not far from them. This causal relationship once puzzled people—some froze to death, some collapsed drunk by the roadside—wasn't that the same thing? Later it was understood that Japan's meaning was: those who collapsed drunk by the roadside were salaried employees with livelihood security, while those not far from them were vagrants without food or shelter—this is a variant of "the rich reek of wine and meat while on the road lie frozen bones."

Is Japanese humor hard to understand?

When the patrol car arrived at the scene, the alley entrance was already surrounded by several elderly people doing morning exercises.

They stood in the distance, craning their necks, no one daring to approach. The young officer got out of the car first, pushed through the crowd, and walked over.

The older officer followed behind, holding a walkie-talkie in his hand, preparing to tell headquarters, "Confirm it's a false alarm."

Then the two officers saw that thing.

The young officer in front stopped in his tracks, his whole body frozen as if nailed to the ground.

The older officer walked around from behind him, took two steps, and also stopped.

"Ah, ah ah ah ah, ah ah ah ah ah~" The two officers almost simultaneously let out intermittent cries of shock.

Not a mannequin.

It was a female corpse, cleanly severed at the waist into upper and lower halves.

The upper body lay face up, arms slightly spread, palms upward, fingers slightly curled, as if grasping for something just out of reach. The lower body lay about one meter away from the upper body, legs together, toes pointing downward, like a person standing who had been cut in half at the waist, yet the lower half still retained the posture of standing.

The upper body wore a dark gray sweater, the lower body black suit pants, feet in a pair of black low-cut leather shoes, the uppers free of dust, soles free of dirt, clothing neat, undamaged, no signs of tearing. The sweater's hem was cleanly cut, the cut surface parallel to the waist's severance, as if the garment had been sliced open down the middle with scissors.

"Hmm~ hmm~ hmm~ ah ah ah!!!!!"

The two officers locked eyes, finally certain—this was truly a corpse!

"Corpse, corpse confirmation! Headquarters, this is……corpse confirmation! Repeat, corpse confirmation!"

The older officer could barely grip the walkie-talkie, it slipping in his hand, nearly falling to the ground.

"Confirm it's a corpse. Female. Cause of death……cause of death……cut, no, it's……the corpse was severed, headquarters, please have the prefectural headquarters immediately dispatch the Forensic Identification Division. Don't send patrol cars. Send the Section Chief directly! Request support—we need support!!!!"

"What? What exactly happened? Explain more clearly?" The Kobe City Police Department side sounded strange: "What exactly is going on?" "Found a corpse, a female corpse, severed at the waist!"

"What???" Kobe Police Headquarters was shaken.

The news traveled from the Kobe City Police Department's alarm center to the Forensic Identification Division, then to the Criminal Investigation Department, then to the Hyogo Prefectural Police Headquarters office, in less than an hour.

Everyone who heard the news first reacted with silence and doubt.

Then they asked the same question: "Say it again—how was it cut? Confirm it's a corpse, not a mannequin? How could this happen?"

The other side repeated it.

Then silence.

At that moment, Hyogo Prefectural Police Headquarters Chief Ikematsu Toshiaki was still on vacation at Arima Onsen.

When he heard the news, he immediately issued an order.

"Recall all personnel on leave. Everyone!"

"Request support from Osaka Prefecture!"

"Deploy all available police forces!"

"Immediately seal off the scene, hold a city-wide search meeting! Attempt to confirm the victim's identity!"

"Retrieve all nearby surveillance camera footage, from five days before the New Year holiday to now. Do not miss a single frame!"

"Centered on the corpse, within a three-kilometer radius, launch a comprehensive investigation!"

Section Chief Ikematsu put down the phone, glanced at the image sent back by the on-site police in his mobile inbox, and swallowed hard.

An incident occurred!

A major incident occurred!!!!