Chapter 917

While Uesugi Muneyuki was still applying for a search warrant.

A statement had already been issued from the Seibu Lions.

The Seibu Lions' statement was released that evening.

A fax. The fax was sent to the editorial departments of major media outlets, with the title a single bold line without any embellishment: "Sōda Sōsuke senshu no keiyaku kaijo jin 2L hachi te".

The content was very brief, the wording very official — the kind professional sports circles habitually use when they need to handle a troublesome matter, where every word has been repeatedly scrutinized by lawyers, expressing an attitude while leaving no legal opening, flat and bland.

"After careful consideration, this club has decided to terminate the contract with player Sōda Sōsuke. The criminal case player Sōda is currently involved in is unrelated to this club's judgment; this club respects judicial proceedings, but as a professional club, we cannot continue to maintain a contractual relationship with a player involved in a serious criminal case."

In other words, Sōda Sōsuke's 100 million yen annual salary job was gone.

The fax was sent at 5:00 PM, only a few hours after the Hyogo Prefectural Police formally announced the arrest of Eto Miyabi.

The Seibu Lions' official website updated with the same news, no images, no player photos, just a single line of brief text and a PDF attachment. And the truly ruthless move was this one — the Hyogo Prefectural Police, besides striking hard at Sōda Sōsuke and Eto Miyabi, due to immense external pressure, had no choice but, to prevent the world from being destroyed, to protect world peace, to carry out love and truth's evil, at the hint of Chief Ikeda, the Hyogo Prefectural Police decided to go rogue!!

They "covertly manipulated" several documents.

Those documents were sent, as "anonymous insiders," separately to the editorial mailboxes of the Yomiuri Shimbun, Asahi Shimbun, Mainichi Shimbun, and Kobe Shimbun.

The contents included: screenshots of chat logs between Sōda Sōsuke and Yanaka Reika, showing their mistress relationship; transfer screenshots; surveillance screenshots of Sōda Sōsuke entering and leaving Yanaka Reika's apartment before and after the incident; and a summary of an "internal report," describing Sōda Sōsuke's "multiple contradictory statements" during interrogation.

The Yomiuri Shimbun's evening edition ran an extra that evening, headline: "Seibu; Sōda, Kami shi tō jin jiken te taiho... furin shichi shakkin, kin kikai tai kin ka!!!".

The article occupied the entire front page, accompanied by a photo of Sōda Sōsuke in uniform, beneath which was a line of small text: "Shō 2 te kyūjō sa ku nani dai otoko (The man who once ran on the ballfield)".

This line was frantically reposted on social media, because it used a "mourning" tone to write about a "person about to be convicted"! It had almost already determined this person was the murderer!

A family of five! Kobe's large lily! Four children missing to this day!

The Asahi Shimbun's headline was even more direct: "Suspect Sōda Sōsuke, mistress tō gai, children 4-nin no yukue tun fumei". The article included a photo of Yanaka Reika, taken at the entrance of her family restaurant "Kakan".

Beneath the photo was written: "Victim, female, 39 years old".

The Mainichi Shimbun's headline was: "Kami shinjutsu kui hachi to jiken, Seibu; Sōda yōgisha no taiho jō".

But what truly made public opinion completely spiral out of control was the Kobe Shimbun's report.

Their headline was: "Ran sai no hakama) sa o shichi ryū otoko" (The man who defiled Kansai).

They put Sōda Sōsuke's face dead center on the front page, accompanied by a black-and-white, blurry photo that looked like it was secretly taken in an interrogation room. A guy like Sōda isn't one of us Kansai people! He's always been a Kantō person! A Kantō murderer! A Kantō adulterer! A Kantō criminal! Social media exploded in under ten minutes.

Under the Seibu Lions' official Twitter, comments shifted from "Go Sōda-senshu" to "You should've fired him long ago" "A guy like this can still play ball" "Seibu Lions' disgrace" "Kansai's disgrace".

Sōda Sōsuke's personal account hadn't updated, but the comments under his latest tweet had already exceeded 100,000, every single one cursing him, every single one telling him in various ways, "You're finished".

Sōda Sōsuke was still sitting in the interrogation room at this time, still unaware of what the outside world had become.

Dozens of hours of fatigue interrogation and sleep deprivation were far harder to endure than imagined; he didn't even know how many days had passed outside. Uesugi will come save me!

Sōda Sōsuke firmly believed this.

However, when the interrogator walked in, the newspaper he held completely shattered all his hopes!

That front page, folded neatly and placed on the desk surface, pushed before him. Sōda Sōsuke lowered his head and saw that photo. His face. His name. Those characters blurred and sharpened, sharpened and blurred in his vision.

He raised his head to look at the interrogator; the interrogator's expression was that "I've already given you a chance" kind, calm without any sympathy. "Sōda-san, you have no way out anymore. Your team has already announced termination of your contract. Your photo is on every newspaper's front page; everyone in Japan knows who you are. Will you still hold out? If you hold out, who benefits?"

Sōda Sōsuke's lips moved.

"I didn't kill anyone..." His voice squeezed out from his throat.

"Sōda-san, you may not yet understand my meaning; my meaning is, I want to know exactly what happened that day from your mouth." "I'm certain, I didn't kill anyone, I just went to borrow money from Reika that day..." Sōda Sōsuke repeated with difficulty.

"Sōda-san, you may still not fully understand our meaning; our meaning is, we need to know the exact course of that day from your mouth; are you absolutely, positively, definitely sure about what happened that day?" The interrogator continued repeating.

Sōda Sōsuke's back arched; he felt a spasm of stomach ache in his abdomen.

His whole being in that moment was like a string stretched to its limit, emitting an extremely faint, high-frequency but almost inaudible hum, as if rising from somewhere very deep.

"I... I confess." Sōda Sōsuke's voice fell in the interrogation room, like a stone sinking into deep water.

"Are you sure? Sōda-san? This is your own confession; we didn't force you, no torture to extract a confession; this is your own admission; are you sure?" The interrogator, relieved.

This guy, finally willing to speak the "truth"; that's right!

"I... I'm sure." Sōda Sōsuke let out a long exhale, said miserably: "Then, are you satisfied?"

"Not us satisfied, but you finally willing to tell the truth; very good." The interrogator didn't speak immediately, quietly listened to those two words, stood up from the chair, walked out of the interrogation room.

The sound of the door closing was very light, like a sigh.

Finally, the major suspect confessed.

We won!!!

The Hyogo Prefecture Police Headquarters' press conference was urgently convened that night. Ikematsu Toshiaki stood behind the podium, news microphones arrayed before him, the backdrop behind him reading "Kami ro shi hachi to hachi to take hito jiken; kisha kai kaku".

His Kansai dialect was heavier than usual, heavy as if announcing to all Japan "This is a case we Kansai people solved"!

The Kobe Large Lily case, we solved it!!!

Yadaze!!!

Faster than the Special Mission Division, higher than the Special Mission Division, stronger than the Special Mission Division!

Who needs Uesugi Muneyuki???

Uesugi's era is over!

"Hyōgo tei keisatsu honbu tai honjitsu, Kami sei shi ni to hachi to hachi to take hito jiken no yōgisha ue nana te, Sōda Sōsuke yōgisha an taiho nana, dō yōgisha ka tō jin zai kyō nana ryū ni ue shō hyō nana kyū sun. Sōda yōgisha tai, higaisha Yanaka Reika ue no boku to jiru ka tō gai jin shi hidari ni ue zai shao yō te sho) kyū sun. Genzai, yukue fumei ue na, te L hachi 34 nin no kodomo 22 ue te tun, Sōda yōgisha no kyōjutsu ni ki; tai sōsaku an susume te sho〕 kyū sun!"

(Hyogo Prefecture Police Headquarters today announced the arrest of suspect Sōda Sōsuke in the Kobe City multiple bizarre murder cases, and the suspect has confessed to murder! Suspect Sōda admits killing victim Yanaka Reika due to a dispute. Currently, searching for the 4 missing children based on suspect Sōda's statement.)

The reporters below began raising hands to ask questions; Ikematsu didn't make them wait long.

"Sōda yōgisha jō kyōshu nana ryū no sono, sen no ue to na keizoku te sun ka?"

(How did suspect Sōda turn himself in?)

"Dō yōgisha tai, nagajikan no tori) tai~ no sue, ji 6 hanka tsu sa ku shao ki nana hidari. Gun sai 22 ue te tai, genzai sōsa chū te C sun."

(The suspect, after long hours of interrogation, has admitted the crime. Details currently under investigation)

"Regarding those four missing children?"

"Still under further investigation; cannot rule out the possibility they've already been harmed!"

"Regarding the Special Mission Division's side?"

"Headquarters has always maintained full cooperation with the Special Mission Division. We are grateful for the assistance of Chief Uesugi and the others who rushed here from Kantou overnight. Although the Special Mission Division did not play a key role in this case, they still exerted much effort, which is admirable."

The journalists asked questions one after another.

The officials of the Hyogo Prefecture Police Headquarters stood in a row on the podium, every face bearing a kind of certainty.

The journalists began to applaud.

Kansai people, Kansai soul, Kansai are the elite!

The gradually gathering applause, carrying a "case finally solved" sense of relief. Ikematsu stood on the podium, his expression was that kind of "gratification" honed before cameras for decades, just right. His gaze swept over the journalists below who were bowing their heads writing drafts; at that moment, the corner of his mouth turned up slightly.

Only less than one second, he suppressed that curve.

We are all professionally trained police officers; unless we cannot help it, we must never reveal a flaw!

Just then, a uniformed officer entered from the side door.

He passed through the crowd, bent his waist, and whispered a sentence in Ikematsu's ear.

The curve at the corner of Ikematsu's mouth disappeared even faster than it appeared. His finger pressed down once on the edge of the podium, not steadying himself, but pressing down. "What did you say?" he asked, his voice low enough that only that officer could hear.

The officer repeated it once more.

"What? Chief Uesugi found the... corpses of those four children?"

"This, this isn't right, is it?" Ikematsu Toshiaki was stunned for a long while: "Isn't it wrong? How did he find them?"

"Osaka???"

"That's wrong, Souda Sosuke hasn't been to Osaka at all during this period!" he exclaimed.

The journalists were still waiting.

Someone raised a hand, someone was bowing their head recording what Ikematsu had just said, someone was pointing a camera at his face. Ikematsu stood there, with dozens of live broadcasting cameras before him.

"Just received some new information. Regarding this case, we may need to... re-examine certain details." Ikematsu Toshiaki's facial muscles twitched crazily, then he said with difficulty.

Below fell quiet, then everyone hurriedly all felt they had been made fools of.

"Nani???"

"The intel is fake???"