Chapter 961

The night rain continued to fall, rainwater flowing along the eaves' grooves into thin streams that struck the courtyard ground with a continuous, fine sound. The living room lights of this detached house in Setagaya Ward had been switched on, warm yellow light filling the space that had previously relied only on the television screen for illumination. The overturned cabinets and scattered items on the floor had been roughly gathered to one side, and the television's news footage continued to play silently, with Tei Reiji speaking to the camera about some details of the Dark Knight case, though no one was watching.

This time she was telling the truth, not the special supply video from Kai Toru's version.

Ikeda Erena stood near the doorway in the living room, her hands tucked into the pockets of her women's small suit jacket, she had not fastened the buttons, revealing the black turtleneck sweater underneath, and the collar she had deeply propped up, slightly taut.

The hair she had messed up during the fight earlier had been smoothed back with her fingers, tucked behind her ears, but she had not completed the motion fully, a few strands slipping back from behind her ears to fall beside her cheekbones, her lovely face showing a faint expression, silent, but her brows had remained at that degree since she entered, caught between confusion and disapproval, not yet decided whether to escalate into stronger emotion.

"Why did you let him go?" she finally spoke, her voice not loud, nor confrontational, but her words were direct, unadorned, carrying a tendency of "I don't understand, so you need to explain clearly."

"He did those things. Although he didn't kill anyone, he illegally entered others' homes, used violence to assault people, causing multiple serious injuries. According to the law, he has committed enough crimes. Shouldn't we be taking him back?"

Uesugi Muneyuki let out a soft sigh, he gestured for Erena not to get agitated, he turned his head to look at her, his gaze calm, appearing especially clear under the warm yellow light. "If we take him back and prosecute him for those crimes, he will be sentenced, the Special Mission Division will lose a key member, and his father will also be affected. Moreover…… he didn't kill anyone."

"The Records of the Grand Historian: The Annals of Emperor Gaozu records that after Han Gaozu Liu Bang entered Audience, he made an agreement with the elders, the three statutes; those who kill die, those who injure or steal are liable for theft. I have abolished all Qin laws; if Kai Toru had killed someone, I would certainly not let him off, but since he did not kill anyone, strictly speaking this can be a criminal offense or a public order matter."

Ikeda Erena's gaze shifted slightly, as if following his train of thought but not yet fully arriving at where he believed she should be: "He didn't kill anyone, this is the only thing better than Kanzuka Makoto. If he really killed someone, I would not agree to let him go. But some of the people he beat did indeed commit serious crimes. They either escaped legal punishment or, through certain means, received reduced sentences or even acquittal. I don't think he is administering justice. But those he disciplined, some indeed are not deserving of sympathy."

"Yeah, indeed not deserving of sympathy."

A light sound came from the hallway beside the living room.

"Miwa-chan! When did you arrive?!" Erena was very familiar with this footstep, her eyes widened: "Wait, she came from the beginning? Muneyuki, why didn't you tell me???"

"I told you, you just wouldn't act well, Master." Uesugi Muneyuki smiled, then said: "Given that such an incident occurred in the section, both emotionally and logically, we definitely need to let Miwa come over, so she knows."

The voice came from deep in the hallway, approaching slowly, not hurried, carrying a composure somewhat ill-suited to this rainy night.

When Minami Ojou-sama walked out of the hallway, she first turned sideways to avoid the doorframe, then her entire silhouette fully entered the living room's light.

She wore a cream-colored long woolen overcoat, the belt loosely tied at her waist, the coat's collar turned up with a mink-white fur trim, setting off her already fair skin to appear even more translucent. The coat's hem reached just above her knees by a few fingers, revealing a section of calf wrapped in black matte-finish silk stockings, the stocking surface having a soft sheen, under the light resembling fabric sanded smooth, not reflecting harsh light, but changing in depth with her steps, possessing a silk-like graceful curve.

Minami had also been serving as Special Mission Section Chief for nearly half a year, hard to imagine that the now 27-year-old Minami and the soon-to-be 59-year-old Sugishita Ukyo both hold Police Superintendent rank, her sweet, lovely face bearing a pair of speaking almond eyes that carried a touch of resentment and dejection, but more so affirmation of her husband's and her own ability to handle events with minor officials.

"I know everything about the matter." Minami Ojou-sama's voice was steady: "Muneyuki, I understand your approach. If you don't handle him, this matter won't be made public. If you make it public, the entire Special Mission Division will be implicated."

"Moreover, Kai Toru's actions may not align with everyone's definition of 'crime.' He indeed didn't kill anyone, and those he struck also did or did not do some things to varying degrees. Public opinion on the Dark Knight is far more complex than we imagine."

"That's right." Uesugi Muneyuki gestured for Erena and Minami to sit, hands in his pockets, gazing at the night rain outside: "Master, do you feel that letting him go like this is too lenient toward him?"

Erena pouted and nodded.

"But you also haven't thought, what can we do? What are we able to do? We are stopping vigilante justice, but if we use vigilante justice against him because of this, aren't we becoming the very people we need to stop?" Uesugi Muneyuki said with a wry smile: "So actually, this matter has only two choices: one is to let him go, the other is to hand him over to the Metropolitan Police Department, but actually, handing him over to the Metropolitan Police Department is rather the most troublesome." "Most troublesome? Why? Isn't handing his case over to headquarters for handling the simplest?" Erena still didn't understand.

"He has already gone back. He was injured, but he can handle it himself. He has assured me he won't do those things again. If he keeps his promise, then he is no longer the Dark Knight. If he reoffends, at least we know who he is and where to start investigating……" Uesugi Muneyuki was speaking when he was interrupted.

Minami Ojou-sama gestured for her to come: "I'll say it."

Minami swept the hair hanging at her cheek behind her ear: "Another difficulty of this matter is that if we don't expose him as the Dark Knight, we find it hard to find a reasonable reason to transfer him out of the Special Mission Division. Kai Toru's work results in the Special Mission Division are evident to all. He is the most hardworking and most reliable. His father is a Vice Minister of Justice, with some influence in political circles. Without a sufficiently weighty reason, wanting to transfer or punish him would not only confuse the Special Mission Division internally, but his family would also raise objections. Once the outside world notices this, it could follow the clues to uncover more problems."

"Don't forget, Kai Toru is a National Hero, having received imperial commendation, in the Imperial Palace bombing case he single-handedly retrieved the bomb from Horiguchi Nen's hands. If we lack a reasonable excuse, how can we internally punish him? Even to transfer him out of the Special Mission Division, we might have to promote him, giving him a section chief position in Investigation Division 1 or even a criminal division chief at a local police station."

"Yes, this is open promotion but covert demotion, but this actually imposes no punishment on Kai Toru." Uesugi Muneyuki shook his head: "Good buddy, I still got promoted even after beating someone! Now the iron fist invincible Kai Toru!"

This is the fundamental logic behind the institutionalized ritual of standing organizations, the empowerment of secretarial organizations, and the normalization of temporary organizations mentioned earlier.

Because facing the bureaucrats of standing organizations, one cannot avoid replacement, but needs a reasonable reason for everyone to accept, whereas secretarial organizations do not require this, and those in power always have some things inconvenient to say openly, thus they continually tend to establish new secretarial organizations to hollow out existing standing organizations.

"Yes, this is the only way we can handle it if we don't expose him as the Dark Knight." Minami Ojou-sama sat upright properly and ladylike, a pair of black velvet matte silk stocking feet lightly entwined, toes pulling up a fine, hazy sock tip, casting a fine dim glow in the indoor dim light: "So, what if we expose him as the Dark Knight?"

"Right, we can expose him as the Dark Knight!" Erena exclaimed with sudden realization.

"If we expose him as the Dark Knight, the entire Special Mission Division will face unprecedented turmoil, he will drag all cases into it, and every case he handled will be requestioned, which for us Special Mission Division would be a true disaster." Uesugi Muneyuki said, his expression turning very solemn: "Because according to judicial logic, a poisonous tree cannot bear fruit! Once Kai Toru is confirmed as the true Dark Knight, then all cases I have handled will be questioned, snowflake-like appeals for retrial will be filed with the National Public Safety Commission, the Special Mission Division will be immediately ordered to freeze, and we will spend the next year undergoing repeated reviews and interrogations."

"In short, the Special Mission Division is finished! We are all finished!"

"Eh?!" Erena froze: "Is it really that serious?"

"Not just that! The entire Metropolitan Police Department will be shaken. The Special Mission Division's reputation will suffer severe blows, past cases handled by the Special Mission Division may be dug up and re-reviewed. The lawyers of those we arrested may very well use this as an excuse to file appeals, demanding case retrials. Finally, the ones suffering won't be just the Special Mission Division, but the entire Metropolitan Police Department's crime-fighting system, our enemies will exploit this to frenziedly attack us." Minami covered her face: "So, Erena-chan, do you understand? It's not that we don't want to handle Kai Toru, it's that in reality we have few options with him!"

Uesugi Muneyuki's gaze shifted slightly, he forced out a smile: "But the good news is, Kai Toru doesn't know." "Doesn't know?" Erena was puzzled again: "Why?"

"Because we frightened him." Uesugi Muneyuki continued: "He hasn't realized what he can do, he hasn't realized that he can further blackmail us, relying on his connections and network to pressure us or let him gain covert promotion, or let this matter remain undisclosed so he can continue staying in the Special Mission Division."

"Or he could simply choose to expose himself as the true Dark Knight, letting the entire Japanese police system and the years of effort and countless dedication I and Muneyuki have invested in solving countless major cases in the Special Mission Division perish together, while for him it would merely be serving a few years in prison for multiple violent assault cases, Erena-chan, have you considered this: if we say Kai Toru is the true Dark Knight, do we have evidence?" Minami Ojou-sama directly performed a tactical lean-back.

"Right! We have no evidence!" Erena suddenly understood.

"And the funniest part is, Overbought really was killed by Kanzuka Makoto, and the first four cases were also confessed by him, the bureaucratic system hates trouble and surprises." Uesugi Muneyuki crossed his arms, shook his head: "So we must ensure that if we suppress this matter, Kai Toru will continue staying in the Special Mission Division. Stay where we can see him. If he is punished or transferred, he might go further. He hasn't yet realized what he can do, nor realized how much destruction he can cause to the Special Mission Division and even the entire police system. Rather than driving him into a corner, it's better to give him an exit. This way we can win his heart and also minimize his destructiveness. This is not indulgence, it's control. Control is not locking him up, but letting him stay within the range you can see."

"Yes, Muneyuki doing this not only protects the Japanese police, protects the Special Mission Division, protects Kai Toru, but also protects his own heart and achievements." Minami said, also somewhat dejected: "This is currently the best choice, we had better not let Kai Toru know what he can do, he values loyalty deeply, we will use favor…… because ultimately, everyone's definition of justice and fairness in their hearts differs." Yeah.

Uesugi Muneyuki remained silent.

Just like Qian Shouzhu Zhu Jian's confusion: our purpose in building the village was to protect everyone, but for the village we again had to harm part of its people.

An ultimate dilemma in human history is: to what extent is revenge reasonable?

Is revenge reasonable only against the original perpetrator, or against all benefiting groups?

This scale is very hard to grasp, and also very hard to convince everyone.

In Naruto, even if the author puts all hats on Tuanzang's head, everyone still feels it's weird, not just readers feel it's weird, even Kishimoto knows this is still a bit weird, so in the final ending everyone can be resurrected to say farewell once, but only the Uchiha clan had no chance.

Because how would one write if this group were resurrected?

And in Attack on Titan, Ailun Yeger's answer is unconditional revenge against all benefiting groups, so he triggered the earth's roar, everyone still feels it's weird.

This question has no standard answer, because each person's inner sense of "reasonable" differs.

After all, Uesugi Muneyuki is not some living saint Ailuibasi, he has his own interests, and also needs to protect those around him.

Ikeda Erena stood by the window, the rain outside still falling.

She looked at her face reflected in the glass, gazed for a while, then turned back: "I can't fully understand what you're saying. But he indeed did some things we can't easily explain. If you think this handling is better, then let it be so."

"Then let it be so. In three months, he returns to continue work. If he comes to his senses, he will cherish this opportunity. If he doesn't, then we can only say we guessed wrong this time. But from the current situation, it's worth a gamble." Minami Ojou-sama said: "Kai Toru is not that kind of person; he should now regard Muneyuki as his father."

"When I was 10 months old, I should not yet have reproductive capability." Uesugi Muneyuki retorted.

"Hahahaha ahahahahahahahahaha~" Finally, joyful laughter came from inside the house.

"Alright, let's go, we're heading home!" Minami finally stood up: "wearefamily!"

"Home!"

Kai Toru hasn't realized what he can do.

The good news is, he will never know.

Because in his heart, there is only gratitude!