Chapter Thirty-One: Japanese Public Security in Action

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“Mr. Amuro, are you feeling all right now?”

The question came from Inspector Yuya Kazami of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Public Security Bureau, spoken with a trace of concern.

Although, paired with his habitual stern expression and severe black-rimmed glasses, it was difficult to sense that he was genuinely worried. By now, however, Rei Furuya had come to understand Kazami’s personality fairly well.

So, before Kazami could continue asking about his condition, Furuya answered directly, cutting off the concern that had yet to leave the other man’s mouth.

“Of course. Yan Shuangying never intended to kill me. He merely knocked me unconscious.”

“Tokyo is still in the throes of a serious crisis. Wasting an entire night over something this minor is painful enough. There’s no need to spend any more time on it.”

His gaze swept across the vacant desks of the many officers in the Public Security Bureau.

Furuya’s brows drew together slightly.

“Mr. Kazami, may I ask what missions the other officers have been sent out to handle?”

“As far as I know, the Public Security Bureau hasn’t had much to deal with lately. At least, when I took a team to investigate the public telephone booths near the Beika Town railway station, they all seemed rather idle.”

Kazami looked as though he wanted to say something, but in the end, he remained silent.

He merely shook his head and said with some guilt, “I’m sorry.”

…So they were still busy because of Yan Shuangying.

Because I mentioned Yan Shuangying’s threat, and because he knocked me unconscious, the investigators’ trust in me must have declined. Did they simply bypass me and begin handling this special public-order incident related to the Black Organization?

Furuya shook his head and patted Kazami on the shoulder.

“It’s nothing. You don’t need to apologize.”

“I know that merely asking you to pass along a few words to the investigator wouldn’t be enough to change his mind.”

“By the way, Mr. Kazami, is the investigator still in his office?”

That question was within Kazami’s ability to answer.

He nodded.

“Mr. Amuro, the investigator is still in his office.”

“If you wish to see him and report in, please do so.”

“Thank you.”

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Furuya gave a slight nod, thanked him, and headed straight for the investigator’s office.

He intended to speak with the investigator face-to-face and try to persuade him to change his mind.

Tap, tap. Tap, tap. Tap, tap.

Footsteps approached the investigator’s office.

Although there had been no knock yet, the investigator already knew that whoever was outside had come to see him.

“Come in,” he said coldly.

He lifted the coffee he had not yet drunk, took a small sip, and set it back in its place.

“Investigator, why do you insist on taking measures against Yan Shuangying?”

“According to our investigation, every person Yan Shuangying killed was a peripheral member of the Black Organization. Among those he shot was Ireland, an organization member who possessed a code name.”

“Even the man you are most concerned about, Kenzō Masuyama, is a member of the Black Organization—not merely an ordinary member, but one of its senior, elder-level figures. Our investigation has even uncovered indications that he was conducting a transaction with a certain official…”

Rei Furuya entered the investigator’s office and stopped in front of his desk.

Planting both hands on the desktop, he spoke earnestly.

“If we take action against him, Yan Shuangying will only add us to his list of targets. And if he uses against us the same methods he used against the Black Organization, I have no idea how many casualties we would suffer!”

“Investigator, I mentioned the Black Organization’s ace operative, Gin, before…”

“He has already come to Tokyo. Not only that, judging from the bullet hole left by a sniper rifle on the top floor of Kenzō Masuyama’s automobile company, Gin most likely crossed paths with Yan Shuangying.”

“But the result was that Gin returned empty-handed, while Yan Shuangying is still carrying out attacks against the Black Organization!”

His meaning was obvious.

The people in the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Public Security Bureau could not even track Gin’s whereabouts, let alone deal with Yan Shuangying.

Yet now they intended to confront a man who was very likely even more dangerous and terrifying than Gin. It was absurd—especially when Yan Shuangying himself had not actually done anything wrong.

“And what of it? Do you really think he would dare go to war with the Japanese Public Security Bureau?”

The investigator’s voice was so calm that it betrayed no emotion.

“Kenzō Masuyama is not important. Whether he lives or dies is not important. What matters is his identity and where he died.”

“Yan Shuangying kills prominent businessmen as casually as anyone else, and he killed Kenzō Masuyama right outside the automobile company Masuyama himself owned. That matters greatly. It is true that Masuyama had done questionable things.”

“But which prominent businessman in Tokyo has nothing questionable on his hands?”

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“What happens when this uncontrollable Yan Shuangying decides that those men are connected to the Black Organization as well, comes to their homes in the middle of the night, and kills them too? Will you stand here and tell me then that they deserved to die?”

Scrape—

The chair was pushed back.

The investigator from the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Public Security Bureau rose to his feet and spoke sternly.

“Rei Furuya, you need to understand one thing. Our purpose is not to uphold some so-called justice.”

“We exist to maintain order. So long as order can be preserved under normal circumstances, we may employ methods that the law does not permit. But in the end, everything we do is still for the sake of maintaining order in this country.”

“Think carefully. Did you join Public Security for the sake of justice, or did you join it for the sake of this country?”

At those words, Furuya’s eyes narrowed slightly.

He had to admit that if something harmed justice but benefited the country, he would certainly do it.

Yet that belief conflicted with the ideals that had first led him to enter the police academy.

For that reason, Furuya could not immediately make a clear choice between the two.

Seeing that Furuya did not answer at once, the investigator neither grew angry nor irritated. He simply turned around and continued.

“All right. I didn’t send those men out to investigate or pursue Yan Shuangying.”

“I went through the case files related to him and discovered that Yan Shuangying sometimes helped people carry out revenge killings. Those people seemed, to one degree or another, to remain in contact with him.”

“But most of them vanished without a trace last night.”

“That is why I sent people to investigate their circumstances—to determine whether they had gone into hiding on their own to avoid the coming storm, or whether the Black Organization had captured them and intended to use them as bargaining chips to threaten Yan Shuangying…”

The investigator suddenly raised his voice.

“Rei Furuya, I have a mission for you. Carry it out immediately.”

“I want you to protect the biological son of the adoptive parents of Narumi Asai, whose whereabouts are currently unknown. Otherwise, Yan Shuangying may think we are the ones killing people. We are not taking the blame for that!”

Without hesitation, Furuya saluted.

“Yes, Investigator!”

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