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Kapitel 36

The moment her gaze fell upon her, Yoko stood up, rushed closer, and grabbed Kiba, refusing to let go.

Then she cried out in a piercing voice that Kiba had never heard before.

It was dizzying; Kiba's lid was about to be opened. Kiba helped Yoko sit back down in her chair, but then he didn't know what to do. Should he continue holding her and comforting her?

However, the timber yard simply couldn't do it, and it didn't know if doing so was the right thing to do.

Yoko cried and kept pleading with Kiba. "Please, please find Kanako! Please go find her right now! Only you can do it!!" But no matter how Kiba questioned her, Yoko only repeated these few words.

Kiba turned around, and Raiko looked at the two of them with indifferent eyes, as if she were watching a movie.

—So that's how it is, just like Lai Zi back then.

Kiba spent more than half a month before finally realizing this. His attitude at the station was very similar to that of Tsumiko at the time.

But what's the point of knowing that?

Protect Yangzi

Defeat Yoko's enemies

Suddenly, his impulsive passion became a reality. His unreal encounter with Yoko, whom he thought was impossible, gradually transformed into a tangible reality through its drawn-out process. But—

That's all.

Kiba was escorted to a nearby police station and detained as forensic personnel and supporting detectives arrived. Although he had expected to be punished, Kiba never imagined he would be treated as a criminal. After that, he never heard from Fukumoto, Raiko, or Yoko again.

He had only heard that Amamiya was wanted by the authorities.

So Kiba was a prisoner before Oshima came.

—That's you.

Kiba found it a little funny and laughed while lying in his blanket. How wonderful it would be if he were really a prisoner.

Upon release, he was punished with confinement and had to temporarily surrender his police handbook.

Kiba struggled for a while before finally managing to pull out Yoko's photo from inside the booklet. Only Yoko's photo remained in his pocket.

After that, Kiba really stayed at home obediently.

Wanting to meet Yoko, he launched his own investigation to find Kananako.

I could only imagine it, but my body remained completely still.

When I came to my senses, I realized I was smoking again. I had smoked too much.

But it just wouldn't stop. The air in the room became stuffy again.

The alarm went off.

No matter how many times I listen to it, I still find the sound amazing.

The elderly woman downstairs—the landlady—was injured in the left calf during the air raid and could not walk easily. Although she wasn't completely unable to walk, she had to spend most of the day lying down. Her bedroom was to the side of the door, and because of her hearing problems, she couldn't immediately notice when someone came, which is why she had all visitors ring the alarm bell.

When Kiba was there, he would go to the entrance to greet guests upon hearing the alarm. Kiba often thought that a call bell should be installed, but he later learned that the alarm had been installed long before Kiba moved in, so it seemed the woman's husband didn't find it inappropriate at all. However, using an alarm bell did have its purpose—of course. The purpose was added later! They were afraid Kiba would confuse it with the call bell the old woman used in case of health problems. The call bell button was located next to the old woman's pillow.

Kiba felt it was troublesome!! But he still lifted his super heavy feet.

He descended the narrow stairs. Too cramped for the burly lumberjack, the treads creaked and groaned incessantly.

Aoki stood at the door.

"I've come to offer my thanks to the seniors who have worked so hard in the battle."

The young detective had a rather large head. Like a tiny, chirping mustard seed puppet, he wore a childlike smile.

"You bastard, I didn't set up any formation."

Kiba's cursing indicates that he was quite pleased.

"You'll be back at work in a week. If you suddenly die before then, I'll be in big trouble. I bet you haven't had a proper meal."

Aoki took a banana from the bundle of newspapers and gave it to Kiba, then sat down on the shriveled cushion. As Aoki had said, Kiba hadn't eaten properly for the past few days and was indeed very hungry. But cooked food was one thing, but the smell of unripe bananas made him want to vomit.

But after peeling one and reluctantly putting it in my mouth, it was indeed delicious.

"Your face looks really bad, and your hair and beard have grown so long. It seems you should stay in your room and reflect on your mistakes. But there should be a limit to how much you should behave."

"I don't want to listen to your lectures. What are you doing here?"

"I've come to discuss the case with you."

"That's none of my business, get lost."

“I won’t let you work for nothing, senior. Let’s exchange information. I’ve learned about the investigation into the Yuzuki Kanako kidnapping case from Kanagawa, and I’m willing to tell you. So I hope you can offer me some insights as well.”

You knew about this?

Kiba was surprised.

"Senior, I've been working under Detective Kiba for two years, of course I know about these little things."

"Don't brag, you big idiot."

So, what should he do? Kiba was a little confused. The case Aoki was investigating was undoubtedly a dismemberment murder, and Kiba didn't want to waste his energy on such troublesome matters.

But I also feel that continuing to relive the same scene repeatedly—Kanako's disappearance—is useless. That kind of feigned positivity won't yield any results.

"It would be such a waste if you suffocated in this room. I've never seen a civil servant as daring as you to disregard your superiors' orders. Where has that spirit gone?!"

Kiba himself has disappeared.

I have no idea where this feeling of exhaustion that lasted for three weeks came from.

Does this mean that, for Kiba, Yoko is ultimately just a fictional woman, and this dirty, unsightly room is the real Kiba?

The reality of the scene.

Aoki seemed a little confused by Kiba's silence.

"I don't know why you're so fixated on that case—Inspector Oshima said it's because you happened to be at the scene. But anyway, you're not planning to give up just like that, are you?"

Kiba did not respond.

"Actually, Kusunoki Yoriko's testimony has been given renewed attention. This is because Yuzuki Yoko only recently testified that she saw the man in black on the day of the incident."

"What did you say?"

"The Kanagawa headquarters believes this might be false testimony to protect Amamiya. However, some people believe that Amamiya was also murdered, so the clues about the man in black cannot be ignored."

When did Yangzi see it, and why did it take half a month for him to give this testimony?

—He gave his testimony only after half a month?

“On the day of the incident, August 21, at around 2 p.m., Yoko went to the forest behind the research institute to clear her mind because she was feeling depressed. She said that the buildings full of police officers made her feel very oppressed.”

"That's understandable. There are at least thirty or more."

"I heard there are thirty-six."

Kiba left home earlier than usual that day, at 7:00 AM. He took a taxi in Machida and arrived at the research institute at approximately 10:30 AM.

Points. Clearly unpopular Kiba, not wanting to cause further trouble, always got off at the national highway and hiked to the research institute along the paths flanked by trees. This continued from the third day onwards.

Although the other officers already recognized Kiba's face, they didn't even greet him upon seeing him, yet they didn't intend to send him away. They probably received such instructions from their superiors. Ishii's attitude remained indecisive. However, Kiba had arrived before the police and was the one who requested the Kamichakawa Prefectural Police to be dispatched; logically, he shouldn't have been treated as an obstructor and thus shut down.

Kiba was both a person with connections and the one who reported the crime. He was also a detective with the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, so he received very courteous treatment on the first day. However, as it was discovered on the second day that he had disobeyed orders and acted alone, and after the prefectural police learned that Kanako's identity was not ordinary, Kiba gradually became a thorn in their side.

So Lumberyard would always head straight for the back door. Seeing that the incinerator wouldn't be used for the time being, he'd lie down on it to rest. Timber was piled up in front of him, and to his left was a makeshift toilet for the police. Lumberyard had maintained this routine ever since he began to face discrimination.

As long as you treat the action as an ambush before arresting the criminal, there's nothing to be upset about.

Looking back now, it was a pointless action. But then again—Yoko went for a walk in the forest behind the forest, and it's impossible that she didn't see it when she went to the lumberyard.

Even if he sneaked into the forest, it was impossible for the woodyard not to notice.

This is a lie, without a doubt; such a thing is impossible.

"Yoko seemed to say that she encountered someone dressed in black in the forest."

A suspicious man wearing a coat and gloves.

Hmm—she was dressed entirely in black, and even had gloves on her hands.

"It is said that the man fled into the depths of the forest as soon as he saw Yoko."

Yoko is lying. This is a fabricated lie using Raiko's testimony. Kiba couldn't possibly have missed Yoko.

Furthermore, if this were true, Yoko's attitude should have been quite different when she heard Raiko's testimony. But she didn't seem excited at the time.

She's lying.

"Yes, I also think her testimony was just made up. It's just that the Kanagawa Prefectural Police seem to lack evidence to refute it. For some reason, there wasn't a single police officer behind the building. So there's no way to definitively refute the testimony. When that Kanagawa police inspector was held accountable, his superiors asked him to draw up a diagram of the police deployment personnel."

He thought for a long time and spent a lot of effort before finally drawing it. Upon closer inspection, it was obvious that no one was assigned to guard the area behind it. The murder must have happened in the back, right? This was a huge problem, which is why no one knew whether Yang Yu had actually been to the forest.

Because of the presence of the lumberyard, the police officers rarely patrolled the area behind it in order to avoid it.

This is probably what Ishii meant when he said that Kiba obstructed the performance of official duties, but in Kiba's view, it can only be regarded as their own deliberate abandonment of the performance of official duties.

"Therefore, if the man in black really exists, he is highly suspected of being the murderer."

"That's absolutely right."

"And then I got this too."

Aoki handed Kiba a photograph wrapped in thin paper.

"I think you've already seen the actual item—but keeping it might come in handy, so I'll entrust it to you for safekeeping."

It is a photo of a kidnapping notice.

"What do you mean it'll come in handy? Hey, I'm still in confinement reflecting on my mistakes, and you're giving me something like this—"

"Senior, you know that cowardly Inspector Kamichikawa couldn't possibly solve this difficult case. I thought you must have been investigating it alone already, which is why I brought this along."

This photo—I begged and pleaded with the detective I was working with on the dismemberment case to get it, but his attitude was so hesitant. It's really…”

"Don't make decisions for me without my consent—"

Kiba looked at the photo and wanted to say, "I'm not that resilient," but he held back in the end.

"Was this notice discovered by the senior?"

"No, I just happened to be there when the notice was delivered."

That was during my third visit to the hospital.