Alisa had been in critical condition, but she regained consciousness after three days. After a period of absolute bed rest, she was moved from the ICU to a private room. Marina and the other officers were finally allowed to visit.
“I’m totally fine now. But apparently, I have holes in my stomach. I have to stay in bed until they heal. And the IV drips…”
“Thank god you’re alive,” Kidera said.
“Such a weak stomach. All from a little sommelier knife,” Alisa said, rubbing her belly.
“It wasn’t ‘a little.’ You could have died. You could have been left unable to have children,” Marina added.
“You certainly had quite a performance.”
“I did.”
“You killed two people.”
“In that situation, I had no choice.”
“Human rights groups are protesting. They’re asking if it was really necessary to kill them.”
“If I hadn’t, I’d be the one dead!” Marina shouted, her anger returning.
“It’s fine. You’re right. Your judgment was correct. And your name isn’t on the report. It says the suspects resisted violently and were shot in self-defense.”
“Good.”
One of the officers added, “In a massive shootout, it’s hard to tell whose bullet was the lethal one. It’s easier to just leave it vague. That’s the beauty of a peace-spoiled country like Japan. If it were known that you killed them alone, you wouldn’t be reported as a hero, but as a murderer. Especially as a young woman. The tabloids
would have a field day with you, socially destroying you.”
Another officer asked, “Is it true you took down two Spetsnaz in an instant?”
Kidera remained silent. Another officer spoke up.
“Arnold said they were Spetsnaz, but their IDs were unknown. They weren’t Japanese, which makes it a diplomatic headache.”
“If you really took down former special forces, Ms. Yamashita, it would be an achievement worthy of the Police Commissioner’s Award. No, more than that. It would be a triumph for the Japanese police. And yet, no one will ever know.”
The officers looked at Marina with a mix of awe and fear.
“It’s fine. I was promoted to Sergeant anyway.”
“That’s amazing, Marina-chan. Congratulations!” Kudo cheered from the doorway. He had been visiting Alisa but had stepped out for a moment. “Promoted from rookie to Sergeant in one jump? You’re fast-track for leadership.
Sergeant Marina! Detective Marina! The Spetsnaz Killer!”
“Stop it, Kudo-kun. Why are you so tactless?”
“Don’t get worked up, Alisa-chan. It’s bad for your recovery.” Kudo placed a hand on Alisa’s shoulder.
“Who’s the one making me worked up?”
“Still, Kidera-san really went all out, didn’t he? From probationary officer to Sergeant. There must have been a lot of pushback in the department.”
Kidera gave a small, embarrassed smile.
“Those who do the work should be rewarded. Fair assessment is a superior’s duty.”
The other officers looked on solemnly. Marina felt odd thanking Kidera, but she wanted to close this chapter.
“The case is over. Marina Misaki is gone. I’ve burned my IDs and everything. From now on, I’ll serve as a member of the First Division. That’s all I want.”
“Oh, look at you, becoming so serious, Marina-chan. Did you learn the importance of teamwork? Why not stay as Marina? It’s easier for me to call you that,” Alisa said. “Besides, you can’t go back to being a traffic cop now.”
“I’ve been prepared for this since the day I joined the force.”
Regardless of the reason, the fact that she had “killed” was something she could never escape. She could never go back to who she was.
“But why did it happen? Why did Arnold bring those two to kill Catherine and us?”
“Let me explain,” Kudo answered. “While you were at Domino, various ‘big shots’ visited the shop in secret. You took photos of some of them.”
“Yes.”
“Among them were members of the civic groups opposing the adult building, their lawyers, and politicians. Their names had appeared in Sasai’s political activity reports for years. Meeting expenses, dining, lodging… Sasai was a meticulous man; his official documents were honest. Of course, if a councilor deliberately falsifies
reports, he faces disciplinary action or arrest for violating election laws.”
“But was the spending appropriate? Where did the money actually go? If it went to the Luise Group, we can prove it.”
“Maybe. But that alone is weak. A bit of luxury on the public dime is common. They’d just blame a secretary or an auditor and apologize for ‘inappropriate use of funds.'”
“But they were stupid enough to visit Domino. That’s the key. They wouldn’t visit a Luise-owned club, but a ‘victim’ shop like Domino? They fell for it.”
“A mix of chance and necessity.”
“I can’t believe they were so careless to take photos with you.”
“It’s the charm of the mini-skirt cops.”
“Drinking and taking photos with bar girls is a dangerous game.”
“Exactly. A honey trap.”
The officers chatted for a while until Kudo spoke again. “I’ve secured undeniable proof that the anti-Luise activists were linked to Luise. My intuition was correct. I could have stopped there, but my client wanted Sasai’s involvement proven.”
“Moriguchi wanted to stab Sasai in the back,” Kidera laughed.
“And you too, Kidera-san. You’ve suffered a lot from Sasai’s blatant criticism of the police.”
“Don’t say that. I’m a public servant.”
“And I’m Moriguchi’s loyal dog,” Kudo mocked himself. “Sasai’s funds paid for the activists’ dinners at Luise.
But that’s still a bit weak. They’d claim it was part of an ‘investigation’ into Luise.”
“But it’s a matter of time. If you fill in the jigsaw puzzle piece by piece, the whole picture emerges. Sasai is smart. He was probably the last piece.”
“I thought I’d let the girls work a bit longer. Kidera-san gave me the go-ahead. And then, thanks to Marina-chan, we found out Catherine was a man.”
“Yes.”
“Yoichi Sasai has no daughters, but he has one son. Named Hiroshi. But he’d disappeared during his student days.”
Marina gasped. “How old is the son?”
“Sasai is in his mid-sixties. The son would be in his thirties, or maybe forty.”
Marina looked down sadly. Alisa let out a quiet sigh.
“And then the sudden end. Sasai is dead. Found in a hotel in Shinjuku. Suicide, or murder staged as suicide. DNA tests confirmed that Catherine was Sasai’s son. Yes. Catherine was Yoichi Sasai’s son.”
“Everything is clear now. Sasai was the key, playing both sides: the adult business and the civic movements.”
“He wanted to get out of the illegal side. He wanted to go straight. His son, Catherine, did too. If you look at Sasai’s legal activities, they were barely within the law.”
“Both the civic movements and the adult industry are two sides of the same coin. Calling one ‘justice’ and the other ‘evil’ is hypocrisy. He played the two against each other to solve problems that were too complex for anyone else, and everyone involved walked away with a profit. He contributed to the economy while finding a
perfect compromise. It’s a ‘staged’ conflict, but the media and political parties do the same thing all the time.
Everyone knows. But as long as it’s not regulated, it’s not illegal. Should we make it illegal? Impersonation, astroturfing, professional activists… if we punished all that, the government and judiciary would overreach.
Japan would cease to be a free country. That’s fine for civilians, but when the state does it, it becomes a question of legality. Undercover operations and leading questions are the same thing.”
“As society evolves, this gray zone expands. How to handle it… well, that’s a huge problem.”
“Sasai’s work wasn’t anti-social. It was social reform. Only a genius could do it. I’ve started to think Sasai was a real politician.”
“But the Luise Group had people like Arnold, who were completely submerged in the underworld.”
“Arnold survived, by the way.”
“Who is he?”
“A member of a designated crime syndicate and a habitual pimp. A typical yakuza tout. A lieutenant, probably.”
“Just a regular member?”
“Yes. Though he denies the connection. He’s stubborn. He’s keeping silent. But it will come out. Not just the Adult Entertainment Law or the Firearms Law, but drugs, money laundering, tax evasion, embezzlement, and murder.
The real show starts now. I’ve handed the case over to Kidera, so I’m out.”
“Kudo is always like that. He puts the bait on the hook and then leaves. Do you have any idea how much work we have to do to clean up after him?” Kidera grumbled.
“Where is Catherine now?” Marina asked.
“Under heavy guard. Either he’ll kill himself or be killed by an assassin. Same for Arnold.”
It was a heavy truth: her actions had caused deaths and misery.
“Can I see Catherine?”
“I was rejected,” Kudo answered. “But you might have luck.”
“It’s a long way. Are you sure you won’t be tailed, Ms. Yamashita?”
Marina scratched her head.
Would Catherine recover? she wondered. He said he fell for me at first sight. Maybe it was true. I liked him too. Maybe we could have been real lovers. She wanted to comfort him. She wanted to be friends once he was back in society. She kept these thoughts to herself. But she suspected Kudo knew.
“By the way, you two sent those photos to the old men, right?” Kudo continued. “That’s how your identities were leaked.”
“How?”
“My guess is that Alisa is well-known as a cosplayer. So they identified her quickly. Then they used a private investigator to dig. Only a few people knew she was a Marusa agent.”
“But Alisa-san has survived these waters before.”
“No, I was a freelancer, doing cosplay and doujin activities. This was a special assignment as a special investigator for the National Tax Agency.”
“Why you?”
“My unique background. I’m a First-Class Maid and I once aimed for a career track. No one would suspect me of being a Marusa agent. I was the perfect choice.”
“I see.”
“And we suspect there’s a mole in the National Tax Agency. Once Alisa was identified, Marina was suspected, and they found out she was a rookie from the MPD.”
“Kudo’s conspiracy theories again,” Kidera sighed.
“Maybe it was my fault,” Marina whispered.
“Eh?”
“I thought I shook the tails, but I went to Sakuradamon to get my gun permit and visited the Fuchu range for practice. A pro would have seen through me in a heartbeat. I was careless. That Bond Arms gun… it’s powerful and compact, but it’s essentially a toy. It has no real sights. I just wanted to master it. I should have stuck
with the Beretta M92 I used in training.”
The Beretta M92 was the standard issue for the First Division. Few ordinary cops ever got them.
“It doesn’t matter now,” Alisa comforted her.
“So, Alisa-san, now that the case is closed, are you quitting the National Tax Agency?”
“I got a huge bonus and injury allowance from the NTA and the MPD, so I’ll live on my hobbies for a while. Maybe a villa in Hakone. Or maybe scuba diving in Cebu as a language student.”
“You almost died for the country. You deserve it. A soldier would live on a pension for life.”
“Kudo-kun, you’ve scored another big one.”
“In the end, yes. But I was wrong about everything. I learned a lot.”
“You missed out on the Police Commissioner’s Award, though.”
“If I were decorated, my name would be public. Moriguchi’s name would come out, and his boss’s name too. I can’t have that. I don’t want the attention of journalists or netizens. I’m not in the business of fame. As long as those who understand, understand.”
“The one who survives collects the spoils.”
“Exactly. I’m a secret agent. But without these occasional jobs, a freelance detective would go broke.”
“I’m amazed you’ve survived as a lone wolf.”
“I never get involved in the shooting. I just move in the shadows.”
“And that’s how you’ve made a living. Impressive, Kudo-kun.”
“Falling for me now?”
“Here it is, Kudo-kun’s pick-up line.”
Marina noticed Alisa called him “Kudo-kun.”
“Have you two known each other for a long time?”
“Kudo-kun? Oh, I know him well. ‘Kudo the Seducer.'”
“Seducer?”
“Yes. He’s a legendary womanizer in the Ueno and Asakusa areas. I’ve had to fend him off many times.”
“I had no idea.”
“When they first met, he was a bartender under the Ueno tracks. At a bar called ‘Miroku.’ I was a customer.”
“Kudo-san was a bartender?” Marina recalled hearing something like that.
“Moriguchi was the bartender before him. When Moriguchi decided to run for council, Kudo took over the shop.”
“So that’s the connection.”
“I never expected him to become a detective.”
“So this collaboration was a coincidence?”
“Complete coincidence. It’s a small world.”
“By the way, Kudo-san’s identity is a mystery. He said he was a researcher of Western Art History from the Ueno Arts University.”
“I don’t know. Maybe. With Kudo-kun’s versatility, it’s possible.”
“Is he actually popular with women?”
“Oh yes. He always has a few women in his shadow. You’ve never been seduced by him?”
“Never. Not once. Even though we’ve been alone many times.”
“Maybe you lack feminine charm?”
Marina pouted.
“Just kidding. You’re very cute and charming. Right, Kudo-kun?”
Kudo listened to them with a look of utter boredom.
“Stop teasing Marina-chan. I don’t want her crashing my apartment again.”
“Because you’d probably try something,” Alisa teased, whispering in Marina’s ear. “Kudo-kun has a policy of not seducing beauties or virgins.”
“Heh. Really?”
Marina looked at Kudo with curiosity. “By the way, Kudo-san, you know that ‘men’s fights attract maggots.’ Please make sure to wash your green tea pot every day.”
“I’m never letting a woman who nags like a mother or a wife into my house. Besides, having a veteran female detective from the First Division hanging around is a business hazard. My clients are people who hate the police!”