The Boots Land

The chief of the Beika Town Police Station in Tokyo...

Indeed...

Shiraishi Kuro felt a bit of resentment, but he also understood—this was the final shoe dropping!

He had anticipated this himself—as expected, not only did he fail to land a spot in the "National Police Agency," the government's administrative body, but he couldn't even stay at the "Metropolitan Police Department," Tokyo's police headquarters. As a member of the "Career Track," he was directly exiled to a local police station!

And a major one at that!

Generally speaking, if it were a "stepping stone," the promotion route for a Career Track officer would be to serve as chief of a small station at the rank of "Police Inspector" to pad their resume, while a "Chief Superintendent" at a major station... basically signaled no further advancement.

Still, it could be worse. At least Superintendent General Haku, though he hadn't met with him, had still protected him somewhat, and...

At least Beika Town Police Station was still under the jurisdiction of the Metropolitan Police Department, right in Tokyo's Minato Ward, not directly shipped off to some godforsaken prefectural police headquarters!

Chief Superintendent, serving as chief of Beika Town Police Station—it fit well enough...

Across all of Tokyo, there were 106 police stations, 22 of which were major stations with chiefs at the rank of "Chief Superintendent," while the rest had chiefs at "Police Inspector."

Beika Town was a major station...

And the start date was written as tomorrow—September 17, 2016!

Shiraishi Kuro never got to see Superintendent General Haku, who was supposed to commend him, and he understood—this was a signal that Haku didn't want to see him.

So Shiraishi went straight to the Document Section of the Police Affairs Department—since he was to assume his post tomorrow, he needed to pick up everything from the chief's uniform to new credentials from the department.

Of course, this wasn't within the jurisdiction of the "Document Section," which handled records. The reason he came here...

"Yo, Section Chief Iwata!" Shiraishi Kuro walked right into the section chief's office without anyone stopping him.

But at his seemingly casual yet familiar greeting, Iwata, without even looking up from behind his desk, said, "Knock before entering, please."

"Don't be so cold, Iwata, old pal!" Shiraishi grinned, leaning in.

"Cut that out! What's with the familiarity during work hours? If there's a superior-subordinate relationship, use the title; if not, use the rank. Don't you know that?" Iwata snapped.

Iwata Shinichi was Shiraishi Kuro's classmate from the police academy—in the Eastern Island Nation, the police academy was attended only after passing the police exam and confirming employment, so the "Career Track," "Quasi-Professional Group," and "Non-Professional Group" were strictly separated from the start; they didn't study together!

Since Iwata and Shiraishi were classmates, he was also on the "Career Track," three years older than Shiraishi, wearing glasses, and even in uniform, he had a scholarly air, the epitome of a bureaucratic police officer. He had even been promoted to "Police Inspector" two years earlier than Shiraishi and had taken the role of Section Chief of the Document Section in the Metropolitan Police Department's Police Affairs Department—this was the proper path for a "Career Track" officer!

There were only about a dozen people per "Career Track" cohort, and Iwata was one of Shiraishi's closer peers.

At this moment...

Because a month ago, Shiraishi had ignored Iwata's advice and even kept him in the dark, continuing to investigate Inukai Ichiro's case alone, Iwata was still sulking.

While Shiraishi Kuro was unconscious, Iwata had visited the hospital several times, but after Shiraishi woke up, Iwata only came once, and after seeing him from outside the door, he left.

"If there's a next time, I'll definitely drag you along!"

"Next time? Fine, deal... Next time, tell me, and I'll report you for illegal evidence gathering in advance!"

"Next time for sure, next time for sure..."

Shiraishi, relying on his thick skin, finally managed to smooth things over.

"Say what you need to say, and if you've got nothing, get lost!" Iwata still sounded annoyed, but at least he was willing to "say what needed to be said."

In truth, Iwata understood that Shiraishi hadn't contacted anyone in advance mainly because he was worried about dragging others down...

Shiraishi's main reason for coming to him was to ask if anyone had been caught in the fallout.

"You're overthinking it. Actually, your old boss, Minister Odagiri from the Organized Crime Department, has been transferred to Head of the Criminal Investigation Department... As for Kanagawa Prefecture, even though it's a different system, I heard from acquaintances there that Inspector Yokomizo was also commended, and as a Non-Professional Group inspector, there's no room for him to be retaliated against!" Iwata replied at this point.

Shiraishi wasn't surprised by the change in the Criminal Investigation Department head—that guy was the Minister of Justice's lackey, throwing his weight around and even daring to give Superintendent General Haku attitude.

As if he'd get away with that?

But what Shiraishi hadn't expected was that his old boss would take the position...

The Organized Crime Department was theoretically on par with the Criminal Investigation Department, but usually, the Criminal Investigation Department head had more seniority and influence.

"Superintendent General Haku also successfully toppled Minister Inukai, so... you're the only one who got hurt in this scenario!" Iwata deliberately provoked Shiraishi.

"Hurt? I got promoted two ranks!" Shiraishi said awkwardly.

"Oh, yeah... Chief Superintendent Shiraishi, with no future ahead." Iwata shot him a glare.

If it were just [Police Inspector], Shiraishi Kuro, as a "Career Track" officer, being promoted before age 30 was relatively fast but not unheard of—just "decent."

For example, Iwata was promoted to "Police Inspector" at 30 and became Section Chief of the Document Section in the Police Affairs Department.

But normally, [Chief Superintendent] required "seniority" even for the "Career Track."

Shiraishi Kuro's case was clearly abnormal!

Jumping two ranks at once...

Shiraishi guessed it was a posthumous promotion—usually, officers who died in the line of duty were posthumously promoted two ranks!

First, because Shiraishi's injuries were indeed severe at the time, with nerve and organ damage, and the hospital's assessment was that he'd either die or be crippled;

Second, with such a big incident making waves, not giving some recognition to the "injured officer" would look bad in the public eye.

Third... that was Superintendent General Haku, who by then must have already decided to use the opportunity to force a showdown, no longer playing it strategically conservative, and thus directly showed his hand with this.

Of course, even if Shiraishi Kuro was now alive and kicking, this [Chief Superintendent] rank couldn't be taken back—no wonder officials from the National Police Agency and the Ministry of Justice were questioning whether that old fox Hiruma had been bought off by Superintendent General Haku to produce a fake injury report!

But when it came to "future prospects," positions like local police stations, especially the chief of a large station, were mostly posts where people worked until retirement—nothing compared to a section chief at the Metropolitan Police Department.

Usually, when a task force was formed for a joint investigation, even a lowly division chief from the MPD could throw their weight around at a local station...

After chatting with Iwata for a while and being shooed out by him, Shiraishi returned to the Organized Crime Unit 3 office to pack up his things.

At least Shiraishi had decent relationships within the "Organized Crime Countermeasures Section," and... with Shiraishi Kuro's stunt, he himself had taken a loss, but the big boss of "Organized Crime," Minister Odagiri, had gotten a promotion.

Although Odagiri Toshiro wasn't around, other colleagues offered to see Shiraishi off.

But just then...

"I have plans tonight."

"Takei..."

Bang—

A tough-looking, stubbly police officer walked straight out without even glancing at Shiraishi.

Everyone felt a bit awkward—because this Takei was Shiraishi's former partner, the one who had taken over as division chief of Unit 3's 4th Division, and... there had been rumors of bad blood between them.

"The Arakawa Group has been really restless lately... haha, well, I guess Inspector Takei will have to work overtime. Oh, I booked the usual spot!"

Someone quickly changed the subject.

A bunch of rough guys from "Organized Crime" heading to a bar together—it really looked like a gathering of a violent organization...

At the farewell party, Shiraishi drank quite a bit, and it was very late by the time he returned to the MPD dormitory.

But Shiraishi still pulled out the materials for the "Beika Town Police Station," where he was about to take up the post of chief—these were copies he'd gotten from the Document Section!

Beika Town Police Station: 522 officers total, a residential population of 320,000 in its jurisdiction, with a daily transient population several times that, overseeing 17 police boxes. Key locations: Shiba Park, Tokyo Tower, Tropical Land, Beika Museum, Beika Library, Beika Art Museum, Beika Aquarium, Beika Central Building, Beika Department Store, Beika Central Hospital, Teitan University, Beika University, Beika University Hospital, Beika Hotel, Daikoku Building, Beika Tower, Beika Shopping Street, Beika Forest...

Flipping through the materials, Shiraishi Kuro couldn't sleep at all, feeling as if every line between the characters was filled with two words—murder!