The Other Shoe Drops

Tokyo Beika Town Police Station Chief...

Just as expected...

Though Shiraishi Kuro felt somewhat unwilling to accept it, he understood... the other shoe had dropped!

He had anticipated this before—sure enough, not only had he failed to make it to the National Police Agency, the government administrative body, he had not even been allowed to remain at the Metropolitan Police Department, Tokyo's police headquarters. As a Professional Group officer, he had been directly dispatched to a local police station!

And a major station at that!

Generally speaking, if it was meant as a stepping stone, the promotion route for a Professional Group officer would be to serve as chief of a small police station as a Superintendent to build up experience, then become Chief Superintendent at a major police station... which basically meant there would be no further promotions.

Still, it was not all bad. Although Superintendent General Haku had not met with him, he had at least protected him to some extent, and...

At least the Beika Town Police Station was still under the Metropolitan Police Department's jurisdiction, located in Tokyo's Minato Ward. He had not been directly exiled to some godforsaken prefectural police headquarters!

Chief Superintendent was just the right rank for serving as chief of the Beika Town Police Station...

There were 106 police stations across Tokyo, twenty-two of which were major stations led by Chief Superintendents. The chiefs of all the remaining smaller stations were Superintendents.

Beika Town was one of the major stations...

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

Shiraishi Kuro had not even met Superintendent General Haku, who was supposedly going to commend him. He understood that this meant the man had no intention of seeing him...

So Shiraishi Kuro went directly to the Police Affairs Department's Document Section. Since he was taking up his post tomorrow, he needed to collect everything from a station chief's uniform to new identification from the Police Affairs Department.

Of course, that was not actually within the authority of the Document Section, which kept all kinds of records. The reason he had come here was...

"Yo, Section Chief Iwata!" Shiraishi Kuro casually walked into the section chief's office, and no one stopped him.

However, in response to his seemingly flippant yet familiar greeting, Iwata did not even raise his head from behind his desk. "Please knock before entering. Thank you."

"Don't be so cold, Iwata!" Shiraishi Kuro grinned as he leaned closer.

"Cut that out! Why are you trying to act familiar while we're working? If there's a superior-subordinate relationship, address them by title. If there isn't, address them by police rank. Do you understand?" Iwata snapped.

Iwata Shinichi had attended the police academy with Shiraishi Kuro. In the Eastern Island Nation, officers only entered police academy after passing the police examination and securing their appointment. Thus, the Professional Group, Quasi-Professional Group, and Non-Professional Group were clearly separated even during academy training; they did not attend classes together!

Since Iwata had been Shiraishi's classmate, he was naturally also from the Professional Group. He was three years older than Shiraishi, wore glasses, and looked refined and scholarly even in uniform. At a glance, he was the very image of a Bureaucratic Police officer. He had even been promoted to Superintendent two years earlier than Shiraishi, taking the position of section chief of the Metropolitan Police Department Police Affairs Department Document Section—this was the route a Professional Group officer ought to take!

There were only around a dozen people in each Professional Group class, and Iwata was one of the classmates Shiraishi had gotten along well with.

Right now...

Because Shiraishi had ignored his advice a month ago and even concealed it from him while continuing to investigate Inukai Ichiro's case alone, Iwata was still sulking.

While Shiraishi Kuro had yet to regain consciousness, Iwata had visited the hospital several times. But after Shiraishi woke up, Iwata had only gone once, and had left after seeing him from outside the door...

"If something like this happens again, I'll definitely drag you along!"

"There'll be a next time? Fine, it's a deal... next time, tell me. I'll report you for illegally gathering evidence in advance!"

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

Thanks to his thick skin, Shiraishi finally managed to placate him.

"Say what you came to say, and if you have nothing to say, get the hell out!" Iwata still sounded displeased, but at least Shiraishi could now say what he had come for.

In truth, Iwata understood that Shiraishi had not contacted anyone beforehand mainly because he was afraid of implicating everyone else...

The main reason Shiraishi had come to see him was to ask whether anyone had been dragged down because of him.

"You're overthinking it. Your old superior, Minister Odagiri from the Organized Crime Department, has been transferred to Head of the Criminal Investigation Department... As for Kanagawa Prefecture, although they're not in the same system as us, I heard from an acquaintance there that Inspector Yokomizo was commended as well. Besides, as a Non-Professional Group inspector, there was no room for anyone to retaliate against him!" Iwata replied.

Shiraishi was not surprised that the Head of the Criminal Investigation Department had been replaced—that guy had been the Minister of Justice's lapdog. Backed by his master, he had even dared to give Superintendent General Haku attitude.

How could he possibly be allowed to get away?

What Shiraishi had not expected was that the one taking the position would be his own former superior...

In theory, the Organized Crime Department was on the same level as the Criminal Investigation Department, but generally, the head of the Criminal Investigation Department had greater seniority and more influence.

"Superintendent General Haku successfully brought down Minister Inukai too, so... the world where only you got hurt has been achieved!" Iwata deliberately said to provoke Shiraishi.

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

"Heh, yeah... Chief Superintendent Shiraishi, whose future is anything but bright." Iwata rolled his eyes at him.

If he had only been a Superintendent, then as a Professional Group officer, Shiraishi Kuro being promoted before thirty would have been fairly fast, but hardly uncommon. It could only be called decent.

For example, Iwata had become a Superintendent at the age of thirty and taken up the post of section chief of the Police Affairs Department Document Section.

But under normal circumstances, becoming a Chief Superintendent required a certain level of seniority even for someone from the Professional Group.

Shiraishi Kuro's case was clearly not normal!

He had jumped two ranks at once...

Shiraishi Kuro figured they had promoted him as though he had died in the line of duty—generally speaking, officers who died in the line of duty were posthumously promoted two ranks!

First, Shiraishi Kuro's injuries had indeed been extremely severe at the time. Between the extensive nerve damage and internal injuries, the hospital had judged that he would either die or be permanently disabled;

Second, such a huge incident had caused a stir. If there was no recognition for the injured and fallen officers, it would have looked bad in public opinion;

Third... Superintendent General Haku had likely already decided to use the opportunity to force the issue and stop being strategically conservative, so he had used this to openly declare his stance.

Of course, even though Shiraishi Kuro was now alive and kicking, they could not take back his Chief Superintendent rank. No wonder officials from the National Police Agency and Ministry of Justice suspected that old Hiruma of having been bought off by Superintendent General Haku and issuing a falsified injury report!

But when it came to his future, positions like chief of a local police station—especially a major station—were mostly where people stayed until retirement. They could not compare at all to being a section chief at the Metropolitan Police Department.

Whenever a special task force was formed for a joint investigation, even an ordinary unit chief from the Metropolitan Police Department could swagger around and throw their weight about in a local police station...

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

Fortunately, Shiraishi had gotten along fairly well with the people in the Organized Crime Countermeasures Section. Besides... while Shiraishi Kuro had drawn the short end of the stick from this whole ordeal, Minister Odagiri, the big boss of Organized Crime, had been promoted.

Although Odagiri Toshiro was not present, his other colleagues all suggested seeing Shiraishi off.

But just then...

"I have something to do tonight."

"Takei..."

Clang—

A rather tough-looking, stubbly police officer left directly, not even sparing Shiraishi a glance.

Everyone was somewhat embarrassed—because this Takei had been Shiraishi's former partner and was now the unit chief of Unit 4, Organized Crime Unit 3, replacing Shiraishi. There had also long been rumors that the two did not get along.

"The Arakawa Group really has been acting up lately... Hahaha, then I suppose Inspector Takei will have to work overtime. Oh, right, I already reserved a place at the usual spot!"

Someone quickly changed the subject.

A bunch of rough Organized Crime guys heading to a bar together really did look like a gathering of Violent Organizations...

Shiraishi drank quite a bit at the farewell party, and it was already late by the time he returned to the Metropolitan Police Department dormitory.

Even so, Shiraishi took out the information on the Beika Town Police Station, where he would soon assume the post of chief, and looked it over—it was also a photocopy he had collected from the Document Section!

The Beika Town Police Station had 522 officers and a resident population of 320,000 within its jurisdiction. Daily population flow was extremely high, several times the resident population. It had seventeen police boxes under its command. Important locations included 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...

After opening the file and reading it, Shiraishi Kuro could not sleep no matter which way he turned. All he could see between the lines were two words—murder!