Consultant

Komikado won the case once again and identified the real culprit.

However... after all the twists and turns, especially since Tsubokura's Intentional Homicide charge had not been dropped but merely reduced to "attempted," the pressure on the police was greatly eased.

Of course, Komikado would insist that the prosecution's charges were improper and keep haggling until it was reduced to "intentional injury."

At Tokyo High Court, Komikado left in high spirits, while Dai looked somewhat dejected.

Though they had won, the truth left Dai, who had previously trusted their client, deeply embarrassed.

Though they had won, when faced with the reporters outside, Komikado had his personal "informant" deliberately create a disturbance and lure them away before he leisurely departed—Komikado did not like drawing attention to himself. Such things did nothing to help him win cases.

"I never thought... Tsubokura was really lying to me." Dai was still unable to let it go.

"What are you talking about? Plaintiffs and defendants alike—it's perfectly normal for them to be full of lies. As a lawyer, you don't need to think about that!" Komikado took it in stride.

"Huh? Aren't lawyers supposed to protect fairness and justice...?" Dai was clearly unaccustomed to that way of thinking.

"Are you the heroine of some morning drama? You're just a lawyer. Your job is to win cases for your clients... And I haven't even mentioned that if you'd told me those things earlier, Mr. Tsubokura would already be out by now!" Komikado launched straight into a lecture.

"You..." Dai was furious at his words, but then seemed to recall something and instead asked, "But even though you say that, deep down... you still hope for fairness and justice, right?"

"Huh? Amazing! Can you see things ordinary humans can't?" Komikado mocked her without mercy.

"But... didn't you defend Chief Shiraishi before? That shows you also..." Dai still wanted to present evidence. It was one of the few decent things she had seen Komikado do.

Komikado was so angry he laughed. Before he could speak, his phone rang...

"Hello... That's right, wonderful... This is truly a wise decision! The Suzuki Group certainly won't regret today's decision... All right, I'll come sign the contract right away... Hahaha... You're too kind, it was nothing!" Komikado beamed as he spoke on the phone.

After hanging up, Komikado deliberately held up his phone and said to Dai, "If saying a few good words about someone can get you a contract like becoming the Suzuki Group's specially retained legal consultant, be sure to include me!"

Dai: ???

That was right. Komikado had helped Shiraishi out twice for a very simple reason...

Though he was merely an outside legal consultant, the monthly pay was still considerable, and besides... it was practically free money!

After all, the Suzuki Group had an enormous legal department of its own. Why would it need to consult an outside legal adviser?

Komikado would never complain about signing too many contracts like that!

As for what relationship the Suzuki Group had with Shiraishi Kuro, Komikado could not care less...

Meanwhile, Shiraishi also received a call from Iwata.

"I've already seen Shirai's transfer order. It's basically confirmed that he'll report to the General Affairs Department's Publicity Division at the Metropolitan Police Department. There are also three other transfer orders..." Iwata spoke in a businesslike tone.

Still, Shiraishi said, "Just as expected of Iwata... I owe you for all this. Drinks are on me tonight."

"Oh? A promotion really does make a difference!" Iwata deliberately teased him.

Shiraishi had always been rather frugal. After all, he had previously only been an inspector and had donated quite a bit of money to the Orphanage. He was not exactly struggling, but he had always spent his entire paycheck each month.

"That's right, that's right. Now that I add my Police Rank pay and position pay together, I realize I'm part of the high-income crowd too." Shiraishi joked deliberately.

Mm, after being promoted two ranks in a row, his salary was now considerably higher than Iwata's as a superintendent and headquarters section chief.

After chatting idly for a few moments, they returned to the main subject—the three people being transferred to Beika Police Station!

Shirai, the current head of the Criminal Affairs Division, was certainly being transferred away. Shiraishi had not accepted his resignation, instead asking Iwata to help arrange for him to be "benched."

In truth, it simply meant sending him somewhere to coast until retirement and collect his pension.

Additionally... Shiraishi had taken the opportunity to transfer out two detectives from the Haitani Unit.

Shiraishi had already felt that their abilities and attitudes were not particularly suited to detective work. Moreover, they had performed especially poorly during Shirai's improper interrogation this time, even committing perjury in an attempt to cover things up. Thus, Shiraishi took the opportunity to transfer them both away.

As for the position of Criminal Affairs Division chief, Haitani had also been confined to reflect on his actions, so he was certainly out of the running. Akasaka and Aoki... were not quite ready either. Therefore, Shiraishi had not forcibly promoted one of his own people and instead requested that the Metropolitan Police Department assign someone.

Though the official appointment had not yet been announced, Iwata naturally had his own channels and already knew the candidate...

After hearing Iwata's introduction, Shiraishi froze. "Huh? They're transferring someone from the Publicity Division to be my Criminal Affairs Division chief?"

So the price of transferring Shirai to the Publicity Division to coast toward retirement was having the Publicity Division send me a division chief?

I'd rather try promoting Aoki or Akasaka myself!

"I found it strange at first too, but I heard it was a direct transfer order from 'above,' so I specifically looked into it... Don't be fooled by the fact that Inspector Kunikida is currently in the General Affairs Department's Publicity Division. I checked his personnel transfer records. Six years ago, he was the chief of the Sixth Unit in the First Investigative Division. Because of a certain case, he was transferred to the Publicity Division," Iwata explained reliably.

Clearly, Iwata had also been puzzled at first and had directly investigated what was going on for Shiraishi.

"The First Investigative Division? Six years ago..." Shiraishi considered it. That had been when he had just joined the force, so no wonder he did not know the man. He then confirmed, "A certain case?"

"Mm, it was a murder case. In the end, the defendant never confessed, but was convicted because the evidence was conclusive... The files don't explicitly state anything, but I later checked the case records and found that the criminal committed suicide in prison not long afterward. Also... the Sixth Unit once applied to the Prosecutor's Office for a supplementary investigation, but it was rejected. After that, Inspector Kunikida voluntarily resigned as well, but was retained and transferred to the General Affairs Department." Iwata did not spell it out clearly.

But Shiraishi already understood what he meant...

After all, it was very similar to what Beika Police Station had just experienced!

Iwata had also asked some veterans from the First Investigative Division. Kunikida had been one of the "hardliners" back then as well, and in the end... his hardline methods had caused a problem!

The difference was that Shirai's improper interrogation had been exposed by someone else, whereas Kunikida had discovered the problem with the case himself, only for his request for a review to be blocked—judging by the Prosecutor's Office's attitude this time, it was easy to imagine what had happened six years ago!

In the end, the case had never been officially determined to be a wrongful conviction. Instead, the already sentenced criminal had committed suicide in prison.

But Kunikida himself could not accept that outcome. After failing to resign, he was transferred to the General Affairs Department's Publicity Division to "recover."

That way, Shiraishi could understand why "the higher-ups" had transferred him over!

A section chief in the First Investigative Division had to be a key front-line officer. Leaving him idle for six years had already been wasteful. Now that the Shirai matter had come to light, Shiraishi also needed to straighten out the Criminal Affairs Division and stress proper procedure. Sending Kunikida over was only logical—Kunikida was surely most concerned with "whether investigative procedures were compliant" right now.

"The other two Detectives are pretty good too. They meet your requirements—they're both young. One's a promising rookie, and the other was also transferred down from the First Investigative Division." Iwata had looked into them all for Shiraishi.

"Transferred down from the First Investigative Division? Don't tell me he has some kind of flaw too?" Shiraishi immediately became alert.

The First Investigative Division might have been the Metropolitan Police Department's elite, but... being "transferred down" often meant there was a problem. Shiraishi wasn't in the business of picking up scraps!

"It's not really a flaw. This Kogure had taken part in cracking quite a few major cases while he was in the First Investigative Division, but..." Iwata lowered his voice. "Apparently, after his fiancée dumped him, his mind got a little... off. So they gave him a new environment to recover. He should still be usable!"

This was all gossip Iwata had dug up himself! It definitely wouldn't be written in his file...

"So he's a simp..." Shiraishi curled his lip.

As for the "promising rookie," Shiraishi didn't ask further. Since he was a "rookie," Iwata naturally wouldn't know much about him either...

Dongdong: Tomorrow is Monday, so I'll add another update—three consecutive chapters at midnight to push the rankings.

A tiny spoiler: the first female lead will start appearing much more in the next chapter~