(All characters appearing above are adults.)
Harano North Police Station, xx Township Police Box.
(A police box is a small station where officers patrol, set up by the Neon police in neighborhoods and along major roads.)
"How many years has it been now..."
He pulled out a classic pack of cigarettes and casually inhaled and exhaled the life-shortening nicotine fumes.
The shabby office, the lax discipline. It was hard to believe that the bunch of people in front of him were his colleagues.
Seito Tetsu, once a hot-blooded idealist who charged headlong into everything, had become a thoroughly jaded office veteran after the rules had beaten him down.
Back then, Seito Tetsu had entered the police academy full of confidence. He was determined to punish evil and spare no effort in catching every criminal.
After finishing his training in the department, he had met a partner who shared his sense of justice and ideals: Sezaki Kawakami.
The two became close friends who could talk about anything. They were in step with each other, and rose from assistant inspector to inspector before entering the Criminal Investigation Department's First Investigative Division, just as they had hoped.
That had been more than ten years ago. Sezaki Kawakami was dead. While investigating the Newborn Disappearance Incident alone, he had vanished without a trace. On the very day Seito Tetsu received confirmation of Sezaki Kawakami's death, he was handed a transfer order.
When Seito Tetsu learned he was being sent to a rural police box to work as a patrol officer, his anger and hatred had reached their peak.
By now, that youthful fire had long since burned out. He had long since come to terms with it.
This island nation... was rotten to the core.
"Cheers!"
This was a drinking session reserved for two idealists.
"You can still really put it away."
"So can you."
"I'm always most relaxed when I'm with you."
Seito Tetsu downed a large mug of foamy beer in one go.
"Whoa, now that's drinking!"
After wrapping up their first round with the department, the two had, as if by unspoken agreement, started their usual second round: a drinking session where they could truly let go of the stress from work.
A cheap, no-frills izakaya, run by a kind old woman and a young woman. Simple, yet warmly arranged. To the two men, it was practically a paradise where they could unwind.
The two had joined forces to solve the perfect crime known as the Family of Four Massacre Case, and made a name for themselves. Seito Tetsu and Sezaki Kawakami had been hailed as "the new hope of Neon criminal investigations."
Strictly speaking, their first drinking session had been a celebration.
"Even though we caught the killer... there's no bringing that family of four back."
Seito Tetsu knocked his beer mug against the table.
"If only we could've known those scumbags were going to commit a crime! Maybe we could've prevented so much tragedy."
"We can't stop tragedy from happening. We can only do everything we can to stop more evil, so that more innocent people don't get hurt or die."
Sezaki Kawakami spoke calmly, then finished the beer in his own mug as well.
He closed his eyes... and remembered what had happened seventeen years ago.
"Clocking out."
After handing over the work he was responsible for, Seito Tetsu went to the locker room to take off his uniform.
He drifted through every day like this, with no wife and no friends. What a tragic life...
This rural area got so much rain that he couldn't even tell whether it was just the season.
"My shoes are soaked. This feels awful."
He hurried to the convenience store and bought a half-price bento. Of course, he also picked up two cans of cold beer—the classic combination with a bento. His food supplies at home were running low, too, so he needed to restock.
"Thank you for your purchase."
The young, pretty clerk kept her head bowed, reciting the usual service phrases. Everyone wore a fake smile.
He returned to his rundown apartment building. The place was old, and the landlord was an elderly couple.
Seito Tetsu didn't want much. The young, ambitious version of himself had long since died in the past. Now he was no more than a walking corpse wearing Seito Tetsu's skin.
He climbed the rusty iron stairs, each step making them creak.
How strange. There was a delivery box right outside his door.
As far as he remembered, he hadn't ordered anything online or contacted anyone. Who had sent it?
[Yowa Ayana]
He didn't recognize the name at all. A note had been fastened to the box with clear tape.
It read, [Please read this letter first.]
Seito Tetsu wondered what the sender, Yowa Ayana, was up to.
He peeled off the tape and opened the envelope.
[Dear Mr. Seito Tetsu,]
[I'm sorry that personal circumstances prevent me from meeting you in person. This is the only way I can let you know the truth while keeping my identity hidden.]
[The truth about the "Infant Disappearance Incident."]
[If you believe me, please open the package. It contains the evidence I've gathered so far, which should help you, Mr. Seito Tetsu—]
[It may even shed light on Detective Sezaki's death.]
"What's the assignment this time? A newborn disappearance? An organ-trafficking or human-trafficking ring?!"
Another horrifically vile case.
Seito Tetsu and Sezaki Kawakami looked over the report.
"The Infant Center... Nothing seems wrong with it."
"Look at these irregularities. It's almost as if the place had been concealed by ghosts."
Seito Tetsu said this matter-of-factly.
"Ghosts and gods don't exist in this world. If they did, we wouldn't need detectives."
"I'm just making a comparison. Don't take it so seriously. Keep reading."
Seito Tetsu's expression grew increasingly grave.
"The information provided by that Infant Center doesn't match up. And the biggest problem is that the disappearances seem to have started there?"
"That's right. On the surface, it's an Infant Center, an institution that claims to care. But a disappearance happens every few years. So far, there have been two."
"Have any officers investigated the irregularities at the Infant Center?"
Seito Tetsu asked.
"Someone powerful is protecting them, so no one can touch them. And look—it's not just the Infant Center. I looked into it undercover afterward and found that several gynecology clinics have the same problem! It seems organized crime is involved, so we can only investigate in secret."
"What about the mothers of those children? Don't they care?"
"Those mothers all had unplanned pregnancies..."
"What?"
"Students, women unlucky in love, victims of assault, and even people who simply didn't want children."
Sezaki Kawakami posed as a staff member conducting follow-up visits, slowly piecing together clues through scattered questions and fake forms. He even paid out of pocket for the investigation.
"So the people behind this are deliberately targeting babies who might be abandoned?"
Seito Tetsu angrily pounded the table.
"Those scumbags... They're still infants!"
"The forces behind this case are not to be underestimated..."
The commotion Seito Tetsu and Sezaki Kawakami were making was too big.
"This case is beyond you two! Do you understand? Sezaki Kawakami, you were told to throw those files into the shredder. Are you trying to get me stripped of my rank, or do you want to see how you two end up at the bottom of Tokyo Bay?"
Sezaki Kawakami had already investigated on his own and filled in most of the details before showing them to Seito Tetsu.
Just as the two were ready to make a full push, the Section Chief summoned them. There was no doubt about it: he had poured cold water on their plans.
"But we can't just stand by and do nothing! Those children have gone missing! They might have been taken by a trafficking ring. That's a serious crime!"
"You idiots think you solved a major case through sheer luck, so now you're heroes? Detectives? We live and die by other people's opinions! In any case, stop investigating. Shred those files—or better yet, burn them until nothing's left."
It was the first time Seito Tetsu had seen the Section Chief so worked up, even shouting at them.
"Damn it! Are we really supposed to give up the clues we worked so hard to find?"
Seito Tetsu punched the wall in the stairwell.
Sezaki Kawakami just smoked, then spoke slowly.
"If Kazami Shiro were here, he wouldn't turn a blind eye."
(The protagonist of Kamen Rider V3.)
"You really do love tokusatsu. You're such a big kid."
"That's just who I am. It's not like you didn't know that."