Absolute Zero: Special Investigation Unit (絶対零度)

How about meeting once again

- for the Universal Cinema purchase? - What's the point in that?

The management won't approve an aggressive acquisition.

They'll fight you again.

Before that happens we'll just get rid of all of them.

President!

This article...

it says here your marrow transplant was

not legally obtained.

Should we file a report?

- No. There's no need. - Uh...

You shouldn't be surprised by now.

As his secretary you should know what kind of person...

the President is.

Good morning.

President?

President!

The so-called darling of IT,

Future Steps President Masuyama

was murdered 3 months ago,

and still no arrest has been made.

There is a great number

of people who are known

to hold a grudge against him

for his aggressive buying style.

Yokokawa-san, at the stockholder's meeting they selected you as the next President.

Do you have any comment to make?

I want to get over the loss of President Masuyama and move our company forward.

I hope that the murderer is caught as soon as possible.

Thank you.

Do you intend to keep following Masuyama's aggressive strategy?

Do you really know nothing about who did it?

The accused Kido Satoshi, on June 22, 2006,

travelled to Roppongi and entered the Future Steps building.

Once inside, he went to President's Masuyama's office.

On entering the President's office, he stabbed him in the chest, which resulted in his death.

The crime is murder. Article 199 of the penal code.

Does the accused have anything to say about the indictment?

Yes, I do.

Huh?

Please state any discrepancy from the indictment.

I didn't do it!

Quiet!

- Counsel, your opinion? - Yes.

I believe, that mistakes were made with this investigation

when the Investigations Unit reopened the case.

In this case the accused...

did not commit the murder.

Zettai Reido (Absolute Zero) - Case 7

You are Kurata of Investigations, correct?

Yes.

Could you start by telling us

what evidence led you to believe that the accused

was the murderer in this case?

It was 2 months ago.

- We've got a reopened case. - What is it?

The murder of that IT President in Roppongi 4 years ago.

Oh, the one who could buy anything?

His aggressive purchasing style must have made him a lot of enemies.

But they couldn't find one piece of evidence linking it to anyone.

We've got a completely different lead now.

We have some new information from his former secretary,

Yoshioka Chikako, who was the first person to discover his body.

She happened to see a man at an izakaya*

apparently, wearing a favorite wristwatch of his from that time.

A wristwatch?

And she also remembers him from before.

Huh?

The company used to guard the victim's building was Tokyo International Security.

It seems this man was a guard at the building.

Security guard? Now that's surprising.

Get some information and let's close this quickly.

Okay.

I'll ask you again.

Why did you have that watch?

And this antique knife, it was the President's, right?

It's quite obvious that it's a dangerous weapon.

So why was it at your place?

How much longer can he stand it?

Kido isn't the type to keep his emotions under control.

He won't be able to last for much longer.

- It's me! I did it! - Why'd you do it?

His eyes.

He always looked down on us with those eyes.

It always bothered me.

So you presented evidence and he confessed to it?

- Yes. - So then there's

nothing improper with the way you got the confession?

You kept clicking on your pen the whole time you were interviewing him.

And not just that.

The defendant told me that during the interrogation

you pulled his hair... stepped on his foot.

And shouted in his ear "you did it!".

You exhausted his body and mind

until he confessed "I did it".

That's a lie!

Kurata did nothing wrong!

- Shiraishi-san, calm down. - He did it!

It's an excuse.

- Shiraishi-san. - Order!

Any other comments and I'll expel you from the courtroom.

Please sit down.

At the bar you manage,

you've seen the victim and the defendant drink together, isn't that right?

Yes. I remember seeing them together a few times.

This is the first I've heard of them being acquaintances.

The victim and defendant were quite friendly and often drank together.

So there's nothing strange about receiving gifts from a friend.

Also, they were unable to get any DNA results from the knife.

Objection!

That's because a strong solvent was used to remove all forensic material.

- Evidence of this solvent was found. - If so, then

there is no proof to link the defendant to this crime.

Judge, with this information now

there is no conclusive proof presented

that the defendant committed this murder.

Defense rests.

How did you miss that the two of them were friends?!

I'm very sorry.

If the worst happens, how will you take responsibility?

I heard a complaint was lodged with

the Department Chief asking for my removal from the case.

Yes.

I'm very sorry.

But, I'd like to see this out to the end.

Please let me lead the re-investigation.

If not you, who would take charge then?

I'll inform the Department Chief of the situation.

You'll have to make quite a request.

Well then Kurata, you will have to solve this case.

We can not leave this case unsolved.

Yes.

But we have the evidence. No matter how you look at it, it was Kido.

The lawyer said that even though we have a confession

there is no definite proof that he really committed the crime.

That's the point.

To cause doubt in cross-examination and aim for acquittal.

That's the point of focusing on investigative mistakes.

So...

So, no punishment where there's doubt.

All the evidence is dismissed just because they were friends.

We've decided to open up another investigation.

The evidence and confession makes it obvious that Kido is the murderer.

But the truth is we made some mistakes in this investigation.

We will find some new evidence to take back to the trial. We can't fail again.

The point of this new investigation

is to look into the relationship between Kido and the victim.

Kido never mentioned anything about this during the interrogation.

It was probably incriminating evidence.

Incriminating evidence.

I'll check out the testimony of that bar manager.

- I'll come with you. - Thanks.

Let's check out every person possibly connected to this case.

Yes.

- Sorry for making you come all this way. - It's no problem.

I'm concerned about reports saying the evidence was not conclusive.

Could you tell us everything?

What was the kind of relationship between President Masuyama and Kido?

Sure. I said the same thing before.

Money was most important to Masuyama.

Buying Japan Trust Securities?

Don't worry about it.

But President Komatsu is from your hometown, isn't he like family to you?

You both struggled with losing your parents early...

I have no desire to relive the past.

I have no trust in what people say.

Of course, the same goes for people in my company.

The only think you can trust... is money.

He used his cell phone to buy stocks, currency and even purchase antiques, right?

Yes. He was always flashy with his work but

I never saw him make a private phone call at all.

So he had no friends?

I didn't think he was the type to make friends.

But he was acquainted with the security guard.

I don't believe that he was.

Those who ranked below him,

people he thought of as inferior, wouldn't even get a greeting from him.

Do you remember anything else?

Hmm....

Oh, Yume-chan.

Yume-chan?

Excuse me.

President, isn't that the Yume-chan all the kids like?

I intend to buy the company that holds the copyright of this character.

He was talking about buying up that company but all of a sudden the talks came to a stop.

Yume-chan, that's the cat character holding dreams in both her arms?

I guess so.

Like this...

Give it to me.

Oh, you're pretty good!

I saw it once in a magazine.

I've got a good photographic memory. But your memory definitely isn't that good.

Ignore my praise, then.

When did that story take place?

I think, about a month before he was murdered.

He was always ruthless when it came to business,

there must have been some trouble for him to call it off so suddenly.

Good work, everyone. How is the next round going?

Not the next round, but the next, next round.

It is quite an unreasonable request to ask us to go through everything all over again.