Tower of Sand (砂の塔～知りすぎた隣人)

I wish Kazuki had come.

You promised, didn't you.

That you'd cast away your current mother to know who your real mother is.

Yes.

I'll tell you everything.

About what happened with Yumiko, a long time ago,

and about the sin,

we committed.

Yumiko, Kazuki's mother...

committed murder.

What!

Ah, I'm sorry... Hello?

It's all going bad,

I'm in the middle of something at the moment...

About the side job you did, if you're asked

-don't say anything unnecessary. -Pardon?

I'm asking you to help me as a friend.

Don't ask the girl, or me, anything unnecessary.

Give this to Asou for me.

Here's 100,000.

Kenichi?

Is it about time we head home?

Kenichi, what is it?

It's a bit...

Kazuki, we're home. I'm coming in okay?

I reckon he might still be with Yumiko.

I'll go and see.

Okay.

Is Takano Kenichi-san at home?

-Who might you be? -The police.

The police?!

What is all of this?!

-Where is your husband at the moment. -He's at work.

We have a warrant for his arrest.

An arrest warrant?!

We've also permission to search the premises.

Okay, hurry up!

Do you know a Asou Takefumi-san?

-Yes. -We'd like you to come in for questioning.

Will you accompany us to the station?

Very well.

What is this?

It's okay, I didn't do anything to be arrested for.

But...

Ask Detective Aramata about the Yumiko case.

-Detective Aramata? -He will definitely help.

Please,

take care of the kids.

The children are surely waiting for you to come home.

This is the last train. The train will be departing momentarily.

Mummy? Where's daddy and Kazuki?

They'll be home soon.

Women sometimes lie.

A worthless lie as a temporary measure,

or possibly a determined lie

putting your life on the line.

As the evening draws in,

you pray that the lie becomes the truth.

It's fine, they're definitely coming home.

Sapporo?! You're in Hokkaido!!

I'm with Sasaki Yumiko-san.

Tomorrow,

we're going to my birth mother's home,

and I'm going to be able to meet her.

I'll decide what I'm going to do after that.

-Bye... -Wait Kazuki!

Hello?

Good morning.

Hey, isn't this Hiroko's husband?

-He's been arrested? -Not yet it seems.

-The police came yesterday evening. -Shh!

I can't believe it.

A criminal, living here in the tower.

According to Maeka Chaiki's testimony,

after she was taken away by car,

she got lost in the mountains and wandered around for several days...

I wonder if that's true. We've been searching in a radius of 10km

but we've not found any hints at all.

Well, there's no need to rush. All we can do is believe her.

So what about the strange pipe?

I'm looking into it.

But if the criminal made the tune himself...

-It won't be of any help. -Indeed.

Ara-san, you have a visitor.

This is confidential but, your husband merely

got caught up in Asou Takefumi's crimes.

He should be able to go home sometime today.

Thank you very much.

But I never thought he'd be

the same Takano Kenicihi from the case 14 years ago.

Would you tell me about that case?

Once you know, what will you do?

-I want to get my son back. -Get him back?

He's with Sasaki Yumiko-san at the moment.

He's about to start living with her.

Certainly,

I can't hold it against her for blaming me.

I didn't notice my son was being bullied.

But she deserted him.

Trying to take him back, after all this time

isn't it unbelievably selfish?

It's certainly true you might think that.

-If you didn't know better. -Pardon?

Very well. I'll tell you everything.

It was more than 14 years ago

when she killed someone.

This is the house were you were born.

The scene of the crime was

was the house in Hokkaido where Yumiko Sasaki and Takano Kenichi-san were living.

I just happened to be there on a police training course,

and I took charge of the case.

Yumiko originally came from these parts.

Her mother was more than strict, she was overly interfering.

These days you might call her abusive.

During her high school years she left home.

She supported herself doing part-time work whilst attending university.

However, it seems she couldn't tell her boyfriend, Kenichi Takano-san

-what kind of work she did. -Why was that?

She was a hostess.

But she took the opportunity, of getting married, to quit.

However, one of her customers, was a nasty piece of work.

Even after she quit, he was persistent in approaching her.

Now we'd call him a stalker.

It's started to snow, it's cold isn't it.

Before long Kazuki was born,

and Yumiko moved with Kenichi-san to Hokkaido because of his work.

But even there, the stalker followed her.

You can't escape me!

Without telling Kenichi-san about it, she reported it to the police.

However at that time, there weren't any laws in place,

and while, we the police, were fumbling around,

finally on the evening of Christmas Eve

finally a crime occurred.

Kenichi-san took his son out for a walk and that was the chance the stalker had been waiting for.

I said you can't escape me!

The man forced his way into their home,

I said you can't escape!

and attacked her.

Once I've killed you, I'm gonna kill your kid!

It seems that he screamed that

after he'd killed her he'd kill her child.

Strangely enough, at the time,

in her mind

she felt she didn't have any alternative.

'Kazuki will be back soon'

'I don't want him to experience anything traumatic.'

And for that reason only

she carried the body into the back garden

and desperately scrubbed down the bath.

At the trial, she pleaded legitimate self defense, however

the judgment handed down was murder due to excessive self defense.

She was given 2 years imprisonment.

Divorce?

Please.

What are you saying, there's no need for us to break up.

I don't want my child to become the son of a murderer.

I don't want his future

to be taken away from him, because of me.

Yumiko was firm in her resolve,

all Kenichi-san could do was give in to her.

Obviously what she did was a crime, she killed someone.

But as things were it wouldn't have been strange

if eventually the stalker brought harm to Kazuki.

In other words, you might say Yumiko was prepared to

throw away her own life to protect her son's.

Ah, forgive me.

In truth, I have a son that passed away.

I find myself wanting to support her.

You don't remember do you.

You were only here up to the age of 1.

You're an old friend of my mother's?

Yes.

Why is it, my mother want's to meet me now?

She said that until now, she'd been uncertain about it.

If she told you why she let you go

it might be a burden on you.

A burden?

But she's said she's resolved herself.

Because it's you, she believe that

surely you will be able to accept the truth.

Does my mother know me?

She's been watching over you from a far.

Please let me meet her.

I will.

But before that, there's something I want you to promise.

Promise?

Can you promise to never see Aki-san ever again?

In other words, you might say Yumiko was prepared to

throw away her own life to protect her son's.

It's granny!

-I've brought cake. -Thank you!

You should have at least let me know you'd been released from hospital.

Is something up?

So that's what happened.

The hatred you felt for that Yumiko woman,

it's gradually disappearing isn't it?

If you thinking of Kazuki's happiness

then letting him stay with her is something to consider.

You mean letting go of him?!

I'm saying this now but,