Strawberry Night Saga (ストロベリーナイト・サーガ)

-Hey! -What's that?

It's dirty!

It's beautiful isn't it.

I know, I understand what you're going through,

because I'm the same.

November 2018

Kazuo Kikuta,

appointed to the tenth unit on November 13th.

Note: The first part of her name means 'princess' - HIME kawa

I'm so jealous, he'll be working under 'the princess'.

That Himekawa, known for the strange corpse case in Nagano.

Well, she'll be affectionate at most.

His career's gone off course.

And yet such a favourable position. He'd better do his job properly.

Mizumoto Park murder - abandoned corpse Special investigation headquarters

What about Reiko chan?

Where's Reiko chan?

Hey, hey Ioka, just take a seat for now.

What are you doing at Kameari station?

Hi, thanks.

As of today, I've been assigned to the 10th unit.

Well you know, last month,

I was transferred out of the Ouji office. So I've come to help out here.

Ah, pleased to meet you, I'm Yuda from the Himekawa team.

And just in time for this case.

Shh!

It must be fate that's brought us together!

Who and who? Me and Reiko chan!

Hey, Ioka san, will you sit down!

Kazuo Kikuta is it?

I'm Otsuka from the 1st division.

Great to work with you.

I'm Kitami from Kameari station.

Looking forward to working with you too.

Please go ahead and take this seat.

you don't need to do that.

As your junior I should show respect.

No, it's not like that,

you have a higher rank, please go ahead.

Excuse me.

I'm sorry we needed to bring you on board so quickly.

Oh it's fine. Where's Chief Himekawa?

Let's get started!

I'll explain later.

Attention!

Bow!

At ease!

Yesterday, at 5pm,

a corpse was discovered in the vicinity of Mizumoto Park reservoir.

It was in a tarpaulin, tied with cord.

It was bound at the neck, chest, waist, knee and ankle.

It was discovered by Yasuko Hirata, a local housewife.

She saw the tarpaulin from her 2nd floor window at 6am,

and mistakenly believed it to be illegal waste.

She did not report it immediately,

However, on passing the location later,

she recognised the shape of a person and reported it at 5pm.

The victim's dental records show him to be Taichi Kanehara, 34,

a salesman for the office equipment rental company Osato Shokai.

The autopsy results show the cause of death to be hemorrhagic shock.

Estimated time of death - the day before yesterday, between 7 and 10pm.

The murder weapon was a thin, flat blade

like a razor or box cutter.

The victim's upper body was covered in a total of 94 wounds of various sizes,

all shallow and therefore unrelated to the cause of death.

Of them, 52 were found to contain shards of glass.

There are also marks from 11 blows to the body.

The fatal wound occurred at the throat.

The left carotid artery was severed.

Are there any questions so far?

Kikuta.

What is the wound that extends from the ribcage to the lower abdomen?

All other injuries are of a different nature.

This wound was created post-death.

Post-death?

It was created with a much more substantial tool such as a jack-knife or a carving knife.

It's conceivable that cuts were made dozens of times with both hands, using great force.

-Are you okay? -I'm sorry.

Hey! Imaizumi!

Yes!

What's Himekawa doing?

Why isn't she at the meeting?

Sorry, I contacted her but I couldn't get hold of her.

That rotten, insolent bitch.

Imaizumi. You son of a bitch, you pander to her just cause she's a women.

You need to show her more strict guidance.

Reiko chan.

I have to talk to the director,

can you suspend the meeting till 1pm?

My dear, after skipping the meeting,

-what the hell do you have to say! -Himekawa!

-Are you certain it's something we need to hear? -Yes.

If my intuition is wrong, I'll shave my head.

Please listen to her.

If this amounts to nothing, we'll hold you accountable.

I understand.

-Himekawa, give it a shot. -Okay.

I was looking at this wound on the abdomen,

I couldn't understand why someone would want to inflict an injury like this after death.

Do you think you know the motive?

Yes. I believe the damage was to make the body sink to the bottom of the reservoir.

The reservoir?

As you know, the gasses that build up within a decomposing corpse

allow it to easily float to the surface,

by causing the body to inflate like a balloon.

What if, as in this case, the internal organs have been pierced beforehand?

Naturally, the body will not inflate and it won't float to the surface.

I'm not so sure. If that were true, why did the suspect not sink the body straight away?

It wasn't needed, the body was left overnight.

Don't you think they must have been some trouble?

Trouble?

Yes. I believe the person who carried the body to the location

was a different person to the one who was responsible for disposing of it.

But this time, the person responsible for disposing the body, did not arrive at the scene.

I believe it's because the person responsible for disposing the body was also dead.

That's your theory? You shouldn't have bothered.

-It's nothing more than speculation! -No.

-It's not simply speculation. -What's this?

A copy of the post-mortem from a suspicious death a month ago.

I borrowed it from the coroner's office.

Yasuyuki Fukazawa, 21 years old.

On venturing into Mizumoto park reservoir,

he became infected with the parasitic amoeba naegleria fowleri, and died as a result.

He died on the 21st of October.

The infection occurred approximately 1 week prior on the 14th of October.

That is precisely 1 month ago.

As a consequence, the environmental bureau examined water quality in the Tokyo area.

As you can see, apart from that reservoir, no other traces of naegleria fowleri were discovered.

Incedentally, Fuzukawa was under probation

and was not permitted to leave the Tokyo area,

so it's reasonable to assume that it occurred within Tokyo.

Incredible.

Swimming in the reservoir is prohibited,

but for some reason, Fuzukawa entered the reservoir and became infected with naegleria fowleri.

If that's the case...

If that's the case, what?

Before Kanehara, there may have been another body.

There may be another victim submerged in the reservoir with similar abdominal damage.

You understand don't you?

It's unreasonable to call out the second unit emergency squad,

and for them to discover nothing.

I understand. A shaved head right?

It's fine for you to stand out like that

but please bear in mind that there are at least 20 to 30 people who have their eye on your current position.

Yes.

It's been an hour already. Will this really be okay?

-Do you think it will be okay? -It will be okay.

Chief.

Make way... there's a body.

You did it Himekawa.

We need additional investigators.

Who's available?

Yes.

Huh?

Hurry!

Thank goodness!

Are you that relieved?

Completely, or else I'd have a shaved head.

But you offered to do that.

It's just my usual bluff. Oh, did I say that out loud?

-You said it! -Chief of the bluff.

The corpse that was raised earlier had the same wounds as Kanehara san.

Tell me about the last thing you saw.

Similar damage to the abdomen too. It's natural to suspect the same perpetrators.

Until we know the identity of the body,

our top priority is to investigate Kanehara san.

Yeah.

Here, drink. Today is your welcome party after all.

Thanks.

Right! Once more, let's have a proper introduction.

Okay! I'm Tamotsu Ishikura, police sergeant.

-Pleased to meet you. -Tamotsu, right.

Yes! I'm Kouhei Yuda. At the moment, I'm just an officer

-And Kouhei. -Shinji Otsuka, I'm an officer.

-Shinji. -Pleased to meet you.

And you?

Kazuo Kikuta, I'm a sergeant.

So... you are...

-Kazu kun -Maybe Ka kun

Just Kikuta. No honorific is fine.

I see. Well, just Kikuta.

Just a minute!

I have exclusive rights to a surname without honorific.

-Ioka, what are yo doing here? -Yes or no,

am I a member of the Himekawa team?

It's not okay! Why do I have to work with you again?

That's the way it is.

Headquarters and the investigative jurisdiction are partners. We have to work together as a rule.

-Right chief Reiko -Stop calling me by my name.

That reminds me, at the meeting, Otsuka's partner didn't look too good.

The newcomer?

Erm, was it Kitami?

He's just graduated and is in training for the managerial fast track

He's the son of the head of the third division.

Huh?

Why train here when he'll be going to the special prosecutors?

-He'll only be here for about 3 months anyway. -Yeah.

-He is... he is... -Yeah.

Hey, don't grab my belt like that!

-He what? -Well, he...