Nameless Poison (Na mo Naki Doku / 名もなき毒)

The first incident was in March in Saitama.

A college student who drank green tea in a boxed carton from a convenience store

died suddenly at home.

The second was in May in Yokohama.

A business owner in his 50's who drank an energy drink from a vending machine.

The third was in July, again in Saitama.

Oolong tea from a refrigerator case at a bakery.

A woman in her 20's.

All of them died from cyanide poisoning.

It was a random serial murder case

that had nothing to do with me, or so I thought.

After 2 months of getting jacked around during the time I was involved in matters relating to

the daughters of Kajita-san, my father-in-law's driver,

I swore I'd never step into the darkness of people's heart.

That way, I wouldn't get hurt either.

It was one month after I made that promise to myself.

That day, after 4:00 pm when the sun was still high,

he took his dog for a walk as usual.

He gets done with the walk early because

he wants to enjoy his evening beer,

and also because he wants to be home when

his granddaughter gets home.

Hi, Michika.

Hi.

He had retired 2 years ago

from a major metal processing company.

He leads what people call a leisurely life, but

he, himself, was unable to get acclimated to not working, and

was feeling quite dejected.

Ah, this feels good.

As usual, he bought a drink at

a convenience store which was his turnaround point.

And, as usual, he quenched his thirst as he walked.

The man who perished was Furuya Akitoshi, 67 years old.

He was the fourth victim of the random serial murder.

From the data in Akitoshi's cell phone,

a call was placed immediately to his daughter, Akiko,

who works for a foreign securities company.

We have to pay attention to fact that…

Excuse me.

I...

I'll be right back.

Father...

Are these Furuya-san's belongings?

They're...definitely my father's.

I'm Ashida with MPD First Investigation Division.

- I'm Morikawa. - What in the world

happened to my father? Why...

did this happen?

We'd like to ask you a few questions in regards to that.

Do you mind coming to the station with us?

You mean right now?

We won't keep you too long.

It was midnight when she finally got home that day.

I think it's going to be a good article. Thank you for your cooperation.

"Deputy Manager Takes to the Sword!" It sounds quite heroic.

Actually, this is a reader-requested project.

An employee in a deputy department manager position was asked by

his child, "Papa, what's this Deputy Manager on your business card?"

Oh, excuse me for a moment.

Hello? How's Sanae doing?

Chuo Hospital? Oh, okay.

I know. Yes, yes. Got it. See you later.

Pardon me for the interruption.

It's my daughter. She had a minor asthma attack this morning.

That must be very worrisome.

Have you ever heard of sick house syndrome?

I sure have. Actually, that's the hot topic in our household right now.

- Then, your child too? - No, in our case,

we're planning to move, so my wife's all fired up to

get everything done perfectly during the renovation.

Sick house syndrome is a situation whereby

residential building materials and furniture

have an adverse effect on human bodies,

causing allergic dermatitis, asthma, headaches, and

various other illnesses.

It was just recently that Nahoko started talking about

buying a single family home.

To me, it seemed quite sudden, but

Nahoko said she'd been thinking about it for a while.

I did object, albeit rather meekly.

I was quite happy with this condo, and

besides, it wasn't a house I could afford with my salary.

Isn't she all pumped up like old folks before a storm?

My wife runs off all these difficult names of things like

paint ingredients and drugs that even I have a hard time picking up.

She does, right? They do that.

They say women don't like science, but that's a lie.

What's more, she's even talking about a soil survey.

- Soil survey? - Yes.

- Did you have a soil survey done on your house? - Oh, no.

Wow, you're even going that far. Your wife's serious about it.

She sure is.

You're Sugimura-san, right?

- Yes. - What, do you know each other?

Don't you know, Deputy Manager? He's the Chairman's son-in-law.

The Chairman's...

- Oh...is that right? - Yes.

I wondered if Deputy Manager Kuroi regretted

being candid with me who had direct ties to the Chairman,

and making small talk.

And he'll probably think to himself,

"He complains how the renovation's a pain and his wife's fussy, but

he was probably laughing inside that we're on different levels."

I think I'm hateful for imagining

things like this.

That hatefulness torments me.

At my previous job, I was in charge of the writer, Hirai Sensei.

Genda Izumi, who beat the odds of 1:88 to replace

Shiina-chan who left to study abroad,

was experienced in editing from her previous job, and

we welcomed her with high expectation.

Genda-san, do you have a minute?

This was marked for omission in the previous draft, wasn't it?

Why didn't you take it out?

Come on now. Are you sure you have editing experience? Jeez...

Why are you crying, for Christ's sake.

Jeez...

- She made her cry. - You know how harsh she is.

Hey, I heard that, you guys!

Editor, go easy on her. Genda-kun just started, you know.

I didn't do anything. All I did was

was ask "Are you sure you have editing experience?"

- Woah. - What's that "woah" for?

But actually, the standard proofreading marks were all messed up.

Right? They were, right? See, see, see?

Anyway, she'll do fine if she can learn gradually.

If she can learn? You teach her then.

She's your assistant, after all.

At any rate, she's the rookie

we all selected carefully from 88 applicants.

That's right, that's right!

What the heck...

Is she asleep?

Say, do we really have to move?

I told you already. There's the entrance exam to prepare for.

It's more convenient there.

Are we selling this place?

We don't necessarily have to... I understand how you feel.

We have a lot of memories here. Shall we keep it?

Heavens no. I wouldn't dream of having two houses in the city...

Right? Say, Papa...

Take a look at this flooring.

At times like this, I suddenly feel

a part of myself drifting away.

Is this really my life?

Should I be enjoying this situation?

Didn't I give up something in return for all this?

As I've already told you several times,

I haven't been to that convenience store in 6 months. Why do you

keep asking me the same thing?

Something that I lost in return...

what can that be?

Why on earth did this happen?

Michika.

I think

I'm being suspected.

Suspected?

That...what happened to Grandpa...

Are they saying you did it?

They say police suspects family members first

That's insane...

Don't worry.

I'm sure the suspicion will be cleared right away.

- So Michika, you... - What is the police thinking?

What are they going to do if the murderer gets away while they're suspecting you?

Calm down, Michika.

It's sad enough that Grandpa died. That's terrible.

Terrible...

Yes, isn't it?

And so,

I might be holding a press conference at the office.

- Press conference? - My boss says

I should do it before reporters start coming and

hinder our work.

Does that mean you're going to be on TV and the news?

Maybe.

No, probably.

It's a case that's getting a lot of attention.

Sorry.

Yeah.

Back home.

No worries, I'm all right.

E-mail? From head office?

Not yet.

The fourth victim of the serial poisoning murder case that occurred on the 13th,

Furuya Akitoshi-san, bought oolong tea in a boxed carton

at this convenience store immediately before he died.

Apparently, it was contaminated with cyanide.

We talked to the store manager.

Yes, I know Furuya-san.

He was our regular customer.

He'd stop in while walking the dog, and tie the dog there.

Yes, I sold it to him.

But I don't remember it too well.

I found out it was me after I looked at the register record.

Kenji, do you remember anything about Furuya-san that day?

Management responsibility? Of the store?

I'm not saying we have absolutely no responsibility, but

there's no way we can prevent everything.