Conan: Chief of Rice Flower's Science Points

Chapter 402 Sakurai's Resignation

Three murders and one attempted murder, a total of four cases, involving three perpetrators.

Two of them were arrested by the Miho Police Department, including the mastermind behind the plot!
In contrast, although the "Investigation Headquarters" also arrested a murderer, not only was the number and the culprit insufficient, but the truth was also only uncovered after the Beika Police Station revealed that "there was more than one murderer"...

At the case summary meeting, Shiraishi made a special trip to the Metropolitan Police Department. In fact, the deputy chief or the head of the criminal investigation department could have come, since the chief is not normally in frontline command.

However, in order to "bully" Ninomiya, Shiraishi personally came to the Metropolitan Police Department.

During the debriefing meeting, Shiraishi subtly suppressed Ninomiya, and even when Deputy Director Moroboshi tried to attribute the credit to Ninomiya, Shiraishi interrupted him without hesitation...

As a result, after the meeting, the ministers' impression of Ninomiya was greatly diminished!
It wasn't that Shiraishi suddenly lost his emotional intelligence, nor was it for no reason that he did this to save face for the second house and the planets behind it; rather, it was precisely because he did it with a purpose.

Although the head of the First Investigation Division doesn't know which 2016 will pass before he can retire, he is indeed "on the verge of retirement." Even if he doesn't reach retirement age, he is likely to be transferred due to poor health and lack of involvement in frontline affairs.

The new head of the First Investigation Division will, barring any unforeseen circumstances, be chosen from between Ninomiya and Matsumoto.

As a council member, Ninomiya is undoubtedly closer to the position of section chief, and he also has Moroboshi as his backer...

However, Matsumoto is not without a chance, especially given Ninomiya's repeated failures!
For Shiraishi, Matsumoto becoming the head of the First Investigation Division was far more important than simply "giving face to Ninomiya" or "giving face to Moroboshi"...

On Tuesday, Shiraishi resolved the crisis at the Suzuki Hotel and took the opportunity to suppress Ninomiya, bringing a brief period of peace to Beika Town.

But on Friday, another important piece of news came in—although it wasn't a serious accident, it was still something that sounded very troublesome!

On Friday afternoon, Deputy Director Murasakibara came to Shiraishi's office to report on an important event related to Beika Town next week...

"A luxury car parade? Coming all this way just to show off wealth? Can this kind of flaunting really earn respect..." Bai Shi frowned deeply after hearing this.

Next Monday, a prince from the Chiefs' Alliance will be in Tokyo for some kind of "classic car parade." Part of the route will pass through Beika Town, so the Security Department and the Transportation Department have contacted the Beika Police Station to coordinate traffic control and on-site security.

If Shiraishi had a choice, he wouldn't want to get involved in this kind of thing at all.

It's called a "classic car," but it's actually just a vulgar display of wealth!
I'm also coming to Beika Town...

Believe it or not, if you happen to run into someone who went bankrupt or has a grudge against an insurance company... they might just take you and the convoy of luxury cars away together.
Unfortunately, Shiraishi had no choice.

The route has already been planned; they just informed the Mihua Department. Otherwise, they wouldn't be only notifying us now.

Murasakibara didn't respond to Shiraishi's complaints, since it wasn't something he could decide.

After complaining for a while, Shiraishi said, "Then the security work and traffic control will be handed over to Deputy Chief Murasakibara... Especially traffic control. Remember, if anyone insists on passing through, especially if they are going to see a loved one for the last time or to rescue someone, let them pass first."

Otherwise, Shiraishi fears that some Mikado people might go to the Middle East to carry out terrorist attacks, which would be detrimental to international image.

……

Shiraishi was always worried about passing through Beika Town, but fortunately, his bad mood was soon broken after Murasakibara.

[Achieve the "Ability Enhancement (Kunikida Seiji)" achievement - Increase the overall ability rating of subordinates to SSR, reward 10000 achievement points.]

Just then, Shiraishi "heard" the system notification sound!

Kunikida has advanced!

Shiraishi knew in his heart that reaching the SSR rank wouldn't have been a simple, natural progression; there was probably some special event involved, and...

Given the recent [Trial Mission], Shiraishi has reason to believe that the latter half of the [Trial Mission] has also been completely completed.

When Murano was arrested earlier, Kunikida had completed half of his "Trial Mission," achieving the "Seal Release." At that time, Shiraishi noticed that the "Trial Mission" had not disappeared...

It now appears that the second half has been completed, thus Kunikida has been promoted to SSR level—equivalent to Kogure in her normal form!

Before she became "narcissistic," Kogure was Souichi's ace.

However, it makes sense when you think about it. After all, Kunikida's "deduction" was originally SSR-level, which is close to the overall SSR level. In recent years, due to his mentality, he has not only failed to improve, but has also become more limited.

In this way, while staying away from the front lines, he was also able to view cases from a perspective "outside of being a criminal investigator"...

Now that he has completely shaken off his original influence, Kunikida has somehow upgraded one of his abilities to SSR, and his overall rating has also reached SSR.

Bai Shi probably meant "evidence gathering," a high-level "evidence gathering" that doesn't rely on sharp ears and eyes, but rather on being able to notice clues that ordinary people can't...

At the same time, Shiraishi checked the time and guessed that Kunikida would come looking for him!
……

Sure enough, that afternoon, just before Shiraishi got off work, Kunikida arrived at the Beika Police Station. Although Kunikida's principles were no longer distorted, they were still extremely high. Now, half of the things he needed to do could be considered "personal matters," so he naturally didn't want to take up too much of his work time.

Although everyone was puzzled as to why Section Chief Kunikida had been transferred but still frequently returned, no one stopped him. Shiraishi soon saw what Kunikida had brought—organized case files and documents!
This is a record of the entire poisoning murder case that occurred seven years ago, which Kunikida investigated and compiled in his private time...

The testimonies of prisoners already in jail also correspond to the physical evidence at the time—although some physical evidence was not adopted by the prosecution or appeared in court, Kunikida had kept copies, which were stored at the Metropolitan Police Department and were recently retrieved.

"Yes, the chain of evidence is closed and very detailed... With this, I believe the court will have no choice but to admit it's a miscarriage of justice." After studying it for an hour, Shiraishi nodded calmly.

Kunikida then said somewhat embarrassedly, "However... it would also require a police officer like Chief Shiraishi to submit it to the court."

Kunikida himself wasn't influential enough, so the head of the Tsukishima Police Station certainly wouldn't get involved in this mess. If the head of the Tsukishima Police Station used to have some complaints about Kunikida always "going back to his mother's house," now he wished that Kunikida would come to Shiraishi whenever he had a problem!

“Of course, as I said before, I would help you submit this document... Don’t worry, I have connections at the court!” Shiraishi said confidently.

Upon hearing this, Kunikida said awkwardly, "Attorney Ozaki? It might be difficult for Attorney Ozaki to deliver this..."

Ozaki herself is a new lawyer, and even if she is willing to help submit the application, she may be implicated and retaliated against later.

“Attorney Ozaki? Of course not, she’s still too inexperienced, and I’m not familiar with her.” Shiraishi waved his hand, and seeing Kunikida’s puzzled look, he said, “I will ask Judge Takadō for help.”

Kunikida:……

High-ranking official... former judge... Clearly, Shiraishi was referring to the former Supreme Court judge whom he had personally arrested!
"Although it was 'attempted murder,' there was a reason for it, and Judge Gao Tangqian ultimately gave him a suspended sentence," Shiraishi added, explaining further.

Kunikida:……

Kunikida has so much to say, I don't even know where to begin!
I'm wondering why he's not in jail?

The question is, why should they be considered your "acquaintance"?

"Then... I'll leave it to Chief Shiraishi." Kunikida couldn't bring himself to say anything in the end, and just muttered to himself.

Since Shiraishi says it's okay, then it's fine!
……

Kunikida didn't know how the chief and Takado became "acquainted," but it did have an effect—on Monday, Kunikida heard that Sakurai Jun had resigned from the Tokyo High Court, and the corrective overturning of the case from seven years ago was proceeding in an orderly manner.

Although many things are beyond redemption—such as Murano's suicide in prison, and Murano's son killing two people—but…

Regardless, Kunikida, having finally corrected the mistake of that year, still went to the detention center as promised and informed Murano Hikaru that his father's case had been reinvestigated—in fact, the evidence that was finally used to overturn the verdict.

……

Although Chief Justice Tomoaki Fukano of the Tokyo High Court was unwilling, he understood that with Kunikida's detailed investigation results, witnesses and physical evidence, the report delivered by Shiraishi Kuro, and even the Chief Justice Kodo's intervention, he had no choice but to admit that it was a miscarriage of justice after completing the formalities.

This is different from Shiraishi's previous reinvestigation of Ono's murder case—that was more than ten years ago, when most of the prosecutors and judges were no longer around, especially those who were in charge of leadership, who had long since retired.

And now...

Although Tomoaki Fukano was not the dean seven years ago, he was the deputy chief in charge of criminal cases. In other words, this "reversal of the verdict" made him lose face!
If it weren't for the overwhelming evidence, and the presence of Shiraishi Kuro and Chief Justice Kodo...

If any one of the three conditions is missing, Fukano might deny it—after all, the person is already dead!

The dead are the easiest to blame. The idea of ​​resisting with one's life is just a joke. Dying in prison is undoubtedly suicide out of fear of punishment.

However, with Shiraishi Kuro around, it means that if he goes too far, Shiraishi Kuro will be on his radar. Although Kodobe didn't say anything harsh, Fukano understood that this meant he would have difficulty rallying the entire legal community to cover for him. If he were to be reduced to a "one-on-one" fight with Shiraishi Kuro, he, as the president of the Tokyo High Court, might also be at risk of being "dismissed".

In this situation, Tomoaki Fukano had no choice but to accept it...

Sakurai also arrived at Dean Fukano's office early in the morning.

"You've seen it too, haven't you? With such overwhelming evidence, we can only admit it's a miscarriage of justice," Fukano said helplessly—as for other reasons, of course, he couldn't reveal them.

“I understand, this was indeed my mistake. If possible, I hope this can slightly ease the court’s situation at the subsequent press conference,” Sakurai said, placing the prepared resignation letter on the dean’s desk.

"No, that's not necessary. Everyone makes mistakes..." Fukano looked like a child politely declining a red envelope.

“It wasn’t just a mistake. I discussed the case with my lawyer and prosecutor before the trial. This incident made me question whether my actions were just,” Sakurai confessed.

"What? You...you actually did such a thing?" Fukano looked shocked, as if he had just found out.

Not to mention that the Beika Police Station had specifically mentioned this matter in the Murano Hikaru murder case, and that when he was the deputy director, he often made a point of scheduling Sakurai to appear in court hearings with Prosecutor Matsui and Attorney Kobayashi present...

However, Sakurai only had this feeling vaguely, and at this time he did not say it, but remained silent.

"Alas, there's nothing we can do about it..." Fukano sadly accepted Sakurai's resignation.

……

While the Tokyo High Court was in turmoil, Shiraishi had no time to pay attention to it. The police officers of the Beika Police Station were also busy at the time—the wealthy family's luxury car convoy had entered the roads of Beika Town, and the Beika Police Station was cooperating with the people of the main store to maintain order and carry out security work.

Since it was an "exhibition," the motorcade drove very slowly, about the same speed as a flower street parade, and there were quite a few people watching the spectacle along the way.

"This number is too much..." Shiraishi was in his office on the top floor of the Beika Police Station, looking out the window at the convoy outside—there were more vehicles than he had imagined!
Luxury cars, primarily for "classic collections," were driving by one after another; there must have been hundreds of them...

It seems that the prince's collection is even more astonishing than Whitestone had imagined.

"Hmm?" Shiraishi was just watching the excitement and didn't go over there himself, but at this moment, Shiraishi suddenly saw Takagi and Isshiki, the two young talents, running around in a hurry, meeting up and whispering something to each other by the roadside.

Shiraishi:……

Shiraishi immediately realized something was wrong!
Something's definitely going on...

Otherwise, if it's simply about ensuring security, it should be the security department that's involved. Since the First Investigation Division is here, there must already be a case.

How's it going on your end? Have you found the person?

Not yet. Inspector Megure has already notified the traffic department to cooperate.

There won't actually be an explosion...

[Ahem! Shh... There are a lot of people here.]

[Seriously, what are the higher-ups thinking? They won't even let us notify the Mihua Department for cooperation...]

Despite the distance, Shiraishi accurately read the lips...

So, Shiraishi took out his phone and dialed Takagi's number directly.

Takagi heard his phone ring and quickly glanced at it, only to find it was Shiraishi's number, which made him feel uneasy.

"What's wrong? You're not taking your girlfriend's call at this hour, are you?" Isshiki asked curiously when he saw this.

“No…it’s much scarier than a girlfriend, it’s Chief Mikasa,” Takagi said in a hoarse voice.

Isshiki: ...

(End of this chapter)