Conan: Chief of Rice Flower's Science Points

Chapter 446 Second Generation
After school, Yuto was speechless after receiving a message from the Beika Police Station...

Family members, who knows!
I stayed up all night on the weekend to open the package and find the sender at the Mihua Department Store. Although I didn't find them in the end, I really spent the whole night looking for them!

As it turns out, that unscrupulous chief inspector only glanced at the results in the morning before going to a meeting. And when he came back from the meeting, he actually made Yuuto go open the box after school...

Another long night is about to begin!

Thankfully, Yuto slept during class today, otherwise he would have really died of exhaustion today.

Even so, after seeing the list, Yuto immediately set off, carrying his notebook to the chief's office, where Section Chief Munakata was just talking to Shiraishi about the case.

“Chief Shiraishi, if I have to open all these accounts one by one, it would be more direct for you to just storm their headquarters and physically crack their database.” Yuto said, showing Shiraishi the long list of IDs—and this was just from one forum.

It has to be said that people are prone to speaking without restraint online. It's not uncommon for people who are usually very reserved to spout extreme opinions online...

Shiraishi then looked at the preliminary screening results of the cybersecurity class and found that there were indeed too many people. The Metropolitan Police Department's Cybersecurity Countermeasures Department was finally on the verge of being established this year, and local police stations were also starting to set up cybersecurity countermeasures sections under guidance. The prototype of this new course was the "Cybersecurity Class".

As for the technical capabilities of local police stations...

That's all!
Furthermore, Shiraishi would never allow them to open the boxes...

"It must be that their screening wasn't thorough enough. Let me take a look." Shiraishi shook his head after seeing the list given to Yuto—their overall technical capabilities were too poor, and they didn't even use their brains; they couldn't even handle big data screening!
As expected, Yuto alone is not enough. After all, Yuto is only an "advisor." Shiraishi needs someone who can be formally hired and has leadership skills.

I don't expect him to be technically superb, but at least he should be able to use his brain when doing things, leaving a few difficult challenges for Yuto to overcome.

"Let's eliminate those who also browse adult content. They've already vented their anger, so the possibility of them taking revenge on society is reduced... And those otaku who follow a lot of anime and manga don't have that kind of drive..." Shiraishi further ruled out.

Just as Shiraishi was clicking the mouse, deleting page by page...

"Hmm? Wait a minute..." Shiraishi suddenly scrolled back, then pointed to the following list and said, "This person... seems to appear quite often." He then clicked on it.

Shiro suddenly realized that about 40-50% of these outspoken brats were paying attention to the same person.

Moreover, you don't even need to open the box to access this ID!
Not only is the profile picture his own, but his identity is also written in his bio: Member of Parliament, Junichi Shikishima.

“Associate of the Shikishima Council…you’re the councilor who lives in Beika Town, right?” Shiraishi frowned as he looked at his profile picture.

Shiraishi has been in office as the local police chief for almost a year now, and he certainly knows all the important figures in the political and business circles in his jurisdiction!

only……

Bai Shi usually only "knows" or "remembers" these things, but he is not "familiar" with them.

Munakata nodded and said, "That's right, Representative Shikishima... Hmm, I remember he was a very xenophobic representative."

"Does Section Chief Munakata know him?" Shiraishi asked curiously.

“I know a little. This guy wasn’t always like this. After losing an election, he started inciting the expulsion of overseas workers and blaming everything on illegal immigrants…” Zongfang shook his head as he spoke, “Then he was elected by a large margin again, um… so he got a taste of success, huh?”

"By inciting... no, it should be said that by echoing populism to win votes?" Shiraishi finally understood.

Instead of examining yourself, blame others.

When many people in society are generally dissatisfied, as long as a "target" is pointed out and the reasons for everyone's dissatisfaction are attributed to them, it will naturally attract a lot of support... regardless of the facts.

After all, it is much more difficult to examine one's own laziness than to blame overseas workers for taking away one's job.

“But the kind of people who would do this kind of thing are the kind of people who would do it, it couldn’t be such a big shot, right?” Yuto then pointed to the accounts he was following.

Yuto clearly knew that only those who were incited would do such a stupid thing. How could the big shots who were using them do something so foolish themselves?

Yuto is indeed somewhat "arrogant," otherwise he wouldn't have been so clever as to go and monitor Black people's homes, steal back his own cards, and almost be mistaken for a murderer.

However, it must be said that Yuto is smarter than most people even in areas outside of computers.

But this time, Shiraishi shook his head and said, "Not necessarily... Even if it wasn't him, it might really be related to him!"

"What does the director mean?" Zong Fang didn't understand either—it was hard to imagine that this congressman in his fifties would be so stupid as to ride his bicycle every night, invite a few friends, and go around beating up overseas workers for fun...

“Actually, I just found out that there were quite a few cases like this in Beika Town a year ago. It was only after I took office that they started to subside in Beika Town…” Shiraishi paused and then said, “I’m going to be presumptuous and suspect that this is not a coincidence.”

Shiraishi reasonably suspected that this was because they were wary of him—after all, he had only been in office for a short time and had already "taken down" several members of parliament and officials...

To call it a coincidence is too much of a coincidence!
"In that situation, the people who would be wary of me would probably not be violent elements, but quite the opposite... official figures would have this feeling of shared misfortune... Of course, this is just my speculation."

Shiraishi's deduction is based on simple logic—if someone was frightened when he started investigating this vice minister or that member of parliament, then they are definitely not an ordinary violent criminal, but someone with status and position!

When Zongfang heard what Baishi said, he nodded and said, "I see... It seems that we do need to investigate this person."

Munakata didn't think that Shiraishi's speculation was "self-righteousness." Indeed, over the past year, Shiraishi had developed a kind of intimidating power that could deter important figures! Of course, to say that Shikishima Jundai hired people to beat up overseas workers every night would be somewhat illogical—what benefit would he gain from doing so?
Judging from his political career and the changes in his campaign slogans, he is a clever opportunist. It's impossible that he really fooled himself.
"Yes, but... before we have evidence, we should be careful with our words," Shiraishi reminded him.

Shiraishi also felt that this was somewhat illogical, unless...

"Do I still need to open the box?" Yuto asked.

"What do you mean by 'opening a box'? Don't put it so harshly. It's just a normal information screening... Hmm, we don't need to do the original screening anymore, but we need you to do a reverse information screening to see if this guy's immediate family members or close friends have any social media accounts online." Shiraishi said, pointing to Shikijima Jun's profile picture.

The only relatively plausible explanation is that it was done by someone close to Jun'ichirō Shikishima, and Shikishima couldn't completely stop their actions...

After arranging the work for tonight, Shiraishi instructed the two, "Then I'm off work... Yuto, hurry up, after eight o'clock we can't count the working hours for minors anymore. Section Chief Munakata, don't worry, Kotomi is with my sister. If you work overtime and don't come back, let her stay at my house."

Yuuto, Munakata:...

Yuto really wants to say, what does it mean that minors can't be paid working hours after 8 o'clock? I seem to remember it being that minors can't work after 8 o'clock!

Munakata also wanted to ask, where did his "childcare first" principle go? How did it inexplicably turn into telling Kotomi that "it's better for her to interact more with her peers"?
The two of them had a mouthful of saliva stuck in their mouths, unsure how to spit it out.

However, Shiraishi had already left work...

……

The next day, Tuesday, May 16th.

After a night and a morning of hard work, the case has made considerable progress. At least we have a direction for the investigation. In the afternoon, the investigation has yielded some results, so a search meeting was held to summarize the findings.

Because the case "faced special obstacles," Shiraishi naturally came to observe the proceedings in person.

Section Chief Munakata personally chaired the meeting…

"Last night, thanks to the efforts of our technical advisors, we discovered that the son of Representative Junichi Shikishima has been making dangerous statements targeting foreign workers online for the past two years. In addition, he has also posted suspicious activity on several occasions late at night using an anonymous account."

As Zongfang spoke, he showed everyone on the projector—it seemed this senator's son was quite the good-for-nothing...

Two years ago, his posts were already very unconventional. Starting two years ago, he began to show signs of extreme thinking. More directly, he would post things like "Killed the bugs again today" or "I still have to use a stick, otherwise my hands will get dirty" every few days late at night on an anonymous account that did not display an ID. Sometimes he would also post photos that seemed to be of a fight!

Although none of these can be considered direct evidence, they are enough to illustrate some points.

"Did the change begin two years ago..." Shiraishi nodded, while thinking that the Shikishima councilor had discovered the benefits of "inciting votes," which should have started four or five years ago. The two times were not synchronized.

At this moment, Yuan also raised his hand, stood up, and reported the results of his search that day...

“We visited the biography of Shikishima Junji and found that he changed his name... no, he changed his surname back to Shikishima two years ago. Until two years ago, he had taken his mother's surname.”

"The Shikishima couple divorced years ago, and because the Shikishima senator had not approved of his idle son for two years, Shikishima Junji did not change his surname even after coming to Tokyo to seek refuge."

"However, two years ago, something was discovered that could be a turning point for him..."

At this point, Yuan played a projection showing clips from newspapers and online news at the time—a group of young people stopped a theft committed by illegal immigrants as they passed by at night!
"Up until two years ago, Junji Shikishima had a very bad reputation in the neighborhood because he was unemployed and spent his days hanging out with his cronies. However, after this act of bravery, people's opinion of him changed, and... because this act of bravery also aligned with the political views of Representative Shikishima, it became an opportunity for the father and son to reconcile."

Then Yuan released more news, which included a photo of the father and son together...

That night, Junji Shikishima and his friend got drunk and were strolling around the streets when they saw someone trying to pry open a roller shutter door. They stopped them and beat up the two thieves. Later, they discovered that the two thieves were illegal immigrants.

Originally, this case itself wasn't anything special, but because of the thief and Junji's identities, they became "helpers" for Congressman Shikishima, which caused a lot of news to circulate at the time.

"It was after that time that, in the Beika and Kamuro areas, foreign workers who were leaving get off work late at night were frequently attacked. The perpetrators were a group of thugs on bicycles carrying batons. For various reasons... the case remains unsolved. However, it hasn't happened again in Beika since a year ago." Gen then began to talk about the case.

If this gang of thugs really is Junji Shikishima and his cronies, then the reason they are in Beika Town is naturally because they live there. And the reason they have spread to Kamurocho is because Kamurocho is a mixed bag, and many undocumented workers work there!
In the past two years, there have been more than 20 cases with police reports, and the frequency is getting higher and higher. Considering that in most cases the victims will not report the crime or the case will not be filed after the crime is reported, it is likely that three to five cases will occur every week, which has become the norm.

“However, Shikishima Junji is currently under house arrest, and we haven’t tried to go and inquire about him.” Gen then looked at Shiraishi for instructions.

"Yes, it's right not to alert them." Shiraishi nodded.

Shikishima is a member of parliament. If I were to visit him abruptly, he could easily refuse, and it would only make him more wary and serve no purpose.

Immediately afterward, Shiraishi asked, "Where are the others?"

After learning about Junji Shikishima's unique upbringing, Shiraishi finally understood why a "close friend who would warrant the intervention of a member of parliament" would act so thoughtlessly. Shiraishi believed that Junji Shikishima's actions over the past two years were not instigated by Junji Shikishima, and that he might have even tried to stop his son...

Junji Shikishima was clearly a rebellious kid with a strained relationship with his father. Because of his act of bravery two years ago, he suddenly felt recognized. At this point, given his intelligence, it would be difficult for his congressman father to explain to him that those claims were just a show for voters.

Therefore, not only did Junji Shikishima fully accept the extreme claims that his father had promoted in order to garner votes, but he also began to engage in extreme behaviors on a frequent basis.

However... Shiraishi knew that this was a criminal gang, and it was impossible for everyone to be a "second-generation with a special upbringing." Such murder cases with many perpetrators were actually easier to solve—since Shikishima Junji was being protected, they could start by investigating the others!

(End of this chapter)