Chapter 56: No Fierce Dragon Crosses the River

Although Tsubaki was merely making a mountain out of a molehill, Shiraishi... genuinely looked ready to give everyone a lecture.

Police officers handling cases across jurisdictional boundaries was indeed a taboo, and Shiraishi did not particularly enjoy meddling or interfering in the cases of other precincts.

However, this was Tokyo, where everyone's jurisdictions were crammed tightly within the urban center—it was not like the prefectures where each police department was responsible for a whole city. If officers were restricted by jurisdictional lines while pursuing violent criminals, it would simply be far too inefficient.

Especially in Kamurocho!

Were they supposed to stop pursuing violent syndicate members for illegal activities the moment those thugs fled into Kamurocho?

Is this Kamurocho or the Valley of the Evil Men?

Shiraishi did not know what the others were thinking, but...

Within the Eleventh Regional Headquarters, the other ten precinct chiefs held lower police ranks than Shiraishi and naturally sat a notch below him. As for Tetsu Tsubaki of the Kamuro Precinct... back when Shiraishi was merely a police inspector and a section chief, he had never been intimidated by him either!

As for Ganto Kaiji himself, although theoretically Shiraishi's direct superior and a rank higher, Shiraishi had adopted an attitude of "keeping things in-house" where the Regional Chief would supposedly uphold fairness. But...

Everyone understood that saying "let's keep things in-house" at a time like this was just a subtext for "if necessary, I'll blow the doors wide open"!

After all, this was Tokyo. The relationship between the Metropolitan Police Department and the various precincts was much closer than that between prefectural police headquarters and city police stations.

If they really went to the Metropolitan Police Department to argue the matter, when it came to "organized crime," the Organized Crime Control Department was Shiraishi's home turf; and as for other violent felonies...

The former head of the Criminal Affairs Department had already gone down with the former Minister of Justice, and the current head of Criminal Affairs, Toshiro Odagiri, was Shiraishi's former superior!

As for the other deputy superintendents and officials, they were even less likely to court such trouble. Superintendent Hakuba always played his cards close to his chest—usually acting like a harmless old man when idle, but shaking the earth whenever he made a move... If things escalated to the Metropolitan Police Department, it was hard to say who would come out on the losing end.

"Sometimes, if we're pursuing a wanted fugitive and the situation is urgent, there's nothing—" Sano, the precinct chief seated downstream, tried to ease the awkward atmosphere at that moment.

It wasn't quite that he was trying to speak up for Shiraishi; he specifically emphasized the pursuit of wanted fugitives.

However, Tsubaki slammed the table and interrupted him directly: "Sano! Is it your turn to speak?"

Sano was instantly choked up, his expression twitching as he failed to utter another word. Quite a few other precinct chiefs wore mocking sneers on their faces.

Shinichiro Sano, the chief of the Toriya Precinct, was also the youngest chief present besides Shiraishi, being only in his early forties...

Yet his status was the absolute lowest in the entire room!

Of the thirteen people present, Shiraishi and Ganto were true-blue "career track" officers, while the other ten were "quasi-career track"—both career and quasi-career officers had passed the civil service examinations, differing only in the tier they passed.

Only Sano was a non-career officer, meaning he had worked his way up from the front lines. He had achieved his position through major meritorious service and a great deal of fortune.

You could say he had reached the ceiling for "non-career officers" and even ran a precinct all by himself...

In the eyes of other non-career police officers, he was undoubtedly the ultimate role model and even a legendary idol. But in the eyes of the other precinct chiefs, he fell short by more than just a margin!

It carried the heavy undertone of: "You're nothing more than a beast of burden, how dare you even compare yourself to us?" Furthermore, Toriya Town had the smallest population and the fewest officers under its jurisdiction, mustering a mere fifty-odd personnel.

Even when Shiraishi and Tsubaki argued, Tsubaki wouldn't dare completely burn bridges, yet he felt entirely free to berate Sano at a moment's notice.

At that point, Ganto smiled and patted the glaring Tsubaki on the shoulder: "Don't be so serious! Well, Chief Shiraishi also makes a fair point. Younger brother Tsubaki, don't jump at shadows,哈哈哈..."

On the surface, Ganto seemed to be speaking up for Shiraishi, but... no matter how one looked at it, he was far closer to Tsubaki.

Despite being surprised by Shiraishi's aggressive "ferocious dragon crossing the river" entrance, and seemingly dodging the impact effortlessly on the surface, Ganto was actually rather pleased inwardly.

It was all the better if this "ferocious dragon" Shiraishi was willing to alienate the other precinct chiefs!

"Chief Shiraishi handled the matter involving Police Inspector Shirai exceptionally well this time. Although there were a few initial stumbles, he ultimately pulled off a brilliant comeback." Ganto paused for a moment before deliberately emphasizing, "Besides, the Miko Precinct had been overly zealous regarding violent cases previously. In truth, the Metropolitan Police Department could have handled it entirely, or our Regional Headquarters could have formed an internal task force. We all know the Miko Town branch is short-manned..."

"Thank you for your understanding, Regional Chief. However, everyone's manpower is tight, and I was hesitant to ask for help. Fortunately, the officers in the precinct are still capable, and the headquarters allocated elites to us this time... How could I possibly rely on the headquarters for everything?" When Shiraishi referred to the "headquarters," he meant the Metropolitan Police Department.

"Hahaha, as expected of you, younger brother Shiraishi... It really has to be you young people." Ganto naturally understood that Shiraishi had no intention of handing the case over to the Metropolitan Police Department.

Yet, regarding Shiraishi's recklessness, Ganto merely let out a hearty laugh, looking as though he greatly admired him.

Ganto harbored massive ambitions. As for Shiraishi, he still wanted to "break his spirit," or rather... "turn him into a loyal dog"!

If Shiraishi had been calculatingly scheming to rope in the other precinct chiefs to challenge him, Ganto would have had a real headache.

That was precisely why he had deliberately played Shiraishi's interview at the very outset, actively trying to build him up and cut him down before the other chiefs...

As for why Shiraishi dared to be so unyielding, a major reason was that he had no intention of climbing higher for now!

Even though Ganto was his direct superior... within the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, as long as one did not seek promotion, the Regional Chief only held advisory power over a precinct chief. Punishing him would require the Metropolitan Police Department itself to step in.

Watching Ganto's reaction, Shiraishi inwardly cursed him as a "smiling tiger," yet on the surface, he maintained a peaceful coexistence with him.

Just then, a knock sounded at the door...

"Hmm? My apologies, there must be an urgent matter within the precinct." Seeing this, Ganto offered an apology before rising to open the door.

"Please attend to your duties."

"It's to be expected..."

The others chimed in.

With Ganto gone, the atmosphere in the conference room grew even more awkward.

After Shiraishi put on the posture of a young man who had come to "rectify the Eleventh Regional Headquarters," the other precinct chiefs—aside from Tsubaki glaring at him—actually... backed down.

Even Tsubaki only dared to take out his frustration on Sano, who had tried to play peacemaker!

Shiraishi had been standing while speaking, but seeing that Ganto did not return immediately, he deliberately and boldly lowered himself back into his seat with an imposing air...

Today, Shiraishi might have appeared reckless, but... from the tone of his voice to his every physical movement, he was waging a psychological warfare campaign. This "reckless" persona had been deliberately established from the start.

Especially when combined with Lv8 (+2) [Intimidation], Shiraishi had achieved a sweeping victory in the psychological standoff with his colleagues present, completely holding down the venue.

He had successfully branded the minds of these precinct chiefs—who had initially looked upon him with disfavor—with the firm impression: "You must tuck your tail between your legs in front of this ferocious dragon."

As for Ganto's reaction...

Shiraishi realized that his [的精神 / Mental fortitude] was far more resilient than he had imagined!

At that moment, Shiraishi also observed the other precinct chiefs. They were not his subordinates, so their stats were hidden, but based on his own keen observation, he could tell that even without this stunt, aside from Sano who came from the front lines, no one else would have held any goodwill toward him anyway.

Now, at the very least, their stance had shifted from "I despise him and want to see him make a fool of himself" to "I despise him, but I dare not provoke him"...