Chapter 57 Who doesn't know that Chief Shiraishi is iron-faced and merciless...

The conference room was dead silent, save for the deliberate, slow tapping of Shiraishi's index finger against the tabletop...

At that exact moment, Ganto returned. The moment he stepped inside, his eyes locked onto Shiraishi, and he said with a beaming smile, "Well now... I do apologize for making a spectacle of ourselves!"

"Not at all, not at all. The Chief of Area Headquarters is a very busy man after all..."

Someone immediately chimed in with a flattering remark.

Shiraishi could also tell that within the 11th Area Headquarters, Ganto Ganzao had quite a few loyal precinct chiefs under his thumb, which spoke volumes about his formidable political maneuvering. Word had it that... Ganto had established his own network of connections within the Tokyo Metropolitan Public Prosecutors Office as well!

However, Ganto merely shook his head at this, sighing, "Ah, what kind of busywork is this? Someone actually came to plead for a favor..."

The surrounding precinct chiefs were taken aback upon hearing this. *You're just going to say that out loud like this?*

Could it be...

A case from another precinct?

Even if that were the case, there was no need to announce it in front of everyone!

Regardless of whether they intended to handle the matter or not, whatever guiding ideology the Area Headquarters Chief had should have been communicated in private...

Wait! Could it be...

The few quick-witted ones among them had already turned their gazes toward Shiraishi.

"It was the Section Chief of the Secretariat Division under the Minister's Secretariat at the Ministry of Finance. His father got tangled up in a tricky case this morning, and has already been invited down to the Beika Precinct to assist with the investigation..." Ganto blurted out directly.

A mere "section chief" naturally did not rank among the top brass within the Ministry of Finance. However, the "Minister's Secretariat" served as the core of every ministry, and a "Secretariat Division Section Chief" in particular was unquestionably on the fast track for promotion.

As the head of the Secretariat Division, such a person was even closer to the position of "Administrative Vice-Minister" than an ordinary bureau director.

While he might not have been in a position to directly slip notes to the police, his weight was certainly enough to "exert pressure" on a grassroots police precinct.

Of course, even so, this Section Chief Otani hadn't dared to approach Shiraishi directly; instead, he had bypassed him and gone straight to Ganto Ganzao.

This wasn't out of respect for higher rank or a desire to pressure Shiraishi through hierarchical weight, but rather because...

When Otani learned that his father had been hauled down to the precinct for questioning, his first instinct had been to storm the precinct chief's office and slam his fists on the desk. But then... upon remembering that the precinct chief was none other than "Shiraishi Kuro," Otani's mind had instantly gone blank with ringing terror!

He and Shiraishi Kuro were not acquainted, but how could he possibly not know what kind of man Shiraishi Kuro was?

The man didn't even care about the face of the Minister of Justice; what was an aspiring "Administrative Vice-Minister-in-waiting" like himself supposed to do against that? ...Better off going to Ganto Ganzao to plead his case instead.

"Hahaha, he certainly knocked on the wrong door. Who doesn't know that our Precinct Chief Shiraishi is a man who cannot tolerate a single grain of sand in his eyes!" Ganto offered Shiraishi a layer of thick grease with a flattering laugh.

With Zedeng included, quite a few precinct chiefs exchanged knowing, snide smirks at this...

This was deliberately roasting Shiraishi over an open fire!

Shiraishi, however, merely frowned slightly and replied, "We don't know the full story yet. But if the elder Mr. Otani has indeed broken the law, the legal system naturally won't show him any favoritism simply because of Section Chief Otani."

Shiraishi still did not know what had transpired, and as Ganto had mentioned, the man had only "gotten tangled up" in some case this morning, which was why Shiraishi refrained from making any definitive statements at this stage.

Only...

One thing Shiraishi could be certain of was that since Otani had been brought into the precinct to assist with the investigation, they must have dug up something substantial!

Otherwise, they would never have casually invited the father of a former and current Ministry of Finance official directly into the precinct—leaving aside the extra pressure brought by the other party's identity, Kunikida would never have permitted any irregular operational procedures...

"However, we originally planned to hold a welcome banquet for Precinct Chief Shiraishi this afternoon, but it seems that will have to be shelved for now... Let's make quick work of this, give our brief individual reports on last month's work, and then we'll adjourn!" Ganto clapped his hands together, putting on a show of consideration for Shiraishi while urging everyone along.

Normally, the monthly precinct chiefs' routine meeting consisted of morning reports followed by an afternoon gathering, except that...

Shiraishi was going to miss his very first gathering during his first week on the job!

Halfway through the meeting, Shiraishi sent a text message to Kunikida, instructing him to keep a close eye on the case and... send someone to drive his own car over to pick him up and bring him back to the precinct, with the spare key located right inside the precinct chief's office.

With an incident like this breaking out, Shiraishi had no choice but to work overtime.

After the meeting adjourned at noon, just as Shiraishi was about to leave...

Ganto went out of his way to say, "Precinct Chief Shiraishi, go ahead and do what you must. I've got your back!" With that, he reached out and patted Shiraishi encouragingly on the arm.

After Shiraishi departed, leaving only Zedeng and Ganto in the conference room, Zedeng deliberately inquired, "Old Brother Ganto, word from the Ministry of Finance has it that Otani is about to be promoted to Director-General of the Minister's Secretariat, doesn't it?"

The position of "Director-General of the Minister's Secretariat" was a crucial stepping stone on the path to becoming the "Administrative Vice-Minister." Once a person stepped into that role, they would leap instantly from being a "nobody" to a "somebody," transforming overnight from a "big shot in the eyes of ordinary folk" into a "truly heavyweight player"!

And the "Administrative Vice-Minister" was already the absolute pinnacle of the civil service...

Anything above that—Ministers, State Ministers, Parliamentary Vice-Ministers—were all "politicians," belonging to a completely different track from the "civil servants" who actually did the grunt work. If a politician had backing, you could tie a dog to a leash and still have it do the job; there were virtually no restrictions regarding true ability or seniority.

"Heh heh, well, that's just how things go. As police officers, after all, we must uphold the law impartially..." Ganto first struck a high-minded, virtuous chord, then chuckled softly, "Besides, if Section Chief Otani's father really went and did something like that, wouldn't that promotion to Director-General vanish into thin air? Hahaha..."

"If Otani is out of the running, then the one moving up into that slot would be... hmm, hahaha..." Zedeng gestured vaguely toward Ganto as he spoke.

If Otani was "snipped down" at this juncture, the person rising to fill that vacancy would be another Ministry of Finance official aligned with the faction of the newly appointed Minister of Justice, "Tetsuya Takamori"!

For Ganto, who had long since thrown his lot in with Minister Takamori, this development held nothing but benefits and zero harm...

Meanwhile, after stepping out of the Ekoda Precinct, Shiraishi climbed straight into the passenger seat of an Infiniti QX56.

As he got in, Shiraishi noticed that the person acting as his chauffeur was none other than... Shinji Yuzawa!

Taking in the identity of the driver, Shiraishi paused in his movements.

"Yuzawa, this is my personal car, and I'm still paying off the loan!" Shiraishi told him with a deadpan, stern expression.

Simultaneously, Shiraishi mentally cursed Kunikida—*Do you seriously not know who the person in your precinct with the highest rate of traffic violations is?*

"Chief! Don't you worry, I am perfectly capable of driving properly!" Yuzawa hurriedly offered a guarantee.

Shiraishi: ...

So, confirming his suspicions, you haven't been properly driving the precinct's official vehicles at all, have you?

"Do you know anything about old man Otani's case?" Shiraishi took a deep breath, deciding to prioritize the more pressing matter at hand.

"I know! We received an emergency call at 7:05 this morning. At the foot of the long flight of stairs on the north side of the Taimatsugawa Greenery Park, a male victim was discovered. I arrived at the scene by 7:30..." Yuzawa answered eagerly, having participated in the investigation of the case himself.

Hearing this made Shiraishi's frown deepen even further—a dead person... this was a homicide!

Initially, Ganto had only described it as a "tricky case," but Shiraishi had privately assumed—given that the man was the father of a Secretariat official and presumably advanced in age—that it couldn't possibly be violent crime, right?

As it turned out, this was far from your run-of-the-mill violent crime!

Yuzawa then proceeded to recount the details of the scene for Shiraishi...

"The victim is Yusuke Amano, 25 years old. The time of death was shortly before the emergency call was placed. The cause of death is quite clearly a fall down the long flight of stairs, and the traces and injuries at the scene are consistent with that. However... inside the victim's briefcase, his wallet was still there, but his cell phone was missing.

"Furthermore, the victim worked as a lifestyle consultant. Right up on the open ground atop the embankment above where he fell, a large group of elderly people doing their morning exercises had gathered, all of them hailing from the same nursing home—and that particular nursing home happened to be one of the ones serviced by the victim as a consultant..."

As he listened, Shiraishi analyzed the situation simultaneously—the missing phone, coupled with the multitude of connected individuals lingering near the crime scene, certainly pointed heavily toward foul play...