The First Investigation of Rookie Career Police Officer Akechi - Chapter 16
Chapter 16 : Mysterious Person
Kobayashi and his two companions quickly finished the food and drinks on the table and headed to the back office of the restaurant. In the office, Noro had a laptop open and was waiting for them.
“I’ve opened up the data for March 23rd. I’ll head back to the kitchen, so feel free to take a look.”
“Thank you, Noro-chan. We really appreciate it.”
Kobayashi sat down in front of the laptop and began fast-forwarding through the surveillance camera footage, which was set up to capture the entire interior of the restaurant from the back to the entrance. Akechi and Nakamura leaned in from either side, peering at the screen.
“Ah, isn’t this Takayanagi-san?”
Nakamura exclaimed, and Kobayashi switched the data to normal playback. It was around 7:50 PM. Takayanagi opened the sliding door at the entrance and walked into the restaurant. Following him, Yoshida and Kadono entered and headed toward the 6-person table on the left side of the entrance.
“Huh? Only three of them?”
“Looks like they’ll be joined by others later.”
Upon seeing Yoshida and the others seated in the lower seats, Akechi responded. Kobayashi fast-forwarded the video. After a while, Takayanagi looked at his smartphone and called out to Kadono. Kadono went outside. It was exactly 8:00 PM. Kobayashi switched the video to normal playback and murmured.
“Here comes the mysterious person.”
The sliding door at the entrance opened. Following Kadono, a man in his 50s dressed in a suit walked in. He had short, salt-and-pepper hair and wore round glasses. His appearance seemed genuinely mild-mannered.
Following that, a woman in her twenties, dressed in a suit, entered. She had a short haircut and a strikingly androgynous appearance. She gave off more of a beautiful young man vibe than that of a woman.
‘Wait, I feel like I’ve seen this face somewhere…’ Kobayashi thought to himself. Just then, Akechi, who had been peering at the computer screen next to him, shouted.
“O-older sister !”
“Older sister ?!”
Kobayashi and Nakamura were both surprised at the same time. Akechi responded with a puzzled look.
“Yes, there’s no mistake. But why…”
Indeed, upon closer inspection of the woman’s face in the video, she bore an uncanny resemblance to Akechi.
“A-anyway, let’s keep watching until the end.”
With that, Kobayashi fast-forwarded the video.
†?†?†
In the surveillance camera footage, the group of five was seen engaging in conversation while enjoying their meal and drinks. It might have been fast-forwarded, but the woman who appeared to be Akechi’s sister was refilling her sake with incredible speed.
“Akechi-kun’s older sister sure can drink.”
“Yes, she loves sake and is a heavy drinker… W-what’s that?”
Akechi raised his voice. Kobayashi stopped the video and rewound it a bit before playing it at normal speed. As they watched, Yoshida passed an A4-sized brown envelope to the gray-haired man sitting opposite him.
“Is that perhaps a stack of cash?”
“No, it looks like some kind of documents.”
The gray-haired man opened the brown envelope, revealing documents secured with a paperclip inside. He glanced at the documents and exchanged a few words with Yoshida before placing the brown envelope back into his bag.
Afterward, the conversation continued for a while. Takayanagi seemed to be leading the discussion, and everyone appeared to be laughing. Kadono occasionally fiddled with his smartphone. The woman believed to be Akechi’s sister continued to drink sake without interruption. Takayanagi seemed to notice this and pointed at her, saying something, which resulted in everyone bursting into laughter.
“They appear to be on good terms, don’t they?”
Nakamura said this, and a little while later, it seemed like the gathering was coming to an end. Everyone stood up, settled the bill, and left the restaurant. Checking the time in the video, it was a little past 11:50 PM.
†?†?†
“Well, that’s a shock. I never expected she’d be Akechi-kun’s sister.”
When the video was paused, Kobayashi spoke to Akechi, who responded.
“Me too. I never expected to meet her, or rather, see her in a place like this…”
“Does your sister live in Tokyo? Do you know the gray-haired man next to her?”
“My sister is four years older than me, and she moved to Tokyo right after graduating from college. She currently lives in Komagome. As for the man next to her, I don’t know him. Perhaps he’s a colleague or superior from her workplace.”
“Her workplace? Could it be something like the CIA’s Japan branch?”
“She works at the Board of Audit.”
“Wow….”
“…In a way, it might be more serious than being a spy.”
Upon hearing Akechi’s response about the government office’s name, Nakamura and Kobayashi let out small groans.
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Translated by : Cutae30