The First Investigation of Rookie Career Police Officer Akechi - Chapter 32
Chapter 32 : Visiting the Office
“It’s really become like a movie, hasn’t it? How do we gather evidence?”
Nakamura looked at Akechi and Kobayashi with a slightly excited expression. Seeing this, Akechi chuckled while sipping on strawberry milk. Akechi seemed relieved after getting Kobayashi and the others to listen to him. Kobayashi responded with a smile.
“Well, it’s not like we can just invade their hideout out of the blue, just like in the movies. I guess we should start by investigating Endo’s background.”
When Kobayashi said that, the three of them received notifications on their smartphones at the same time. Each of them checked their phones.
“It’s an email from my sister. It contains information about Endo.”
“Mayumi-san, I wonder if someone is listening to our conversation somewhere.” Kobayashi jokingly said that and then checked the email.
†?†?†
Based on the information Mayumi obtained from Specialist Takayanagi, Endo has been frequently visiting the Ministry of Defense as a former employee with expertise in NBC protection.
However, according to Takayanagi, Endo’s name was not found in the recent former employee association list, and Takayanagi himself admitted to not knowing much about Endo’s active-duty days. It was said that Endo might have retired quite a while ago.
It was mentioned that Endo has an office called “Endo Central Consultants” near the Ministry of Defense. A photo of the business card that Takayanagi had received previously was attached to the email.
When Mayumi checked the commercial registry and other records, it turned out that there was no entry for “Endo Central Consultants” at the address listed on the business card. In the real estate registry, there was an old house registered under a different name from Endo’s. However, even when checking online maps, it was unclear which building it referred to.
“Oh, suspicious! If this were a drama, they’d definitely be terrorists.” Nakamura exclaimed while looking at the email.
“Well, it could just be that Specialist Takayanagi doesn’t know about it by chance, or maybe it’s just a sole proprietorship without a registered business name. Still, it does seem suspicious.”
Kobayashi said that and laughed, then looked at the other two.
“All right, let’s go check out the office tomorrow.”
†?†?†
The next afternoon, the three of them were walking along a narrow alley in a residential area on the south side of the Ministry of Defense. Nakamura was guiding them with a copy of a residential map in hand.
“It’s at the end of the road, right ?” Nakamura said, pointing to a narrow passage between houses, just wide enough for one person to pass through.
“It’s quite an unexpected place, isn’t it?”
The narrow passage continued for a while, then curved to the left up ahead, making it impossible to see what lay ahead. The three of them entered the passage in the following order: Akechi, Nakamura, and Kobayashi. Akechi, who had turned left at the end of the passage, stopped and looked back at Nakamura and the others walking behind him.
“This, please take a look at it.”
Akechi was faced with a decaying wooden residence, its windows shattered, and the entire building leaning to the side, resembling a ruin.
“Assistant Inspector Akechi, there’s no doubt that Endo is a fake former employee and a terrorist! This place is definitely the terrorists’ hideout!”
“But, it’s still hard to believe they’d make use of this abandoned building…”
“Perhaps there’s a secret underground base.”
Nakamura took a photo of the ruins with her smartphone. Afterward, the three of them retraced their steps through the passage and began walking towards Yotsuya Station.
A bit further down the road, at a small crossroads, the three of them passed by two casually dressed men. They seemed to be checking their way on their smartphone maps. One of the men looked at Kobayashi for a moment, then turned away, looking at the street sign on the telephone pole.
A while after they passed each other, Kobayashi pretended to look at Akechi and Nakamura, who were walking side by side behind him, and when he confirmed that the two men from earlier were out of sight, he spoke to Akechi and Nakamura in a whisper.
“As a precaution, listen without turning around. The guys we just passed, they’re probably from Public Security.”
Akechi and Nakamura were surprised. Nakamura asked excitedly in a whisper.
“Amazing! How did you know? Is it their unique way of walking, typical of Public Security? Or is it the intuition of a veteran detective?”
“I’ve seen that face before when I used to work at the headquarters. Back then, he was with the Public Security Department.”
“What the, that’s so boring.”
“Does that mean they’ve noticed us too?”
Akechi asked with a concerned expression, and Kobayashi replied.
“Probably. I made sure they couldn’t see my face. Well, if there’s any contact, it’ll probably be tomorrow.”
The next day, Kobayashi received a summons from the Public Security Division. It was finally Kobayashi, the middle-aged man, who had been called in by the Public Security Division. Would this mean the end of Akechi and the others’ investigation, or…
Hi, If you like the novel, please let me know by leaving a rating or review for this series on Novel Updates (?? ? ??)
Translated by : Cutae30