Police Investigation

February 9
Metropolitan Police HQ, Chiyoda, Tokyo

Inspector Yamamoto walked with determination through the corridors, the sound of his footsteps echoing loudly off the walls. His expression said it all; he was here for answers and he wasn't going to leave without them. When he reached the interrogation room, one of the detectives inside opened the door for him. The older man said nothing, but looked through the window into the next room, where one of the armed men from the day before sat - a survivor of the deadly shootout. Despite the visible battle injuries, Yamamoto had insisted on talking to him earlier.

Detective Dojima, who had spent the previous night interrogating the suspect, still had dark circles from lack of sleep, but continued at Yamamoto's insistence. He knew this was personal for his friend and did what he could to help.

"The bastard is a foreigner; he doesn't even seem to speak Japanese."
"Shulyov Kvetoslav Artemovich."
"From the 8th Correctional Division, Belarusian Expeditionary Army, of the Alliance."
"According to military records, he was sent home at the end of the war."
"We have no idea how the hell he ended up on the other side of the world."
"No friends or family nearby; officially, he's just lost here," Dojima reported to his boss.

"Criminal record? Military operations he participated in?"

"Arrested five years ago for drug trafficking, sentenced but pardoned in exchange for military service."
"Standard tactics in Europe, especially during times of great war."
"He served on the Eastern Front and participated in the Battle of Poland."
"His division was mainly responsible for the lines of defense."
"Took part in the capture of Katowice, despite casualties."
"Despite this, no medals or commendations."

"Someone who does the bare minimum when asked."
"He doesn't seem very patriotic or motivated by the cause."
"He didn't have a real job, joined the army, survived the war, thought he was bulletproof and tough, had military skills, and took the first mercenary job that came his way."
"Guys like him are usually hired to be the villain's henchmen in movies."
"They're promised good money, and they accept, not realizing that they're really being used as disposable assets."
"The guy doesn't know it, but he's already unemployed," the old man said.

"Would you like to talk to him?"
"I can give you a few minutes, I'll make sure to turn off the camera."

"Thank you."

Yamamoto turned and entered the room with the suspect. Without saying anything, he sat down at the table and remained silent for a moment, waiting to see the man's reaction while mentally considering how he could kill the man and get away with it. The man who was tied to the chair, uncomfortable with the presence of his new interrogator after a long night of questions, tried to move away.

"У меня нет ничего сказать"
"Я даже не знаю, где черт возьми я, я ничего не знаю"

(I have nothing to say)
(I don't even know where the hell I am, I know nothing)

The foreigner spoke in Russian, ignoring any attempt to communicate with the officers. The old man looked at the man in front of him without raising an eyebrow before responding with complete regularity.

"Я думаю, ты не осознаешь, в какой ситуации находишься, так что позволь мне лучше объяснить"
"Сейчас тебя обвиняют в терроризме, захвате заложников, незаконном владении оружием"
"Ты также атаковал больницу, будучи еще в составе белорусской армии"
"Поэтому к обвинениям можно добавить военные преступления, ложное флаг-атаку, дезертирство"
"И, чтобы завершить, попытку убийства высокопоставленного члена Альянса, находившегося в дипломатической миссии в нашей стране"
"Поэтому мы также можем предъявить обвинение в государственной измене"
"Такие "проблемные" личности обычно исчезают по вмешательству спецслужб и никогда не становятся новостью"
"Сейчас министр обороны Белоруссии, наверняка, молится по телефону, что не имеет к тебе никакого отношения"
"Так что ставится на карту настоящий вопрос..."
"Ты хочешь столкнуться с обвинениями в измене здесь, на Западе, и ответить за государственную измену дома?"
"Я слышал, что в России есть особые способы обращения с предателями"
"Тебе, наверняка, понравится мазох и стена?"
"Если только они будут милосердны и захотят действовать быстро; в противном случае всегда есть Воркута как вариант"

(I don't think you understand the situation you're in, so let me explain it better)
(Right now you are being prosecuted for terrorism, hostage-taking and illegal possession of weapons.)
(In addition, you attacked a hospital while still on duty with the Belarusian army.)
(Which means we can add charges of war crimes, false flag attack, insubordination.)
(And to top it off, you attempted to assassinate a high-ranking member of the Alliance who was on a diplomatic mission in our country)
(Therefore, we can also add the charge of high treason)
(Troublesome individuals like you often disappear through some intelligence agency and never make the news)
(Right now, I'm sure the Belarusian Defense Minister is begging on the phone that they have no connection to you in any way.)
(So what's at stake, the real question is .....)
(Do you want to be accused of treason here in the Western Bloc or face high treason charges back home?)
(I hear they have special ways of dealing with traitors over there in Russia)
(I'm sure you'd like the hammer and the wall?)
(If they're feeling merciful and want to be quick, otherwise there's always Vorkuta as an option)

Yamamoto replied in Russian, mocking his guest. The chained man knew exactly what the old man meant; he had seen it with his own eyes. He knew that if he returned home, he would be a dead man walking. The government would throw him under the bus to save themselves from a massive international problem. They would execute him in public to appease the other leaders of the Alliance. He didn't really know what he was getting into when he took the easy money, and now his life was permanently ruined. Most of his comrades were dead; he had seen how the man in front of him had not hesitated to kill his comrades without a second thought. The only thing left for this man to do was to try to hold on to the only chance he had to grow old, too.

"Я ничего не знаю, но не потому, что не хочу рассказывать, а потому, что не знаю ничего о самой работе.
Они заплатили мне половину аванса, я сел в фургон, и они отправили меня на самолете сюда"
"Потом мне просто сказали держать склад, пока не появится другой фургон, и мы улетели из страны другим самолетом."
"Работа должна была занять всего два дня, они дали нам план на листе бумаги."
"Я не знал большинства людей, с которыми был, были люди, говорящие на других языках, о которых я никогда не слышал."

(I don't know anything, not because I don't want to tell you, but because I really don't know anything about the job itself).
(They paid me, half up front, I just got in a van and they sent me here on a plane.) (Then they just told me to guard the warehouse until another van showed up and we took another plane out of the country).
(It was supposed to be just a two-day job, they gave us the plan already made up on a sheet of paper).
(I didn't know most of the people with me, there were people speaking other languages that I had never heard before).

"вы просто сели в фургон, не задавая никаких вопросов"
"Вы знали, что вы тупой, но у вас не было здравого смысла? Нет инстинкта самосохранения?"
"А если бы фургон был фургоном торговцев органами, вы бы тоже туда сели?"
"Они сказали вам что-то, я хочу, чтобы вы повторили это теми же словами, что и они"
"Имя, место, компания, мне все равно, что это, но мне нужно что-то большее, чем добрые пожелания"
"Иначе вы нам не нужны"

(You just jumped into a van without asking, huh?)
(You knew you were stupid, but no common sense? No sense of self-preservation?)
(What if the van belonged to organ traffickers? Would you have gotten in anyway?)
(They said something to you. I want you to repeat exactly what they said.)
(A name, a place, a company, I don't care, but I need more than good wishes.)
(Otherwise, you're no good to us.)

"Они не сказали ничего особенного, это не ложь"
"К тому же я уже не помню, что именно они говорили"

(They didn't say much, that's not a lie.)
(Also, I don't remember exactly what they said).

"Ну что ж, господин Шулёв, большое спасибо за отказ от сотрудничества"
"Мы закончили, скоро приедет черная волга"

(Well, Mr. Shulyov, thank you very much for your non-cooperation.)
(We are finished here, A Black Volga will come to pick you up soon)

"Нет, подождите, у меня есть кое-что! Клянусь!"
"I.S.C.! Это был I.S.C.!"
"На одном из ящиков с оружием был их логотип, у одного из тех, кто передал его нам, тоже был такой логотип"
"Конечно, этот ящик среди улик, нет, это доставили они, он не был украден!"

(No, wait! I got something! I swear!)
(The I.S.C.! It was the I.S.C.!)
(One of the gun cases had their logo on it, as did one of the men who delivered it.)
(Surely that crate is part of the evidence, right? It was delivered by them, not stolen).

Inspector Yamamoto finally had a lead, so he was no longer interested in the other man. He simply left the interrogation room, leaving the fate of the chained man in doubt. When Dojima turned the camera back on, only a few minutes had passed in which nothing had been revealed; no one had seen anything, no one knew anything. The old man told his apprentice about the supposed connection to the I.S.C., and they both began to work on the new information. As Shulyov had said, among the crates was the crow logo that marked it as I.S.C. property. By looking up the serial number, they could see that it was indeed a crate made in Europe, and that it was supposed to be in an I.S.C. warehouse in England. Inspector Yamamoto was focused mainly because he and Adelis had been the clear targets of the attack.

The I.S.C. had recently arrived in Japan after one of its R&D bases in Oslo was destroyed in the Imperial attack on the city. Fearing that the war would destroy another extremely expensive technology laboratory, the Alliance sought safer locations farther from Europe. Among these, Japan was quite willing to offer itself and even made several deals to attract the foreign company - a move that was certainly unheard of for Japan, which was extremely protectionist about its domestic industry. The president of Intelligent Systems Computers, Mr. Damien Raven, came for several months to handle all the negotiations between his company and the Japanese government, as well as its defense industry and the Ministry of Defense. The agreement quickly led to the establishment of the new technology and defense research center, Rose Raven Tower, in Marunouchi, Tokyo. The current head of operations was a researcher named Brandon. Although he did not seem to be good at running a business per se, he was a scientific genius, and for now, with the laboratories being built to the highest technological standards, that was exactly what was needed. It seemed that Mr. Brandon would have to relinquish the position of head of the Japanese branch to someone else once the construction of the tower was completed. However, although that date was near, it had not yet arrived. Therefore, Yamamoto thought that if the I.S.C. was the real culprit, the order to take hostages must have come from or passed through Mr. Brandon at some point.

But everything came to an abrupt end when a couple of men in suits arrived at the police station: several agents of Naichō, the Cabinet Intelligence and Research Office, in other words, the Japanese CIA. The men arrived and immediately went to the evidence room and started taking things without specifying what they were taking. One of them, Mr. Miyazaki, appeared to address his former colleague Yamamoto.

"What do you think you're doing? This is an ongoing investigation!"
"These are our case files! You can't just take it!"
"What do you think we're going to tell the public?"

"Mr. Yamamoto, I regret to inform you that your investigation into the Tokyo docks shooting is now under our jurisdiction."
"We will take over the evidence, your suspects, and please also hand over all your notes on the incident, if you would be so kind."

"Damn it, Miyazaki, don't try to play tough with me. I'm the one who saved your ass for your failures in the past."
"They tried to kidnap my granddaughter and me, do you think I'm going to let that go so easily?"
"And what about the Alliance Coordinator? How will the Japanese government explain to the European Union or the United States their lack of involvement in her abduction investigation?"

"Don't worry, as I said before, my department will handle such problems."
"Besides, the harbor incident didn't make the news, thanks to my guys going out of their way to keep the police's face out of the public eye."
"You know how this works, we have done it many times together."
"The papers and the computer, please."
"I don't want to arrest my kind sensei after he retires for obstructing national security," the man in black said, showing his gun at his waist, a slight mockery of his former teacher.

"Do you expect me to just let myself be killed the next time someone shady comes into my house?"

"Of course not, self-defense is certainly valid."
"But as far as this investigation is concerned, it's no longer your case."
"Please, I won't ask again."

"Take it yourself, I'm not old enough to carry shit all over the place anymore."

That was the last thing Inspector Yamamoto said before he left his own office. The old man was quite angry about what had just happened, seeing how the government he had worked for and sacrificed years of his youth for repaid him by not caring about the kidnapping of his granddaughter. He was even disappointed in himself for really getting in the way, but keeping his job to secure Haru's future was more important than himself. Taking a break to clear his mind of everything that had happened, the inspector decided to go to a shop near the police station, a restaurant that was quite popular among young people. It was his own granddaughter who had told him about this place, and he decided to see why and give it a try. Although the prices were a bit high, it was noticeable that people came mainly for the ambiance, as he saw that despite the pressure of Japanese society to work fast and not waste time, it didn't resonate as much with the young people who sat in the shop drinking coffee and hanging out instead of ordering it to go or checking their phones. The old man got a little carried away and did the same thing when he ordered his coffee; instead of heading for the exit, he simply walked to an empty table and began to observe the surroundings, enjoying the here and now.

Unfortunately, work found him in his seat when out of nowhere a young woman approached the table where he was sitting. She was quite beautiful, elegantly dressed, though her qipao was rather revealing. She was carrying several large books that were clearly educational in nature. The inspector recognized her easily; she was Mrs. Adelis' errand girl. The fact that she was here was no coincidence and was nothing more than an excuse to approach him without attracting attention now that Naichō was nearby. She didn't say a single word she just sat down and started working on one of the books she brought. She then put a cell phone on the table, it was black and quite well cared for, so much so that it even seemed completely new, the kind that a girl would not have without a case, sticker, or some accessory. Shortly after the phone began to ring, I was receiving a call. But the girl didn't flinch at the sound, she didn't even bother to see if she answered the phone. The Inspector realized then that this call was actually for him, so without saying anything he also picked up the phone and answered the call.

"Mr. Yamamoto, how are you?" said the woman on the other end of the phone.

"I'm fine, thank you. It's always amusing to find oneself in a gunfight from time to time," Mr. Yamamoto replied.
"But as far as work is concerned, well, I think the story is quite different."

"I'm sorry to hear that, Xian just told me what happened," she continued.
"It's hard to believe that it was Naichō himself who was involved in the end."

"It's not them; clearly someone else screwed up, and they're the ones cleaning it up," Mr. Yamamoto explained.
"Before they took everything from me, I managed to get what was important. "
"It seems the I.S.C. was behind it."
"I still have no idea why, exactly."

"Seriously? Them again?" she exclaimed.
"It wouldn't be the first time... They seem a little upset after my son slipped through their fingers."

The last sentence left Mr. Yamamoto rather confused for a moment. He was close enough to Mrs. Adelis to know exactly what had happened to her son - the poor man who had died in the Battle of Oslo while saving one of those I.S.C. machines. Mr. Yamamoto had even attended the funeral to support his friend in her time of grief. Still, he knew that Mrs. Adelis was not one to have a weak mind; otherwise, she would never have reached the high position she held. So it struck him as odd that she would speak of her son as if he weren't dead, or confuse him with the white monster she had unleashed that now seemed to live with her. Perhaps it was just the delayed shock of such an incident that had begun to affect her, and she wasn't as calm on the inside as she seemed on the outside.

"Are you all right?"
"Remember, you can always count on me if you need to talk to someone," the old man asked, worried about his friend's mental state.

"I'm fine, don't worry."
"Don't take what I just said so seriously," the lady corrected when she saw the little slip she had just made.
"Even though you're right"
"Talking to a friend is just what I need right now."

"All right."
"I imagine it must be important for such an unorthodox method to call me."

"I think you are somewhat up to date with what happened, but let me tell you quickly anyway."
"They came the day before yesterday and kidnapped Haru at school, Maria at the hospital, and me near my house.
"They tried to do the same to you at your house, but you managed to stop them."
"Thanks to that and your interrogation, my security team was able to make a successful rescue."
"Thanks to the quick rescue, I am still alive."
"If we assume that the real culprit behind all this is the I.S.C. with its vast resources behind it."
"......."
"I'm going to be direct with what I'm about to say."
"If the I.S.C. were really the ones who wanted to kill me and find a way to dispose of my body outside the country, or something like that."
"My daughter would have met the same fate, and most likely your granddaughter Haru as well."
"We were lucky this time, but we have no idea what they are up to."
"But one thing is for sure, if they are not afraid of the consequences of going after important people like us, it can only mean that they will try again."

Inspector Yamamoto remained silent as he listened to his friend's explanation. He knew as well as she did that the company was responsible for what had happened. It wasn't just someone talking into the wind; the only evidence he had in his hands for a second also pointed to that place. Besides, he knew his girlfriend; she was not someone who would do something without thinking about it several times before doing it. He knew for a fact that she was probably reading the notes from some notebook right now with her glasses on.

"With Naichō's intervention, one thing is clear: if the I.S.C. is behind this, it means they have important people in the Japanese government on their side," the woman continued on the phone.
"That would explain why they suddenly stopped your investigation of the case and covered up the shooting at the docks."
"I want to know exactly what is going on here and make sure they never bother us again."
"But to do that, I need allies, people I can truly trust to watch my back."
"This has nothing to do with the Alliance or any government; this is just a mother worried about her daughter."

The inspector looked around as she spoke, looking at the happy people. There were no worried faces on the faces of the young people in the restaurant. All of them ignored what could be happening in the shadows. Among a group of girls who were also enjoying coffee, he saw the face of a certain girl, he did not know her, but her hairstyle and the way she was dressed reminded him a lot of his granddaughter. She was another victim of the events and like him now, he couldn't do much to protect her without ruining her opportunities and future studies.

"What do you need?" the old man asked in a serious tone.

"If we want to catch the I.S.C., we need them to stop paying attention to what they are doing."
"We need them to believe they are safe."
"So I need you to say that this whole case is going nowhere."
"That way, the government and Brandon will think they got away with it and they will go back to business as usual."
"I don't think your superiors will scold you or bother you about this, since there has been almost no media impact, and it will also benefit them if you stop investigating it."

What Adelis was asking was not an easy task: to let the perpetrators of his granddaughter's kidnapping go unpunished? To let another corrupt agency take charge of the investigation, to ignore everything that had happened, to be complicit in the violence that would follow because of that decision. But old Yamamoto was no saint when it came to justice; he knew how this world worked because he had been a part of it. It was because of those same past actions that he was trying to make amends now, while he still could. He wanted to leave a memory that his granddaughter could look at and be proud of her grandfather's work. But also, if he didn't seek allies, that same granddaughter would be a victim of the cruel and unjust world that lurked beneath the surface.

"And what do I win?" said the inspector.

They were the words he always said when he got a new job. Some almost regulatory words if he wanted to keep the job he had before, because depending on the answer it would be worth or not the risk that always came next. The same words I thought he would not say again once he became a police officer.

"Well, we know that your granddaughter can be a target again".
"So I thought that in addition to mutual cooperation.
"We can help you protect Haru."
"My team has the perfect excuse to be close to her, and if they become friends with her, we can undoubtedly make sure that she is almost always accompanied by people who can defend her."
"Basically, I am offering you two of her classmates as her bodyguards."

The old man was once again surprised by what his friend was proposing. At first, he thought that maybe our granddaughter's teacher, the same girl who sat next to her at the table, would be the one who could watch over her. But if she said that they were two of her classmates, it means that they must be quite young and therefore inexperienced. Besides, it was unlikely that she could find people for such a job.

"I know it sounds a little crazy, but believe me"
"But I can personally assure you that they are quite capable and reliable.
"I love them almost like my own children."

This filled the inspector with doubts about who these people could be. And he was right, because if he accepted such an arrangement, he would have to trust them to protect his granddaughter.

"And how can I be sure that they are trustworthy?" the old policeman asked.

"Well, you've already seen them in action."
"They were both the same people who saved me from being kidnapped."
"The same kidnapping I rescued your daughter "

"The white girl?" the old man said.

The inspector remembered . A little girl, almost completely white. The same person who was responsible for the deaths of several soldiers that the government and the I.S.C. are now trying to hide.

"So have you seen them yet?" said Adelis.
"Well, I imagine your daughter has already told you about her two strange new classmates".
"The girl with the fox ears and the albino girl."
"Those two are the people who saved me and the ones who would protect your granddaughter again if necessary.
"So what do you think?"
"Can I trust you?"

But even with that, the inspector doubted whether he should accept his friend's proposal or not. For although he could intuit how effective they could be, they were still unknown to him. And if they were going to be responsible for Haru, they would have to be someone he could trust completely.

"You don't have to answer me right now."
"Go ahead, take a few days to think about it"
"I just wanted to update you on what happened and remind you that you are not alone in this."
"Keep the phone, we do not know if your other phones are being monitored, but it is better to be safe than sorry.
"I also invite you to come back to my shop"
"I've even got a good name for it."
"The White Moon Cafeteria"
"Doesn't that sound great?" the lady said with a smile that could be seen even on the phone.

"I appreciate it."
"Thank you," Mr. Yamamoto replied to the gesture of kindness.

Right after the call ended, the inspector got up from the table to go back to work. He knew that even if he agreed to the deal or not, it would not end his work. Especially now that he had even more things to do, because his interest in the aforementioned girl had completely changed. The inspector wanted to know first hand who he was dealing with and to see if she was capable of protecting the person most valuable to him.