Chapter 77: Kinjo Heiji’s Intuition, Taking Charge as the Head of the Family

A sudden crash echoed through a private room in an izakaya. Jinjo Heiji, his face dark with gloom, slammed down his glass so hard that the liquor inside sloshed and splattered onto the table.

“This case is definitely wrong!” he declared with absolute conviction. Long experienced in criminal investigations, he laid out his reasoning. “Kitano Kyoka may have confessed with his own mouth, but when I saw him, he was clearly the picture of despair, as though he had already accepted his fate. His soul was dead!”

“Mikami Masako nearly had her head hacked clean off. A killer who could commit such a brutal act must be mentally twisted and extreme. Even if such a person were caught, even if he confessed outright, he would never look like Kitano Kyoka afterward.”

“Jinji-san.” Takizawa Mabu could not bring himself to agree with his friend this time. “Don’t forget that the skin cells under Mikami Masako’s nails were left by Kitano Kyoka. If he isn’t the killer, then who is?”

He felt that Jinjo Heiji had simply let his bias against Aoyama Shushin distort his judgment.

“That part is what I can’t figure out either. But I still feel he’s definitely not the killer. There must be something we don’t know.” Jinjo Heiji frowned so deeply his brows nearly met. He drained the remaining half-glass of liquor in one swallow, wiped his mouth, and said, “I’ll keep digging. I have a feeling Aoyama Shushin is hiding something in this case. If I can uncover the truth, then I’ll make him pay for it.”

“A feeling? Feelings are useless. The law recognizes only evidence.” Takizawa Mabu shook his head.

“No.” Jinjo Heiji denied it at once, his expression earnest. “For us police officers, intuition matters. Evidence is often something we find through intuition. My instincts are absolutely right!”

Takizawa Mabu was left speechless. He only wanted to end the conversation as quickly as possible. “If you believe Kitano Kyoka isn’t the killer, then it means the real murderer is still at large. And given how perverse he is, once he escapes this crisis his confidence will swell, he’ll grow contemptuous of the police, and he’ll certainly strike again soon. If a similar case really happens again, then I’ll believe you’re right.”

“Exactly. If another similar case happens, I’ll see how Aoyama Shushin explains it!” Jinjo Heiji was already beginning to look forward to the killer’s next crime.

What neither of them knew was that the very real murderer they were discussing was already preparing to strike again.

In a dimly lit room, the man who had killed Mikami Masako, Miyanokyo Ryuo, sorted through the tools he would use for his second crime while his mind wandered in chaotic circles.

During his first offense, he had been relatively cautious. A week in advance, he had sabotaged the surveillance at the target location. Along the way, he discovered that Mikami Masako’s front door had not been properly shut, and feeling as though heaven had sent him a gift, he changed targets on the spot.

But in the end, his experience had been insufficient. He had failed to smother her with a handkerchief as they do in films, and instead awakened the unconscious Mikami Masako. In the end, he had no choice but to hack her to death with a kitchen knife, making the scene horribly bloody.

Yet while slaughtering Mikami Masako, the act had stirred his own thirst for blood. Depriving one of his own kind of life in that way gave him an even greater thrill.

After the murder, he had been nervous, afraid the police would find traces and arrest him. But to his utter astonishment, the Metropolitan Police closed the case in two days and casually arrested some poor wretch.

That sent his confidence soaring. He felt he had overestimated the police before and that there was no need for such caution. So he had already impatiently prepared for a second crime, and his target was the one he had chosen earlier, the one living on the same floor as Mikami Masako.

Not merely because he had already scouted the place and it was convenient.

More importantly, doing so would give him the thrilling sense of provoking the police. Through this crime, he intended to prove to the world that he had not been caught, and to slap the police hard across the face.

Just thinking about it nearly sent him into ecstatic reverie.

“This is getting rather exciting,” Miyanokyo Ryuo murmured with a grin of anticipation.

Meanwhile, Yamakawa Kazushiro had only just driven all night back to his home in Kanagawa Prefecture. The moment he entered the living room, he saw that his father and elder brother had already been waiting for him.

Compared with his own round, plump figure, Yamakawa Yosuke cut a far more impressive shape: tall and handsome.

“Father. Brother.”

Yamakawa Kazushiro bowed to each of them in turn.

“Hmph!” Yamakawa Yosuke’s displeasure was obvious.

Yamakawa Jō held a composed expression and said in an even, unruffled tone, “Kazushiro, the Yamakawa family is a single body, not just you alone. I know your contributions were indispensable in gaining a foothold in Tokyo, so I allowed you to make personnel arrangements. But you cannot keep all the spoils for yourself, can you? Do you know how many people have complaints about the way you’re handling this?”

“Yes!” Yamakawa Kazushiro admitted his fault without hesitation.

“Sort out your arrangements in Tokyo and hand them over to me. I’ll redistribute everything fairly. You won’t be shortchanged.” Yamakawa Jō’s tone was firm.

“Understood!” Yamakawa Kazushiro replied again.

Yamakawa Jō’s expression softened somewhat. In a voice heavy with paternal concern, he said, “For the Yamakawa family to grow from Kanagawa into Tokyo was no easy feat. Kazushiro, I am already old. The future belongs to you. You must support your brother Yosuke well and help the Yamakawa family flourish.”

“Yes!” Kazushiro could only answer with that single word.

Yamakawa Jō waved his hand. “You may all go.”

“Yes!” After bowing, Yamakawa Kazushiro withdrew.

“Father, Yosuke takes his leave as well.” Yamakawa Yosuke departed too. Once outside, he said to Yamakawa Kazushiro with a hint of smug satisfaction, “Hurry up and finish what Father just told you to do. Don’t keep him waiting too long.”

So what if it was your contribution that allowed the Yamakawa family into Tokyo? In the end, wasn’t it all just being done for my benefit?

I am the elder brother, the heir to the Yamakawa family!

Yamakawa Yosuke disliked Kazushiro because Kazushiro’s excellence only made him look useless, and he always had the feeling that his younger brother coveted the position of heir.

“Yes!” Yamakawa Kazushiro’s face remained expressionless.

Yamakawa Yosuke could at least understand that his younger brother might be feeling unhappy, and did not bother to argue. He simply swept away with a flick of his sleeve, not looking back as he said in a lofty tone, “My foolish younger brother, I hope you will not make such a mistake again and upset Father.”

Yamakawa Kazushiro watched his brother’s retreating figure with cold detachment.

The reason he had held the personnel authority over Tokyo’s businesses in a vice-like grip, and even disregarded the dissatisfaction of the rest of the Yamakawa family, was precisely because he had never intended to give it back.

After leaving his father, Yamakawa Yosuke did not return to his residence in Kanagawa. Instead, he drove through the night back to Tokyo. After seeing the city’s splendor, he could not bear to spend even a moment longer in Kanagawa.

He had once opposed going to war with the Noguchi Group and expanding into Tokyo. Now, he was the one most infatuated with Tokyo.

There were few cars on the road in the early hours, and in high spirits, Yamakawa Yosuke drove quickly with the car stereo playing.

Before long, three cars with Tokyo Shinagawa plates appeared behind him. They overtook him at high speed, then began slowing directly in front of him.

“Bastards!”

Seeing the brake lights flare ahead, Yamakawa Yosuke jumped in alarm and cursed loudly. He slammed on the brakes, and with a screech of tires grinding against the pavement, the car rapidly slowed and came to a stop.

The three cars that had cut him off quickly reversed and surrounded him, and only then did Yamakawa Yosuke realize something was wrong.

At that moment, the rear window of the car beside the driver’s seat rolled down, revealing Yamakawa Kazushiro’s plump face.

“Brother, get in. I’ll give you a ride.”

As he spoke, several men had already gotten out of the other two cars and violently smashed Yamakawa Yosuke’s windows. Shards of glass scattered across the ground.

“Yamakawa Kazushiro, have you lost your mind? Are you trying to rebel?” Yamakawa Yosuke demanded in shock and anger.

Yamakawa Kazushiro merely smiled and said nothing.

“How are you going to explain this to Father?”

The car door was opened at once, and a gun was pressed to Yamakawa Yosuke’s head, silencing him. He was forced into Yamakawa Kazushiro’s car and made to sit beside him.

The vehicles started again and headed toward Tokyo.

Yamakawa Yosuke was truly panicking now. He knew just how ruthless this younger brother could be. His face drained white as he stammered, “Kazushiro, don’t do anything foolish. I’m your elder brother! How about this: the Yamakawa family will be yours to inherit. I don’t want it. I don’t want any of it!”

“Don’t worry. I may dislike you very much, but I’m not going to kill you.” Yamakawa Kazushiro’s tone was gentle as he spoke. He picked up the briefcase beside him and stuffed it into Yamakawa Yosuke’s lap. “Your passport and other documents are in here. Your ticket has already been booked. Go live in America for a while and come back in two years.”

“Also, your people are currently going through some rather unpleasant matters, so don’t contact them. I’d hate for it to inconvenience them or bring them misfortune. My dear brother, any problems with that?”

Yamakawa Yosuke was both shocked and furious, but faced with Yamakawa Kazushiro’s question, he could only swallow his bitterness and shake his head.

For his passport and other documents to have been obtained so quickly meant that Yamakawa Kazushiro had people around him all along. That made him feel like a complete failure.

But no one is willing to admit defeat.

So what he felt instead was even greater hatred for Kazushiro’s cunning.

“Don’t look at me like that.” Yamakawa Kazushiro patted his face and said coldly, “You should be grateful we share the same father and mother. Otherwise, where I’m sending you tonight wouldn’t be America, but heaven.”

Yamakawa Yosuke swallowed hard.

While Yamakawa Kazushiro personally escorted his elder brother to the airport, several of the Yamakawa family’s close subordinates and executives who were loyal to Yamakawa Yosuke were attacked and coerced.

Throughout it all, Yamakawa Jō received no report.

At one o’clock in the morning, after seeing his brother off, Yamakawa Kazushiro returned to the Kanagawa house to meet Yamakawa Jō.

“What’s this about, so late?” Yamakawa Jō, still in his robe, sounded displeased, clearly suffering from a bit of sleep inertia.

Yamakawa Kazushiro bowed respectfully and said, “Since Father already believes himself to be old, please allow me to become the backbone of the Yamakawa family from now on.”

“Bastard! What nonsense are you spouting?” Yamakawa Jō stared, then erupted in a furious curse. He snatched up a teacup and hurled it at him. “Someone, throw him out!”

But none of his bodyguards moved.

Only then did Yamakawa Jō realize what had happened.

After a long silence, he lifted his head, his lips trembling as he asked, “What have you done to Yosuke?”

His hands were clenched so tightly that veins stood out across them.

At this moment, he was clearly tense to the breaking point.

“Brother is on a flight to America. I instructed him to report his safe arrival to Father immediately after landing.” Yamakawa Kazushiro’s manner remained deferential. Then he added, “If Father truly misses Brother, you may spend your later years in America instead. After all, you have never liked me, and have always preferred him.”

“If I didn’t dislike you, would you have the ability to do something like this now?” Yamakawa Jō shot back in anger, but his tightly clenched hands gradually loosened. Then he took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and said, “I will stay here and go nowhere. On another day, I will announce that the new head of the Yamakawa family is to be you.”

If he remained here, he could help Yamakawa Kazushiro better seize and absorb the entire Yamakawa family. Otherwise, infighting would inevitably break out, and whether one lived or died, the strength drained in the end would belong to the Yamakawa family as a whole.

They had just fought the Noguchi Group and still had to hold onto the newly gained territory in Tokyo. The Yamakawa family could no longer withstand any major upheaval; otherwise, change would surely follow.

“Yes. Thank you for Father’s understanding.” Yamakawa Kazushiro prostrated himself in a deep bow, his tone solemn.

Yamakawa Jō sighed and waved him away.

Yamakawa Kazushiro rose, left, and closed the door behind him.

The instant he turned around, the bodyguards in the courtyard all bowed to him at ninety degrees.

“Chairman!”