It was destined to be a busy and fulfilling evening for the bureaucrats of Sapporo on the night of February 1, 1993.
The Disaster Counterasures Officer at the police headquarters, who did not deserve a na, certainly found it so. Based on the compiled list of victims, he personally visited each household overnight.
"Ding-dong! Ding-dong!"
He rang the doorbell of a deceased’s family ho.
Monts later, the door was opened by a middle-aged woman with red eyes. She asked, "May I help you?"
Clearly, she had just been crying her eyes out.
"Mrs. Yamamoto, please accept our deepest condolences. May we co in and sit down?" the Disaster Counterasures Officer asked, bowing politely and speaking with a gentle, people-friendly attitude.
Mrs. Yamamoto glanced at him, then at the two policen behind him, nodded, and stepped aside to allow them to enter, saying, "Please co in."
After bowing, the Disaster Counterasures Officer entered with his two subordinates. Inside the living room, there was another red-eyed middle-aged man and a young girl.
"Mr. Yamamoto, I am the Disaster Counterasures Officer from the police headquarters. I am deeply saddened by your son’s death in tonight’s stampede." The officer bowed gravely and then turned to take a briefcase from one of his subordinates, continuing, "We know that no one can bring back the dead. Here is two hundred thousand dollars, a small token of our concern from the police, with hopes that it might alleviate your grief over the loss of your son to so extent."
"How... this isn’t right." Mr. Yamamoto, always an honest man, was instantly baffled; he didn’t think his son’s death had anything to do with the police, nor did he believe he deserved any compensation and he repeatedly refused, "I cannot accept this money, I cannot."
"Please take it, Mr. Yamamoto. This money is not exclusive to your family; all the families of the victims in this accident will receive such a condolence paynt," the Disaster Counterasures Officer explained softly.
Mr. Yamamoto first looked bewildered, not understanding why the governnt was giving them compensation out of the blue.
Turning to his wife and daughter, seeing the eager hope in their eyes, he pursed his lips and suddenly broke down in tears, gratefully sobbing, "Thank you, officer, I really can’t thank you enough. I’m grateful to the nation, grateful to the police."
Even now, he still believed this was so form of state compensation; his patriotic feelings peaked.
"You’re too kind, Mr. Yamamoto." The Disaster Counterasures Officer handed the briefcase to Mrs. Yamamoto and said, bowing slightly as he held Mr. Yamamoto’s hand, "As the saying goes, the dead cannot be brought back to life, and life must go on. With this money, you can have sothing to rely on in your old age. If you truly wish to thank us, we do have a sowhat impolite request to ask of you, and we hope you can accept."
"I will, I will. Just tell what it is, I’ll do my best," Mr. Yamamoto said as he sniffled and nodded repeatedly.
The Disaster Counterasures Officer’s true colors showed, his predatory nature erging, "Last night’s accident was a fluke, a disaster that nobody wanted to happen. But it has happened. What we can do now is to try to minimize the impact after the fact. While considering the feelings of the victims’ families and giving them monetary compensation, we must also consider maintaining the reputation of Sapporo."
"So, with the utmost sorrow, we’ve decided that for the future of the citizens of Sapporo, we’d risk telling a well-intentioned lie. The number of victims that we’ll publicly announce will be fewer than the actual number, so we hope you won’t tell anyone the real cause of your son’s death."
"You... you want to cover it up! This isn’t compensation; it’s a bribe!" Mr. Yamamoto suddenly realized upon hearing this. His moved expression faded away, replaced by anger, as he bellowed with spit flying, "My son is dead! A living person, just gone like that! Should I cover up the cause of his death for the sake of the careers of you bureaucrats?"
"That’s not the right way to put it; you are doing it for the reputation of Sapporo City, for those two hundred thousand dollars," the Disaster Counterasures Officer corrected, wiping the spittle from his face.
"Get out! Get out!" Mr. Yamamoto, no longer the man he was just monts ago, grabbed the briefcase from his wife and threw it at the Disaster Counterasures Officer, shouting, "Take your filthy money and get out of my house!"
The briefcase fell to the ground, sprung open, and crisp new US dollar bills scattered across the floor.
The warm façade on the Disaster Counterasures Officer’s face was replaced by a cold sternness as he kicked the briefcase, "You ungrateful old man; your son is already dead and no amount of obsessing over the cause will bring him back. It’s no good to harm others without benefiting yourself! What’s wrong with taking the money and living a good life? Even if your son were alive, he might never earn two hundred thousand dollars in his lifeti!"
That was his true face, the pretense had been exhausting to maintain, he had expected this naive old man to agree readily, but was caught off guard by the sudden resistance.
No need to pretend any longer.
"You... you monster! Is that sothing a human should say?" Mr. Yamamoto trembled with rage, his face turning pale with fury, "No good deed goes unpunished; you’re either scheming or stealing. Why the cover-up? You must be afraid of being held accountable. Why afraid of accountability? It must be because tonight’s accident is inseparable from you! My son’s death is related to you, and I don’t want money, I want justice!"
Mrs. Yamamoto and her daughter quickly supported him on each side, afraid he might faint from agitation.
"Heh! Justice?" the Disaster Counterasures Officer scoffed derisively, glancing around the room at the worn-out furnishings, "You call talking about justice on an empty stomach appropriate? Old man, don’t be so selfish; have you considered what your wife and school-going daughter will rely on after losing the breadwinner of the family?"
"Believe it or not, I can get your daughter expelled from school within minutes or even have her thrown into prison on so random charge! How can you fight us? Are you sure you want to jeopardize your living daughter’s future for a son who’s already dead? Please think about it carefully!"
Mr. Yamamoto’s daughter turned deathly pale, clutching her father’s sleeve tightly, her eyes pleading with him.
Mr. Yamamoto’s eyes were bloodshot, his breathing ragged.
"Your son’s death has nothing to do with us police," the Disaster Counterasures Officer coldly threatened. "You only have two options, take the money, or wait for your daughter to be imprisoned."
"You... you sons of bitches!" Mr. Yamamoto, trembling, pointed his finger at the officer, unable to speak for a long ti before suddenly dropping to his knees in heavy sobs, "Is there no law in this world? Is there no heavenly justice?"
"Do you see the badge on my chest? We are the law!" the Disaster Counterasures Officer laughed lightly.
Mr. Yamamoto wept bitterly. After crying himself out, he cald down and turned to look at his worried wife and daughter before saying with a drained spirit, "Alright, alright, alright."
The dead are already dead.
But the living must go on living.
"That’s more like it. You were going to agree sooner or later, so why force to say unpleasant things? A wise man submits to the tis," the Disaster Counterasures Officer said with a satisfied smile on his face as he turned to leave. "Let’s go, the next family."
The Disaster Counterasures Officer, sparing no effort, went to all the victims’ families overnight, using a combination of threats and inducents to successfully get their cooperation.
This is the Japanese way of police-community partnership.
...
The next morning, a press conference was called at City Hall.
Mayor Miyashita Hidekatsu, dressed in black with a white flower pinned to his chest, walked to the podium and bowed deeply to the crowd, speaking in a somber tone, "Today’s press conference is mainly to explain to the public the stampede incident that occurred last night during the opening ceremony of the Snow Festival. The cause of the accident was the serial dismbernt killer hiding a severed head on the stage, which then fell and caused a panic."
"At the sight of those victims’ heads, I fainted from grief on the spot! The killer is heartless and insane, deserving of a thousand deaths! Fortunately, thanks to the city hall’s thorough planning and detailed predictions for various possible scenarios, as well as the rapid and effective response of our police officers maintaining order at the scene, last night’s chaos, involving tens of thousands of people, resulted in only three deaths."
As soon as he said this, the room was in an uproar as the reporters below began murmuring among themselves.
"Only three people died? Is that true?"
"Our station lost two reporters, how could there only be three? They must be hiding the real number."
"I was there last night too, the situation was so chaotic, and the police had no effective response."
"Quiet! Please be quiet!" shouted Mayor Miyashita Hidekatsu, before continuing, "In addition, more than a hundred were injured and taken to the hospital, which is fortunate among the unfortunate. Of course, as the administrative head of Sapporo City, like a father to all, every citizen is a mber of my family, and the death of each is enough to wrench my heart. Please observe three minutes of silence for the victims."
Then Fujimoto Takayoshi took the stage to announce one thing, "The serial dismbernt case has been taken over by the newly appointed Senior Police Director Aoyama Xiu Xin. With his abilities, I believe that it won’t be long before the killer is brought to justice. Please stay tuned."
The na Aoyama Xiu Xin still held great sway.
Forget the general public, even the reporters present had no doubt that Aoyama Xiu Xin could catch the killer, such was the confidence given by his unblemished record.
"Under Police Chief Aoyama’s leadership, the killer is surely dood, this devil will eventually pay the price."
"Yes, that’s great news, the dark clouds hanging over Sapporo City are finally about to dissipate."
"With Police Chief Aoyama taking action, the killer will have nowhere to hide and will receive the punishnt he deserves..."
After the press conference, all the reporters were eager to leave, rushing back to write their news reports.
Only one long-haired young male reporter slinging a cara frowned and lagged behind, his expression alternating between darkness and light, as if deep in thought.
"Hey, Ryosuke, what’s on your mind? You look distracted," said a pretty, short-haired female reporter in a beige coat, blue jeans, and black boots, who tapped him on the shoulder from behind.
Panasonic Ryosuke jumped, then turned to look at her after getting his bearings, "Chiyoda, don’t you think Mayor Miyashita’s words have loopholes? Do you really believe that such a big stampede accident only caused three deaths? Just from our station, two died last night."
"You an the city hall is hiding the real death toll?" Hashimoto Chiyoko frowned.
Panasonic Ryosuke nodded gravely.
"If that’s the case, it’s deplorable! Well then, let’s uncover the truth and report it to Police Chief Aoyama! He’s so righteous, he definitely won’t ignore this," declared Hashimoto Chiyoko with a stern face.
Panasonic Ryosuke took a deep breath, "Right! One of our duties as journalists is to report the truth."
anwhile, within police headquarters, Police Chief Aoyama, seen by the two young reporters as a paragon of justice and laden with their high hopes, was at that mont engaged in unjust deeds.
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