I took another close look at the lips of the corpse on the tetrapod. Her words were still incredibly fresh in my mind.
Out of the blue, I suddenly remembered her nickname, which I had learned only after that conversation. The nickname she got because she was so beautiful you always wanted to look away: “Miss Direction.”
While I was lost in reverie, the brawny officer who had nearly kicked me out earlier ran over toward us.
“Yamaji!” he yelled, clearly in a panic. “Sergeant Uguisu! Umm, uh…” He struggled to catch his breath. “I heard…heard something from this other officer.”
“Where’s the fire, man?” Yamaji drawled. “Just breathe a sec.”
“S-Sure,” the officer huffed.
It was kind of cute to see the brawny guy follow Yamaji’s orders so obediently.
“Whew,” he panted. “Um, well, last night there was a report submitted to the Sumida Ward station, and it might be related to this case! The report apparently stated something about a woman’s foot being found in her boyfriend’s room and that she’d gotten caught up in something.”
Yamaji squinted alarmingly, urging the officer to get to the point.
“A man named Shota Akiyama submitted the report,” he said. “And his girlfriend’s name was Reina Myoko.”
1 A play on the existing “Melco Resorts.”
✦ ✦ ✦
The Tokyo Bay Police was reputedly the busiest police force in Japan.
The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department had previously operated on a “Districts” system that divided Station jurisdictions into ten geographical blocks, but the Tokyo Bay Station’s expansion forced the TMPD to designate the Tokyo Bay Station the new “11th District,” effectively making it independent. The TMPD gave the Tokyo Bay Station authority second only to headquarters when it came to crime associated with the Odaiba Integrated Tourist Facilities District. This meant that the Tokyo Bay Station more often than not operated on its own. But it also feuded with the TMPD and the other Stations, whose officers hated basically everyone at Tokyo Bay.
The buildings making up the police station in Tokyo Bay and the force itself expanded piecemeal. The three buildings that made up the Tokyo Bay Police Station were surrounded by a thick concrete wall. The Station was ridiculed as the “Patchwork Fortress” because of its intimidating appearance so shoddily fitted together.
At night when the rest of this part of the city was adorned with flashes of color, the Fortress stood out with a gloomy, ominous air all its own. Rumor had it that the TMPD intentionally designed the “fortress” for this effect to assert control in Odaiba during a period of unrest. But with this, even if a criminal decided to turn himself in, one look at this building and he’d piss his pants and reverse course.
I rode towards the Patchwork Fortress on my trusty, two-wheeled steed and immediately headed to the locker room to take off my school-girl outfit. I was standing in my underwear when I glanced at my watch (a favorite that I’d picked up at a New Year’s sale) and noticed that it was 11.
I hadn’t said anything to Yamaji about the conversation I had had with Reina Myoko that one day after school. I wasn’t at all sure whether it had anything to do with the case, and besides, it was embarrassing for me to talk about those formative years of my life.
And now we had a report from Reina’s boyfriend…
I tried to imagine what her boyfriend looked like, but I couldn’t imagine what walk of life he’d come from. She wouldn’t have been a good match with someone in a generally well-respected profession such as a professional athlete, a young entrepreneur, an actor, or a politician.
It’s possible that if I saw Reina’s face now, I might think she was an incredibly normal person. I might be exaggerating her mystique to myself because we’d met as adolescents.
“But…” I still wanted to believe that Reina Myoko was special, and I trusted that instinct.
I changed into my brand new suit from Yofuku no Midoriyama2 and headed to Reina’s apartment, riding alongside Yamaji in a police vehicle.