ASAHI NO NISHISEI - Rising Sun Goes West (2)

Ministry of State Security's Conspiracy and the Girl's Friendship

June 13, Midnight

Master Bedroom inside the Veltevra Mansion

Odagawa's sudden appearance was clearly different from the "low profile private sector employee" he had been when he first met Jindo and the others.

"...So it was you."

"How joyful... you remembered me."

"Even if I wanted to forget you... I couldn't. You were my first partner in the police. I didn't want to believe that my first partner had turned out to be a Chinese dog."

Hiraide recalled a past memory that he had kept deep in his heart.

About 10 years ago, Hiraide, who had a natural talent with guns, demonstrated his skill to the full in the on-the-job training and practical training at the police academy, and was transferred to the Metropolitan Police Department's Organized Crime Control Bureau only a year after graduation from the police academy. His partner at that time was none other than Odagawa.

Six months after Hiraide's transfer to the main police department, his section, Section 2, took part in a big bust to uncover a dummy company. The dummy company was believed to be a front for agents dispatched by the Chinese Ministry of State Security, and was to be rounded up in a joint operation with the Foreign Affairs Division of the Public Security Bureau.

On the day of the operation, a large number of policemen surrounded the tenant that housed the dummy company. At the same time as the prearranged signal, the officers from both units rushed in at once. They were met with fierce resistance from the agents, but as a result, they succeeded in seizing the dummy company. However, they missed one of the operatives from the Ministry of State Security, whom they were aiming to secure. Hiraide and Odagawa went after him.

"After a long chase, we cornered him at the end of the pier. All that was left was to handcuff him. If only your bullet hadn't struck me..."

Hiraide ordered the agent he had cornered to lie on the ground with his hand raised, then took out his handcuffs and attempted to seize him. Just before he could do so, however, his body fell into the sea with a single gunshot. With his last ounce of strength, Hiraide turned around and saw Odagawa's evil grin as he picked up the Beretta 92 that Hiraide had dropped on the ground, holding the smoking New Nambu in one hand.

"I had nine lives after that. But after that day, you disappeared from our sight."

After this incident, Odagawa disappeared from the Metropolitan Police Department and was welcomed into China's Ministry of State Security along with a great deal of confidential information. Section 2, which had a traitor in its ranks, was subsequently subjected to harsh criticism.

"I had a hunch... you had your eye on me from the start."

"...I wasn't sure. But... how much you changed your face, no matter how much you were acting, the dirty eyes you showed me right after you shot me didn't change."

From the beginning, Hiraide had distrusted Odagawa. But it was only a hunch, and as long as he could do nothing to prove that he was his former partner, he had decided that he would not touch him unless he got in their way. But Odagawa had thus revealed his true nature.

"Why bother with the country? Is patriotism worth even a penny? After all... it's all about money! What's wrong with choosing money scattered under your feet over that shitty country?"

Odagawa did not feel the least bit guilty about selling out his country. Among the secrets he brought out was a list of organizations that served as fronts for spies, a list of domestic political organizations with ties to the Chinese Communist Party, and any other information the Metropolitan Police Department had in its possession at the time.