Original subtitles

On the night of Christmas Eve,

my father was murdered by someone.

The person arrested as the primary suspect

was Tomoya Endo.

Tomoya was the son of Rikiro Endo, a man who received the death penalty

for murdering a family 22 years ago in Higashikayama.

However, my father left me a letter that spoke of false accusations.

The one who forged Mr. Yamashita's letter…

is me.

I said that I forged Mr. Yamashita's letter under Tomoya Endo's orders.

I lied.

His admission of forging the letter was a result of someone's coercion.

Mr. Someda!

He's not here.

I lost sight of Someda.

-Find him right now! -Yes, sir!

Komugi.

I'm sorry.

For not telling you the truth.

I hope you can reach it.

Time of death, 6:55 p.m.

-There's no mistaking it. That's Someda. -Yes.

Going by his actions before his death, do you think it was suicide?

No, it's too early to be sure that it was suicide.

The medical examiner said they would conduct an autopsy.

-Are those Someda's belongings? -Yes, sir.

I borrowed these from the storage room.

This bag contains everything they found.

KOMUGI

The call went through.

Mr. Someda? Where are you right now?

Komugi.

It's me, Akazawa.

What?

Keep calm and listen.

This evening,

Someda was found floating in a river.

He was transferred to a hospital

where he ultimately died.

What?

That can't be.

The cause of death?

We won't know until the autopsy is done.

However, when they found his belongings,

his shoes and watch had been neatly lined up,

so it might have been suicide.

That can't be.

There's no way.

You think Mr. Someda…

did that to himself?

No.

He told me…

that he had betrayed Dad.

He cried and apologized to me.

He also…

Promise me, Mr. Someda.

Promise me you won't go anywhere.

Okay.

I promise.

He promised me.

I'm told that during his questioning,

Mr. Someda said he forged Mr. Yamashita's letter under Tomoya Endo's orders.

But he told Komugi that he had lied.

I see.

We'll see if we can verify that.

However,

the written statement from Someda about the letter

counts as legitimate evidence.

-But that's… -Please wait.

Just because he signed a document doesn't mean the contents are true.

We conducted Someda's questioning in an entirely lawful manner.

Someda gave his testimony of his own free will

and left behind a signed statement.

I have work to do, so if you'll excuse me.

Mr. Akazawa!

Back there,

what did you mean?

He admitted it of his own free will?

That's not true.

He was just…

being used by someone else.

Listen, Komugi.

I get that you want to honor your father's wishes.

But I'll warn you.

Put some space between yourself and him before that lawyer tricks you.

Understood?

I've been your father's friend, and I've known you for a long time.

Take my advice.

Don't pick the wrong path.

What did he say?

Nothing.

Not much.

Dad…

Mr. Someda…

Our only lead into the jungle…

is now gone.

Thanks for walking me home.

No problem.

I'm sure you're exhausted from everything that has happened today.

Just rest for today.

You don't have to come in for work tomorrow.

I won't take the day off.

Why not?

I have even more reasons to head to the jungle now.

Also,

I made a promise to you.

That I will not

waver anymore.

That's why I'll trust my father…

as well as Mr. Someda.

I'll trust them both.

Okay, I get it.

Also,

there's this.

I heard from a friend of mine

that she met my father at the courthouse a few times last year.

At the courthouse?

Those are the dates he was there.

Okay then, I'll look into this.

One more thing.

About…

that video of my father that you talked about.

What does it…

It will be faster for you to just watch it.

Okay.

Bye then.

But when Rikiro received his death sentence,

I thought…

A certain thought began to plague my mind.

Come on, I asked for extra broth. This has barely any broth in it.

Don't make me write a bad review.

Rikiro,

is not the person…

that's responsible for the murders.

If that's true,

then go and announce that in a press conference or whatever else.

Well, I would do that if I could.

Right now, I'm trying to gather proof.

-You're just going to feign ignorance?! -That's not it.

Mr. Kamii, please--

I see you're about to boil over.

Natural reaction, really.

Right?

Do you actually have any idea of who the true culprit is?

I do have a good idea.

Who is it? Catch them right now!

I still…

don't have enough proof.

The only one who knows it all…

is the peacock.

The peacock?

Which jungle are you hiding in?

My little peacock.

Rikiro…

is not the person…

that's responsible for the murders.

I need a minute.

I can't blame her for that.

Now that Mr. Someda is dead,

we can't prove that he lied in his statement to the police.

There's a high likelihood

that the statement he signed will be accepted in court.

The autopsy results

state that a large quantity of drugs were detected in Someda's system.

However,

Komugi insists that someone was manipulating him behind the scenes.

Then, do you think he was killed in order to stop him from talking?

I can't say just yet.

As per our last update,

Someda admitted to forging the letter alleged to be from Mr. Yamashita.

There's a high likelihood his death is connected to the murder of Mr. Yamashita.

That is to say, it's possible that Someda was murdered.

Did you learn anything from the list that Komugi gave you?

It might just be a coincidence, but on one of the days on the list,

I was defending someone in a trial.

-What? -I was at the courthouse that day too.

-How about the other days? -They seem unrelated.

So it's just a coincidence?

At any rate, we should look into what was going on at court

on the other days as well.

I wonder if we could find a lawyer who was handling a case those days.

Wait.

There's a mailing list for defense attorneys, right?

Maybe we could ask there.

A decent number of people are subscribed to it.

-Okay, let's do that. -Roger.

But still,

why did Haruo put my name in the letter in the first place?

Did he happen to watch me in a trial by chance?

No, that seems too unlikely.

I'm sorry. I'm okay now.

Hey, Komugi.

Yes?

If this is too tough for you,

then it's okay for you to quit this job, you know.

What?

You've already fulfilled your father's request by consulting Teru.

So, you know,

you don't have to force yourself to suffer anymore.

Just let Teru handle everything!

Look. Throw it all his way.

Just like that.

You can take some time away from all this.

How about it?

You're right.

Maybe that's what I should do.

There's no point in me being here.

Is that what you expected me to say?

What?

I'll never say that. Mark my words.

-You don't have to act tough-- -I will act tough!

Mr. Matsukaze.

I think Dad's death and the Higashikayama murders…

are linked. Isn't that right?

Get ready to go out.

What? Go where?

We're going to go and meet Tatsuo Mikita, a person whose name was in the letter.

The defense attorney in the Higashikayama case?

Right now, he's our only lead.

What will you do?

I'll go.

There's no need to rush.

-What? -Let your heart catch up slowly.

You know how in the morning, people need some time before they're fully awake?

They move around and stretch in order to get their bodies active.

It's okay to take it slow.

Just don't force yourself.

I'll wait until you're fully awake.

Dad, you must have known what kind of person Mr. Matsukaze is.

That's why you wrote his name in the letter.

I'm not quitting the job, okay?

-Definitely not. -I know.

MIKITA

Welcome.

-Mr. Matsukaze, the attorney, yes? -Yes.

Come on in.

You're looking into the Higashikayama incident?

Yes.

-Don't mind us. I'll handle it. -Okay.

I haven't been involved with it for quite some time now.

I quit being a lawyer for health reasons, you see.

You can sit more comfortably. Feel free to eat this.

As far as the Higashikayama case goes,

I feel like I failed Rikiro.

That's why when Mr. Haruo Yamashita came to visit me,

I recommended you to him.

Recommended?

Why me?

I thought maybe you would be able to do something about it, Mr. Matsukaze.

The first time I saw you was at a criminal trial workshop.

How many times has your client been arrested for drug abuse?

Three times. They have been my client since the first time.

They denied any wrongdoing during my first meeting with them,

so I moved things along accordingly.

But in today's meeting, they said they had knowingly used the drugs.

When they got arrested another time, I was honestly quite disappointed.

Happens all the time.

But at the same time,

I was glad.

Glad?

Admitting to their wrongdoing is a sign that they're willing to improve.

When I met them after their rearrest, they were a lot more open with me.

Even criminals are capable of change.

Although they certainly don't make it easy on others.

But I think believing that your client can improve themselves

is the responsibility of a defense attorney.

It also leads to a future with fewer victims.

That's what I believe.

You know what I thought after hearing that?

"This attorney is really plain."

-What? -And that plainness is what's good.

You know, it's easier to trust that kind of person

than one who's self-important.

Am I being complimented or not?

I'd say being a respectable person is more important than anything.

I truly thought that you would earnestly take on the Higashikayama case,

which is why I referred you to him.

Do you know why my father came to you?

He visited me out of the blue one day.

He told me that he believed Rikiro Endo

wasn't the culprit behind the Higashikayama murders.

Rikiro,

is not the person…

that's responsible for the murders.

I was shocked.

It was a case I had fully devoted myself to in the past,

and now its very foundation was being challenged.

That said,

I didn't find it hard to believe.

Maybe it had never quite fallen into place inside me.

I had always questioned

whether Rikiro really was the culprit.

What?

That sentiment was revived once again.

By Mr. Yamashita.

After that,

we talked about the victims, the Hayashikawa family.

The Hayashikawa family?

ROBBERY AND MURDER CASE

Maybe you two are already aware,

but the Hayashikawa family was well-known as an affluent household.

Akihiro Hayashikawa was an entrepreneur with Noriko as his wife,

and their son was Yasunari.

Then Yasunari got married and had a son named Souta.

From the outside, it seemed that the family faced no hardships.

But it wasn't so.

The grandson of the family, Souta,

developed slower than other boys his age, which caused the family some concern.

His mother, Satoko, had been secretly seeing a psychiatrist

as a result of the stress from that.

Some time after that, their eldest daughter, Oto, was born,

and half a year before the incident, Uta was born.

Uta…

Then, that family was brutally murdered.

In the aftermath,

there was only one person who regularly visited their residence,

had sufficient motive to commit the crime, and didn't have an alibi.

That was Mr. Rikiro Endo.

When Rikiro learned that his son, Tomoya,

was zealously investigating the Higashikayama case,

he said he wanted his son to focus on living his own life,

and he abandoned his request for a retrial.

So he admitted to the charges in order to protect Tomoya?

That's how it came across to me.

Excuse me, but do you know what happened to Uta?

Let me think. I believe she was taken in by a relative.

-Do you have that person's contact info? -Yes, I do.

I believe their name was Tsujii.

Tsujii?

Is their full name perhaps Kouta Tsujii?

That's the one.

That name was in the letter.

Here, you can have these. You seemed to like them.

And here's Mr. Tsujii's phone number.

Thank you.

I wish I could hand you my case notes, but the law has changed and now I can't.

You've given more than enough information.

Come visit again if you need to ask anything else.

Thank you.

But still, it's a wonder that a single letter led to all this.

Ms. Yamashita, look after Mr. Matsukaze, would you?

-Can I ask something? -Sure.

What kind of person was my father in your eyes, Mr. Mikita?

He was a very

righteous person.

Yes.

He had a respectable look on his face.

Almost like yours.

Sorry?

Oh, nothing.

Thank you for these.

So the person who introduced you to my father

ended up being Mr. Mikita.

Honestly, I'm relieved to know that.

It kept bugging me why he had picked me.

The reason Haruo came to the courthouse was probably to see me in action.

It feels weird to know

that I was in the same place as your father.

You know,

I'm actually really glad…

that it was your name my father wrote in the letter.

-Now, at least. -"Now, at least"?

Only now? Isn't that a bit late?

See, this kind of stuff is why it took until now.

I'll keep that in mind.

Well,

people who help you when you're feeling helpless

often seem better than they actually are.

Back there, Mr. Mikita called me respectable,

but he's totally off the mark.

I just make sure to appear that way.

It's all just pretense.

To tell the truth, I'm…

It's getting cold. Let's go.

Mr. Someda passed away yesterday.

Is that…

an outcome you expected?

PUBLIC PROSECUTOR'S OFFICE

I heard about Someda's death.

Nonetheless,

you still have a statement signed by him, don't you?

About that, Mr. Yamashita's daughter claims

that Someda was ordered to lie in it by someone else.

We're trying to verify it right now.

His call history supports that idea.

Someda has died.

Is that so?

Was it…

Surely not, right?

Of course not.

-Is something wrong? -No, nothing.

Shall I take it that Someda's statement can't be used?

Didn't he use drugs? Perhaps he just called his dealer.

I think that's a likely possibility, but we're covering our bases.

If we can't use Someda's statement,

we can't establish Mr. Yamashita's letter as being fabricated.

Are you telling me it hasn't even been useful

as a way to get Tomoya Endo to talk?

-Not yet. -"Not yet"?

I guess I should just sit here and hope for good news.

I'll keep trying.

One more thing.

Someda's death hasn't made the news, right?

The news did report that the man found in the river ended up dying,

but any connection between Someda's death and Mr. Yamashita's murder

hasn't been reported on.

Even if the statement is legitimate, it's best to avoid media attention.

I'd like you to resolve the matter before that happens.

We can't call Someda to the stand anymore,

so we have to make sure to get some use out of the statement you took from him.

I'll personally handle Ms. Komugi Yamashita.

Whatever you do,

don't let the public know about the relation to the Higashikayama case.

I can count on you to do at least that, right?

Understood.

If you'll excuse us.

This thing is super sensational.

Shall we launch some good old fireworks?

Let's launch them real high,

shall we, Editor-in-chief?

MYSTERIOUS DEATH OF RAMEN STALL OWNER A LINK TO THE HIGASHIKAYAMA INCIDENT

I don't get it.

Why would Ms. Anan want to question Komugi herself?

Is she trying to score points with her higher-ups by looking useful?

Is that it?

Akisada.

Look into that lawyer's background.

Understood, sir.

Kyoko, it's me.

I don't think I can be home for dinner tonight.

What? You need to tell me that sooner.

I'm all ready to make fried chicken.

Then how about you share some with Komugi?

I like that. I think I'll do so.

Fancy hearing you give a good idea for once.

I've been worried about Komugi recently.

While you're at it,

can you do something for me?

Yes.

Oh, okay.

Got it. I'll give it to her.

Was that Dad?

Yes. He said he'll be late.

"Police" and "overwork" go together like bread and butter.

Right, Kou?

You're a part of the police too.

You shouldn't say stuff like that.

Probably not.

Okay, I should get going.

-What? You're leaving now? -I've got way too much paperwork.

Okay, good luck with that then.

-I'll be back later. -Take care.

Tomoya, from now on, if anything happens, contact me first.

First? What's that about?

Please refrain from contacting that reporter, Kamii.

Any statement you make

will significantly influence any upcoming trials.

Please refrain from making careless statements, especially to Kamii.

That man pretends to be innocent to earn your trust, but I promise you,

he's not.

So you're saying…

I should trust you

since you're so innocent and respectable?

Is that so, Mr. Attorney?

Yes, that's exactly so.

I'm amazed you can say that with a straight face.

He's right. How do you have the nerve to say that?

Nothing about you is respectable.

You just put on an act to make people think you are.

Yoshiteru.

Dad is no longer…

going to come home, okay?

He said we should treat him as if he's dead.

Those were his words.

FIFTH YEAR - CLASS TWO KUZE

Why?

In a parking lot in Sumida City, Tokyo,

a police officer in his thirties was arrested for stealing

a bag filled with cash from a car.

Mom and Dad

got a divorce.

MATSUKAZE

From now on, you'll be Matsukaze instead of Kuze.

But no matter what,

let's both live respectable lives, okay?

If the word "respectable" means being proper and upright,

then haven't you been that way until now?

Okay.

That must have been

a defensive measure for you two to avoid any more pain.

I still don't know where my dad went.

Where the hell are you?

Tell me.

Are you even alive?

There's not a single part of you that's respectable.

All you do is engage in pretense to appear as such.

HIGASHIKAYAMA POLICE STATION

And if that's the case…

I am… me.

I am Haruo Yamashita's daughter!

You're the one that's truly respectable.

I got a response about that list after asking in the mailing list.

Ever heard of Attorney Narukawa?

NO, I HAVEN'T

He handled the case that Haruo attended in court.

What?

Mr. Narukawa said he comes to the area often,

so he'll drop by our office when he's here next time.

PEEK STAY COOL

STAY COOL

What the heck is this?

STAY COOL HASAMI OFFICIAL STICKERS

STAY COOL OKAY!

IN AUSTRIA!

When would you even use that?

That's so not respectable.

Ms. Kyoko.

-Good evening. -Good evening.

-Come in. -Don't mind if I do.

Sorry for calling all of a sudden.

I wanted to eat dinner together.

It made me really happy.

I was just wondering what to eat.

That's good to hear.

Try it.

Go for this one. Right here.

-How is it? -Delicious.

Great! That's good.

Cute, isn't he?

They're all of Kou.

You wouldn't believe it. He dotes on him more than his own son.

More than Mamoru?

But he really is cute.

I'm still a bit surprised.

You took a break from university and started working at a law firm?

Yes.

Put some space between yourself and him before that lawyer tricks you.

Don't pick the wrong path.

What's wrong?

Listen, Ms. Kyoko.

About me working at the law firm,

could you keep that a secret from Mr. Akazawa?

Okay, sure.

It's a secret.

I'm sorry.

Don't worry. I keep plenty of secrets from him too.

Really?

When you get to be our age,

you're practically connected by secrets.

For example,

I once started stock trading using my own secret savings.

I made some risky trades and lost a ton of money.

Don't tell my husband, okay?

You really did that?

Oh, right.

I brought some coffee beans. You want to make some later?

Sure.

-You brought your own water? -Yes.

This water really brings out the aroma of the coffee.

It makes a huge difference.

Really?

I can get obsessed about the strangest things.

Do you mind if I ask what kind of person that lawyer is?

What kind of person?

As long as you will it,

I will be right beside you.

Just don't force yourself.

I'll wait until you're fully awake.

He seems a bit cold at first glance,

but he's actually a very kind person.

But he also…

Back there, Mr. Mikita called me respectable,

but he's totally off the mark.

I just make sure to appear that way.

It's all just pretense.

Not respectable, huh?

I just keep losing

people who are important to me.

But I've managed to avoid feeling alone…

because of Mr. Matsukaze.

It doesn't matter if he's respectable or not.

I'm grateful to him.

I should have told him that.

You're a strong girl, Komugi.

What?

To be capable of being vulnerable in front of others,

if you ask me,

is a sign of strength.

Ms. Kyoko…

It's okay.

It will all be okay.

Please come again soon.

If you say that, I'll actually do it.

Oh, one more thing.

Here.

What's this?

Wow, it's Kou.

My husband got it from a shrine

that was famous for cats since it looked just like Kou.

Look. We have matching ones.

It's so cute.

Thanks a lot.

See you later then.

See you later.

WE TALKED A LOT I GAVE HER THE CHARM LIKE YOU ASKED

Chief.

Here's the detailed record on Matsukaze.

TARGET OF INVESTIGATION

MOBILE NUMBER

Hello?

I'm Anan, a prosecutor from the Tokyo Public Prosecutor's Office.

I was wondering if I could have your time to ask some questions

about your father, Haruo Yamashita.

What?

Your father made a clear statement.

That Rikiro Endo was not the culprit behind the Higashikayama case.

He believed Rikiro Endo wasn't the culprit behind the Higashikayama murders.

Rikiro,

is not the person…

that's responsible…

for the murders.

It seems that Matsukaze's father

used to be a police officer.

Akazawa.

I'm…

always watching.

Matsukaze is…

Mr. Kuze's son?

Tomorrow,

I'll meet with her.

Komugi Yamashita.

I see.

I wanted a good pair of eyes and ears to check for me

just how much of the full picture she's managed to uncover.

Understood.

I'm once again led to realize

that I am truly a coward.

What do I do?

Hello, Mr. Matsukaze? I just…

I'll lend you a hand.

-I hate it. -That's a lie.

Something happened in the past!

I'll do whatever I can.

I want to know it all.

FATE STRIKES

Subtitle translation by: Saim Ul Hassan