Continuing from where we left off, we are in the Scenario Selection screen, and have only one choice to make (going back to the main menu does not count!). Firstly though, I'll say that this episode's size is bigger in every conceivable way compared to the Prologue's, so I have to cut it into more parts than one for each rank. Anyway, let's begin.
Letter's text: "This is a letter of misfortune.
Please send a letter with the same contents to 5 people within 7 days.
If you do not, disaster will surely come.
This is not a prank.
XXXXX XXXXX
Be sure to write your name."
A letter of misfortune...
Despite its extremely unrealistic and childish content, it's a form of harassment detrimental enough to put psychological pressure on those who receive it, telling them that misfortune will come, and then spreading to more and more victims similar to the proliferation of rats.
Times have changed dramatically, and the means of communication with it. Many people now have cell phones and communicate by e-mail.
Even in this modern society, "letters of misfortune" have not disappeared, but have evolved into "chain mails" and pervaded our daily lives...
This tragedy begins with a single chain mail...
This place is the Metropolitan Police Department's 5th basement floor. It's like an archive where a vast amount of documents are kept.
However, the MPD is only supposed to have 4 basement floors. At least officially...
Many police officers working at the MPD are also unaware of the existence of this 5th basement floor.
If they knew something, they most likely heard about it from a ghost story-loving colleague.
The Metropolitan Police Department has one such rumor---
The current Metropolitan Police Headquarters building was completed in 1980. At the time, a detective on a special mission under secret orders from upper management was found dead under mysterious circumstances on the 5th basement floor.
The death was so gruesome and bizarre that even veteran detectives wanted to avert their eyes.
Since then, the entrance to the fifth basement floor has been covered up and its existence erased from official records.
But a few years later, strange rumors began to circulate. They said you could hear voices talking and telephones ringing on the supposedly-buried 5th basement floor.
Until a few months ago, I thought it was just idle gossip. But now I'm working on the fifth basement floor.
The nature of the work done here is quite different from that of a regular police detective.
As for what's so different about it---
"Sir, did you hear? They're saying that a new victim has joined the serial murders case..."
This large figure is Police Sergeant {Souichirou Kogure}.
[I took this screenshot a bit late and missed a green glow going out of the Keyword in green, and then going outside of the screen.]
As you can see, he follows the typical detective image. Add a hunting cap plus a trenchcoat and you've got yourself an impeccable veteran detective.
Mr. Kogure calls me "Sir"[If you're wondering, yes, he's using 'senpai' here. I used a translation because it sounds pretty awkward.], but I'm not very comfortable with it.
I'm 23 years old. On the other hand, Mr. Kogure looks like a 20-year veteran...... Even though he's only 27. Like me, he's also a bachelor.
Our titles may be Lieutenant and Sergeant, but he is still my senior both in terms of experience and age.
Despite this, Mr. Kogure insists that the hierarchy is absolute and refuses to stop calling me his senior.
"In truth, what I heard went something like this... "The reason the culprit hasn't been found is that they're not human" ...There really are people out there who spread such outrageous rumors, huh."[I'll use these portraits whenever they are needed, if the one who's talking is obvious, I'll avoid using them. And, sorry for the mismatched sizes and positions, it's difficult fixing it with this blog's editor.]
Mr. Kogure, one of those outrageous people, is a big scaredy-cat. If you ask him, "So, what if the culprit was a ghost?", he'd reply with...
"N-no way, sir! I-I absolutely do not believe in ghosts!" This kind of strong reaction would occur.
Nevertheless, he still goes out of his way to bring up gossip that resembles ghost stories. I guess that shows how complicated human psychology is.
"You guys, if you're talking about those serial murders, they're on TV right now."
The woman who speaks in this deadpan Osaka accent is Inspector {Ranko Indou}. She's my boss. [Typically, Inspectors are lower or of the same rank as Lieutenants, however, the literal translation of the Japanese word for 'Lieutenant' is 'Assistant Inspector', he is lower than her by one rank.]
No matter how serious the conversation is, the tension is ruined whenever this person gets in the mix. She is naturally incompatible with the serious Mr. Kogure.
"Inspector! You're watching TV again!? The salaries of us policemen are funded by the people's precious tax money! Yet you-"
"Ah, don't be so stuffy... This is a good thing, y'know. I'm properly checking the case information this way."I don't want to speak ill of my boss, but to be honest, I've never seen this Inspector do her job.
In fact, even though she's using the excuse of checking case info now, since we are police officers, if we wanted to, we could just look through the case files instead of watching TV.
"What, Junya? Didja say something?"
"No, nothing. It would be useless anyway." "You don't know what to say, huh? How unlike yourself, Mr. Career Bureaucrat." "Former career bureaucrat." "Well, I don't care either way. Oh, here it is. The news about the serial killings."
"---The serial killer terrorizing women in Tokyo took another victim yesterday."
"The victim was once again a young woman. Chiharu Shiraishi, 23, was an office lady [The term actually used was OL, meaning, as you guessed it, office lady. I used this meaning instead of the lesser known term.] living in Suginami Ward, Tokyo. It is believed that she was on her way home when she was attacked and killed by her attacker."
"The police believe it is the same perpetrator as there were no evidence of disarray in the victim's clothing and no signs of robbery of personal belongings. Next up..."
What a nasty case. I turned away from the TV and muttered, "A murderer who only targets young women... I hope he gets caught soon."
This serial killer is currently the talk of the town. The media is getting really
involved due to the fact he only kills young women.
involved due to the fact he only kills young women.
"There are clues, y'know. One of them is that all of his victims are young women. The other hasn't yet been publicly revealed..."
While alternating between looking at Mr. Kogure and me, the Inspector slowly opened her mouth.
"A part of the victim's body is always gouged out."
I noticed that Mr. Kogure was holding his breath next to me.
Metropolitan Police Department Unofficial Case Record Ta-4
"Chain Mail"
After watching the news about the serial murders, I returned to my desk with a feeling of discomfort in my chest.
The first murder dates back several months. Since then, the number of victims has reached double digits, but the killer still hasn't been identified.
Week by week, the number of articles criticizing the investigative team's incompetence and the people's distrust of the police force increases.
If things continue like this, the young women of the capital won't be able to live in peace. Unless we police do something...
The phone is vibrating, and an annoying ringtone can be heard.
While I thought about that, my inner chest pocket began vibrating from the ringtone of a received e-mail. How strange. I'm not usually supposed to get reception here... Confused, I check my e-mails.
I witnessed a serial killer in Tokyo.
I can't go into details by e-mail.
But I still want to stop the culprit in some way.
If you can help me, please reply with your phone number.
In addition, for those who can't,
please send this e-mail to 10 friends within 3 days.
If you don't send it,
you could become the serial killer's next victim...
--------------------END--------------------
I'll have to stop here, not because I'm out of material, but because the blog's post editor is lagging (no joke!). Anyway, if you didn't know, I have a twitter. If you want a more stable way to check for updates, you can check it out here. I've posted a translation for the MC's profile there, you can learn some interesting stuff from it.
See you next time for the beginning of the case proper!
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