Chapter 34: Resolving Those Who Cause Difficulties

"Bang!"

Sato could not hold back any longer and slammed her glass heavily onto the table. Everyone turned their gaze toward her.

Fujiwara Nao felt a jolt in his chest. *What, are you still not satisfied?* This is too much, absolutely too much! Even a clay figure has a temper; don't push us too far! If the price drops any lower, I won't even be able to pay off the debts my father left behind.

"Officer Sato? Have you had too much to drink?" Masakazu asked, crossing his legs.

Sato stood up and said, enunciating every word, "Is this how you all conduct business?"

"Of course," Masakazu replied. "This is the power of sincerity. I have shown sufficient sincerity toward Mr. Fujiwara, and he has felt that sincerity, which is why he voluntarily lowered the price. Business is just like this—everyone is sincere and open with one another."

Fujiwara Nao offered a stiff, insincere smile in agreement. "Yes, that is exactly how business works."

He stole a glance at Masakazu. If he truly believed in the "openness" Masakazu claimed, he would be no better than a naive little lamb. The sincerity and openness of business are like flowers viewed through a mist—they appear beautiful, but in reality, there is a blade hidden behind them.

The blade Masakazu kept hidden had already terrified him. Whether it was being dismembered or being struck by a large truck, no one could resist Masakazu’s "sincerity."

Sato stood to the side, unable to speak. Although she knew Masakazu had certainly threatened Fujiwara, Masakazu hadn't uttered a single threatening word in this room. As someone outside the business world, she had no idea how to intervene to rescue the coerced Fujiwara.

"If anyone is being threatened, you must inform the police," Sato said.

Fujiwara shook his head repeatedly. "How could that be! With the brilliant detective Kogoro Mouri in Tokyo and the diligent police force protecting Masakazu, how could any such coercion occur?"

This was clearly a jab at her. Fujiwara clenched his fists under the table. To survive, this was humiliating.

Masakazu raised his glass of juice and said to Fujiwara, "Then let us toast to our future."

"To the future," Fujiwara said, raising his glass as well. He let out a sigh of relief. *I have a future now; I don't need to worry about being taken out by just anyone.*

For a moment, the atmosphere at the table improved. Only Sato remained sullen; she couldn't change anything. Masakazu still acquired the assets at a low price, and the other party didn't even dare to cry, forced to put on a smile and echo Masakazu's words. She drank a glass of wine in frustration, not touching her chopsticks once.

Because Masakazu did not drink, the dinner ended quickly. Fujiwara and his wife walked the three of them downstairs.

"Clatter!"

After the police car left, Fujiwara could no longer contain his rage and smashed his phone onto the ground. "Too much! They have gone too far!" he growled in anger.

Mrs. Fujiwara looked at her son and sighed, bowing her head. "The cinema was already on its last legs; selling it is for the best. Besides, your father lost a great deal of money speculating on copper mines. If we don't sell the cinema, we won't be able to pay off those debts at all. And there aren't many people willing to buy a cinema right now anyway."

Capitalists are all jackals; knowing the Fujiwara family was burdened with massive debt, no one would ever offer a fair market price. It was merely a question of how much the price would be slashed.

Fujiwara sneered. "I won't accept this! I don't believe for a second that Sumitomo Masakazu can cover the sky with one hand!"

"Almost everyone in the Metropolitan Police Department is shielding him," his mother said.

"That's not necessarily true!" Fujiwara retorted. "If he really could control everything, then articles about his 'murders' wouldn't appear in the newspapers. I will petition the authorities; someone must be able to stop him!"

Mrs. Fujiwara looked at her son's cold expression. Knowing that any persuasion would be useless, she sighed. "Then you had better go to America. Your own hands aren't clean either; don't end up sending yourself to prison instead of Masakazu. Besides, Masakazu’s methods are too ruthless. Rather than solving problems, he prefers to solve the people who create them."

...

In the police car, Sato remained silent, Ai kept her head down in thought, and Masakazu fiddled with his phone.

"Officer Sato, you didn't seem to eat anything at the restaurant. Would you like to come in and sit for a while when we arrive at my place?" Masakazu asked.

"No," Sato replied curtly.

"Oh."

Masakazu nodded. Looking ahead, he saw a traffic officer in the distance pointing a flashlight at their car. Sato felt a sudden jolt.

The center of the road was already blocked by several police motorcycles, and traffic officers stood on both sides. Sato pulled the police car over in shock. A female traffic officer in uniform stepped forward, holding a pair of handcuffs, and opened the car door. Seeing Sato in the driver's seat, she asked in astonishment, "Why is it you?"

"Yumi? What are you all doing here?" Sato looked at Miyamoto Yumi with a sense of guilt.

Miyamoto glanced at Masakazu in the back seat and frowned. "I received an email from Sumitomo Masakazu. This guy claimed he had stolen a police car and was driving under the influence and speeding. He even taunted me, asking if I could catch him before he got home, so I came to make an arrest."

She looked at Masakazu, seemingly waiting for an explanation.

Masakazu pointed at Sato and said, "Officer Miyamoto, Officer Sato was driving under the influence. I tried to persuade her several times, but it was no use. For the sake of my own safety, I had no choice but to uphold righteousness over personal connections and report Officer Sato to you."

"But that's not what you said in the email you sent me."

"That was just to prevent you all from shielding your own," Masakazu said helplessly. As an ordinary citizen of Tokyo, it would be easy to be ignored if he reported a police inspector. He had to leverage the police's own intolerance for law-breaking citizens to get them to act.

Miyamoto looked at Sato, who lowered her head. It seemed she really had drunk a glass of wine.

"Blow into this."

"Whoo~"

Sato was detained, and Masakazu had to walk home with Ai. On the way, he said with lingering fear, "It's a good thing I didn't have a license when Miyamoto Yumi caught me last time; otherwise, I would have had my license revoked just like Sato."

Because Sato's blood alcohol level was relatively low, her license was only suspended for three months. After three months, she would still be able to serve as Masakazu's driver.

Ai didn't say a word, not knowing what Masakazu was so relieved about. It was as if he believed that if he had been the one caught, he would have received the same punishment as Sato.

"Why did you report Officer Sato?" Ai asked in a low voice.

"Why?" Masakazu thought for a moment. "Perhaps it's because I was born with a sense of justice. I simply cannot stand to watch others break the law."