—What is justice, truly?
As an Assistant Inspector, Hidari Okumuro often pondered this question in her heart ever since her first conversation with Kotomi Izumi.
She had questioned herself many times: were the actions she carried out all these years truly justice?
When she was a child, she had watched a police drama about criminal investigators. Whenever innocent people were facing terrifying murderers and despair was about to crush them, the detective played by the main actor would appear like a godsend. No matter how frightening the scenes were beforehand, as soon as she saw the protagonist, a sense of safety would well up in her heart.
Hidari Okumuro had never been particularly brave—when she was little, she was timid. She'd watch that drama in bed, wrapped tightly in a blanket with only her eyes peeking out.
But after becoming a police officer, her courage had been tempered over and over. Even alone in a bloodstained, pitch-dark room, she could now examine a murder scene without flinching, staring directly at the corpses.
At the start, how could her parents possibly have wanted their daughter to become a detective in the First Investigation Division?
What did the First Investigation Division represent?
The elite of all Japan's police, facing ruthless killers almost every day, repeatedly analyzing the twisted methods and motives of crimes that broke the limits of human morality and common sense. It was a constant challenge to one's normal mind and body.
Her first time seeing a corpse in the line of duty was during a murder case.
A group of people who had come to attend a class reunion were trapped in a mountain lodge where a blizzard had cut off all communication, including cell phone signals. Among them, one person smirked secretly—his meticulously prepared plan for slaughter had finally begun.
It was like a classic blizzard-mansion murder case from countless mystery novels. But in this crowd there was no brilliant detective to turn the tide—no Kindaichi Kosuke, no Akechi Kogoro.
Seven people. No survivors.
Including the killer himself.
The first person to discover the tragedy was the landlord who had rented them the lodge. Since the rental period was only for a week, when the time was up, he came to collect the keys and tidy the place.
Opening the door and seeing the bloody scene spread across nearly every corner of the lodge, the landlord was terrified and rushed to call the police.
This was the first case Hidari Okumuro was assigned after joining the Metropolitan Police Department's First Investigation Division. The senior officer who guided her at the time—and later became her partner—was Officer Yukki.
Many of the accompanying officers couldn't handle the scene. Only Officer Yukki seemed relatively calm—he had seen too many cases like this.
Although Hidari Okumuro didn't vomit, after leaving the lodge and returning to headquarters, her legs were trembling.
Fear.
Looking at the mutilated corpses, for the first time Hidari Okumuro directly felt how, when a person's inner darkness was fully unleashed, it could turn another living person into such a state.
She was terrified, but after that brief moment of fear, what filled her heart was a stronger drive to keep going.
To make tragedies like this happen less and less, to arrest every murderer who committed such crimes—that was the justice she firmly believed in when she became a detective in the First Investigation Division.
Until, after solving too many murder cases and learning about the countless motives and complex relationships behind them, a faint confusion arose in her heart. The first thing she had to do upon taking a case was arrest the killer.
Yet every time a killer was arrested and interrogated, many of them would unburden themselves, explaining every motive and detail of their crime—even knowing they faced the death penalty or life imprisonment—still wearing a calm expression.
She had heard many killers mumbling to themselves after interrogation, heads bowed as they sat in their chairs:
"Daughter… Daddy finally avenged you. But Daddy's become a murderer now, destined for hell, unable to join you and Mommy in heaven."
"It's finally over. Those beasts paid the price…"
"Does the land of the dead really exist? I killed all those bastards, I'll definitely be sentenced to death… I wonder if after dying I'll be able to see her again—the one who's already gone to the other side… I miss her so much. Ever since she took her own life, every night I've wanted to go to that world to see her.
"The only reason I've held on this long was to personally kill those who drove my girlfriend to despair and escaped punishment under the Child Protection Law.
"Forget it… maybe it's better if she never sees me again. I just hope she's been reborn into a good family, grows up safely, never faces bullying again, gets into a great university, and meets a good man who's both rich and loves her dearly."
There were many kinds of murderers. Some were twisted psychopaths, people with no sense of good or evil, who killed for pleasure. Those were the ones who must face judgment.
When facing killers like that, Hidari Okumuro could put the handcuffs on them without a trace of hesitation and send them to trial.
But there was another kind of murderer—the ones who turned to vengeance after their loved ones were hurt, seeking justice through the law, only to watch the system fail them again and again. They had been taught since childhood that the law was absolute, that it stood for fairness and justice.
But when their pleas vanished into the void, when their suffering was ignored, the flames of hatred consumed what was once human compassion. They stepped onto the path of vengeance—murdering with the cruelest of methods. And when their revenge was done, or even before it was complete, they were caught and brought to face the "justice" of the very system that had abandoned them.
At the moment the handcuffs closed around their wrists, did they ever wonder—if the law had responded with the same speed when they first sought help, would their hands still be so drenched in blood?
Every criminal who commits evil must face punishment. Evil must be cut down. Justice means driving all evil out of this world—to let the dead rest and give the living an answer. A police officer is like a janitor, cleaning a room filled with the filth of sin. The job is hard, the room vast, and it may never be fully cleaned even after a lifetime—but so what? Pass the work to the next officer.
Back in the police academy, a detective from the First Investigation Division once gave a lecture to the incoming recruits destined for the Metropolitan Police Department. Hidari Okumuro sat in the audience, listening as he spoke those words.
The next time she saw that detective was at his memorial service. He had lived out his belief in justice—at the cost of his own life, he uncovered the truth and sent a cruel, cunning murderer to prison.
"Kotomi, after so many years as a police officer, the first truth I understood is that criminals fall into two kinds. The first kind are those who kill for pleasure—who torture their victims to death, driven only by their twisted desires. Such criminals deserve nothing less than the guillotine. Their deaths are not a loss to this world.
"That first kind represents pure evil.
"The second kind… are those who were once good, ordinary people, forced by circumstance down a single remaining path—personal revenge."
Hidari Okumuro gazed out the car window ahead of her. There was nothing in sight. Perhaps what she was seeing wasn't the road before her, but the memories of all she had lived through as a police officer.
"When the law fails to deliver justice to those who deserve it, private vengeance from that moment on becomes righteous—even noble. I still believe that to be true.
"Not many people are saints. Most are just ordinary human beings who wish for nothing more than peaceful, gentle lives. If the law cannot bring real judgment to a matter, then even if a person, driven to despair, takes up a blade to end the cycle with violence—no one has the right to stand above them and condemn them with righteous words."
Kotomi Izumi replied softly. Even back when Hidari Okumuro was still an Assistant Inspector, Kotomi could say such words without hesitation.
After hearing Kotomi's words, Hidari Okumuro slowly shook her head.
"The first time you told me this world might truly need dark heroes, I said I respect those who genuinely uphold inner justice and protect the weak. But at the same time, I would still fulfill my duty as a police officer—to arrest those dark heroes.
"At the Kyoto National Museum of Modern Art, we talked about it again, discussed it deeply—but in the end, neither of us convinced the other."
"And now—this should be the third time we've discussed the concept of 'dark heroes.' Compared to our last conversation in Kyoto, I've come to see it a bit differently," Hidari Okumuro said.
Kotomi Izumi smiled lightly. "The two of us live such different lives—different experiences, different people, different worlds. You're a police officer, and I'm just an ordinary high school girl. So even if we debate this for hours, neither of us is likely to convince the other."
"Neither can convince the other, huh?"
Hidari tapped the steering wheel gently with her fingers and chuckled softly before continuing.
"That's true. You're still so young—you haven't seen or experienced much yet, let alone the darkness of this world. If we were to argue seriously, you couldn't completely persuade me, and I couldn't completely persuade you. Our perspectives, our values, even our worlds are different.
"But at the same time, I don't want you to ever have to see that darkness. Even though I'm no longer a police officer, the work I'll be doing next will probably still involve blood and shadow.
"To face the darkness is to leave the light behind for others.
"I hope that I can block out as much of that darkness as I can, so that you—and kids your age—can continue to live in the light."
Kotomi clapped her hands lightly and laughed. "That's quite a cool line."
"Thank you. And not just for the compliment, but also for what you said to me before." Hidari Okumuro nodded sincerely toward Kotomi, her eyes soft.
"I was just saying whatever came to mind. After all, I'm only a sixteen-year-old innocent beauty~ Hehe, do you really believe that?" Kotomi teased, half acting cute, half mischievous, her lips curling into a sly grin.
"Why wouldn't I?" Hidari replied calmly. "A child is still a child. Even if you seem mature and composed compared to your peers, like a little adult, you'll still show glimpses of that age's innocence. Sixteen-year-olds have the innocence of sixteen, twenty-year-olds have the innocence of twenty—and even at thirty, there's still the innocence of thirty."
"Are those words I said really that important?" Kotomi asked, a bit surprised. She had thought that if they were the same age, Hidari might take her words as those of a thoughtful woman. But since she was only sixteen, she assumed Hidari would dismiss them as something a kid said after reading too many detective novels.
Yet Hidari had taken her seriously from the very beginning—and now, she was even thanking her.
That made Kotomi unexpectedly happy.
Just as she was about to say something more, a playful thought crossed her mind—maybe after this, her reputation as the "savior of Japanese police officers" would be fully cemented in Hidari's heart.
"To be honest," Hidari said with a gentle smile, "the reason I chose to resign was partly inspired by what you said."
Kotomi widened her eyes dramatically. "Because of what I said, you quit your secure government job? You're not planning to make me pay you back for that, are you?" she asked with exaggerated caution, pretending to be ready to run at any moment, though she was clearly joking to lighten the mood.
Hidari, of course, saw through her act immediately but didn't expose it. Instead, she continued with a faint smile.
"Do you know why Yukki and I are going to Shinjuku tomorrow?"
"You really overestimate me," Kotomi replied with a shrug. "As a former Assistant Inspector, whatever you're planning in Shinjuku, how could a simple, sweet, clueless high school girl like me possibly guess?"
"Simple and sweet, huh? Then I wish that you'll always stay that way."
"…Huh."
For some reason, Kotomi suddenly felt like she'd been gently called an idiot. She twitched the corner of her mouth helplessly.
She'd only been trying to be humble—but Hidari took it seriously, even going as far as to say she wished Kotomi would always stay that way.
Of course, Kotomi understood the true meaning behind Hidari's words.
It was the most beautiful and sincere blessing from someone who had once been a police officer.
—May you never see the darkness, and may your heart remain forever pure and innocent.
It was the most beautiful, the most sincere blessing.
And also…the hardest one for Kotomi Izumi to fulfill in the days to come.
Hard to achieve—but not entirely impossible.
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