Aibou TV Season 8 Episode 5 - A Fruitless Betrayal(背信の徒花)

Subtitle: A Fruitless Betrayal(背信の徒花)

 CSI Yonezawa is a railroad mania (among many other things), and he is enjoying his lunch while watching a DVD recording of the scenery taken from the window of a train running along the Tōkaichi Line(十日市線 Tōkaichisen) when the Tokumeigakari pair drop by. Never to miss any details, Inspector Ukyō notices Akira Mishima(三島 章), a bureaucrat who worked for the Ministry of Land ans Construction, standing on the platform of Mamiya Station(間宮駅 Mamiya Eki). Mishima committed suicide 5 years ago, some time between the day he was recorded on this DVD and the morning afterwards. This was unexpected, since Mishima worked in the ministry building in Tokyo all day on 9/16, and Mamiya Station(間宮駅) is located sixty km away from Tokyo.

Superintendent Uchimura is not happy with the Tokumeigakari pair investigating this old case. Five years ago, members of sōni investigated Mishima for possibly colluding with constructing companies to rig construction bids. Some time after they started the investigation, Mishima's body was found. Those within the Keishichō worried that the public would blame them for making Mishima commit suicide. The superintendent wants to make sure that the public is not reminded of Keishichō's possible link to Mishima's death. Did Mishima really stay in the ministry building that day? What was he doing at a train station far away from Tokyo shortly before he died? Was he really colluding with construction companies?

Locations

Mamiya Eki(間宮駅) - Mamiya Station, a station located in Mamiya Village(間宮村) along the Tōkaichi Line(十日市線 Tōkaichisen). On this line, a single car train goes back and forth along a single rail, and the round trip takes about two hours. Akira Mishima(三島 章) was recorded standing on the platform of this station the day before his body was discovered.

Shin Nishitama Bashi(新西多摩端) - New Nishitama Bridge, Mishima was in charge of this bridge.

Nirayama Bashi(韮山端) - Nirayama Bridge, Mishima was in charge of this bridge.

Dai Ni Sekitani Rikkyō(第二席谷陸橋) - Second Sekitani Overpass, Mishima was in charge of this bridge.

Dai Ni Kan'etsu(第二関越) - Second Expressway, a highway planned for construction, Shin Nishitama Bashi(新西多摩端) connects to this highway, and this highway passes close to the Mamiya Station. Some people are questioning whether this highway is even necessary.

Keiyōen(敬葉園) - Nursing home located near the Mamiya Station.

Characters/Company appearing/mentioned in the story

Akira Mishima(三島 章) - Bureaucrat who worked for the Ministry of Land and Construction(国土建設省), He was in charge of bridges including the New Nishitama Bridge(新西多摩端 Shin Nishitama Bashi), the Nirayama Bridge(韮山端 Nirayama Bashi), and the Second Sekitani Overpass(第二席谷陸橋 Dai Ni Sekitani Rikkyō).

He supposedly committed suicide by jumping from the top of a tall building in Tokyo on 9/17 five years ago after mysteriously vanishing from a conference room at the ministry the previous day. Though he had mysterious scratches on his body and his work badge was missing, the police ultimately declared that his committed suicide because his shoes were left neatly on top of the building and they could not find evidence of murder. Because the building he jumped from is located only 700 meters away from the ministry building, the investigators at the time assumed that he walked straight from the ministry to this building before committing suicide.

Wataru Katakura(片倉 渉) - Bureaucrat who works for the Ministry of Land and Construction(国土建設省). He joined the ministry around the same time as Mishima. He is currently in charge of highways including the Second Expressway(第二関越 Dai Ni Kan'etsu) which is about to begin construction.

He first claims that he did not visit Mamiya Village(間宮村) on 9/16 nor did he see Mishima that day. However, Inspector Ukyō discovers evidence showing both claims to be lies. Katakura did go to Mamiya Station and met Mishima at the station that day.

Kōhei Sawamura(沢村 公平) - Bureaucrat who works for the Ministry of Land and Construction(国土建設省). He was Mishima's direct subordinate,

Sawamura shows the Tokumeigakari pair the conference room where Mishima worked the day before Mishima fell from the nearby building. Sawamura says that on that day, Mishima entered the room around 11 AM to work on documents he needed to prepare in a short period of time. When Sawamura entered the conference room again around 6 PM, Mishima had vanished from the room. The ministry's security cameras didn't record Mishima leaving the room or the ministry either.

When asked why Mishima might have committed suicide, Sawamura answers that Mishima was too straightforward. Mishima didn't get along with his bosses and they had been slow to promote him. Compared to that, Katakura, who started working in the ministry around the same time, had just been promoted to assistant manager.

Masaru Etō(江藤 大) - Head of the nursing home Keiyōen(敬葉園). He tells the Tokumeigakari pair that though he had worked to fight the eviction, he is forced to let go of the land because the Second Expressway(第二関越 Dai Ni Kan'etsu) will be passing through the property. He says that he feels sorry for the residents because most of the elderly residents there are people who had been abandoned by their family members.

At first, he says that he's never seen Mishima before and that he had only negotiated with Katakura from the Ministry of Land and Construction. He later confesses that Mishima had dropped by the nursing home several times to secretly help the nursing home's fight to stay there. He asked Etō to continue resisting, and he would find a way to halt the forced eviction somehow.

Kyōko Yoshida(吉田 京子) - A staff member working at the nursing home Keiyōen(敬葉園). She says that they've been planting a tree outside every time new residents moved in to the facility as a way of telling hi that this was their home.

Shizu Morimura(森村 シズ) - A resident of the nursing home Keiyōen(敬葉園), She keeps on watering a plant that never blooms for some reason. She says that her son brought her the plant, even though she calls just about everyone who visits the nursing home her son.

Later she tried to commit suicide by hanging herself because the nursing home was going to be shut down, and they could not find her a new home. Inspector Ukyō discovers that Mishima brought the plant she had been watering to the nursing home the day he vanished.

Takei Kensetsu(岳井建設) - Takei Construction, the company that will build the Second Expressway(第二関越 Dai Ni Kan'etsu).