Aibou TV Season 8 Episode 6 - At the Fenced City(フェンスの町で)

Subtitle: At the Fenced City(フェンスの町で)

 A masked man robs a post office with striking efficiency. (Note: In Japan, post offices also act like banks.) Though the police almost immediately sealed surrounding roads with checkpoints, they could not catch the culprit. The video surveillance footage captured the thief moving expertly throughout the ordeal. The Trio the Sōichi suspect a US military personnel from a nearby military base housing personnel in charge of planning, communication, and delivery while Lieutenant Kanbe suspects that this was a professional hit carried out by a seasoned bank robber. After noticing the thief make several critical mistakes, Inspector Ukyō instead suspects someone younger who doesn't have much money but has received some kind of combat training. Superintendent Uchimura orders Trio the Sōichi not to consider suspects from the base, and if someone suspicious from the base turns up, to report to him instead of making an arrest.

In order to track down the young culprit, the Tokuemeigakari pair first get hold of the members' list of  amateur military circles operating in the area. Visiting the home of Kōhei Tsuchimoto(土本 公平), a junior high school student, the inspector notices that Kōhei's bicycles tires match the tire marks found near the scene of the crime. They visit the school he attends, but just before they have a chance to talk to him, the Sōichi arrest and take him away: his mother had turned him in after she found a stash of money inside his closet.

Kōhei is unfazed and confesses to the robbery. However, he keeps on changing his story. He first says that he stole the money because he run away and start a new life. Inspector Ukyō then finds chemical equations for a bomb written in his textbook, and CSI Yonezawa finds a list of ingredients necessary for making a bomb and a timer in a deleted computer file. Based on this, the Tokumeigakari pair find the hardware store next to the nation highway where the store's security camera recorded Kōhei purchasing supplies for making a bomb and a detonator, but oddly enough not a timing device. Kōhei then says that he wanted to blow up his classroom before running away. He didn't mention this earlier not wanting more charges pressed against him. He then reveals that he hid the bomb under the Friendship Bridge(ふれあい橋Fureaibashi) in Nishimachi(西町).

The police find the bomb, but it does not have a timer attached to it, nor could it have been detonated from a distance. This is odd because attaching the timer is a fairly simple task. When questioned about this, Kōhei says that he had trouble attaching the timer, but Inspector Ukyo reveals to Kōhei that he know attaching the timer isn't a difficult process. Kōhei changes his story once again to say that he actually wanted to use the money he stole to buy supplies for even more bombs so that he could blow up the entire school. Instead of running away, he was prepared died during the bombing. When Lieutenant Kanbe then asks why Kōhei didn't mention this from the start, Kōhei claims that he didn't want to give a bad impression. The inspector thinks this is odd - why would someone who is willing to die care about the impression he gives in the interrogation room?. What was Kōhei really planning? What caused this young man to plan on carrying out such drastic measures?

Locations

Nishimachi(西町) - Where Kōhei hid the first bomb. He hid it under the Friendship Bridge(ふれあい橋Fureaibashi) in an open area. Tsuchimoto is also being held at the police station here.

Kitazawachō(北沢町) - Kōhei hid the second bomb under an abandoned car under the guardrails of a a highway passing through this city.

dai san gēto(第３ゲート).- Third gate, Murakoshi planned to enter through the eastern fence's third gate into the base at night.

Other characters appearing/mentioned in the story

Kōhei Tsuchimoto(土本 公平) - 15 year old third year junior high school student. He was a victim of bullying at school after he had to change his last name when his parents got divorced. Murakoshi especially always beat up on him. However, he is a member of a military circle run by an ex Self-Defense Force member and has learned some combat fighting techniques. He claims that he still could not fight off the bullies because those bullies had connections to gang members and even yakuza.

He robs the post office with surprising ease, but is caught shortly afterwards after his mother turns him in. He keeps surprising cool and calmly answers questions the Tro the Sōichi and the Tokumeigakari pair ask him.

Yoshiaki Murakoshi(村越 良明) - He had Kōhei are in the same grade at the same school. The Tokumeigakari pair observe him beating up on Kōhei on the top floor of the school building. His schoolmates say that he always beats up on Kōhei.

Yukari Tsuchimoto(土本 由香里) - Tsuchimoto's mother. Her husband was a member of his workplace's baseball team. One day, he got into an argument with a resident US military personnel and got injured after getting punched. Though he reported the incident to the police and the government office, they were reluctant to investigate a case involving US soldiers. Her husband then formed a group of people who went through similar experiences. Shortly afterwards, he was laid off from his job and had a hard time finding another job. He started getting irritable, losing his temper, and physically abusing his wife. As a result, they divorced about an year ago. Her son is now starting to resemble her former husband and that scares her, creating a rift between mother and son. She did not talk much with her son and did not even know that her son was being bullied at school.

After seeing a TV news report about the robbery, she thought that the suspect resembled his son. Her fears were realized when she looked in her son's closet while he was at school and discovered a stash of money there. When she questioned her son, he claimed that he doesn't know anything about it. Some time later, she called the police and turned him in.

She says that her son was interested in things like model guns from an early age.

Yumi Murakoshi(村越 由美) - Yoshiaki's divorced mother who worked at a supermarket. She now spends time with several men from the base whom she calls her clients. She hasn't seen her son for a while.

Satō(佐藤) - Tsuchimoto's homeroom teacher.

Otaki(大瀧) - Military circle member who is associated with most military circles in the area. He gives the Tokumeigakari pair member lists from these military circles in exchange for not checking their air guns' air pressures (which, if too high, would be considered a violation of the Sword and Firearms Control Law.

Yamashita(山下) - Member of a military circle Kōhei belongs to. He shows a demonstration of the sparring technique he taught Kōhei to the Tokumeigakari pair.