Against the Stream

Chapter 3

Natsumi silently watched the scenery slowly glide by as she stared out of the window of their patrol car. She hadn't spoken to her partner Miyuki for some time as they began their shift.

Natsumi and Miyuki were out on their morning road patrol and neither one of them was in a good mood. Their thoughts were with their good friend Yoriko and her recovery. They were also seething with anger over the action and behavior of Detective Fujisawa, the officer in charge of this investigation.

Natsumi slapped the dashboard of their cruiser with her palm. "Of all the detective's we could have gotten assigned to investigate Yoriko's case, why did we get this asshole?" Natsumi muttered bitterly. "I just want to slap his stupid face good and hard!"

Miyuki glanced briefly over to her partner as she drove. "I know what you're saying Natsumi, but he's not the only police officer in Japan with that same mentality." Miyuki lowered her voice , "What was she wearing? Did she ask for it? How stupid."

"Yeah its so stupid!" Natsumi "That detective saw Yoriko at the hospital, just as you, me and Aoi did. He saw her condition. Did Yoriko ask for all that?"

"Of course not!" Miyuki replied.

"That's right. But you know what really pisses me off about the way that jerk was going on, it means those stinking bastards might really get a walk on this." Natsumi shook her head bitterly .

Miyuki frowned as she considered this. She didn't want to think this was possible, but considering Fujiwara's attitude and the fact that he obviously wasn't going to take this case seriously, Natsumi might just be right and Yoriko's rapist's might just escape punishment.

Meanwhile Kachou was on the phone with Fujisawa's superior ,Superintendent Arishima.

"Listen, I understand that Superintendent. All I'm saying is I am concerned about how Detective is handling the case..."

As Chief Kachou stared off into the distance, a frowned expression spread across his face at the Superintendent's reply.

"That is what I'm trying to say. Officers Tsujimoto, Kobayakawa and more recently Officer Futaba have reported to me how Fujisawa is not taking the case seriously."

Kachou tried to keep his voice low and calm as he spoke despite his growing anger and dismay. "They also reported to me his, concerning the rather disgraceful way he questioned my officer, the victim here, Officer Nikaido."

Again, Arisawa's response was not exactly what Chief Kachou was hoping for.

"Excuse me?" Kachou replied, his voice rising despite his best efforts to control himself. "What do you mean Fujisawa acted properly? I was told of how Fujisawa practically blamed my officer for inviting the attack. He asked some highly offensive and inappropriate questions as well. Let me tell you something Superintendent, my officer did not bring this on herself."

As Kachou finished his conversation and hung the phone up, he noticed his hands had a slight tremble and he wondered how this could be going so wrong.

After their patrol was over, Miyuki and Natsumi headed into the cafteria for a break and saw Aoi there.

"Hi, your morning patrol go okay?" Aoi waved as she greeted them. Natsumi sat down next to Aoi sighing heavily.

"Yeah, no big deal I guess. Traffic was pretty slow really for the morning rush. I still can't get over how these idiots try to park in area's of no parking though. Jeez, how stupid can you be!"

Natsumi's teeth clenched and her voice rose as one of her pet peeve's came up.

"Okay, okay Natsumi. Calm down a little." Miyuki smiled and patted her friend's hand to curb her anger. Looking over to Aoi, Miyuki's face took on a more serious demeanor. "Aoi, have you heard anything from the Chief about the investigation? He was going to contact Fujisawa's boss and try to get some results. Any news?"

Aoi looked between them for a second before replying. "I heard things aren't going very well. Maybe Fujisawa got his attitude from his superior's..."

The rest of their break was quiet as the girls thoughts were of their friend.