Viridian: The Green Guide

Chapter 16: Investigation

Shouta looked over the file for the crab villain as he waited for Tsukauchi to arrive so they could interrogate him. Of all the trigger dealers he'd shaken down over the past few years, most just evaded his questions and a few tried to run, but no one else had shot up before he had the chance to ask a single question. In Shouta's line of work, a reaction like that meant that the person had something to hide.

According to his files, the crab villain was named Jun Hamasaki and some mid-level dealers had pointed Shouta his way, saying that he sold them the drugs. He couldn't be anywhere near the top, he didn't have anywhere near enough connections to bring the drugs over from America, but he was the highest-level dealer Shouta had found so far. Everything pointed to Hamasaki knowing something.

Which is why he had fought tooth and nail, even against a kid like Viridian. Shouta took a deep breath and reminded himself that trigger often induced rage, so Hamasaki probably hadn't been thinking entirely clearly when he almost killed Viridian. Shouta tried to ignore the voice in his head that said that he'd been thinking clearly when he dosed himself, and he clearly knew what would happen. It wouldn't do any good to punch Hamasaki in the face the moment he entered the interrogation room, but that didn't mean Shouta had to like the guy.

Tsukauki calmly walked through the door to the station and put his trenchcoat on the chair at his desk, "Sorry I'm late, Eraser. I was having lunch with an old friend."

Shouta grunted in response, "Are you ready?"

Tskuauchi nodded and took the file, then led Shouta to the room where Hamasaki was waiting. They had to pass through the observation room first, which meant that Shouta got a good look at the villain through the glass. He had been expecting the guy to be defiant, considering how hard he'd fought to avoid being arrested, but instead Hamasaki was pale and jittery. He looked terrified.

Tsukauchi saw him staring, "He's been like that ever since you brought him in. We've tried telling him he's safe here, but he obviously doesn't believe us. It definitely lends credence to your assumption that he actually knows something."

Shouta nodded and followed Tsukauchi through the door. They both sat down at the table opposite Hamasaki, who looked even worse close up. One of his hands was tapping at the table and a thin sheen of sweat coated his forehead despite the fact that the room was air-conditioned. He had information, that much was certain, the only problem now was getting him to talk.

"Alright, you know why you're here." Tsukauchi began. "Eraserhead picked you up a few days ago for trigger possession and assaulting a pro-hero, both of which have prison sentences attached. However, the law is willing to be lenient and take time off your sentence if you provide us with useful information."

Hamasaki shook his head, "I don't know nothing."

"You fought tooth and nail to avoid answering my questions." Shouta said dryly. "Who sells you the trigger?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." Hamasaki glanced up at the camera and Shouta frowned. Was he scared of dirty cops? That couldn't be. Sure, the trigger operation was growing, but villains had to have a significant amount of power to pull a cop to their side and that took time. Trigger had only been in Japan a few years, so he had to be scared of someone else.

"We could try to find a way to sweeten the deal." Tsukauchi tried. "Surely there's something that would make your life more comfortable behind bars. Maybe protective custody?"

"Doesn't matter how comfortable a cell is if you never live to see it," Hamasaki muttered.

"We have the resources to protect you," Shouta said. "Whoever's behind trigger, they can't be powerful enough to reach you in witness protection."