Case 2 Spectrum

spectrum
Story	Transmitter
Date(s)	June 30th, 1999 July 3rd, 1999 July 4th, 1999 July 5th, 1999 July 6th, 1999 July 7th, 1999
Location(s)	Various
End card	Love will tear us apart
Moon color	Yellow

case#2:spectrum is the third case of the Transmitter story of The Silver Case and the fourth chapter of the game as a whole, coming in after Placebo's report*1:YUME. Contrary to the Kamui orientation in case#0:lunatics and case#1:decoyman, this chapter serves as a development to Akira's first job in the Heinous Crimes Unit.

Description

As mentioned above, spectrum acts as a contrast to lunatics and decoyman by focusing more on a side investigation rather than Kusabi and Sumio's stakeout, established in decoyman - although it appears alongside it, nonetheless. spectrum also follows that investigation through the eyes of Akira, who eventually becomes part of it along with Morikawa after becoming an HC Unit Special Agent.

Summary

The case opens with a monologue from an unnamed child, describing his friend, Hikaru, saying that he has disappeared. He speculates on the theory that some of their classmates might have locked Hikaru up somewhere, and shortly thereafter implies that Hikaru is introverted on the surface, but otherwise cheerful - his laugh is described as that of a frog, mentioning that "he really says 'ribbit'." The child says that he's set up the Save Hikaru Special Headquarters base in a secret location near the Typhoon Apartments, his place of residence. The child then elaborates on what Hikaru's initial experience with the 24 Wards was like: he says that he was scared and must've thought that everyone was a "scary monster," additionally implying that the residents of the 24 Wards were "mean" to outsiders.
After describing some of their friends, the screen eventually cuts to a framed picture of Hikaru in the middle of several flowers. The title is presented, and the case begins.

---

Wednesday, June 30, 1999, 12:06 PM
Sumio and Kusabi are watching the Yukimura Villa from their car. Impulsively, Sumio begins talking about how he's falling in love with Ayame, with Kusabi teasing him for falling in love with a serial killer in response. He tells Sumio to never "say shit like this to anyone," advising him to go for Chizuru instead, with his own reasoning being that they would look good as a couple. After a few more back-and-forths, Chizuru contacts them via radio, telling them that something's wrong in the D4 district. Sumio and Kusabi inform her that they're unavailable, as the stakeout's still in effect, but Kusabi eventually tells her to bring Akira as a partner.

03:40 PM
Akira receives a mail from someone claiming to be 'The Bat'. He infroms Akira that he's watching over him "from the shadows," additionally advising him to stay away from Tokio Morishima in the P.S. Chizuru rings his doorbell, and shortly after answering the door, Chizuru explains that she needs Akira to technically "come down to the site." They leave and make their way towards Typhoon.

A view of Typhoon.

After arriving, Akira and Chizuru head over to Typhoon's courtyard, stumbling across Kawabata, who explains that the victim must have died on impact after falling from the third floor. He adds that the victim's body has multiple fractures and bruises, but isn't entirely sure if it was suicide or a murder. After asking Chizuru to tell Morikawa to come around for mah-jongg once in a while, Kawabata leaves. In the meantime, a police officer questions an elderly man, Mizoguchi, who says that - while calling the police shortly after discovering the body at 4 AM - he didn't see anyone or anything out of the ordinary. Mizoguchi says that no one was suspicious, and the officer leaves him alone. Morikawa arrives to the scene and makes a few quips on Chizuru's account, adding that he was busy "working part-time at a convenience store." Chizuru IDs the victim as a man named Kenichi Hiruma, living on the third floor, and is ordered by Morikawa to get the key to his apartment. Prior to that, however, a child starts yelling from the fourth floor. Upon arriving, the child turns out to be Koichi, who asks the detectives to "help Hikaru."

Saturday, July 3, 1999, 08:32 AM
Back at the 24 Precinct, Morikawa asks Nakategawa where Sumio and Kusabi are. Naka explains that they're still on the stakeout, four and a half days later, adding that the whole department is working on the same case as well. However, Naka refrains from explaining why it's a big deal and tells Morikawa that asking Kotobuki isn't worth it either, as the case is under Central's command. Morikawa prods Naka further for information, but is ultimately left with nothing. Meanwhile, Chizuru requests Kotobuki to reassign Morikawa, as she doesn't trust him and disapproves of his 'sexual harrassment'. Kotobuki tells her that "reassignment it is, then," but Chizuru's happiness is short-lived, as Kotobuki immediately makes it clear that he wants her to reassign. Kotobuki reprimands Chizuru and tells her that he only wants agents who can do their job, rhetorically asking her if she thinks she's better at her job than Morikawa. He tells Chizuru to take as much time as she needs, to which she replies that she'll think about it. After their conversation, she then moves over to Morikawa's desk and starts criticizing him, to which Morikawa only responds with sarcasm. Nakategawa and Morikawa argue against her "professional profiling," with Naka adding that profiling has become reduced by value in investigations. Morikawa grills Chizuru for a while longer, after which she leaves, implying that she'll take the case in her spare time. Naka prods Morikawa, saying that their discussion looked like a lovers' quarrel, adding that his instincts are "generally pretty spot-on."

Akira gets called by Kotobuki and Morikawa, with the former thanking him for his help in decoyman, and designating him as a Special Agent in the Heinous Crimes Unit. Morikawa explains that Akira has been scouted, additionally noting that everyone in the HC Unit was scouted by Kotobuki. Nonetheless, Kotobuki tells him that he's able to turn down the position on one condition - if he can do "the Firebird Splash." After a few moments of nothingness, Kotobuki welcomes Akira aboard the HC Unit and immediately puts him on the Typhoon case. Morikawa comments on the case a bit, mentioning that his gut feeling tells him it isn't a suicide after all. Kotobuki tells Akira to keep an eye out on Koichi, Hikaru's friend, and asks Morikawa to keep sending reports on the "Silver Case", after which the meeting ends. Akira and Morikawa then head off to the Typhoon apartment complex.

09:40 AM
Akira and Morikawa arrive at Typhoon, but Morikawa tells Akira to take over and chase any leads he might get, as he has "some minor business to attend to." Akira heads up to the fourth floor and, upon ringing the doorbell to apartment 402, is greeted by Koichi who welcomes him into his home.

10:11 AM
Akira and Koichi settle down in Koichi's living room, after which Koichi gives him a cup of tea. Koichi asks Akira for a favor - to find Hikaru. He explains that he simply disappeared out of the blue and that, to his surprise, no one had noticed or cared; including his classmates. He adds to this with the theory that his classmates might have taken Hikaru and hid him somewhere, as everyone hates him simply "for being an outsider." Koichi explains that Hikaru was bullied often, shrugging it off as no surprise, since transfer students get roughly treated anyway. Koichi says that he, too, transferred when he was in second grade, and adds that no one talked to him when he was in his first year - much like Hikaru's case. As such, Koichi says that he protects Hikaru so that "everyone doesn't bully him." He expands on his theory of Hikaru being taken away by mentioning two bullies - Kojima and Nakao - who supposedly wanted to bully Hikaru further.

Akira questions Koichi about his mother, for whom Koichi says has a "grownup job," leaving him alone at home every night. He says that it used to be lonely, but after getting used to it and having Hikaru next door, Koichi found it 'really fun.' He expands on their friendship by adding that he liked whatever Hikaru played, and that they found several fun places around the Ward. In a kind of flashback, Koichi recalls Hikaru's first arrival to Typhoon, a year ago - he had arrived with his mother and her boyfriend in "a foreign car," but seemed lonely. Koichi hypothesizes that it could be because of his mom's boyfriend, as it's possible that there could've been a degree of domestic abuse. After telling Akira that there is no need to pity him or Hikaru, Koichi adds to his flashback - his first encounter with Hikaru was when Hikaru and his mother came to say "hi." While he admits that he doesn't remember much after that, he says that they played together later on, with Koichi also telling him about Typhoon and its residents.

Koichi also tells Akira that he and Hikaru have a secret; their own underground base in Typhoon's parking lot. In a short flashback, it's revealed that they got their inspiration from a "secret robot base" design from the TV Dream magazine. Koichi designated himself in charge of the base's construction, whereas Hikaru would be in charge of creating the blueprints. Hikaru reads the magazine for more inspiration, while Koichi gathers the materials.

Going back to present-day, Koichi tells Akira that their first base was prone to breaking, and in the end, they made a second one. Koichi doesn't tell Akira about this one, however, instead telling Akira that he needs a good assistant and asks him to come back tomorrow to help him further. Upon heading towards Typhoon's staircase, a ghost that appears to take the form of Hikaru tells Akira to "HELP KOICHI".

06:08 PM
Back at the stakeout, Kusabi is seen laying down in the car while Sumio watches the Villa. Sumio tries to tell him something, but Kusabi angrily replies with an out-of-context "fifty thousand," additionally telling Sumio to "shut the fuck up." Confused, Sumio asks what the issue is, to which Kusabi responds with 'Sprite Over' - revealing that he lost a horse-racing bet of 50,000¥, which almost entirely takes up his pay. Upon realizing that he still has 22 days until his next pay, Kusabi asks Sumio to lend him some cash, with Sumio telling him to ask Nakategawa instead. Kusabi declines, since he believes the act itself will show Naka that he's "weak" and that he couldn't ask a "bitchy little queen like that" to lend him some yen, but Sumio ignores his reasoning and forces him to ask Nakategawa anyway.

Sunday, July 4, 1999, 08:07 AM
Akira checks his mail at his apartment. He is warned by someone named "Post Modern," being told that his room is bugged and to be careful. Akira leaves and heads toward Typhoon shortly after.

10:38 AM

Koichi's clue.

Heading up to Apartment 402 again, Akira is greeted to a note left over by Koichi; it shows Typhoon 1F's Mizoguchi - the building manager - and a key next to him, along with a trash can that seems to have a prompt saying "move this." Akira tries going over to the courtyard first, but cannot enter the parking lot, as it requires a key. Backtracking to the first floor, Akira rings the bell for Apartment 101 and is greeted by Mizoguchi. He remembers that the parking lot is still locked and gives Akira the key. Akira goes back to the courtyard and unlocks the entrance to the parking lot, after which he spots a trash can in the upper-right corner and moves it to the side, only to uncover a hole.

Going down, Akira realizes that this is Koichi and Hikaru's secret base. Koichi happily greets Akira and explains that he and Hikaru built the base over nights, slowly digging holes bit by bit. After explaining some of the base's tidbits and imitating a detective show, Koichi gets back to the case of Hikaru and points to a wall of five drawings, all representing the witnesses. These are as follows:

• He first points to Kojima, who he describes as "big and really mean." Kojima appears to be in an upper-class family, as Koichi says that he lives in a big house and pokes fun at him and Hikaru for living with only their mothers. In spite of this, however, it's implied that Kojima didn't really get along with anyone, with Koichi saying that "everyone stayed away from him."
• After Kojima, Koichi moves onto Nakao. Koichi notes that they take the same route to class and are in the same group - which Nakao leads - but has a superiority complex, meaning that Nakao sees him, Hikaru and Shigenori as "his lackeys." Eventually, Koichi attacked Nakao out of pure anger, but ended it on a tie.
• Moving on, Koichi seems to contrast Kojima and Nakao with Shimizu, a kid who he describes as good-looking, great at baseball, and as a person with "a sense of justice" - traits that make him the most popular in his class. However, it's implied that Shimizu becomes more aggressive during his baseball matches - as Hikaru is unskilled in playing baseball, Shimizu seems to have a habit of blaming every mistake on him. In addition, Koichi says that he's arrogant and overconfident, which leads him to making decisions unfit for others.
• After Shimizu, Koichi describes Motonobu, a fat and seemingly very aggressive classmate who gets picked on due to his size and temper by others. Contrary to Koichi's negative feelings towards the last three suspects, he feels somewhat sorry for Motonobu, as he considers himself to be in a kind of friendship with him.
• Finally, Koichi moves onto the West district girls' bullying group, which includes Aonuma, Tsukada and Satomi, with Aonuma being their de facto leader. Koichi describes them as powerful, constantly grouped and frequent gossip spreaders. Their parents also seem to have a dislike towards single-parent children, advising the girls to not play with them. Nonetheless, Koichi says that the girls in the East district treat him and Hikaru as actual friends. The issue with them being on the side of the East district girls' side, however, is that Aonuma bullies Hikaru as a kind of threat - which leads Koichi to believing that she, too, is a top suspect.

Koichi and Akira head back to the door to Apartment 402. Koichi tells Akira that they have a good supply of information now, additionally advising Akira to investigate a bit further. Akira promises that he'll look further into it, and they go their seperate ways.

Monday, July 5, 1999, 04:31 AM
Back at the stakeout, Kusabi's misfortune is furthered - his yen loss now totals at 100,000. Sumio sarcastically compliments him for having the guts to bet further, though Kusabi takes it seriously and shrugs it off. Kusabi asks Sumio how much longer they have left, to which Sumio only responds with "it can't really be helped." Annoyed, Kusabi tells Sumio that back when he was still a Special Agent in the Regional Investigation Unit, Kotobuki told him that detectives never use the phrase "can't be helped," angrily advising him to never say that in front of him again. In a similar fashion, Kusabi tells him to never say that again, adding that if they ever give up, they lose.

07:10 AM
Akira checks his mail once again. This time, he's received a mail from a man called "Takeshi Kinjo," who says that he looks forward to meeting him and tells Akira to give an unnamed girl his regards if he sees her. Kinjo says that the unnamed girl is trying to enter into "a brand new world" and that he wants to save her, asking Akira for his support. Akira closes the mail and makes his way to the Precinct.

08:40 AM
Akira encounters Morikawa, with whom he chats for a bit. Morikawa says that gathering info is going okay for him, additionally telling Akira that he doesn't need to rush his encounters with Koichi and should take his time. Asking about Chizuru, Morikawa slightly goes off-topic and explains that women are complicated, saying that men "can't really understand them." He adds that there is a specific 'program' and says that Chizuru is a particularly complicated woman; one who sticks her nose into forensics and gets pressured by "unspecific personalities" as a result. Morikawa expresses his sympathy for her, nonetheless, admitting that her job is a tough one and that things will get better for her after she's done taking her time off. After finishing up with their conversation, Akira and Morikawa head for Typhoon.

Undisclosed time
Morikawa suddenly stops the car on the middle of the road during their drive towards Typhoon, telling Akira that he has to take a piss first. However, just as Morikawa is about to do so, he spots a car going at full speed - Chizuru's. Morikawa immediately returns to the car and they head forward. Driving behind Chizuru, Morikawa orders her to stop her car over a megaphone^(?). They stop, and after leaving her car, Chizuru tells them that she's off-duty, and therefore a civilian. Morikawa sarcastically pokes at her driving, but eventually asks to talk with her in private. It's revealed here that Morikawa and Chizuru seem to have something of a complicated relationship. Morikawa asks Akira to take over yet again, ordering him to question the residents and to check all apartments. He also mentions going back to the courtyard, as he believes "the mystery is there."

11:55 AM
Following Morikawa's gut feeling, Akira checks the courtyard. Upon arriving, he sees a somewhat-mangled apparition. It's very likely that this is, once again, the ghost of Hikaru, as he says that he "WON'T LET ANYONE BULLY KOICHI". The apparition disappears shortly after, and Akira hears someone calling to him from up above. Turning around, he spots Koichi yelling from the balcony, telling him to hurry up to his apartment. Hikaru's ghost appears for another couple of brief moments, apologizing to Koichi for no mentioned reason.

Before heading off to Koichi's apartment, however, Akira takes his time to question some of the residents. He starts with Apartment 101's Mizoguchi, who says that he was awake at the time that Hiruma died. He didn't think much of it, initially, as more of Typhoon's residents have started taking their trash out at night, with Mizoguchi saying that it's become a hassle to warn them about it every time they do so. However, upon going over to clean up in the morning, he finally spotted the body. When asked about Koichi, Mizoguchi expresses his regret, but also notes of Hikaru's death. He mentions that Hikaru had a weak heart and that he must've had a heart attack while they were playing.

Akira leaves and moves on to the second floor. Going over to Apartment 201, he stumbles upon a man in punk attire. When asked about Hiruma, he only says that he's heard it was a suicide. He says that he hung out with Koichi and Hikaru every now and then, advising them to not do "stupid things" and occasionally explaining how his motorcycle works, which seems to have made them happy. Going back on track, he says that Hiruma didn't seem like a nice person, adding that he saw Hiruma on the street in front of Typhoon at the night of his death. Akira moves onto Apartment 202, and is greeted by a woman who tells him that she used to pass Hiruma the building's newsletter quite often. She adds that Hiruma was a loner and a frequent smoker.

She expresses her regret for Hikaru's death, and shortly after, Akira moves onto the third floor. In Apartment 302, he's greeted by a man who tells him that Hiruma most likely had a "flashy job," as he always came home late, but stayed in his apartment over the day. After trying to coerce Akira into telling the Traffic Unit to forget about a ticket that was given to him, Akira leaves and moves towards Apartment 303 and is greeted by a middle-aged man who says that, prior to jumping, he heard a noise from Hiruma's apartment. Before that, however, he says that he heard Hiruma's footsteps, meaning that he must've gotten back home just before jumping to his death.

Akira moves onto the fourth floor and over to Apartment 401, and is greeted by a man who initially comments about how the suicide only drops the value of the complex. After expanding on this for a while, he makes mentions of a man on the fifth floor, and also tells Akira that he thinks Hikaru's ghost must've killed Hiruma. Thinking that Akira doesn't believe him, they end their conversation, and Akira heads off to the fifth floor. Upon opening the door to Apartment 501, he is greeted by Tokio, who initially wonders if he's already seen him somewhere. He tells Akira that he did hear some kind of noise on the fifth floor, but didn't pay attention as he was "in a bad mood." He annoyingly tells Akira to go away if he's done with his questioning, saying that Akira's face pisses him off. Akira finally makes way back to Koichi in Apartment 402 shortly after.

Entering Koichi's room, Koichi instantly tells him that he's remembered something; Hikaru's fear of "something." During a particular day, Koichi and Hikaru went to a haunted house, with Hikaru being especially scared. Koichi adds that something doesn't feel right, however, and finally remembers; Hiruma had been watching Hikaru. In a flashback, it's revealed that Koichi and Hikaru were actually running away from Hiruma for some unknown reason. But before he expands on why, Koichi tells Akira that he doesn't feel right and asks to be left alone for a while.

Tuesday, July 6, 1999, 10:02 AM
Akira arrives at the 24 Precinct and is informed by Nakategawa that he's being called into the precinct's break room. Heading over, he comes across Morikawa, who informs him that his taking over of the case, along with Chizuru's break, made things much easier for him. Moving on, Morikawa tells Akira that Koichi is the key to the case they're working on, but explains that Hikaru's death traumatized Koichi up to the point where he has repressed any memories of his death in the back of his mind. This sheds light on why Koichi felt uneasy when recalling his memories of running away from Hiruma and why he believes that Hikaru is simply missing. Morikawa tells Akira that they have to lay the "truth" on him so as to bring those memories out. Shortly after telling him this, however, Morikawa says that he wants to see what Akira is "made of," with a three-choice quiz that he calls The 100-Question Kumite. He says that Akira must answer 100 questions in a row with no breaks and ten seconds worth of time to think about an answer, adding that everyone in the HC Unit has already passed this test and that Kotobuki decides whether or not someone has passed. After going through all 100 questions, Kotobuki simply tells Akira that there are no points and that he has done "just great." He orders Akira to finish up with the case, after which Akira heads back to Typhoon one more time.

05:00 PM
Akira makes his way to Koichi's room, who says he's remembered something else; a memory of his and Hikaru's last dinner together, saying that Hikaru was happy and laughed like a frog. The day after, Hiruma watched them and started chasing them. Footage is displayed from Hiruma's point of view; they ran together, but whereas Koichi ran down an alleyway, Hikaru headed towards a blocked train track. Initially, Hiruma seems like he wanted to go for Koichi, but ran towards Hikaru instead. As there was nowhere left to go, all Hikaru could do was simply bundle up. The ending of the footage shows the train passing by, and it's implied here that Hikaru died in this moment of a heart attack.

His memories begin to surface. Back in his room, Koichi is seen bursting into tears. Out of fear from Hiruma, Koichi simply kept running down the alleyway instead of going back, with his reasoning being that he didn't want to die. Koichi expresses great regret, as he believes that he is the one responsible for Hikaru's death.

06:03 PM
Back once again at the stakeout, Kusabi and Sumio shortly comment on Akira's success with figuring out what happened on his first case. Sumio asks how much longer they have to be on the stakeout, additionally mentioning his annoyance and fatigue with how things are going. Kusabi yells at him, and they get into a short fight, with Sumio angrily calling him a "fucking old-timer," as it's implied that Sumio is sick of Kusabi's old-fashioned ways and back-in-the-day talks. Kusabi angrily responds, but Sumio then notices a glitter coming from the Villa.

Wednesday, July 7, 1999, 08:27 PM
Over at the precinct, Morikawa and Nakategawa discuss Koichi's case. While he doesn't have conclusive evidence, Morikawa still believes that Koichi must've killed Hiruma. Chizuru suddenly enters the room, finishing his sentence by asking if he thinks it was revenge. Chizuru adds that Koichi kept the truth of Hikaru's death to himself, bottling up the fear and anger inside. In order to protect himself and to get revenge for Hikaru, Koichi went to kill Hiruma. Morikawa contradicts her statement, however, by saying that Koichi went to get killed. He explains that Hiruma had issues with his autonomic nerves, and that he went into a jealous rage at the sight of Koichi and Hikaru playing together. Hiruma's eventual chase towards Hikaru meant that Koichi left him defenseless - and after seeing his death, Koichi thought that by getting himself killed, Hikaru would forgive him. Morikawa, Chizuru and Naka express their regret and surprise at Koichi's purity. Chizuru wonders if Hikaru ever forgave Koichi, to which Morikawa says that he believes so, and that Hikaru was watching over him all the time.

Over in the questioning room, Chizuru apologizes to Akira for causing him and the others trouble, along with acting hysterical and several other reasons. At the end of her list, she jokingly throws her tongue out at Akira and simply says that she was on her period.

Epilogue
One last piece of footage is displayed - a scene of Hikaru and Koichi eating at a restaurant. They both place a fry in each other's mouths, grinning happily as they do so. Shortly after it fades to white, a frog is shown, and the chapter ends.

Love will tear us apart

Trivia

Koichi's room

• In Koichi's room, an image showing the box art for Flower, Sun, and Rain's DS release can be found on the desk.
• On the floor in Koichi's room, there is a stack of magazines. Their textures appear to be based on the June 1992 issue of Weekly Shonen Jump, which featured Josuke Higashikata and Jotaro Kujo from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure on the cover.