Tokyo: Rabbit Officer and Her Evil Partner-Chapter 749 - 458: Love Gone Sour

The man in the photo, Kuroda Kotaro, looked quite handsome, with delicate features, and he didn’t look as emaciated as he does now; he also didn’t have that air of gloominess and slight neurosis.

Yakai Mutsumi exhibited a complex expression. After showing the photo, she folded it and put it back into her wallet:

"Back then, people around me were quite malicious. Men would act all nice on the surface, saying they liked my type, but in reality, they only wanted to sleep with me. When it came to meeting friends or attending parties, they’d be too ashamed to bring me along...

"Men are like this: the type they like in bed is completely different from the type they like for social occasions."

"They feel ashamed if their girlfriend isn’t attractive, especially in social settings. If a guy brought a chubby girlfriend, his friends wouldn’t say anything to his face, but behind his back, they’d surely make fun of him..."

"Kotaro was different from those people. He genuinely didn’t mind my weight, nor was he after my body. He said he liked my energetic appearance..."

"Even after I gained weight later, Kotaro’s attitude toward me didn’t change. He never felt embarrassed taking me out. If his friends mocked my figure, whether to my face or behind my back, he’d rebuke them harshly... and if they didn’t change, he’d break off the friendship."

...

As Yakai Mutsumi said this, her expression grew numb and a bit confused; she felt as if she were recounting someone else’s story.

Though her memory was still vivid, it felt especially distant, unable to resonate with her feelings at the time.

The more Minamoto Tamako listened, the more confused she became. She quietly asked, "So, Mr. Kuroda should’ve been a great husband... how did he turn out this way?"

Mutsumi’s fingers picked at the thread on her wallet, as she said, "I don’t know. In those years after marriage, I felt he changed, and I felt I changed too. It wasn’t just about my body; the change in personality was even greater."

This made Tamako inexplicably nervous: "Why did you change?"

Yakai Mutsumi still said ’I don’t know.’ She paused and then added, "There could have been various reasons. For example, the thing we talked about most after getting married was household expenses..."

"After Kotaro joined a big company, he gradually became particular about ’a man’s pride.’ He wanted me to quit my job and become a full-time housewife, saying he didn’t want me to suffer, but I actually felt that he just wanted to satisfy his own self-esteem..."

"But he felt he was working hard to support me, and all I had to do was enjoy myself at home. I had said that doing housework is really tiring, and that even if I worked as a cleaner outside, I could earn quite a bit to supplement the household expenses. But he just couldn’t hear it and found it annoying..."

"Once, when his boss visited our home, I cooked dinner. I overheard the boss ridiculing him, saying, ’Why did you marry a fat woman?’ ’Is this your type, Hiro-kun?’ ’But at least she has a big chest....’ That time, Kotaro didn’t refute but poured wine for his boss, showing, for the first time, the expression of ’embarrassment.’"

"Later, as Kotaro earned more and more, there seemed to be a barrier between us — invisible, untouchable, yet undoubtedly existing, insurmountable."

"I still had feelings for him, and he probably had feelings for me too, otherwise he wouldn’t have kept giving me money for living expenses, nor would he have continued handing his salary over to me to manage..."

"Thinking about it carefully, if I ate just a little less at meals, it would have been better. Perhaps I really was too fat, which made Kotaro gradually unable to tolerate it, constantly embarrassing him, making him lose face outside."

"Earning so much money yet not marrying a pretty woman or keeping a slim mistress, people all spread rumors that he had a fetish for fat women..."

"Of course, I thought about losing weight — what woman doesn’t like to be beautiful? But every time Kotaro showed that ’embarrassed’ expression, I couldn’t help but feel disgusted, refusing to lose weight because of this, and a contrary feeling arose inexplicably in my heart."

"It sounds like I’m making excuses; perhaps I was indeed making excuses for myself back then. I couldn’t figure out what I was thinking before. Even though Kotaro slept right beside me, I always felt uneasy..."

At this point, Mutsumi suddenly paused, looked up at the IV bottle, and inexplicably lamented, "Ah, speaking of which, I’ve turned into a fat, ugly, extravagant, selfish woman."

...

The ward became quiet, and no one spoke.

The young patrol cop nearby wanted to comfort her but didn’t know what to say, so he turned his gaze to Senior Tamako.

Minamoto Tamako was enveloped in a huge sense of unease as well. She couldn’t help but touch her little belly, shifting her gaze to Fushimi Roku.

Will Mr. Fushimi change too in the future?

Will I change in the future?

...will we end up like the Kurodas?

As Tamako thought more and more about it, her anxiety increased. Clearly, the Kurodas were not short of money, yet their life was a complete mess; her parents were the same, never lacking money, but still ending in divorce. It’s evident that financial stability is not a panacea for family harmony.

Then, where is the problem?

Has the feeling deteriorated?

That’s not right; the Kuroda couple clearly still had feelings for each other, so how did they end up at such a knife’s edge?

Tamako couldn’t figure it out, so she withdrew her gaze and looked back at Yakai Mutsumi, unable to resist asking again: "Why exactly did it turn out this way?"

Yakai Mutsumi gave the same answer: "I don’t know."

For a moment, Tamako was at a loss for words; she could only offer a few words of comfort, exchange pleasantries, and then stand up to leave, heading back to the police station to start writing the case closure report. 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

On the way back, she didn’t talk to Fushimi Roku.

Fushimi saw this and understood what Tamako was anxious about. But there was nothing he could do to help; he could only wait for Tamako to figure it out herself.

In the following days, Tamako’s mood remained gloomy. She regained her discipline, consistently jogging and exercising every day, but without the energy she used to have.

The verdict for Kujo Hikari came from Hokkaido, which was within Fushimi Roku’s conservative expectations. The judge sentenced him to life imprisonment, and neither Kujo Hikari nor the Kujo family appealed, so it was a final decision.

After all, the threshold for the death penalty in Japan is quite high. Without killing seven or eight people, one can’t call oneself a death row inmate. Kujo Hikari being a first-time offender, getting a life sentence is already pretty good.

Fushimi Roku was neither satisfied nor dissatisfied with this; it was just business, and he didn’t plan to pursue it further.

Kujo Mutsumi kept calling several times to check in, occasionally hinting at when he intended to get engaged.

Given Tamako’s lifeless demeanor, Fushimi Roku thought raising the topic of engagement now would only backfire. After all, as the saying goes, haste makes waste, and matters of the heart must take their time.

Such days persisted for half a month before the Yakai Mutsumi husband-murder case finally wrapped up its slow process.

Minamoto Tamako wanted to sneak a peek at the trial. She didn’t mention it to Fushimi Roku, but Fushimi still came along, having heard about it from Taira Sakurako.

In general, not many people attend ordinary cases. For Yakai Mutsumi’s ordinary crime of passion, no one was interested, so only the victim’s family, Fushimi Roku, and Minamoto Tamako attended.

Before the trial started, both sides’ attorneys sat lost in their phones, replying to messages, not taking it seriously.

Tamako was inexplicably nervous and asked, "What do you think Mutsumi will be sentenced to?"

Fushimi Roku recalled the testimony and, with a reserved opinion, said, "If the judge is objective enough, and if the prosecutor doesn’t engage in plea bargaining, maybe it’ll be self-defense, at most excessive self-defense. After all, it was Kuroda Kotaro who first attacked, and Yakai Mutsumi was in a weaker position... but to the general public, such a result is hard to accept. Murder should be repaid with a life, and the jury might sympathize with the victim and not with a gambler like Yakai Mutsumi."

"I see..." Tamako was unsure if this outcome was good or bad.

Soon, the judge arrived and banged the gavel. The bailiff brought the visibly nervous Yakai Mutsumi to the defendant’s seat. With only a glance, Fushimi Roku smelled a familiar air and suddenly changed his conclusion:

"The prosecutor has filed charges. It’s essentially over; Yakai Mutsumi will likely be sentenced."