Case 1 Decoyman

case#1:decoyman is the second case of the Transmitter story of The Silver Case. This chapter serves as an introduction to the members of the Heinous Crimes Unit, as well as other key plot points and characters such as most notably Kamui Uehara, an escaped serial killer who the characters attempt to track down over the course of the chapter. It also details the fate of the Republic unit.

Description

decoyman is the beginning to the story proper after the opening case, case#0:lunatics. In decoyman, the status quo for the rest of the story, with Akira working with the HC Unit, is established, as are various patterns that will be repeated (and eventually broken) in future cases. When first meeting the members of the Unit in this case, unique character profiles are given to introduce them.

decoyman centers around Kamui Uehara; as such, the first bits of information about what the Silver Case is are dropped in this chapter, although the player can find a more detailed explanation ahead of time by reading the booklet that comes with the game. Most of the case is spent investigating locations where Kamui has either supposedly struck or locations that he is said to be likely to strike. Despite Kamui being important to the entire game, the Kamui Case is tentatively solved by the conclusion of this chapter; in future chapters, the Unit investigates other cases while lingering ambiguities from decoyman hang in the background.

Summary

Monday, March 22, 1999, 05:48PM
Tetsugoro Kusabi and his associate Ryu Munakata are holding a secret meeting on the benches at the Harakiri Batting Center. Ryu warns Tetsu that Kamui Uehara is going to make a move soon, explaining that his teeth are hurting and believing that it may foretell Kamui due to a time when he had to have his wisdom teeth pulled shortly before the Silver Case. Tetsu remarks with disbelief, saying that Kamui is locked up and has likely reformed himself by now. At Munakata's urgings to believe his teeth, Kusabi concedes.

The scene jumps through location and time to a woman, Yuriko Sonoda, running down a hall. A document known as the All-Points Bulletin appears, giving information on who Kamui Uehara is. According to it: In March, 1979, Kamui was arrested while committing his crimes in the Silver Case. In August, 1984, Kamui was diagnosed with "extremely high-level mental disorders", and his trial was cancelled. In September of the same year, he was committed to the psych ward of IMM Hospital, where he began counseling.

Most recently, on the night of March 27, 1999, Kamui murdered his counselor, Sonoda, seemingly with a customized harpoon gun. At that point, a surveillance satellite in orbit began tracking Kamui Uehara as a point. Shortly thereafter, Republic was called upon and deployed to the woods where Kamui had fled to, but they failed their mission, with two of their members having been killed. Just past midnight, the satellite track on Kamui disappeared; it is assumed that he went underground. Now, Heinous Crimes Unit Special Agents Tetsugoro Kusabi and Sumio Kodai head to IMM Hospital to investigate the murder.

Sunday, March 28, 1999, 07:04AM
Kusabi and Sumio are at the hospital, talking with one of its employees, Dr. Tachibana. He says that Kamui was going through the normal ward curriculum and everything was going fine before this incident. He also says that Kamui's security was sufficient, and that Kamui didn't even have the ability to take care of himself, let alone kill. As their conversation concludes, Tachibana comments on Kusabi's difficult demeanor, as he had been acting rudely to the doctor. Kusabi shots back a retort as Tachibana leaves; as he complains, Sumio reminds Kusabi that it is "basically" his fault.

The two detectives take notice of another person sitting in the waiting room with them, Akira. Sumio says that he is the sole survivor of Republic's mission the previous night, someone whose real name is unknown due to his registration having been seemingly deleted. He also reminds Kusabi that they have met before, at Cauliflower. Kusabi remembers him as the "Chinchilla", and Sumio adds that Daigo Natsume is technically alive but in the ICU. As they describe the aftermath of the operation, Akira flashes back to the events.

The previous night, Natsume was briefing him, Kenichi Sakamoto and Haruhiko Inomata in the Woodlands on their mission to bring in Kamui Uehara alive. Inomata protested that it makes no sense to try to bring him in alive with heavy weaponry, but Natsume said that these were orders from up top. The group had tracked down Kamui here using the "24" satellite's tracking point. Natsume was to hang back, but would come into the field if necessary. Sakamoto berated Inomata to calm down, as he was panicking about the mission, and told him that in order to succeed, he needed to have more criminal power than the criminals. Sakamoto was put in the front of the formation.

Saturday, March 27, 1999, 11:45PM
Akira and the other two agents move forward into the woods, keeping track of each others' positions using a radar. The group surrounds the target, who is also marked on the radar, and attempts to move them towards the point of capture. As they do so, the point representing Kamui slowly moves closer to Sakamoto. Natsume orders Sakamoto to get distance, but he is unable to, as he finds that the distance on the radar and the physical distance don't match. Kamui's point disappears, and soon Sakamoto's does as well as he goes silent.

Inomata freaks out and screams, and Natsume instructs them to continue the mission as Kamui and Sakamoto's points reappear. Inomata is unable to be calmed down, though, and vows to hunt Kamui. Akira follows the directions on the radar to Sakamoto's point, where he finds his corpse, with its left eye missing. Natsume heads out into the field as Inomata continues to scream and swear, only to suddenly stop talking. Although he is still present, Natsume fears that Inomata will be killed as well, and tells Akira to assist him in capturing Kamui. They continue to move forward, and Inomata implies that he is ready to die as he begins moving towards Kamui's point without being ordered to.

Akira moves towards Inomata and Kamui's now-intersecting points, but by the time he gets there, all he finds in Inomata's body, also with its eye missing. Natsume, whose point has now appeared on the radar, tells Akira to fall back, proclaiming the mission a failure. With Kamui's point having disappeared, Akira retreats. He meets up with Natsume, who expresses disappointment in himself for allowing his agents to die under his command. He says that Kamui will appear soon, and that all he can do now is have his revenge. He asks Akira if he knows the phrase "flower, sun, and rain", and says that "the answer is inside Kamui". As he says contradictory things about Kamui, he says goodbye to Akira and an apparition appears behind him. A sound is heard.

Sunday, March 28, 1999, 09:21AM
In the present, Kusabi is trying to ask Akira for more information about what happened during the mission, but Sumio interrupts, pointing out that Akira is in a state of psychosis and is unable to speak. Kusabi shows Akira a picture of a curiously bald Kamui in public and asks him if he remembers him. He recaps more about the aftermath of the mission, but Sumio stops him again, urging him not to inadvertently hurt Akira.

Suddenly, Chizuru Hachisuka calls Sumio, telling him that there's been another murder. She sends Sumio the address and tells him that she'll meet them at the scene. The two detectives wonder what to do about Akira, as he is the sole witness of the mission and is thus a resource to the Kamui investigation. Kusabi decides that they should take Akira with them on the investigation, despite not having permission to do so. Before they go, Kusabi decides that "chinchilla" is a bad nickname after all, and slowly puts together a new one, eventually settling on "Big Dick" (due to Akira being a "big guy" and having "a face like a private detective", i.e. like a "dick".) The three take off out of the hospital and to an entrance to the sewers on Babylon Street.

Sunday, March 28, 1999, 07:39PM