In 2002 (Heisei 14), public relations officer Mikami Yoshinobu of D Prefectural Police, is having an intense confrontation with the correspondentsā club, over the issue of the anonymity of a perpetrator in a traffic accident that caused serious injuries. Meanwhile, the public relations office is informed by the top brass that the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department commissionerās visit to the home of the family of the victim in ā64ā, an important unsolved case with its statute of limitation about to run out, has been decided one week later. The case which the police refer to internally as ā64ā is the kidnapping and murder of Shoko-chan which took place in just seven days in January 1989 (Showa 64). It was the worst in D Prefectural Policeās history. Mikami is under strict orders to obtain the familyās consent as well as to give the reportersā questions beforehand. The visit is meant to emphasise the policeās resolve to put all effort into solving the case. However, the victimās father, Amemiya Yoshio, rejects the commissionerās visit and the correspondentsā club refuses to cooperate for the commissionerās press conference. Mikami is torn between the top brass, which operates on organisational principles, and the correspondentsā club. The club denounces the complete change in Mikamiās attitude which had been open until then. In fact, Mikami has a big problem at home. His only daughter, Ayumi, has been missing since several months agoā¦
