View topic - Koshonin (The Negotiator)

Usagi Reiko visits death-row inmate, Mariya Kyosuke at a special reception room inside a prison. Reiko tells Mariya that she has been assigned from the Juvenile Division to the Special Investigation Team (SIT) and he offers her his blessings. "Japan's first female negotiator is born. Congratulations. From now on, you can manipulate people's lives."

A seige occurs in which a hostage is taken. Reiko and the members of the SIT equip themselves with their gear and rush to the scene. When they arrive, the chief of SIT2, Katayama Kazuyoshi clashes with the chief of SIT5, Kirisawa Keigo. The alarming tension has already frightened rookie Amari Yusuke.

At the window of a room on the second floor of an apartment building, the criminal, Takemoto Haruo, has a gun pressed to the temple of a middle-aged woman - the mother of his former wife - his agitation apparent. "Back off! If you come closer, she'll die! Let me meet my wife!" Takemoto shouts. The SAT sniper team has already been deployed in various places, and as the police approach the apartment from all four sides, Reiko silently watches the criminal's movements while she mentally runs through the steps in the manual ...

A little while later, the command base receives a call from Takemoto. As Reiko watches Kizaki deal with Takemoto over the phone, she softly mutters the words that should be said to Takemoto before Kizaki speaks. Standing beside Reiko as she utters exactly the same words, Amari cannot hide his surprise. However, when Kizaki says "I want to listen to your story. If there's anything you have to say, say it!" Takemoto declares "I'll shoot the hostage five minutes later!" and hangs up.

"It's strange!" Reiko cries out when she sees that the exchange between Kizaki and Takemoto is over. "The phone call was from Takemoto but he didn't make any request. Moreover, his threat to kill the hostage in five minutes is too short. We have to ascertain if his gun is genuine." But no one pays any heed to Reiko's suggestion. Continuing on, Reiko says the criminal may be suicidal and Kirisawa asks her for the grounds for such reasoning. "I somehow or other get that feeling watching him ..." she blurts out and an infuriated Kirisawa slaps her.

But as the time limit draws near, Kirisawa makes Reiko an unexpected proposition. "Do you want to try negotiating with the criminal through the door?" It's best to do all one can to negotiate with suicidal hostage takers from a close distance so Reiko goes up to the apartment door, suppresses her jitters and starts negotiations.

"Isn't it cold tonight? ... I heard it's below zero in Tochigi." Reiko had noticed that Tochigi is Takemoto's hometown because she had heard his accent when he spoke to Kizaki, and also the hostage's domicile. "You wanted to make your wife and her mother happy, didn't you?" Reiko continues. Takemoto declares "All of you don't understand anything!!" The instant he moves away from the hostage, a photoflash bomb is hurled into the room. The assault team immediately runs up the stairs and bursts into the room. Takemoto has his gun pointed at them. He is shot dead and the hostage is safely rescued.

Reiko cannot hide her anger that she was sent to lure the criminal away from the hostage. And there's what seems like a suicide note in Takemoto's pocket. He planned to have the police kill him because he couldn't kill himself. But Katayama burns that note and conceals that fact when he handles the media, commenting that the shooting was inevitable in such circumstance.

They return to the police headquarters where everyone showers and gets ready to go back. Reiko is told by Kirisawa that she isn't welcome in the team. "You're merely an ornament," Kirisawa proclaims. "Whether an ornament or a burden, if a woman doesn't prepare herself for this, there'll be no chance for a transfer," Reiko replies.

Some days later, Reiko, Kirisawa and Katayama are summoned by the head of the First Criminal Investigative Division, Takabayashi Shizuo. He says the police had stopped a weekly from publishing an article that said that the criminal involved in the seige had been suicidal. The results of an internal investigation yielded evidence that Reiko had told Kirisawa that the criminal wished to die. Takabayashi asks Reiko to verify the truth but she dismisses that claim. Right after that, Kirisawa accuses Reiko of trying to buy his gratitude but she coolly responds that she did it to protect herself.

Some days later, another seige occurs in which hostages are taken. This time, the criminal either has a real gun or a modified gun, and has already opened fire at the police surrounding the building. Reiko and the SIT team rush to the scene immediately. The command base receives a call from the criminal, a man by the name of Sakuma Yuji. For some reason, he designates Reiko as the negotiator. Kirisawa responds to this request and sends Reiko to the scene of the seige.

Reiko speaks to the criminal, who hints at suicidal thoughts, through the door. "Come in. The door is unlocked," he invites. Reiko hears Kizaki's warning through the wireless earpiece but ignores him and opens the door ...