Synopsis
Hiroshima, in the late 1980s, prior to the enactment of the Anti-Organized Crime Law. Rookie detective Shuichi Hioka is assigned to the East Kurehara precinct’s Second Investigation Division, which boasts the best arrest rate in the Hiroshima Prefectural Police. He and his new partner Shogo Ogami, a veteran detective rumored to be in cahoots with the mob, are tasked with investigating the disappearance of an employee of Kurehara Finance, a front company for the Kakomura-gumi organized crime group.
Kurehara City is home to two major gangs. One is the Irako-kai, an affiliate of the 100 member-strong Hiroshima Jinsei-kai organization, which also incorporates a subordinate outfit called the Kakomura-gumi. The other is the Otani-gumi, a long-established gambling syndicate that sprang up in Kurehara City soon after the end of World War II, and is engaged in a fierce rivalry with the Irako-kai.
Like a ravenous wolf, Ogami uses aggressive and illegal methods to uncover leads on the missing Kurehara Finance employee from Rikako Takagi, owner of nightclub and favorite haunt Riko; Otani-gumi’s number two man, Moritaka Ichinose; and old acquaintance Ginji Takii, leader of the Hiroshima Jinsei-kai’s “All-Japan Homeland Salvation Union.”
Hioka is increasingly disturbed by Ogami’s erratic behavior. Despite his objections, their investigation continues.
In truth, under orders from Hiroshima Prefectural Police headquarters’ inspector general, Hioka has been sent undercover to the East Kurehara precinct to secretly probe Ogami’s alleged collusion with the yakuza. The volatile detective’s unorthodox approach to police work only fills him with distrust and suspicion.
As Ogami and Hioka get closer to uncovering the truth behind the disappearance, the sparks of conflict between the opposing gangs gradually gather intensity, until a minor argument between Otani-gumi and Kakomura-gumi members at Club Riko leads to gunshots. This serves as the catalyst for their already ferocious rivalry to ignite into a blood-for-blood battle of reciprocal vengeance.
While the detectives become embroiled in the hostilities, which spread beyond Kurehara to the rest of Hiroshima, they finally determine the whereabouts of the missing employee. However, they are too late to prevent his death, in which a member of the Kakomura-gumi appears to have been involved.
Will Ogami arrive at the truth behind the case, as the gangs’ struggle for prestige becomes more and more violent? How will the wide-ranging warfare in Kurehara end? What is it that only Rikako knows about Ogami? And what is the new allegation involving him, which arises with the emergence of a newspaper reporter who has been persistently investigating past cases?
A streetwise organized crime detective rumored to be in league with the yakuza, an undercover rookie, and the underworld denizens of Kurehara City. All become caught up in a major conflict that shakes the whole of Hiroshima, and culminates in shocking revelations.