Sasayama Yuji

Sasayama Yuji is a detective who's worked with the crimes division for 5 years, and is Kano's partner. He has a reputation for liking to employ the use of several disguises on the job, to the point where he's earned the moniker 'cosplay detective'. The two are assigned to the kidnapping case of Maria Osawa, and are there initially to serve as backup in case the kidnapper gets away, but they both end up playing a bigger role than most would expect.

## Personality

In contrast to Kano's more serious demeanor, Sasayama tends to be more relaxed. He's good at helping his partner relax in times of tension. He also appears to be nosy as he has repeatedly asked Kano questions about his love life and snatched his phone to see a photo of his girlfriend. He has a fondness for various costumes of all kinds, whether it be a homeless man, or a more nerdy look. Sasayama also seems to care a lot for his wife, and enjoys married life with her.

## Before the Scramble

Sasayama is said to have worked with the crime division for 5 years now as a detective. At some point, he got married to his wife, who he affectionately calls 'Mii-chan'.

The night prior at around 7:00 is when the kidnapping case happened. Maria Osawa, a student at Midoriyama academy was reported to be missing. She was last seen in the LL diner, and a man was forcing her into a van. Kano and Sasayama arrive at 7:15 to talk to her sister, Hitomi Osawa and Leland Palmer, another eyewitness. They gather the basic facts of the case before being called back to base and learning of the ransom call the kidnapper made.

## 10:00-11:00

10:00 - 10:05: Sasayama and Kano are hiding behind a trailer, watching Hitomi at the Hachiko statue closely to see when the kidnapper will collect the ransom money. The place is also surrounded by other detectives from HQ, thus they are there to provide backup in case the kidnapper gets away. Sasayama plays the part of the homeless man, asking Kano for change, and after telling him to calm down they get an alert from Kuze, the HQ operations director, telling them to be alert.

10:05 - 10:10: After some time passes with no one arriving, they notice a man with an orange hoodie and bandana trying to talk to It seems suspicious at first but he eventually goes his own way, and this reminds Sasayama of his wife, to whom he got recently married. He then shifts the topic to Kano's girlfriend and nabs his phone to see a photo of her. Coincidentally, she looks like a famous actress, which makes Sasayama think Kano is lying. He asks why they don't get married, and Kano doesn't have an answer, due to obstacles being there.

10:20 - 10:35: As the detectives continue to wait, Kano wonders why a criminal would choose Hachiko for a handoff since the crowd can hide several policeman and is too risky. Sasayama shrugs it off as irrelevant and grumbles about the lack of recognition of policeman. Just then, Kuze alerts them that there's a suspicious foreigner in a black coat, a man in his 30s. Even though he doesn't match the description given by Hitomi, the man makes his way to her and grabs the attache case, which causes the detectives, including Kano and Sasayama, to spring on him. The foreigner runs with the case, barreling through oncoming traffic. Sasayama watches Kano do the same to pursue, and presumably goes with the other detectives instead to follow Kuze's orders of sealing off escape routes.