Taiyo Shimbun is facing a slump in circulation figures. Fearing that reporters would become targets for a layoff, the director Yoshimura Ryuichi instructs Ippongi Toru, a roving reporter with the local news desk, to write an article with the theme “crime reporting and families”. Despite his concerns, Ippongi writes about his own harrowing experience 20 years ago. Meanwhile, a letter is delivered to Ippongi from a person who appears to be the criminal behind the serial murders in the Tokyo metropolitan area. “Try stopping my murders with words,” says a line in the letter and the random killings which have shaken the area are described in detail. The criminal demands a public debate with Ippongi in the newspapers. Using a reporter’s power of words, Ippongi goes head to head with the criminal who warns of a new murder if the rules are broken.