Nogitsune (9 page)

They took him out of the room and Hayashi hugged him tight as David stopped in his tracks.

“It’s okay!” Hayashi said. “It’s alright. I got you. Go home for the night. I’ll continue the case.”

“I’m fine!” David bellowed.

“I know you are. Just do it for me, okay?”

David took a couple of breaths and just walked pass his partner.

****

David Hamada returned to his home and right away, he let his anger loose. He threw his suitcase down, screamed obscenities at the top of his lungs and threw some other objects across the room. Myoko Hamada entered from downstairs to see David losing his mind and she shouted, "David, what's wrong?"

David ignored and continued cursing in Japanese. When Myoko got close, David pushed her mistakenly. When he saw Myoko on the floor, holding onto her sprang ankle, David stopped himself. He tended to Myoko, apologizing as he lifted her off of the floor and laid her on the sofa.

"Are you okay?" David asked.

Myoko held to her ankle. David caressed the bruised ankle, slightly relaxing her.

"What happened?" Myoko asked.

"I don't want to talk about it," David responded.

"Is this how the rest of your days are going to be? Coming home mad and pushing me down like that?"

"Look, I'm sorry, okay?"

Myoko touched David's chest. "I just want you to talk to me. That's all!"

"I don't bring my work home. That's the rule!"

"Well, from what I saw, it looked like you did."

David put her ankle on a pillow. "I'll get you some ice."

He went to the kitchen and took out some ice cubes. Seeing his hands and how red they had become, he crushed all the ice cubes with one hand. His mind went back to Ohba's beat-down.

"What the hell is wrong with me?" David whispered. "Why did I lose it like that? That wasn't me...that wasn't me!"

****

Kento Karahawa drove his Maybach down to the Inato Compound in Saitama upon invitation from the boss. A part of him dreaded going to the heavily-guarded fortress, but he knew that he was going to have to answer for all that had transpired in the last few weeks.

When he arrived, there was a soldier right there to open the door for him. He got out only to find black-suited men standing by waiting and anticipating when they were called in. Some were smoking cigarettes and others just admiring the sun. All were silent, not saying anything that would draw attention to themselves. 

Like most yakuza crime families, the Inato organization was a well-oiled machine, taking its model from their rivals, the old-school Fukushimas. However, the difference laid in the fact that while the Fukushimas mostly consisted of elderly and middle-aged yakuza that should be looking at retirement, the Inato were full of young ambitious go-getting faces with no regard to rules or tradition.

Kento Karahawa was one of the models for the brash new yakuza, proving time and again that nothing was beyond reach and no one was untouchable.

Two Inato lieutenants approached Kento. “He wants to see you now.”

Kento took a breath and followed the two lieutenants. His legs were shaky as he made the move forward, always thinking from the time he was inside to the time he reached the double doors leading to a conference room, he didn’t know if he was going to be bowed to or shot point-blank range.

The two lieutenants spread their hand out and Kento Karahawa entered the conference where the other men stood except for one: Tomonubu Inato, the 60-year-old
oyabun
of the Inato crime family. All took one deep bow while Tomonubu nodded his head, before the men sat down.

Hiroyuki Takayama, a 40-year-old Inato underboss, spoke. “We’re here to discuss all that has happened the past few weeks and what will happen soon.” He turned to face Kento. “Kento Karahawa! What you have done has shamed our family. What we do, we do in secret. That’s why we survive for so long. You have caused us to face another possible war. What do you have to say for yourself?”

Kento took a breath and said, “Nothing!”

“Nothing! You have nothing to say?”

“I have nothing to say…because what I did was justified.”

Forty-year-old underboss Yoshio Oguna stood up and faced Mr. Inato. “Boss, we can talk with Fukushima and see if he would listen to reason. Perhaps penance from Kento will appease the situation.”

“Fuck that!” Kento whispered.

“What was that?” Yoshio said to Kento.

“Are we forgetting that they killed Daiki Fukai? Wasn’t he like a son to you, Mr. Oguna?”

“He was like a son,” Oguna answered. “Until you two decided to do what you wanted and cause all this madness to happen. Daiki already shamed us when he raped that little girl. Worse when he angered
Hideyoshi Ioka.
That’s why we’re all meeting here.”

“So you want me to apologize to those fools?” Kento asked.

“You’re lucky you’re not dead right now,” Takayama said.

Things were getting out of hand and Kento was losing the argument. No one dared speak to him that way when Daiki was alive. With him dead, everything the other underbosses wanted to say to him came out in full force.

Although it was hidden, the meeting was never about Daiki. Kento sent shockwaves in the Inato organization when he was named an underboss, the youngest to ever be appointed to the position, and the older underbosses never let it down how they thought it was a bad decision on Inato’s part. Trying to be more towards the youth and received more members, Kento became the poster child for the new direction.

However, his erratic behavior and his association with Daiki Fukai, who proved to be psychotic, Kento began to lose his standing, but he kept his position. 

Before things got more out of control, Tomonubu Inato stood up, causing all the men in the room to stand as well.

In a soft voice, Inato said, “Everyone leave with the exception of Mr. Karahawa!”

All of the men took a bow and left the conference room. When everyone left, Kento walked to Mr. Inato and bowed while taking his hand.

“Sit down!” Inato ordered. Kento sat down in a seat slowly. “I only have one question to ask you. Can you justify every action you had taken since Daiki was killed?”

Kento took another breath. Instead of answering right away, he took his time. He knew any answer he gave could mean life, death, or worse, banishment from the organization.

“I’m…I’m sure that my action was justified for the time,” Kento answered.

Tomonubu stood up, took out a remote and from the walls behind his seat, a television screen appeared before Kento. Inato pushed another button to turn it on. Before Kento’s eyes was all the footage he saw when he went back to
Night Nurses
, including the most incriminating evidence of all: David Hamada pointing the gun at Daiki ready to blast his head off.

Inato paused the screen before it got to the end.

“Did you talk to Sanko?” Inato asked.

“He said that he was going to handle things on his end,” Kento answered.

Inato looked back at the screen. “Does that look like he’s handling anything?”

Kento was about to speak, but Inato held out his hand. In a delicate but commanding voice, Inato said, “You started the fire burning. Now the fire has raged out of control. It’s time to put it out. Take care of this mess to redeem yourself. Or you could always go to Daiichi and plea your case.”

Kento bowed his head. “I’ll take care of it, Mr. Inato. I swear!”

“And keep it quiet this time. No need for the outside world to know what’s going on.”

“Yes, Mr. Inato!”

Inato staggered up and Kento helped him but putting his arm around his boss.

“Meanwhile, we’ll set up a funeral for Daiki. He was a great soldier. We’ll send him off our way.”

Kento made another bow and helped Inato out of the conference room. The Inato leaders bowed quickly, awaiting a word from Kento on his verdict.

“I’ll discuss with Daiichi on a compromise. A peace offering of sorts. Until then, no one does anything else without my order. We remain quiet and in the shadows.”

All made a bow to acknowledge, but kept low until Tomonubu Inato passed them by…

****

Police Chief Sanko Byobugaura sat near his television and watched the DVDs he acquired from the
Night Nurses
club and he couldn’t believe what he saw. Just as he was getting into the DVDs, David Hamada entered the office.

“You wanted to see me?” David asked.

“Yes! Please sit!”

David helped himself to a seat.

“How are you doing with everything?” Sanko asked.

“What do you mean?” David acquired.

“I mean are you okay with working the Daiki Fukai case? I know it has been a rough few days and I know I’ve been hard on you. I just want to make sure you’re doing okay. You and Myoko!”

“Myoko and I are fine.”

Sanko turned the television around and played the DVD. It showed David on the night Daiki Fukai was killed with the deceased stripper informant and how close he was to her.

“What were you doing there, David?” Sanko asked. David was about to speak, but Sanko held out his hand. “Before you do, think carefully at what you say to me.”

David looked at the television carefully, legs shaking under the desk. So far, he had stopped the DVD on the part before David pulled out his gun to aim for Daiki’s head.

“I…I had a fight with Myoko,” David answered. “I just had to get out of the house. So I took a trip to Shinjuku and went there.”

Sanko stayed silent for a few seconds. Then came a light chuckle. “So that’s why you were hesitant to leave out of there? You didn’t want your wife knowing you had someone on the side.”

“Wait, I…”

“Oh, don’t worry! I won’t tell Myoko. You know how we are. When it comes to that time, we just want more. We did our duty to the home. Now, it’s time to sow some more seeds!”

“Ah…whatever you say, Chief!”

Sanko turned off the DVD. “Don’t worry! No one won’t know about this.”

David exited the office and as soon as he closed the door, he wiped some sweat off of his forehead. He went back to his desk near his partner Hayashi.

“What did the chief want?” Hayashi asked.

“Ah…nothing. Just wanted to see if we made some strides with finding Daiki Fukai’s killer. Although, honestly, I don’t know why we’re wasting our time with these criminals! Let them wipe each other out if they want to. I won’t stand in the way.”

“That’s unusual!”

“What?”

“This coming from the truth and justice cop,” Hayashi chuckled. “A fair shake and everything. Now you want to see yakuza wipe each other out?”

“They changed my mind when they killed a pregnant girl just being in the way.” David’s octave increased. “They changed my mind when they raped a 14-year-old girl.”

“So that’s what this is about? That girl? You can’t leave it alone.”