by Constantine
“Thought we could get a drink.” Nobu nodded towards one of the buildings advertising hostess clubs.
Jun glanced over his shoulder then looked back at Nobu, raising an eyebrow. “Really? You can’t get a girl on your own?”
“What, you got a better idea?”
Jun smirked. “Follow me.”
Nobu had wanted to check out some of the hostess bars, see if maybe he could get an inkling of where Akane had worked. But in this area, there were so many that he’d probably have to spend less than ten minutes in each in order to check them all. Not to mention the money it would cost and the questions it would raise. He already wondered if he’d asked too many questions around here.
Besides, if Jun had a bar in mind where he felt comfortable, it might be better for all involved. Perhaps he’d be more willing to talk business in a place like that. Most of the hostess clubs were yakuza-owned and Jun probably didn’t want to draw the attention of rivals.
So Nobu followed his old friend. Jun took him to a basement bar off the beaten path. Once inside, Nobu saw that calling it small was a bit of an understatement. As soon as you walked in, there was a bar counter to the right with a row of stools. The walkway behind the stools was extremely narrow. Past the counter was an open area with two dartboards hanging on the far wall.
The lights were low and cast a blue hue over the entire establishment. The man behind the bar was big with a thick mustache and intense eyes, which he focused on Nobu.
“What’s up, Dayu?” asked Jun, sitting on one of the stools. Nobu sat beside him and Dayu—the bartender—continued to stare at him. Jun seemed to notice because he chimed in. “Easy, buddy. This is my man, Tsuji.” He slapped Nobu’s shoulder. “Back in the day, we used to ride together. He’s good people.”
“I don’t like ’im,” said Dayu.
“I’m used to it, so I won’t take offense,” said Nobu.
“Just chill, man,” said Jun.
Dayu folded his arms across his chest. “Fine. What do you want?”
“Gimme a highball.” Jun turned to Nobu. “How ’bout you?”
“The same,” said Nobu.
While Dayu prepared the drinks, Jun lit up a cigarette, setting the pack between him and Nobu on the counter. “Help yourself.”
“Y’know I’m not here to drink cheap whiskey or smoke, don’t you?”
Jun opened his mouth and blew two smoke rings. The remainder of the smoke in his mouth ebbed out as he spoke. “So you mean to tell me that when a guy I haven’t spoken to in years calls me outta the blue, he’s got some kind of agenda in mind?”
Dayu set the two highballs in front of them. He turned to the side and walked into a storeroom hidden behind the bar. Nobu watched him leave with a bit of a surprise.
“Don’t worry, he knows what he’s doin’.” Jun rested the cigarette in the ashtray to take the first sip of his highball. “So lemme be clear about something, man. I’m not gonna give you any kind of old friend discount, okay? You want what I got, you’re gonna have to pay the price I tell you.”
“I’m not here to buy any drugs from you, Yamazawa.” Nobu took out his phone and brought up the picture. He set it on the counter in front of Jun and pointed at Akane’s face. “You know her?”
Jun glanced down at the camera, then looked at Nobu. “The hell’s this about, Tsuji?”
“Answer the question—do you know her?”
“’Course I know her, that’s Akane Suzuki.”
Nobu pivoted on his stool so his body faced his old friend. “She one of your customers?”
“What?”
Nobu blinked. “You just said you know her. You mentioned her by name.”
“Yeah, ’cause I am—or was—a Koibito fan.”
That response stopped Nobu in his tracks. He hadn’t expected a former member of a biker gang and a drug dealer to be a fan of a bubbly pop idol group. But then again, it did make sense. A lot of fans of these groups were men after all, so it wasn’t outside the realm of reason. Still, the thought of Jun Yamazawa bopping his head to pop music while he went about his criminal activities was strangely amusing to Nobu.
“So you’ve never met her?” asked Nobu.
“Well, wouldn’t say that.”
Jun took out his own phone and brought up the pictures. He navigated to one that showed him standing with Akane, as well as Ayano Kuroki and the other three members of Koibito. The girls were all dressed in matching clothes resembling a highly sexualized schoolgirl uniform. The girls and Jun all held up their fingers in the peace sign.
“I went to one of those events, paid to get a picture taken with them.”
Nobu stared at the photo for a few moments, doing nothing more than trying to suppress laughter.
“Why would you think Akane Suzuki was one of my customers?” asked Jun.
“So you heard about her?”
Jun gave a solemn nod and took a drag off his cigarette. He washed it down with the highball. “Oh yeah, I heard. I was pissed when she got fired. Who gives a shit if she had a boyfriend?”
“Actually, about that…” Nobu scrolled across the photo of Akane’s wall, before stopping on a picture of Yuki Ichikawa. “You know that guy?”
Jun picked up the phone and studied Yuki’s features while slowly smoking his cigarette. He was silent for several moments, moments that felt like an eternity for Nobu. Finally, he set the phone back down.
“I dunno, man. He looks kinda familiar.”
“But you don’t know for sure?”
Jun shrugged. “I sell to a lot of people.”
Nobu sighed and put the phone back in his pocket. He leaned against the counter and sipped his drink.
“Why you so interested anyway? You’re not a…” Jun jumped off his stool. “Holy shit, you’re not a cop, are you?”
Nobu gave his old friend a sideways glance. “Sit your ass back on the stool and stop talking nonsense. Of course I’m not a cop.”
“Oh…” Jun sat back down and relaxed a little bit, but Nobu could tell he was still a bit tense. He took a sip of his drink to calm down slightly. “So what are you?”
“I work for a private detective. Suzuki’s parents hired us to look into her death.”
“You think this dude was involved?”
“Maybe. We’re trying to locate him.”
Jun went quiet and finished his highball. He stood on the stool and leaned over the counter, looking towards the back room as best he could. “Yo! Dayu!” Once he returned to his seat, he glanced at Nobu. “Want another?”
“I’m good. Think I’ll just finish this one and head home.”
“C’mon, man.”
Nobu sighed. He had a feeling he would regret this tomorrow, but he nodded anyway.
Dayu came back and Jun pointed to his empty glass. The large bartender nodded and made a fresh drink, still giving Nobu the side-eye the entire time.
Jun took a sip of the new highball and sighed. “Look man, why don’t you send me that dude’s picture? I’ll ask around, see if anyone’s seen ’im.”
“And why would you get mixed up in this?”
Jun shrugged. “Like I said, I was a fan.”
CHAPTER NINE
Kyoko’s nose twitched as she lay in bed, feeling something soft and furry rub against it. Her eyes opened, giving way from darkness to see a Calico cat staring her in the face and meowing. Kyoko reached a hand and scratched behind the cat’s ears.
“Morning, Asami.” Kyoko pulled herself to a sitting position in bed and the cat crawled over her lap. “Yeah, I know. Breakfast.”
Asami hopped off the bed and started walking towards the bedroom door. She stopped and looked back at Kyoko one last time, meowing again.
“I’m coming.” Kyoko’s words were somewhat obscured by the yawn. She stepped out of the bed and slid her feet into slippers resting on the hardwood floor. The sliding door was open just enough for Asami to squeeze through, but Kyoko had to push it open further.
The be
droom was connected to a decent-sized kitchen. Kyoko went to one of the cabinets and took out a a plastic container with Asami’s food. She put some in a bowl and the cat went to work on her meal.
Kyoko went from the kitchen into the living room. Her cigarettes waited on the table along with her phone. She grabbed the pack and lighter, taking a Seven Star and sparking it up. After a few drags, Kyoko picked up her phone next and saw a Line message from Nobu, sent late last night: “Might have a lead. Will explain at the office. Probably coming in a little late.”
She scoffed. Of course he was coming in late. Probably counted on being hung over this morning. Kyoko went back to the kitchen and poured herself some ice coffee, alternating between sips of that and drags on her cigarette while she watched Asami eat her breakfast.
Going over the plan in her head, she knew that Saori was going down to the record company to try and get an audience with Ayano Kuroki. Nobu hopefully had something good to say about Ichikawa. And as for Kyoko, she was still waiting to hear from her contact at the university. But until then, she could pay a visit to Ichikawa’s last-known residence.
After finishing her coffee and cigarette and grabbing a quick shower, Kyoko dressed in jeans and a black, button-down shirt, then pulled her leather jacket over it. Her phone and wallet both went into her pockets and she stared at the TITAN-2500K stun gun, plugged into its charging adapter. It wasn’t likely she’d need that today, so she decided to leave it behind.
She knelt down to give Asami one final scratch and the cat purred in response. Then Kyoko was out the door of her apartment.
The address Saori managed to get for Ichikawa was also in Shinsekai, same as Akane. It made sense to Kyoko—if they were still together after she was fired, of course they’d try to stay in the same area.
Kyoko took the train to Shinsekai and went on foot to find the apartment. She programmed the address into her phone’s GPS and found it fairly easily. Kyoko looked up at the building.
Climbing the steps, Kyoko stopped on the third floor, which was where Ichikawa’s apartment apparently was. Unit 303. Kyoko found the door and pressed the button. She could hear the doorbell ringing on the other side, but no one came to answer. A few more tries to see if anything would work. Nothing.
Kyoko sighed and stepped back. She heard the sound of a door opening and looked to her right. A few doors down, a young man stepped out of his apartment and started walking towards Kyoko. The man briefly glanced at her, then kept moving.
“Excuse me…” Kyoko stepped in front of him and the man stopped. “Do you know the man who lives in this apartment?”
“Ichikawa?” he asked.
Kyoko nodded. “That’s right.”
“Sometimes we’d grab a few beers from the convenience store and hang out on his balcony.”
“When was the last time you saw him?”
The man looked down, clearly trying to remember. Then he made eye contact with Kyoko. “Maybe a month ago?”
Around the same time Akane died, thought Kyoko. “Did you know anything about his girlfriend?”
The man narrowed his eyes at her. “Why are you interested in his girlfriend…?”
“I’m his sister.”
“He never mentioned he had a sister.”
“We don’t really get along.” One thing Kyoko was good at was thinking on her feet. “We got into a fight over his girlfriend.”
“Ahh, I understand.” The man gave a knowing nod. “Don’t tell him I said anything, but I’m on your side.”
“You are?”
“Well, yeah. You don’t know how many times Ichikawa got drunk and bitched about her. How she was a little slut giving it away to anyone she wanted.”
“So it was that bad, huh?” asked Kyoko.
The man scoffed. “You don’t know the half of it. I told him to dump the bitch, but he kept saying he loved her.”
She smiled at the man and stepped out of the way. “Thank you for your help.”
“You’re welcome.”
Kyoko watched him until he went to the staircase. Once he disappeared out of sight, she looked around the area and reached into her jacket’s inside pocket. She kept a lock-picking set there for just these situations.
Kyoko tried to avoid using criminal means in her investigation unless absolutely necessary. It was something she made sure to never tell Hashimoto whenever they talked about work.
But there were times when it was necessary. And if the neighbor was right, that meant Yuki Ichikawa could be on the lam. Not to mention what he told her about Yuki’s relationship with Akane. This was starting to look less like a suicide and more like a potential murder.
The lock opened. Kyoko removed the tools and placed them back in the case, then with her handkerchief, turned the handle. She slipped her shoes off in the genkan and placed her sock-covered feet on the hardwood floor.
The apartment was in fairly good shape. Didn’t seem like the den of a drug addict, which meant Yuki may not have been involved in that side of Akane’s life. He had a wall of photographs, much like Akane. Kyoko cast her eyes over them, noting there were more than a few of Yuki and Akane together. Going all the way back to their teenage years—some of the shots showed them standing side-by-side in the same school uniform.
So Yuki and Akane were high school sweethearts… Kyoko thought to herself.
She stepped away from the bulletin board and remained stationary, looking around the living room to see if anything caught her eye. There were some unwashed dishes in the sink, but for a young guy living on his own, that was hardly strange.
Sliding doors made of shoji screen paper connected the living room to the bedroom. With her handkerchief, she slid one of the doors open and stepped inside. Yuki had a twin bed in the center of the room and his closet was open. A clothesrack in there, but several shirts had been knocked down. Next to the bed was a plastic dresser—drawers ajar, a sock hanging over the edge of one. The curtains were open and when she looked outside, she saw laundry hanging out to dry.
Looked like Yuki Ichikawa was in a hurry to get out for some reason.
Kyoko approached the dresser and examined the surface. A cheap clock, cell phone charging cable, air conditioner remote…nothing out of the ordinary.
Before she reached the sliding door, she heard a noise from the genkan. A lock turning. Yuki must not have been as lost as she initially surmised. But getting caught in his apartment would definitely open her up to criminal charges.
Kyoko went to the balcony door and opened it, stepping outside. She slowly and quietly closed the door behind her. The balcony extended across both the living room and bedroom. The curtains in the living room were mostly closed, but open just enough so she could peek inside.
A man turned on the light in the genkan and removed his shoes, then walked onto the hardwood floor. Kyoko tried to get a good look at his face, but was having trouble making him out. Although there were a few things she’d noticed right away. In the pictures she saw, Yuki was clean-shaven, with average-length hair. But this guy, he had a thin beard and his hair was buzzed close to his head.
The strange visitor walked into the bedroom. Kyoko followed across the balcony, pinning herself to the wall separating the two windows. The curtains for this room were wide open, so she had to be extra cautious.
Peering into the room while doing her best to stay out of sight, she saw him reach into his jacket, then place something on the nightstand. The sunlight filtering in through the window reflected off rings lining each finger of his right hand.
Retracting his hand, he turned towards the window. Kyoko slid back out of sight. She held her breath, waiting. It felt like eternity. Already, she started formulating a plan for how to get out of here, if it came to that.
She didn’t have any weapons on her, so that was out. The guy didn’t look too tough, but Kyoko herself had a good deal of martial arts training, so that proved you couldn’t always rely on appearances. Plus, a fight was likely to draw attention—the wal
ls of Japanese apartments were notoriously thin. No doubt sounds of a fight would result in a call to 119. And Kyoko was still guilty of breaking and entering, so good luck explaining that.
No, she had to play it smart.
She risked a look and saw him leave the bedroom. Kyoko moved to the next window and peeked through the opening in the curtains to the living room. He had his phone out and dialed a number. Kyoko pushed the door open slightly to hear what was said as he raised the phone to his ear.
“Yo, Ichikawa. Yeah, I dropped it off. Listen man, did you a solid this time. But I’m not Kuro Neko, so don’t expect frequent home deliveries. Got it?”
He ended the call, sliding the phone in his pocket. Once he walked to the front door, he pulled his shoes on in the genkan. But just as he was about to open the door, he stopped, staring down at something. What was he—?
Kyoko drew in a sharp breath. Her shoes were still in the genkan.
She watched carefully, waiting. He knelt down and picked up one of the shoes, examining the black, leather slip-on.
Instead, she heard a scoff. Followed by, “Damn, Ichikawa. You got some small feet.”
The guy dropped the shoe and left.
Kyoko exhaled.
After a few chu-his, Saori often mocked Kyoko for the androgynous appearance of her shoes. Kyoko always just defended it by saying they’re more comfortable. And now, it looked like she had another reason.
Once he was gone, Kyoko entered the bedroom again. She approached the nightstand to see what he left. Resting on the surface was a plastic baggie with several pills inside. The article Saori showed Kyoko mentioned that Yuki was providing Akane with her drugs.
Looked like the proof was there.
CHAPTER TEN
Headquarters for Star Rise Entertainment, the talent agency that managed Koibito, were located in Osaka’s Umeda district. And that was where Saori planned to begin her quest to reach out to Ayano Kuroki. Most of the idols in Japan were managed by these talent agencies, who maintained strict control over their stars.
Saori walked up the steps to the main entrance. The building was mostly glass and she pushed open the clear door, walking past other people as she approached the reception desk. There were three women who sat behind the large desk and one of them looked up at Saori with a smile on her face.