Nogitsune

by Amaris Laurent

  “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.”

  “Mia! Her name is Mia!”

  “What makes her any different from the one in Okinawa where the two American sailors raped? Or the one before that with the Marines? Or the ones during the World Wars? Better yet, how about all the shit we’ve done throughout our history with China and all over the Pacific? That’s what happens here. That’s the world we’re living. A flawed and broken system cloaked in a peaceful culture of silence.”

  Seeing the intensity steaming from both men, they remained silent for the rest of that time until someone gave them a case to work. From there, it became about the job. The reason why they worked so well together…

  ****

  Hideyoshi Ioka made some prayers near a shrine at the back of the Fukushima Compound in Chiba. He lighted some incense and put his hands together in a silent prayer. Most of the men knew to leave him alone.

  Before that, he had just been appointed a gashira after being a shatei in Chiba. With the death of Iyaka, it seemed
to not matter, but respected the decision from his old-school boss Daiichi Fukushima.

  A part of him stayed away from the rest of the Fukushima soldiers, but he stuck to his job. He spent most of the time at the compound so he didn’t give into his urges.

  Like most of the old-school yakuza, he knew what he signed for when he finally became a made man. That meant anyone else in his life would be a part of the life as well and could be caught in the crossfire. Also like most yakuza, no one ever expected for that day to come in this day of age because since the last gangland war, most of the yakuza families revamped their cloak of invisibility from the police and the government. Murders became less and less common in Japan's new age and their system turned into one of pure corruption and advancement if one played the game to their benefit.

  When Hideyoshi opened his eyes and made one last bow for his wife's spirit, he turned around to find his stepdaughter Ayame Komatsu standing before him, startling him.

  "I'm sorry," Ayame said. "I was going to offer prayers as well. I know you wanted to be alone. If you want me to leave-"

  "No," Hideyoshi said. "I'm done here." Just when he was going to the door, he stopped.

  “So what are you going to do about this?” Ayame asked.

  “What do you mean?” Hideyoshi said.

  “That monster Kento killed my mother, your wife. Do you care about my mother at all to even avenge her death or are you just a coward like the rest of the men, scared to take down one little thug.”

  ‘I don’t like what you’re implying, little girl,” Hideyoshi said. “I did everything for your mother. She was nothing but a drugged-out whore before I save her life.”

  Ayame came closer to Hideyoshi defiantly. “Watch your mouth about her!”

  “Your mother never wanted you to know. But you find out anyway, did you?”

  Both of them paused.

  “I'm sorry for her and the baby. I'll pray for both of their spirits to find safety in the gods' embrace."

  "I would appreciate it," Ayame said. “But we both know that would never be enough. Kento Karahawa is still out in the streets living it up and killing people at will while you’re here moaning. You should be going after him and making sure you avenged my mother.”

  “And how do you expect me to do that?” Hideyoshi stressed.

  Ayame approached the door. "Well, it may be rumor, but they're saying that even when you knew who killed your wife, you won't do anything because you scared of him."

  "Scared?" Hideyoshi yelled. "Of Kento Karahawa? Is that what they think?"

  "I mean what do I know? I'm just the daughter of a whore." A stern look came over Ayame.

  Ayame turned to put her hands together and close her eyes. "By the way, there's going to be a funeral for Daiki Fukai in Saitama. Don't know if that interests you or not, but if you would....like to pay your respects, then he'll be there.”

  Confused as to why Ayame mentioned it, Hideyoshi took it to heart and exited the room. From there, Ayame had the entire room to herself. She went through the same ritual Hideyoshi did for his wife. At the moment, she mourned for a fallen member.

  "Mother! Don’t worry! Kento Karahawa and the entire Inato family will pay the price! Every last one!”

  SILENT BULLETS (サイレント箇条書き)

  The priest read the sutra, then gave the signal to the family that it was time to offer incense. Since Daiki Fukai had no family to speak of, his sponsor Yoshio Oguna walked up to the altar to present the incense. Yoshio put his hands together with the rosary and then humbly bowed, saying a quiet prayer for Daiki. He placed a pinch of incense in the urn, brought it to his forehead and bowed three times and returned to his seat.

  Kento went up after Yoshio and when he saw Daiki’s picture, he remained emotionless, even though tears were streaming from his eyes. Kento repeated the same ritual as Yoshio and sat down.

  This continued for at least an hour as Daiki’s friends and associates came to pay respect to him.

  When the priest read the last passage of the sutra to finish the ceremony, everyone took a final look at Daiki and proceeded to seal the casket.

  Everyone, mostly Inato underbosses of the Inato family stood to their feet as the pallbearers lifted the casket to carry it to the hearse. As the pallbearers walked down the aisle from the altar, a single bullet tore through one of the pallbearers’ knees. Instantly the pallbearer fell to the ground and began screaming in agony.

  Before the first pallbearer could hit the ground, two more bullets ripped through the air, hitting another pallbearer in the forehead and another in the throat. Daiki’s casket fell to the ground and Daiki’s dead body dropped out of it and into the street. The instant Kento turned around, a bullet ripped through his shoulder and he went down to the ground.

  “Ryu, take that fucking sniper out,” said Kento.

  Ryu nodded and took out his gun, dashing to the back entrance of the temple. A platoon of gangsters, led by Hideyoshi Ioka, ran up into the temple and began firing systematically, taking out every underboss or hitman they could.

  Yoshio Orguna stayed low and tried to crawl out of the way of gun fire. As soon as he was able to make it to one of the statues in the temple, a hollow tip bullet ripped through the air and hit him in the back of the head. The only thing that people around him could see was the top portion of his head exploding.

  “SHIT,” said Hiroyuki Takayama as the blood and brain fragments from Yoshio splattered on his face. “Fuck this!”

  Hiroyuki ran and picked up an AR-15 from one of his bodyguards and began firing upon Hideyoshi’s men.

  “Shit,” said Hideyoshi as he jumped behind one of the temples columns to avoid fire.

  The sniper set her sights on Hiroyuki and aimed at his face.

  “AHHHHHHHHH!” Hiroyushi pushed Hideyoshi’s men back out of the temple with the other bodyguards. “GET THE FUCK OUTTA HERE, KENTO, WHILE WE GOT YOU COVE—“

  Hiroyushi’s body flipped backwards and fell in front of Kento. Hiroyushi’s sentence was interrupted by another hollow point bullet sunk in his face through the back of his head.

  “Fuck it,” said Kento as he gritted his teeth together and picked up the AR-15 began to return fire. Kento ran towards Hideyoshi Ioka right in his line of fire, determined to kill him with a militant resolve that if he was going to die, it was going to be like a soldier and not like a coward.

  ****

  The sniper aimed at Kento and smiled, knowing he was in range, right where he wanted Kento to be.

  “Nah! Right now, pain will be your appetizer before Hideyoshi serves you the true death.”

  The sniper turned his sniper rifle to Mr. Inato and within five seconds, shot all of the bodyguards standing around Inato guarding him. Mr. Inato walked through the hail of gunfire calmly and removed the wakizashi from his cane. When some Fukushima hitters came charging after him, Inato began killing any of them in his vicinity.

  The sniper aimed at Mr. Inato’s face while he was attacking recklessly. “You on the other hand, Mr. Inato, are going to have the privilege of skipping the appetizer and going straight to the main course.”

  Three shots went off and the sniper smiled. “Shit! I missed.”

  The sniper tried again to find another chance to shoot Inato. Suddenly, he heard a click.

  “What the…?”

  Ryu stood right behind him aimed straight at his head. “You forgot dessert, fool!”

  Ryu pulled the trigger and a bullet with a mixture of smoke rose from his gun. The sniper’s head dropped to the ground. Ryu loaded the sniper rifle with the same bullet the secret Fukushima sniper had and began taking out all of Hideyoshi’s men.

  “Where are you?” asked Ryu as he looked for Hideyoshi through the sight of the sniper rifle.

  When the smoke cleared, Kento arose from his madness and gave a wave for Ryu. Ryu does the same as he searched for anyone missing. Kento circled around to find that a majority of the Inato hierarchy lay on the ground with bullets in the
ir bodies. A calm Inato went to Kento and touched his shoulders. Kento wrapped his arm around him.

  When Ryu came down from where he was into the street, he managed to meet up with Kento and Inato standing side by side.

  “I guess no talk coming in place, huh!” Kento asked his boss.

  Kento took a deep breath and said with tranquil cool. “No! I guess not!”

  ****

  Police Chief Sanko Byobugaura walked around the bodies of the fallen Inato, disgusted at the proficiency of how a majority of their ranks met their deaths. Tomonubu Inato walked to the man and both bowed to one another out of respect.