by Unknown
“You don't say.”
“Yeah, I'm not even sure I think he's from this planet. Pro wrestling isn't that far removed from a regular business. Only the truly great people stick out.”
“Kajiwara is truly great then?”
“I'd say so. I want to ask you one more thing.”
“What?”
[164]
“About what you said before. You want to jump in the ring with Kajiwara, don't you?”
“To fight him, yeah.”
“Amateurs can't just jump into the ring.”
“I'm not an amateur.”
“You're an amateur in the world of pro wrestling. Though you could be pretty good for the ratings.”
“Storming the ring?”
“Yeah.”
“Do they have pre-match meeting about this or something?”
“In a sense.”
“In a sense?”
“There are times when they do have a proper pre-match meeting, but sometimes they don't. Sometimes the only person who knows about it is the one storming the ring, but there are other times when the guy in the ring knows what's coming.”
“...”
“There are times when the promoter organizes to have someone storm the ring. For money. Sometimes it helps to sell more tickets. And there are some that storm the ring to try and make some money for themselves as a wrestler. But regardless of why you want to jump in the ring, there are rules in place.”
“Really?”
“For example, regardless of how you do it, the promoter needs to be told about it.”
“The promoter?”
“Yeah, to tell if it's going to make any money or not.”
“...”
“It will be something you need to discuss. Whether the punters will be interested in it or not.”
“The style...” said Bunshichi.
“Yeah. Whatever industry you are in, you need to have your own style. Or else you'll never make it too the top. A wrestler can't afford to be stupid. Whether a business man or a gangster, an idiot will always be third rate.”
[165]
“.......”
“At the end of the day, the world of pro wrestling runs on a system or seniority. There is a rigid system in place. The places are already decided. Junior wrestlers aren't allowed to beat senior wrestlers.”
“How do they decide the placing?”
“That's a tricky question to answer. It's decided in the persons career, how controversial they are and a bunch of other factors.”
“...”
“But that's not the only thing you have to worry about.”
“Really?”
“You are able to make it to the top. As soon as you reach that level. I said that junior wrestlers aren't allowed to beat senior wrestlers, but in special cases they can. If the junior wants to win. You can ignore the offense-defense of bouncing off the ropes. On cement.”
“...”
“But even so, it's really hard for a junior to beat a senior. Because there is a referee. A large part of how the match turns out depends in the referee. They're just salary men, really, even if they call themselves referees. The companies don't wrestle at a disadvantage. But even so, there are some wrestlers who win.”
“And what happens when they do?”
“Quite a bit, actually.”
“...”
“You'll have sanctions put against you if you ignore the theory behind wrestling.”
“What kind of sanctions?”
“There are some times when they will put you up against a much stronger opponent for a beating, and it also affects your salary. Sometimes the wrestling outfit will cut their contract with you. And maybe you might get attacked by a man with a knife as you walk home late at night...”
[166]
“Scary.”
“But there are some people that make the big time by doing that. Just as long as they draw a crowd. Just as long as they are a wrestler that can generate some money. As long as you bring in the punters, and thus bring in the money, and the fans, the promoter will protect you.”
“...”
“There are a lot of wrestlers that break legs and arms. That's just lip service. If they really did break someone's leg or arm in he ring the mass media would be all over it in no time. That's for sure”
“...”
Date looked at Bunshichi but remained silent. There was a self-deprecating smile that shone through his eyes.
“We're getting off track. You were talking about Kajiwara.”
“Oh, yeah.”
“You were saying that you wanted to storm the ring and take on Kajiwara.”
“That I did.”
“That won't be easy...” said Date, glancing away from Bunshichi. The slim cherry blossom branches moved with the wind.
“You've really got to put on a show, and even if you do get out there you no one will know who you are.” Bunshichi grinned as Date spoke.
“Something funny?” asked Date.
“I didn't pick you to be such a serious person,” said Bunshichi. Date grinned. The cloth around his head was stained red with blood. But his smile disappeared with the gentle breeze.
“The Hokushinkan, huh?” He said, spitting the word out into the wind.
“Do you have a history with them?” asked Bunshichi.
[167]
“I've fought that Matsuo before, you know. In the ring.”
“Matsuo Shozan check name?”
“Yeah.”
“When?”
“A while ago. When we were in the central pro-wrestling circuit. I was a lot younger then. It was only my second year wrestling. I told you before that I was in it for the money, but that wasn't entirely true. I really wanted to get stronger. I was confident, too. At the time I thought I was the best fighter in my circle.” Date wasn't looking at Bunshichi anymore. His eyes were gazing out into the darkness and the wind. “And then Matsuo came. Just like you. He came to challenge the Dojo.
“Did he?”
“Yeah. I was his opponent. Just me. No one else wanted to fight him and I was the top fighter out who was left at the club.”
“Well?”
“I lost. Utter defeat.” Date drew back his lips to expose his teeth as he spoke. They were white and sturdy. “These aren't my teeth. Matsuo knocked them all out,” said Date. A vision of Date with a bloody mouth appeared in the back of Bunshichi's head. “He messed me up with his punches and his kicks, then got me at the end with a shoulder-hold.
There has only be one man who stepped out of the ring without a scratch – Kawabe's words floated through Bunshichi's mind. That might have been Matsuo Shozan.
[168]
“...”
“He's not human. But he's not a beast either. That's the impression he gave me. He's huge. He felt like a ball of pure strength. If he takes anyone on, even the strongest of the strong, who had trained for years, he would still beat them. Pro wrestlers are nothing compared to him. You'll know that power when you see it. I couldn't see it when I took him on. I couldn't see how far apart we were in terms of power. That's when I gave up on trying to be strong, and became a wrestler for money.” Said Date. Something stirred inside of Bunshichi.
“Matsuo Shozan...” his voice grew a little horse as he mumbled the name.
CHAPTER VI
[168]
The arena was engulfed in the excitement and energy coming from over three thousand people. The Korakuen Hall. It was packed with spectators, some o which had to stand. Date, who was using the name Raging Bull, along with the Crazy Dog, had just finished a tag team match against Kawafuta and Wakabayashi from the East-West Wrestling federation. There was a ten minute interval they called 'ring maintenance'.
Halfway through the fight, Date and Dog grabbed some weapons and drew blood from Kawafuta's face. It was an amazing fight. Kawafuta was smacked down in the middle of the ring, unable to move, and Date had slammed his body down on him countless times. Then Wakabayashi ha
d come flying in from the corner and landed a kick in Date's back.
[169]
That's when the arena went wild. The amount of excitement and encouragement had crossed the line of what was normal for an event like this and had started to get out of hand. Regardless of the stops in place, it was starting to boil over. The crowd was going wild, and the wrestlers were following suit.
Dog was full of tension and had moved himself around well, but the biggest reason for the commotion was because Kajiwara's match was next. Date had finally found a weapon, and when he went to get it he had been distracted by the ref, and then had taken a fly-kick. That was when Date and Dog had lost due to a rule violation.
Futakawa, who had his head split open, and Wakabayashi had their hands raised by the ref and won, but on that day, there were no losers. They had managed to push the fight beyond that of a simple wrestling match. They had managed to get the crowd into the action without any of the wrestlers getting injured, and would now be on their way to the semi-finals. The fight still lingered in the air.
Bunshichi was standing at the foot of the catwalk. From there he was looking out over the ring, which was illuminated with bright light. It had a strange air to it. A ring with no one standing in it seemed to bright and a hollow. A vision of the man who should be standing in that ring floated in the back of Bunshichi's mind. A man whose skin sagged just a little bit. He wasn't the type with a muscle crammed body, and his skin gleamed like the scales of a snake. Kajiwara.
Bunshichi rolled he man's name around in his mouth. It felt strange. The vision that floated in Bunshichi's head was of those big round eyes he saw six years ago.
[170]
Those eyes that turned sharp and piercing as soon as he stepped into the ring. They were thin like a snake's eyes. The only things he could think about was his face and that he had a body like raw rubber. Bunshichi wondered how much he had changed.
Bunshichi stopped thinking about it. He only had five minutes. He felt strange when he thought about Kajiwara. He really asked himself if he really wanted to take him on again. There were times when that black flame that burned all through his body was finally starting to cool down. He thought that he was being petty, acting like a child.
It was just then that the searing pain shot through Bunshichi's shoulder and was reborn in the same place. He thought about that pain, remembered Kajiwara as he would have looked down at him as he was panting. And of course the fire lit by the humiliation of defeat. No matter how you looked at it, right now Bunshichi could not think about anything without thinking about Kajiwara as well.
Bunshichi thought about the look Date had given him as he got down from the ring. “Here”, that night Date pointed to his forehead with his finger.
It was in Date's room in the hotel. They were sitting there sharing a bottle of whiskey that came with the room. Ryoji was there too, drinking a whiskey mixed with water. Blood was no longer flowing from the wound in Date's head.
Raw red flesh hung from the spot where Date had used his finger on himself.
[171]
“Do it here,” said Date.
“Bleed a lot, even if you only have light wounds. There isn't as much damage for the amount of blood. If you're aiming at getting in the ring, do it here. You have to do it in the first hit. There won't be a next time. There will be a bunch of young guys all over you. But those young guys probably won't know what to do straight away. You need to take them out before they realize that you jumping in the ring isn’t part of the show. They'll beat you half to death if they catch you. They'll really mess you up. No matter how strong you are.”
“I understand.”
“If your aim isn't to hurt Kajiwara, then get the hell out of there. Try to get him to bleed as quick as you can.”
“Uh-huh”
“A TV crew will be there on the day. They will be recording. There might even be some sports-mag reporters there as well. And the guy that Kajiwara is going to face. Whatever you do, don't jump in there while the fight is on. It's too far to try and make it to the exit, and people always complain about coming in second. You need to be close to the exit when you get out of there.”
“...”
“If you're not too messed up, and even if you don't want it to happen, the east-west wrestling federation is going to look for you. When that happens, get in touch with the wrestling worlds mass media, and tell them that you were the one that jumped in the ring with Kajiwara and that you want to take him on again. If it all goes to plan, you might get a better result that you thought. But then you will have to get back into a east-west pro wrestling ring.”
“That doesn't sound easy.”
“If you don't want to do that, you could always challenge Kajiwara to a fight somewhere private. You might be surprised how willing he is. Don't know what Kawabe will have to say about it, though.”
“Heh.”
[172]
“Well whatever you do, there is no guarantee it will go as planned. There are a lot of ins-and-outs in this business. There isn't much more I can do for you now. I'll just get myself a good seat on the day. It doesn't have anything to do with me whatever happens between the you and Kajiwara. I'm only going there as a spectator.” Date's words lingered in Bunshichi's ears.
The lights of the arena finally dropped. The arena was draped in darkness. The only lights in the building shone onto the ring. A fast and intense rock beat sounded out from within the darkness. The arena exploded with energy. The sound of the crowd was unreal. A deep sound echoed in the pit Bunshichi's stomach.
“KA-JI-WA-RA”
“KA-JI-WA-RA” People were putting extra emphasis on the first part of the name and clapping. The voices quickly filled up the arena. Kajiwara had lost the championship belt in a fight in America just before coming home to Japan. He had come home dethroned, but it seemed that the fans already knew.
Suddenly a bright spotlight fell just behind where Bunshichi was standing. The half naked body in the spotlight started moving in time with the rhythm. Kajiwara wasn't wearing a robe or a gown or anything like that. He looked just the same as he did when he was in the middle of a fight. He had on a pair or wrestling boots over a pair of wrestling pants.
He had his head facing downwards while he casually jogged towards the ring. From left and right, there were children and adults cheering him on.
[173]
The young men in front carved a line through the crowd. Kajiwara walked straight past the side of Bunshichi. Bunshichi could hear his labored breathing in the darkness. Bunshichi's heart suddenly started beating in time with Kajiwara's breathing. His muscles suddenly warmed up for some reason. The lower part of his thick back muscles began to shake.
Kajiwara stood silently in the corner of the ring as the announcer introduced the fighters. Bunshichi could only make out Kajiwara's back. Kajiwara was hanging his head in shame, you could tell that just from looking at him. But Bunshichi knew. He knew that those snake-like eyes were glaring up at his foreign opponent.
Bunshichi couldn't make out the name of the foreign opponent. Bunshichi had all his attention on Kajiwara's back. Kajiwara's body and his face were more or less the same as when Bunshichi first fought him. He saw that back, like raw rubber.
But there was a certain air that hung around Kajiwara. It was everything else around him that had changed. Just like Bunshichi, Kajiwara was no longer the man he once was. Bunshichi wondered if Kajiwara remembered him. I'm here. That's what he thought to Kajiwara. There was no mistaking that Kajiwara had no idea what Bunshichi was going to do once he had finished his match. Bunshichi clenched his teeth.
A thick, wild smile formed on his lips. The teeth that poked out his hanging lips made a grinding sound. It was a few seconds after the gong rang to indicate the start of the match. Kajiwara started kicking. His right leg flew up of the canvas. His sharp toes struck his opponent and then flew up even higher in the air. It was an impressive kick, even for a well trainer karate fighter. The crowd went wil
d “KAJIWARA!”
Bunshichi let out voice that was almost a scream. Kajiwara had that snake-like like look in his eyes as he looked down on his opponent, who now lay crumpled on the mat.
PART IV: INTRUSION
THE END.
[174]
PART V: EVIL BEAST
CHAPTER I
[175]
The three men entered the Hokushinkan director room. These were the main directors: Matsuo Shozan himself, followed by Himekawa Tsutomu and, surprisingly, by Kawabe from Toyoo Pro-Wrestling. The three of them sat down on the big sofa as all of their attention was on a large television screen bolted to the adjacent wall.
Switching on the television, they could view the broadcast directly from the pro-wrestling arena in Korakuen Hall. The match was just beginning, the first minute and fifteen seconds: Kajiwara submitted his opponent and made short work of him; in this moment he was exiting the ring. The announcer’s voice could barely be heard among the screaming hordes of fans.
This pro-wrestling match was incredibly fast in reaching its conclusion, as expected, the triumphal return of one of the fiercest wrestlers, although it wasn't the norm for a main event to finish so quickly. Kajiwara didn't pull any punches on this fight; he got right down to business. The single arm lock, a popular locking technique among Judokas, jujutsu practitioners and the mixed martial artist, was put upon the opponent with such ferocity that he had to give up the match or risk a miserable injury.