“…Yes?”
I sighed. “Nothing.” What did I think? That the boy’s mother had returned to take vengeance on all of us who had taken everything dear to her? Her apartment. Her husband. Her son. Her life. Silence fell over the bar again. Kazumi turned with a plate of karaage and placed it between us.
“Listen, I’m not a big believer in the supernatural, but I’m not against it, either.” The boy grabbed a sizzling piece of chicken and blew on it. “I have a friend. Old friend of mine from our school days. He’s a Shinto priest at the Hakusui Shrine. He blessed the club before we first opened and it might just be a coincidence, sure, but we’ve never had any problems here.”
I nodded and grabbed a piece of chicken myself. “Do you think he could help?”
“I wouldn’t have suggested him if I didn’t think so.”
A Shinto priest. It seemed a little excessive. You saw a Shinto priest when the dishes kept falling out of the cupboard at night. When you lost feeling in one arm for no medical reason. When your family found itself under a generational curse that no-one knew how to break. When someone told you, “Hey, you look like you’ve got a lot on your shoulders. You should probably see a priest about that.”
…Yeah, it probably was time to see a priest.
“At any rate, it couldn’t hurt,” Kazumi continued before turning to the boy. “And what is that you’re drawing?”
“Mama,” he said, not taking his eyes off the paper. A black vortex of swirls filled the page. Kazumi and I exchanged glances. “I see. Your mama looks angry. Is she okay?”
The boy shrugged and grabbed another piece of chicken.
“I see. Well, I need to talk to Yotchan for a moment, sweetie. You stay right here.”
She stepped out from behind the bar and I pushed my chair back to follow.
“His mother?”
I nodded. She crossed her arms and pursed her lips. It hit me that she had no idea what was going on yet. She had no idea about…
“We found Ren this morning.”
Her eyes widened in shock. “Ren?”
I nodded. “In the river. He was bloated and…” I let the words trail off. She didn’t need the details. I didn’t need the details. I could still see the image of him lying on the bank clearly in my mind. The off colour of his skin. The bloat and rot that was far too advanced for someone who had only been dead a few hours at best. The unnatural twist of his neck…
“Oh my god…”
Kazumi always liked Ren. It made me jealous at times, although their relationship seemed to be that of old friends than old lovers.
“When I got home, the house stank. Of water. River water. There was mud on the carpet in front of the boy. He said ‘Mama’ came to see him.”
Kazumi clenched her jaw and peered around the corner at the boy. “Look, I think you should see my friend sooner rather than later. His name’s Kenji. I’ll let him know you’re coming. I don’t know what’s going on here and I don’t want to know, but it’s better to be safe than sorry. If anyone can help, he can.”
Hakusui Shrine. That was one of the five shrines surrounding the Emperor’s palace. I’d been there a few times over the years, mostly for New Year’s celebrations, but how did one begin to approach a priest about something like this? “Hi, an angry spirit is killing all my friends because we accidentally killed her, could you get her out of our headquarters please?” How did that work?
“Thanks,” I said, and turned to go back to the boy. The swirls of black grew even more vicious, spreading off the paper and onto Kazumi’s bar. He drew furiously, tearing through the paper and snapping the crayon in his haste.
Sooner rather than later. Right.
21
Halfway through my workout, Narumi actually showed up. I had to admit, I didn’t expect he would go through with it. He was the flaky type who said a lot of things but rarely went through with them. It caught me unawares. A lot had caught me unawares over the last few days. Including the phone call I got not 20 minutes after leaving the gym. Nobody ever called that early, unless…
“Come in. Now.” It was Harada, and he said nothing more.
The boy and his mother weighed on my mind on the drive over. I had to do something with him, but what? I couldn’t keep leaving him at home alone while I went about my business, and at some point people would realise he was there. Someone would come over unexpectedly for work and see a small child sitting in the lounge room. Not the best look. Plus, he had to go to school, and I didn’t know the first thing about any of that. The only option I could think of was an orphanage, but I wanted to avoid that if at all possible. How did one go about private adoptions? Was that even a thing? Or was that just human trafficking? That would make me the one thing I fought so hard against…
Clouds gathered above the building as I pulled into the parking lot. They knew. Nature always knew. Sadly they only made the air hotter, not cooler, but the moment I stepped inside, none of that mattered. I might as well have stepped into a freezer.
Several faces I barely knew passed me in the hall. Several more gathered in the open atrium beneath the stairs, including the twins I’d seen the other day, whispering and pointing. The air sat so heavy that I could cut it with a knife. A can fell to the ground with a loud clatter and everyone jumped.
“Sorry, sorry…” A younger member picked it up from the table he’d knocked it from, scratching the back of his head and bowing profusely.
“I heard it was a ghost,” one man said as I passed.
“A ghost?”
“Yeah. I didn’t believe them at first, but people have been saying they’ve been seeing a shadow around here. It follows them around. Toys with them. Knocks things over and trips them up. It’s just playing with us.”
“Yeah, well that new guy is dead, so I dunno how much it’s ‘playing’ with us…”
New guy? There were a bunch of new recruits that had come in for the summer. My heart thumped, threatening to beat out of my chest. Toshiki. First Eita, then Ren. She was killing everyone directly involved in her death.
“Where is the body?” I stopped and interrupted their hushed conversation. Their eyes widened when they saw me.
“The Tiger…”
“Where is he?!”
They pointed in unison to the boardroom. I stormed over and threw open the doors.
Bile rose in the back of my throat. My stomach dropped.
“Toshiki…”
Not a few nights ago we’d been laughing, drinking, and telling stories in Serenity. He’d gotten into his first street fight. Drawn his first blood. He was a good kid. Nervous and high strung, but he had a good heart. He lay on the floor before me, the skin of his face swollen and bloated like Ren’s. Toilet paper hung from his mouth, his cheeks bulging like a hamster. His neck stuck out at an awkward angle, his blank eyes staring at me in the doorway. “You did this,” they seemed to say. “If I’d never gone with you, I’d still be alive. This is all your fault.”
It was her. No doubt about it. Chills ran down my spine. The boardroom faced the toilets. The same toilets I’d seen her in. Toshiki must have gone in there as well, and then…
“Where is he?” A voice boomed from upstairs, echoing throughout the entire building. “Get me Yotchan right now!”
I closed the doors behind me and made my way upstairs in a daze. Eita. Ren. Now Toshiki. That only left Kame, Harada, and myself. How did you stop a vengeful ghost? Could you even stop one? That seemed like the kind of deal where if she wanted you dead, then you died.
The doors to Harada’s office flew open, and a body bounced off my chest. Ippei. His pale complexion told me all I needed to know. I’d be surprised if he lasted the rest of the day before quitting.
“Yotchan! There you are! Get in here.”
Ippei bowed deeply and closed the doors behind us. His footsteps echoed down the hall, hurrying the further he got away.
“Sir.”
“Don’t ‘sir’ me. Did you see the body?”
I nodded.
“Good, then I don’t need to explain myself. Three men in three nights, Yotchan. Three. One is a mistake, two is a declaration of war. Three I cannot abide.” He paced before his desk, scratching his chin.
“I’m sorry, I don’t—”
“Why haven’t you brought me anyone yet?” He slammed his fists down, making the papers on his desk jump. “I gave you one job. Bring a Toyotomi member to me. That was it. Now another man is dead. Do you get me now? Huh?”
Arguing with him in this state wouldn’t do anyone any good, but neither would starting a gang war.
“Sir, I don’t think the Toyotomi had anything to do with this.”
He stopped and stared me down, raising his eyebrows. “You don’t think the Toyotomi did this? Well then, my boy, do tell me, who did? Because I have three dead men and no other suspects!” The temperature in the room dropped another few degrees. Harada rubbed his arms and coughed. “Gotta get that AC fixed,” he muttered.
“I’m sure you’ve heard the men talking, sir…” How did one broach the topic? Harada was a pragmatic man. A scientific man. If it bled, you could kill it. If you couldn’t see it, grab it, or feel it, then it didn’t exist.
“You mean that nonsense about the ghost?”
So he had heard them talking. I nodded.
“Don’t tell me you believe that crap too?” He scoffed. “Next you’re gonna tell me the bogeyman is hiding under my bed.”
“I don’t know about that sir, but… You have to admit, it all lines up.”
Harada stepped forward and poked a finger hard into my chest. “No, Yotchan. It doesn’t. Let me tell you what does make sense, and when we’re done here, I want you to go out there and let the rest of those morons know as well. We’re at war. The Toyotomi are playing dirty. We’re yakuza, of course we’re going to die in ugly ways. You don’t need a ghost for that.” He spat the word, as though it disgusted him. “Plenty of ways to fuck a man up just fine without some kind of—” he shook his hand in the air, as though shooing a bug away “—‘supernatural’ interference. You idiots really believe that nonsense? Amazing…”
He walked back to his desk and planted his hands. Silence filled the room. I opened my mouth to speak, but then he turned around again.
“I was willing to look the other way with Eita. As much as it pains me to say. I was going to find out who was responsible and make them pay. Leave it at that. But when they took Ren from me…” He laughed. “And now they’ve come into my home and killed one of my men right beneath my nose! No. I won’t abide that. Not at all. If they want war, then war is what they’ll get. I’ll send the entire family against them and wipe them off the map. If they thought tensions were high before, well, they have no idea what’s coming now.”
“Sir—”
“Bring me one, Yotchan. I don’t care who. Just bring me someone. We need to have a little chat. I need to send Toyotomi a message. He’s left plenty for me, and now I must ever so kindly reply.”
This wasn’t the answer. It wasn’t the Toyotomi. The last thing we needed was an unnecessary gang war on top of a vengeful ghost wreaking havoc for her wrongful death. He saw the look on my face and pointed at me before I could speak.
“Don’t argue with me, boy. Just do it. Or you’re next.”
22
Kenji at Hakusui Shrine. That’s who Kazumi told me to go see. At this point, what did I have to lose? At best, he’d tell me that I was crazy and I could move on with my life, which was the option I preferred. At worst? Well, at worst he would be able to help me. Hopefully. Shinto priests had to help, right? At the very least, he could help shed some light on what was going on.
The boy sat on the floor, scribbling in a magazine. “Come on, get in the car. We’re going out.” He didn’t look up at my entrance, but stood and made his way towards the door, anyway. He only spoke to Kazumi. I didn’t sense he was being rude, but more like he only felt comfortable with her. Not that I could blame him. Standing close to two metres tall, covered in tattoos, and always ducking in and out of the house, it would be a miracle if the boy didn’t see me as anything other than a monster. Not to mention I was in the room with him when his mother died.
The Toyotomi member could wait.
“You hungry?” I asked as we pulled out into the street. He shook his head. My stomach grumbled. “Yeah, no, me neither.” As was his ritual whenever we got in the car, he turned to stare at the city landscape rolling by.
“So, what did you do today?” How did one make conversation with a kid? Should I leave him to his city-gazing? Try to engage him more? He didn’t say anything.
“Have you… seen your mum lately?” At that the boy turned. He regarded me a moment before nodding and turning back to the window. Well, that was something. Not a good something, but something nevertheless.
“I see. She came to see you again?”
A nod.
“Okay. That’s good, I guess. Did she say anything?”
Nothing. No nod. No shake. Just silence.
“Is she angry?”
He nodded. Yeah, no shit she was angry. She was killing us all. If I could get to Kenji in time, then maybe no-one else would have to die. Maybe. I’d never dealt with angry ghosts or exorcisms or any of that before. Was it even an exorcism if the ghost wasn’t possessing someone? A purification? What did they call it? Whatever, it didn’t matter. Getting rid of the vengeful spirit was the first priority.
“So are you, uh, looking forward to going to school next year?”
The boy shrugged. Who was going to enrol him in school? Take him to school? Me? The boy was dead, technically. If Harada got word that not only was he alive, but going to school nearby, that would bring all sorts of troubles that no-one would escape unscathed. The boy was witness to murder. He couldn’t go to any schools around here.
What on earth was I going to do with him?
We drove the rest of the way in silence, and I ushered him up the stairs once we arrived at Hakusui Shrine. One of the five largest shrines in the capital. From the top you could look out over the city and even see the Imperial Palace gardens in the distance. A way for the priests of old to watch over the Imperial family, but also not intrude on their privacy.
Grabbing the water ladle from the temizuya before the main shrine, I washed my hands, and the boy followed suit. I scooped some into my mouth, swished it around and spat it out to the side. He did the same, giving me a small smile as he did. Then I washed the handle and put it back, smiling as the boy did the same. He smiled at me. For the first time, he smiled. Feelings ran through me that I couldn’t quite understand, but that small gesture seemed to close the gap between us. He followed me. He learnt from my example. We shared a moment, just the two of us, like father and son.
“Have you ever considered settling down?”
Kazumi’s words came rushing back. Settling down. Starting a family. Kids of my own. I shook my head and placed my hand on the boy’s back, pushing him towards the shrine. No. Family most definitely wasn’t for me. All I could offer a family was a life of crime followed by a painful death. I chose that life; they didn’t. I couldn’t bring anyone into that.
A shrine maiden manned a stall selling various talismans and amulets. “Hi.” I tried to smile, like I did this all the time. “I’m looking for the head priest, Kenji. A close friend of his recommended him.”
“Kenji?” she said, tilting her head.
“Yes. It’s rather urgent.”
She whispered to the other girl beside her, and the girl ran off. “We’ll go and see if he’s available. Do you mind if I ask your name?”
“Yoshifumi.” The word sounded strange. No-one called me that. Ever.
“I see. And is this little guy your son, Yoshifumi?”
I put a hand on his shoulder and forced a grin. “Yes, he is. Say hello, Rai.”
“Hi,” the boy said, bowing. He had better manners than me.
“Rai, huh? That is a strong name.
” The shrine maiden leaned forward, bringing herself down to his level. “I bet your mama is real proud of you. Only the strongest of heroes get cool names like that.”
The boy said nothing, and the other shrine maiden came running back, saving us from the many bad places that conversation could have gone. A priest walked slowly behind her.
“I am Kenji,” he said, stopping before us. He glanced down at the boy and his eyes locked on him.
“Hi. Sorry. Kazumi said you would be able to help me with something, and—”
“Of course. Follow me.”
The shrine maidens bowed, and we followed him into the building. I’d never been inside a main shrine building before. It felt like desecrating sacred ground. I bowed at the door and followed him in.
“And how is Kazumi?” He closed the doors behind us and smiled.
“She’s good. Busy. You know.”
“Busy. That’s good. She always was a little wild when we were kids. It’s nice to see that she’s settling down now.”
Yes. Settling down in Rakucho, if such a thing were possible. The calmest lifestyle…
“And she sent you to me?”
“Yes, sir. We have a bit of a problem I was hoping you could help with.”
“What’s your name, son?” Kenji looked down at the boy, ignoring me.
“Rai,” he said.
“Rai. A strong name for a strong boy. There’s power in that name, you know? Power in you.”
The boy blinked but said nothing.
“The woman, I assume?” Kenji stood up and turned to me.
“The woman?”
“Your problem.”
I gulped and looked around.
“She’s not here, don’t worry. Spirits can’t enter this space. She doesn’t need to. She’s wafting off you.” He looked down at the boy and then up at me. “Both of you.”
Wafting off us? What did that mean?
“Can you help us?”
He placed a hand on the boy’s head and looked deeply into his eyes. He smiled, although it appeared more of a grimace, and stood back up.
“You’re not the boy’s father, are you?”
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