“Buy the lady a drink?” the bartender asked as he wandered in their direction.
“Sure,” Satoshi said. “And I’ll have a beer.”
The bartender apparently already knew her order. He made their drinks, then slid them over. “That’ll be one thousand yen for your beer and five thousand yen for her tequila sunrise.”
“Five thousand yen?” Satoshi asked.
“It’s how we make our money,” Hoshi said, sipping her cocktail.
Satoshi shrugged and paid up. He hoped whatever information she had was worth it.
“So anyway, these places he took you to, you remember anything about them? Addresses? General location?”
“Once in one of the abandoned high-rises in Tsukishima. Another was somewhere around Motosumiyoshi. That’s about all I know.”
“Were there other people there?”
“I’m not into threesomes.”
“I meant at the apartments.”
“People? No. Cockroaches? Yeah.”
“You’re not in contact with him anymore?”
“No, he stopped calling me. Ran into him at a bar, but he said he was spending more time with his ex or something. Sakura? Saeko, maybe?”
“Sachiko?”
She snapped her fingers. “That’s it.”
That didn’t make any sense to him, but he let it go.
“He didn’t mention anyone else?”
She shook her head. After a few more rounds of questions that led nowhere, Satoshi was about to head out.
“Well, thanks for your time.” He stood up to leave.
“Hey, you need anything else?” Hoshi asked.
“Like what?”
“You tell me.”
“I’ve got a girlfriend.”
“Not what I’m talking about. Let me guess, your poison is … let’s see. You’re too laid-back for molly or coke. I don’t think you’re into that weird spore shit. But I could be wrong, you seem like you’ve got some darkness in you. Hmm, I’m going to say trivalium? Maybe Dextro.”
“I take Dextro sometimes, but just for work.”
“Yeah, me too, for a while.”
“It just helps me focus, keeps me clear.”
“Dextro? You sure about that? I had to stop taking it because it was fucking with my head. Started seeing shit, even when I wasn’t on it. Had other friends say the same.”
“I just slow-dose it.”
Hoshi shrugged. “Well, good luck with that. But a bad trip on that is as bad as trancespore. Believe me, I know from experience.”
Satoshi thought about the strange things he had been seeing lately. The things that weren’t there, the too-vivid dreams. He figured it was just the stress he was under from this job. But what if she was right? He didn’t want to think about it for now, so he just changed the subject.
“Trancespore? What’s that?”
“Shit that some of the undergrounders use. It grows down there. I mean, it grows up here too, but not like it does down there.”
“What’s it do?”
“Makes you trip balls,” Hoshi said, inhaling on her cigarette and folding her arms across herself. “Real powerful visions. But terrifying. I tried it once. It comes on slow, and everything just seems … off, like you’re uncomfortable but don’t know why. Then it just builds and builds. Everything else falls away until you’re just in your head seeing, like, the worst shit imaginable.”
“Why would anyone take that willingly?”
“I dunno, some people say they get something out of the experience. But then, I gave up on drugged-out epiphanies a long time ago. I had a friend who got really into that shit, though.”
“I feel like this story doesn’t end well.”
“She eventually left her boyfriend, moved out of her place, just totally disappeared. We think she joined one of the cults, like maybe she’s living with the undergrounders or something. But none of us know for sure. Another one of the girls here is into the spore, but it’s not like she threw her life away to live in a hole in the ground or nothing. It’s one of the foreign girls, but I don’t think she’s here today.”
“That’s okay, I really should be on my way.”
“You want some Dextro? I could get you some.”
“I’ve got a guy. Thanks, though.”
“Yeah, sorry I couldn’t give you much to go on. Hope you find what you’re looking for.”
Satoshi nodded. “Yeah, you too.”
Vasili sat at the edge of the bed, watching wartime images flicker over the massive television set hung on the wall.
“… with the fall of Novosibirsk, Anti-Putinista forces have consolidated their position and appear to be pushing on towards Krasnoyarsk. But self-appointed Czar Kusnetzov remains defiant in Moscow. The city is on virtual lockdown, with reports of mass executions of Anti-Putinists and even public displays of their mutilated corpses. It is unclear whether this is being done by the Czar and his military forces themselves, or simply by loyalists among the citizenry. As the forces clash, the country is gripped by massive food shortages and deprivation as a result of …”
Vasili muted the television when Kameko came back into the room. She looked at the screen, with its succession of images. Soldiers marching, a city being shelled by mortar rounds, an elderly woman cradling most of a young boy.
“Is funny, really. Russia became failed state so slowly no one noticed.”
“Everyone noticed,” Kameko said. “It’s just that nobody gave a fuck.”
Vasili grunted. “I wonder if the same thing isn’t happening here now.”
“What, you mean the Dark Army?”
“Yes, Dark Army. Members of your National Diet are openly calling for national isolation or war on China. Gangs are smashing up Chinese and Korean neighborhoods. Is like Russia when I was growing up.”
“Well, fuck,” Kameko said. “Japan is bad enough as it is without turning into Russia.”
“Thanks.”
“Nothing personal. How was the board meeting? Anything new there?”
“Same old shit from the same old assholes. Flexing and chest-beating from a bunch of aging gangsters. Only with more ass-kissing now that succession is on everyone’s mind.”
“I don’t understand why you’re not campaigning harder for it. With your close relationship to the old woman, you’d have a good chance.”
“I’m not sure I want it.”
Kameko didn’t say anything, but her upturned eyebrow practically served as a question mark.
“I don’t know if getting more involved is what I want now. I think maybe I’m at point where I start pulling back, turning it over to next generation.”
“And you really think you’ll be allowed to do that if someone like Hashimoto or Takeuchi is in charge?”
“I’m not too worried about those sadists falling into power. I’m more concerned about Yoshii, Akiyama, Matsuo. That whole contingent is almost as brutal, but far more cunning.”
“True. At least Akiyama will be dead soon. Last time I saw him, he already looked like a corpse.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure,” Vasili said. “He seemed a lot healthier at the meeting.”
“Really? He was so bloated and jaundiced when I saw him I was sure he didn’t have long. Thought he’d be in full-on liver failure by now.”
“Well, whatever devil he prays to, or human sacrifices he’s performing to stay healthy, it’s working. Unfortunately.”
“Too bad. But do you really want to see one of them in charge? You think they’d let you retire peacefully? Those guys hate you. It won’t be you watering tomatoes with your grandson in a sunny orchard. It will be you and your grandson fertilizing those tomatoes from their roots.”
“Fuck, that is dark. You sure you’re not Russian?”
“Look, I’m just saying that you can do a lot more good by taking charge than you can by fading away.”
“I don’t know,” he said with a shake of his head. “Besides, we still don’t know what M
asa’s planning to do. Still, he is out there. And just because he has not dropped bomb on us yet, doesn’t mean he won’t. If Eriko or the others found out I tried to move against Chobei …”
“I have faith in Satoshi. He’ll find Masa.”
“I’m sure he will too. Whether it happens in time or not is different matter.”
“Why not put more men on it?”
“When Tengu was tearing up the city for me, I had him looking on the down low. But I don’t want it becoming common knowledge that I’m after Masa.”
“Well, then, all we can do is assume it won’t be an issue and plan for the future. I still think you should give more thought to being shacho.”
“I have been in this game for forty-three years, with more than twenty-five years as a boss. Is a long time to keep the machinery running, to keep the whole thing from flying apart or sucking you into the gears. It wears you out.”
“So you’re saying you feel like the weight of the world rests on your shoulders? Is that it? But you’re ready to shrug it off?”
“Not shrug, maybe. Just not take on more weight.”
Kameko shook her head. “Do you know Ryunosuke Akutagawa?”
“The writer?”
“Yeah. Something he wrote always stuck with me. The line about how he pitied the gods.”
“Pitied the gods? Why?”
“Because unlike normal people, gods can’t kill themselves.”
Vasili didn’t answer.
Kameko had trouble getting to sleep that night. She tried everything to calm her racing mind, but nothing seemed to work. Finally, at a certain point, her galloping thoughts came to a sudden standstill as realization struck her. Her eyes snapped open wide, and she spoke aloud to the dark around her.
“Human sacrifices.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
“Goddamn him!” Masa roared. “That was my crowd, my moment. And he fucking stole it all from me! Him and that fucking goblin piece of shit.”
“Calm down,” Sachiko said. She was leaning against one of the wooden gates at Atago Shrine. Masa was pacing in circles by the shrine in a state of fury.
“Calm down? That was my victory! My opponent was twice my size, easily. And I outfought him every step of the way. And the crowd! They fucking loved it! But would he give me just a few moments to bask in it? No! That fuck tried to grab me in front of everyone. Started a riot that led to the rest of the fights being canceled. Now the results have been invalidated and we’ll have to qualify all over again.”
“So? You beat the guy before, you can beat him again, right? What are you afraid of?”
“I’m not afraid of anything!” Masa raged. “And it won’t be the same guy, he … probably won’t be walking for a while. But they’ll find some other giant for me to face off against. Because they want to see me lose just as much as everyone else!”
“Then why keep doing it?” Sachiko asked. “Why keep fighting?”
“Because … it’s the only time I feel alive. All those people cheering. The thrill of the fight. The sense of accomplishment, of victory from proving all those fuckers wrong. Sure, some of them hate me. But most of them can’t help but respect me.”
“I respected you. My approval was never enough for you, though, remember?”
“That was different. But hell, while we’re talking about it, Satoshi had a part in that too, didn’t he?”
“Don’t blame him for what happened to us. It was you in the end.”
“Yeah, but he had his role in it too. Believe me. Now I hear he’s going to have a kid! Did you know that?”
“Of course not.”
“Well, he is! You know who I fucking heard it from?”
Sachiko rolled her eyes. “You know I have no idea.”
“Osammy. That’s who. That guy’s more plugged in now than I am to what’s going on with Satoshi. And they fucking hate each other!”
“So how does Osammy know?”
“He keeps an eye on things. Even from way out there.”
Sachiko considered this. “It might be a good thing, him having a kid. I can see him being a good dad.”
“Are you serious? A guy like Satoshi can’t raise a kid. He’s only half a person!”
“Oh, come now, you’re in no position to talk.”
“Yes, I am! I should know, because I’m the other half!”
“Is this back to your jealousy of him? I mean, it sounds like you want to be having this baby with him.”
“I’m not jealous of him. Or of … what’s-her-name.”
“Like you don’t know what her name is.”
“Shut the fuck up!” he snarled. He got up close, raising his fist in a threatening manner.
“You gonna hit me?” Sachiko said. “Go ahead and hit me, see what happens.”
Masa stood there with his fist cocked and shaking, then finally turned his rage to the wooden beam of the gate she was leaning against. After several strikes, Masa’s anger was spent, and he gave up. Sachiko saw that the beam was cracked and bowed inward slightly where he had been hitting it.
“You want me to go? Because I can go anytime if you’d rather be—”
“Don’t go,” Masa said. His voice was calmer now, plaintive even. “Please.”
She watched him without replying.
“Please?” he was almost pleading.
She sighed. “Alright. But calm the fuck down. You’re not angry at me. So don’t lash out at me just because I’m here.”
“Okay.”
“So … why is Osammy keeping tabs on Satoshi? I thought you said they hated each other.”
“They do. But see, Osammy’s sure it was Satoshi who set him up for a fall. I kept telling him it couldn’t be Satoshi. Because no matter what else, he’s always been a loyal soldier.”
“But now?”
“Now I’m not so sure. I don’t know what to think of Satoshi.”
“Why hasn’t Osammy killed Satoshi, then? He’s done people in for less.”
“Yeah. Many times. He wanted to do Satoshi too, but I stopped him. We were close back then.”
“Who, you and Satoshi or you and Osammy?”
“Both, really.”
“You still seeing Osammy much?” Sachiko asked.
“Yeah. We’re … working on something. Something big.”
“You want to talk about it?”
“Yes. But not now. Maybe a little later. First I need to deal with this Satoshi problem. I thought if I avoided him, he’d go away eventually. But that little bootlick isn’t going to stop until he’s served me up to Vasili on a platter. Even after everything we’ve been through together. Fuck if I’m going to let that happen.”
“How can you criticize him for following orders? You’ve played the part of the loyal soldier too, you know.”
“Yeah, but there’s a difference. I can think for myself. I don’t always do what the boss says, just because the boss says it.”
“Oh, really?” Sachiko asked. “What about me, then?”
“That was …” Masa looked at her, then looked away.
He didn’t have an answer for that.
“Man, fuck this,” Kato said, throwing the folder he had been going through across the table. The documents inside spilled out onto the floor. “How long is that bitch going to punish us with this?”
Ina just shook his head. “I don’t know, but I’m about to call it a night. I can’t take much more of this.”
“First she has us trawling the reclaimeds for days, now we’re on background research duty. Fucking bullshit. We’re the only solid police they’ve got on this case. We should be out there cracking skulls, finding leads, getting shit done!”
“I hear you. Fucking chain of command.”
“Yeah, that only works when you don’t have some bitch above you who doesn’t understand the job.”
“Hey, you want to knock off soon? Grab a drink? I could certainly use a few.”
“I hear you there. Let me grab my things and we
’ll—”
He was interrupted by the sound of the phone ringing. Ina grabbed it.
“Hello? Yes … sir, I can take your call …” As he listened, he began smiling. He snapped for Kato to hand him a nearby pen and began furiously scribbling down notes on the nearest sheet of paper. When he was done, he looked up at Kato.
“How about we hold off on that drink for a few hours? Because by then we’ll really have something to celebrate!”
Chapter Twenty-Five
Yoshii sat in the darkened room that served as his command center, watching the monitors. The images flickering on the screens provided the only illumination in the confined office. His eyes flicked from one monitor to the next, each one showing a different corner of the Kabuki Lounge club. He scanned the private rooms again.
The couple in Room 5 was mid-blowjob. The girl in Room 6 looked like she was either negotiating the price or setting the ground rules with her customer. The action in Room 7 looked to be getting a little rough, but not rough enough to put a stop to it yet. Not for such a steady customer. Room 8 involved an ongoing threeway. Room 9’s customer was desperately trying to get it up. Yoshii smiled at that last one. Sorry, buddy, should have checked that before paying for a private room. No refunds.
His eyes flitted over to the camera above the entrance, where his smile died on his face. He could tell before he even turned the entryway microphone on that the woman was a cop. Just something about the way she carried herself, how she wouldn’t take no for an answer from the doorman. He switched the embedded microphone on and turned the volume up.
“… don’t know about that, but let me check for you,” the doorman said as he turned to walk away.
“Won’t take more than a few minutes,” she said.
The doorman picked up the phone set in the wall in the front hallway. Yoshii picked up the receiver on his end.
“You’re seeing this, sir?” he asked in a low voice.
“Yes. Let her in.”
“You sure? She’s police.”
“I figured. Take her to the bar and wait for me there.”
Yoshii pressed the alarm button. Each of the private rooms, and the main and side bars, were outfitted with red lightbulbs that lit up at the press of the button. They served as visual alarms for the staff that a cop was there. But to outsiders, they were just another red lamp indistinguishable from the other dim lighting within the establishment. Those in the well-concealed hallway of private rooms knew not to come out when the light was on.
Tokyo Noir: The Complete First Season Page 49