Tokyo Noir: The Complete First Season

by J. Scott Matthews

  “Like what?”

  “Like what comes next. For you. Now get the fuck out of my house.”

  Masa sat behind the large wooden desk. Waiting.

  He heard them outside now. The key scraping against the wood around the doorknob. It slid into place and he heard the tumblers click open, then the door swung inward. The next sound was the mechanical sound of three guns simultaneously being cocked and aimed at him. Followed by the enraged screaming from their leader.

  Masa held his bloody hands up. “Don’t shoot. I come in peace.”

  “Unbelievable,” Chobei said. “I’ve got the worst fucking security.”

  “I slipped into the building through the back door. Your door was unlocked here. I think your lock’s busted.”

  As Masa spoke, he stood up, his hands in the air. Chobei walked around to his chair and motioned Masa away. Then he sat down, and his men filed around him. Their guns were still trained on Masa, just waiting for the order. Chobei regarded Masa with disinterest, the way one would look at a cockroach scuttling about when the lights flicked on.

  “Any reason I shouldn’t have him put a bullet through your head right now?” Chobei asked, motioning towards Tamazaki.

  “Absolutely none,” Masa said.

  “Well, then,” Chobei said. Tamazaki started to raise his gun.

  “Which is why I took the trouble of cutting my finger off ahead of time.” As Masa said this, he presented Chobei with a wooden box that he held out with both hands. One hand was wrapped in a white cloth that was stained through with streaks of crimson.

  “Wait,” Chobei said, signaling to Tamazaki.

  Chobei took the box and opened it. He nodded approvingly.

  “Very well. You may speak. Despite your impertinence in coming here unannounced.”

  Masa smiled. “It’s not what I have to say that’s important. It’s what Vasili has to say.”

  Masa took out a tiny recorder and set it down on the table between them, then pressed play.

  “I need you to kill a man for me …,” Vasili’s voice said on the recording.

  Chobei listened to the entire recording. Then he made him go back to the very beginning and play the entire thing for him again. He looked at his men.

  “What do you think?” he asked.

  “It’s definitely The Rock,” one of them said.

  “No doubt.”

  “What do you plan to do?”

  Chobei didn’t hesitate to think about his answer. “Rip him apart limb from limb.” He snapped his fingers as if just remembering something. “There’s the bosses’ dinner in a few days. I’ll do it there. Watch him laid low in front of everyone.”

  “There is another one, who conspired with Vasili to bring you down,” Masa said. “A former colleague of mine. His name is Satoshi.”

  “Then he must die too.”

  “Yes. I’m afraid I must test your considerable patience,” Masa said. “Allow me to arrange it so that you can get them together. Then your revenge will be complete.”

  “And how do you propose to do that?”

  Masa told them his plan.

  Chobei grinned his shark’s grin and nodded.

  “Excellent. Make it so!”

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  “Shit!” Tengu said.

  This startled a mother walking with her children on the sidewalk beside them. She herded them away from Tengu and Lee as quickly as she could. Not that they noticed. They had already taken off and were dodging around people as quickly as they could in pursuit of Mei.

  “She trying to get herself killed?” Lee huffed.

  “Looks that way,” Tengu said as he took out his phone.

  “Chieko? Change of plan. Take the right before DonQui coming from your direction, then the first left. Then be ready for action.”

  “Rules of engagement here?” Lee asked.

  “Save her. Whatever that takes.”

  “What about the police?”

  “I don’t know. Best judgment.”

  Tengu couldn’t give him a good answer because there wasn’t any. All he could do was hope for the best there.

  They were off the main road now and moving quickly down the dark back alley. Tengu could already tell that something was wrong. The guys he figured for cops seemed to be scuffling with one another at the end of the alley, right where it opened up into a cramped triangular parking lot. Farther up, he could see the two closest pursuers to the detective. One was holding her up while the other approached with a knife.

  Shit.

  “Handle them!” Tengu shouted at Lee with a vague wave towards the three men as he ran towards the two men attacking Mei.

  They were too close to the main streets to use firearms. It would draw every cop in the area at once, minus the ones already there doing nothing. Tengu would have to do this quietly.

  He drew his knife as he ran.

  Mei screamed.

  “Help her!” Yakuta shouted when he saw the men.

  “On it,” the man approaching them said.

  With the others holding him down, Yakuta didn’t have a perfect line of sight on the newcomer approaching them. But he put together what was happening when he heard the zap and felt Thing 1 on his left arm go completely limp. Thing 2 put up one hand to ward off the attacker, but the man found the side of his face with the Taser. There was another zap as high-voltage, low-amperage electricity surged through Thing 2, then he went down writhing.

  “Thanks,” Yakuta said.

  He was getting up to finally help Mei when he felt the metal tines of the Taser pressed into the back of his head.

  “No problem,” the man said affably, right before sending electricity coursing through his body.

  Yakuta jerked and convulsed as the current (and pain) shot through him. Before he knew it, he was on the ground, staring up at the halogen lights above the parking lot. It hurt too much to move, and his vision dimmed in and out.

  “Nothing personal!” the man shouted back as he joined the fray.

  While one assailant held her from behind, the other brought his knife down towards her neck. Mei was able to bring her hand up just in time. She caught the blade with her hand, after a fashion. She could see her fingers splayed out in front of her, the gleaming tip of the knife sticking through the backside of her hand. She screamed in agony.

  Her attacker pulled it free and lunged again. This time she brought her feet up to hold him at bay.

  “Looks like even your cop buddies want you dead, bitch!” snarled the one behind her. He was trying to work his hands up around her neck now.

  She looked up to see Tengu come up quickly behind the other man, just as her attacker was about to take another swipe. Tengu stopped, grabbed the man’s respirator strap and a clump of hair, and yanked back. Then he slit the man’s throat. The way he did it was almost casual. A spray of blood spurted out, spraying Mei and the man behind her and stunning both of them into inaction.

  “Fuck me!” the man said.

  Mei recovered faster than he did, and elbowed him hard in the ribs. This gave her the space to grab his wrist and flip him over her shoulder. She ripped his mask off and looked at him. He stared back at her for a split second. His expression unnerved her, and she hesitated.

  But Tengu didn’t. He moved in quickly and grabbed the man by the hair.

  “No!”

  Mei screamed this just as Tengu drove the blade into the man’s mouth and out the back of his head.

  “Too late,” he said. “Let’s go.”

  Lee approached then. He began leading her away as she cradled her bleeding hand in front of her. They emerged from the alley to see a van screech to a halt across the way. Tengu and Lee led her towards it.

  “Aww, is it over?” whined the driver.

  “Yeah.” Tengu said, slamming the door. “Get us out of here.”

  “Everything go alright?” Chieko asked.

  Nobody answered.

  “What the hell are we going here fo
r?” Mei asked as they pulled up in front of the AJX Building, home to Club Hyperion.

  “Just wanted to dance a little,” Tengu said. “Blow off some steam.”

  Mei didn’t laugh.

  “And also because we’ve got a doctor waiting upstairs to take a look at that hand.”

  “You mean I have to walk through these clubbers while bleeding like a stuck pig?”

  “It’s Tuesday. Hardly any people there at all, outside of the bars and restaurant.”

  “Thanks, guys,” Tengu said to Chieko and Drake. “I owe you one.”

  “No problem,” Drake said at the exact same time that Chieko said, “You sure fucking do.”

  The three of them rode the elevator mostly in silence. Mei turned around to look out at the city as they rode up.

  “They didn’t even try to help me. They just stood back and let it happen.”

  Behind her, she could sense more so than see the look exchanged between Tengu and Lee.

  “Fucking cops, man,” Tengu said sympathetically.

  “Well, actually, one was trying to help,” Lee said. “The other two were holding him back.”

  “Did you recognize them?” Tengu asked.

  “I didn’t get a good look.”

  They made their way through the mostly empty club to Vasili’s office. When they approached, he opened his door and waved them inside. A doctor was ready and waiting with his medical kit laid out on the coffee table between the sofas. He motioned for Mei to sit down beside him. Mei winced as he poured a disinfectant over the wound and examined it.

  “How bad is it?” she asked.

  “Well … it could be worse. Doesn’t look like they hit anything that would cause major damage. But it’s going to be sore for a while.”

  He set to work.

  “Did you see who did it?” Vasili asked.

  “Yeah,” Tengu replied. “One of them, anyway. Guy from one of Matsuo’s crews.”

  “He have a name?”

  “Not anymore,” Lee said absentmindedly.

  Tengu continued. “I don’t know his name. I just know his face from a trip to Chiba we took recently. Saw him there with Hashimoto and his people.”

  “What were you doing up in Chiba?”

  “Wishing I was anywhere else. Also, checking up on a lead from when you had me tearing the city apart.”

  Vasili nodded.

  “I just don’t know what Matsuo’s stake in this is,” Tengu said. “Why does he care about her?”

  “Because he’s behind the killings, along with Yoshii,” Mei explained. “I found evidence pointing to one of his—ow, motherfucker! What was that?” Mei cried out suddenly.

  “I just gave you a shot of local anesthetic,” the doctor said without looking up. “Trust me, you’ll thank me when I start stitching you up.”

  Mei took a deep breath and continued. “We think the serial killer is removing organs to use in transplants. Possibly to sell. One of Matsuo’s guys in his construction outfit recently had a transplant.”

  “Wouldn’t surprise me,” Vasili said. “He and Yoshii are as thick as dickheads. And Sherlock here rattled the hornet’s nest when she showed up at one of Yoshii’s clubs asking questions.”

  Lee and Tengu both winced at that. Mei winced too, but also because the doctor was stitching up her wound.

  “Yeah, not good,” Tengu said. “But at least we know Yoshii and Matsuo are behind it. Probably their other confidants too.”

  “Who’s that?” Mei asked.

  “Akiyama, Miyagi, Nagai. The five of them work closely together. But it’s really Yoshii and Matsuo who set the agenda.”

  “What do you plan to do?” Tengu asked Vasili.

  “I need to speak with the detective about that. Alone.”

  Tengu and Lee began heading towards the door.

  “Hey … thank you,” Mei said.

  They both nodded on their way out. When the doctor was finished, he cut the thread and packed up his things to leave. When they were alone, Vasili began to speak.

  “I’m planning to move against Matsuo. Yoshii too, eventually, but Matsuo is the greater threat right now.”

  “Should you be telling me this?”

  “Yes. Because I need your help to do it.”

  “You want me to … help you?”

  “I want you to help me get justice for my people, and for the others he’s had killed. You know that he’ll never face consequences for this. Guys like him—like me—are too careful. They give the orders, they don’t bloody their hands themselves. If you want justice …” He trailed off here to let her fill in the rest on her own.

  “Yeah, from what I hear, that’s how Kentaro came under your orbit. He told me about the … arrangement you two have. How he came to you about that child-killer case.”

  Vasili just raised an eyebrow.

  Mei continued. “And Endo helping me out recently—I’m assuming that was on your orders. How did you get him onboard?”

  “Endo found out about some cops who were aiding a human trafficking ring. He wanted to put them down and make sure they stayed down.”

  “I used to think he was the biggest gaping asshole on the planet.”

  “Eh, who says he’s not?”

  “Yeah, maybe. I think Yoshii is up to something similar. I met with a girl who works at Kabuki Lounge who told me a horror story about the place.”

  “Let me guess, your superiors didn’t want to hear about it?”

  Mei nodded.

  “Sounds familiar. There will be no convictions. Not of the people who do this. Not of Yoshii, or Matsuo. Laws catch flies, but let hornets go free.”

  “I still don’t like this.”

  “You don’t have to. I don’t like it either. But putting blind faith in a broken system won’t help anyone either.”

  “What’s the alternative?”

  “This … machine, let’s say, that I’ve built stretches throughout the city. It has mechanisms in place for this. I just need to set it grinding into motion.”

  “Your machine runs on blood.”

  “Sometimes. But it runs. You can’t always say the same about yours.”

  Mei was silent at that. She walked over to the window and stared out. Vasili went on.

  “Kentaro was maybe confused about one thing. He didn’t come to me back then. I came to him.”

  “Why?”

  “He had information I needed on the killer’s identity.”

  “I mean, why get involved?”

  “Because I didn’t like what was happening. Just like I don’t like what’s happening now. So I went to Kentaro, just like I’m coming to you now. But ultimately you must choose.”

  “You didn’t give me a choice last time, when you broke into my apartment. Why now?”

  “I’m asking you to help me take a life. For life and death like this, you have to choose yourself.”

  Mei was silent. She looked out the window. It was one of the rare nights where you could see for miles. The lights of the city spread out forever across an ocean of rain-slick concrete.

  “You can’t touch these men. Not your way, at least. The only way to see them punished is if you help me feed them to the machine.”

  Mei looked at him, then back to the city.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  “You wanted to see me, sir?” Mei asked from the doorway to Endo’s office.

  He waved her in and motioned her towards the chair across from him. He regarded her for a long moment before speaking, not unkindly.

  “First off, how are you doing?”

  “I’m alright, sir. The hand still hurts, but the doctor says it will recover without any loss of function.”

  “Good, good.” He looked absentminded, almost distracted. “I wanted to apologize on behalf of the entire NPA organization for what happened. And to tell you that I personally tore Nomura a new asshole for that little stunt.”

  “Thanks. But I don’t think he could have known.”

 
“That’s not good enough. He never should have had you followed in the first place. That’s not how we treat our own. Second, he never should have trusted in those Dark Army fascists.” He shook his head. “They frighten me, you know. I don’t know where it ends, but I fear we’re heading for some dark territory ahead.”

  “Afraid I have to agree with you.”

  Endo smiled. “Never thought you’d live to say those words to me, did you?”

  Mei shook her head. “No sir.”

  “What’s your take on the Dark Army? Not just the guys following you, but as a whole.”

  “Well, I used to think Ozaki and his people were on the level. Like they were just concerned citizens doing what they thought was right. Now I just feel stupid for not seeing them for what they are to begin with.”

  “Don’t beat yourself up for it. There’s virtue in not giving into cynicism immediately. I wish I still had that.”

  “You don’t seem like the overly cynical type.”

  “I’m not so sure anymore. In this job, you get to the point where you don’t know if you’re so jaded and cynical that you see the world wrong, or if you’re the only one who sees things for what they really are. It can make you doubt yourself, react slower than you should.

  “But if you do this long enough, you start to see through the bullshit. You see what people’s intentions really are by where they actually stand, and where they take a stand. You see the politicians talking about law and order as they gut police budgets and pass laws that tie our hands. Or claiming poverty when it comes time to honor pensions and health care promises.”

  “Criminals doing more good than elected leaders.”

  “Exactly. It’s easy to talk tough on crime and social order. It’s easy to shout slogans, lock everyone up, pass harsh mandatory sentencing laws, make people put on empty patriotic displays. But you know what that gets you? The illusion of order. Not true order, just the illusion. It’s people saying what they think the powerful want to hear so they don’t get beaten. It’s a hundred thousand starving North Koreans tap-dancing their way through a phony display of respect for the ‘dear leader.’ And look where that gets you in the end. Have you seen the footage?”