by Sekina Mayu
Chapter 9
Thanks to our encounter with Mr. Nishikawa, now we have a new lead about Satoru Yuuya. Besides that, we’ve also found out about Shinya Fukuyama’s relationship with Awatori Group. It’s just that no one knows about his connection with the yakuza group. Based on the comments on Mr. Nishikawa’s blog, his readers are already aware of this.
We still don’t know how those guys who pursued Dr. Hayama back then received a microchip implant. But we believe that they were trying to hide the fact that they received a microchip implant from Satoru Yuuya. I guess they’re trying to make it clear that Satoru Yuuya is not one of them. There must be a reason why they hide Satoru Yuuya’s connection with the yakuza group. I wish I know the reason why.
Mr. Nishikawa is about to leave once he has finished his meal. Before he leaves, he then stops by at the counter and looks at Hayato. “Will you be my bodyguard?” He asks Hayato. Hayato looks puzzled because it sounds like Mr. Nishikawa’s request seems out of the blue to him. But he ignores Mr. Nishikawa, though. He continues with his work, pretending not to hear anything about his request. He must be thinking that Mr. Nishikawa’s request is rather absurd.
“Hey, I’m serious, you know! I’ll give you double the amount of money they pay you here.” He keeps on pleading to Hayato. But he’s still ignoring him despite knowing that Mr. Nishikawa is serious about it. Dad looks annoyed when he sees Mr. Nishikawa keeps on pestering Hayato to be his bodyguard. “I’m sorry, mister. I guess you should just give up about this. Hayato isn’t the kind person who will accept any offer, even if it seems lucrative to him,” dad says to him.
Mr. Nishikawa seems disappointed when Hayato is rejecting his request. “Hayato, please say something to him. At least he won’t bug you again if you tell him directly that you don’t want to be his bodyguard,” I whisper. He then turns to face Mr. Nishikawa. “Sorry, I don’t work for anyone else. I only work for this family. So, I have no reason to work with you. You’d better go and find someone else to be your bodyguard.”
Somehow, Hayato’s words hurt him even more than before. I never hear him rejecting people, so this is the first time I see him doing it. Dad seems amused with what he sees, though. I bet that he’s scheming something just to take advantage of Mr. Nishikawa’s generosity.
“I’m sorry to hear that Hayato rejects you right off the bat,” dad says, “But what about you hire Azuma instead? He may not be as strong as Hayato, but he’s one of the strongest friends I have. I wish I can be your bodyguard, but I have too many things on the plate right now. I don’t want to abandon my children only because I need to keep our cash flow afloat.” Mr. Sakakibara shrugs when dad suggests him to Mr. Nishikawa.
“Hey, what’s the big idea, Akira? Do you realize that this guy is nothing but trouble? When he came to my bar for the first time, I had to throw away those lanky for him. They were almost about to cause a ruckus in my place,” Mr. Sakakibara says to dad. He looks so pissed when he recalls the incident, though.
“Well, isn’t that better? Those guys already know how strong you are. So, they won’t mess around with you anymore. Besides, you get an extra income besides your bar business. Shouldn’t you be happy with that?” Dad says to him. I can tell that dad is being sneaky, persuading Mr. Sakakibara to accept the job. “Okay, fine! But you’d better compensate me nicely. I’m a busy person, you know,” Mr. Sakakibara scowls at Mr. Nishikawa.
Mr. Nishikawa doesn’t look happy at first. But since he already knows how strong Mr. Sakakibara is, he doesn’t have any objection about that. “Before that,” dad says, “Azuma will be your bodyguard starting tomorrow. But for today, my son, Yuuto will escort you home. He may be young, but he’s also as strong as Azuma.” Yuuto then escorts Mr. Nishikawa out of the coffee shop.
Both Mr. Nishikawa and Yuuto leave the coffee shop after that. “I never thought that someone who is so timid like him is willing to cooperate with Public Security Bureau. I thought that he’s the kind of person who hides behind the computer screen. And hoping that somebody else will take action instead. It looks like I underestimate him all this time,” Mr. Sakakibara says to us.
Dad chuckles when he hears Mr. Sakakibara’s comment. “I also thought the same. This must be the reason why those guys from Awatori Group are after him. I don’t think someone like Shinya Fukuyama will give a damn about his puny blog. Sure, he has a vast readership. But it’s still not enough to hurt Shinya Fukuyama’s reputation.”
“But I doubt that Shinya Fukuyama will sit down and do nothing. He must be planning to take an extreme measure just to get rid of him. Threatening him with the Yakuza guys may only be the beginning. In fact, he only wants to put us off-guard,” Mr. Sakakibara says to us. “So, you’re saying that Shinya Fukuyama will send Momoko Sugita to kill him?” I ask Mr. Sakakibara.
“Well, it’s possible,” dad answers on behalf of Mr. Sakakibara. Mr. Sakakibara agrees with dad. “That’s true. Shoko may have enough proof to convict Shinya Fukuyama with sex trafficking conduct. But they still need Mr. Nishikawa to gather as much concrete evidence as they can about him. It will be a huge loss for them if Momoko Sugita kills him. She’s like a skilled assassin anyway, so she won’t leave a clue that she was the one who assassinated him.”
“Or maybe, they send Shiori instead. If they want to take advantage of you, then sending Shiori will do just fine,” dad says to us. Dad then looks at me. He seems worried that I may not be able to do anything if Shiori is the one who will try to assassinate Mr. Nishikawa. “Don’t worry about this,” I say to dad, “I know that Mr. Nishikawa’s safety is our top priority. I will stop her no matter what.”
Dad smiles when he listens to my answer. “Well, that’s good to hear. I’m glad to know that you still realize our priority for this mission.” He then turns to Hayato. “Even if Azuma is the one who will be his bodyguard, I want you to help him as well. Do help Touka too if either Momoko Sugita or Shiori comes to assassinate Mr. Nishikawa,” dad says to him. Hayato nods, knowing what he needs to do for this mission.
Mr. Sakakibara begins his role as Mr. Nishikawa’s bodyguard the next day. Ever since then, Mr. Nishikawa always frequents our coffee shop. Now, we have him as our regular customer. “You always come here pretty much every day,” I say to him as I serve his order. He smiles sheepishly when I tell him that. “I love the ambiance of this coffee shop. It makes me feel calm. So, I feel much better when I do my work here. I don’t feel the same in my house,” he says to me.
I know that some customers say the same thing about our coffee shop makes them feel calm. But for some reason, I feel like asking him why he prefers to do his work here instead of doing it at home. I always assume that a journalist will write better in an isolated place. “That’s great to know. But aren’t people like you preferred to write in an isolated place? Why you prefer to write in a place that can make you feel distracted?” I ask him.
He sighs when I ask him that. “I don’t know why, but I feel weird whenever I’m at home. I feel like someone is watching me. It feels like I’m under the heavy surveillance or something.” After the conversation with him is over, I then excuse myself and head to the counter. “I’m going to see Ms. Chiyo for a while. I’ll be back after this,” I whisper to dad. Dad nods at me, allowing me to see Ms. Chiyo for a moment.
Once I’m in Ms. Chiyo’s room, I tell her everything about our conversation. Ms. Chiyo begins to have a look at his house after that. “Well, he’s right about that,” Ms. Chiyo says, “There are a lot of surveillance devices in his house. So, it makes sense why he feels like he’s under the heavy surveillance. I think it must be Shinya Fukuyama who did this. They were the same surveillance devices found in Shiori’s house.”
After knowing about this, we’ve decided to take advantage of them instead. It can be hard for us to ensure his safety all the time. So, having surveillance devices will make things easier for us to keep an eye on him. To be honest, we don’t want to do this to a civilian, but it’s the best option for us.
Besides, he rarely stays at home most of the time. He only comes back for sleeping. So, we don’t consider this as invading his privacy.
We’re lucky that Mr. Nishikawa only lives a few blocks away from the coffee shop. So, we can still be able to rush to his place if anything happens to him. Even though we have to keep track on him all the time, dad will only let us do this during the weekend. He doesn’t want us to stay up late during weekdays because he doesn’t want us to look so tired during school. This will affect our study if we don’t have enough rest.
A week has passed since then. And there’s not even a single sign that anyone is here to assassinate Mr. Nishikawa. So, we’ve decided to have a meeting to predict when they’re most likely to murder him. “For the whole week, he has been coming here every day. It’s nothing unusual for him to do that. And that also means that I have to send him home every day. He’s way too drunk to go back on his own,” Mr. Sakakibara reports to us.
“Is he really the kind of person who gets drunk easily or he has another reason to get wasted?” Dad asks Mr. Sakakibara. Mr. Sakakibara pauses for a moment. “Now I remember that he did mutter something when he was drunk. He was saying that he wanted to get rid of the feeling being put under the heavy surveillance. Other than that, it was just a treat for himself,” Mr. Sakakibara replies.
“If this is what he’s been doing every day, then the best time to assassinate him is at night. This will be much easier to do since he’s way too intoxicated to run for his life,” Yuuto says to us. Dad agrees with Yuuto’s analysis. “I also think the same. If I were going to assassinate him, I would also choose to do this when he’s so drunk that he won’t be fast enough to escape. It’s just a matter of who is going to come and assassinate him. And also the day they will do that.”
Everyone remains silent for a while. We’re thinking about their possibility for assassinating Mr. Nishikawa. “I believe that it’s possible for Momoko Sugita to come and kill him this time. I doubt that they will send Shiori for this. I don’t know how long it takes for them to make the mind control device to be successful. But they have a better chance of successful assassination if they send Momoko Sugita to do the job,” I say to them.
Yuuto seems to agree with me too. “I also think like that. I don’t think they will send Shiori to do this because it’s too risky for a newbie to handle a task like this. She’ll be in trouble if she screws up,” says Yuuto. Mr. Sakakibara seems to agree with us after he listens to Yuuto’s reasoning. “I also think the same. Maybe we should come up with a plan based on that assumption.”
After considering everyone’s opinion, dad finally draws his conclusion. “Okay, let’s make a plan based on that assumption.” Dad then instructs Ms. Chiyo to analyze Saburo Matsuda’s assassination.
Ms. Chiyo is done with her analysis a few minutes later. “Based on the time indicated in the surveillance footage, Momoko Sugita came at 8.30 p.m. It was half an hour earlier than scheduled. With her strength, it didn’t take that long for her to kill Saburo Matsuda’s bodyguards. She could choose to come at the appointed time and began her mission, but she couldn’t do that. On that day, she had a recording session at 10.30 p.m.”
Well, she did mention that she was pressing for time. It was because the real Momoko Sugita had a recording session on that day. “Can you take a look at her call log? I’m pretty sure that her manager will call her when she arrives at her house. Maybe we can find something by analyzing her call log on that day,” I say to Ms. Chiyo. Ms. Chiyo nods and begins to access Momoko Sugita’s call log.
She then displays the whole call log on the computer screen. Judging by her call log, she only receives a call from her manager most of the time. After analyzing her call log, I also ask Ms. Chiyo to bring up Momoko Sugita’s recording schedule. I think her manager didn’t know about her secret meeting with Saburo Matsuda. I bet that Momoko Sugita will receive an order from Satoru Yuuya through a phone call.
But so far, I haven’t noticed anything odd when I compare her call log with her recording schedule. “Her recording schedule alone is not enough,” dad says to me, “We should look at her schedule for that day.” He then instructs Ms. Chiyo to access her schedule for that day. After a couple of minutes, she retrieves Momoko Sugita’s schedule. And she displays it on the screen.
“I found the mismatch,” Yuuto shouts after Ms. Chiyo shows the schedule on the screen. He then explains to us about the mismatch he’s talking about. “Take a look at her schedule and her call log. You’ll notice that her manager will call her before her next appointment. She also received a call at 8.00 p.m. But when you compare the call log with her schedule, she didn’t have anything scheduled at that time. So, it’s most likely that she received a call from Satoru Yuuya at 8.00 p.m.”
Everyone examines the schedule and the call log based on Yuuto’s explanation. “Your explanation makes sense,” I say to him, “But the call at 8.00 p.m. came from her manager. It didn’t look like Satoru Yuuya was making a call to her.” Dad chuckles when he hears my comment. “Touka, think carefully,” he says to me, “Would she answer a call from an unknown number? She wouldn’t do that. She didn’t want to risk herself answering such calls.”
Dad’s words somehow hit me. I fail to realize that someone like Satoru Yuuya will never make a call using his real name. He must have disguised himself as Momoko Sugita’s manager just to be sure that she will answer the call. Once I get the answer correct, dad instructs Ms. Chiyo to check if the call at 8.00 p.m. was really a call from Satoru Yuuya. Ms. Chiyo comes up with her analysis after a while.
“Well, it doesn’t look like the call came from him. But it was on purpose,” Ms. Chiyo says, “He masked his number with her manager’s phone number. In other words, he impersonated her manager just to make her answer the phone call.” Dad cringes after he hears her analysis. “And this is how Satoru Yuuya activated the mind control within her. It was this phone call that changed everything.”
I never thought that this is how he activates the mind control within Momoko Sugita. I bet that she never realized that the call never came from her manager. It’s the simplest method to activate the mind control device in Momoko Sugita’s body. Now we’re more convinced that she will be here to assassinate Mr. Nishikawa. “When is her next recording session?” Dad asks Ms. Chiyo. “She will have another recording session this Saturday at 11.00 p.m. This is the only thing she has scheduled on that day,” Ms. Chiyo replies.
“Then, she’s most likely to receive a call from Satoru Yuuya by 8.30 p.m. It’s based on the two and a half hour period from her previous assignment,” Mr. Sakakibara says to us. After listening to Mr. Sakakibara’s analysis, dad then instructs Ms. Chiyo to keep an eye on her call. She has to inform us when Satoru Yuuya is making a call to Momoko Sugita. Ms. Chiyo nods after receiving an order from dad.
“What time does Mr. Nishikawa comes to the bar?” Dad asks Mr. Sakakibara. “He usually comes at 7.00 p.m. But it doesn’t take that long for him to get drunk, though,” Mr. Sakakibara replies. Dad pauses for a while before coming up with instructions for us. “Azuma, I want you to send him home by 9.00 p.m. Momoko Sugita should already be there by the time you bring him home. Don’t leave the place until she shows up,” dad says to Mr. Sakakibara.
He then looks at both of us. “I want you guys to be in the nearby area by 8.30 p.m. You need to inform Azuma when you spot Momoko Sugita in the area. Stop her when she’s about to assassinate Mr. Nishikawa.” Both of us nod at dad, fully understand what we need to do in this mission.
On that day, everyone is doing according to the plan. As for Hayato, dad assigns him with a special mission. But it still relates to this mission. Mr. Nishikawa comes to Mr. Sakakibara’s bar at the same time just like he usually does. Just like the last time, he gets drunk so easily. So, Mr. Sakakibara has to send him home by 9.00 p.m.
Meanwhile, Yuuto and I are already in the nearby building. He’s on the rooftop in a nearby building. As for me, I’m hiding in a place which is not f
ar from Mr. Nishikawa’s apartment complex. Ms. Chiyo confirms to us that Momoko Sugita did receive a call from Satoru Yuuya at 8.30 p.m. But she can’t hear their conversation. There must be a certain mechanism which prevents her from eavesdropping the call. Satoru Yuuya must have known that she’s trying to interfere with their communication.
By 8.50 p.m., we notice that Momoko Sugita is already here and is about to enter the apartment complex. I think she’ll be hiding somewhere first before she begins the assassination. “Mr. Sakakibara, Momoko Sugita is already here. She’s currently hiding somewhere in the apartment complex. She’s most likely hiding in a blind spot area since we can’t detect her after that,” I inform him.
“Okay, got it. Mr. Nishikawa is fast asleep here after he becomes drunk. So, I’ll be heading there now. I guess I’m going to close my bar earlier today,” Mr. Sakakibara says to me. Dad starts talking to me after my conversation with Mr. Sakakibara is over. “Touka, I want you to stay hidden until Azuma brings Mr. Nishikawa inside. You can come out of the hideout when Momoko Sugita appears.”
After cutting off my communication with dad, I wait patiently until Mr. Sakakibara arrives. Mr. Sakakibara arrives at the apartment complex a few minutes later. As Mr. Sakakibara is bringing Mr. Nishikawa to his house, I notice that Mr. Nishikawa’s face looks so red. He must be way too drunk for him to go back on his own. Well, at least he doesn’t throw up since he drinks too much. If he does throw up at Mr. Sakakibara, I’m pretty sure that he won’t forgive him for the rest of his life.
Mr. Sakakibara leaves his apartment after he sends him home. Just as he’s about to leave, we hear a loud scream coming from Mr. Nishikawa’s apartment. Mr. Sakakibara and I quickly head over to Mr. Nishikawa’s house. Yuuto is also getting ready to shoot Momoko Sugita when he hears the loud scream. As we’re about to go to his house, Mr. Nishikawa is running out of the apartment complex instead.
He looks pale when he sees us. “Please help me! Momoko Sugita is trying to kill me!” He begs at us. He finds it hard to believe when he finds out that Momoko Sugita is here to kill him. “I don’t care whether you believe it or not, but I AM telling you the truth. It REALLY is Momoko Sugita. And she’s trying to kill me! I swear!” He shouts at us.
At the same time, Momoko Sugita, who is now known as Mika, is already leaving the apartment complex. She doesn’t look frustrated at all despite failing to kill Mr. Nishikawa. “I never expect to see you again, little girl. I’m only here to meet him, but he just runs off like that,” she says to us. “Meet him? You’re just here to kill him,” I say to her. She only laughs at me when I debunk her true intention.
“You got me there, little girl,” she says to me, “I will kill him. But that is after I already know about the spy from Public Security Bureau. He’s disguising himself as Muse Agency staff.” Mr. Nishikawa cringes at her. Despite his look, he doesn’t look scared at all even though Mika is threatening to kill him. “I’m not going to tell you anything about him. You can kill me all you want, but I’m not going to tell you no matter what,” he yells at her.
Mika laughs at him again, as if his words sound like a joke to her. “I’m amazed to see that a coward like you dares to defy me. Is it because these two are here? Let’s see if you’ll change your mind when I kill them right in front you,” she says to him. Mika doesn’t look hesitate at all when she says that. She does mean what she says.
Mr. Sakakibara then signals me to take Mr. Nishikawa back to his house. Without wasting time, I drag Mr. Nishikawa away so then he won’t interfere with the fight between them. Mr. Nishikawa doesn’t say anything as I bring him back to his house. As we reach his house, he then starts to apologize to me. “I’m sorry. I should have told you that I knew about the spy from Public Security Bureau.”
He looks guilty only because he didn’t tell us about this. “It’s alright,” I tell him, “I admit that it’s too late. But it’s better than not letting us know at all. At least now we have another person that we can exchange information with.” He seems relieved when I tell him that. “You guys don’t even look surprised at all when Momoko Sugita is here. Who are you guys, anyway?” I sigh when he asks me about our real identity.
“We work for Public Security Bureau as well. It’s just that, we work on a different mission. Our mission happens to overlap with things related to Muse Agency. So, we also rely on the same information given by another squad,” I reply. I think that answer should be convincing enough. It camouflages the fact that dad and Mr. Sakakibara are PSIA officers and Yuuto and I are PSIA agents.
Once we reach his house, I instruct him not to leave the house no matter what. That should keep him safe from becoming Mika’s target. After I send him home, I then contact Yuuto. I instruct him to keep an eye on anyone who’s coming to Mr. Nishikawa’s house. Once I’m already making sure that no one else is here, I quickly head back to where Mr. Sakakibara is. I do hope that he’s still alive by the time I go back there.
Once I’m outside, I’m glad to find out that Mr. Sakakibara is still standing when he’s fighting with Mika. “I thought that you’re going to let this old man fight me all by himself. I should praise you for your own bravery. You’re not worried that you may lose your life again this time?” She asks me. I can’t help but sigh at her question. “It’s different this time,” I reply, “It’s because I’m not fighting you all by myself.”
She only smirks at me when I tell her that. After our conversation is over, she then begins to attack me. Before her attack reaches me, Mr. Sakakibara is quick enough to cut off her attack. Mika smiles when she sees that Mr. Sakakibara is protecting me. “Not bad,” she says to us, “Maybe I should just let both of you attack me at the same time. Besides, I’m pressing for time. This should take care of you once and for all.”
Mika sounds cocky when she insists on fighting both of us at the same time. But that can also mean she’s confident that she can defeat both of us. It doesn’t matter if we listen to her request or not, everything will be over if we can’t defeat her. Without wasting time, she starts to attack both of us. She doesn’t seem like she’s missing a beat when she fights us. Her attacks are so quick that I have to be fast enough to dodge them without getting a hit.
Mika is doing well in attacking us and evading our attacks despite having to fight both of us at the same time. She doesn’t have any loophole at all in her counterattack. Now I begin to feel that having the upper hand doesn’t mean anything in this battle. I feel frustrated that I can’t even land a single hit on her, but Mr. Sakakibara doesn’t look frustrated at all. Maybe it’s because I’m so used to the instant gratification. I’m not patient enough to wait for the opportunity.
Both Mr. Sakakibara and I feel exhausted after the intense fight with Mika. If this fight is going to continue, I don’t think we have a chance to win against her. “What’s wrong with you? You feel tired already? I thought you guys can do better than this,” she says to us. I hate to see this when her expression is telling me that she’s looking down at us. I feel annoyed, but she’s not wrong either. I feel like my stamina depletes even though I’m only on defense.
Mr. Sakakibara doesn’t say anything back to her. “I heard that you’re strong. So I expect a lot more from you than that little girl. Don’t get me wrong, though. She’s strong, but I’m much stronger than her. I don’t mean to be cocky, but that’s the truth. I thought that my fight with you will be exciting, but that’s not even the case either. I feel disappointed because this is how far you can go. You don’t liven up to my expectation,” Mika says to him.
Mr. Sakakibara doesn’t seem to care about Mika mocking him. He takes a deep breath before he begins saying something to Mika. “I’m sorry that I don’t liven up to your expectation,” he says to Mika, “I don’t know how strong Mr. Sakakibara is. So, I can’t gauge my strength to match his. It’s because I’m so strong that I don’t even know the strength of an average human being. Mr. Sakakibara is above the average, but it’s still difficult for me to impe
rsonate him.”
Both Mika and I look surprised when we find out that it’s Hayato when he pulls off the mask. It seems that Hayato is disguising himself as Mr. Sakakibara just to throw Mika off-guard. Mika seems happy when she finds out that it’s Hayato all along. She doesn’t look fearful at all. It doesn’t even look like she’s pretending not to feel intimidated by Hayato’s presence. She must be confident enough to face someone like Hayato.
“I heard about you from Master Yuuya. I’m lucky that I’m able to fight the last remaining of Kusanagi clan. You have no idea how much I’m looking forward to fighting you after Master Yuuya told me about you,” she says to him. Hayato doesn’t say anything after that. Mika’s expression is telling me that this fight is going to be an enjoyable one. She sure does love to fight, especially when fighting someone who is stronger than her.
Hayato doesn’t hesitate at all when he begins fighting against Mika. He doesn’t look like he’s going to lay low just because Mika is a woman. For him, the person who is right in front of him is no longer Momoko Sugita. The person who is right in front of him now isn’t that different from a monster who loves to fight.
Because of Hayato’s countless and speedy attack, Mika is struggling just to stand straight. With her condition like this, I doubt that she can launch any counterattack. In the end, she barely moves after the fight is over. She’s still laughing even though she lost the fight. “Of many fights that I’ve experienced, fighting you is the best one I’ve ever had. I wish I can fight you in another time someday, but I don’t think I’ll have the same opportunity again,” she says to us.
“What do you mean by that?” I ask her. I have a bad feeling that something awful is bound to happen to her. “This is my fate,” she says to us, “The suicide program will execute when I fail the mission. Once the program starts, you can’t stop the program no matter what. At this point, it’s futile to save me anymore. Everyone with a microchip implant has it regardless of what they’re programmed for.”
I clench my fist, feeling powerless for not being able to save her. Now, it feels like seeing the same thing all over again. And it frustrates me even more that I can’t do anything for the second time. “Little girl, I know that you’ve been looking everywhere for your friend. So, I’m going to let you know before I die,” she says to me.
Before she can even tell us about Shiori, she suddenly experiences a breathing difficulty. Judging from her condition, she looks like she’s suffering from a cardiac arrest. Despite her suffering, she still insists on telling me about Shiori. “She’s in Yokohama. She’ll be back here soon.” She dies after telling us about Shiori’s current whereabouts.
Momoko Sugita and her alter ego, Mika, died due to cardiac arrest. Her cruel death indicates that she’s no longer needed by Satoru Yuuya when she fails her mission. That seems harsh, but just like she said, it’s her fate. And there’s nothing much I can do to help her with changing her fate. I just hope that Shiori doesn’t end up this way too.