Hakata Tonkotsu Ramens Volume 1 Chapter 2

Top of Second Inning

"Killing the detective was successful." There was the call from Ivanov. He killed the detective the night before, show casing it as a suicide and then made contact with someone related to the police. Now today they seemed to have handled it as a suicide. Naturally, he would have to pay the collateral though.

Munakata was in a parking structure at a certain place about a ten minute walk from Kego park. While he was having a smoke in the driver's seat of a black sports van, there was a knocking sound on the pa.s.senger's side window. Reiko was peering in from the outside. She must have just came back after switching places as the mayor's bodyguard with s.h.i.+nohara.

"Good work. Was there anything abnormal?"

"There was a gunshot."

"What did you say?"

"Well, that's what I thought, but it was just a child's balloon popping." Reiko also took a cigarette and lit it. "How about on your end?"

"It seems it went well. The detective is being handled as a suicide victim."

"We won't have decent deaths." Reiko blew out white smoke. "We kill people who don't do any wrong just by the reason they were in the mayor's way."

"It can't be helped. We're workers. We can't go against the orders from above."

Just as he was extinguis.h.i.+ng the lit cigarette, abruptly, the sound of his cellphone in his breast pocket went off. It was an incoming call.

The characters 'the son' was displayed on the screen. It was not Munakata's son, but his boss's son. Munakata did not have any family in the first place.

While antic.i.p.ating the worst, he took the call. "h.e.l.lo."

[Munakata-saan. It's me.] He heard the voice of a young man. It was a slow and lax voice that irritated others. [Soorryy. I did it again.]

"What is it?"

[I killed a girrl.]

Again, huh. Munakata sighed. "I'll head over right away," he said and then dropped the call.

Reiko frowned next to him. "What's wrong? Is there an issue?"

"The perverted son did it again."

"What is it this time?" Reiko was exasperated. "Was it robbery? An a.s.sault? Rape?"

"Rape and murder. Sorry, Reiko. But can you go there for a bit?"

"Haa?" Reiko grimaced. "Why me?"

"I'm busy. I have to kill some yakuza right now. I can't let anyone else go. Ivanov is dealing with the aftermath of the detective's death. s.h.i.+no is being a bodyguard for the mayor. There's no one else but you."

"Can't you ask someone else in the same trade? Wouldn't it be fine to ask someone from Murder Inc?"

"The boss doesn't like outsourcing. It'd be a problem if a secret gets let out. If he's going to hire someone, it has to be someone for a permanent employment like us."

Reiko gave a big sigh. "I hate that kid."

"It's alright. You're not the only one." Munakata smiled bitterly. "Everyone probably hates him."

"Probably. He makes me want to kill him." For a killer to say this, it had a strange persuasive meaning.

"Just don't do that." No matter how far below he is, his parent would not be silent about it if his true son was killed. "Then I'd have to kill you."

He said reluctantly. Reiko opened the door to the pa.s.senger's seat. "Eliminating those who get in the way, protecting the mayor, and even wiping that s.h.i.+tty kid's a.s.s too. At this rate, it seems we'll die by overworking. Do killers get working compensation?"

"Who knows."

Reiko left, with the sound of heels clicking in her wake. While watching her leave from the back mirror, her previous words resurfaced to his mind.

'We won't have decent deaths.'

That was most certainly true. Looking at his watch, Munakata started the car. There was time to immerse in his emotions later. Stopping in another parking structure, he made preparations for his a.s.signment. He took out the sniper rifle and locked on his target. The muzzle was pointed towards the hideout of the gang. The distance between his target and him was five hundred meters. It was enough. With one eye he peered into the scope. Although, Munakata only had one eye to begin with.

From the office, the man he was targeting came out. He spotted the man's face in the scope. Right in dead center. He pulled the trigger. The bullet hit the man in the back of the head. The man fell, and the underlings rush to him. While the place was in disarray, Munakata went back to the car and left the scene.

Bottom of Second Inning

Arriving in f.u.kuoka, the first thing that surprised Saitou was how well the access to the airport was. f.u.kuoka airport was not even a distance of two stations from Hakata, the center of the city. Since an airplane was flying in the sky above the city was is put off by the loud noise, but compared to Tokyo where he had to switch to a monorail it was rather convenient. Like this it would have been better to come here via airplane instead of the s.h.i.+nkansen. He slightly regretted it.

Hakata station was crowded, but it was not as much as s.h.i.+buya and s.h.i.+njuku. He heard it was a dangerous city with a population of three percent being killers, but it did not feel like that too much. In actuality, he had the impression that it was more peaceful than the city he lived in until now. The pace of people walking from the station was easy-going; it did not feel rushed. At a glance, it was peaceful.

Walking inside the station, a sweet scent wafted over. In the center of the station there was a croissant shop, and there was a line for it. While he was pulled in by the scent, Saitou headed for the exit on quick feet.

Leaving the Hakata exit to the outside, there was a plaza, and many taxis were lined up waiting for customers. From the next bus station, he got on the belt-line bus to go to Tenjin for one hundred yen.

The Murder Inc f.u.kuoka branch had an office in one room of a rental office building in Tenjin. Though it was small for an office. There was only a television set, a sofa, and a desk. More than an office, it felt like a room for a salary man. When Saitou visited the office, a middle aged man greeted him with a smile.

"Are you Saitou-kun?"

Saitou straightened his posture and answered. "Yes. I came from the head office in Tokyo. I am Saitou. Nice to meet you."

"You came 'ere right up and early. Well, you oughta drink coffee or somethin'."

The head of the f.u.kuoka branch was far kinder than his previous superior. His speech was slower and thick in a Hakata accent. The corner of his eyes were drooped, so he already looked like he was smiling. His stomach poked out a bit, and he slightly resembled his baseball manager in high school. He was that coach who often said the phrase, "don't give up until the end."

Although he was in the middle of work, he was watching the TV while drinking a beer. It was timeout in baseball. It was the j.a.panese Series, the fourth game between the Carps and the Hawks. He saw them outside the s.h.i.+nkansen window only an hour ago. It was that same stadium.

His superior did not start talking to him much. He was watching the TV as though eating into it. "Sorry. Right now is really somethin', wait a sec." He had said, so Saitou watched the development of the game sitting on the sofa reluctantly as well. It had been a while since he watched baseball.

At present, it was the top of the third inning with the Hawks at offense. With two outs and bases loaded, the fourth player, a Dominican, walked up to the plate. It was a tremendous swing. If a smooth ball was thrown, he could easily hit it to the stands. The catcher prepared for a low outside pitch. The sign was likely the slider running further outfield. However, the ball the pitcher threw did not have much curve to it. It was pretty much a straight ball, right in the center.

As though antic.i.p.ating it, those dark skinned strong arms swung the bat full swing. He pulled the ball with all his might. It was a hard line drive. He thought it pa.s.sed by third and short. The young player on third leapt to the side. His left hand stretched out and caught it. He then fell safely, rolled quickly and then stood back up. He raised his left hand high in the air and appealed to the umpire. In his glove, he was grasping the ball. It was a fine save for the team.

"Ahh!" His superior grasped his head and made a face as though he saw the world's end. "Aah, enough already! Why was it like that!"

This time it managed to be caught, but the pitcher's att.i.tude was another thing. It would be a good plan to relieve the pitcher soon. When the next batter was up, they would probably switch. That was what he thought.

"I made you wait, ain't that right?" Now on break and the commercials starting, his superior finally brought up the main matter at hand. "This is your new ID."

He received a new license. His name was the alias Takuya Itou, and his place of residence was in f.u.kuoka City, Hakata Ward. It was forged license.

"So, sorry for this bein' so sudden, but won't you kill this person here? You got until nine o'clock tomorrow night."

His superior handed him the data. While listening to what he had to say, Saitou looked over it. The target's name was Jun Murase. He seemed to be a university student.

"The client is a neighbor and landlord of the apartment. He be always makin' a fuss, so he was sayin' to kill him. He been said to be a trouble in the neighborhood. Ah, the master key is borrowed from the landlord but use it if you need to."

"Haa……"

"There been lots of these sort of requests recently. Not just people there. There been even, the neighbor dog is annoying so kill 'im. We ain't some sort of health care place."

He laughed, but the game restarted again. It was the bottom of the third inning. The pitcher, throwing with his left arm, started to practice pitching.

Saitou excused himself with a, 'pardon me,' and left the office. He did not receive a reply from his superior who was daydreaming of the game.

It was apparent it was a wealthy household just by looking from the outside. It was a two-story house. There were three cars. It was probably a hobby of the father's. The mother's hobby seemed to be gardening. The garden was spread out as though surrounding the large house and was well maintained. On the nameplate were the characters Yamazaki. The Yamazaki household was a family of three: two parents and one son in high school.

Jiro had the minivan parked in front of the Yamazaki house. He was wearing work gloves, so he pressed the intercom. Beside him, the girl carrying a knapsack on her back was glancing around the area. Her name was Misaki. She was wearing knitted wool gloves.

Jiro's wife pa.s.sed away early on, and he has raised his daughter Misaki, a first year elementary student, by himself. He was a blue collar worker, and so they moved all around the country frequently. Right now they were making their rounds and were distributing cakes in the neighborhood – that was their scenario.

"Misa-chan, you got it? We're going to do it just as we planned."

Misaki nodded tiresomely to reaffirm it. "Alright, alright. I got it."

After a few moments, a boy wearing a school uniform came out from inside the house. He was tall, eloquent, and had the features that would make him popular with the girls. He was this family's one and only son, Shota Yamazaki.

"Who are you?" Shota asked.

"We just moved to the neighborhood. I am Tanaka. I wished to give a proper greeting but……Are you the son? Are your parents in?"

"Ahh, um, my parents are traveling and won't be back until tomorrow. My apologies."

"Is that so. How unfortunate." Jiro stroked his groomed beard with a disappointed expression. They have taken care of inquiring about the parents whereabouts. "Alright then, this is not anything special. Tell your parents I said h.e.l.lo."

He handed over the box of cakes. It was a box of fifty torimon.

Shota came out from the house and approached Jiro to try and take it. It was that moment.

"Whoaa, this house is s...o...b..ig!"

Misaki yelled. She opened the gate doors, sliped beside Shota and trespa.s.sed into the house.

"Ah, stop! Wait." Jiro called out to her, but Misaki did not stop. "Excuse me, Yamazaki-san. I'll only be in for a moment!"

"Eh, wait a sec-" He shook off Shota's attempt at restraining him, and Jiro entered inside as well.

The layout of the Yamazaki household was well instilled in them. Misaki ran around the house as though it was her own, and headed straight for the bathroom. Jiro followed behind her as well. From behind them, Shota pursued after them in haste.

"Ahh, it's a kitty!" Misaki opened the door and shouted out excitingly. "Papa, there's a kitty!"

In the bathroom was one black cat. It was not big but neither was it small. It was probably a stray cat. The cat was a little bit dirty. Nearby were knives, hammers, and other dangerous tools set aside.

Shota turned pale. It was the expression that something that was not mean to be seen was seen.

"Hey, mister. What were you planning to do with this cat?"

Shota panicked at Misaki's question. "W-well, um."

"Young man. Could it be you were going to kill this cat?"

Shota was at a loss for words.

"Shota Yamazaki-kun." Jiro's manner of speaking suddenly changed. "It seems you're a fairly popular guy at school. You excel at all sports, are great in studies, and have plenty of friends. Your father and mother are elites, and you live in such a stunning home. Though no one would guess you do something like this behind closed doors."

"Wh-what are you guys?" Shota's voice shook.

"Do you know the avengers? Well, you probably don't know. For a normal high schooler such as yourself that is part of a world unrelated to you."

"You can't say a high schooler who kills animals is normal, right?" Misaki commented.

Her speech changed from how she was just previous to a pretty adult like way of speaking.

Shota frowned. "Avengers?"

"Just like the characters say, an avenger takes on the role of avenging others. For instance, let's say there was a person who killed someone's lover. And that person pays us and requests vengeance. We search for the culprit and kill that culprit in the exact same manner. There's something called the Code of Hammurabi, isn't that right? You dear must have learned that in world history since you're a high school student, correct? An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. That idea. It's the same as that."

"I saw your website. You abuse animals and upload pictures and videos on there right." Misaki scolded him with a smile. "You're the worst."

"The eighth cat you killed was not a stray cat. It was a pedigreed cat raised lovingly by Miura-san in a wealthy home, but it managed to run away from an opening in the window. You captured him and then killed him. In such a grotesque way. Miura-san is beyond upset. They said they wanted to give the culprit the same treatment. So they requested us to avenge him."

Finally grasping the situation, the complexion in Shota's face changed.

"An eye for an eye," Misaki said, opening both her eyes wide. Then she showed her white teeth and smiled. "A tooth for a tooth."

"Say, Jiro-chan." Just as Shota lost consciousness, Misaki asked. "How was it? My acting?"

Jiro sent back a smile. "It was perfect, Misa-chan. That's an academy award for best actress."

"Wasn't it unnatural? Do elementary school kids really talk this stupidly?"

"Plays resonate more with the audience having it a bit unnatural."

"Hmmm." While saying that, she took out rope from her knapsack.

Binding Shota's limbs, Jiro carried him out on his shoulders. After carefully checking to make sure they would not be seen, they shove him into the back seat of the minivan.

Now then, this is the end of the job, he thinks.

Misaki held the cat and cutely tilted her head. "Hey, Jiro-chan. What are we going to do with the cat?"

It was the black cat that was going to be Shota's victim but fortunately managed to escape from certain death. He was probably picked up somewhere or taken from a shelter. "We can let him go around there." Jiro suggested.

However, Misaki said, troubled. "I want to keep him."

"Ha?"

"Can't we keep him at our place? I'll take good care of him."

She tightly hugged the cat in both arms. She looks like a child here. He thought.

Jiro shook his head with a tired expression. "Of course we can't. Our apartment doesn't allow pets."

"Then we can keep him at your bar!"

"Absolutely not."

Misaki's mouth turned into a frown, and she whispered a murmur. "……You took me in though."

Saying that was just foul play.

"Ahh, alright! I got it!" He exclaimed with a large sigh. This was his loss. "However, the price for food will be taken from your pay!"

Misaki's expression immediately brightened. "Okay! I love you Jiro-chan!"

As though it understood the conversation just now, the black cat cutely mewed. A happy purr came from its throat. Gosh, all the okama motherly instincts are itching, Jiro slumped his shoulders.

"In exchange, you better work hard." He told Misaki while getting into the car. "We're busy today."

"Of course." Misaki was in a good mood. "Who's next?"

"It's this man." He took out the data and handed it to Misaki in the pa.s.senger's seat. "Jun Murase, a university student."

"What did this person do?"

"An a.s.sault murder. He beat up a foreigner to death half playing with his friends."

"Whoa, that's the worst." Misaki grimaced. "It'd be great if all those terrible people just die."

More than that what should I name him? Misaki smiles happily and kissed the black cat's nose.

The informant Banba was a regular customer to for many years was called by the name Enokida. Since his head resembled an enoki mushroom, he was Enokida. His real name was unknown.

Enokida did not have a designated residence and was always in an internet cafe somewhere in f.u.kuoka city. Today he was in Nakasu. He was in a booth with reclining chairs in a relatively new shop on the fifth floor of the Gate's building. He struggled to find him. When Banba came in, Enokida was in the middle of hacking the f.u.kuoka prefecture police's data base.

"Welcome, Banba-san."

Enokida's outfit was flashy as always. His hair was dyed exceedingly white, closer to blond, and his bangs were long that covered half of his face. With his impressively enough mushroom-like hair his head was shaped so it was unclear ain which was the front or back. It was not just his head, but his clothes were flashy too. Today he was wearing a fluorescent yellow parka over a long sleeved T-s.h.i.+rt with English scrawled on it. Below he was wearing red skinning jeans. His shoes were checkered patterned rubber soles, they were left together at the entrance of the booth. In exchange, he was wearing black slippers the store lent out.

"Though I called you, you didn't pick up."

"Sorry, my bad. I turned it off. So, what's it for today?"

After confirming there was no one else in the area, Banba brought up the topic.

"I have somethin' I'd like you to look into." He told him and handed over the photo.

"It's the mayor." Seeing the photo, Enokida grinned. "Banba-san, you're neck deep into some trouble again."

"A man who done got his neck in pretty deep the same way seems to have died by hangin'."

"Whoa, seriously? That's crazy." Enokida's tone as he said that was cheerful.

"What I want you to look into is this woman." He pointed to the woman shown next to the mayor. "I think she probably is a killer. The mayor's."

"Huh, a killer hired by the mayor. Then the chance of her being from the free lance line is pretty thin. There would be too much risks. There's the possibility for her to get secrets and solicit money for it after all. So then she'd be someone with tight lips. Perhaps she's a contracted specialist brought in from somewhere. Anyway, I'll take a look." And so he began to type on the keyboard. His ten fingers moved swiftly, as though his they were playing a difficult piano piece.

"Seem like you can get down and do it?"

"Do you think there's something I can't do?" Enokida snorted. "It's easy for me to turn the traffic lights in f.u.kuoka City to all red."

This was not just some boasting; it was the truth. He had kept the traffic lights on National Route 3 for more than ten minutes before. On the simple whims of one man, he caused a congestion that spanned over five kilometers.

After a few minutes, information on the woman was displayed on his computer screen.

"Ahh, I got it. That woman. It seems she belonged to Murder Inc. until five years ago."

"You got it already?" Banba was also surprised on how fast he was. He was always stunned by this man's abilities. "That there's amazin'."

"There was that remote virus before, right? Using the same kind of virus I just set it up to disclose the information from them. It's simple hacking."

"Yeah, I don't get none of it."

It was not that Enokida's explanation was poor. Banba knew very little about technology. To Banba who could hardly remember how to operate the folded device he bought a few years ago, even now in these times with the migration of moving from cellphones to smartphones, he considered Enokida's words to be a foreign language.

"In other words, it's like I injected a truth serum into their computer. They talk to me from the other side. The company Murder Inc. is strict when it's in regards to infiltration on the inside, but they're rather lenient in regards for things that left the outside of the company. Dealing with the unnecessary information is done half-heartedly so information on the company employees who quit or died is easy to obtain. Look, just because this super wary person set up a SECOM at his home and had a Doberman dog in the garden the waste that is the fully loaded personal information of the household would be left right in front of the house. It's like that?"

"I gotcha."

"The woman's name in the photo is Reiko Asakura. It's probably fake though." Enokida read the characters on screen aloud. "Her specialty is poison. Her hobby is nail art. Six years ago she entered the company by a scout. It seems she was originally a girl in a cabaret club in Nakasu and was a freelance killer. She would approach the big shots, have them drink poison with their sake together and kill them bit by bit. She makes it look like they died from illness. What a scary woman."

"So does this mean she went up and left the company five years ago and been workin' under the mayor since?"

"She was probably pulled out from there. If she was made a secretary, then a woman killer is conveniently used."

Perhaps there could be other killers taken out from Murder Inc as well. "By the way, among the fellas who quit Murder Inc, was there none who seemed specialized for strangulation?"

"Strangulation? ……Ahh, yes there is. There's one." Enokida read aloud his profile. "Ivanov Hisas.h.i.+. He's half Russian and half j.a.panese. His height is two meters and three centimeters, and his weight is one hundred and fifty kilograms. His specialty is hanging and strangulation. His special skill is lip reading. His hobby is building up his body, it says."

There was a high possibility he was the culprit who killed s.h.i.+gematsu's senior detective.

"Thank you, Enokida-kun. I got to know lots because of you."

When he handed over the payment and turned away, he was stopped by Enokida. "Where are you going?"

The ident.i.ty of the woman in the photo was identified. The next was the skin headed man talking to the mayor. "I'm fixin' to pitch some grub to the pigeons."

"Ahh, Banba-san, wait a second." Enokida handed over something to him. "Yes, I'm giving you this."

"What is this here?"

It was a black ma.s.s no bigger than a centimeter. There were eight legs, and it took the shape of a small spider. However, it did not move at all.

"It's a redback spider model listening device."

"Redback spider?"

"You see, it's a poisonous spider seen here and there all over f.u.kuoka long ago. It's a guy with a red pattern on its back."

"Ahh, there was critters like that."

"It doesn't look like a listening device, right? It's programmed with a GPS. Just like how a spider weaves a web, it'll gather information from various places. It's my best work."

"You went up and made somethin' weird again."

"I think it'll help you."

He decided to accept it. "……Even so, why's that there redback spiders got red backs?"

"Hm?"

He suddenly thought. "If they was normal black spiders then they'd be hard to tell apart. Like this, ain't they basically sayin' I'm a poisonous spider; I'm dangerous?"

Because of their red backs, they ended up being seen by humans and exterminated.

"……That's true." Enokida hummed along to what Banba had said. "Why are they like that?"

"There's critters that take a soil color to protect themselves from enemies in nature."

"Then perhaps don't you think they don't have enemies? The redback spiders."

"I reckon 'bout that." Banba, after thinking deeply about it for a few moments, said in a murmur. "……I reckon it's probably a more simple reason though."

Translation Notes: Line Drive – A batted ball with less trajectory and is pretty level in its course. Jiro is an okama. He talks extremely femininely. I debated using the feminine p.r.o.nouns for him, but after receiving some advice and looking how other similar okama were handled, I stuck with the masculine p.r.o.noun. The novel does use he/him p.r.o.nouns in the narration as well. Okama is like its own separate gender; it's not synonymous to transgender.