Hakata Tonkotsu Ramens

Top of Fifth Inning

Banba parked at the coin operated parking lot near Haruyoshi Bridge. He got out of his car and walked down the street aligned with food stalls. Lin followed after him. The characters Genchan for one of the shops could be seen ahead. When they approached they heard a voice yelling.

"You idiots!" It was Genzo"s voice. He sounded incredibly menacing.

"No, like I said, it wasn"t me!" They heard another man speak. "A-Abe senpai confused -"

"Dontcha come knockin" here again!"

They saw a young man fly out of the shop and run away.

It certainly doesn"t seem peaceful. Just what happened? Banba and Lin looked at each other and tilted their heads.

When they pulled up the curtains hesitantly Genzo was there smiling as usual. "Oh, it"s you guys."

Banba took a seat. Lin saw an open seat and sat down. After they ordered two bowls of ramen, Genzo swiftly went to soak the noodles in hot water.

"……Sorry, old man. I failed." Lin spoke. "Shindou got killed."

By this guy, he said and pointed to the man next to him with his thumb. Even though he was called the strongest in this city he was still bitter over the fact he could not carry out a request he had taken.

"Dontcha fret over it." He was worried he would have been as angry as he was just previously, but Genzo was lenient with him. "Your slip up is cute."

"What happened? Looked like you was in a disagreement earlier."

When Banba asked him Genzo gave a big sigh. "Two killers I handed out jobs to messed up."

"Messed up?"

"They gone and killed an unrelated man by mistake."

"Oh my."

I see, so that was why he was yelling earlier. So that young guy who ran off earlier must have been him.

"Here you go. Sorry for the wait." Genzo placed the ramen in front of them.

"Looks delicious." Banba put his hands together while holding the splittable chopsticks. "Thank you for the meal."

Lin did the same. "Thank you for the meal."

" – Ah, that"s right. Banba."

That incident in that VIP room. I should tell him about it.

"It seems you"re wanted. By the Kakyuu Group."

With noodles stuffed into his mouth Banba inclined his head. "Mm?"

"The boss of the Kakyuu Group came to that club. And he brought his subordinates and bodyguards." He told him the details of the conversation thoroughly. "They said they are getting skilled killers to kill the Niwaka Samurai."

Even though he informed him of that Banba just murmured disinterestedly. "M-hm." He did not think he would panic over it, but he thought he should be a little concerned.

"Shouldn"t you avoid doing anything to make you stand out for awhile?"

"What"s this. You worried over me?"

"As if." He snorted. "If you are being targeted, then my life"s in danger too."

"It"s alright. You don"t need to fret now." Banba smiled. This was completely different from Shindou. Even though his life was being targeted he was fairly composed.

"……Skilled killers, huh." Genzo frowned. "Is there anyone?"

"They mentioned they"d find some from elsewhere. I guess they"re going to contact some guy called G.G too."

"G.G?" Banba and Genzo questioned back simultaneously. Both had a slightly shocked expression.

"Is that true?" Banba finally indicated he had interest in what Lin was saying.

"Yeah." Without a doubt Li had said that.

"Didn"t that G.G retire some ten odd years ago?" Banba looked up at Genzo.

"Yeah, he did." Genzo nodded.

For these two to know of him, was he that famous of a killer?

"Say." Lin asked them. "Is this G.G guy strong?"

"Well naturally. They say he"s the strongest killer in generations. Even the Niwaka Samurai ain"t got a chance against him."

"That ain"t true." Banba strongly talked back. He may not have wanted to acknowledge there was a stronger killer out there.

Genzo stated in a teasing manner. "There might be a time for you to pay the piper soon as well, Banba."

"Dontcha tell me that." Banba snorted. He had a undaunted expression on his face. "I ain"t gonna be upstaged by some geezer."

"Veterans are rather fearsome to face. No matter what field they are in."

Lin agreed with Genzo"s statement. The difference in experience sometimes exceeded their difference in ability. It was better to not underestimate them no matter what feats they had done as a killer.

"Putting that aside," Banba changed the topic. "I"m gonna be off of work for a bit."

"Haa?" Genzo"s eyes widened. "I haven"t heard lick of this."

"Well, that begins today after all."

"……I forgot." Genzo came to a realization and gave his understanding. "So it"s the season for that already now?"

Lin was dumbfounded. He was the only one out of the loop. "And what is "that" exactly?"

"It"s the Yamakasa. Yamakasa."

"And Yamakasa is?"

"You don"t know of Yamakasa?" Banba was taken by great surprise. It was the exact same reaction as when Lin had asked him, "what"s a bunt?"

"It"s the Hakata Gion Yamakasa." Genzo answered him. "It"s a famous festival in Hakata. Men carry a festival float called Kakiyama and run "round Hakata City."

According to Genzo the Hakata Gion Yamakasa was apparently a traditional festival that has been held in f.u.kuoka for more than 770 years. For Yamakasa there were seven teams divided up by district called nagare. There were: Ebisu-nagare, Doi-nagare, Daikoku-nagare, Higashi-nagare, Nakasu-nagare, Nishi-nagare, and Chiyo-nagare. These seven nagare teams each carried a float weighing one ton at the festival"s climax, Oiyama, and ran the approximate five kilometer course while shouting "oissa." The starting location was at Kushida Shrine, and the goal was at Susaki City. The festival partic.i.p.ants all wear headbands, mizu-happi, shimekomi, and jika-tabi. It sure seems like a squalid festival. Lin thought.

"You ain"t never seen it? They suspend normal TV programs for it every year. Around four in the mornin"."

"As if I"d watch it." He would be sleeping or working at that time. He did not have the hobby to turn on the TV and watch the broadcasting of some festival.

"And what"s so fun about it?"

"You won"t get none of it." Banba squinted.

The time for Yamakasa was from today, July 1st until the 15th; Oiyama would take place at dawn of the last day of the festival.

"There are schools and companies that will take off for this time too. They call it the Yamakasa break."

"What the heck is up with that?" Even though there were people in this country of j.a.pan who work until they collapsed from over exhaustion. And yet there were people that would ditch work just for some festival. This city is messed up. He thought.

"Banba is gonna be in Yamakasa as well, so every year around this time he always takes a break from work."

"I want to just focus on Yamakasa around this time. It"s like a spiritual cleansing of sorts."

Genzo frowned. "Still this leaves me in a pinch. I got a lot of work I wanted to give you. What should I oughta do……"

"Give them to Lin."

"Haa? Don"t go and propose something so stupid."

He cursed under his breath. Why should I have to work in your place while you"re enjoying yourself at a festival?

Banba grinned at that. "That"s right. I reckon" it"s something you can"t do."

"……What did you say?"

"It"s too much responsibility to bear, right? What my work entails."

A deep scowl formed on Lin"s forehead at the provocative gaze.

"If you"re saying that, then I guess I"ll do it." After he raised his voice the corners of his mouth turned up into a grin. " – Is that what you thought I"d say? I"m not going to be fooled by that."

Just as he thought he won him over with his cajolery, he was quickly proven wrong.

"He sure became an adult." Genzo stated with an expression as though looking at his grandchild.

"……You ain"t cute at all." Banba pouted, a little bit vexed.

Bottom of Fifth Inning

He was provided an extraordinary weapon that was a Ninja blade and then received training to throw shuriken. Saruwatari could not help but feel his life as a killer was gradually heading down a strange path. Just as he felt concern over what he would be forced to do next, Nitta ordered him to "hunt killers." To simply kill killers; not by someone"s request. It would be without pay. He was given a list of killers active in Kitakyushu city and was told to "kill two or three people off of there."

So he decided to kill all of them.

The list had the names of the ten freelance killer groups and the addresses to their hideouts on it. Saruwatari aimed to take them out one at a time from the list in ten days. None of the killers were his enemy.

The last on the list was a team of five killers. He laughed that the a.s.sa.s.sination industry teamed up with this faction of small fry. Saruwatari entered the ash-grey, seven-floored apartment building. It was at a corner in Mihagino, Kokura Ward in Kitakyushu. He could see a cycle racing track nearby. Infiltrating a cheap apartment without an auto-lock feature at the entrance was incredibly simple, and so Saruwatari made it to his designated floor without difficulty.

Their hideout was room 506 of this apartment building. He went out of the elevator once he arrived to the fifth floor. Nitta instructed him to wrap the kerchief around his head like a ninja, but he thought it did not look cool, so he wrapped it around his face below his nose. He hid his face further by wearing a hooded jacket. He had a lot of pockets on the outside and the inside of this jacket with shuriken and kunai in the most he could. If ninjas were around they would be like this I guess, Saruwatari laughed at his ridiculous appearance.

He had learned at the company"s training course how to pick locks. He easily opened the door to room 506. He entered inside smoothly and quietly closed the door. The layout of the room was as according to the rent information magazine described. It was a one room with a kitchen, dining room, and the bathroom in a separate room from the toilet.

He heard the sound of the shower running. Someone seemed to be in there. Saruwatari headed to the bathroom first. He saw the silhouette of a man through the shower gla.s.s screen. Without making a sound he opened the shower door. The man was in the midst of washing his hair and had not taken notice of Saruwatari"s presence. He had his head lowered, rinsing off the foam of the shampoo. Saruwatari moved behind him and slashed the ninja sword across the nape of the man"s neck. He moved back nimbly so the spurt of blood did not splash onto him and closed the door. The man"s cries were drowned out by the sound of the running water. The man died without knowing what had happened to him and who had killed him.

He had finished off one of them.

It was when he went to move onto the next ones; he got a call. It was from Nitta. He hit the b.u.t.ton to accept the call and pressed the phone to his ear. "What"s it to you?"

[How is it? Are you making progress with the killer hunting?]

I"m in the middle of it. "Wait a lil" bit more. After these four I"ll have finished all of them."

[All of them? You don"t mean – ]

All the other members were in the living room. When he opened the door into the hallway he would have to face all of them. Going through the trouble of luring each one out and killing them one by one was not his style. Saruwatari kicked the door open vigorously.

The men laying around watching television turned around simultaneously. There were three men. There were two sitting on the sofa and one sleeping on the floor. The last one was taking a call on the balcony while having a smoke.

"Wha-"

The men were dumbfounded with Saruwatari"s sudden appearance.

One of the men regained their composure and yelled. "Who the h.e.l.l are you?!"

It was already too late when he hastily went to grab his gun from his pocket. Saruwatari sliced off the man"s right hand. The hand that held the gun dropped to the floor. Seeing the blood spurting out from where it was severed the man turned pale and screamed. You"re loud, he thought. Since the cheap room has thin walls he wanted to handle this quietly. What would happen if the neighbors hear?

"Gwaaa,aa, gah -"

After he added the finishing blow by thrusting the blade into the man"s chest with his right hand the man"s screams fell silent.

Saruwatari still had his cell phone in his left hand, and he pressed to his ear.

[It can"t be, Sarucchi.] He heard Nitta"s shocked voice. [You killed all the killers on the list?]

Now there is two taken out. "Three left."

"Uwaaa! Don"t come neaaaar!"

The men in the living room lose their footing. They tried to run away, crawling on the floor desperately. He pierced their hearts through their backs as he watches their pathetic attempts.

[If you do that, there won"t be anymore killers in Kokura.]

"Won"t that be fine? It"d be peaceful." Saruwatari jokingly commented back.

Now then there is just one left.

He moved his gaze over to the balcony. The door was open, and the man was absent. Did he get away? He clicked his tongue. At the same time he heard a sound at the entrance. He saw the man make a run for it, leaving his comrades behind.

"Ah, you there! Wait!"

Saruwatari pursued after the man and rushed out of the room.

"He-ee."

The man dashed towards the elevator. Saruwatari threw a shuriken at the man"s back. He continuously threw one, two, and then three shurikens in quick motion. However all of them hit the walls of the apartment and did not even graze his target. The man got onto the elevator in that interval of time and makes his escape.

"……Ah, dammit. He got away." He muttered quietly.

[What"s wrong?] Nitta spoke up. He was still on the phone.

"I didn"t kill one of them."

[That"s not a big deal. Let him go. It"d be better that way.]

"Better off?"

[It"s easier for rumors to start with an eyewitness.] Nitta exclaimed cheerfully. [But still, you finished that in a blink of an eye. As expected of the former ace of Murder Inc. at their Tokyo headquarters. You"re doing terrific even in Kitakyushu.]

"Not really." Saruwatari answered plainly. "All of them was weak."

[Naturally small fry of just five people don"t stand a chance against a genius like you.]

"……So, how long should I keep going? Doing this (killer hunting)."

In truth he had enough. Even though his opponents were all killers they were guys with no spine. Nothing had changed since his time in the company like this. He simply tormented the weak.

[It is vital to create a reputation steadily like this. ……Well, I bet some organization should be starting to keep an eye out for you now.] Nitta made a profound statement.

"Didn"t you guys mess up? I heard from Genzo-san." A plump, middle-aged woman working at the lottery stand laughs. From his perspective she was a well off mediator. In between selling sc.r.a.ps of paper filled with dreams she handed out jobs to killers as well.

However, she did not hand over any to Abe.

"We won"t hire some blockheads who mistake the target. Go somewhere else."

The mediator Genzo was someone with fairly well influence in this industry it seems. Yamamoto"s mistake spread to all the mediators in f.u.kuoka in the blink of an eye, and the two were kicked out. They went around searching for work in f.u.kuoka city, but they could not find any mediators who would give them work.

Being turned away by the last one, Abe slumped his shoulders and headed back to the car. The white van he had parked at a parking garage near Ca.n.a.l City has dents on its front and its sides. They were the traces of the accident Yamamoto caused. And he was dozing off in the pa.s.senger"s seat lazily. It had been some time since he first started living in his car, but he felt depressed coming back to it as of late. He felt as though he was walking around with the knife he stabbed a person with and was at unease. He had wanted to do repairs soon or buy a new car from a auto theft dealer, but now he did not have the money for it. He did not have a job now. More so, he felt the desire to set the car and his partner on fire to dispose of them both.

After Abe opened the door and sate down in the driver"s seat, Yamamoto woke up. "……Ah, how"d it go? Did you get any work?" He asked him drowsily.

"It was no use." He glared at Yamamoto from the side as he answered him. He"s an unsensible man. Even though someone is moving around with their head hanging low he just sleeps while drooling.

"Is that so?" Yamamoto whispered and placed the cigarette stuffed with weed into his mouth as always. Even though he scolded him to quit it with the drugs he did not adhere to it.

I"m at the end of my patience, he thought.

"……Yamamoto." Finally the time came for him to say what he wanted to someday. "I won"t do any more work with you."

Yamamoto raised his voice stupidly. "Heh?"

"This is the end of our partnership."

"N-no waay." Yamamoto"s complexion changed. He exclaimed in a pathetic voice. "Don"t throw me out."

"I haven"t received anything good being with you."

It was an enc.u.mbrance to say it openly. If it was going to be like this he would have been fine always doing things alone and not have looked for a partner. He felt nothing but regret. He had always been a man with a lot of patience, but he thought even for him he had enough.

"But without you I can"t do anything." Yamamoto was half in tears.

And why is that my problem? He laughed back.

Yamamoto falls silent. After a few moments, he spoke.

"…..If you"re gonna end our partnership, I"ll go to the police."

"Ha?"

"I"ll tell the police you"re a murderer." His eyes were gla.s.sy. Who knew he would threaten him. This was beyond his expectations.

"If you do that you know you won"t get off either, right?"

"I know."

No matter how intelligent Yamamoto is, he would not do something so foolish, right? But it is this idiot. He could do something unbelievable by chance. There is the one in a million chance.

Somehow he had gotten into a troublesome situation. Abe made a big sigh and dropped the topic. So do I have to continue this relationship with Yamamoto and have him tail me around again?

He was irritated. That could be because of his empty stomach. His stomach rumbled in the stillness of the car. He had not had a proper meal lately. He considered going out to buy something to eat.

"s.h.i.t." He looked into his wallet and cursed. He had no money. "With this I can"t even buy anything to eat."

At that Yamamoto spoke up.

"I"ll go buy something."

Abe tilted his head at Yamamoto"s statement. This man should be penniless too. Does he have a hidden stash somewhere?

"Please wait here for a bit." Yamamoto told him and went off to purchase food.