Top of the Extra Tenth Inning
There were scenes like this in historical plays, Munakata thought. The scene of committing seppuku a.s.sisted by a follow up of a beheading.
Lin was slumped down on the floor on his knees with his arms tied behind him, and the Niwaka Samurai was taking up his sword. He grasped the hilt with both hands and lifted it high into the air. That was what Munakata recalled: the Niwaka Samurai killing that crazed killer long ago. He was able to easily imagine the scene of Lin"s head being cut off and tumbling onto the floor.
However it was just after the Niwaka Samurai took up his sword. The Niwaka Samurai"s lips moved. He seemed to have whispered something. He could not hear it, but he certainly said something. He could not help but feel an ominous presentiment. What is this? Something"s not right. Munakata had a bad feeling about this. The Niwaka Samurai"s grasp on his blade changed. The tip points over in their direction. It was the stance of a slugger gripping a bat more than a kaishakunin.
The Niwaka Samurai lifted up each of his legs and took steps forward. The same time his feet touch the floor he swung his body with great velocity. The sword cut the air. A head tumbled onto the floor. Blood spurted forth from the severed area.
" – Eh?"
What just happened? What"s the meaning of this?
Munakata could not believe his eyes.
The one whose head was cut off was Zhang"s.
Zhang"s underlings, Shinohara, and even Lin at the scene were all shocked into silence. No one could comprehend the reality of the Niwaka Samurai cutting off his own employer"s head.
"What the h.e.l.l have you done, you b.a.s.t.a.r.d!" The underlings yelled. "You betrayed us?!"
"Betray?" The Niwaka Samurai answered them while shaking off the blood stuck onto his sword. "I have no recollection of becoming friends in the first place."
It was difficult to follow the Niwaka Samurai"s movements. Before the underlings could fire their guns, the Niwaka Samurai closed the distance and pierced their hearts. The first was from the front, and the other two were from the back. The men fell at the same time.
The Niwaka Samurai looked over. Munakata and Shinohara stood there dumbfounded. Shinohara snapped back to himself in an instant and reached for his breast pocket.
"Stop!" Munakata yelled. This isn"t an opponent you should go up against. His warning was too late. He faced the Niwaka Samurai ten odd meters ahead of him and threw a handmade hand grenade. Munakata instantly distanced himself as to not get caught in the explosion and hid behind a pillar.
The Niwaka Samurai sheathed his sword for a moment and pulled out his scabbard from his belt. He grasped it with both hands and took his stance. And with a form like that of a baseball player he hit the flying hand grenade back. It was a terrific return to the pitcher. The hand grenade hit Shinohara"s body and exploded. The magnitude of the explosion was not that big, but it was enough to blow away one person. The chunks of Shinohara scattered around the area; Munakata clicked his tongue.
The Niwaka Samurai looked at Munakata this time. The memory from that time arose again. The day they met in the scope of the rifle. His right eye throbbed. What should I do? He questioned himself. He plans to kill me. He"s serious about it.
Run, his mind was screaming at him. That this was not an enemy he should go up against. However, his legs could not move. It was the same as back then. Do I run again? If I run here, I"ll be tormented by the phantom of this man for the rest of my life. I can"t allow that.
Fight.
Munakata nimbly pulled out his gun and pulled the trigger. There were three gun shots. But all of them were dodged. The Niwaka Samurai closed the distance and made his attack. His sword swung down onto Munakata. He stopped the blade with the gun at once. He pulled out another gun with his left hand from his side holder. The Niwaka Samurai also took something out the same way. It was a short sword. His opponent"s movements were a bit faster than his. The short sword sliced through Munakata"s throat. Blood spurt out, dying Munakata"s vision in red.
His body crumbled slowly to the right.
His cell phone went off in his breast pocket. It was probably a call from Reiko. Suddenly, he recalled Reiko"s words.
"We won"t have decent deaths."
Shinohara"s arm dropped down ahead in his vision. No kidding. He cracked a smile.
Bottom of the Extra Tenth Inning
The actors who were leading parts until now were suddenly pulled off stage in the middle of a performance and were put into the audience seats. The play he was not included in was unfolding before his very eyes. The scenario and cast were completely different than just previously. Just what is this farce? What was I in the end? I wasn"t a lead role? It was the miserable actor watching the scene of a play dumbfounded. That was how Lin felt right now. An inconceivable clown.
He had no idea of what just happened. The man who was going to cut off his head for some reason cut off Zhang"s. That was not the only matter either. He killed the other killers and the members of the organization as well. In the blink of an eye, everyone but Lin was cut down by the samurai"s sword. The entire floor was a big disaster.
After having killed the eye-patch man, the Niwaka Samurai turned his blade at Lin. What, so I"m also going to be killed now? Lin prepared himself for it. However, it seemed that was not the case. He just cut the rope binding Lin with that sword. Both his hands were free. When Lin got up, the Niwaka Samurai sheathed his sword. It did not appear he wanted to fight with Lin. So this man isn"t an enemy? Why is he on my side? He did not understand what he was thinking.
Together with that mask, he was a creepy guy.
"……Who are you?" Lin asked him with a low voice baring weariness. "Why did you save me?"
And then the Niwaka Samurai tilted his head in confusion.
"What"s that now?" It was a facetious voice. "You haven"t done realized it?"
It was a familiar Hakata dialect.
It can"t be, he thought. No, there"s no way. He died. Didn"t his severed head fall right in front of me?
"It"s me here. Me."
The Niwaka Samurai took off his mask.
His real ident.i.ty was indeed Banba.
"Ba-Banba!" Lin"s eyes widenedand he raised his voice. "You were alive?! Then, this head is-"
"I gone and bought the head at the cleaners and asked a plastic surgeon make it look exactly like me. Then I asked a former beauty artist I know to make the hair the same as mine. Fooled you, didn"t I?"
He was. "Then, it can"t be. This was the plan from the beginning? Tricking me."
"I said I"m sorry. Dontcha be so angry about it." Banba apologized with a wary smile, but Lin is still frowning.
However, it was fine. He was relieved. Now just what he was relieved about he himself was not sure. Was it because his life was saved, because Banba was not dead, or because Zhang was killed without a hitch? Or perhaps it was all of it.
"Ohh. You went all out again, huh, Banba." The door opened and a man appeared. It was the detective Shigematsu. He brought in three subordinate-like men. "It seems you"ll need some cleaning up done."
"I"m gonna finish cleanin" up the rest of the guys now."
"Sorry, Banba. I"m always having you do the dirty work all the time."
"Dontcha fret over that."
"Leave this to us. We"ll do it thoroughly."
Nodding at Shigematsu"s words, Banba turned over to him. "Lin, can you stand? We"re goin"."
"Where to?"
"To punish that perveted kid." After saying that, Banba made a call. "h.e.l.lo, Jiro? We finished up "round here. We"re gonna head over to the apartment now."
As they were leaving the building, a familiar mini cooper was parked. It was Banba"s car. Banba set the j.a.panese sword in the back seat and then opened the door to the driver"s seat. Since the handle was on the left side, as Lin was getting into the pa.s.senger"s seat on the right side he asked. "Just who are you?"
"Hm?" Banba tilted his head, playing dumb.
"Was it a lie that you"re a private detective?"
"I am one." Banba answered as he started the car"s engine. "I"m a detective and a killer."
"A killer of killers?"
"That"s a bit off. I got the request occasionally to kill a killer. Then catching on from that I just got called that."
"On that note, just what is a Niwaka Samurai? Are you just messing around? Having a weird mask and a j.a.panese sword. Why do you have a get-up that stands out so much? Even though you"re a killer."
"Well about that there," stepping on the acceleration, Banba flashed his teeth in a grin. "It"s the same as those there red-back spiders."
He did not understand the meaning of it at all.
While he was sheltered in Jiro"s bar, Saitou leaned back into the store"s benches and took a nap. Jiro went out somewhere. Since he was bothered that he was not doing anything even though he was being taken care of Saitou decided to help with store preparations. As he was doing simple work such as sweeping the floor and wiping the sake bottles with a cloth Jiro came back.
"We found the group who set you up. Come with me." Jiro had said. And then Saitou rode in his car once again. Last time he was in the trunk, but this time he was in the pa.s.senger"s seat. He was glad about that.
After driving for awhile, f.u.kuoka Tower came into view. This area was stunning even at night. Jiro"s destination was a tall apartment building around that area. Saitou felt a bit timid at such a high quality entrance.
"The person who set me up is in this apartment building?"
"That"s right. In the room on the highest floor."
They head to the highest floor by taking a large elevator. He started to get nervous. Just what is going to happen now? He was anxious.
As they were doing that, the doors of the elevator opened. In front of the door to the room stands two people. One was wearing a lovely flower patterned one-piece dress, but it was soiled in blood. A bruise stood out on her pale face. The other was wearing a suit and a mask. He had a j.a.panese sword in his hand. They appeared to be a rather boisterous and mismatched pair. It seemed the man in the suit was an acquaintance of Jiro. When he noticed Jiro, he friendly waved at them.
"Sorry. Were you waiting?"
"No, we just got here." The masked man answered. He talked in a gentle, kind manner. "And that fella there is the one who got wrapped up in all this here mess?"
The man somehow knew about Saitou. Jiro explained to him firsthand.
"That"s right. He got blamed for another person"s crime." He moved his gaze to the one next to the masked man. "Then this boy here is the child whose sister was killed, right?"
A boy? She"s not a woman? He was surprised. He was crossdressing then? Having that said, he felt his Adam"s apple bob a little bit.
The masked man glanced over at the door to the room and said. "The targets are both in the room. Those folks won"t go out from there."
"What should we do then? How do we get in?"
"Havin" it opened from inside will do." The masked man took out a cell phone from his pant"s pocket.
"Where do you plan to make a call to?"
"No, we"re gonna wait for them to call. I took this here cellphone from the eye-patch fella"s pocket."
The crossdressing man was surprised by the man"s words. "When did you-"
As he was saying this, a call came in to the cell phone.
Translation Notes:Kaishakunin (介錯人) is the second put in charge whose role is to behead the person committing seppuku. This is so they are put out of the worst agony before death.