Nogitsune (5 page)

This was the first time in his life he ever cried.

With his eyes full of tears, Kento took off Daiki’s ring, knowing he would have wanted him to have it. It was the Inato’s supreme Gashira Hosa’s most prized possession; the blood stained diamond pinky ring of Itsama Hatashi, a Yokohama drug kingpin whom Daiki killed when he was nothing more than a common thug. When Daiki was about to kill someone, he would put the ring up to his nostrils and inhale Itsama’s dried blood off the diamonds as a reminder to himself that he could kill kings.

Kento put on the ring and put it to his nostrils, inhaling the dried blood of the fallen kingpin.

Inebriated from blood lust, Kento grabbed the AR-15 from the back of the club and walked right out of
Night Nurses
and headed towards Yokohama.

Someone had to pay and at this rate, Kento Karahawa didn’t care who paid the price. And he knew just the person that he could make a statement with.

Weeks earlier, Daiki had gotten into a verbal altercation with Hideyoshi Ioka, one of the Fukushima’s triggermen, over Ioka’s wife Iyaka. Somehow, pictures surfaced of Daiki urinating on Iyaka as she was naked on his bed. When he found out about it, Ioka told Daiki he’d kill him. Daiki responded as he did with every threat:  he chucked for a brief second, then took a bullet out his pocket and tossed it at Ioka saying, “Good luck catching the next one!”

Kento made a call on his DoCoMo phone to Sanko. “I need the whereabouts of piece of shit that threatened Daiki a couple of weeks ago.”

“How soon?”

“I need it yesterday,” said Kento.

“Does Mr. Inato know what you are about to do?”

“All I need is information, Sanko!”

Sanko was as dirty as a cop as they came. He was a police chief that played both sides of the field and sold his services and information to the highest bidder. For years, Sanko had been gathering information on all of the underbosses of each crime family just in case someone from one of the families decided they were too powerful. Sanko knew everything, which made him even more dangerous than the yakuza families he worked for. He knew when each boss ate, when they took a shit, who they were fucking, and what school their kids went to.

Everything!

“Look I need to make sure that what you’re about to do is not going to come back on me.”

“You have my word!”

Kento waited for a few seconds in his car as his driver turned on some music. A thought came over his head the minute the music played: Daiki had left his CD inside the disc changer and it played a rap song that Kento jammed to in one of their rides together.

Within two minutes, Kento received another call from Sanko.

“He’s around the Minato Mirai 21, at the movie theatres in Sakuragichō. Listen, if anyone—”

Kento immediately clicked off his phone and gave his driver instructions as he and his other men who followed in all black identical Maybachs headed toward Yokohama. After Kento was done loading his AR-15, he put the pinky ring up to his nostrils and let his ears relax as within seconds, “War Ready” by Rick Ross blared from the speakers. Kento looked up in the sky, admiring the irony in the moment and smiled, feeling Daiki was with him.

It was one of Daiki’s favorite songs.

Suddenly the Maybach’s stopped across the street from the movie theatres in Sakuragichō. Kento had just enough time to take a snort of coke and drink three shots of sake, before Hideyoshi came walking out. At the sight of Hideyoshi Ioka, the tires screeched and peeled off. From a distance, the resonance of incessant gunfire sounded off as if they were drums. 

Before Hideyoshi’s security could get him to cover, Kento and his men fired off 300 rounds between all three guns. Hideyoshi’s men fired back, but the cars were bullet proof.

When the smoke cleared, Hideyoshi Ioka stood unscathed. He ran over to his pregnant wife Iyaka, whose body was riddled with bullets and tried to console her.

“Baby, it’s going to be okay! Just hold on.”

It was too late! By the time the ambulance got to her, Mrs. Ioka was already gone; both her and the baby. Ioka had to stand there as the paramedics tried to resuscitate her to no avail. One of his men came to him as their lieutenant glared at his wife’s dead body.

“Did you see who it was?”

Hideyoshi only saw and recognized one face behind the hail of gunfire, as his men dragged him to the ground.

“Kento!” said Hideyoshi Ioka as he balled up his fist.

Hideyoshi followed the ambulance all the way to a hospital in Yokohama, bearing inner mixed feelings on what to do and how he was going to do it.

The peace he had in Yokohama had been disrupted. For years since the peace, there were no gangland yakuza hits and if they were, they were undercover in the dead of night among those involved in the yakuza life.

That ended upon the death of Iyaka Ioka and the 300 rounds in Yokohama’s broad nightlight.

****

Within an hour, Detectives David Hamada and Hayashi Ohba came to the scene of the crime in the Minato Mirai 21 in Yokohama, where a crowd had gathered as police were picking up shells from the barrage of bullets fired on the streets. David couldn’t help but show a disgusted face towards everyone that came across him.

He could remember going on dates with his wife Myoko in Sakuragichō, taking the giant Ferris wheel that became one of their many symbols of peace and prosperity in the second largest city in Japan and in one of the most prominent prefectures on Honshu: Kanagawa. Yokohama was the last place he ever thought would not only have yakuza in the area, but have one of their disputes turned into a wild shooting gallery attracting attention.

“The doctors said that the only casualty in all of this is Iyaka Ioka,” Hayashi asked.

“Hideyoshi Ioka’s wife?” David asked.

“She was seven months pregnant with his first child, too!”

“Pregnant?”

“I know. Terrible! Someone like her dying for…this!”

David walked away from his partner and went back to the police car. Instead of stopping him, Hayashi just let him continue forward.

The secret was out. Another yakuza war was rearing its ugly head once again...

****

Kento Karahawa waited for a few days before the smoke cleared. However, when he went back home and turned to the news, Japanese reporters were already spreading the news of the gangland hit. Worse, it even showed his face, the last thing he wanted people to see.

Taking a snort of cocaine, he blocked it out of his mind to wonder if he made the right move. Or even better, did Hideyoshi Ioka have anything to do with Daiki’s death at all?

Staying out of sight was going to be hard. Brazen as ever, he went out and back to Shinjuku the next night to the scene of the crime:  the
Night Nurses
club. Daiki’s body was cleared out and thanks to some negotiation between him and the cops, he was able to keep the club open for a little while to sustain some livelihood, but only the bar area. Upon entering the doors, no one bothered him, knowing his ruthless reputation.

Kento went straight for the bartender and grabbed his shirt collar. “Bring all the footage you have of the night Daiki Fukai was killed.”

“They’re…they’re in the back.”

“You have somewhere I can look at it in private?”

The bartender nodded.

“Make sure no one disturbs me until I’m done, understand?”

The bartender, his look one of fear, nodded. Kento, along with a couple of hitters, proceeded to the back of the club. The bartender did what he was told and gave him DVDs from that night. Kento rushed out of the shack, his bodyguards in tow and put the two DVDs inside the DVD drives of two small televisions and pushed the play buttons.

For those few minutes, Kento’s fiery eyes were glued to the screen as he watched everyone who entered the club and those who worked there. He observed the strippers, patrons, the bartender and the DJ changing music tracks. So far, it was a usual night at
Night Nurses
.

Then, his eyes caught sight of one familiar face as he entered the club. A face Kento knew too well.

“David Hamada?” he whispered.

“That’s the cop that was here earlier,” said Ryu Korashi, one of Kento’s bodyguards, standing behind him.

Kento remembered Hamada from a case Daiki was arrested for involving the rape and murder of a young girl; a case solved with misplaced evidence and a flawed judicial trial. What he remembered the most about that day was Daiki whispering in David’s ear. He didn’t know what was said, but he could see David was furious with Daiki’s words.

He continued watching and saw one of the strippers taking him to the V.I.P Room.

Kento turned to the other television to find Daiki Fukai entering the club with three men, obviously drunk and hyped. One of the men pointed at the V.I.P., making Kento turn to see the stripper talking and kissing David. From there, Daiki grabbed a stripper and took her to the V.I.P room, and settled near David and his stripper of choice.

Then, he could see David take out a gun and point it right at Daiki’s head. Kento watched with rage as David left and then Neige stood up and casually followed.

Kento paused the video quickly and pointed to the stripper dancing with David.

“Who is she?” Kento asked.

“That’s Neige,” said Ichiro Sato, another Inato hitman.

“Is she working tonight?”

Ichiro shook his head. “Nah, she’s off tonight.”

“How convenient!” said Kento. “Go find the bitch and see what she knows.”

“And if she doesn’t know anything?”

“Just intimidate her so she continues to understand,” responded Kento.

Ichiro nodded with a devilish smirk, knowing that Kento had given him permission to use whatever means he needed to extract information from Neige. This suited Ichiro fine since he wanted to fuck Neige ever since he laid eyes on her.

Once Ichiro left the room, Kento pressed play and resumed the video watching every minute of Daiki’s final moments. Then, he saw her.

“Who the fuck is that?” Kento asked as he rewound the video and looked at Chion.

Chion looked at Kento and shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know, sir! I’ve never seen her before.”

“Does she work here?”

Chion shrugged his shoulders again. “I don’t know.”

Kento grabbed Chion by the back of his neck and slammed his head down on the desk. “Then what the fuck do you know?”

Kento took out his gun and put it to the back of Chion’s head. Then, Kento viewed the television and saw the unknown woman on top of Daiki and her eyes had rolled back smiling as if she knew someone would be watching. It was obvious none of them had ever seen Illicit before.

“Find that bitch and bring her to me,” Kento ordered. “Do you understand?”

Chion nodded.

“What do you want us to do about Hamada?” Ryu asked.

“I’ll handle him personally,” Kento responded.

Necessary Evil
(
必要
悪
)

“Who is it?” yelled Neige as she walked to the door in her T-shirt and panties.

“Ichiro!”

Without thinking, Neige opened the door and let Ichiro Sato inside her apartment.

“Ichiro, what’s going on?”

Ichiro looked around in his usual way whenever he was in another person’s home. He observed every object near and around her. He was slightly distracted due to Neige’s figure and the fact she had on barely any clothes.

“We saw the video from the V.I.P.,” said Ichiro. “You want to tell me what the fuck you were doing there with that cop?”

Neige froze as she walked toward her kitchen. “Ichiro, I can explain.”

“I’m listening!”

Neige stood still, knowing Ichiro wasn’t one to mess with. “I didn’t know he was a cop. I just thought he was one of the regulars at the club.”

“What the fuck do you take me for? I saw how you were kissing and dry-humping the guy. Do you hump on all the regulars like that?”

Fear filled Neige’s eyes as she looked at Ichiro. “I swear I don’t know anything.”

Ichiro’s eyes sized up Neige’s legs and the curves leading up her thighs as she stood before him.

“You know since the first time I saw you, I wanted to fuck you.” Ichiro said as he closed in on her. When he was close enough he lifted her shirt. “I would sit there and watch you dance and then would go to the bathroom and jerk off, imagining I was fucking you.”

“Ichiro, please, don’t hurt me, I’ll do whatever you want,” she said as she stroked the side of Ichiro’s face and began to kiss his chest.

She slowly ran her hands down to his crouch and began groping him. As she ripped opened his shirt and began kissing on his abdomen, he stood there watching his fantasy become a reality. She quickly undid his pants and grabbed his penis.

There was no hesitation on her part as she let her natural instincts take over. He tried as best to stand as she put his penis in her mouth and began sucking and deep-throated him.

He stood with his eyes closed, holding her head as it bobbed back and forth. When she saw Ichiro was vulnerable, she took her fist and struck him in the testicles as hard as she could.

Ichiro fell to the floor immediately. Neige dashed toward the door as fast as she could. When she opened it, four of Ichiro’s men were standing there waiting to make sure she didn’t escape.

She screamed for help, but by the time her neighbors opened the door to see what was going on, Ichiro’s men had already brought her back inside. Teary-eyed, Ichiro struggled to get back up on his feet and compose himself as his men held her by the arms. Still sore, he limped over to Neige and ripped off her T-shirt and her panties and fondled her breast.

Ichiro chuckled to himself, “And just think I was going to let you live. Things could have been so different. Fuck it! Since you like it rough, I’ll oblige you. When was the last time you guys got your dicks wet?”

Neige spit in his face.

Ichiro wiped the spit off with his hand and slowly licked it, savoring the taste.

“If I were you, I would save that spit! You’re going to need it tonight for what you’re about to do.”

His men snickered.

“I’m going to tell you how things are going to go,” said Ichiro. “First, we’re going to gangbang you. Then we’re going to beat you, and then we’re going to each take turns fucking you again. And then we’re going to kill you and fuck you again, but not necessarily in that order.”

Ichiro popped open a small bottle of prescription-filled Viagra and guzzled three pills, chewing and crunching them with his teeth, before he passed the bottled around to the other four men.

“We’re literally going to fuck the shit out of you,” said Ichiro as he laughed sadistically. “Get ready men! It’s going to be a long night.”

Neige looked at Ichiro and shook her head trying hard to hold back her tears, dreading she ever opened her front door...

****

Myoko Hamada woke up to the smell of bacon, eggs and pancakes. When she got out of the bed there was a trial of roses leading downstairs and to the table. Around the table, the rose pedals were shaped into the form of a huge heart.

“Oh, my god, David! What is all this?” asked Myoko.

“Damn! I wanted to surprise you.”

“Surprise me? What’s the occasion?”

“No reason! I just wanted to do something for you to show you how much I loved you,” he said tenderly.

Myoko smiled as David scooted back the chair for her to sit down. Although she was surprised at the rose pedals that led downstairs to the table, it really wasn’t a shock to her. David was a romantic at heart. He was always trying to find ways to outdo himself and show Myoko that he loved her.

To David, Myoko was his world. After four years of marriage, he still would bring her flowers, write her poetry, call her in the middle of the day just to say he was thinking about her, and her personal favorite: he’d sing her a love song, even though he was an awful singer.

As she sat down and took a bite of bacon, David turned on the radio and then burst out into a song.

“Butterflies is what I feel inside/And every time is like my first time ooo-wee/And I can’t never find the words to say/You’re the perfect girl/You were made for me /It’s so easy to love you baby…”

Myoko blushed and began smiling as he took a spatula and sung, “You Are,” by Charlie Wilson in a Japanese accent.

“….Baby girl I just wanna tell you that you are/ The reason I love the reason I trust/ God sent me an angel/ You are the best in the world/ A wonderful girl/Knowing you by my side brings tears to my eyes…”

When David finished singing, he walked behind Myoko, blindfolded her, took her by the hand and led her to the middle of the floor.

“David, what are you doing?”

“It’s a surprise,” he answered.

Once again he had her smiling. “I thought you already gave me my surprise.”

“That was nothing but something sweet to wet your palette,” said David. “This is the real surprise.”

David put a necklace around her neck and undid the blindfold. When Myoko looked in the mirror she was wearing a diamond necklace.

“David, where did you get this?”

He grinned devilishly and kissed the top of her forehead. “Ask me no questions and I’ll tell you no lies.”

“David!”

“You hear that. My phone’s ringing.”

“David, I thought we agreed no more expensive gifts.”

David ran upstairs and answered his phone, “Hello!”

“I’m not disturbing you on your day off, am I?”

“Oh no! I was just sitting here on my day off wondering when the hell my partner is going to call me to ruin it,” he responded sarcastically. “But now that you called, what’s up?”

“We need you!”

“You need me for what?”

“There’s been a murder.”

“So what else is new?”

“It’s Neige.”

David lowered the phone and tried as best as he could to compose himself. “Where are you?”

“Shinjuku!”

“I’ll be right there.”

****

When David arrived at Neige’s apartment, Hayashi was standing in front of the door waiting for him. The look in Hayashi’s eyes spoke volumes about what had transpired, but nothing could prepare David for what he saw when he walked inside.

Neige was laid out naked on the floor with every orifice in the lower extremities of her body literally torn open. Her jaw had been ripped from her face as a sign of her sin against the Inato crime family and carved on the top of her head was
“
密告
者
!”

“Snitch” in Japanese.

While David glared at her and remembered how beautiful she was, his eyes began to glow red for a faint second. A small grin formed on his face and he began to envision himself having sex with her right there on the floor with her moaning.

As Hayashi approached David, he saw a slight crimson aura radiating from his body causing him to stop.

“No, it can’t be!”

David muttered as he shook his head at the sight of his friend. Wiping his eyes, he observed her ravaged body again, dropped to his knees and vomited.

Hayashi walked up beside David and helped him to his feet. David stood up fully, but dropped to his knees again vomiting once more.

“Come on, let’s get out of here,” said Hayashi as he led David out into the hall. The moment Hayashi got him out of the crime scene; David broke down and began crying.

Hayashi tried as best he could to tell him what he’d learned. “One of her neighbors notified us of the smell coming from her apartment. They said that a couple of nights before, they’d heard what sounded like screams. Typical that no one even ventured to find out what the hell was going on. Do you have any idea who could of did this to her and why?”

David punched the wall repeatedly, shouting, “FUCK” with each punch until there was a hole in the drywall.

“That’s not going to help her, you know,” replied Hayashi in a calm and tranquil voice.

David stopped and exhaled a deep breath. “I don’t know who did it, but I bet you this has something to do with Daiki’s murder.”

“What does Daiki has to do with this?”

David lowered his head.

“David, why would this have something to do with Daiki’s murder?” asked Hayashi.

“You know she’s dead because of me,” he said. “Neige was my informant. She was reporting to me and helping me build a case against Kento and that piece of shit Daiki.”

Hayashi put his hand on David’s shoulder. “You can’t blame yourself for what happened to that girl in there. She knew very well what she was getting herself into. She also knew what kind of men those scumbags were and that they had to be taken down. They’re the reason why she’s dead, not you.”

David looked Hayashi deep in the eyes. “I wish that were true.”

“There’s only one way that Neige will rest in peace,” said Hayashi. “We find out who killed her, bring them to justice and put Kento and the entire Inato syndicate behind bars.”

“Detective Hamada, we found this under the couch,” said one of the forensic detectives as he handed David a plastic bag with a prescription bottle in it with the name
Ichiro Sato
.

“Any idea who this might be?” asked Hayashi.

David balled up his fist and immediately his eyes took on a reddish hue. As Hayashi glared into David’s eyes, he began gasping for air as he clutched his chest. It was Hayashi’s slumping to his knees that brought David around and when he rushed over to him, his eyes had returned to normal.

“Are you alright,” he asked?

Hayashi nodded. “I’m fine! I think it was that tempura I ate for lunch.”

“That prescription belongs to Ichiro. He’s one of Kento’s men. There was no reason for Neige to have anything that belonged to one of those scumbags here in her apartment. He did this to her.”