Evil and the Mask

  “You’re wrong.”

  “Maybe you really did like her at first, when you were kids. But now you’ve changed. I think that you killed Father. I’m pretty certain about that. I understand you. Because we’re Kukis! It’s obvious, isn’t it? Now you’ve lost everything. What’s left for you to ask for from life? Just to pray for Kaori’s happiness from afar? I don’t think so! Now your sole purpose in life is that moment of destruction. You’re carrying the curse of the Kukis, the burden of their wars and their atrocities.”

  “Stop talking bullshit!”

  His eyes bulged.

  “Or what? You’ll kill me? Like you killed Father and Yajima? Just try it!”

  Suddenly he started to shout, still staring at me with eyes wide. He lifted his head and thrust it forward to expose his neck. His breathing grew harsh.

  “Everything’s boring! I’m bored! Really, really bored. If death were right here in front of me, I’d love to see it. Ha, try and kill me, quick!”

  I couldn’t tear my eyes away from his. For a second his face was filled with exaltation, like he was glowing from inside. He kept staring at me, but little by little his eyes lost their intensity, until he was gazing at me listlessly again. He began languidly sipping his whiskey once more. I didn’t know what to make of the change that had come over him, and my brain wasn’t working at all.

  “I’ll put someone else onto Kaori, whether you like it or not.”

  “Stop it.”

  “I’ll send in guys one after the other. I guess that won’t bother you, because you’ll just kill them all. Learn their habits and kill them, isn’t that what you do? Either that, or you approach Kaori yourself.”

  His slack lips twisted as he studied me, indifferent to his excitement of a minute earlier.

  “Get her hooked and bring her to me. If you do that, I won’t send anyone else in the meantime. At least you can have a taste of her before I finish her off. That wouldn’t be bad, would it? If you refuse, I’ll start the same thing all over again. Maybe I’ll use my subordinates to bring her to me by force.”

  “Why?”

  “I told you. Because I’m depressed. I’ll call you again to get your progress reports. You’re smart, you won’t do anything stupid like calling the cops. Basically, they can only act after a crime has been committed. You know most women who are killed by their stalkers ask for police protection before they are murdered? Next time I’ll tell you more. Maybe even about why you’re attracted to Kaori.”

  WHEN I MADE my way through the lobby and left the hotel, the guy who had driven me there was already gone. I figured that Mikihiko Kuki was probably going to sleep all by himself in that gloomy room. I hailed a cab and we drove across the dry asphalt, past the sparse lights from the office blocks, the lights from the apartment buildings, the headlamps of innumerable cars. I watched them flash by without really seeing them, pondering my father’s missing ear. Various thoughts flitted through my mind—how his alcohol consumption had increased as he grew older, the fact that when I closed the door to that underground room he had been carrying poison to kill himself. I wondered if his hunger in the basement had reminded him of the hunger he’d experienced as a child or during the war.

  When I checked my cell phone I had an email from Kyoko, saying that I shouldn’t come home because a shady-looking guy was hanging around outside. I was pretty sure it would be Aida, so I sent a reply saying that I didn’t care and I was on my way. After thinking for a minute, I rang the private eye. He answered straight away. There was an indistinct buzzing in the background, but a few moments later it abruptly went quiet. I didn’t want the taxi driver to overhear our conversation so I made him stop the car, got out and leaned against the trunk.

  “I met Mikihiko Kuki,” I said.

  “Just now?” His tone grew tense.

  “Yes. It was a big surprise. Apparently he was behind Yajima’s targeting Kaori.”

  “Then that means …”

  “He wants to get his hands on her. To get her addicted so he owns her. He must be totally insane, to do something like that even though he’s not particularly interested in her. I still don’t know what he’s really up to, though. By the way, about my phone, they did get it from Konishi after all.”

  “Sorry about that.”

  “Can’t be helped. The thief was in JL.”

  “JL?”

  “One of their members is related to the Kukis, the grandson of Shozo Kuki’s twin brother. His father was the head of Rahmla who killed himself. It looks like he’s trying to use Kaori to get money out of me. The ones who’ve latched onto Kaori, they’re all Kukis.”

  He didn’t reply.

  “It’s one crazy family. They really are. It would have been better if they’d never adopted her in the first place. It’s because she got mixed up with such an insane mob that she’s had such a hard time. That’s what the Kukis are like—stubborn, malevolent, vindictive. Maybe it’s Shozo Kuki’s curse. No, it goes back further than that.”

  I realized that my speech was growing more rapid. I took a deep breath to calm myself for what I had to say next.

  “Would it be possible for me to meet with Kaori?”

  My voice cracked and faltered. Despite my best efforts my heart was still racing, disturbed by my audacity.

  “Also, could you study Mikihiko Kuki’s habits? What bars he frequents, anything.”

  This was the same thing I’d asked him to do for Yajima.

  “Will do.”

  “Thanks. But aren’t you going to ask why?”

  There was a pause, as though he was thinking. Cars sped past as I leaned against the taxi.

  “In our job,” he said, “we never question a client’s request. I think I’ve said this before, but in our line of work we see things you don’t normally see, and we make the impossible possible. Our job is to do the client’s dirty work, things outside the scope of day-to-day-life.”

  “But why do you put yourself in that position? Sorry, it’s none of my business.”

  I didn’t know why I was talking like this.

  “No, I don’t mind answering. I think I’m taking revenge on the world.”

  “Revenge?”

  “I want to change everything about the world, change what is assumed to be the normal course of events. I can’t say for sure if that’s a kind of revenge or not, but at any rate, I feel like I’m fighting against the tide that’s always pushing people in one direction. By breaking the rules.”

  “Don’t you think people make their own choices in life?”

  “They do, but in many cases their choices are limited—unless they break the rules.”

  I stared at the lights of the apartment buildings in front of me, conscious of the hard metal of the taxi against my hips.

  “But maybe those transgressions are part of the tide,” I said. “Sorry, we’ve gone off topic. What have you found out about Shintani’s past?”

  “Well, I don’t see anything suspicious. It’s true that after they split up, Sae Suzuki had some serious emotional problems, and some people said that might have caused the accident.”

  I tried to remember if any of Shintani’s favorite movies dealt with a theme like that.

  “The mother, Yaeko, seems to think so. That’s probably why she hates Shintani. She didn’t even let him go to the funeral.”

  “Really? Not even the funeral?”

  The stream of cars had gradually diminished. I closed my cell phone. When I started to get back into the taxi I realized that someone was sitting in a black car that had been parked behind me the whole time. If he was tailing me, I thought, he was making his presence very obvious. Pretending to be checking my email, I used my phone to record the car on video. I climbed back into the cab, checked the picture and sent it to the detective. When we took off again, the other car followed right behind, as though it wanted to be seen. The detective sent me a reply saying that the car belonged to the investigator hired by Mikihiko Kuki.

  I watc
hed it in the side mirror, reflecting that as soon as Mikihiko stuck his oar in, this guy showed up—even though there was no point tailing me, since he obviously already knew where I lived. I decided to ignore it, and didn’t turn around again.

  WHEN WE REACHED my apartment, Aida was standing out front. I paid my fare and got out, feeling wearier than ever. He was on the phone, but hung up as soon as he saw me. In his hand was a half-finished cigarette. The car that had been following me drove straight past, perhaps because Aida was there. I headed for the entrance but he held up an arm to bar my way.

  “It’s good manners to say hello, even if you’re not going to roll out the red carpet.”

  “I’ve got nothing to say to you.”

  I tried to move past him but he grabbed my shoulder. In the distance the black car disappeared reluctantly around the corner, as though delivering a warning.

  “What’s the big deal?” he said. “I won’t be able to see you again for a while.”

  I stopped and looked at him. He was still wearing the same worn-out shoes.

  “No matter how much I look at Sae Suzuki’s death, you’re still in the clear. The more I look at it, the more it looks like it was her own fault. Unfortunately. And luckily for you, at precisely the time of the accident you were in a university tutorial presenting a report for your professor. The whole class saw you. Your alibi is rock solid. Yaeko’s theory that you hired someone to do it just doesn’t seem realistic.”

  “In that case you can give it up, can’t you?”

  “Yeah, I guess. But while I was reviewing the case I realized again just how much I hate you.”

  He was staring at Shintani’s face.

  “You never stop and think about things, do you? Never brood, never fret over small stuff. You just skate smoothly through life. I don’t know if you were really interested in movies or not, but the other members of the film society said that you were just putting on an act.”

  I had no idea if what he was saying was true, but it seemed funny that I’d been watching the movies that Shintani was supposed to like, and had been moved by them.

  “It’s not just that I feel sorry for Yaeko. When I heard that a week after Sae’s death you went out drinking with your friends, laughing hard enough to wet yourself, I couldn’t forgive you. Sure, maybe you’re not responsible. But right up till the day she died she was thinking only of you. That’s what your life’s been like since then too. For some reason people die all around you while you carry on blithely. It’s a bizarre existence. As if they’re carrying the burden for you. Personally, I despise people like you. But look at you now.”

  His eyes darkened.

  “It’s like you’re a different person. Like you’re always thinking deeply about things. You even look quite different—maybe it’s your new haircut. You’re not working at the moment, are you? But still living in a place like this, going out all the time. What are you up to?”

  “None of your business.”

  “That’s true, it’s none of my business. And I’m pretty busy. There’s this guy we’ve got our eye on. He slipped up. We think he might be JL.”

  “What?” I asked without thinking.

  “Curious, are you? People like you generally don’t seem interested in groups like that. Well, it looks like this JL guy is somewhere in Setagaya here in Tokyo. While I’m here I might as well ask, have you seen this guy anywhere?”

  He showed me a picture, a grainy photo, probably taken from a security camera on the street. The man was wearing a cap and a down jacket, and seemed to be in a hurry. Narrow eyes, a protruding jaw. I didn’t recognize him.

  “Never seen him before.”

  “I didn’t think so. I’ve been after this JL from the start. Me, I think it’s fate. What do you reckon? Don’t you think they’re likely to have some connection to Rahmla, that cult who took over that power plant and killed themselves? One man who joined the occupation was tied to one of those big financial outfits. That really got me interested. Still, JL may turn out to be just a bunch of stupid tricksters, so I guess I shouldn’t get my hopes up.”

  I looked at the ground so I wouldn’t have to face him. My heart was beating painfully and my temples throbbed.

  “Both your case and the JL case were stalled for a long time, but JL finally began to move. That’s why I won’t be able to see you for a while.”

  He looked at me.

  “In fact, maybe we’ll never meet again. And since this could be the last time I’ve got to say this. Please pay a visit to Sae’s grave.”

  “What’s that got to do with you?”

  “Maybe nothing. But I’m thinking that the way you are now, you might just do it. I get the feeling that I might run into you in front of her headstone on the anniversary of her death. I don’t know what’s happened to you. Well, see you.”

  And he walked off. I went inside, watching his broad, retreating back out of the corner of my eye. When I crossed the tiny foyer and turned the corner, a man in a black coat was standing in front of the elevators. He was about fifty, with short hair and slightly hunched shoulders. He looked a bit like the guy driving the car—but I thought he’d gone. I ignored him and went to push the button, but suddenly he grabbed my wrist.

  He was staring right at me. I looked straight ahead, tried again for the button, with his hand still gripping my arm, but he tensed his muscles and I couldn’t move. The lobby was chilly.

  “You must be Mikihiko’s dick,” I said, but he didn’t crack a smile.

  “A message.”

  The hand holding my wrist was lukewarm.

  “In the next two or three days, contact Kaori Kuki.”

  I still didn’t look at him, but I couldn’t move my arm.

  “If you don’t, his orders are that we do it ourselves. That’d be a pain in the ass. Get it? So do what he says. Get the girl hooked and then take her to him.”

  The elevator beside us opened and a woman with dyed brown hair came out, but he still didn’t let go, seeming completely indifferent to her presence.

  “You get in touch with her first and show us that you can do it. Before we take over.”

  He took a bag from his jacket pocket.

  “This stuff is top grade. Don’t waste it. If you want you can use a bit for yourself.”

  He stuffed the packet into my pocket, turned and walked away.

  I OPENED THE front door, went to the bathroom and flushed the powder in the bag down the toilet. When I went into the living room, Kyoko was watching a movie in the dark again. On the screen a couple was arguing bitterly in the middle of a street. The woman was crying and advancing on the man. Kyoko welcomed me home in a soft voice. I tried to answer her, but my words wouldn’t come out clearly.

  “You look exhausted,” she said.

  “Yeah.”

  I tossed my coat aside and collapsed on the couch.

  “Some letters came for you. I put them on that box.”

  “Thanks.”

  I sipped a glass of stale water that was sitting nearby.

  “You get a lot of mail, don’t you? Watch shops, clothes shops, hotels. But the addresses are all in the same handwriting.”

  “Did you open them?”

  “No. Though I was really tempted.”

  I laughed.

  “Things might turn a bit dangerous,” I said. “It would be better if you didn’t see me for a while.”

  She looked at me open-mouthed. “Really?”

  “Really.”

  “That’s a bummer. I’ve got nowhere to go.”

  On the TV the woman, still shouting, knifed the man at an intersection. His blood formed a pool in the middle of the road. Strangely, the guy who’d been stabbed was watching the scene from the window of an apartment a long way off.

  “What about your own place?”

  “Well, I’ve got one, but …”

  I stood up shakily.

  “How much do you owe?”

  “It’s okay.”

  “No
, you can tell me.”

  “About eight hundred thousand.”

  I opened the white closet and took a million yen from the briefcase inside.

  “Here, take this.”

  “Huh? No, I couldn’t.”

  “Go on, take it.”

  “Why are you giving me this?”

  She looked at me. And it was actually a bit weird for me to be handing her so much cash.

  “It wasn’t my money in the first place, and I don’t need it. I was planning to give it all away in the end anyway.”

  “But still …”

  She lowered her eyes.

  “Plus I had sex with you,” I said.

  “You pay this much for sex?”

  “Sex is much more valuable than you think.”

  I knew that what I was saying was kind of funny.

  “All right then. I’ll pay you back one day.”

  “That’s okay.”

  “I insist. I’ll pay it back.”

  On the screen the guy watching himself being stabbed had turned into an old man. Walking with a cane, he made his way slowly towards the intersection where his double had been attacked by the woman all those years ago, but just before he reached it he thrust a knife into his own stomach, as if he’d been possessed by something. As the withered trees lining the road looked on silently, the elderly man in the coat crouched down on the cobbled crossing. He looked resigned. Red blood stained the surface of the street again, like some kind of symbol.

  “Anyway, it would be best if we didn’t see each other for a while.”

  “Are you in that much shit?”