Plate 9: Brothers
Plate 9:
Brothers
Scene 1
AT NIGHT IN ASAKUSA, you could see Skytree from practically anywhere. It was like a pale, waxy candle soaring through the sky, so close that you could almost reach out and touch it, but so far that your fingers would only grasp air. In stark contrast to its quiet blue, the signs and lights outside the operation theater of Asakusa Sara General Hospital glared a deep red.
Kazuki had no idea how he ended up here after what happened.
The ambulance and patrol car had been noisy. Enta wouldn’t open his eyes. Otone ran in wailing and crying.
Kazuki stood alone outside the door, frozen.
“Uurgh… It’s so heavy, dish!”
Sara returned to Kaminari 5656 Kaikan’s Tokiwa Hall, where she now strained to move the still-frozen Keppi. She was putting her whole weight into it, when finally…
“Ah…!”
The ice statue slid right off the stage. It spun smooth circles in the air as it soared down the escalator and right out the front entrance, tumbling into the road outside. Sara peered out from a window to see that her prince finally came to a stop on top of the asphalt. She breathed a sigh of relief.
Sadly, the worst was yet to come.
The ground rumbled as a single semitruck roared down the street straight toward Keppi. The vehicle’s headlights illuminated the ice statue, revealing a glimmer of tears in the prince’s eyes.
“Noooooo!!” Sara shrieked.
Her cries were in vain. In seconds, the crown prince of the Kappa Kingdom was crushed beneath the weight of those enormous tires, shattering the statue into tiny pieces.
Scene 2
TOI AND CHIKAI’S BOAT gradually approached Eitai Bridge. At night, it lit up bright blue, giving off an entirely different aura than it did during the day. This end of the ship was furnished with a spacious dance floor. Its windows were left open, allowing the hum of the motor and the trickle of water to drift in. A breeze carried the river’s summer scent inside as well.
Chikai was slumped over on one of the benches near the open window. He still had his sunglasses on his face, even as he snoozed.
Toi had few memories of seeing his brother asleep. This was especially true of when he was younger. Despite the fact that the two had shared a room, he’d still rarely ever seen his brother rest.
Chikai was the first one to develop persistent dark circles under his eyes. After their parents died, Toi soon realized that he had them too. He learned then, as a child, that such marks appeared due to lack of sleep. Since it meant he matched his brother, Toi hadn’t minded.
Now that it was just the two of them, though, he realized that his presence just made the circles under Chikai’s eyes worse. However short Chikai’s nap might be, seeing his brother sleep in front of him made Toi feel kind of sentimental. He hoped they could find a place where his brother could sleep peacefully. He would do all he could to reach that place quickly.
He gazed into the backpack on his lap. Inside was all the easy money he’d stashed away until now, as well as the faintly gleaming Tokarev.
Beside him, Chikai suddenly shifted, causing the jacket that was draped over his knees to crumple onto the floor.
Thunk.
A hard sound indicated there was something wrapped up inside the fabric. Toi stood up and went over to grab it, only to realize that the jacket was unnaturally heavy. He discovered a black Tokarev tucked inside the inner pocket.
So his brother was carrying a gun. The truth of that overwhelmed him. Logically speaking, his brother was a wanted fugitive who had spent his life in the underworld; it made no sense for him to be unarmed. But Toi selfishly imagined his brother as the type who stubbornly refused to hold a gun, and it shook him now to lose that image of him. Chikai wasn’t simply shouldering Toi’s sins anymore; he was carrying a gun of his own accord.
Toi was still frozen with his brother’s jacket in his hands when he suddenly heard a familiar melody that seemed to suck the tension from the air. Azuma Sara appeared on the television screen suspended from the ceiling inside the ship. Before his brother could wake up, Toi hurriedly placed the jacket over Chikai and scrambled back to his seat.
“We have some breaking news, dish. ✩ This evening, a series of shootings took place in Asakusa. One of the two victims has already been pronounced dead. The other, identified as fourteen-year-old Jinnai Enta, is currently unconscious and in critical condition.”
Enta’s picture flashed across the television screen. It hadn’t been that long since Toi had been on the phone with him. At least Enta’s picture showed a boy with a warm smile, completely different from the one they used to identify his brother. Enta had worn that same expression earlier, when he was eating croquettes.
“Aaaah,” yawned Chikai. “Hm? It’s that four-eyed kid.”
Toi stiffened. “How do you know him?”
“Hm? Well, he helped me out and stuff. You two buddies?”
Unable to respond, all Toi could do was sit there as more news he didn’t want to hear came streaming into his ears.
“The police suspect twenty-five-year-old Kuji Chikai to be involved in these crimes and are currently searching for his whereabouts. There is a high possibility that this man was also responsible for the shooting that happened four years ago…”
Chikai also listened in, looking displeased at what he heard. “Stop blaming everythin’ on me. Can you believe this, Toi?”
So it wasn’t true? Then who did shoot Enta? What was up with that gun his brother was carrying? In an instant, the worst possibilities flashed through Toi’s mind.
“You can go back.”
He flinched, drawn out of his reverie, only to notice Chikai wasn’t looking his way.
“If you’re gonna get off, do it now,” said Chikai. “Any further and you won’t be able to turn back.”
Was he talking literally or figuratively? Though, when Toi thought about it, maybe they were one and the same. “He’s already got someone to care for him, someone he’s closer to than me. But I’m all you have left.”
Enta wasn’t alone. He had his grandmother and Otone. There were also his parents, whom Toi had never met but heard were in good health, living overseas.
“In this world, it’s only the bad people who survive. Just goes to show you that four-eyes was one of the good ones.”
Chikai didn’t need to tell him that; Toi already knew it.
So, please…
“Yasaka, take care of him…”
At some point, while he was distracted, the boat passed beneath the center of Eitai Bridge.
An aura of grief permeated the darkened waiting room of the hospital, its electricity powered off.
Kazuki’s hoarse voice echoed through the hallway. “It was two police officers who shot Enta! Enta jumped in front of me—”
“Just calm down, kid. The culprit was Kuji Chikai.”
They had repeated this exchange a frustrating number of times now.
“We already received testimony that Kuji and Enta-kun were seen together. We also found the suspect’s fingerprints on the candy Enta-kun was carrying.” The officer recited those words like a robot. No one seemed to notice the heart-shaped pin glimmering on his chest.
“No! I’m telling you, I saw it with my own eyes, an officer…!” As he hung his head, Kazuki felt something soft and warm brush over his shoulders. When he glanced back, he saw that Otone draped a blanket over him.
“That’s enough, Kazu-kun.”
He clung to her. “But they’re wrong, I really did—”
Otone—his teacher, Enta’s sister—was unwavering. “You must have been terrified, right? Thank you for helping Enta.”
“No, it’s my fault he…” Kazuki started to say. It’s my fault he got shot.
The truth at the tip of his tongue was a terrifying one.
“It’s not your fault,” she said. “The one at fault is the man who shot Enta!” Even Otone had fallen for the police’s fabrication.
A nurse called for her, and Otone rushed away, leaving Kazuki behind. Now all alone, Kazuki had no one else he could call out to.
Someone, help… Toi…!
As Toi and Chikai landed at the Hinode Pier, they found a cheerful welcome awaiting them.
“Big broooo!” A burly man waited at the end of the dock, his waving hand causing his plump body to ripple from the motion. Apparently, he was one of Chikai’s acquaintances.
“You idiot, I told you not to draw attention to yourself!” Chikai barked at him.
“Sorry! You were late, so I was worried about ya. Oh!” The man, who was bald and looked like a street vendor, turned his attention to Toi.
“Oh, this is my little brother, Toi,” said Chikai. “Toi, this is Masa.”
“Heya, I’m Masa! I’ve been lookin’ after your bro! Nice to meetcha, Toi-san!”
“Who’s looking after who here, huh?” Chikai bonked Masa over the head.
“Ow, that hurts!” Judging by the latter’s mild reaction, it couldn’t have hurt that bad. Toi absently thought to himself that this must be their usual banter. “Anyway, for a middle school kid like you to sell that much weed is pretty amazin’. Guess I should’ve expected as much, since you two are related! You got some with you in that backpack? I’d love to split some.”
Toi understood that the man probably didn’t mean any harm. But he was really crowding Toi’s personal space.
“B-Brother,” Toi protested at Chikai.
“Well, as you can see, Masa’s an idiot, but he’s like a little brother to me. You two are pretty close in age. You should get along.”
His brother had no sense if he honestly believed that, and if it was a joke, then it simply wasn’t funny.
Scene 3
AROUND THE SAME TIME, another incident was taking place at the Asakusa Otter Police Box.
“Mabu… Are you actually Mabu?” Reo asked, a look of complete disbelief in his eyes.
The man in question stood silently before him with a large platter of freshly baked ningyo-yaki. They looked utterly perfect. A sweet aroma spread through the air.
Every previous time Reo suspected even the most trivial change in his partner, he’d been betrayed. It was too early to celebrate. It wouldn’t be easy to recreate the delicate flavor of Mabu’s original recipe. The real Mabu diligently studied and poured in hours of effort to create the taste that Reo loved. He’d had about enough of this imitation making light of the real Mabu.
No more, never again. Stop making these ningyo-yaki.
Even as he prepared as much verbal abuse as he could in his head, his heart eagerly yearned to test the flavor. Reo’s hand trembled as he carried one of the warm treats to his mouth. His sharp, pointed teeth cut right through the soft outer shell as he tore a piece off. He chewed and chewed, the taste spreading over his mouth, then swallowed. His mouth cracked open slightly.
Slowly, the edges of his lips curled, taking the form of a smile. “This flavor… This is the real Mabu’s flavor!”
Reo raised his eyes to the heavens, like an epic hero claiming victory. Why was it, at times like this, that he even felt grateful to a god he didn’t believe in?
“Yes, this is it!! Finally, I-I have you back again…!”
Reo dumped the mountain of ningyo-yaki into his mouth and then threw his arms around Mabu. No longer would his hands hesitate to reach out for Mabu. He’d never dreamed they would be able to hold each other this tightly again.
A black shadow wriggled behind the two as they embraced. “Otterly…false-soiya!”
“I will succeed, dish, ✩” Sara said stiffly as she stood there in scrubs. Lined up on the operating table in front of her were the shattered shards of the man she loved.
“Scalpel.”
“Towel.”
“Scissors.”
“Glue.”
“Pepper.”
“Achoo! ✩”
Her mini-kappa nurses bustled about, following Sara’s stream of commands as they assisted in the operation. Hours and five whole tubes of glue later…
“This is the final piece, dish…”
She gripped the shard containing Keppi’s anus with her forceps and took a gulp of air. There was a clinking sound as his esteemed buttocks were completed.
“Now! ✩ Time to defrost him, dish!” All that remained was to pour the kettle of boiling hot water over him. Sara went about Prince Keppi’s revival the same way a person might cook insta-ramen. When it was finished, she exclaimed, “Prince, I am so glad you’re okay, dish!”
“Phew, I thought I was a goner, ribbit.”
“Hmm?”
Keppi stepped out of the rolling mists that consumed the air around him, standing in front of a full-length mirror where he could check himself out. “What the heck is this?!”
Due to Sara’s poor spatial reasoning, Keppi’s reassembled body now resembled a piece of avant-garde art.
“I love you no matter how you look, dish. ✩”
“Thank you. Merci!” Toi purchased a light meal and some lollipops from the convenience store by the Hinode Pier, and then headed toward the warehouses where Chikai and Masa were hiding out.
The only boats that used these docks were the round trip water buses or extravagant ferries. To go overseas, they were going to have to take a ferry from the neighboring Takeshiba all the way to the Izu Islands. Masa had been the one to make all those preparations, patiently waiting for Chikai and Toi to return. That was certainly convenient. Given how amiable the man seemed, his actions were unlikely to arouse any suspicion.
There was only one thing that bothered Toi about the man—his title. Chikai referred to Masa as being like his “little brother.” What the heck was that about? Sure, Toi realized the underworld had its own hierarchies. Still, his brother wasn’t too fond of forming tight relationships with other people.
He remembered how disgruntled his brother had been when Toi asked him to wait a day. Now, Toi felt the same way. He was forced to realize, once again, that he’d created his own, idealistic image of his brother.
Lost in that reverie, he’d somehow made it back to the edge of the warehouses.
“Your little bro sure has some guts!” Masa might have been amiable, but his voice was disastrously loud.
“…He’s special. He’s not like those other brats out there.” Chikai tried to lower his tone as he said that, but Toi could still hear the words clearly. His lips curled.
But the loud voice that followed froze him in place. “Well, he did kill the leader of YURIKAMOME at just ten years old!”
“Hey, I told you I’m the one who killed him!” There was a distinct hint of genuine anger mixed into Chikai’s voice.
Masa was either fearless or seriously stupid, but either way, he kept going. “Sorry! But the reason you are where you are now is ’cause you offered KAMOME’s head up to the boss as a gift! Man, you sure are lucky your little bro offed him!”
“Bastard, you really like shootin’ off at the mouth, don’t ya?!” Chikai’s exasperated voice was punctuated by a dull thud as he brought his fist down on his companion’s bald head.
“Ouch! I was just speakin’ the truth!”
By the time he realized what he was doing, Toi’s grip on the plastic convenience store bag in his hand had tightened so hard his knuckles were white.
He suspected the words of Chikai’s amiable “little brother-like figure” were right. It was true that Toi had committed murder. It was also true that Chikai was high enough up in his current organization that they entrusted him with control of a whole area. Toi’s crime had been his brother’s stepping-stone. He hadn’t expected Masa to know the truth of their lifelong secret, but then again, Toi had leaked it to his own two friends. He and Chikai were on equal ground in that regard.
The Tokarev in his backpack suddenly felt heavier.
Regardless, there was one thing he had to admit: if not for that gun, he wouldn’t have been able to take back what was important to him.
Just how long had Kazuki been sitting here on this waiting room bench? What was he even waiting for? Who was he waiting for? If they were going to deliver the worst news possible, he’d rather it never came.
A familiar plastic bottle popped into the edge of his vision. Otone was offering it to him, her eyes red and puffy. “Tonight’s going to be critical for him, they said. I called my parents too, but they may not make it in time…” Her sorrowful voice seemed to echo through the halls.
Seated beside Kazuki was Enta’s grandmother, her shoulders slumped forward.
“Kazu-kun, I’m sorry. I should be telling you to go home, but…please stay with him, talk to him.” Those were Otone’s true feelings, not what she was expected to say as a teacher. If there was any way to help Enta, she wanted to cling to it.
Kazuki understood that to a painful degree. Even so… “I don’t…even have the right to do that.”
Otone let out a weak laugh and shook her head. “That’s not true. In Enta’s eyes, you’ve always been a hero.” Surprised, he glanced up at her face. “Our family moved around a lot overseas, you know. Enta and I only returned to Asakusa four years ago. That boy, he just never seemed to warm up to his classmates. But then…”
She began recounting a story from their past, one Kazuki had forgotten.
“Hey, do you want to play with me?”
One day, a hero appeared in front of Enta as he sat at a corner of the schoolyard, hugging his knees. That hero was Kazuki.
“Um…me?” Not fully comprehending what the other boy just said to him, Enta squeezed the magazine he’d been holding tightly to his chest.
“You’re always sitting here watching everyone play soccer, right?” said the other boy.
Enta was a returnee—someone who had lived abroad for an extended period before returning to Japan. All the hopping around they did from place to place left him intensely shy, so he spent his days alone, gazing at soccer magazines. If he sat here, he could also watch his classmates as they played the sport.
“I-If you start hanging around someone like me, you’ll be excluded from the rest of the class and become a loner too. You’re better off pretending like you want nothing to do with—” Enta started.
“But I absolutely do want something to do with you! I mean it, I want to play soccer with you. If the two of us team up, I know we can become a Golden Duo!”
A Golden Duo…
Those words had a sweet ring to them. Enta peered up at Kazuki, who almost seemed to sparkle. Two contradictory impulses within him were battling it out: one wanted to take the hand in front of him, the other thought it was too scary to try. The deciding factor was the blue friendship bracelet tied around Kazuki’s left ankle. It seemed to infuse Enta with courage as he took to his feet, grabbing the hand in front of him.
“…I’m Jinnai Enta.”
“I’m Yasaka Kazuki! Let’s be friends, Enta!”
“Kazuki…”
“You probably had no idea how it made him feel when he squeezed your hand, back then. You held his hand when he was lonely. That made him so happy. Enta told me so, you know. He said he’d never, ever let you be all alone. No matter what, no matter when, he would be there with you, he said.”
Kazuki had only casually called out to the other boy on that day. He had no clue that it had such deep meaning for Enta until Otone told him as much.
“…What the heck,” he cursed under his breath, dashing off.
He clung to the glass window in front of the ICU. Behind it, the room looked so sterile, so cold. Enta was stretched out on a bed, his skin so white, his normal sunny vitality nowhere to be seen.
Kazuki cried, as if to drive off the overwhelming fear that threatened to consume him, “This isn’t like you! You always babble on and on about stupid stuff, but then you won’t tell me the things that really matter. And now you’re just lying there, injured! Open your eyes and smile at me like you always do! Enta…!” Slowly he sank to his knees.
Just then…
“You called?”
A familiar voice rang out behind Kazuki, and when he whipped around…
“Yo!”
There stood a freshly birthed Kappa-Enta.
“E-E-Entaaaa?!”
Enta immediately pressed his tiny mucus-covered hand over Kazuki’s mouth. “Shhh! Or my sister and grandma will hear you!” It would be bad if they realized a seriously injured patient had suddenly gone missing.
Kazuki nodded his head to show that he understood, and finally Enta withdrew his hand. “Pwah! But Enta, why are you here?”
“’Cause I swallowed him up and turned him into a kappa, ribbit.”
Keppi appeared beside them. It felt like forever since Kazuki had last seen him. “Keppi! Where have you been?”
“It’s a long story, ribbit…” Keppi replied with a shiver.
Tik, tik, tik, tik, tik, tik…
Kazuki could faintly hear a strange sound drifting up from somewhere. “What’s that noise?”
“Huh? Oh yeah, it does kinda sound like a ticking time bomb,” Kappa-Enta remarked thoughtfully. Its precise rhythm made him uneasy. Comparing it to a bomb seemed accurate.
“Oh, you know, it’s just a timer to display Enta’s remaining hours slipping away, ribbit.”
When Kazuki glanced at the plate on Enta’s head, he noticed it had turned into a timer with the words Life and Death written on it.
“What?! Seriously?! Whoa! I can’t see it! Eeeek!” Kappa-Enta began wriggling around as if trying to find some way to view it for himself.
“Enta, calm down,” said Kazuki. “It’s okay, there’s still time!” He left out the fact that there were only six hours left. There was still a chance that they could change things. “I’m going to save you, Enta. We’re going to get those Wishing Plates back!”
“Kazukiiii… Uh, but…” Enta, who was splayed out on his belly, glanced up at Kazuki. He then promptly hid his face. “I’m reaping the consequences of my own actions, you know. This isn’t really your problem to take care of.”
Enta understood, really. His jealousy drove him to steal the plates, which was why Toi left. Then he had a big fight with Kazuki and got shot by those strange men. It was divine retribution.
“It absolutely is my problem to take care of!” For a moment, Enta almost thought he was having another one of his delusions, but he was wrong. Kazuki’s strong hands wrapped around him, lifting him so that the two were at eye level. “We’re the Golden Duo, aren’t we?” The Kazuki smiling in front of him now was the very same one that had found him hiding in the corner of the schoolyard all those years ago.
“K-Kazukiii! Kazuki, Kazuki, Kazukiii!”
“Ehehe.”
Kappa-Enta threw his arms around Kazuki. Secretly, he felt like he could at least die happy now. He wouldn’t say that to Kazuki, though. Kazuki wouldn’t find it funny. And really, Enta wasn’t good at giving up. He wanted to live. He wanted to hear Kazuki call the two of them a Golden Duo again—and again and again!
Whether this is fate or not, I’m not going to let go of my desires anymore!
Scene 4
CHIKAI AND TOI were at a small plaza by the Takeshiba Pier, where Masa was giving them what they needed to make their trip.
“This ticket will take you to the island. From there, you’ll have to take a different ship.”
“Yeah. Sorry for all the trouble I put ya through,” said Chikai.
They’d used relatively legal means to travel so far, but after this, they’d be living mostly outside the law. Money and trust meant everything in the underworld. That was the world Toi would now be stepping into.
“Nah, this is no big deal! Bro, go on and take care of yourself. You too, Toi-san, glad to have met ya!” Masa smiled over at him.
Toi was sure they would never see the man again. With that in mind, he figured he could at least be nice since this was goodbye. “Thanks.”
BANG!
For a split second, light flashed over Masa’s face. An empty ammunition shell fell right in front of Toi.
“Bro…?” That was the last word Masa spoke. His body slumped to the ground and stopped moving.
“Let’s go. The boat’s gonna leave.” Without missing a beat, Chikai turned his back and started to walk off.
What just happened?
Why was this happening?
Brother… Brother…
“Wait!” Toi seized Chikai’s hand as he headed up the stairwell. “Why do you have a gun?! Why did you shoot him?!”
Chikai didn’t even look at him as he responded, “Masa’s not the kinda guy that can survive in this world. So I killed him. That’s all.” His brother shook him off.
Toi’s arm fell limply to his side. A countless number of ‘whys’ and ‘how could yous’ surged inside his chest like a tsunami.
Chikai left his motionless little brother behind and made it to the top of the stairwell. He sounded thoroughly annoyed as he spat out, “Tch, now a real pain in the neck is here.”
“Bro… I was getting tired of waiting for you.” Through the darkness, the white light of a nearby ferry carved the outline of a thin man who was seated there, sunglasses over his eyes. Two of his underlings were positioned beside him. Chikai could see that they were all armed, and the barrels of three Berettas stared him down.
“Taka,” Chikai called back to him, “how’d you know I’d be here?”
The man, Taka, wore a thin smile as he responded coldly, “You’ve got so many enemies, it was easy getting information on you.”
“Hah, you don’t say! And after all I did for you.” Taka had been Chikai’s right-hand man when he was in SHIKOTAMA. Chikai reached into his jacket’s inner pocket, where he’d stashed his weapon.
“You used that gun to kill Masa, didn’t you? You’ll even kill your allies just to save your own hide. How very like you.”
Toi was still in the stairwell, motionless. All he could do was stand there and listen—to a conversation between his brother and some man he couldn’t even see. Apparently, this Taka hadn’t realized Toi was there yet.
“I’m the type who likes to play all my cards early. After all, if I don’t, traitorous bastards like you come slinking up outta nowhere.”
Toi could only see half of his brother’s face from here. Chikai was grinning boldly, but Toi’s view of him began to blur.
“This is the last time I have to suffer your backtalk. Whether we kill you or the cops catch you, all that awaits you is hell.”
BANG!
“Gah!” The underling right beside Taka took a bullet to the head and went tumbling over the railing behind him.
Chikai held out his Tokarev and snarled, “Doesn’t matter. I’ll kill every last one of you!”
Dry, earsplitting blasts rippled through the darkness of the pier. Chikai’s odds would have been better if it was just two on one. Alas, as they traded fire from behind shrubs, HIS Tokarev TT-33 gave an empty click to indicate it was out of bullets.
“Tch…”
He tossed it aside and reached around his back. Having realized the situation, the other remaining underling quickly stood, intending to storm him while he was vulnerable.
But then—
BANG!
A bullet fired at the man from a direction he hadn’t anticipated, blasting right through his shoulder. “Gwahh!! Aaaah!”
Chikai popped his head out from the bush. What he saw made him doubt his eyes. “Huh? You…”
Toi was standing there, firing a gun. The weapon in question was the Tokarev from four years ago that Chikai thought they threw away.
Toi glanced over at him and shouted, “Run!”
An unusual silhouette appeared atop Azuma Bridge.
“The two of us are a couple~! ♪ The best couple~! ♪ Woohoo!”
Reo held wine in one hand and a cake box in the other as he sang and danced. Unlike the one they performed for Desire Extraction, this dance was genuinely carefree. Reo’s joy was too massive to contain, so he was expressing his exultation the best he could.
By the time he reached the police box, the sun had completely set.
“Hey, sorry I’m late! But I did get your favorite pancakes and takeout so… Hm?”
It was dead silent inside. On the desk was a polite notice that said the police box was currently unattended, with some alternative contact information. Had Mabu gone out to buy something? Reo could go look for him, but he had no idea where Mabu might be. With no other recourse, he decided to just wait for his partner’s return.
When he glanced at the interior of the police box, though, he noticed that the door to the break room had been left slightly ajar.
“Mabu…?”
No one responded.
A sticky sense of anxiety clung to him as he tightened his grip around the wine bottle and stepped through the door. Instead of a normal break room, the doorway connected him to Asakusa Metro’s number eight exit. The otter mascot on the sign in front of him almost seemed to be mocking him.
A grating noise could be heard from down inside the underground shopping district.
“That looks otterly painful, Mabu…”
Reo knew it. The otter was involved.
He flew down the stairs. When he reached the bottom, he saw a shop in front of him. The shutters were drawn, cutting off his way inside. The words Otter Bar had been painted on them. From the other side, he could hear Mabu’s frenzied voice.
“Aah… Don’t go. You have to watch me…”
“Odd-er. Heh heh heh, as you wish…”
What was happening there on the other side of those shutters? Reo flipped up the post slot and peered in.
Red blossomed like a flower amidst the darkness. It was Mabu’s heart, a sight that Reo was accustomed to seeing. The hand dragging it out of his chest, however, did not belong to Mabu.
The shadow otter yanked the pulsing mechanism close. Its upturned lips parted as it stuck its tongue out, taking a big, messy lick at the organ in its grasp. Mabu’s bare shoulders jerked at the sensation.
In that moment, the hatred that was boiling in the pit of Reo’s stomach came bubbling to the surface. He slammed his hand as hard as he could against the shutter. “Get away from Mabu!”
“Reo…?” Mabu sounded dazed, like a lost child.
“You bastard, keep your filthy hands off of him!” Reo furiously hauled open the shutter, intent on shining outside light onto the otter and its misdeeds. What the light revealed to him instead was…
“That’s…me?” For a moment, he almost wondered if there was a mirror in front of him. If it was a mirror, then he certainly had a repulsive look on his face.
“Otterly untrue. I am an otter. However, I am also you.”
“What are you talking about?!”
The otter had taken Reo’s form as it embraced a naked Mabu. There was amusement in the creature’s voice as it said, “We otters exist in this world as a concept. We’re mirrors that reflect the desires within you.”
“Stop…” Reo said. He didn’t want to hear any more. Not another word.
“You’re the one who wants to control Mabu, Reo. It is you who desires to kiss his otterly fake mechanical heart…” As if to drive its point home, the otter (still wearing Reo’s shape) drew its moist tongue over the organ still in its hand.
“I said stop!” Reo had smothered those desires for so long. He didn’t want to listen as the otter exposed them now.
“The two of you are merely controlled by your own desires—controlled by us otters. Now, Mabu, what is it that’s most precious to you?” asked the otter.
Mabu just lingered there in the creature’s grasp, slowly blinking.
“Is it me? Or him?” the otter whispered, his lips close enough to brush the pale skin of Mabu’s neck. “Tell me, what am I to you?”
No more. Reo didn’t want to hear any more.
“Right now, what I need is you…” Mabu’s voice was so distant, like bubbles rising up from the deepest parts of the ocean.
The sound of glass shattering drowned out his words as Reo smashed his bottle of wine against the wall. The white paint was now covered in a splatter of red.
“Ha ha ha ha! I knew you were a fake. I was an idiot for believing for even a second that you weren’t. I’ll use my own power to bring back the real Mabu.” Reo clawed at his chest, raking his fingernails over the fabric of his shirt before leaving.
It wasn’t as if all hope was lost.
“Just one more plate. As long as I can get one more Wishing Plate…!”
Skytree went dark at midnight. From Kazuki’s room, the tower was now only illuminated by the ring of light that ran across the perimeter of its observation deck and the high-altitude aircraft warning lights.
A hand slipped under the pillow on the top bunk, pulling out a single silver Wishing Plate. The intruder meticulously climbed back down and tiptoed to the door, but just as they were sliding it closed…
“Kazu-chan?” Haruka’s voice called out from the bottom bunk.
“Sorry. Did I wake you?” Kazuki helped his little brother up, and the two sat side by side on the bed.
“Are you going somewhere?”
“Uh, yeah…for a bit.”
Haruka asked, “Again, without telling anyone?”
Kazuki’s heart jumped.
“I’m not as oblivious as I was before, you know,” his brother said.
Ahh, Kazuki realized. Haruka’s really grown. Maybe I’m the one who hasn’t. He gently wrapped an arm around Haruka’s shoulder. Kazuki knew his brother always felt relieved when he patted his head. “You’re right, I’m sorry,” he said. “I’m going to help Enta.”
“Is it going to be dangerous?”
“It could be, but I’ve already made my decision. It’s my turn to do the saving this time.” Putting his feelings into words only seemed to strengthen them further.
“Yeah, Enta’s always helping me out, too,” Haruka happily revealed. “He always came with me every week for rehab.”
Enta, that jerk. He never said a word to me, Kazuki thought. Just as quickly, he realized, Well, knowing Enta, it makes sense he wouldn’t say anything.
“…I guess there’s a lot I didn’t know,” said Kazuki. So much had happened, and there was so much he’d missed.
“Enta and I had the same wish.” Haruka reached under the Sara mascot plush at his bedside, pulling out a plate-shaped headdress—the one Kazuki wore when he was cross-dressing as Azuma Sara. There was a small, folded piece of paper underneath the headdress. Haruka pulled it open and smiled triumphantly. “Our wish came true! Pretty amazing, isn’t it?” He passed it over to Kazuki.
“Is that me?” It was a drawing of Kazuki wearing a blue uniform and kicking a soccer ball.
“You’re going to run again, aren’t you, Kazu-chan?”
There was a doodle in one corner that Enta must have drawn as well. The two of them had been waiting for Kazuki this entire time.
The doodle seemed to have been drawn on the back of a flier. Kazuki absentmindedly flipped it over and glanced at the front.
“You used to love that guy, didn’t you?” said Haruka.
It wasn’t a flier—it was a poster of a soccer player that had been famous overseas when Kazuki first started the sport. The player stood out on the field, balanced on just his right foot with his left hand at his forehead. The pose definitely left an impression.
But he was pretty sure the first time he ever saw this pose was actually…
“If it breaks, it’s supposed to grant the wearer’s wish!” a boy told him, throwing a blue friendship bracelet down at him. With the sun at his back, he was a mere silhouette on top of Azuma Bridge, striking the same pose as that famous athlete. That boy was…
“It was Toi,” Kazuki gasped.
Toi had been the original owner of the friendship bracelet now tied around his right ankle. He knew now why Toi threw away his ball. But while Toi had turned his back on the sport, soccer became Kazuki’s light in the darkness. It was thanks to soccer that he met Enta, and the two became a Golden Duo. Even though Kazuki had thrown away the friendship bracelet once, Haruka had recovered it, and Enta had returned it to Kazuki.
He felt a gentle warmth climbing up his right ankle.
No matter how far apart we are, we’re still connected.
“Ehehe, I love seeing you run, Kazu-chan!” Haruka smiled gently. “I’ll be waiting for you.”
He had someone who promised to wait for him.
“I’ll be back,” said Kazuki.
And now he had somewhere to return to. That alone was enough to make him feel like he could run forever.
A shadow staggered tiredly across the desolate bridge between Takeshiba Pier and Hinode Pier. Dim streetlights flickered above Chikai, his face unreadable beneath the shadows of his glasses.
“You only get one life. It’s not a game where you can change out balls…”
If you die, it’s all over.
Every time someone died, he chanted that line to himself. If it was his turn this time, surely someone else would say the same thing.
“When things aren’t going well, just throw it all away…!”
That was what he’d done up until now.
My way is the right way, he thought.
“Brother!” It was the same voice he heard many times before, calling him from behind—a voice that belonged to his much younger brother. The only family he had left. Someone he had to protect.
“Ohh, hey, I was worried! Not hurt, are ya?” Chikai asked.
“…Nah.”
He glanced back over his shoulder. As he suspected, the gun in Toi’s hand was the same Tokarev TT-33 from their past. “Why do you have that gun?” And how many times have you fired it?
“Four years ago… I switched it out before you threw it away,” answered Toi.
“Aha, clever. Should’ve expected as much from my own little brother.” Chikai slipped his left hand behind his back as he proceeded forward, one step after the other.
“Are you…going to throw away me too?”
Chikai stopped in his tracks when Toi posed that question.
Toi was sure they couldn’t go back anymore, but that didn’t stop him from trying. “I don’t care if you are rotten to the core,” he said. “You’re still my older brother.”
Someone steals from you, you take back what’s yours! Every time someone swiped something from him, that was what he’d told himself. Toi stole someone’s life with this gun. He’d stolen his own brother’s life. If anyone was going to steal everything from him, it had to be Chikai.
“…You’re a bit too perfect to be my little brother.” Chikai held a Colt Junior in his left hand. “In this world, it’s only the bad people who survive…”
Toi slowly closed his eyes.
BANG!
Scene 5
BY THE TIME he realized what was happening, Toi was on the ground. He could hear the splatter of thick liquid dripping onto the pavement.
“Guh…hah…” Dark red circles were forming at his brother’s feet.
“I did iiiit!” Taka roared from where he stood on a boat anchored nearby.
Chikai immediately aimed his Colt and fired.
BANG!
“Urgh…!”
The range of Chikai’s gun was just barely enough to take the other man down. After the deed was done, Chikai turned his attention to his own stomach, and the red stain on his shirt that was growing. “Bastard!” he cursed as he staggered toward the water bus stop. Toi belatedly chased after him.
Toi was ready for his brother to take his life.
He covered for me again.
And this time, there would be no going back.
The sign on the red and blue water bus read Out of Service. Chikai made his way to the rooftop deck.
“What the heck are you doing? We have to get to a hospital…” Toi wasn’t talking to his brother so much as he was saying it for his own sake—so he wouldn’t panic or lose control.
“Forget it,” said Chikai. “Wouldn’t change things anyway.”
It was the exact answer Toi anticipated. He had no idea how to reply. He just watched as his brother hobbled forward, leaving puddles of blood in his wake as he headed toward the front of the ship.
“Brother!”
They were approaching the Great Chuo Bridge. Through the moonless darkness, its white pillars shone like cold gravestones.
Chikai slowly turned back. His lips were pulled up in a grin. He looked up at the bridge towering above them and fell backward.
As if finally broken out of his paralysis, Toi went stumbling and tripping after his brother. Even now, a dark red circle was forming beneath Chikai as he lay there on the ground. “Everything…should have gone smoothly,” he started.
“Don’t talk anymore…!”
“It’s your fault…that my plans got all messed up…”
“I’m sorry!” shouted Toi. “Just…stop…”
Chikai’s trembling hand reached up, digging through his shirt pocket. He pulled out a crumpled ten-thousand-yen bill. “Use this to take care of…your meals for a bit…” The blood-splattered bill smeared red across Toi’s cheek before it, together with his brother’s hand, fell to the ground. There were other ten-thousand-yen notes stuffed haphazardly in Chikai’s breast pocket as well. Sandwiched between them was what looked to be a white piece of paper. Toi had a feeling he knew what it was.
“Dammit…” mumbled Chikai.
Toi slipped the paper out, careful to avoid his brother’s notice, and flipped it over.
“Emotional attachments are…a real pain in the ass…”
It was their family photo, scribbled over numerous times with a black marker. Both of their parents’ faces were covered over, but Chikai’s was the least visible among them. The one place the scribbles stopped—the one place still visible—was the spot where a young Toi’s smiling face was.
“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!” Toi threw himself over his brother’s corpse and sobbed. It was as if all the tears he’d held in for these past four years were coming out all at once.
His brother had always been by his side. The day they went to the Sanja Festival, the day they sold soba outside Sobakyuu, the day they went to Hanayashiki, the day Toi first showed interest in soccer, the day he bought a soccer ball, the day he was first able to do ten lifts, the day he joined the soccer team, the day he first scored a winning goal, the day his parents died, and the day he shot someone.
Always.
Toi was happy—privileged, even—that he was in a position where he could selfishly insist on the two of them staying together. It would have been better if his brother had kept living, though, even if it meant being far apart. Now, no matter what happened in the future, no matter if Toi was happy or in pain, his brother would no longer be with him.
The boat the two boarded was now approaching the Eitai Bridge, lit up all in blue.
Toi gradually lifted himself up. The wind tugged the bill Chikai had been holding loose and sent it flying. Once Toi was back to his feet, he tossed his opened backpack through the air.
“Dammit!” he screamed.
Hundreds of ten-thousand-yen bills went dancing through the air, scattering. It was only their crumpled family photo that remained, wiggling in the wind.