***
An hour had passed without a single stirring on the other end of the clearing. Noda spent her time trying to keep busy by making adjustments on her gadgets, keeping her camera mounted on the mini stand and trained on the maintenance door. Eiichi had been sitting against a tree. With nothing to do and unable to light up another smoke while waiting, he had been poking around in the dirt with a stick and stealing long glances at the back of the tech building.
Finally, he tossed the stick and got into a crouch position.
“I’m gonna go take a look.”
Noda strained under her breath, “Kozuka, don’t!”
“I’m just gonna’ see if it’s locked or not. If they’ve left already, we’ll be here all night, but they probably wouldn’t bother locking it again. If it’s unlocked, we can go around to the front of the school and see if there’s anyone here. If there isn’t, then we can go home. Ready your phone to send me a text if you see anyone.”
Noda let out a nervous sigh and didn’t say any more.
He pulled his hood up over his head and snuck out of the bushes, moving toward the building at a low trot, his eyes scanning the area for any movement.
When he was close, he straightened out and moved to the door. He almost had his hand to the knob.
‘Someone’s close.’
A lax, male voice spoke from behind him, “Whoa, whoa, that’s far enough Kozuka.”
Eiichi whipped around to see three figures had stepped into the fluorescent light behind him.
‘Shit! Asako, I told you to let me know if someone was coming!’
Two of the figures were still wearing Aki Guro uniforms, and Eiichi recognized them from before when they had chased Noda and him off. But the third was wearing a white blazer and slacks and had long hair. The voice had come from this one, and he carried himself with an air of false confidence that only a career liar could muster.
“I thought you might be showing up, after my guys told me all about how you’ve been sniffing around what we’re doing here, so I had us set up a little waiting party, just for you.”
He had a weasel face. He talked like a weasel too.
The door opened up from behind him, and he had to step forward as two more members, one of them Okanaya, stepped out. Okanaya traded places with one of the guys in front, who stepped behind Eiichi so he was surrounded.
All of them, except for weasel face, were wielding bats, crowbars and tire irons.
Just like he had suspected, Okanaya had been working with someone who must be the brains of the operation. He didn’t know this guy, but he thought he remembered hearing some rumors going around, about a year ago, that had to do with Okanaya’s bust.
There was a name that kept coming up for some time, someone Okanaya had been working with.
He eyed the guy with long hair closely. “Tsuchiyama, am I right?”
“So you know me,” Tsuchiyama nodded.
“I know of you. It figures it would be you.”
“Oh really, what tipped you off?”
“Your name has popped up a few times in the past year. You really like coming up with these half-baked schemes, don’t you? You shouldn’t have put Okanaya on guard duty, or I wouldn’t have had a clue.”
Tsuchiyama couldn’t help letting out a self-gratifying cackle. “This may be the first time we’ve met, but I’m starting to get that you pick up on things pretty quick.”
“Yeah, everyone keeps telling me that...”
“So what is it Kozuka? You lookin’ to get in on what we got going here?”
“I was just a little curious why a bunch of teenage thugs are so interested in breaking into a school campus.”
Tsuchiyama raised a coy hand. “It should be obvious, shouldn’t it?”
“What? Stolen office equipment? Talk about small time.”
This pestered Tsuchiyama a little. “Hey! There’s a lot of money to be had in it, but if you’re not interested, oh well.”
“You idiots are still wearing your uniforms. Stand out much? I know most of you don’t even attend this school, so if you get caught on video, they’ll know about that little tidbit.”
‘Asako, you had better be taking pictures right now...’
Tsuchiyama chuckled. “We’re not worried about surveillance. Don’t you know it’s wrong to go around sticking your nose in other people’s business?”
“I have a knack for it, what can I say?”
A shriek from out in the trees interrupted their conversation.
“Kyah! Let go of me! Let go!”
It was Noda!
Tsuchiyama continued, “Well, there’s something I have a knack for as well. My boys told me you weren’t working alone, and just as I thought, you brought back up.”
Two struggling figures staggered into the light. The sixth and final member had Noda, with one arm held behind her back, and his wrapped around her waist.
Eiichi felt the blood rush from his face, causing tingling in his cheeks and fingers. “Asako, you alright?”
“Kozuka, do something!” Noda cried.
“Check it out boss,” her captor said, rather amused. “This bitch started screaming before I even found her. Must’ve got caught on somethin’ and spooked her, haha!”
Tsuchiyama let out another cackle, “Haha! Wow, she’s not half bad looking for an otaku. You really know how to reel ‘em in, Kozuka,” ending with sarcasm.
Eiichi snarled, “Looking at adding kidnapping and sex crimes to your rap sheet now?”
“Hey, can’t blame a guy for wanting to have a little fun. We could claim her as a little bonus prize after we’re done here.”
“Ah! Kozuka, help!”
‘Hang in there Asako...’
Suddenly, something stood out to him that wasn’t obvious until now. Noda’s output wasn’t conveying as much fear as she was showing. There was that scheming again. She was holding back something that she was very focused on. She was still terrified, but she was also acting. She clung to this thing with all of her mental strength. What had she done while he was away?
If she had something in mind, he could not allow himself to remain still. Noda had doubt too, and if whatever she was planning didn’t work, he couldn’t afford to not be ready with his own move.
Fighting back would be risking it. Even if he did manage to disarm one of them, he’d have the other four to deal with.
‘There has to be something here. Something I’m missing. Their devious emotions are so putrid, it’s like wading through hot garbage...’
Okanaya had worked with Tsuchiyama before. Eiichi could remember seeing the bust in the news and reading up on it. Tsuchiyama’s name had never been mentioned, but Eiichi had run into a lot of talk about him from the delinquents both in and out of school. And the amount the police found in store hadn’t been anything impressive, even for a small gambling ring. And a bunch of high school kids could not set something up like that without some power backing it.
He looked up just in time to see Okanaya approach Tsuchiyama. Okanaya wasn’t happy, Eiichi could feel it. They stepped back a moment and seemed to be whispering to each other heatedly. Eiichi couldn’t hear what they were saying, but they were close enough that he didn’t have to.
‘Contempt, things aren’t going so well. Okanaya’s been quiet until now.’
“Hey Okanaya, so what’s your piece in all this? You playing Tsuchiyama’s little guard dog again?”
Okanaya turned on Eiichi and pointed. “Eh, fuck you Kozuka!”
“Did he tell you how much you’d be making out of this? When was the last time he paid you?”
Tsuchiyama sauntered away from Okanaya. “Why do you gotta bust my balls, Kozuka?”
“Well, all I’m saying is I heard a few things about that gambling ring that got busted about a year ago. The word was that a lot of people got put away for a while, including Okanaya here. I also heard that you were in charge of the whole thing.”
Tsuchiyama’s face grew stern,
some of that confident front beginning to crumble.
‘He knows what I’m talking about, but there’s something else.’
“What are you getting at?” Tsuchiyama asked.
“Well, you n’ Okanaya have been working together so long, I would’ve thought you’d be a lot closer by now, since you both were arrested in that.”
‘Guilt. He was involved, but something else happened. He doesn’t care, but he would rather forget about it right now.’
Eiichi focused on Okanaya, ‘He has full recognition of what happened. Pride, and then depression. As soon as I mentioned the bust, he felt pride for having jail time that he could boast about, but depression about the actual time spent.’
Tsuchiyama pushed forward, “What the fuck is this? Why are you wasting my time?”
Eiichi smoothed out his words in a grim tone, “It’s a simple question. I just wanted to know if you two got to be cell mates. So Okanaya, has he told you what you’ll be making?”
“Alright, shut him up!” Tsuchiyama sounded panicked.
“Why don’t you tell him?”
Suddenly Okanaya became very uneasy. “You said we’d make bank!”
Tsuchiyama turned. “And we will! After you get rid of him and we get the hell out of here!”
“Is that all he told you?” Eiichi inserted.
Okanaya looked to him warily, “Yeah...”
“And you didn’t ask about when you’d be getting the money? Did he even tell you how he was going about selling them and how long it would take?”
Tsuchiyama stepped in. “He’s fuckin’ with you Okanaya! He doesn’t know shit!”
“He said he’d take care of it,” Okanaya muttered.
“And you didn’t find that a little funny? Okanaya, why’re you still rolling’ with this guy?”
“He said it was cool.”
“And you just took his word for it?”
Okanaya looked down at the grass, and it seemed like he was actually pondering the situation and thinking things through for the first time.
“Did you even see him after you got busted?” Eiichi added.
“No, they cuffed us and sat us on the curb before taking us to the station.”
“And did you see any of the money out of that deal?”
“No, it was all confiscated.”
“Was it? Because on the news, they said the cops only confiscated some ten-thousand yen. It made you guys look like a bunch of amateurs.”
“Shit no, we were running for at least a couple months. We were raking in five mill!”
“Isn’t it a little weird that somehow Tsuchiyama and five-million yen in gambling funds go missing all in the same day? Did you even see him while serving time?”
Everyone else, including Noda, had fallen silent and stood still as this exchange occurred.
Okanaya looked away again. His confusion flailed about, seeking a clear answer to the points Eiichi made. He was even beginning to feel a little scared that he had made a big mistake. And then rage appeared, painting his output in vibrant orange and red shades.
‘Gotcha’...’
Now it was time to work the brain, who was feeling pretty vulnerable now, his false confidence having fled him. Eiichi smoothed his predatory gaze on Tsuchiyama.
“You’re looking pretty scared, Tsuchiyama. Why aren’t you showing your henchman any love?”
Suddenly, Okanaya lifted his head at Tsuchiyama with clenched fists. “I thought you got caught like the rest of us!?”
“I told you, I did! They sent me to a different pin!”
Eiichi’s malignant voice smoothed in as he continued to entice Okanaya, while painting his boss a darker and darker shade of black, “Nah, I don’t think Tsuchiyama served time. He got away with the money and then laid low for a while, made sure no one on the street saw his face. He probably made the call himself and split. He could probably still apply for a job without question because his record is clean.”
“You lying son of a bitch!” Okanaya shouted.
‘All true. He’s just getting more and more guilty.’
“You set us up!”
The thug holding Noda tossed in his lot. “Let’s kick his ass and get outta’ here!”
Eiichi continued, “And he’s probably gonna’ do it again. That’s what happens when you run with the same crew and don’t pay attention to their actions, Okanaya.”
Okanaya advanced toward Tsuchiyama and grabbed him by the collar. “I’m gonna’ kill you, and take all the money for myself!”
This was his chance. Eiichi backed up closer to the thug standing to his left, clenched his arm, and thrust his elbow upward, directly into his face. The thug’s head whipped back as Eiichi grabbed and wrestled for the tire iron in his hands.
Just then, white lights appeared from out of the dark and rushed toward the group, mingling in with the blue fluorescents. Voices could be heard shouting from all directions.
“Hands up! Hands up!”
“Get on the ground!”
At least half a dozen cops moved in, aiming flashlights, revolvers and stun guns at everyone.
One of them quickly moved on one of the members. “Drop the weapon, kid!”
Two closed in on Noda and her captor. “Hands off her! Get on your face!”
Before Tsuchiyama could bolt off with Okanaya in pursuit, they were both tackled and wrestled into zip ties.
Eiichi had dropped the tire iron, after the thug he wrestled it from relinquished it in an attempt to run. Another officer approached him, handgun raised.
“Get down. Hands and feet apart.”
Eiichi did as instructed, fanning his hands out and slowly getting down on one knee. Noda had been the only one not facing arrest, and when she saw this, she rushed forward.
“Don’t! He’s my friend!”
This was the first time in many years that anyone had ever called him that.
Eiichi P.I., Vol. 1 Page 8
