Bullet Train

by Kotaro Isaka

  ‘More importantly, are you okay? I was worried that Tangerine and Lemon might have got you.’

  ‘I’m with Tangerine right now. You want to talk to him?’ Nanao sounds like he’s making a self-deprecating joke.

  Maria says nothing for a moment. She must be worried. ‘They captured you?’

  ‘No, no. We’re helping each other out.’ As he says it he looks over at Tangerine, who shrugs. ‘I’m doing what you suggested and giving them the bag.’

  ‘I only said to do that as a last resort.’

  ‘And now’s the time for last resorts.’

  Maria goes quiet again. In the silence Tangerine gets a call on his own phone and steps away to take it. The schoolkid is left standing on his own, but he doesn’t go back to his seat. He just stands there, watching the two men.

  ‘What’s the next station?’

  ‘Actually, Maria, did you know that it’s not Morioka after all? It’s Ichinoseki.’

  ‘Then that’s where you should get off. Forget about the bag. Just get out of there. The train must be cursed. It’s too dangerous! Get out and don’t look back.’

  Nanao smiles bitterly. ‘The train is fine, it’s me that’s cursed.’

  ‘Don’t let your guard down around Tangerine and Lemon. They’re dangerous too.’

  ‘You don’t need to tell me.’

  Nanao ends the call. A few moments later, Tangerine comes back over. ‘It was Minegishi.’ His expression is unchanged but he gives off a heavy feeling.

  ‘What did he say?’ the schoolkid wants to know.

  Tangerine gives the kid a sharp look of warning, then turns to Nanao. ‘He told me to come to Morioka.’

  ‘To Morioka.’

  Apparently Minegishi was more solicitous than angry. He wanted to know why Tangerine showed his men the wrong bag.

  ‘I was thinking, should I apologise, should I play dumb, should I talk back? I ended up saying, Your men were giving me a hard time, so I wanted to put them in their place.’

  ‘Why would you say that?’ It seems like an answer that would make Minegishi even more upset.

  ‘I thought it would make it harder for him to figure out what’s going on. If I’ve turned on him or if I’m just screwing around. The truth is we didn’t turn on him. We just messed up.’

  Yeah, and that mess-up cost Minegishi’s son his life. Nanao feels his gut twist.

  ‘If you have nothing to hide,’ Minegishi had apparently said, ‘then you’ll come to Morioka. And if you get off early, I’ll just take it to mean that you’re running. And then you’ll be sorry that you ran. I’ll make you suffer so much you’ll wish you had just come to Morioka.’

  And Tangerine had answered, ‘Of course we’ll come to Morioka. Your son can’t wait to see you.’

  After relating the conversation to Nanao, Tangerine shrugs again. ‘So now Minegishi is on his way to Morioka Station.’

  ‘He’s going himself?’

  ‘Yeah, when he should be relaxing at his villa,’ says Tangerine with annoyance. ‘He got a call telling him that something weird was going on, that he might want to check it out for himself.’

  ‘Someone told him that?’

  ‘That guy back at Sendai Station. Best if you have a look yourself, he said.’

  Nanao doesn’t know how to respond at first. Would Minegishi’s subordinate really have made the boss come out? ‘Well,’ he says after a moment, ‘I wish you the best of luck. I’m getting off at Ichinoseki.’

  Tangerine’s gun appears, pointed at Nanao. It’s a small piece, sleek, looks more like an odd-shaped digital camera than a firearm.

  The schoolkid’s eyes widen and he takes a step back.

  ‘You’re staying with me, Ladybird.’

  ‘Sorry. I’m getting off. Off this job, off this train. Your bag is in the crew room and the woman who did Minegishi’s son is in the multi-purpose room after the green car. You can explain everything to Minegishi.’

  ‘No.’ Tangerine’s voice is iron-hard. ‘You think you have a choice here? You think when I pull a gun on you that I’m bluffing?’

  Nanao can neither nod nor shake his head.

  ‘Um, aren’t you going to look for Mr Lemon?’ The kid sounds like the class president again, trying to wrap up the convoluted threads of a bizarre student council meeting. Kids have it so easy, thinks Nanao.

  Kimura

  AS SHIGERU KIMURA PUTS THE telephone receiver down, his wife Akiko asks, ‘Who was that on the phone?’

  They live in an old residential community far to the north of Tokyo, up Route 4 all the way to Iwate. It was built by an eager developer back in the boom years. As time went on and the economy worsened, the young residents moved out to more urban areas, the population shrank, the plans for the unbuilt sections of town never got off the page, and the area became drab and nondescript. The colours on the buildings faded, giving the impression that the town was thrust suddenly from growth into old age. But for Shigeru and Akiko Kimura, an elderly-feeling town was just right, away from the noise and fads of the city. When they found a small stand-alone house here ten years back they bought it without thinking twice, and have lived here happily since.

  ‘It was a call from someone on the Shinkansen,’ he answers.

  ‘Was it now?’ Akiko says, laying a tray with rice cakes and spicy crackers on the table. ‘Here we are. Take turns eating the spicy and sweet ones. All that’s missing is some fruit.’ She sunnily reviews their snack. ‘What did they want?’

  ‘When I called Yuichi before he said he was being held. Help me, he said.’

  ‘Yes, I remember. You said he was on the Shinkansen, playing some practical joke on you.’

  ‘I did. But now I think it might not have been a joke.’ Having trouble connecting the dots, Shigeru Kimura can only speak in vague terms. ‘The schoolkid I talked to before just called again.’

  ‘Did he say Yuichi was up to something?’

  ‘What he said was strange.’

  He shares with his wife what he heard. She cocks her head uncertainly, then picks up a cracker and pops it in her mouth. ‘Not too spicy. Do you want to try calling Yuichi again?’

  Shigeru works the digital telephone awkwardly, trying to find his way through the menu to call back the most recent incoming call. When he finally figures it out and pushes the button, the line goes straight to a message saying that the phone he’s trying to reach has been turned off.

  ‘I don’t like this,’ Akiko says, munching on another cracker.

  ‘I’m worried about Wataru.’ Shigeru feels something leaden in his stomach, expanding, dark and indistinct but mortally heavy. Since the boy on the phone didn’t speak in specifics, he can’t stop his imagination from casting about wildly.

  ‘Is Wataru in danger?’

  ‘I don’t know.’ He picks up the phone again to call the hospital. ‘What the hell was Yuichi thinking, leaving Wataru and getting on a Shinkansen? Do you think he was coming up here to see us?’

  ‘If he were, I think he’d have said so. Even if he was trying to surprise us, at the very least he’d check to make sure we were at home.’

  ‘Maybe he got tired of looking after Wataru and ran off?’

  ‘He’s an alcoholic, and he’s lazy, but he’s not the sort to do that.’

  Shigeru dials the hospital. No one picks up. The ringtone keeps beeping. Finally a staff member answers. It’s a nurse he’s met several times before, and her voice immediately softens when he gives his name. ‘Is everything all right with Wataru?’

  ‘I just looked in on him earlier and there were no changes, but I’m happy to go and have another look.’ Shigeru waits a minute or two before she comes back to the phone. ‘He looks pretty much the same, but if anything happens I’ll be sure to contact you.’

  He thanks her, then pauses for a moment. ‘I was napping and had an upsetting dream about him. That there was a dangerous man sneaking into the hospital to get Wataru.’ He sounds sheepish.

  ‘My good
ness.’ The nurse doesn’t seem to know how to respond. ‘You must have been worried.’

  ‘I’m sorry to bother you with it. I suppose old folks put too much stock in dreams.’

  ‘Oh, no, I completely understand.’

  She’s obviously doing her best to be polite, which he appreciates. It’s nicer than making him feel like he’s a nuisance. He ends the call and hangs up.

  ‘You’re worried there might be some trouble?’ Akiko knits her brows as she lifts her teacup to her lips and takes a sip.

  ‘I think there might have already been. And my hunches are usually right.’ He strokes his white stubble and thinks. ‘Something’s off.’

  ‘What do you mean by something?’

  ‘The person who called. Before he seemed like an ordinary schoolkid, but this time felt different. I could tell.’ He sits up stretches his arms overhead. His frame creaks and his joints pop.

  Shigeru thinks back to the call. It was a male voice, who said he was fourteen, and though he spoke clearly he didn’t actually say very much. ‘You know, you and your wife must be relaxing, I probably shouldn’t have called,’ he had apologised, as if he had done something wrong. ‘Sorry, that’s all I have to say. I’m hanging up now.’ Then the line went dead, leaving Shigeru Kimura in the dark.

  ‘Do you think that boy was up to something?’ Akiko takes another cracker. ‘These are sweeter than they are spicy, really.’

  ‘You know that I’m usually right about this sort of thing.’

  ‘But even if you are, what do you want to do about it? You couldn’t get in touch with Yuichi? Then let’s call the police.’

  Shigeru hauls himself to his feet and heads to the linen closet in the adjacent tatami room.

  There are rolled-up futons on the shelves.

  ‘You’re taking a nap? You always nap when you’re worried.’ Akiko sighs and munches another cracker. ‘And most times you have a bad dream.’

  But to Shigeru, his mind enshrouded by a dark mist, it seems like the nightmare has already started.

  Fruit

  WHERE IS LEMON?

  Tangerine moves down the aisle towards the rear of the train, alert for any signs of his partner. But there’s nothing.

  ‘I’m telling you, he probably got off at Sendai,’ says Nanao from behind his glasses, following Tangerine into the gangway. ‘Something urgent must have come up.’

  Tangerine wheels round. ‘And what could have been so urgent?’ Nanao stops short.

  His body is tense and he looks jumpy, but he’s also put himself at the perfect distance to handle any sudden attacks. Tangerine is impressed. This guy may seem nervous and unreliable, but when it comes to their type of dangerous work it has to be said that he’s a professional. And there behind him is the schoolkid. His hanging around is beyond annoying, but Tangerine can’t be bothered to get rid of him.

  ‘Like maybe there was someone he didn’t like the look of and he followed them off the train,’ Nanao hypothesises.

  ‘… The same thing occurred to me.’

  Lemon could very well have fixed on someone who came out of the toilet and followed them. Tangerine doesn’t know who this suspicious character could have been, but Lemon works more from instinct than from reason, and could easily have made a snap decision to tail a suspect. It wasn’t that hard to imagine. Tangerine had been on the platform with Nanao but he hadn’t had a chance to look up and down the length of the train and might have missed seeing Lemon disembark, if it happened.

  ‘But if he did do that I would expect him to get in touch,’ Tangerine says, more to himself than to Nanao. ‘That’s what he’s done before. He can be lazy and sloppy, but when there’s a change of plans he always calls.’

  Useful trains run on time, Lemon always says. When they need to change tracks they let someone know, if not beforehand then as soon as they can. It’s a matter of principle for Lemon.

  Tangerine takes out his phone and stares at it. No calls.

  As he’s looking at his own phone, the schoolkid gets a call. Tangerine doesn’t hear any ringing or buzzing because of the rumbling of the train, but all of a sudden the kid is pressing his phone to his ear and stepping over to the area beside the door. Wanting to shake off this juvenile nuisance, Tangerine turns and moves on.

  The automatic door to the next car opens and Tangerine enters, once again scanning the passengers’ faces and bags. No one who looks like Lemon. No one who looks like they would have had anything to do with Lemon.

  He steps into the next gangway, followed by Nanao. ‘Like I said, he got off at Sendai.’

  Tangerine stops again. ‘Something tells me he didn’t.’ He turns back round to face Nanao once more. The reverberations of the train pounding the tracks are like a thundering heartbeat. Tangerine pictures them riding inside a giant steel artery.

  ‘Hey, Ladybird.’ A sudden thought. ‘Did you talk to Lemon at all?’

  ‘Talk to him? When do you mean?’

  ‘Whenever.’

  ‘Talk to him, sure, I guess we talked a little.’

  ‘Did he say anything about my key? A key I’m looking for. Or maybe he had some other message for me.’

  Nanao looks wary. ‘A key? A key for what?’

  ‘Never mind,’ says Tangerine.

  What if? he thinks. What if Lemon’s dead? He finally allows the possibility to enter his mind. Could be. It wasn’t impossible, and in fact on this particular Shinkansen trip it seems entirely likely. Why didn’t I consider that before? Tangerine is surprised at how long it took him.

  If Lemon was killed, then it had to have just happened, which means that the killer is most likely somewhere nearby. Tangerine can’t say for certain that it wasn’t Nanao, and if it was, he thinks maybe Lemon would have tried to leave some message or clue.

  ‘He didn’t say anything to you?’

  ‘Nothing about a key, no.’ Nanao doesn’t look like he’s trying to hide anything. Then Tangerine realises that when he left Lemon behind outside the toilet he himself had continued towards the front of the train, which is where he found Nanao. So Nanao had no chance to kill Lemon without Tangerine knowing. Once he puts the pieces together, that much is obvious. He smiles wryly.

  ‘It’s hard to imagine anyone taking him out.’

  ‘He is certainly tough,’ Nanao says earnestly. ‘And one thing he did say to me was If I die I’ll come back again.’

  For a second Tangerine gauges whether that was a message from Lemon, but then he dismisses the possibility. Lemon is always saying that. Any time he meets someone new, he brags to them about being immortal, that he’ll always come back. Sometimes he’ll say something about coming back as Lemon Z, though Tangerine doesn’t know what exactly that means.

  ‘Yeah, well, Lemon and I don’t give up easily. No matter what happens, we always come back when you least expect it.’

  At that moment a conductor enters the gangway from the rear of the train. He’s young-looking, but he walks with his head up and his shoulders back, emanating a sense of duty and reliability.

  Nanao doesn’t hesitate. ‘Excuse me, about the suitcase I gave you earlier. It belongs to him,’ and he points at Tangerine.

  The conductor takes a quick look Tangerine’s way. ‘Ah, yes, I made an announcement about it earlier but no one came to collect it. It’s still in the crew room. Would you mind coming to get it now?’

  ‘Good idea,’ Nanao says, turning to Tangerine. ‘Let’s go and get it, okay?’

  Tangerine hesitates. He still hasn’t searched the whole train for Lemon. But he doesn’t want to let the suitcase get away again. Probably best to secure it while he has the chance.

  ‘Mr Tangerine,’ says a small voice, and he notices that the schoolkid is back. Must have chased them down after finishing his phone call. Persistent little shit. Tangerine is moving past the point of annoyance towards genuine dislike. The kid probably wants to meddle in adult affairs so he can feel grown up, but all he’s doing is being a tremendous nuisance. T
angerine starts to think about what he can do to get rid of him, when the kid speaks up again. ‘I found something weird.’

  The conductor pays no special attention to the kid. ‘Shall we go and get your suitcase?’ With that he sets off towards the front, clearly expecting them to follow him.

  They do, Nanao behind the conductor, then Tangerine, with the kid bringing up the rear.

  When they pass through car seven and into the gangway between seven and eight, the kid tugs on the back of Tangerine’s jacket. Urgent little tugs, like he’s trying to get his attention. Tangerine turns round to find the kid eyeing the toilet door suggestively.

  ‘Hey,’ Tangerine says to Nanao. ‘You go ahead and get the suitcase. I’ll wait for him while he goes to the toilet.’ He jerks his chin towards the kid.

  The conductor doesn’t seem to notice that anything is amiss, and maybe Nanao’s put together what’s going on, because he just nods, and the two disappear into the next car.

  As soon as they’re gone Tangerine steps up to the toilet door. ‘This is where you found something weird?’

  The kid makes a mild face. ‘Yes, this thing right here.’ He points to a bit of copper wire sticking out of the door.

  Tangerine’s eyes widen. It’s Lemon’s copper wire. No doubt about it. Same as the one he used to lock the toilet door from the outside when they hid Little Minegishi’s body.

  ‘It’s weird, right? The toilet’s locked and it says occupied, but it doesn’t sound like there’s anyone in there. Something funny’s going on. I’m a little creeped out.’ This schoolkid looks like he’s frightened of the bathroom the way a little kid is afraid of the dark.

  ‘Did Lemon leave this here?’ Tangerine takes the end of the wire and yanks it upward.

  The lock releases with a clack.

  ‘Are you sure you want to go in?’

  Tangerine ignores him and slides the door open. The scene that greets him is decidedly different from a typical train bathroom. Standard toilet, but also bodies spilled on the floor, limbs twisted and coiled like a nest of serpents. It’s a horror show scene, a grotesque tangle of arms and legs.