Near my apartment, by Senbon-demizu, I ran into Miiko-san, who was out for a stroll, aloof from the world. When she noticed me, she sped up to a pace unusually fast for her and came over to greet me.
"Yo."
"Hello. On your way to work?"
"Nope. Today I'm going to Mount Hiei."
"Ahh, with Suzunashi-san?"
She nodded. Suzunashi-san, full name Suzunashi Neon, was Miiko-san's close friend. She worked part-time at Enryaku Temple on Mt. Hiei in Shiga Prefecture. Some called her "Violence Neon." Others, "Blackout Suzunashi." She was sort of a cool lady, but prone to flipping out randomly. I occasionally saw her myself, but she would lecture me about something every time. For someone so young, she was strangely fond of lecturing others. It was hardly her only major personality issue, but I liked her more or less as much as I liked Miiko-san.
"It sounds like she wants some advice on something, so I'm going out there. I'll be back by tomorrow, so watch over things back here in the meantime. If someone comes to see me, just get their name and tell them whatever you want. If it's someone freaky-looking, don't worry about it."
"Uhh, sure, no problem, I guess."
"Also, you have a visitor."
"A visitor? For me?"
"..."
"Yup," she nodded.
"When I noticed her, she was breaking into your place. She had a little pizzazz about her. Or rather, a ton of pizzazz. I don't know who it was, but her gender appeared to be female. She didn't seem to be up to anything in particular, so I just let it be."
A female? What woman was likely to come visit my place? I didn't have many friends to begin with, so it seemed like I should've been able to narrow it down pretty easily. But the way things had been going lately...
"Was she about this tall? If so, it was that detective."
"No. That was no detective. Detectives don't look like that," she affirmed with confidence. "Besides, I've met that detective you're talking about. I never forget a vibe I get from someone. Oh yeah, and there was a car parked by the apartment that looked like it was probably hers. Maybe it'll give you a clue. Well, see ya," she said, and made her way towards the parking lot. Today's jinbei had the word Tranquility printed on the back. Yep, she was in a good mood today, possibly because she was going to see Suzunashi-san.
But what did Suzunashi-san want with her anyway? She was the type of person who rarely called on others, so I couldn't get it out of my head. And just what kind of "advice" was she seeking? She may have liked sticking her nose in other people's problems, but when it came to sharing her own problems with others, Suzunashi-san was wholly passive.
"Something's odd here."
But the more pressing issue for me right now was: Who was this "visitor" currently waiting inside my apartment? If it wasn't Sasaki-san, who was it? There was always Muimi-chan and Mikoko-chan, but it was unlikely to be either of them. And Kunagisa was an all-out shut-in, so it was highly improbable that it could've been her.
I turned onto Nakadachiuri.
"Gah..."
Suddenly, everything was clear. Parked on the shoulder of the road, as if to say that it was above all traffic laws, was a spectacular bright red Cobra. Completely out of place in a city like Kyoto, it was a monstrous, incredible specimen of machinery.
"Oh my God... I don't want to go home."
I seriously considered the idea of running straight to Kunagisa's place, but based on personal experience, I could imagine the cruel fate that would be in store for me if it were ever revealed that I'd attempted escape. Giving up, I went back to the apartment, dragging my feet all the way.
I climbed up the stairs and headed for my room. The fact that my locked door was no longer locked didn't surprise me. This was a woman who could mimic voices, pick locks, and read minds: The most difficult task was for her as easy as breathing. I opened the door to see the private contractor, adorned in a wine-red suit as dark as blood, sitting on the windowsill with legs crossed, as if her presence were the most natural thing in the world.
Uncompromising.
Aloof.
"Hey, Aikawa-san."
"Didn't I tell you not to call me by my last name?"
"Hey, Jun."
She gave me a slightly cynical grin.
Aikawa Jun.
Mankind's greatest private contractor. I had met her a month ago through the great fiasco that had occurred on that island. She left me that day with the cool line, "If our fates are linked, we shall meet again," only to show up to hang out at my university the next day. She was kind of weird like that. And what's more, she spent the following week making me do her bidding, not even allowing time for sleep, until finally having to leave Kyoto for a job. Speaking from that experience, she was a woman with whom I didn't particularly want to get involved. She was perhaps the most unnerving person I had ever met.
Looking at her with all the objectivity I could summon, she was extremely wild—and she was a beauty of such wicked allure it was hard to resist her. She had any number of eccentric mannerisms. And she was completely unapproachable.
She looked at me, searching for my expression. "You don't seem at all surprised to see me."
"Oh, no, I am. So you're back in Kyoto, huh?"
"Yeah, well, y'know, duty calls. We can talk about that later, though... Ahh, I get it. You saw the flashing car out-side and it tipped you off, huh?"
"No, actually the girl next door told me."
"Aw, and I was being extra careful not to be noticed. That makes me extremely . . ." Aikawa-san's expression grew sharp as a knife for a moment, but it was only for a moment before she reverted back to her normal sardonic smirk. "Eh, whatever," she said.
I removed my shoes and stepped into the room, then made my way straight to the sink. I poured a cup of tap water and served it to her. "Enjoy," I said.
"Muchas gracias," she replied and drank about half of it before placing it on the windowsill.
Geez, she took it as if there was nothing unusual about it. Just once I wanted to see Aikawa-san get surprised about something.
"So what's going on? Why are you back in Kyoto?"
"I said I'll tell you later. More important, allow me to apologize for the period of neglect. But hey, you've got a nice place here. It's the perfect environment."
"Exactly where do you see that?"
"That's not what I mean. Come on, you know what I mean, don't you? Well, whatever. So what've you been up to lately, anyway?"
"Nothing, really. I'm just your average university student. I'm not living some yakuza lifestyle like you."
"Just a regular old student, huh?" she said, chuckling.
"What's so funny?"
"Nothing. Oh, except for the fact that you apparently define 'average' as someone who starts nosing around when one of his classmates is murdered, and maintains friendly relations with serial killers."
"..."
"Ooh, there's that surprised look. You've made me happy."
She jumped down from the windowsill and plopped her-self down cross-legged on the tatami floor. Whether this was something she felt compelled to do because she was wearing such a short skirt, I wasn't sure, but either way, I kind of wished she hadn't.
"How do you know about that stuff?"
"How do you think I know?" She grinned with unbridled elation. But I had no idea what lurked behind this unbridled elation. I was expending copious amounts of energy just standing here talking to her like this. What's more, she was a mind reader of the highest order, so my emotions were all leaking out of the pipes. It felt like we were playing poker, but with my hand faceup on the table. She sure didn't make such things easy. She was like a piece of food that you couldn't eat no matter how long you boiled and grilled it.
But as long as she didn't want something out of you, she was a nice person, I guess. She was my type and all.
"I have no idea," I said. "Not even a clue. It's not like I can ever tell what you're thinking."
"Think. And then face it, man. I'm a lone wolf, but I've got quite a number of friends, in Kyoto and out."
"Hey, that's really something. It's great to have a lot of friends. Even I can acknowledge that. I'll acknowledge it right now. So what friends would you be referring to in this case?"
"For example, Sasa Sasaki."
"..."
"Ikaruga Kazuhito."
"..."
"Kunagisa Tomo."
She pulled a single envelope from her black bag.
"Here you go, it's from your sweet, sweet Kunagisa."
"For me?"
"Yep. She said it's the 'thingy' she promised."
I accepted the envelope. Well, how about that. She must have paid a visit to Shirosaki before coming to my apartment. While I was just your everyday, boringly average university student, Kunagisa Tomo was, with all her eccentricities, an expert computer specialist. She and Aikawa-san knew each other fairly well.
As ordered by Aikawa-san, I thought for a moment. It looked like she had come back to Kyoto for a job. Then she had gone to Kunagisa for help with the said job, just as I had gone to her for help investigating Tomoe's death. Then when Aikawa-san went to visit Kunagisa, Kunagisa had decided to use her as a messenger. Was that what happened? But... Something was missing. There was no reason Kunagisa should have to ask Aikawa-san to do such a thing, and there was no reason Aikawa-san should agree to do it.
This brought a much uglier scenario to mind, and it wasn't purely theoretical. To be more specific, Aikawa-san was...
"Well, now there's just the simple matter of collecting your fee. Tell me what you know about your pal, the Kyoto prowler."
Aikawa wasn't a messenger—she was the collector.
"Jun-san, you mean you came to Kyoto..."
"Yup. To have a little chat about morals with that psychotic nutjob."
Aikawa-san made her living as a "private contractor." This involved anything and everything. Simply put, she was a jack-of-all-trades, a multitalented freelancer who didn't limit her-self by specializing in any one particular field. Whether it was walking dogs, solving locked-room murder mysteries, or catching mass murderers who had already cut up ten people into little pieces, as long as there was money involved, she would take it on. Granted, there probably weren't too many nuts out there offering a big stack of cash just or walking their dog. At any rate, she lived out each day "accomplishing the impossible"—never bothering to make the distinction between legal and illegal.
Be that as it may.
"The Kyoto slasher claimed a twelfth victim yesterday. Seeing as you lived in another country for so long, maybe you don't realize this, but that number is unprecedented in Japan. This kind of incident simply doesn't happen in Japan, much less in a provincial city. What's more, the identity of the killer is a complete mystery. At this point, it's going to require government intervention."
"And so you've been called upon?"
She nodded. "It sounds like there are other people at work on the case as well—Public Welfare, Walker, Texas Ranger—frankly, I don't really know who. Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of horizontal ties. At any rate, my job right now is just to stop that maniac from claiming more victims."
"Did Sasaki-san hire you?"
"Can't tell you that. What do you call it again? The code of confidentiality? Business ethics? Trade secrets?" She gave a comical little shrug and laughed. "Anyway, it seems a lot more worthy of my time than that crazy fiasco on Wet Crow's Feather Island ever was. That's for sure."
Worthy of her time. That's all she had to say in regard to the grisly murderer who had already chopped up twelve people. The idea of taking on this anonymous monster didn't frighten her in the least. On the contrary, she was so laid-back about the whole affair you'd think she was sashaying on her way to a picnic.
Suddenly, I realized all over again just how dangerous this crimson woman was.
And I also realized that I was currently face-to-face with said danger.
"Now then. I heard from Kunagisa-chan that you know a thing or two about all this. I don't suppose you'd mind filling in your favorite big sister—I am like a sister to you, aren't I—on the details now, would you?" she said in a soft, coaxing voice like one might use to address their pet cat, as her fingers crept up my face. It wasn't that I particularly minded that voice, but the speaker herself was either a tiger or a panther, and it was more than a mere tabby like me could resist.
Damn that Kunagisa. Whatever happened to helping each other out? Without the slightest hesitation, she had sold me out.
"What's your problem? Why are you clamming up and looking away? You're being awfully uncooperative. Don't tell me you're not going to tell me. Are you breaking your contract? You promised this in exchange for what's in that envelope, didn't you?"
"Well, yeah, but I said I'd tell Kunagisa, not just anybody. If I went and told you, it would be . . . what's the word? A betrayal? Immoral? Divisive? Rebellious? Whatever. The bottom line is that it feels like backstabbing, and that's just not my thing."
"Excuse me?!" she said, her voice suddenly much more stern. If looks could kill, I would already be dead. Which sounded a lot better than what was really in store for me.
"Are you saying you can tell Kunagisa but you can't tell me? Well goddamn. I had no idea you were such a cold son of a bitch. I see, I see. Gee, you make me sad. So you'll listen to Kunagisa, but you won't listen to me? I had no idea you were such a tough guy."
"It's not like that. It's just that with Kunagisa, no matter what you tell her, she's harmless. But you're planning on taking some kind of action, right? Getting myself directly involved with something like that, well... It's just not in my nature."
"Excuse me, did you just call me harmful?"
"Well... Aren't you?"
As if she herself were aware of this, she refrained from objecting to my remark, instead of murmuring to herself thought-fully. She was, to a certain degree, someone who might listen to reason. Once you had surpassed that degree, however, well, you can imagine what happened then—that is to say, it would backfire.
"Kunagisa will probably just tell me anyway. That girl has a big mouth. I figured I might as well just cut out the middle-man and come straight to the source."
"Er, yeah, I know, but... I just have my own reasons, or rather, uh..."
"Hm? Ahhh, ah-ah-ah, I get it! Well, why didn't you say so?!" she said with a wickedly and ghastly grin. She beckoned to me. Each stroke of her hand was so alluring, so graceful, that it was mesmerizing.
"Uhh, you get what, exactly?"
"Just come to me. I'll tease you to your heart's delight."
Seeing that I still wouldn't budge, Aikawa-san instead crawled over to me on all fours. She stared up at me with a challenging, provocative gaze. She nestled her body into mine and wrapped her arms around my back, forcing all of her weight upon me. She applied some pressure, digging her nails into my back.
"Now. What were you saying?"
"Um, I'm terrified of you."
"By the by, did you know that my index finger is perilously close to jabbing through your ribs into your liver?"
"..."
"Don't tense up so much. It's bad for you. It'll make your flesh all stringy. So just out of curiosity, who do you think is scarier—me, or the serial killer?" As she said this, she ran her tongue down the carotid artery on the right side of my neck. The pleasure I felt from this delicate sensation, along with the more pressing sense of fear that she might actually take a gigantic bite out of my neck, bored their way into my brain.
Dammit.
Indeed, the serial killer did make for better company than this.
"Jun-san . . . I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to say no."
"Oh, go right on ahead. But if you do that I won't tease you like this anymore."
"..."
"Either way is fine by me. It doesn't change the fact that you're going to talk. I've already decided that I'm going to have you tell me about this killer. That's a fact. But since you're a friend, I just thought I'd ask first. Now, do you want me to be nice? Or do you want me to make this painful?"
"Uhh... what's the difference?"
The fact that we were in this embracing position was my one saving grace; I didn't have to see her face, and she couldn't see mine. But even still, my cold sweat and pounding heart probably betrayed my terror.
"What do you think is the difference?"
Chomp. She bit down on my neck. She literally had my life in her clutches. Softly, teasingly, she dug her canines into my skin, but at the same time worked a healthy amount of saliva onto her tongue, licking my flesh between her lips, rubbing her body against mine, running her fingers down my back.
"Okay!" I said, using every ounce of strength to pull myself away from her. "I won't disobey you anymore! Please forgive me!" Sitting a little apart from me, Aikawa-san responded with a sly yet somehow innocent smile.
"Don't get so serious. It was just a little joke," she said.
"Yeah, a bad joke. Bad for the heart, anyway..."
"Hahaha. Actually, I'm relieved. You're a healthy young man after all."
"Come on, give me a break."
I had to calm down. So I chugged down a cup of water. It didn't take long for my heartbeat to slow down, but the cold sweating was out of my control.
I am no good at dealing with this woman after all. I should have just run straight to Kunagisa's place without worrying about what might happen later.
"Really now, this is nonsense."
After that, Aikawa-san managed to fish out of me every last detail about Zerozaki Hitoshiki, no stone left unturned. I tried my best to weasel out of revealing the key facts, but with her ability to read my mind, I wasn't especially successful. Every time I tried to hide something, she would see right through me and threaten me, and then either through coercion or trickery would pry the answer out of me. It served to remind me that I was basically her prisoner.
The person is known as Zerozaki. His appearance, build, and clothes at the time we met. The way he spoke. The circumstances surrounding our first meeting. What we talked about. Even the details of our secret infiltration of Tomo-chan's apartment. Aikawa-san drew all of it out of me. At least, as much as I could remember.
It wasn't like Zerozaki and I were friends. We were just of the same breed, and we were like mirror reflections of one another. We hadn't exchanged any sort of promise, and he wasn't preventing me from talking.
Nevertheless, I felt so spineless it was a wonder I didn't collapse.
"Hmm . . ." After all that, Aikawa's smile disappeared and her expression grew more serious. She thought to herself in silence for a few minutes. "So this guy... Zerozaki, was it? Like zero and zaki put together?"
"Yeah. At least, that's what he calls himself."
"Zerozaki Hitoshi... Ahhh, that's a nasty name."
Aikawa-san looked truly irritated like the whole thing was just a big hassle. It was the first time I had ever seen her wear such an expression. It was almost refreshing.
"What do you mean? What's wrong with it?"
"No, no no no... On second thought, maybe a 'nasty name' isn't the right expression. But 'Zerozaki'? Sure is an unusual name."
"Oh, but you know, it might not be his real name. That guy's no fool. I doubt he would give someone his real name on a first encounter."
"That's beside the point. Even if it's an alias, the fact that he would choose an alias like 'Zerozaki' is proof that he's a nut. And if it is his real name, well..."
She began thinking in silence again. Once this lady started thinking about something, she sank into her own world, and if you were there beside her, it felt like you had become invisible. But then again, even an invisible man still exists. In this case, it was more like you had become empty space.
"Even as a joke, there isn't an idiot on this earth who would announce himself with a 'killer's name' like that. 'Zerozaki,' huh? Damn, that's right above 'Susukino' in rank, isn't it? I guess it's still better than 'Niounomiya' and 'Yamiguchi,' but you know, I actually hope it is just an alias. Or better yet, just a case of two people having the same last name by coincidence. But there's no way that's it. There's no way something that convenient would ever happen to me. Wow . . . so even Kunagisa, even an ex-member of the 'team' was of no use."
"Uh... is there something wrong with the name 'Zerozaki'?"
"Yeah, there is. It's about as terrible as names come. It's so bad that to us, the worst possible insult you could call someone was a 'Zerozaki.' That's how bad it is. I don't really want to bother explaining any deeper than that. To be perfectly honest, I don't want to have the slightest thing to do with the 'Zerozaki Ichizoku,' and that includes giving explanations. Eh, but actually it's the name itself that I don't like. In this case, the individual is essentially irrelevant. He's probably just some irregularity... probably. But is this guy really the Kyoto Prowler?"
"Yes, that's what he said."
"So you didn't actually witness him in the act? You're just taking his word for it?"
"Well, you could say that," I said, nodding.
"Hmm. So then there's a chance that he might be some delusional, lying bastard who's just saying this stuff."
"Yeah, there's definitely that chance. I mean, I didn't get that impression, though."
"Really? Come on, he's got a big tattoo on his face, right? And it covers the entire right side. Even in Chicago, he'd be a freak. He's been standing out like that and he's still able to escape the cops without leaving a single clue behind?"
"Yeah, well..."
Naturally, I had considered this possibility myself as well. But having heard what he had to say, there was no basis on which to call him a fake, and frankly, I didn't care all that much, to begin with.
Whether it was him or not, it didn't make much of a difference to me. Maybe he wasn't the prowler.
"That guy is a murderer without a doubt," I said to Aikawa-san. "Aikawa-san, you must know that I haven't lived the most decent life, right? In Kobe, Houston, even here. Hell, even on that island I was almost killed. I may still not hold a candle to you, but I've seen my fair share of Hell in my time."
And Heaven was still a long way from here.
"I never actually saw him kill somebody, but he did almost kill me. He was just using a plain old short knife, and yet the terror I felt was that of someone facing an opponent with a naginata . . . no, with a machine gun."
"Hmm..." Apparently convinced, she nodded several times. "At any rate, I suppose the bottom line is that this ex-pert of dissection who calls himself the 'prowler' is some-where in Kyoto. Yeah. As long as I have that straight, that's enough."
"It is?"
"Sure it is. Combined with the other information I've gathered, it'll give me a place to start. For now, anyway. I think for the time being it'll be faster for me to proceed on my own two feet if you know what I mean. If I don't have a bit of a challenge, things get boring and I can't function anymore. Know what I mean? Anyway, more importantly," she said, bringing the conversation back to me, "putting my stuff aside, what's going on with you? I heard from both Kunagisa and Sasaki that you've been sticking your nose in some boring, everyday kind of case."
"I got caught up in it."
"You got caught up and then you kept sticking your nose back in, didn't you? I mean, sneaking into the victim's apartment? Quit pretending you're just some passive observer."
Touché.
"Now what is it, exactly?" she pondered, looking at me with a touch of awe. "You're a hard guy to understand, y'know? It's like you have no conviction or no style. What you say and what you do are completely different things."
"It's that clash that gives me my flavor."
"What flavor? Can't you view yourself objectively?"
"Sure I can..."
"You're more like the comic relief than a passive observer. Eh, but whatever. Do whatever you like. It's your life, I guess. Not my place to butt in. Not my problem."
"You're a cold woman."
"Not really. Keep studying, young'un. You do your own dirty work. And if you set out to do something, do it to the end. I told you before, didn't I? Quitting midway through is the worst thing a person can do. Oh yeah, and also," she said as if she had just remembered, even though that obviously wasn't the case, "a message from Kunagisa." She pointed to the envelope under my arm.
"What is it?"
"Don't go having an affair now, Ii-chan. I'll forgive a smooch on the cheek and nothing above that. 'I love youuu, kiss kiss,' " Aikawa-san said, mimicking Kunagisa's voice and intonation and grinning. "She said."
"Roger that," I said, throwing my hands up.