FicWad

Chapter Twenty-Five: Duel Challenge:

May 23rd, 1976.

Jennifer Day was all over the news now. “American IBM secretary found murdered in Golden Dragon Hotel parking lot.” At first, the police didn’t get the motive of the murder. Robbery was ruled out for she still had her purse and wallet; everything still in both. Day-san didn’t have a criminal record. Maybe it was a crime of passion? She was having an affair with her boss for years. Jealous spouse came to Japan and killed Jennifer? Not possible; her husband was at a bar and the boss’ wife was at a book club meeting; both were in New York. That left the boss. He had the opportunity, but yet he loved Jennifer and wanted to secretly marry her. He wanted to feel young again and she wanted an escape. Things were going great in the relationship. He even planned to leave his wife when they returned to the States. The police had no other suspects until they saw the scars on Day-san’s wrists.

On the day the body was discovered, Yasuo sat across the street at the local café, marveling the police’s futile efforts to solve Day-san’s murder.

June 13th, 2009.

Yasuo sat in the same café across the street where Day-san’s murder took place. Many things had changed; the café itself had Wi-Fi now and the hotel was closed for renovation. Despite that, some stings remained the same. That parking lot for instance; even without the crime scene tape, it looked the same. A sense of nostalgia came over the old man. He had to impress Haruka that night. She always saw him as a failure; maybe that night would be different. It was for a short time; he could never keep that woman happy. Yasuo had a juicy plan for Anna this time.

Yasuo wrote a message on a piece of paper and folded it up. He waited for the next random person to pass by and play messenger. The oldest son looked up and saw Seita walked by from summer school.

/Perfect!/, he thought with a smirk. Yasuo took his coffee stirrer and chucked it at the boy as he passed the table. Seita paused and looked up. Yasuo pretended to be reading when he looked up at the boy.

“Need something?” he asked. Seita blinked at him once.

“Did you throw that at me?” the boy asked back. Yasuo looked at the coffee stirrer for a moment and then at Seita.

“My apologizes,” he said with a shrug.

“Why?” the boy asked with gritted teeth.

“Where are you going?” Yasuo asked as he put his newspaper done.

“Who’s asking?” Seita growled.

“I’m just curious,” the old man said causally. Seita raised an eyebrow at him.

“Why? Who are you, a stalker or something?” he asked in sharp tone. Yasuo chuckled at him.

“No, no,” he replied, “Just a noisy old man.” Seita didn’t seem to buy it.

“Okay, what do you want, buddy?” he asked rather agitated. Yasuo grinned in his mind; now he had the boy interested.

“How would you like to make little money?” he asked in a smooth, charming tone. Seita’s ears perked up some.

“Right now?” he asked.

“Now,” the old man repeated.

“How much are we talking?” he asked leaning inwards.

“1,000 yen,” Yasuo offered him. Seita wanted to know more now, sounds too tasty.

“Doing what?” he asked. Yasuo pulled his wallet and drew out a 1,000 yen bill. He handed it with the note to the boy.

“Just make a small delivery to Kimoto Manor,” he said like a smooth salesman. Seita looked at him shocked.

“That’s where I live,” he said, “Well, sort of. It’s a long story…” Yasuo smiled at him.

“Really now?” he asked intrigued. Seita nodded.

“Yeah,” he said. Yasuo picked up his newspaper.

“Good for you,” he said as he opened it back up, “Now get going. Go on, shoo!” Seita looked at him, oddly.

“Okay…” he mumbled. The boy started to jog away. Yasuo snickered to himself as the boy raced out of view. Seita made it all way back to Kimoto Manor. He pushed open the door.

“I’m home!” he called in the living room. No answer and the boy looked around for a bit.

“Anybody here?” he asked again. Curious, Seita walked down the hall. He peeked into Anna’s room.

“Hello?” he asked. Everyone looked up at him.

“Oh,” Anna said, “Sorry Seita, we were a bit preoccupied.” She looked and noticed the paper in his hand. “What do you have there, Seita?” she asked.

“Huh?” the boy asked. He looked down in his right hand. “Oh, some guy had me give it to you, I guess,” he said. Anna and Tsuzuki looked on in suspicion.

“Did he say who he was?” Tsuzuki asked thinking Kato might be involved again. The boy shrugged at him.

“How should I know?” Seita asked, “The guy just gave me the note and 1,000 yen and told me to deliver the note. Here, take it.” Anna did so and opened it up. Tsuzuki read the message with her.

I am coming for you in three days and you will not cheat death this time. I won’t be so merciful this time, little lamb. Pray for a quicker death; I’ll rather enjoy hearing you scream just like Yumiko did.

Yasuo

The battle in this tainted war was about to begin. Cue up the weapons of war.