David Peace - Tokyo Year Zero

Nishi and Shimoda put the first trunk down. Kimura and Ishida put the second trunk down in a corner, to stay locked until tonight. Now Nishi and Shimoda open the first trunk. Nishi and Shimoda take out the white banner and the bamboo poles. Nishi and Shimoda raise the banner on the poles beside the door –

Two metres tall and fifty centimetres wide –

In beautiful, bold, bright-red stitching:

Special Investigation Headquarters .

The men of the Second Team assemble before the banner. The men stand to attention as I tell them –

‘This banner remains here until this case is closed with honour or until we are forced to retreat back to HQ in disgrace –

‘Which is it to be, honour or disgrace?’

‘Honour!’ they shout. ‘Honour!’

‘Then every single one of us must give his very utmost, must give his very best,’ I tell them. ‘Only then can this case be solved and our team return with honour to HQ –

‘So give your utmost!’

‘We will give our very utmost,’ they reply. ‘Our very best!’

Across the hallway, Inspector Kai and his First Team have already raised their banner, already made their pledges and their exhortations; now they are waiting for us –

‘Meeting time!’

The First Team, the Second Team and all the uniforms from the Atago, Meguro and Mita police stations are gathered in the hot, dark second-floor room which the First Team is using at Atago –

I stand up at the front of the room beside Chief Inspectors Adachi and Kanehara and Inspector Kai, the four of us facing the First Team, the Second Team and the uniformed men –

‘Attention!’ shouts one of the uniformed sergeants and everyone in the room jumps to attention –

‘Bow!’ shouts the sergeant –

Everyone bows –

‘At ease!’

Everyone stands at ease now or sits back down except Chief Inspector Adachi; Adachi has a piece of paper in his hand; Adachi reads out lists of names and lists of teams; Adachi assigns names to teams and teams to leaders; Adachi points to a map on the board behind him; Adachi reads out lists of grid coordinates; Adachi assigns coordinates to teams, teams to search and teams to find –

Finally Adachi exhorts every one of us to do our best –

And every one of us promises we will do our best –

‘Attention!’ shouts the uniformed sergeant again and every one of us stands back to attention –

‘Bow!’ he shouts –

And we bow –

‘Dismissed!’

*

There are journalists waiting for us downstairs again. There are always journalists waiting for us these days. There are hundreds of new newspapers and magazines now, thousands of new journalists –

Freedom of Press. Freedom of Press. Freedom of Press —

Things are better since the defeat of the Yomiuri strike last month, but there are still far too many newspapers and magazines, still far too many journalists, too many press freedoms –

Too many questions. Too many questions …

Far too many press scumbags –

Scumbags like Hayashi Jo –

My personal scumbag …

Hayashi writes for Minpo under one name and Minshū Shimbun under another. Hayashi would write anything for anyone as long as they paid him and they usually do so he usually does –

Hayashi is waiting for me downstairs –

I take his arm. I take him outside –

Out of sight and out of earshot, across the road and among the trees, a crippled soldier burning weeds in an old black metal drum –

Fire upon fire, heat upon heat, a furnace within a furnace …

Hayashi inhales and says, ‘I hate the smell of burning…’

I tell him, ‘You better have something this time.’

‘It’s not that it reminds me of the air raids…’

‘Have you got something? Something new?’

‘That smelt more like pork fat,’ he says. ‘This smoke reminds me of the day of the surrender…’

‘Quickly,’ I tell him. ‘What have you got?’

‘They turned the sky black with the papers they burnt…’

‘Enough memories!’ I shout now. ‘Talk or walk.’

‘Up in smoke,’ he says. ‘All the evidence…’

I curse him. I curse him …

‘And all the names…’

‘That’s it,’ I tell him and I turn to go –

He grabs my arm. He holds out a piece of folded paper. He says, ‘Read this before it goes up in smoke.’

I take it. I open it. I read it –

‘Fujita Tsuneo,’ he says like I cannot read the characters of the name. ‘He was seen drinking with Nodera Tomiji at the New Oasis in Ginza on the night of the Matsuda Giichi hit…’

‘The Detective Fujita of my room?’

Hayashi nods. ‘The very same.’

I curse and I curse …

I shake my head. I tell him, ‘It’s a mistake.’

Hayashi shakes his head. ‘No mistake.’

I ask him, ‘Who told you? Who?’

Hayashi shakes his head again.

‘Who else knows about this, then?’ I ask him. ‘Your snitch knows, you know, and so how many others know?’

‘No one else,’ says Hayashi. ‘No one still breathing.’

‘Except for you,’ I tell him –

‘And now you,’ he smiles.

I stare into Hayashi’s eyes. I say, ‘Who says you’re not lying? Who says you haven’t just made this up…?’

‘Bastard,’ snaps Hayashi now. ‘It was you who came to me. You who wanted to know who ordered the hit on Matsuda. You who wanted to know who paid Nodera. And then who killed Nodera…’

I turn to go, to walk away –

Out of the shadows …

He grabs my arm a second time. He says, ‘So what now?’

I pull my arm free of him. I say, ‘Nothing.’

‘What do you mean, nothing?’ he asks. ‘I did what you asked me to do. I got you your information. Now I want my money!’

‘But I can’t use this information,’ I tell him.

‘That’s not my problem,’ he laughs.

‘But I can’t pay you.’

Hayashi has stopped laughing. Now Hayashi says, ‘Well then, I’ll just have to take it to someone who can pay me.’

‘Like who?’ I ask him.

‘Like Boss Senju.’

Now I laugh. ‘Boss Senju?’

‘He’ll pay me.’

I step towards him. I lean into him. I say, ‘You think Boss Senju will pay you? A lowlife scumbag journalist who couldn’t tell someone the right time if they asked him because he wouldn’t know what that right time was because he lies and he lies and he lies? You think Senju will pay a lowlife scumbag piece of shit like you just because he says he heard that one of my detectives was seen in a Ginza bar with the very lowlife scumbag who later that same night shot his boss, his mentor, his surrogate father … is that the information you think Boss Senju is going to pay you for? Is it? Is it really? Because the first thing Senju will do before killing Fujita and then killing me is to torture you to find out how you came upon this piece of information, when you came upon it, and why you never said anything to anyone about it before and believe me, Hayashi, whatever you tell Senju will be the wrong answer and it will also be your final answer before he then kills you! So if I was you, I would forget you ever heard Fujita’s name in connection to Matsuda Giichi.’

Hayashi shrugs. Hayashi says, ‘You’re no better than me, inspector. You think you are, but you’re not…’

I smile. I turn. I leave. I walk away –

Fire upon fire, heat upon heat, a furnace within a furnace …

‘I know you,’ he shouts after me. ‘I know your secrets…’

I turn back. I say, ‘We lost a war. We’ve all got secrets.’

Hayashi smiles. Hayashi shakes his head –