David Peace - Tokyo Year Zero

Dirty jokes .

*

Kodaira Yoshio is sat at the interview table, enjoying a cigarette and a joke with Chief Inspector Kanehara and Inspector Kai, a dirty joke from a dirty mouth. But Kodaira still notices when Adachi and I take our seats at the back of the room, he still notices the stenographer take a seat, through the smiles and the smoke Kodaira sees it all –

‘Come on, Mr. Kodaira,’ Kanehara laughs. ‘Tell us.’

Kodaira shrugs. Kodaira smiles. ‘Tell you what?’

‘The youngest piece of pussy you’ve ever had?’

Kodaira shrugs again. Kodaira’s smile widens –

‘A man like you, you’ve had so much cunt…’

Kodaira laughing now, shakes his head –

‘Don’t be modest, we’re all friends…’

Kodaira stops laughing and sighs –

‘You’re right,’ he says. ‘It’s true I’ve had a lot of pussy and all kinds of pussy at that; Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Filipino, Russian, French, Australian, American…’

‘You’ve had American pussy?’ exclaims Inspector Kai. ‘When did you have some of that?’

‘When I was in the Imperial Japanese Navy,’ laughs Kodaira. ‘A whore in every port.’

‘Go on then, tell us,’ says Kai. ‘What’s white pussy like?’

‘It’s big and fucking hairy,’ laughs Kodaira. ‘Very big.’

‘So you prefer a tight pussy?’ asks Kai. ‘Very tight?’

‘What true Japanese man doesn’t?’ laughs Kodaira. ‘You like a big huge bucket of a cunt to slop that tiny little cock of yours around in, do you Inspector Kai? Do you…?’

And we all laugh along with him. We all laugh along with our mouths wet and our cocks hard …

‘I prefer to put it in a new pot,’ he winks. ‘A clean pot.’

‘So the tighter the pussy, the better?’ asks Kanehara –

Kodaira raises an imaginary glass and nods his head.

‘And so the younger the pussy, the better then?’

‘I like the taste of cherry on my cock,’ laughs Kodaira again. ‘What true Japanese man doesn’t like to admire the first buds upon the cherry tree and then watch the blossoms fall…?’

‘That’s very poetically put,’ says Kanehara. ‘Very poetic.’

Kodaira asks, ‘And who here doesn’t agree with me?’

And we all nod along with him. We all nod along …

‘So what is the earliest bud you’ve ever admired?’

Kodaira looks up at Kanehara and winks at him –

‘Come on,’ says Kanehara. ‘You’re teasing…’

‘I don’t really like them too young,’ admits Kodaira. ‘You see I’m a man who also likes a bit of chest, a bit of tit to suckle and to chew on, if you gentlemen understand what I mean?’

And we all nod along with him again …

‘So, generally, sixteen years old or so would be my limit…’

‘And there’s nothing wrong with that,’ says Kai –

But Kodaira doesn’t answer him. Kodaira stares at Kai and then around the room; Kodaira has stopped laughing now. Kodaira has stopped smiling now. Now Kodaira whispers, ‘But a man could have any age he wanted in China. Any age at all…’

‘And did you take any age you wanted?’ I ask him –

And Kodaira turns to look at me. And Kodaira recognizes me. And Kodaira laughs and tells me, ‘You were there, detective. I’m sure you saw what I saw. I’m sure you did what I did…’

No one laughing along, no one nodding now …

Adachi is on his feet. Adachi says, ‘Enough of this shit —’

Kodaira turns away from me. Kodaira looks at Adachi –

‘You knew a fifteen-year-old girl called Abe Yoshiko. Abe Yoshiko hung around the barracks where you work. Abe Yoshiko and three of her friends were selling their cunts to the Shinchū Gun for leftovers and scraps. You fucked Abe Yoshiko and gave her scraps. On or around the ninth of June this year, you raped her, you strangled her and then you hid her body under a burnt-out truck in the scrapyard of the Shiba Transportation Company, didn’t you…?’

Kodaira shaking his head, Kodaira whispering to himself –

‘We have witnesses,’ says Adachi. ‘We have statements.’

Kodaira nodding his head now, Kodaira muttering –

‘Be the man you are,’ shouts Adachi. ‘And confess!’

Kodaira is still. Now Kodaira says, ‘Then I did it.’

‘Did what?’ asks Adachi. ‘Tell us every detail.’

‘I killed Abe,’ he says. ‘But I didn’t rape her.’

‘Really?’ asks Adachi. ‘Tell us why not?’

Kodaira laughs, ‘She was too young.’

*

‘Excellent work, Inspector Minami,’ says Adachi. ‘Excellent work.’

‘If there’s something you want,’ I tell him. ‘Just ask me.’

‘You know what I want,’ he whispers. ‘I told you last night; I want to talk to Fujita; to talk to him about the murder of Hayashi Jo.’

‘I told you,’ I say. ‘Fujita’s gone and I don’t know where.’

‘Really?’ he says. ‘I thought a good night’s sleep might have cleared your head, might have helped you remember who your real friends are; might have helped you to see things more clearly, see things my way, the clever way, the right way, the only way…’

‘I didn’t sleep at all last night and I don’t know where he is.’

‘That’s a great shame,’ he says. ‘A very great shame.’

‘It might well be a great shame but it’s also the truth.’

‘No, it’s a great shame because it means you’re going to have to go down to the Shimbashi Market and ask your new friend Senju Akira if he knows where his old friend Fujita might have gone…’

I curse him and I curse him and I curse him …

‘If you want to know, then you go and ask Senju.’

‘But Senju Akira’s not my friend, he’s yours.’

I curse him and now I curse myself …

‘But why would Senju know anything?’

‘You’re right,’ smiles Adachi. ‘Senju might know nothing, but he’ll know a lot more after he’s finished reading the letter…’

I curse and I curse and I curse and I curse …

‘What letter?’ I ask. ‘What are you talking about?’

‘The letter about Fujita,’ he smiles. ‘About you.’

I curse and I curse and I curse …

I stare at him. I ask him again, ‘What letter?’

‘Can’t you guess, Inspector Minami?’ laughs Adachi now. ‘The letter Hayashi Jo left in the drawer of his desk; the letter about Detective Fujita and Nodera Tomiji and their plot to kill Matsuda Giichi; the letter that states Hayashi told you about this plot…’

‘I’m a dead man then,’ I say. ‘It’s a death sentence.’

‘Who says you don’t always get what you want?’

‘Senju will kill me,’ I say. ‘I can’t go to him.’

‘Yes, you can,’ he says. ‘You’ll be fine.’

‘He’ll kill me and you know it.’

Adachi takes an envelope from his jacket pocket. Adachi holds it up and laughs, ‘Only if he was to actually read the letter…’

I want to kill him, here and now, in the upstairs corridor of the Meguro police station, stab him , again and again –

Blood on the blade …

Adachi pats my face. ‘Remember who your real friends are, corporal. And remember, I want Fujita!’

*

I should not have come back in here. I need a drink . I should not have sat down at this table. I need a cigarette . I should have gone straight to Senju. I need some pills . I should have gone back to Atago. I need to see Ishida . I should have gone to see my family. I need that file . I should have gone back to Yuki. I need some sleep . Anywhere but back in here, here sat at this table, here before Kodaira Yoshio –