Fuminori Nakamura - Evil and the Mask

“The Kuki family had lost some of its earlier power, but times were changing. Under the nineteen fifty-one Treaty of San Francisco, Japan became independent again and financial combines started to revive. The Americans wanted to use Japan as a defensive bulwark against Communism, against the Soviet Union, who were a threat at the time. To do that they judged that they needed a powerful economy, so they allowed the big corporations to reform. The Kukis started to mobilize their companies once more, as the Kuki Group. Then our older brother was born, I was born … and you were born.”

He stood up. Maybe he was tired. He moved to the window and opened the curtains wide. The neighborhood was almost entirely in darkness. I heard him take a seat at the table behind me, but I was too drained to turn around.

“Most of the companies of which I’m the major shareholder deal with war in one form or another, from brokering arms deals overseas to rebuilding after the wars are over. I can’t tell you what I’m up to yet, but I’ll tell you one thing. To start with, I’m putting all of my efforts into abolishing the article in the constitution that says that Japan can’t export weapons. If we can repeal that we’ll be able to sell locally produced weapons to other countries, then whenever a war breaks out we can reap vast profits. The arms business is a gold mine, because weapons are consumables. The longer the war drags on — in other words, the more people are killed — the more money we make. Japan’s superior technology will take the world by storm. Imagine we develop a fighter plane. We can include the maintenance in the contract, the whole works. It’s a gravy train with no end. Obviously it’s not the money I’m interested in. What I’m looking at, as an end in itself, is hundreds of thousands of people dying in those economic currents.”

“What’s that got to do with Kaori? You’re sniffing around her, aren’t you? Why?”

Behind me I could hear him breathing. He continued in the same tone.

“So you noticed that. Well, I’d expect that from someone who hired that PI Sakakibara. You’re sharp.”

He got to his feet again.

“But the two things are separate. I’ve got a personal interest in Kaori. Well, I guess I’ve got a personal interest in all my schemes. Would you believe me if I said I’m doing it to get revenge for Father?”

“No.”

He slumped deeply onto the couch in front of me again. In his hand was a fresh bottle of whiskey.

“I’m the one who set Yajima onto Kaori.”

“You?”

“That’s right. Takayuki Yajima, the guy you murdered.”

Without my noticing it the air conditioning had gone off and the room was even quieter. My forehead was covered with perspiration. He sat slouched on the sofa like some giant, limp worm.

“I was surprised when the man I put on her came back dead. It’s your handiwork, that’s not hard to figure out. But why did I get him to target her? To get my hands on her. Here’s what I asked him to do — get her addicted and then deliver her to me.”

“Why?” My voice shook violently.

“Because I’m depressed. Father adopted her to show you hell. The Kuki family’s sacrificial lamb, as it were. As his son, I plan to destroy the girl that Father wanted to destroy but couldn’t. It’s an interesting echo, isn’t it? If I get her addicted, I can possess her forever, body and soul. I’m thinking about hiring another guy to get close to her.”

“Stop it.”

He laughed.

“Fallen for her, have you? Don’t lie.”

My field of vision narrowed. My headache grew fiercer and shadows stretched before my eyes.

“What?”

“I said don’t lie.”

All I could see was his thick lips moving.

“You want to hurt the girl, don’t you? You want to totally destroy her. You’re a Kuki. I know all about that. You want revenge on the woman who ruined your life. No, strictly speaking it’s not revenge, because you fell for her of your own accord, ruined your life of your own accord. Here’s a more accurate way of putting it. Unconsciously, you want to create the maximum evil. That means completely destroying the one thing that is the most valuable in the world to you. In other words, Kaori. To do that, you placed her on a pedestal above all else, just so you could harm her one day. You don’t love her. You fell for her so you could hurt her. You offered up your own life so you could hurt her. You made her the number one thing in your life so you could hurt her. So at some time you will hurt her for real. You long for the time when that overwhelming urge to destroy her will explode, and for the overwhelming despair that will follow. Your whole life is directed towards that instant. You long with your whole being for that explosion of darkness that will blaze forth in a way it never does in ordinary people’s lives, with lust and sorrow and despair all heaped up together. At that moment you will shake with an overpowering pleasure. With the pleasure of thoroughly insulting this world and your own life.”

“You’re wrong.”

“Maybe you really did like her at first, when you were kids. But now you’ve changed. I think that you killed Father. I’m pretty certain about that. I understand you. Because we’re Kukis! It’s obvious, isn’t it? Now you’ve lost everything. What’s left for you to ask for from life? Just to pray for Kaori’s happiness from afar? I don’t think so! Now your sole purpose in life is that moment of destruction. You’re carrying the curse of the Kukis, the burden of their wars and their atrocities.”

“Stop talking bullshit!”

His eyes bulged.

“Or what? You’ll kill me? Like you killed Father and Yajima? Just try it!”

Suddenly he started to shout, still staring at me with eyes wide. He lifted his head and thrust it forward to expose his neck. His breathing grew harsh.

“Everything’s boring! I’m bored! Really, really bored. If death were right here in front of me, I’d love to see it. Ha, try and kill me, quick!”

I couldn’t tear my eyes away from his. For a second his face was filled with exaltation, like he was glowing from inside. He kept staring at me, but little by little his eyes lost their intensity, until he was gazing at me listlessly again. He began languidly sipping his whiskey once more. I didn’t know what to make of the change that had come over him, and my brain wasn’t working at all.

“I’ll put someone else onto Kaori, whether you like it or not.”

“Stop it.”

“I’ll send in guys one after the other. I guess that won’t bother you, because you’ll just kill them all. Learn their habits and kill them, isn’t that what you do? Either that, or you approach Kaori yourself.”

His slack lips twisted as he studied me, indifferent to his excitement of a minute earlier.

“Get her hooked and bring her to me. If you do that, I won’t send anyone else in the meantime. At least you can have a taste of her before I finish her off. That wouldn’t be bad, would it? If you refuse, I’ll start the same thing all over again. Maybe I’ll use my subordinates to bring her to me by force.”

“Why?”

“I told you. Because I’m depressed. I’ll call you again to get your progress reports. You’re smart, you won’t do anything stupid like calling the cops. Basically, they can only act after a crime has been committed. You know most women who are killed by their stalkers ask for police protection before they are murdered? Next time I’ll tell you more. Maybe even about why you’re attracted to Kaori.”