Fuminori Nakamura - The Thief

“You’re amazing. You really switched it. I was watching the whole time. Mr. Kizaki’s orders. The situation has changed, so if you’d failed I would have had to kill Yonezawa straight away and get the papers. I didn’t know how you were going to do it. I thought you were about to take off and I almost killed you too. Maybe it would’ve been better if I had, because that would’ve created a disturbance and given us some cover for the hit over at the west gate.”

THE MAN AND I got in a car. Once inside he took off a light bulletproof vest. He laughed a lot, saying over and over that I was going to be a good addition to Kizaki’s gang. One of his ears was missing. Putting a dirty arm round my shoulders, he suggested we go out for a drink sometime.

My cell phone rang. It was Kizaki, of course.

“Have you given him the papers?”

“Not yet.”

“You’re cautious. That’s excellent.”

Kizaki laughed, but I still hadn’t come to terms with the new situation.

“Because I told you to hand the envelope directly to me. But it’s fine, you can give it to him.”

I did as instructed.

“To start with, come over here. Get Maejima to bring you.”

He hung up and I exhaled. There was no way I wanted to become partners with the guys who murdered Ishikawa. In my inside pocket I still had the knife I’d used to cut Yonezawa’s coat. It wouldn’t be a bad thing if I killed Kizaki with it , I thought. Obviously I’d die immediately afterwards, though. In that moment I was seized by the conviction that I didn’t want that to happen. I didn’t know what was holding me back, but the fact that I was trying not to screw up meant I was still clinging to something in this world. For the time being, I turned over in my head ways I could politely refuse to join them.

When we reached the parking lot the man called Maejima let me out of the car first. His cell phone against his one ear, he told me to go to the end of the alley between the buildings and through the door. Then he returned to his cell phone conversation.

The space between the two office blocks was too narrow to be called a street, barely wide enough for two people to pass. There were no signs and I couldn’t tell what kind of companies the buildings housed. It felt ominous, but I had no choice but to go in to see Kizaki.

The passage was claustrophobic and smelled of mold. Someone was walking towards me from the other end. I started to turn back, thinking what a tight squeeze it would be, but Maejima was approaching from behind. He looked much bigger than he had before. I turned forward again, wondering why he seemed to have grown. At that moment someone opened an umbrella right in my face, and just as it hit me I felt a fierce heat in my belly. My strength vanished and I collapsed. It’s hot but it doesn’t hurt , I thought, and then I was gripped with a violent pain as though a hand was crushing my insides. My breath stopped and my body shook. I retched but nothing came out. The pain spread to my chest and next, for reasons I didn’t understand, to my arms. My vision flickered and I realized that, like it or not, I’d received a fatal blow. Dark blood was forming a pool on the concrete. I saw a pair of shoes in front of me. I tried to look up but couldn’t move.

“Hard luck.”

It was Kizaki’s voice.

“Even though you did everything perfectly, this is what happens. And you don’t know why, do you?”

Someone took hold of my coat and casually pulled it off. I was rolled over and I couldn’t breathe. The world went black. When I came to I was still in pain.

“Whether you succeeded or whether you failed, I’d already decided that you were going to die in this spot. One reason is that I need a corpse here. It’s a bit early, but an hour from now everything will be clear.”

He seemed to be smiling.

“It’s a shame you won’t be around to see how interesting things are going to become from now on. Yes, things are going to get very interesting in this country. The system, with all its megalomaniacs, is really going to change. Dramatically. It’s going to have a huge impact on the ordinary people, as well. The world will boil. But still….”

He peered at my face. His eyes were mere slits behind his sunglasses.

“Even that bores me.” He laughed out loud. “It’s all hell. But right now I’m trembling, just a little. I’m about to witness the end of a human life, totally arbitrarily, exactly as I decided, in the place I decided. There’s nothing else like it. Tomorrow I’m leaving the country for a while. There’s still a lot to do. I’ve got to keep expanding.”

I knew that he was right beside me but somehow his voice seemed a long way off.

“Now you’re going to die wondering what happened to your life, just like the nobleman’s boy. Cheerless, wretched. No one ever comes into this alley. It’s over for you.”

He moved slightly.

“I bet you don’t even know why you’re being killed, why this is happening. Life is a mystery. But listen. Why did I turn up in your life in the first place? Do you believe in fate? Was your fate controlled by me, or was being controlled by me your fate? But in the end, aren’t they just two sides of the same coin?”

And with that Kizaki left, stepping on me as he passed. I was aware of the bustle and the stifling atmosphere of the crowded street nearby. I sensed a shadow passing, and soon I could no longer hear his footsteps.

Slumped with my back against the wall, I used my hands to stem the slow trickle of blood. As my vision blurred and the pain increased, I thought about how I didn’t want to die. I didn’t want it to end like this. Images of the boy, of Ishikawa and Saeko, flashed through my mind.

It was like I could see myself still working a crowd. Roaming here and there, stealing people’s wallets — maybe I could even go abroad. London, for example, is still supposed to have a culture of artful pickpockets. Perhaps I could pit my skills against theirs. The world is full of stupid rich people and it would be fun to keep taking their money. Outside the alley, in a misty place far beyond, I could see the tower. It was still standing there, high and remote. I could steal from the rich all over the world and give the money to street kids. I imagined the warm tingling in my fingertips. To press forward as a pickpocket, to become a true pickpocket, I would continue until I dissolved and crumbled into the crowd like sparks.

Yes, that’s it , I thought to myself.

And then I heard footsteps far in the distance. Someone was crossing the street outside the alley. I heard young women’s voices, chatting busily, complaining about work and customers. It was quite a long way to the entrance to the passage, but if I could hit them with something they would notice me. There were no stones around me, my coat had been taken and I didn’t have the strength to take off my shoes. In my trouser pocket, however, I found a coin.

It was a 500 yen piece. I must have taken it from someone’s pocket without realizing. I had no idea when. I grinned weakly. If my hands searched for money spontaneously, I must be a proper pickpocket. If I could hit someone with this blood-stained coin they’d be bound to look in my direction.

That bastard took pickpockets too lightly , I thought, listening to the footsteps coming closer. I was damned if I was going to die here. Surely my life hadn’t been so pointless I deserved a death like this. With all my strength I squeezed the coin in my fingers. Far off, standing tall, was the hazy tower.

When I spied the figure of a person I hurled the coin, grimacing with pain. The bloody disc blotted out the sun’s rays, glistening darkly in the air, as though hoping for some kind of deviation.