On the Trail

With an elegant bow, the enormous man greets Miki by saying, “Miss Miura, it is far too long since this one has had the honour of your company.”

“Since when was I ‘Miss Miura’ to you Kōki? Don’t tell me that being promoted to yokozuna has turned you into a pompous fool?”

With a laugh he shakes his head. “Not at all, though I am expected to maintain a certain decorum in public. Speaking of which, how did you get us in here?” he gestures at the opulent surroundings of Hanako and Lilly’s flagship Tokyo restaurant, the discreet booths occupied by famous people hoping to be noticed and influential people expecting to be ignored.

She taps her nose. “Friends in high places. Besides, where better to take my old comrade in arms to celebrate his success?”

He remembers the Japan Professional Sports Association prize dinner where they first met. They had both been nominated for the Best Newcomer award and were seated at the same table. After a wary start they hit it off so well that they hardly noticed when yet another baseball player won the prize in their category. They had been very amused to see the tabloids carrying reports of a budding romance between them and it suited them both to perpetuate the rumours by being seen together in public on occasion.

“I wasn’t just being polite when I said it’s been too long since we last met. I’ve missed you Miki, missed the drunken nights we spent putting the world to rights, missed the fun we had leading those reporters a merry dance. How have you been?”

She shrugs, “busy. Abroad. Too busy being abroad to live my life properly. We lost Suzu recently.”

“Oh Miki, I’m so sorry.”

She nods. “Yeah, it sucks. Your life still shit? Maybe even worse now you’ve made it to the top?”

“Still living a lie. There’s no place in sumo for a gay rikishi.”

“I’m quitting Kōki, it’s not worth it any more. I was away from Suzu too much, maybe I would have seen she was sick if I had been there. Hisao reminded me that his heart could give out at any time so I’m not going to risk making the same mistake twice. I’m going spend time with him, start a family.” She looks up at him. “How fucking ironic would be it to go from having two lovers to being on my own?”

He grips her hand tightly, “never alone as long as I’m alive. I respect your decision but I’ll miss seeing you race. Watching you taught me the meaning of commitment, without that I lesson I would have got nowhere.” He stands and bows deeply.

“Sit down and stop embarrassing me you idiot!”

“So what’s next for you? I can’t imagine you being content with sitting at home being the dutiful housewife.”

“I’m gonna try and break into social media, my clothes brand and the cosmetics are doing OK but I can always push them more. There’s a good chance that I’ll do a video with Jeffree Star.”

“Oh my god! That man has cheekbones to die for!”

“I’ll get you an autograph,” she laughs. “I’m going to marry Hisao so arranging that will eat up a chunk of time. Don’t look at me like that, we’re planning on having kids and they don’t need the bullshit that comes with being illegitimate.”

“Ah yes, of course.”

“And there’s something that’s floated up out of my past, it seems that a classmate lived a short, nasty life and I feel a strong urge to do something to the people responsible.”

“Understandable. There are members of my stable I would cheerfully murder but if an outsider tried anything… I’m guessing that’s the reason for this reunion.” He laughs at her guilty nod. “You don’t have a devious bone in your body Miki and it’s wonderful to see you whatever the reason. Let’s order and you can tell me about it while we eat.”

“So do you think you can help me get a fix on the Yakuza minder that Ikuno was with when Rin saw her coming out of the club?”

Kōki shakes his head regretfully. “Big man in a bad suit with a shortened finger describes pretty much all of the low-level functionaries. And it’s not like the Yakuza is a single entity, there’s dozens of syndicates, sub-syndicates, splinter groups….” He leans forward and lowers his voice. “I can help but you’ve got to promise me you’ll be careful, this is serious business.” He shakes his head to interrupt her. “I swear Miki, if you come out with that ‘beat them with one hand tied behind my back’ line, I’m walking out of here!”

She rests her hand over his, saying, “I’ve grown up since then. Losing Suzu has made me realise that none of us are immortal and it’s not a feeling I like. Life was a damn sight more fun when we did stupid shit without worrying about the consequences, like the time we piled into that bar fight. It never crossed my mind that we could’ve got hurt.”

“It might not have crossed your mind but I was bloody careful to watch your back! These days we’d never get away with the pranks we used to get up to, it’d be all over social media in minutes.” The smile fades from his expressive face as he returns to the matter at hand. “It’s no secret that there has been a problem with match fixing in sumo. Win trading to maintain rank or gain promotion was almost accepted practice and referees very rarely penalise intentional lethargic sumo.”

“Yeah, I read the article that blew the lid on it, partly ‘cos of you and partly ‘cos Hisao spotted that two of our old classmates were involved in writing it. Naomi always was a huge stats nerd!”

“High ranked rikishi nearing the end of their careers have bribed their way to wins to stay on the gravy train. I remember how shocked I was the first time I was approached with a fat envelope.”

Miki raises an eyebrow. “Your response?”

“Dumped the bastard on his arse in two seconds flat, perfect nichonage if I say so myself. He retired later that evening. I took a lot of heat for that and ended up moving to Takasago stable, they’ve never tolerated unethical behaviour and were the first to adopt security measures to keep undesirables out.”

He leans forward, a troubled look on his face. “And of course the reason you wanted to talk to me, the Yakuza’s involvement in sumo. They run illegal betting rings and flaunt the profits by buying up ring-side seats at tournaments. It doesn’t happen often, but occasionally a rikishi is approached and asked to lose a match to honour the memory of Suga and Hashimoto.” Seeing the confusion on her face, he explains, “former wrestlers who blew the whistle on match fixing and were found dead in the same hospital the day before they were going to appear at an international press conference. The doctors said it was a coincidence and the police didn’t investigate.”

Miki looks shocked. “You weren’t joking when you said it was serious shit! Have you ever been asked?”

He shakes his head. “Thankfully not, security at my stable is tight enough to keep them out. I honestly don’t know what I would do. I may have troubles in my life but I’m not ready to lose it, yet life as a cheat is not worth living.”

“Let’s hope you never have to make that decision. Never forget that your troubles are my troubles, I’ve learnt recently that friends are too valuable to take for granted and you are the best of my friends. I get now that it was dumb to expect you’d be able to track down Ikuno’s minder, but what did you mean when you said that you could help?”

“Bear with me, it’s a bit of a yarn. When I went back to my room at the stable after we’d received the messengers informing us that I’d been promoted to yokozuna, I found a frail old man waiting inside. A man I had never seen before who congratulated me on my promotion.”

“Wait wait, you said your stable had good security?”

“The best in sumo. That, combined with the fact that he knew I’d been promoted before it was generally announced, made me wary. He invited me to what he called a ‘confirmation ceremony’ and when I tried to say that I had training obligations he waved away my objections and ushered me out. The place was deserted, the only person I saw as we left was the stablemaster who held the door for us, bowing deeply.”

“I mean obviously you weren’t kidnapped and murdered but that’s some freaky shit. Obviously this guy was connected at the highest level and had enough clout to get into the most secure stable in sumo. Influential enough to hear about your promotion before you did, tolerated by your stablemaster.”

“Exactly. We were met outside by a rather ordinary looking car, nothing flashy but very luxurious, and driven for what seemed hours. All the time he kept up a monologue on how sumo is the last bastion of the samurai spirit, how yokozuna must embody all that is great about the sport. I’ve been hearing that since I was a junior so I did my best to be attentive and polite while tuning him out. After a while he started on about the privileges that should come with the rank but society had become too weak to offer them. He was saying stuff like, ‘the yokozuna is strong enough to indulge all his senses without becoming a slave to them,’ and going on about how I should have any woman that catches my eye, drink anything, take any drugs…”

“I’m guessing that you didn’t mention that you don’t have a lot of use for women in that way?!”

“Hell no, I think it would have been a one way trip if he even suspected I’m gay! It got even more disturbing when he started giving a matter of fact description of the services his family have been providing to the Japanese élite for the last two centuries. I was sitting there horrified, wondering what the hell I was doing in that car, what this confirmation ceremony was all about, whether I’d get out in one piece. It wasn’t much longer til I found out.”

He breaks off to wipe the sweat from his forehead with a napkin and drink some tea.

“Hey, you alright Kōki?”

With an answering squeeze of her hand he nods. “Bad memories Miki but I’ll be OK. So we pulled up at a big mansion and went inside, through a huge hallway into a room fitted out like a small theatre. Standing on the stage was a woman in blood red leather.”

“Without thinking, tell me the first thing you remember about her.”

“Huge eyes, I mean huge. She had this way of holding her head slightly downcast and looking up through her lashes. You’d think she was being modest or submissive with that posture, but it felt like she was weighing my soul when those eyes locked on to mine.”

“Dunno about the soul thing, but that’s exactly how Ikuno used to look at people at school. And yeah, freaky big eyes.”

“The stage was brightly lit so it took me a little time to see that there were a number of men sat in the seats facing it. I was introduced and they all stood up, applauding and bowing. They had those ancient faces you see on out nation’s senior politicians and captains of industry. Then the frail man, whose name I never learned, said that the woman on stage was known as Kikuryō, the chrysanthemum dragon, and she was worthy of any yokozuna. This was a cue for the show to begin. It started out with a fairly standard display of kinbaku, the sort of show that my previous stablemaster would make us go to in the name of team spirit.”

He pauses again, taking her hand in both of his. “Hang in there big man, almost done right?” she encourages him.

Nodding, he continues. “They finished the rope show and she striped naked. She wasn’t out of the ordinary in any way, a bit short, pear shaped, not a beauty like you. But she commanded that stage, I could see that she deserved to be named after a dragon. Then he started to cut her.” Miki sees tears in his eyes and she tightens her grip. “There was a hunger on her face when she saw the knife, an eagerness. She seemed to welcome the blade against her skin, she never flinched once, she almost seemed to lean into it. Looking around I could see fascination on the faces of those old men, as if they were seeing something new for the first time in decades. It made me sick.”

“That’s some fucked up shit right there,” Miki whispers, clearly disturbed by what she has heard.

“The show ended when the master finished cutting a stylised chrysanthemum into her back. The stage lights cut out and they left the stage. The audience applauded and complimented our host and I realised that I was just window dressing at the event in the same way that Ikuno was. It wasn’t some sort of ceremony to confirm my appointment, it was a display of his influence and power, his ability to provide a novelty to these jaded old men. I knew how to behave in that context, I’d attended enough benefactors’ dinners to know what was expected of me. The rest of the evening is a blur but I distinctly remember the man giving me his card as I got into the car for the drive back to my stable, telling me that the day would come when I would want his services. Somehow I managed to bow instead of breaking his scrawny neck, and I left the card in the car when I got back. It was a long time before I stopped seeing that look on her face every time I closed my eyes.”

“You need to meet Natsume, tell her what you told me. She’s the brains of this operation.”

“What more can I do though? I haven’t been in contact with the man since that night, I don’t know where the mansion was, I don’t know who the other men were…”

Miki taps a fingernail against her teeth in thought. “Would you recognise any of them if you saw a photo? She’s bound to have an archive of notables that you can look through.”

He nods reluctantly, “probably. I have to say that I’ve tried to forget this incident, put it out of my mind, but I haven’t been very successful. I’ve often wondered what happened to the woman. Perhaps this can help me get some closure.”

“I’ll call her now, maybe we can go over after lunch.”

“Miki! Welcome to our den of iniquity,” Naomi says as she ushers them into their apartment. It is surprisingly spacious for the inner-city since it doubles as their office space as well as their home. She leads them into the work room and introduces its occupants. “The one with shaggy hair and crazy eyes in Natsume Ooe, the elegant one who makes us all feel inadequate is Misaki Kawana. Oh and I’m Naomi Inoue in case you were wondering.”

“Hey Misaki, long time no see. And yeah, looking great! This is my dear old friend Kōki.”

“The Monk needs no introduction ‘round here!”

“Good afternoon ladies, it is a pleasure to meet yet more of Miki’s former classmates. I regret not attending this legendary school of yours, it seems to have produced a never ending supply of talented beauties. But why did you refer to me as The Monk?”

Natsume and Naomi laugh at his flattery but Misaki busies herself at the screen of her laptop, hiding a blush. “I suppose you don’t read the tabloids. The only thing they could dig up on you after your promotion was a couple of sightings with a certain sprinter. The complete lack of scandal combined with your legendary work ethic lead them to giving you that nickname,” Natsume explains.

“You could say that we’re fans of your work around here, some more than others though,” Naomi adds with a sly look at Misaki.

“Well I’m a fan of your’s too, you’ve done fine work in exposing the seedier side of our society.”

“Speaking of which, that’s why we’re here. I didn’t want to say much on the phone but we’re pretty sure Kōki ran into Ikuno. Have you got a picture of her so we can confirm the sighting?”

“Here,” Misaki says, rotating her laptop to show a full-screen picture. “I started from the last photo I took of her at school and extrapolated to what she could look like in her mid twenties.”

“Talented indeed,” Kōki murmurs. “There’s no doubt that this is the person I saw, though it only hints at the promise of the woman she became.”

Waving him towards a chair Natsume says, “tell us how you met.”

He sits carefully, not committing fully to the chair until he is sure that it will bear his weight. “We didn’t exactly meet…”

“Never in a million years would I have expected that from Ikuno,” Naomi says, Natsume nodding in agreement.

“I’m not sure,” Misaki says thoughtfully. “Your rooms were on the ground floor so you didn’t share a kitchen with her, you wouldn’t have known about the accident she had, part way through second year I think it was. We were working side by side, making small-talk while cooking, when there was a sudden crash and a lot of swearing. I popped my head around the door and saw that Emi had run over a senior who was giving her a real telling off. When I got back to where we working I saw that Ikuno had cut herself and she was just staring at the wound, not attempting to treat it in any way. I assumed she was in shock so I took the knife out of her hand, washed the wound and used the steri-strips from the first aid kit to patch her up.”

Kōki looks impressed, “fearless too.”

Shyly nodding her thanks, she continues, “she wouldn’t let me take her to Nurse, insisted she didn’t want to make a fuss. I thought nothing of it, we all react differently to the unexpected, and sat her down in the common room. She seemed mesmerised by the cut, staring at it. I finished off the meal I was making and instead of saving some for the next day I took the extra to Ikuno. She had basically abandoned her food and I was worried that she would have a hypo if she didn’t eat, especially after suffering a mild shock.” Seeing the confused look on his face she explains, “she was diabetic.”

“Compassionate! Is there no end to your virtues?”

Miki slaps him on the shoulder. “Quit laying it on so thick, you don’t have to play the gallant courtier ‘round us. That’s just how it was at school, we looked out for each other.”

Misaki nods, “it’s one of the reasons so many of us have strong ties to Yamaku even years after leaving, why we feel a bond with fellow alumni. I am much more comfortable with Natsume and Naomi than the other journalists I work with.”

“So Ikuno could have been developing these tendencies? fetishes? I don’t know what to call them. However we want to label it, perhaps it started at school. Quite how that combined with the paid dates she went on is a question I’d like an answer to, though I’m afraid what it would be.” Natsume turns to Misaki. “Could you put together a gallery of the sort of people Kōki might have seen at that…gathering? Make sure to include the usual suspects.” Misaki turns to her laptop and starts to access her archives.

“Tell me Kōki, is your life as ascetic as your nickname suggests or are you just good at hiding your debauchery, like the rest of us?” Naomi asks.

With a chuckle he replies, “I do lead an extraordinarily dull life, especially since Miki and I stopped seeing each other quite so often. The training is hard, it’s easy to lose track of the days when you have a strict regime. It’s comforting though, I seldom have to make a decision about what to do, I know what I should be doing.”

“It sounds rather…regimented. How does your sweetie cope with the lack of spontaneity? I find that an occasional surprise gesture pays dividends in the bedroom,” she asks with a cheeky wink.

“No such person exists, my life hasn’t really allowed a relationship to develop.”

Naomi pulls a face. “I can’t imagine life without my Nat. Aren’t you terribly lonely?”

“It’s perfectly possible to live a fulfilling life without a partner,” Misaki interjects. “It might not be optimal, depending on your perspective, but there’s nothing wrong with it. I cherish being able to shut out the world and focus on myself at the end of a hard day.”

“I’ll take your word for it, I hope I never have to find out. Oh, sorry Miki, that was insensitive.”

Miki shakes her head, “no it wasn’t. I don’t expect you to tiptoe around me, I’m not a delicate doll who’ll have hysterics whenever I’m reminded of Suzu. I hope you never have to find out too, it fucking sucks. Thing is, if you don’t find out, Natsume will… The only positive I’ve been able find in all this is that Suzu didn’t have to go through the pain of losing me or Hisao, but it’s pretty cold comfort.”

Naomi embraces her. “You’re amazing Miki.”

With an embarrassed pat on Naomi’s back Miki asks, “how’s the rogues’ gallery coming on Misaki?”

“Done. I’ve selected about a dozen people that we’ve heard unsavoury rumours about and fit Kōki’s description of old and powerful.”

He spends a considerable period of time looking through the pictures, flipping backwards and forwards between them while frowning and muttering. “I’m sure of these three, but I can’t tell with the others. They all look the damn same!”

Natsume goes to the laptop to see the pictures he selected. “This one died a couple of months ago, he was a top civil servant. Rumour has it he was one of the people who actually run the country. This one might as well be dead, his company keeps him insulated from everyone, there’s no chance we’ll get near him.” When the final picture selected is shown she sighs and takes off her glasses. “Well, that confirms everything.”

Miki looks at the screen. “Wait, that’s the Principal.” She turns to Kōki. “Are you sure that man was there?”

He nods, certainty on his face. “Yes, I remembered him as soon as I saw the picture. He didn’t mix with the others, sat at the back observing.”

“You better not be trying to take all the blame on yourself Nat, especially after what you always say to me. You’ve done nothing wr-”

“Exactly, I did nothing. Nothing to stop him, nothing to help her, nothing to protect vulnerable kids at Yamaku.”

“One: we didn’t know for sure if he was dirty. Two: we’ve been working to get into a position where we could do something about such people, and we’re just about there now. Three: we learned the hard way what happens if we try to take on an establishment figure without overwhelming evidence. We’d just have warned him and made him more careful. Four: you can’t fix everything!” Naomi’s eyes flash as she counts the points off on her fingers, the vehemence in her voice causing Natsume to raise her hands in surrender. “A wise woman told me, ‘it’s never our fault if bad people do bad things.’ You should listen to her.”

“What matters is what we do next,” Miki adds, “how we nail the bastard.”

Natsume gives her an amused look, “Spirited as ever! Problem is investigative work is very low key, systematic, painstaking, boring… You two are anything but low key, I can’t see how you could be involved. If either of you start showing interest in him word would get around and he’d be on his guard. Especially you Kōki, there’s no reason for you to know that he even exists.”

Miki sighs in disappointment, “you’re right but it feels bad not to be able to contribute.”

“You brought us the proof we needed, that’s a massive contribution. If we need to get on-site we might use you. I’m sure I could engineer an invitation for you to speak at a track meet or some other event and we could tag along to cover it.”

“I suppose you have time to plan, time to do that painstaking work,” Kōki says. “Losing Ikuno is bound to have been a set back to his plans.”

Natsume shakes her head vigorously. “No, he won’t have all his eggs in one basket, he’ll already have someone to replace her. Maybe several people, a range of ages and kinks. But you’re right that we can’t rush, we’ve worked out some strategies in case we got the confirmation we needed so it’s time to start putting them into practice.”

“That sounds like our cue to leave Miki,” Kōki says as he carefully gets to his feet. “I hope that your investigations go well and you manage to bring this filth to justice. If you can think of anything I can do to help, just contact me.” He hands a card to Misaki who takes it as if she’s Sanzōhōshi receiving Buddhist scriptures. “Contact me anyway, it’s been a pleasure to meet you all, even under these circumstances.”

She bows her head, “the pleasure was mine.”

“Remember that his phone can be investigated by the authorities at any time, so don’t send him anything you’re not willing to share with the world,” Naomi says with a giggle.

He clears his throat and, without looking in Misaki’s direction, says, “I can’t imagine Ms Kawana having any cause for concern in that regard.”

“Come on you, let’s go before you blind them with that red face of yours! Keep in touch ladies, don’t forget that I’m also willing to help in any way I can.”

Natsume shows them out and returns to find Misaki making pointed comments about the proper behaviour of friends while Naomi grins as she straightens up the room. “Playtime’s over, time to bring the Pink Queen into play.”

“Really Nat? Since when did we give our sources code names?”

“If you’re going to act the fool, why shouldn’t I?” She grabs her phone and selects a number from her contacts. “Misha, it’s Natsume. It’s good to speak to you too. Do you fancy checking out the parfaits at Sembikiya this weekend? Their special is quite something. Yes, I’ll have a ticket in your name waiting at the station. See you on Saturday evening.”

They sit in the back of Kōki’s car as they are driven through the late afternoon Tokyo traffic, the divider closed so they can speak in private.

“What’s up big man? You look preoccupied. Still reliving the bad memories?”

He shakes his head. “Misaki.” He rolls her name around his mouth, savouring the sound. “Ocean blossom indeed, eyes as deep as the ocean, skin as fair as the finest cherry blossom.”

“Snap out of it Kōki! Gay, remember?”

He shrugs. “The Misakis of this world transcend the mundane considerations of human sexuality. I doubt that such a divine spirit would require the base sustenance found in restaurants, even one as sublime as where we had our lunch.”

“Enough with the puns! If you want to take her out on a date I’ll get Naomi to pass on her number.”

“What? No! I couldn’t possibly. Such an elegant lady would never look at a hulking brute like me.”

“Stop thinking of her as some unattainable idol! She’s just as much flesh and blood as I am, you don’t treat me like that. And if I’m not mistaken, she was more than a little star-struck around you.” Seeing his sceptical look she reaches for her phone. “If you’re not going to do anything about it, I am!”

“Wait Miki, no! I…” He leans forward and says in shyly, “I’ve never been on a date, I would just embarrass both of us.”

“Oh Kōki.” She kisses him on the cheek. “Leave it to Aunty Miki. You’ll be fine, I promise.”