Volume 3 Chapter 0 (2/2)
The man put away his tools and moved quietly elsewhere in order to not be a hindrance. When he met Masayos.h.i.+'s eyes, he raised a balled fist, as if to send a wordless yell of ”do your best!” and Masayos.h.i.+ bobbed his head in reply. He then opened the sliding door a crack wide in order to be able to see the corridor.
The sounds of a motorbike engine died, as anxiety bloomed inside of him.
The doorbell rang, and the owner of the house, Murai Sayuri, replied, 'Yes?' over the inter-phone.
”Sorry to have kept you waiting. This is Kakeas.h.i.+ Motorbike Courier. I have come to receive the package.”
”Ah, yes yes. My apologies, it seems that the pain in my back is acting up today… the door at the foyer is unlocked, so would you come up into the house on your own?” said Sayuri in a frail voice, as per the plan to lure him into the house. The performance she put on was masterful.
What a lady, Masayos.h.i.+ marveled, as he regulated his own breathing. The door at the foyer swung open.
”Sorry to interrupt you.” It was the voice of a young man.
The floorboards in the corridor of the old wooden house creaked. That young man, whom he could see through the gap in the door, did not remove his full face helmet. Surely it was to hide his face.
Masayos.h.i.+ p.r.i.c.ked his ears. He could hear rather clearly the conversation taking place outside.
”How should I do this?”
”Erm, the package, please.”
”Before that, don't I need to write anything for you?”
”Uh, right. Erm…”
It seems that he has not gotten used to his job yet. There was a sound of rustling paper while he seemed to be searching for something, after which he said ”Please sign over here.” After a short while, Sayuri could be heard saying ”Here you go.” She probably signed on the doc.u.ments and returned them to him.
”Please be careful. Two million yen is a large amount of money.” she said.
”Yes, I will hold on to this.”
Secure him—went the wireless radio. The man had received the cash.
”Wha, Wha, What?”
”Be quiet and take off that helmet…! ”
”Hey, stop there!”
The man started to put on a reckless struggle. He was unexpectedly strong… it was almost as if he was skilled at hand to hand fighting. With one kick, he sent a detective with a Judo black belt flying and sank his fist into the stomach of the other. In the face of such brute strength, both detectives collapsed soundlessly and was unable to pick themselves up.
The man then made use of that opening and broke into a full force run that was headlong in Masayos.h.i.+'s direction. On top of oozing murderous intent, he also had a large build. He was above a hundred eighty centimeters in height and, clad in rider's jacket, looked as solidly built as an American football player.
It was terrifying.
Yet Masayos.h.i.+, despite his shaky knees, braced himself. He cannot allow the man to leave the house. ”Stop right there!” he yelled. However, no matter how much he yelled, Masayos.h.i.+, with his small stature, could never hope to become much of a breakwater. He was easily thrust aside, and he landed hard on his bottom in the corridor as the man ran out of the foyer.
Both detectives picked themselves up, groaning. One dialed for a.s.sistance, and the other grabbed his stomach in pain and attempted to start walking.
The person who managed to get outside quicker than any of them was the gentle mannered man who was building the shelves.
Masayos.h.i.+ brushed off his behind and tried going outside to where the road was, only to find that the man racing determinedly after the man in the helmet. His feet was in female sandals, probably because he did not have the time to put on his own shoes. The man in the helmet was barefoot. He was frantically trying to run away, but he wasn't going very fast.
”Wait…!” The gentle mannered man called out sharply. This was immediately followed by an ”Whoa whoa whoa whoa!” The sandals were so small for him that he had been running on tiptoes and just as Masayos.h.i.+ thought that he was about to catch up with the man in the helmet, he flew forward.
It was a magnificent leap… Not.
If he had to say it, it would be that the man was in a situation in which he, caught in the momentum of a stumble, had no choice but to jump forward. In other words, he more or less flew.
And then he grabbed on firmly onto the man in the helmet. It would be more accurate to say that he held on to him for support rather than catching him. If the man in the helmet hadn’t been front of him, he probably would have fallen flat on his face.
”I've… I've got you!”
The man shouted, while falling onto into a tangle with the other man on the road.
The man with the helmet once again tried to escape by putting up a violent struggle. The gentle mannered man, despite being kicked at repeatedly, clung on to him in a last ditch effort to prevent his escape.
Just as Masayos.h.i.+ was about to run towards him to rescue him, three pa.s.sers-by appeared. The three pa.s.sers-by who looked slightly taken aback to see two people rolling about on the road while kicking and struggling were of… a rather peculiar sort.
One was casually dressed and in gra.s.s slippers. The other two were in sweats.
They had one thing in common—they all weighed a little over a hundred kilograms each and had their hair pulled back at their temples.
”Erm, Mebuki-san?”
”It really is Mebuki-san. Why are you doing sumo training in a place like this?”
”Is okurikake going to be your finis.h.i.+ng sumo technique?”
From what these three people were saying rather noisily, Masayos.h.i.+ heard the gentle mannered man's name for the first time. Apparently, he was called Mebuki. Mebuki, who looked like he was not going to let go of that man's belt at any cost, lifted his face. ”I'm not doing sumo training! This is a state of emergency!” he yelled. ”This person is a con-man! Help me hold him down!”
The sumo wrestlers' eyes grew round.
Immediately, all three of them simultaneous nodded their head in agreement and flung away the convenience store bags they had in their hands. From the inside of the bags different types of snacks and ice-cream began rolling out onto the road. Amongst them was the Yukimi Daif.u.ku Mochi that Masayos.h.i.+ liked.
The sumo wrestlers thundered against the road as they charged towards the duo.
No matter how good a physique the man in the helmet had, he was definitely no match for three sumo wrestlers. It was like being hit by gigantic meats buns raining down from above. He was pinned down in no time at all.
The detectives, who finally caught up with everyone else, wasted not a moment's delay to put handcuffs on the wrist that was barely sticking out of the pile of bodies.
”We arrest you for suspected fraud!” the detective announced in a ringing voice. The sumo wrestlers, with the two men still squashed under them, went ”Whoa, awesome.” ”It's like in those detective TV dramas.” ”We did something really good, didn't we?” and so forth while beaming at each other. The three sweaty sumo wrestlers, in their freshly steamed meat buns state, gathered together and started praising each other for their brave efforts.
In the midst of all these, a feeble voice could be heard. ”N… No.” it said.
That voice was so hoa.r.s.e and weak that it sounded as if its owner's lungs were being crushed. From right behind Masayos.h.i.+, Murai-san, who had hurriedly gotten out of the house, murmured: ”Oh dear,” in a troubled sounding voice.
”No… That, is my hand… Urgh.” the voice said.
It was a tragedy.
On top of getting handcuffed, the brave civilian was also, together with the criminal, groaning in pain underneath those wrestlers.
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