Volume 3 Chapter 2 (1/2)
t.i.tle: Koushounin series 03
Koushounin wa Furikaeru [交渉人は振り返る]
Chapter: 2
Page: 044 – 075
Author: Eda Yuuri [榎田 尤利]
Ill.u.s.trator: Nara Chiharu [奈良 千春]
Publisher: Taiyō Tos...o...b..>
Year of Release: 2009
Disclaimer:
Eda Yuuri is the original author of this work, and this is a fan translation. Feel free to re-post this elsewhere if you like but please credit this site. I did buy the original copy of this book, along with the rest of the series, so it'll be great if you can support her by buying her books.
By the way, this work contains BL, or h.o.m.o-eroticism.
Note:
As I have no formal training in translation theory nor am I an expert in j.a.panese (nor English, for the matter), I cannot guarantee the quality of this translation work, but I promise I did my best.
I have been a big fan of the Koushounin series by Eda Yuuri ever since I got my hands on the BLCDs for the first and second instalments of the series, and have been waiting patiently for the BLCDs for the third instalment onward… to no avail. It has been 8 years since the sensei published Koushounin wa Furikaeru, and I am beginning to accept that there might be no BLCD after all.
Nevertheless, the fujos.h.i.+ doesn’t give up. The following is my attempt at the English translation of the rest of the series.
Chapter 2
”You must be kidding me. Poor Hyoudou-san.”
The following day, Ayaka paid my office a visit, not to see me, but to see Sayuri-san. She had seen the aforementioned newspaper article and thought Sayuri-san was so awesome that she felt that she had to come by to ask for the full story with all the details. Unfortunately, Sayuri-san was out and Kiyo was on his day off, thus she ended up chatting with me instead.
”Why. Why do you say that?”
”Eh? Mebuki-san, you don't know why?”
”I don't. What did he mean by 'This sure is complicated'?”
Upon hearing my question, Ayaka said: ”Can you even call yourself a negotiator?” with a pout. The make-up she was wearing today wasn’t very thick, and she was dressed in jeans and a pink parka. Either way, she looked as sweet as ever, as one would expect from someone who is ranked number one in Maid Café Nyanko de Nyarin.
”What he meant, is that the feelings he had deep inside were complicated.”
”I thought as much, but why?”
”Like I said, he must have wanted you to say clearly to s.h.i.+meno, this friend of yours, 'I like Hyoudou, and it is not for you to say anything about it’.'”
”… Really?”
”Of course!”
”Ha. Ha ha ha. …Nope, I couldn't have said that.”
As she sat looking at me laugh as if I wanted to pretend that nothing much had happened, Ayaka said: ”How pathetic…” with a sigh.
”Okay? Let's pretend what we discussed just now happened to this guy and girl; this girl goes over to her boyfriend's house to have fun and sees that his friend is there, too. This friend of his knows that they are sleeping with each other, yet says to the boyfriend 'You shouldn't be dating this girl.' Wouldn't it be a situation like that?”
I hurriedly put my thoughts in order. Eh, so in this case, I am the boyfriend and Hyoudou is the girl? This set-up seemed pretty inconceivable, but for now I simply nodded.
”Then what of this girl? She would want him to say to his friend clearly that 'It's perfectly okay because I like her. Quit b.u.t.ting in', right?
”U-Un… I guess you are right…”
”And yet!” Ayaka said as she started beating at her thighs. Her thighs, in skinny jeans, were moderately plump and looked… like they would feel good.
”And yet! The boyfriend flippantly goes 'Nope, it's simply because I'm a person that gets swept away easily!’ What is that supposed to mean! What are you, soumen1? What are you to do if you will so promptly go with the flow like that?”
”I-I’m sorry!” Caught up in her momentum, I stammered out an apology. The girl's feelings in her story will most definitely be hurt. Poor thing.
”… But, she won't only be hurt by his words. If you ask me why, well, she will also feel very uneasy. That is because there was a chance that the boyfriend's answer might be 'What are you saying? I'm not going out with this girl, nor do I even I like her. We occasionally lie with each other, that's all' instead.”
”Eh? Won't he be the worst if he said something like that?”
”Yep. The worst.”
”Huh? Hang on a moment. In other words, Hyoudou thought I might say something like that?”
Exactly, Ayaka agreed as she crunched her way through her fried dough stick. Incidentally, we were not in the reception area but the along the office desks. Ayaka had pulled out Kiyo's chair and was currently sitting on it.
”You see, Mebuki-san, you were trying to hide the fact that you were dating Hyoudou-san, weren't you?”
”… About that… well. We're both men, and it's not something you want to make public anyway, so…” To me, who was looking around restlessly, Ayaka sharply said: ”No excuses! Women get hurt when you say things like that, you know.”
”Un… Wait. Hyoudou isn't a woman, though?”
”So… do you have any sort of proof that if the person in question was male and yakuza, his feelings won't be hurt?”
Pressed for an answer, I could only go, ”No, I don't.” What a miserable state to be in now. As a negotiator whose only weapon is speech, I was unable to explain how I got myself in my current predicament.
”At the very least, he can say that you did admit that you two were going out. However, you also said something that implied that it was not because you liked him but instead due to a certain course of events. That's why 'it was complicated'. He can't be very happy about what you said, but at least there was one saving grace.”
I see, that was his state of mind at that time… Come to think of it, there was a touch of sorrow in Hyoudou's eyes back then.
”Ayaka chan, you're pretty sharp…”
”Mebuki-san's just thick headed, that's all.”
”To think I was this ignorant all these while… Erm. Have some more coffee?”
Ayaka nodded yes. I have to admit reluctantly that when it comes to matters of the heart, women are remarkably perceptive. Or possibly, it could just be that Ayaka is special.
As I was at the pantry making coffee, the office doorbell sounded. It would probably be a client arriving unannounced, and Ayaka stood up and said, ”I'll get it.”
”Yes, May I know who this… Nn?”
Ayaka looked at this client and tilted her head slightly.
It would seem that she recognized this person. Ayaka is a professional in the service trade, and she can remember quite clearly the face of a person after just one conversation. Similarly, the client looked at Ayaka and went, ”Ah?”
”… Mitsuo-san?”
After recognizing who I was, Mitsuo greeted me with ”h.e.l.lo.” and a bow. What an unexpected visitor this was. Mitsuo was my colleague in a host club; Mits...o...b..ing my senior and I, a host who had newly joined the ranks. It was still summer at that time, so I guess that would make it about two months ago when, for a short period time, I infiltrated a host club in order to get information for a job I was doing.
”It's been awhile. Please do come in, I'll get some tea…”
”Mebuki-san, let me get the tea!” Ayaka, being the attentive girl she was, jumped up to help with the tea, so I showed Mitsuo to the reception area. As I sat facing him, Mitsuo asked: ”Eh… Did Ayaka switch jobs to work here?”
”Oh no. She just happened to drop by, that's all. Mitsuo-san, you knew Ayaka chan? … Ah I see. She was with Hyoudou at that club.”
”There was that too… Erm. Could you not call me Mitsuo-san? You aren't a host anymore, plus you are much older than I am.”
That was true, so I went ”Mitsuo-kun, then?”
Mits...o...b..bbed his head with a small smile. When he smiles, there is an air of artlessness about him. I remember hearing from the owner of the club that he was born in Aomori but took the risk to come to Kabuki-chō to work with absolutely nothing in his name. He was what you would perhaps call a tough guy type host, as instead of the usual bouffant which was in vogue, he sported a close trim of brown hair. In the club he wore a suit, but today he was dressed casually in damaged jeans and a skull motif s.h.i.+rt.
”Mebuki-san's real job is a negotiator, or so I've heard.”
”Un. I'm sorry for keeping that from you at that time.”
”Oh no, that was… I mean, it was because you were doing your job… Anyway, I have something I want to discuss with you, but it may not have anything to do with what a negotiator does…”
To urge Mitsuo, who was hesitating to speak his mind, to continue, I said, ”Please try discussing it with me.” After all, a negotiator's job cannot be not strictly defined. As long there is anything to be discussed or negotiated, the job would fall under my area of disposition.
Mitsuo started to speak. It was when he had just resigned from his part time job, that a friend from the same village he was from also decided to come to Tokyo. ”His name was Saitou. Like I was back then, he was attracted to life in Tokyo and came to the city hoping to make a name for himself as a host, something like that…” he said.
However, Saitou did not have the disposition that was required of a good host. Under the pressure of not being able to secure any designations from customers and the harshly enforced pecking order in host clubs, he cracked and threw in the towel after two weeks, quitting his job at Jericle Boys. He also left the dormitory and for a short while crashed at Mitsuo's place without paying him rent.
”At that time, I also just left the dormitory to moved into a small apartment. Well, I thought it would be fine if he had just stayed for a week, but he stayed close to half a month without chipping in for the rent. No, I guess I knew he didn't have the money anyway…”
Mitsuo talked about how he got angry and irritated with Saitou's low desire to work.
”I mean, this was when I was squeezing my liver working like crazy every night, you see? Yet when he sees me receiving a present or something from one of my clients he will say things like 'how nice it is, to be so carefree' or 'it's a great job only if you're cut out for it, , isn't it?' I can't tell you how many times I wanted to punch him.”
However, Mitsuo put up with it because he knew that deep inside, Saitou was not a bad person. When they were still in their hometown, they used to both be mischievous kids and would run off on stolen bikes, but Saitou was the sort of person who would secretly return them the next day.
“It is probably because of this economic downturn that he was unable to find a job that he wanted to do, and his spirits were probably really low. That was why I would, in order to cheer him up, occasionally bring him to Ayaka-chan’s shop to have fun.”
Ayaka, who just happened to come over with the coffee, said in a deliberately sulky tone, “But, Mitsuo-san, you picked Rani as your companion instead of me, didn’t you?”
“But you see, that was because Saitou said that he will most definitely want Ayaka-chan, so…”
“Eh, doesn’t that mean Ayaka-chan and Saitou-kun know each other?” I asked.
“Un. That’s because I have, along with the other girls in the shop, gone to Jericle Boys a number times to have fun. It was then I met him. Saitou-kun’s professional nickname is Yuuya.” said Ayaka.
“That’s because his real name is Saitou Yuuya,” said Mitsuo. “He is, after all, my friend, and I have done everything I could, but… one day, we had a big quarrel and Saitou left. I was pretty p.i.s.sed off too and decided that I didn’t care where he went after that, but after that I happened to be on the phone with another friend from the same hometown, and…”
Mitsuo, for the first time, found out about the circ.u.mstances that Saitou was battling with.
Saitou’s father used to manage a successful construction firm. However, the company became bankrupt during this economic downturn. Since his father was causing trouble in various places his family was unable to remain in his hometown. His parents then sought help from his mother's family and moved to Hokkaido to where they stayed.
”Saitou had to drop out of a private university halfway through a term… and then he came here to find work. I didn't know about all that, so when I told him to, well, hurry up and get his a.s.s back home in the countryside…” Mitsuo's voice trailed off as he hung his head.
”Eh?” said Ayaka who was sitting beside me, with a puzzled tilt of her head. ”But then, Yuuya-kun came to our shop just the other day, I think? Just two to three days ago.”
”Yea, I know. When I called him last night, he was tooting his horn about it. About how it won't be too long before he would be able to bring Ayaka-chan outside the shop for a date. But somehow… there was something odd about him.”
”Odd… as in?”
”He was oddly well heeled.” said Mitsuo.
Now that you mention it, recalled Ayaka as she tapped an index finger to her jaw. ”The other day when he came, he ordered the shop's priciest 'Princess-Fondle-Feudal Lord-Grope Golden Special Course'. Furthermore, he also bought me some very expensive chocolates.”
I was extremely anxious to know what kind of course that something fondle something grope was, but I didn't let it show on my face… At least, I think it didn't show. I'm not too confident.
”Perhaps Saitou-kun had found a job that paid well?” I asked, instead.
”I heard that he did… but somehow he seems to be evading my questions about his job. Instead, he seems to only want to show off how rich he has become.”
I heard from Mitsuo that Saitou had invited him for a meal and they met only the other day. Saitou had arrived in a brand name suit with an expensive watch on his wrist, and treated Mitsuo to a meal at a high cla.s.s yakiniku restaurant.
”I am very much indebted to you, or that was what he said, but I felt that all he wanted to do was to show me how much money he had now. However, he left my place like what, just one month ago? Don't you think it is a little strange that he was able to ama.s.s that much wealth so suddenly?”
”Nn, well, he could have gotten himself a sugar mama… but then, Yuuya-kun isn't exactly attractive, and he is rather quick, too,” said Ayaka.
I see, so he was a brisk one… That aside. Certainly, it is not normal for a young man who just recently didn't even have a place to stay to have acquired such a large sum of money so quickly.
”I wonder if he is involved with some risky business,” muttered Mitsuo with a clouded brow. By risky business, he probably meant illegal business.
I started by saying ”It is too early to make that conclusion,” while putting a smile on my face. It is, after all, also my job to put my clients at ease. ”I mean, it is not as if you have heard anything from him that may be considered concrete proof that he was involved in something illegal, don't you?”
”I didn't hear it from him, but I saw it.”
”You saw it?”
While Mitsuo was having that meal with him at that yakiniku restaurant, Saitou had gone to the washroom. The bag that Saitou had with him on that day happened to be of a brand that Mitsuo was thinking of getting for himself, thus in order to take a closer look, Mitsuo had picked it up from the seat it was lying on.
”It was very soft, good leather that the bag was made from. That was why… even if I were to just touch the top of the bag, I would know that it contained a number of small, hard items.”
From the size and the feel of these items, he could roughly guess what they were, he said.
”But then, it was weird that he had heaps of them in his bag.”
Mitsuo had taken a look around him to confirm that Saitou had not returned, and opened the bag for a look. Inside the bag was, as he had guessed, about a dozen hand phones. Apart from the phones, there was also a stack of bankbooks bundled together.
—those were tobas.h.i.+… With that thought, I wiped the smile from my face and asked Ayaka to leave us. Ayaka must have sensed this as well, as she immediately left the office with a ”See you next time!”
Unfortunately, this was not a situation in which I could tell my client that ”I think you don't need to worry about anything”. From this point on, there was a need to sit down with Mitsuo, just two of us, and carefully talk things over.
–
I emerged from the subway station onto the streets, and, for the time being, walked towards the Namida-bas.h.i.+ crossing. It was mid-October and the weather was clear and sunny. A few days had pa.s.sed since Mitsuo came by my office.
I was in a pair of well-worn jeans and an old, musty s.h.i.+rt. Over the s.h.i.+rt I wore neither a blouson nor a regular jacket but, if I had to say, a heavy work jacket of sorts. Being dressed in this manner made it easier to blend into this city. This city used to be called a flophouse district and was an area dotted with simply furnished living quarters used by day laborers and the like. Entering my vision was the sight of many people who were directly affected by the worsening economy, and were unable to find work. They gathered around in large, idle groups.
At the end of the road was a man that had fallen asleep sitting up on the street, and he was being shaken awake by a policeman. I have heard about how the number of people living on the streets had been on a decline, but I wonder if the number had started increasing again since the recession at the end of last year. Nevertheless, this number is made up of mostly the elderly, and during winter it is said that there are still people who freeze to death out on the streets.
Whether or not I would be able to find Saitou Yuuya in a neighborhood like this… My guess is that my chances weren’t slim.
Prior to today, I had Mitsuo ask Saitou in a roundabout way about what he would be doing today, and he apparently answered, “I’ll be busy with work.”
His work. That was the problem at hand. Certainly, all occupations should be without distinction by rank, but occupactions that supported crime… No, I guess these should be called criminal acts as well, and criminal acts cannot be thought of as an occupation. These are deeds that hurt, exploit and trample on the rights of others. You could say that Lupin the Third2 made a living off thievery, but that sort of behavior is only permitted in the anime universe. In reality, things are very different, like how there is no such thing as a real-life Fujiko Mine.
I bought a can of coffee from a vending machine and started walking again, with no particular destination in mind. While slurping on coffee that was cloyingly sweet, I felt myself slipping into a rather disconsolate mood.
In any society, there will always be people who are weak. And then again there will always be people who prey on the weak. Acquiring bankbooks, and selling them in someone else's name. Acquiring hand phones, and selling them in someone else's name. All the while knowing they will be used for criminal activities, but yet doing so for the sake of a few days' worth of living expenses, because they had no other choice. To people who have trouble affording their meals for the day, preaching morality to them would probably be of scant use. Even I, if put in situation in which I were penniless, hungry and cold, don't know what I would choose to do either.
A little less than an hour of aimless wandering later, I was still unable to find Saitou. Thinking that I should rest for a bit, I sat myself down on the bench in a small public park. The bench was in a sunny spot and it was occupied by a stray cat, but I said to it, ”Sorry, but I want to sit too,” and had it move a little to the side to make room for myself. As I was just about to start on another can of coffee, I saw a group of foreigners carrying backpacks pa.s.sing by. It seems that the cheap accommodation available in this area is becoming popular with tourists. Our eyes met, and a girl with red hair greeted me with a cheerful hi. I waved back to her and the other backpackers and just as they pa.s.sed by—I found who I was looking for.
At the corner of the park was a person striking up a conversation with a man in his fifties. The side profile of that person was very similar to the photo that Mitsuo had given to me.
It was Saitou, without a doubt.
The man in his fifties was dressed in a black leather jacket, slim cut jeans and boots, and was looking around restlessly, paying careful attention to his surroundings. I hurriedly threw myself down to lie on the bench and pretended I was asleep. The stray cat, startled by sudden movement, jumped off the bench with a perplexed yowl.
There was some distance between us so he probably won't notice that my eyes was actually half-closed. I continued to observe Saitou from that position. The man in the black leather jacket handed something to Saitou, which he immediately kept away in his bag. In return, Saitou handed him a stack of bills.
This is the scene of a tobas.h.i.+ transfer process. Mitsuo's fears had not been unfounded.
When the two parted ways, I immediately starting tailing Saitou. Once or twice, I was able to get close enough to hear his verbal exchanges with other people. Bankbooks, hand phones, licenses, insurance papers… even pension books were offered to him in exchange for cash. I do not know how many times I found myself wanting to interrupt the exchanges with ”You really had better stop that”, but I resisted the urge and continued walking behind Saitou.
When evening came, Saitou got onto a train in the subway.
Naturally, I was also on the train he was on. He changed trains to a JR line en route and got off at s.h.i.+n-Ookubo station. According to my conjecture, Saitou was on his way to meet someone else, in order to hand in the tobas.h.i.+ he had collected.
Truth is, I was hoping that Saitou would go all the way to their base of operation, but that was being overly optimistic. It is likely that the meeting point was somewhere that was crowded with people, like the inside of a train station, probably to prevent attracting unwanted attention. I ensured that there was a safe distance between us and continued to watch him doggedly from afar, as I hid half of my face in a sports newspaper and was careful not to let our eyes meet.
Saitou reached into his pockets, pulled out a hand phone, and starting talking on it. Perhaps the person he was meeting was nearby. I paid close attention to our surroundings.
Just then, there was a sound of something hitting floor. It was a can of coffee.
I didn't know where it was dropped but it rolled slowly, making its way towards me. Next to me was an elderly lady walking by, and I thought it was dangerous to have a can rolling about. Just in case she might slip on it, I bent over to pick up the can, which was still warm. When I righted myself however, I instantly regretted bending over. Saitou had disappeared… wait, no he hasn't. My eyes picked him up again, but he was no longer where he was a few moments ago. He was walking towards the ticketing gate, the bulge in his bag gone.
In other words, he had successfully completed the tobas.h.i.+ exchange.
In the few seconds it took for me to bend over to pick up that can… everything was over and done with. He got me… and he had gotten me good.
The can of coffee rolling on the floor must not have been a coincidence. The person who had come to collect the tobas.h.i.+ from Saitou must have noticed that there was someone watching him and had deliberately rolled it towards me. Putting aside the obvious fact that he would be on the lookout to prevent his cover from being blown, I was surprised that he was able to notice my presence. Granted, I was neither a police detective nor a private investigator that was well practiced in shadowing and watching people without them noticing. However, it was a train station we were at, with many people waiting around, thus I should have been able to blend right into the crowd. How then could he have noticed that I was watching Saitou?
I found it very suspicious, but I should be focusing on Saitou now.
Hurriedly putting my feelings aside, I went after Saitou as he walked towards the ticketing gate. Perhaps it was because he had just recently got paid and was in a good mood; Saitou was light on his feet. He would probably be thinking of going somewhere to have fun later on.
I had a feeling that tonight is going to be a really long night.
–
”I'll start from my conclusion. I think we should all go eat hotpot.”
As I conveyed this idea to Mitsuo over the phone, he went ”Harh? Hotpot?” with his voice increasing in pitch. I could almost picture the bewildered look on his face as I listened to his voice.
Yesterday, I saw with my own eyes Saitou Yuuya gathering tobas.h.i.+, and it was very clear that he had been conspiring with scam groups. After that, I continued tailing him late into the night, and managed to pin down the location of the apartment he was staying in now. When I reported this to Mitsuo, he implored me earnestly to ”please stop him, somehow.”