“The Meeting Of The Lodge of Lonely Police Men is now in order!”

 

Detective Toku Ito’s apartment was, in a word, spartan. Originally the "lodge" was founded when Ito’s friend Onaga Jiro and fellow police officer noticed that Ito was getting too wrapped up in his work and practically dragged him out for a night on the town. This became a monthly event that attracted a few other male police officers and over the years it turned into an unofficial ‘club’. The membership was ‘limited’ to single male police officers. While getting married or dating didn't automatically kick you out, most men who found themselves in relationships didn't have the time to also attend 'Lodge Meetings', so most of the time they just drifted away.

 

While discrimination on the force based on gender was illegal, and the parity of male to female in the police force was basically fifty fifty, the distribution of duties was not. This was mostly because of life choices. Men had an annoying tendency to get married and quit their jobs, or switch to support jobs so they didn't get stuck with as much mandatory overtime. Most men were not willing to devote their entire lives to the job and as such the pattern arose of women being most of the detectives. Women were willing to make more sacrificed and as such wound up in leadership rolls with men being relegated to administration and patrols. Yes, a woman getting pregnant would take them out of work for about six months, but it was usually a planned affair. As such they could time it, usually work at a desk job up to the point of month seven or eight, then take three to six months off, then it was back to work, offloading the care and well being of the child to the husband.

 

Everyone knew men were far more emotional. Women might fall in love, but men 'bonded', at least that is how the popular society myths go. A man is much better at being at home with the children simply because hormones 'bond' the man to his biological children. It's another reason why in divorces the man gets the children 90% of the time. It's why men fall in love at 'first sight', and women fall in LUST at first sight. How much of this is actual biology, and how much is sociological, that's up for interpretation. Regardless, A man who was willing to sacrifice their personal lives for a job was few and far between, as such most men didn’t become detectives, much less make it into the upper ranks.

 

Detective Toku was an exception.

 

He had a bit of a reputation for excellence to the point of obsession. He took all the hard assignments and eventually wound up on the organized crime task force. While not the highest ranking man on the force, he was one of the most respected in Tokyo. As such, other male officers started to gravitate towards him. When Jiro forced Ito to socialize, it was only a matter of time before the core group of the Lodge of Lonely Police Men formed.

 

Originally it was a group to meet and complain about their jobs. It wasn’t a secret society, but it wasn’t well known either. Cliques of men joining together to socialize wasn’t anything unusual. Just about every precinct had groups like that. Most of the time such groups just complained about everyone else. What was different about The Lodge was Ito’s drive and ambition. He didn’t settle on just complaining. He solved complaints. He helped his fellow police officers and they helped each other in turn. Solving cases, making sure that they didn’t miss promotion opportunities, that sort of thing. After a few years, it became a semi-influential group.

 

It was also the reason why Ito was so successful on the organized crime task force. People assumed that he was a diversity hire, but the truth was that having ‘The Lodge’ to help him was instrumental. It was a group that Ito could trust. They were all loyal, and also unlikely to be targeted for corruption. You could never completely trust the department with information about organized crime. Being a police officer wasn’t the highest paying job and taking bribes wasn’t unheard of. Being able to conduct investigations through unofficial channels without paperwork was a real edge.

 

Management knew about this. It wasn’t ‘proper’ and at times could actually be considered ‘illegal’. However, Ito’s reputation was above reproach. He was the best at what he did and was considered by most as incorruptible. It didn't hurt he was a man and there weren't many men in high ranking positions. It would look bad if he was demoted or fired without a very good reason. The normal method of using corrupt officials to 'bury' officers who were too good at fighting organized crime couldn't work on Ito. He knew the system and played politics well. He wasn’t a rogue who did things his own way. He just ‘bent’ the rules, never broke them. As such, he had a great deal of latitude. The department turned a blind eye to what he did and as such, he was allowed to get away with a lot.

 

Those in the know considered him necessary.

 

Which brings us back to Ito’s apartment and the latest meeting of the lodge. Jiro had burst in as he usually did and started handing out the beer. This wasn’t a normal meeting. They usually met at bars to get hammered. This meeting in Ito’s apartment was only for the hard core, most trusted members, but Jiro still tried to make it a party whenever possible.

 

“We have a new member from the computer forensics department.” Ito came walking in from the kitchen to put down a tray of pastries he had made. A slightly overweight man in his twenties was in one of the recliners, one leg up over the arm of the chair. He waved two fingers at the room, “Mukai Yori. Pleased to meet ya.” The half dozen officers present waved back. Introductions were exchanged and alcohol was opened as everyone welcomed him. Juro made sure to press a beer into Yori’s hand, “Hope you aren’t going to be a stick in the mud like Ito here.”

 

Ito took a seat at the far end of the room in a wooden chair he pulled over from the dining room, “Try to limit the drinking until after business. We got a lot to discuss.” Jiro moaned and rolled his eyes, “UGH. Tell me you aren’t still obsessing about that Toshi kid.” Jiro walked into the kitchen, “You still got any of that brick cheese left?” Ito thought for a second, “Try the crisper.” A few moments later Jiro came drifting in from the other room, “So what has the kid done now? Saved another life?”

 

Ito spoke matter of fact, “He’s made twelve million dollars.”

 

The room went quiet. Jiro leaned around the corner holding onto a block of chedder and a very surprised expression, “What?” Ito pointed to Yori, “Thanks to our new friend, we found out that Toshi is in control of three shell companies that he is using to make investments across the globe and is currently worth about ten million dollars, a million in yuan and a couple million rupees. He’s only got about fifty million in yen.” Ito squinted at the ceiling, “That makes him worth about… one point two billion yen in less than six months.” He paused then added, “At the current exchange rate, of course.”

 

Hachiro, a patrol officer and buddy of Jiro, let out a long, low whistle, “So what do you think? Drugs? Smuggling?” Yori responded, “Investing.” Everyone looked at him. He straightened up as he pulled out his cell phone to scroll through his notes, “He is, simply put, either the most well-connected insider trader on the planet or a financial genius.” He paused his scrolling, “His companies have been investing in the New York stock exchange, Hong Kong stock exchange, various shipping companies in India, recently in an oil drilling company that is working on a new technique called… er… Fracking?” He looked up and shrugged, “He hasn’t gotten a return on that yet, but it looks like he is betting big.” He looked back down at his phone, “Annnnnnddd… Oh.” He looked back up, “And he just made an absolute killing in something called Bitcoin.”

 

Jiro squinted, “Bitcoin?” Yori nodded, “Cryptocurrency. I thought it was just a fad myself, but it seems to be taking off. “ He put his phone away, “He seems to be an absolute savant when it comes to predicting the market. Not perfect, mind you, but I would chalk that up to inexperience. He seems to be running the operation out of his bedroom.”

 

Jiro took a long pull at his beer then sat down on the couch, “He has to be doing something illegal. I thought he had ties to the Terauchi family, right? They gotta be behind it some how.” Yori shrugged, “Damned if I can find out how he’s doing it. He also seems to have friends all over the place. California, Hawaii, Bangladesh, Philippines, he seems to know people all around the Pacific Ocean. The funny thing is, I can't find any connection between them. From the records I turned up, it's like one day, four months ago, Toshi just called them up out of the blue, they became instant friends and went into business together.”

 

Yori looked at his notes, "I don't have the specifics, but a few of them are also investing in Toshi." He scratched his head, "And... buying lottery tickets." He looked up, "Lots... of lottery tickets. Like, tens of thousands of lottery tickets, but only certain lotteries. Only in the US for now." Jiro looked puzzled, "Are they winning?" Yori shook his head, "Not the big prizes, but they've won quite a few of the secondary prizes. It's hard to get the specifics. There is a pattern to when they dump a ton of money into buying tickets, but I haven't figured it out yet."

 

Yori looked up and abruptly turned off his phone. He leaned back as he sized up the room, “I hope I passed your little test, Detective Toku. Are you going to finally clue me in on what the hell is going on?” He put his beer down on the table a little harder than he had to, “You dropped all those clues in front of me. I followed your bread crumbs. I found the information. So… What gives?”

 

Ito leaned back in his chair, “You pass. I’ll give you the rundown.” He eyed his beer label for a moment before putting it down on a coaster, “Several decades ago a young, aspiring police officer by the name of Asuka of the Kimoto family had joined the force. She met Oh Hirofumi, an up and coming socialite. He had a falling out with his family when he knocked up Asuka. They got married. Had three kids. The eldest became a cop, who got gunned down by the Terauchi family. That was a few years ago. You might have heard about it.” Ito looked at Yori expectantly. He nodded, “Yeah. Who didn’t?”

 

Ito nodded, “What you might not have heard is that the Oh family took it quite personal and put forth a lot of effort to get it in the papers. They made it a top priority to put it in the minds of everyone in Tokyo, and as such the politicos couldn't ignore it. The whole world came down on the Terauchi family." He shrugged, “The two families have hated each other ever since.” Yori looked thoughtful, “Wait a minute, I know that name. Isn’t there a captain named Kimoto?” Ito nodded, “Several. And the second in command to the chief of police. And several federal agents as well. The family is quite extensive. That’s the problem.”

 

Jiro chimed in, “We’re stepping on a lot of toes here. We have to be very careful. Kimoto Toshi is the son of an Oh and a Kimoto. He could be well connected.” Yori quirked an eyebrow, “Could be?” Ito nodded, “His father is an outcast of the Oh family, and Asuka… well… She’s head of forensics department for the city. I don’t know what the situation is with her family. On the surface it seems fine, but I think something might be up.”

 

Ito took a drink before continuing, “So Asuka and Hirofumi have some sort of problem. There was rumor she was cheating on him. Looked like they were on their way to a divorce. They separated for a while. Toshi moved out with his father. Toshi started using the Oh family name and began a career as a pop singer.” Yori snorts, “Seriously?” Ito noded, “Indeed. His career was starting to take off when someone drugged and raped him before the start of his concert tour. He died, they revived him, when he came out of the coma, his memory was fried... supposedly.”

 

Yori tensed up, “Did they catch the bitch?” Ito shook his head, “Still looking. I’m not working the case, but from what I have managed to scrape up, it may have been a warning.” Yori blinked, “Warning?” Ito shrugged, “Or revenge. Or a serial rapist. It’s still up in the air, but the drug used is known to be a product of the Terauchi family.” Yori let out a low whistle, “So… might have been payback.”

 

Ito sighed, “Maybe. This is where it gets strange. Did you watch the tape I sent you?” Yori nodded, “Yeah. The glitched out background. That was of the school shooting, right?” Everyone got quiet. Yori looked around, “What?” Ito shook his head slowly, “It’s not glitched out. We believe… time was disrupted around Toshi.” Yori snorted, “What? Why would you think that?” Jiro sighed, “Because most people can’t see the glitch.” Yori blinked, “Huh?”

 

Ito took a deep breath, “If you show that tape to ninety nine people, they won’t see it. Their eyes just glaze over it. The more you point it out, the more aggravated the person will get. They’ll do anything to change the subject. And…” There was a long pause before Jiro spoke up, “In one case a car rammed into the person I was trying to show the video to.” He paused, “We were inside a restaurant at the time.” Yori squinted with one eye, “What?” Ito added, “The driver passed out and his car went out of control. He had no idea why, there was no medical reason. He just passed out and drove into the restaurant. Ramming the booth we were sitting in. I jumped out of the way. My friend survived... mostly unharmed.” Jiro looked really shook up, “Don’t… push the video on anyone.”

 

Yori looked around, “What the fuck? Are you people serious?” He eyed his phone, "Is the video... cursed or something?"

 

Ito shrugged, “At first we thought it was a conspiracy, except it doesn’t seem to be an actual dedicated effort by any organization or person.” He pointed at Yori, “And then there are people like you, who can see the video and nothing happens.”

 

Hachiro spoke up, “I’m the one who’s been looking into that the most. It is almost like the universe itself is having an allergic reaction. My theory is, whatever is happening is breaking down.” Yori turned to Hachiro, “Breaking down?” Hachiro nodded, “Yes. Like it used to be stronger in the past, but it’s getting weaker. A veil that kept people from seeing behind the scenes. You see, there's always been strange things that people-” Yori cut him off, “Are all of you insane?” A moment of silence before Hachiro replied, “Most likely.” 

 

The two officers who had not spoken yet looked at each other then decided to add to the conversation. The first one said, “Funny thing is, we can’t see it either.” The other added, “Yeah. No matter how many times we look at that video, it looks perfectly normal to us.” Yori stared at them, “But… then why do you believe it's real?” They both pointed at Ito. The first said, “Because he says it is and Ito would never lie." The other continued, "And other evidence. We apparently can talk about it, but that’s it. Even then, I have a hard time thinking about it.”

 

Ito sighed, “There seems to be levels to this. A few can talk about it, even less can see the video.” Yori looked around, “Okay… look. Is this some sort of prank? A hazing ritual?” Ito shrugged, “You can try and show the video to anyone you want. Don’t worry about the government or the, ahem, 'men in black' coming for you.” Jiro sighed, “I put it on FaceTube. I figured that would get attention. You know what happened? Nothing. Nobody tried to take it down, but nobody would watch it either. It was just… ignored. Hell, trying to search for it is next to impossible. It will show up eventually, but you have to very very careful spelling out the title or you'll find you spelled it wrong.

 

Ito took another swig of his beer, “I hoped it would draw whoever was behind this out into the open but… nothing.” Jiro sighed, “It doesn’t make any sense.” Hachiro raised his voice, “I still think it’s something God did.” He looked at Yori, “Like, it was something to protect us so we didn’t notice how he was doing things. Like he had his angels here to watch over the world but didn’t want us to notice.” Ito sighed as he rolled his eyes, "Not all of us subscribe to that theory, mind you." He pressed his lips together for a few moments and stared off out the window of his apartment, "But if it is God, I have some serious questions for him."

 

Yori started to stand up, “Okay. Look. This was fun. You had me going but-” Ito cut him off, “I know you have been working on side projects. Dead case files. Files listed as closed.” Yori paused, then slowly sat back down as Ito continued, “It's what caught my attention. How hard you work on those cases, trying to figure out what happened to your sister.”

 

Yori's face became flat and emotionless, “Tread Lightly.”

 

Ito opened up the drawer under the coffee table, pulled out a file and dropped it in front of Yori, “She’s still in the asylum, right? She thinks nobody is real? What if she’s right and everyone else is crazy?” Yori frowned as Ito continued, “Toshi dies. Comes back from the dead three days later." Hachiro muttered softly, "Like fuckin' Keanu Christ." Ito ignored the interruption and continued, "He doesn’t know who he is or anyone around him, but can still talk and walk.” Yori picked up the file and started flipping through it as he listened. Checking the cover of the folders, he cut in, “Hold up. These are medical files. And… notes from his psychologist” He looked up, “You shouldn’t have these.”

 

Ito ignored Yori, “Before his death, Toshi was a terrible child. It didn’t take much digging to figure that he was a selfish brat. After he died, he came back a saint, according to everyone around him. He worked hard to repair his family. He's clueless about how the world works, but he’s learning. He apparently became super smart overnight. All his grades improved. He learned a second language he didn’t know before.” Yori narrowed his eyes. Ito took a deep breath, “Sound familiar?” Yori rubbed his mouth and looked around the room, “I’m listening.”

 

Ito pointed to another set of files, “His concept of society is all wrong. He makes mistakes and claims he remembers things wrong. Like knowing the street, but not its name. Getting the prime minister wrong, claiming it's a man named Yoshihide Suga.” Yori was taking a long drink from his beer as he listened. At that name, he abruptly spit it out, “Wait... that's the same name my sister claimed-”

 

Ito pointed at his eyes as he continued, “I pride myself on knowing body language. I know body language. The first thing a person learns is how to walk. It is really hard to lie with your feet.” He pointed at the door, “I watched Toshi for weeks. I have videos of him and I have studied that kid. He does not walk like a boy. He walks like a girl. I’m not saying he’s gay or anything. I’m saying he has the movement and swagger of a girl. Everything about him is backwards.”

 

Yori furrowed his eyebrows, “So? He got brain damage. He changed.” Ito shook his head, “If he woke up and had to relearn how to walk, I’d buy that. But he was back on his feet, day one. You can’t just ‘change’ how you walk. Life isn’t a cartoon. A bonk on the head doesn’t do that.” He flipped open another folder and turned it around for Yori to look at, “Here is the scan of his brain when he arrived at the hospital.” He moved it aside to show another image, “This is after he woke up. In three days all the damage was gone.”

 

Yori picked up both to stare at them, looking from to the other as Ito continued, “I’ve talked with several doctors without giving names and everyone has said the same thing.” Ito held up a finger, “Either Toshi is one of a kind, something that never happened before and a miracle from god.” He held up a second, “Or Toshi is lying about his memory loss.” Yori dropped the file on the table, “So… what are you saying? He was… replaced?”

 

Jiro got up to get another beer, “We got no idea. Maybe." he gestured towards Hachiro, "Maybe he IS an angel sent by god." Jiro shrugged, "Maybe he’s an alien. Who knows?” Jiro kept talking from the Kitchen, “We know he’s got funny sexual appetites.” Yori looked puzzled, “Excuse me?” Hachiro presented a file full of surveillance photos, “We’re fairly certain he’s banging Terauchi Naora, the girl he took a bullet for. You know…” Jiro came out with two beers, one of which he handed to Yori, “The next probable head of the Terauchi crime family, by the way.”

 

 

 

“The same family we think might have had him raped before his concert.”