Suzuki Tadashi
“So, what you mean is that you saw two people walking by that night?!”
“Yeah,” The guy in tattered white shreds and green tattered dirty pants nodded. “That night, I was somehow awaken by the sound of a sword, and then as I stood in front of my barn, I looked at a man with a kid running away in darkness.”
“And are you sure that the kid looked like the kid servant who used to work for Matsuda?”
“I can’t be entirely sure, since it was nighttime and the whole street was dark, but I can bet the physical appearances of the boy looked exactly like that kid.”
Asahi gave a huge smile on his wrinkled face. “Thanks a lot, pal.” He raised his hand toward him to shake hands. “Where did he went?”
“Toward that high-class street on your left back.” The other guy shook his hands. “I never thought I’d be helping in the murder case of that son of a bitch. I still think it’s a social service that Matsuda is gone.”
“Unluckily, he’s gonna get justice soon.”
“I don’t care, man. I got work to do here.” He pulled his hand back, turned back, and started to walk away in the street full of barns and dairies at both the sides.
Asahi turned back left towards the street directly in front of the barn, which was bricked. “I bet if I ask people by that street, I’ll surely get some clues about where they had gone.”
***
Tachibana Ichika
It was evening time, with some little clouds all over the sky. The street in front of the wooden building of The Bar was completely filled by a moving crowd of people dancing and laughing and singing and playing instruments like drums and stuff. The people sitting at the outer dining area had their heads turned to right chewing their food towards the glass wall as they looked at professional dancers dance alongside normal citizens on the beats of drums, violins, trumpets, and other handy instruments. I turned my head to the back at the glass wall on the other side of the shelf, looked at all the celebrations going on with my bored eyes, and then walked towards the door, and pushed open the door. I looked at all those people celebrating as they danced filled with joy in their faces.
The door on the left corner of the restaurant suddenly opened and the figure of a slender man with black overcoat and black pair of pants ran outside, banging the door close behind him. “Ah shit! I’m late!” Kurayami said as he stopped running and stood beside me. I turned my head to the right, looking at him and his bag in front of his chest.
“What’s in this bag?”
“Food. I had to give it to someone.”
“To whom?” I asked.
Kurayami continued to look in the front at the crowd celebrating with a smile on his face. He stood silently for a second, gazing it all, and then said, “… It’s so big…” He turned his head to the left, looking at from where the crowd was coming from.
“Yeah,” I turned my head to the left.
The noise of drums and footsteps and songs and trumpets were all over the atmosphere. I turned backward and went inside. “They’re all happy that the price of meat is gonna fall down.”
“And they should,” Kurayami turned to the back at my black back walking towards the shelf. “People are rooting for The Bar this year too.” Kurayami then turned his head to the front again, and walked away, closing the door behind him.
I stood in front of the shelf again, looking at Yumiko pouring coffee. Yumiko turned her head at me as she poured coffee in the cups, and said in a soft low voice, “I can bet you now he’s gonna come back after eleven.”
***
Suzuki Tadashi
The sun was about to set. The sky in between the dark brown half-black wooden buildings was half-black by now, like it’d be black in just some minutes. The dark narrow street was filled with tossed garbage cans, banana peels, and just garbage scattered all around. A small wooden door at the left side of the street quietly opened. A male figure around the age of sixteen, wearing a red t-shirt and black pair of pants upon black boots, came out with a scabbard on his left waist. His black dense hair was long—touching his shoulder. It was me. I looked seriously at the man on the other side of the door, nodded, turned to the left, and started to run towards the entrance of the street. Just as I exited the street and turned right, I looked at a man in black suit and pants was entering the street from my left. I then turned my eyes to the front again and continued running.
The man stopped, looking at my back running on his left. “Why was this kid running?” Asahi thought as he looked at me running. He then turned his head to the front. “This place surely feels skeptical.” Asahi continued to walk on the paved road beneath his foot.
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Asahi turned to his left, and stood in front of the open door. “That’s where they said the two are hidden,” He whispered to himself. He then moved his right leg towards the door and stepped inside. “Why is it open, by the way?” He thought as he walked inside into the narrow little corridor made of bricks on both the sides. There was another open door on his left, about two steps away. He walked inside, and then turned to his left, looking inside the door.
SWOOSH!
The thick piece of blade ripped through his chest, coming out from the back painted in red stains. The sword was then pulled back in an instant. Asahi moved his right hand up, covering his chest, and choked a little, spitting out blood.
GWAH! COUGH!
He knelt down on the ground, blood dripping out from his chest.
“GWAH! THOO!”
The figure in black overcoat and black pants jumped up across the body and landed with a bump on the corridor. The face was covered with a black hoodie. He turned his face back, his hoodie falling down. Kurayami said, “I’m sorry, sir. But it needed to be done.” He then turned to his right towards the open door, and walked away. He thought, “It’d very well divert the king’s forces from Matsuda’s murder to Asahi’s murder.”
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