‘Huh?’ Yuichi blinked. ‘Did something happen?’
‘Akiyoshi!’ Bear shouted. ‘Answer the man’s question!’
‘It’s OK,’ the detective said. There was a faint smile on his face when he turned back to Yuichi. ‘One of the students from Seika got pretty roughed up near school yesterday.’
Yuichi felt the muscles in his face freeze. ‘I didn’t do anything.’
‘We’re not saying you did. But we were talking to the students at Seika, and your name came up.’ There was nothing threatening in the detective’s tone, but Yuichi could hear the meaning behind his words: you’re our prime suspect, kid.
‘I don’t know anything, really!’ Yuichi shook his head.
‘OK, then tell me what you were doing yesterday and where you were.’
‘Yesterday… on the way home from school I stopped at the bookshop and the record shop,’ Yuichi said, recalling. That had been a little after six, and after that he had spent the entire night at home.
‘Was your family home?’
‘Yeah. I was with my mom. Dad came home around nine.’
‘So no one other than your family was there?’
‘No, sir,’ Yuichi said, worried that they might not take his family’s word for it.
‘So, what to do?’ The detective talking turned to the younger detective. ‘Mr Akiyoshi here says he wasn’t taking those photos for himself, but I’m not sure what reason we have to believe him.’
‘I really was taking them for my friend.’
‘If that’s the case, you should probably tell us your friend’s name.’
Yuichi was in a fix. If he didn’t tell them, he was sure they would suspect he did it.
‘Don’t worry,’ the detective said suddenly, ‘we won’t tell anyone it was you who told us.’
His timing was uncanny. It was as if he had peered right into Yuichi’s thoughts. Hesitantly, he gave them Muta’s name. As soon as he said it, the guidance counsellor’s face fell. Probably because that was the name that always came up whenever there was trouble at the school.
‘And he only asked you for pictures of Miss Karasawa? He didn’t want pictures of any of the other girls?’
Yuichi hesitated for a moment, but decided not to hide anything. It wasn’t like he had much left to lose. ‘Actually, just the other day he asked me about one other one. Her name’s Miyako Fujimura. I don’t know her, though.’
A change came over the detectives’ faces.
‘And did you take her picture?’ the detective asked him in a low voice.
‘Not yet, sir,’ Yuichi said, immediately regretting his choice of words.
The detective nodded.
‘I don’t ever want to hear about you taking any more pictures, you got that?’ Bear growled next to him. ‘If you hadn’t been out there being an idiot you wouldn’t be sitting in here right now, understand?’
Yuichi nodded silently.
‘There’s one more thing I wanted to check with you,’ the detective said, pulling out a plastic bag. ‘Have you ever seen this before?’
A small figurine was in the bag. Yuichi gaped. There was no doubt in his mind it was Kikuchi’s missing key chain.
‘Looks like you have seen it.’
If he told them who it belonged to, would Kikuchi become a suspect? But, if he lied, things might get worse for him, quick.
‘Well?’ the detective asked again, rapping his fingers on the table. The sound felt like needles pricking at Yuichi’s skin.
Yuichi swallowed and told them.
It was Thursday morning when the announcement came. All students were to leave school by no later than five o’clock, even if they had after-school activities. They were reminded of the new rule again by their teacher in homeroom.
It seemed only natural to Eriko. When she thought about what she’d seen the other day, she felt like even five was too late, and every student should go home right when classes ended.
But all the other students complained. It was a testament to how well they had covered up the incident. It was safe to say that no one else in the school knew what had happened two nights ago in the storehouse so close to campus.
Of course there were rumours, and some bore a resemblance to the truth. One was that a pervert had attacked a student on the way home from school. But even then, they could have made that up just from reading the announcement. Eriko couldn’t imagine any of the teachers talking, and neither she nor Yukiho had said a word. No one even knew that they were the ones who had found the victim.
It had been Yukiho who suggested they keep it to themselves. She had called Eriko that night after they got home.
‘Miyako must be in shock, having that happen to her. If people start talking about it… I mean, what if she does something? What if she kills herself? So I was thinking we should keep it to ourselves. Maybe we can stop the rumours from starting.’
It was a wise suggestion, Eriko thought. She told her friend that she had planned on staying quiet, too.
Miyako Fujimura had been her classmate in second year. She was a good student with a cheerful personality, a natural leader in class. She wasn’t Eriko’s favourite person, however. Miyako had a tendency to lash out whenever she felt her pride was being injured, which was often. She also never thought twice about saying bad things about people. There were others who felt the same way about her, Eriko was sure. If they heard about what had happened, they would be right up there in front, leading the rumour mill.
That day at lunch Eriko ate with Yukiho at their desks by the window. No one else was around.
‘So the story is that Fujimura’s off because she was in a traffic accident,’ Yukiho told her in a quiet voice.
‘Really?’
‘Nobody suspects anything yet. I don’t know how long that will last, though.’
When she had finished lunch, Yukiho took out her patchwork and looked out of the window. ‘Doesn’t seem like any of those boys are here today.’
Eriko looked up. ‘Which boys?’
‘The ones that are always on the fence.’
Eriko looked outside. It was true. During lunch break, the boys could usually be seen out there, hanging on the fence like geckos, but today the fence was clear. ‘Maybe they heard about what happened and their teachers told them not to come.’
‘Could be.’
‘I wonder if one of them did it?’ Eriko said quietly. ‘I don’t hear anything good about that school. I’m glad I don’t go there.’
‘I don’t know,’ Yukiho said. ‘I’m sure some of the kids there aren’t bad. They just don’t have any other choice if their families can’t afford to send them anywhere else.’
‘Well, sure, but…’ Eriko’s voice trailed off. She looked down at Yukiho’s hands and smiled. She was almost done sewing the purse she’d shown her the other day at her house. ‘You’re almost finished.’
‘Yep. Just the final touches left.’
‘But why do the initials say RK?’ Eriko asked. ‘Shouldn’t it be YK for Yukiho?’
‘This is for my mother. Her name’s Reiko.’
‘Oh, that’s nice,’ Eriko said, watching Yukiho’s fingers deftly work the needle.
It was clear that the police suspected Kikuchi. He was questioned in the school office by detectives on Thursday morning, though he never told anyone what they asked, or what he told them and he was called out of class again on Friday morning. He made his way to the door, weaving through the desks, making eye contact with no one.
‘I heard someone attacked one of the girls at Seika,’ one of the kids said after Kikuchi had left the room. ‘And they think it’s him. They found something of his at the scene.’
‘Who told you that crap?’ Yuichi asked.
‘Somebody heard the teachers talking about it. It sounds like it was real bad.’
‘What do they mean, “attack”? Did he rape her?’ another boy asked, his face alight with curiosity.
‘Yeah, probably. And took her mon
ey too,’ the first boy added meaningfully.
Yuichi sensed the other kids listening, nodding, understanding. They all knew that Kikuchi’s family wasn’t rich.
‘But Kikuchi says he didn’t do it, right?’ Yuichi said. ‘Wasn’t he at the movies when it happened or something?’
They weren’t listening to him. ‘He totally did it,’ said another student, and several of the kids agreed. A circle had formed and Yuichi was surprised to see Ryo joining in. He usually avoided gossip, though Yuichi wondered if his interest wasn’t more about the photo Kikuchi had shown him the other day.
Yuichi watched them for a while, until his eyes met Ryo’s. Ryo returned his gaze for just one or two seconds before he slipped out of the circle and returned to his desk.
On the Saturday, four days after the assault, Eriko and Yukiho went to visit Miyako Fujimura at home. It had been Yukiho’s suggestion that they go.
They waited in the living room, but Miyako didn’t appear. Instead her mother came down and told them that Miyako still wasn’t receiving any visitors. She sounded genuinely sorry.
‘Was she badly hurt?’ Eriko asked.
‘No, not too bad…’ Miyako’s mother gave a short sigh.
‘Do they know who did it?’ Yukiho asked. ‘The police have been asking us a lot of questions.’
The mother shook her head. ‘No, not yet. I’m sorry they’ve been after you so much.’
‘No, it’s fine. I was just wondering if Miyako might have seen who it was,’ Yukiho said, her voice barely more than a whisper.
‘No.’ The mother shook her head. ‘Whoever it was put a bag over her head from behind, so she couldn’t see a thing. Then they hit her, and she blacked out.’ Miyako’s mother’s eyes were red and she put her hands to her face. ‘I was worried because she was coming home late every day, staying after class to get ready for the school festival. I think she felt responsible because she was in charge of the band, so she stayed even later than the other kids —’
Eriko truly hoped the woman didn’t cry. She wanted to leave. Yukiho must have felt the same way, because she looked at her and said, ‘Maybe we should go home.’
‘Yeah,’ Eriko said, gathering her things.
‘I’m really sorry she couldn’t see you,’ the mother said. ‘After you came out all this way.’
‘It’s no problem. We just hope she gets better soon,’ Yukiho said.
‘Thank you. Oh, and…’ Miyako’s mother looked up at both of them. ‘I know what you saw, and that her clothes were taken off, but they didn’t touch her, you know. Her body, I mean.’
Eriko understood what she was trying to say. She exchanged surprised looks with Yukiho. Neither of them had used the word, but they had both assumed Miyako had been raped.
‘Of course,’ Yukiho said, in a voice that made it sound like they had never even suspected such a thing could happen.
‘Also, I know you’ve both done a really good job keeping this to yourselves and I was hoping you could continue to do so. I’m afraid if people start talking they might say things that could hurt her… hurt her future.’
‘We understand,’ Yukiho said crisply. ‘We won’t tell anyone, I promise. And if we hear any rumours, we’ll deny them right away. Please let Miyako know her secret is safe with us.’
‘Thank you. I’m glad she has such good friends. We won’t forget this,’ the mother said, tears in her eyes.
Suspicion over Kikuchi had lifted by Saturday – at least that was what Yuichi heard when he came in to school on Monday morning. Word was that Muta had been called in to talk to the detectives that morning.
Yuichi went to Kikuchi to get the whole story, but his friend just stared at him before looking back at the blackboard and saying, his voice rough, ‘Yeah, I’m off the hook. It’s done. Over.’
‘Well, that’s good, right?’ Yuichi said brightly. ‘How’d you get them off your back?’
‘I proved I went to the movies that night.’
‘How?’
‘See…’ He folded his arms across his chest and gave a deep sigh. ‘I don’t see how that’s any of your business. Unless you wanted me to get arrested?’
‘What are you talking about? Of course I didn’t want you to get arrested.’
‘Then maybe you could just drop it, OK? I don’t even want to think about it. Makes me sick to my stomach.’ Kikuchi kept his eyes on the blackboard the whole time, without a single glance at Yuichi. It was obvious he was upset with him. Maybe he had an inkling of who had told them the keychain was his.
Yuichi racked his brain trying to come up with a way to mend relations. Then he got an idea. ‘Hey, Kikuchi, remember that photo? If you wanted to look into that some more, I’ll go with you.’
‘What’re you talking about?’
‘That photo with Ryo’s mom and the guy. I thought that whole thing sounded pretty cool.’
‘Oh, that.’ Kikuchi frowned. ‘I’ve given up on that. I mean, it’s got nothing to do with me. It was a long time ago, too. No one even remembers any of that any more.’
‘But didn’t you say —’
‘Besides,’ Kikuchi cut him off, ‘I lost the photo. Maybe I threw it out by accident when I was cleaning my room the other day.’
‘No way —’
When Yuichi saw the stony look on Kikuchi’s face his words left him. He didn’t look sorry he had lost the photograph one bit.
‘It’s not like you cared about that picture anyway, right?’ Kikuchi said, looking at him. Actually, it was more of a glare than a look.
‘Well, no, I guess not.’ Yuichi shrugged.
Kikuchi stood and left his desk. Talking time was over.
Yuichi watched him go, a mix of emotions in his chest. Then he felt someone else’s eyes on him. He turned and saw Ryo looking at him. The boy’s cold, calculating stare gave Yuichi a chill.
It was over a moment later. Ryo looked back down at his desk and started reading a book. There was a patchwork bag on the desk next to his book, embroidered with the initials ‘RK.’
Yuichi was walking home from school that afternoon when someone ran up and grabbed him on the shoulder. He looked around to see Muta glaring at him, rage in his eyes. Two of his friends were behind him. They all had the same look on their faces.
‘Come on,’ Muta growled in a low voice that made Yuichi feel like his heart was being squeezed out of his chest.
They dragged Yuichi into a narrow alleyway. Muta stood directly in front of him with his two cronies holding Yuichi on either side. Muta grabbed Yuichi by his collar, lifting him up until Yuichi had to stand on tiptoe.
‘You sold me out,’ Muta said.
Yuichi shook his head furiously. His face was drawn tight with fear.
‘You squealed.’ Muta bared his teeth as he brought his face closer to Yuichi’s. ‘You’re the only one who could have.’
Yuichi kept shaking his head. ‘I didn’t say anything. Honest!’
‘Liar,’ the boy to his left said. ‘We’re going to fuck you up.’