On the ancient TV screen above the bar, blurred men in white uniforms ran against a background of over-brilliant green. The people around him were making too much noise for him to hear the announcer, but he still watched the pre-recorded game. Presently the camera homed in on Number 23. Striding powerfully across a red and white backdrop of KIRIN and TOSHIBA he stepped up to the plate…and swung. The man watching him finished his beer, paid for it, and left the cramped and noisy bar to make a call.
After several rings the other line picked up. "When?"
"Can you get away Friday?"
"Yeah. All right." Click.
--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--
"Chief, there's someone here to see you."
The tired chief of the Ayanagi Police Force rubbed his eyes. Why, when he was just about to leave for the day, did this always happen? "…and you already--"
The officer nodded. "He won't see anyone else. And…" he shifted uncomfortably, "He's kind of…someone famous, you understand, and he says he needs to report something 'of an urgent and personal nature' that has to be handled with 'discretion.'"
"Fascinating." The Chief's voice was markedly flat. "Send him in."
The man who came into the chief's office was certainly a familiar one. There was a muted buzz of recognition and conjecture in the warren of desks outside. He looked him over quietly, not feeling the same awe and excitement as his subordinates, and asked him to take a seat. His visitor collapsed into a chair with the easy movements of an athlete and began speaking as soon as the door clicked shut.
"I need to report a crime."
The standard opening. As if there were any other reason to come in here. But, the chief was all patience. "All right. What is the nature of this crime?"
"…sexual assault." The man muttered it in such a way that it was a little difficult to hear, but the chief caught it the first time.
He studied the powerfully-built frame across from him and hazarded, "You witnessed one?" Privately, he thought "or maybe committed one?" The man certainly didn't look like he could possibly be the victim of an assault. But, the man's next answer contradicted this.
"No…I…it happened to me, you see."
The chief leaned forward, interested now. "I see. I realize this is probably painful for you, but I want you to tell me what you can remember about it in your own words."
The man nodded and rubbed his chin. "Well…he came up behind me--"
"Where?"
His visitor looked apologetic. "…I'm not very familiar with this town…"
"No, I suppose you wouldn't be." It hadn't been necessary to ask the man's name, or whether he lived here. Every elementary school boy in Japan knew the answers to those questions. "We can go into that later. Please, continue: he came up behind you."
"He had a gun that he jammed against the back of my neck, but he didn't over-rely on it. I didn't get a sense that he was bigger or taller than me, but I think from the way he restrained me that he might have been unusually strong. I didn't see his face; before I knew it he had managed to wrench my hands behind my back and cuff them."
The chief indicated the man's watch…it was stainless steel or plated. "If he seized your wrists in order to cuff you, there might be prints on that."
The man shook his head mournfully. "He wore gloves."
"Nm. Continue."
"Well…" here the man gulped. "He shoved me up against the wall…let the muzzle of his gun rest in the hollow under my jaw…and then he…" Clearly it was hard for him to find the right words. "Then he…did it."
"When exactly did this occur?"
The Bay Stars' Number 23 looked up and smiled suddenly; it was different from the smile the current MVP always used on sports reporters or fans. "I'm thinking maybe later tonight after some yakiniku?"
Chief Sanada sighed and shook his head. "Why do you always want to get that?"
"It's good."
"And why the hell didn't you wait at the hotel?"
" 'Cos how else was I going to tell you I wanted you to bring the gun and the cuffs?"
"There are less dramatic ways." The chief stood up.
"Whatever, I'm hungry." Number 23: Iori already had his hand on the doorknob.