Okay! So this gets a little confusing, but if you have to read over it a couple of times, I hope that you'll get it. Anyways, read and review as always.
Chapter Nine
Konomi entered the inn room, the door squeaking as she pushed it aside. In her grasp she held a bag of melon pan from the local bakery. Black Jack was sitting on the edge of the bed, staring down at the floor with a blank expression drawn across his face. Deep in his eyes, if she happened to look, she could see his pain. And she feared that there would be nothing that could help him now.
She closed the door and said, "I'm back!"
He didn't say anything. He closed his eyes slightly.
"I brought some melon pan buns from the bakery. Would you like some?" she asked as she took a seat in the armchair in the corner, across from where he sat on the bed.
The hand that had been resting on his knee slowly turned to face palm out, and he waved it slightly as if to say, "No."
Konomi reached into the bag and withdrew one of the buns. She nibbled on one, drowning in the awkward silence.
"…Why are you here, Konomi?"
"I'm here because I think that you need somebody right now." She murmured, glancing up at him. "To help you get through this."
"Konomi. There is no helping me get through this," he told her, narrowing her eyes. "Why don't you go back to your husband or your job or whatever it is that you do now?"
Her face softened. "Because neither of them need me as urgently as you do."
"But I don't need you, and I don't recall asking you to come here," he retorted testily, eyes flashing. "I just want to be left alone!"
He stood up abruptly, threateningly; and Konomi recoiled slightly, surprised by his demeanor. His eyes were fiery; his lips had drawn back to reveal sharp teeth set in an angry snarl like some sort of rabid dog.
"You helped me once, Black Jack," she told him, her eyes watering. "So please, would you just calm down!"
At the sound of her tears, his eyes dilated, and he sat down slowly, like he had seen a ghost. She sighed shakily, setting aside the buns and the bag on the top of the dresser, and stood up. She drew back the curtains to allow light into the inn room, and opened up the windows. The breeze gently blew in, and the sounds of birds and cars rolling by drifted in with it.
"The boy…" she told him. "His name was Yukia, if I recall."
"…Yes."
She smiled slightly. "It's… it's odd, you know. You never seemed like the type… to do that kind of thing."
He glared at her skeptically. "You're not really good at comforting anyone, Konomi."
She hung her head and he stood up then, edging closer to her. She averted her eyes and refused to let him see her face.
"You and Rock… got into a fight, didn't you?"
"Oh…" she buried her face in her hands. "Please don't. It's not important right now."
"You…"
She looked up at him to see white fury in his face.
"…are unbelievable!" he roared at her, and she fled quickly to the other side of the room.
He pointed a finger at her accusingly, his eyes growing red. "My wife. My child. Are both dead. And you used this as an excuse to get away from your husband? What kind of coldhearted person are you?"
"I don't know what you're talking about! I really came to help!"
"I don't need your help, Konomi!" he snapped. "If you want to help me, then I want you to go home!"
The tension in the room was only worsened by the overwhelming silence that soon followed. Konomi stared at Black Jack. He was her friend, and she had also regarded him as the one man other than Rock that she could count on. In a way, she had fallen in love with him, and sometimes, she felt like being with Rock was wrong somehow.
But here, she was only continuing to hurt him. What was she thinking? She couldn't comfort anyone. After all, she had the reputation as the Black Queen—wait.
Pinoko was his queen. She had always been his everything.
There was no place for Konomi here.
Konomi stiffly stood up, and her pride soon seeped into her composure. She fixed one cold eye on him and then spoke.
"Fine. You don't need me. I understand. And I will return home." She licked her lips, trying to think of something else to say.
She nodded slightly, as if she had figured it out, and then continued, "But if you need my help, I won't hesitate to come down here once again. So please, keep that in mind."
She was so reluctant to leave. But she had to. He didn't say anything, and he simply just watched her go. He sat back down on the bed and listened to the sound of her car's tires crunching on the cobblestone roadway as she pulled out and drove away. He could see her car disappear into the distance from the window.
That night when he fell asleep, he had placed Pinoko and Yukia's picture up on the nightstand and propped it up so that it was facing him. He stared at the picture for a long time, not saying anything, just reviewing their faces. Would he forget the sound of their voices one day? If he lost this picture, would he forget how they looked?
No. he thought, focusing on their faces, his eyes darting back and forth. The both of you deserve better. It's time that I stop doing this…
And plot my revenge.
The next day, Black Jack contacted an old federal worker that had been a former patient of his and requested for information on the Jaakuna Gyangu, which was limited given that they had only been an active group for a number of years.
"Mr. Takahashi, thank you," Black Jack had said as they walked through the hallways of the facility, which was crisp and chrome and clean.
Mr. Takahashi, a man that was in his late fifties and had salt and pepper hair, gave a silent nod. He handed over a couple of semi thick files to Black Jack.
"Anything I could do, Doctor, would not be able to make up for what you did for me," Mr. Takahashi responded simply, a glowing and fond smile spreading across his face at the memory. "And… it certainly couldn't make up for what has happened…"
"I just need to make a start," Black Jack responded sternly.
Mr. Takahashi nodded. "Of course. But Black Jack… be careful."
"Of course I will be."
"No, Black Jack," Mr. Takahashi protested warningly, fixing a stern eye on him. "It's not the henchmen that you need to worry about. It's the main leader: Daitaro Usami. The man who calls himself Kyobona?"
Black Jack narrowed his eyes. "Yes? What about him?"
"He's just… here, let's go somewhere where we can talk privately."
Mr. Takahashi led Black Jack down the hallway and into a windowless break room that only had a few counters and a table with a set of folding chairs.
"I want you," Mr. Takahashi instructed as he sat down, "to open up this file here…"
"This one?" Black Jack asked, tapping the top one.
He nodded and Black Jack opened it. He flipped through a couple of the pages, and then found something very interesting.
It was a list of the known relatives that Daitaro had. There was a mother, who was marked as deceased, and a father who was marked as deceased as well, and an uncle who was still living. The older brother… deceased. Black Jack narrowed his eyes and flipped the page. There were a few copies of death certificates included in the file.
Black Jack came to the one that had Ronny's name on it. He saw the date and time of death, and his eyes widened.
The date of death was recorded as December 14th, 1974. That was over six years ago.
Black Jack looked down at the certificate in disbelief. "So that means…"
"That man that died… is not really Ronny."
"Who was he?" Black Jack asked Mr. Takahashi, glancing up.
Mr. Takahashi leaned back in his seat and folded his hands together. "Just a henchman. Here, there's a picture of the real Ronny included on the back of that certificate…"
Black Jack picked up the picture of a rather young, half Caucasian, half Asian male, who was standing in front of a yacht with a cigarette dangling out of his mouth.
"This… this looks… like the man that I treated."
"It does?" Mr. Takahashi asked, his eyes widening. "Oh boy. That's what I was afraid of. See, I thought something was odd when I was reading those files…"
"He's trying to recreate Ronny? Over and over again?"
"He's severely delusional, Doctor," Mr. Takahashi responded, nodding his head slowly. "And yes, you are correct. I believe that he has been trying to recreate Ronny."
"But… But that doesn't make any sense," Black Jack protested, waving his hands around in confusion. "Because if he was recreating Ronny, then he would have to know that is not Ronny. So someone… someone else is doing this."
"Could be," Mr. Takahashi answered. "But who?"
Black Jack nodded slowly. "That's what I've got to find out."
He set the picture aside and tapped his fingers against the table. "But even if I did, I couldn't begin to understand why…"
"That's the odd part about it too. I've read over the files, and I can't even begin to comprehend as to why somebody would do that to a person."
"…How did the original Ronny die?"
"Oh? I believe that it was a gunshot wound. I think it says so on the certificate…"
"And this Ronny died by a gunshot wound as well."
"Yes, yes," Mr. Takahashi nodded. "After all, they are a very violent gang. I'm pretty sure that's nothing out of the ordinary."
Black Jack shook his head. "No, there's got to be more to this. I want to know who was involved in the shooting of the original Ronny. Maybe I can trace it somehow…"
"What are you suggesting?"
Black Jack stood up and pushed away from the table. "It said on the list of relatives… that Ronny was the elder brother, right?"
He paced back and forth across the room. "Ronny was the elder brother. The dearly beloved elder brother, and probably the original leader of the Jaakunas, correct?"
"Yes. He was the original leader, according to the records."
"Then when Ronny was in charge, Daitaro would have to follow whatever Ronny said," Black Jack said, shaking a finger.
Black Jack came back over to the files, and started searching through for medical records. He removed Daitaro's, and started flipping through it.
"'Has a rare type of psychological or delusional disorder,'" Black Jack announced, reading directly from the file. "'Has trouble comprehending the difference between reality and fiction.'" Black Jack looked up. "So when someone brings in a man who looks like his brother, talks like his brother, acts like his brother… he instantly believes that that is his brother, and disregards the fact that his real brother is dead."
"That is a long shot," Mr. Takahashi announced skeptically.
"But it seems like it's worth it. Someone is trying to control the Jaakuna Gyangu, and if they wanted to do it, they have to go through Daitaro, and the only way to get through Daitaro is to use the illusion that is Ronny… it seems like a long shot, I understand Mr. Takahashi, but I think that it works, given Daitaro's history and his obvious attachment to his brother." Black Jack raised his head, his eyes flashing. "Mr. Takahashi, if you don't mind, I would like to take this home with me and study through it tonight, if that's alright."
"Of course, of course, that's not a problem. If you need my help though, you know how to reach me."
Black Jack nodded, shook his hand, and then gathered up the files and exited the building.
That night, as Black Jack poured over the various documents that were included in the files, he found that his research was starting to slowly come together. As it turns out, other doctors had reportedly been approached by the Jaakuna Gyangu for treatment of the other three Ronnys, including Black Jack. Each time they had failed, they had met terrible deaths by shootings.
Daitaro's father, as Black Jack had soon discovered, had been a successful engineer that worked at an elite transnational corporation and had inherited a large sum of money. The father had been involved in some dirty dealings in the past, which usually included his sons, Daitaro and Ronny.
"So the money is the motive," Black Jack said, furrowing his brow.
If I find Daitaro, Black Jack thought, then I can find the man who is really behind all of this. If I intercept Daitaro, they will step in to prevent me from revealing the truth to him. The problem is… I don't know where Daitaro is.
His eyes widened and he flipped back to the page with the relatives list. The uncle, on the father's side. He was retired and now living out on the outskirts of Kyoto…
"The uncle might know something," Black Jack mumbled underneath his breath. "So that's where I go first."
Black Jack put away the files and slid them underneath the pillows. He glanced at the picture of his wife and child.
"I want my revenge, I really do," he mumbled into his pillow, closing his eyes and picturing their faces in his mind. "But my revenge will come from solving this…"
