Tales from the Club Room
Episode 14: Silence is Golden
"Mum, I understand where you are coming from, but despite what's been said I don't want to leave." Angela said as she paced back and forth in her apartment, it had been two months since the incident at Comi Fest and she was still unsure of her life at this moment. She knew she wanted to leave London for a change of pace and now her mother was drawing her back in yet again. "Listen dearie, your father's MS is getting worse he could keel over any bloody time now. You know how your father always wanted you," Angela spoke in unison with her mother "To get into a convent and live your life right." Angela sighed angrily "Mom I am not Julie fucking Andrews, I am getting married in another month or two, and he is a nice Yankee and he understands me for who I am!" she shouted. Angela's mom grumbled, "You and your bleeding Japanese cartoons, you know that stuff will send you to hell. All your father and I want is for you," Angela interrupted her "No all you and dad want is me not to turn into a total train wreck like your sister. You know Aunt Mara had a chance to become a nun and gave it up for her husband. You think just because he works at a job that is below your standards and she has two bratty twits for kids, that somehow me, going into the convent and give up my otaku lifestyle will somehow save your family name!" Angela's mother growled, "I am doing this because your father can't do it himself, and believe me love you don't want your father getting involved. And what in the name of Saint Augustine is an otaku? Is that Japanese for hooker?" Angela laughed, "Its shit like this that made me want to leave in the first place. Otaku is Japanese for fan boy! We watch anime read, Dojinshi and manga, and just enjoy living the life we chose. Mum, I've got to go I promised a friend that I would go wedding dress shopping with her." Angela said and began to hang up her phone when her mother screamed her name over the phone, Angela placed the phone to her ear, "What now mum?" she said loudly, Angela's mom spoke, "I just wanted to tell you that your father, your cousins, and I will be visiting you soon." Angela paused, "How soon?" Angela's mom sighed. "About two weeks from now, we have a hotel booked and everything. Tah, Tah love, see you in a few!" Angela tried to talk to her mother but she had hung up. Hanging up her end of the line, Angela walked towards Oguie's apartment she was sharing with Sassahara. The two had been living there since early February, and all seemed well. They were in love, just like Lance and she were in love; it took a mad gunman to make them both realize that. She could remember Sassahara bawling his eyes out when they wheeled Oguie into the emergency room praying some prayer that sounded foreign to her usual "Our father's" and "Holy Mary's". Now their wedding was a month away and she wanted Angela to take her wedding dress shopping. As she walked to the door she wondered what Lance was doing now.
"Mr. Ryan, I can understand you would like to confront your assassin but you must realize that Kuchiki-san is probably the most unstable person here in this prison." Detective Hojo said as he pulled a cigarette out of his pocket, he offered one to Lance, "No thanks I have no plans for lung cancer any time soon. How unstable is Kuchiki, I mean are we talking Dahmer crazy, Ed Gein crazy, or we just talking about just plain Kuchiki being Kuchiki?" Hojo took a drag and slid a file in front of Lance, "Here is his psych evaluation. He suffers from both dissociative identity disorder and delusional schizophrenia. He has two personalities one we have named little Kuchiki and one he calls Bob. Little Kuchiki is shy timid, yet trying to make friends. Bob however is a whole different story all together. Bob is the part we have determined was in control when he shot you. Listen to this, he claims he is from Japan's feudal era and is the savior of the Han-yo's. He claims he has all the pieces of the 'shikon no tama' whatever the hell that is, and can bring them all salvation if they follow him. He claims himself to be a homosexual as well and has a relationship with a half dog demon named Inuyasha." Hojo said as he paced the room, Lance thumbed through the file, "Jesus Christ!" he said, Hojo laughed," It gets even better from here. He says your stories are angering not only him but all the Han-yo's that follow him. He said that it is getting to the point where they are all following a new leader, a half wolf demon in human form. Sound familiar?" Lance smiled, "A character from my story," he looked through a file and saw a picture of Angela, "might I ask why my fiancé is in this file?" Hojo looked at him, "She was his next target, after he shot you he was going to switch places with his accomplice, the American, and shoot her. She's supposedly the reincarnation of his boyfriend's ex." Lance looked at the file, "You say here that he hears voices of all the deserters from his sort of cult, does he hear them all the time?" He asked Hojo just nodded. Lance stood up, "I would like to see the prisoner now." Hojo opened the door and followed Lance down the hall, "We have a special interview room set up for this event. He has been restrained and there will be guards standing near the door if you need them. We do have a few rules here: No pencils or pens, you will pass him only soft paper, nothing stapled or paper clipped. Do you know why we have these rules?" Lance shook his head; Hojo passed Lance a photo from his coat pocket, "About two weeks ago it looked like Kuchiki was having a seizure and we took him to the prison's hospital, when an nurse was checking his pulse he grabbed a hold of her and rammed a paper clip into her right eye. Sadly she lost all sight in that eye. Here we are interview room 966." Hojo said and opened the door. The room was the color of sand; the pits in the cinderblock were evident in the harsh light. There, at the end of the interview table, sat Kuchiki his hands and legs were strapped to the chair. Lance sat down and nodded to the guard; he exited the room and shut the door with a loud thud. Kuchiki looked up; "Hey Lance-san, how are you today?" it was apparent that the so called "Little Kuchiki" personality was talking to him. Lance smiled, "Fine, despite the fact that I was nearly killed." Kuchiki smirked, his personality had changed, and his head was turned and looking at something far off in the distance. He nodded to the invisible person and looked at Lance "Inuyasha says he wants his cloak of the fire rat back. You borrowed it from him for comi fest and you didn't return it." Lance shook his head, "Hello Bob." Lance said, Kuchiki's evil side responded, "You like to play with fire little boy? You know that little boys that play with fire get their fingers burned?" Lance looked Kuchiki in the eye, "How did you know I wrote those stories? How did you even know it was me?" Kuchiki laughed, "Your picture was on your profile. It's amazing what you can find when you Google someone's name. I know all your flaws, your secrets. I know you lost your little brother to a drunk driver, how your girlfriend killed herself, what church your mother goes to. Even that job you had at Kent State, I know it all. I knew it would be a matter of time before you heard of Genshiken and wanted to join up. I knew as soon as I read your stories that you had to die, they were leaving me, my only friends in this world and the next. They had access to your stories and they were angry that I was even associated with you. You dressing up as my second in command and my one true love was the straw that broke the camel's back! I would have killed many more too, I would have blown you all away!" he said and let out a loud cackle that scraped Lance's soul. "You are a royal screw job, ya know that? Its fiction, it's not real. If you were a real otaku you would know that fan fiction is a way of playing with universes that have been closed." Lance said, Kuchiki got serious, "I hear that you have a side project besides teaching the freshmen how to say 'where is the bathroom' in your native tongue. Tell me Lance, how is the ninth season of Inuyasha coming, does the original creator approve?" Lance smiled, "As a matter of fact Kuchiki I have Takahashi-san's blessing to continue where the show left off she wants to keep the show separate from the manga." Kuchiki laughed again, "Some universes are not meant to be reopened. Even you should know that. What you are doing," Lance stopped Kuchiki, "What I am doing is none of your business. I've read your psych eval, you are even more screwed up then I thought you were. You do know Inuyasha loves Kagome right, and he'd never sleep with a freaky looking person like you, especially if it was a male. "Kuchiki tried to slam his fists on the chairs arms but all her could do was make the chair hop, "He loves me, he told me to kill her with my own hands, so I strangled her." Lance was puzzled, "Strangled who Kuchiki?" Kuchiki starred off into space, "Who did you strangle Kuchiki? Is there something I should know? "Lance said, Kuchiki didn't respond. "Kuchiki, did you kill someone? Answer me damn you! Kuchiki, for Christ sake who did you kill?" Kuchiki grinned, "Wouldn't you like to know? I will tell you this, go to my apartment and check the utility room. I am sure you will be pleasantly surprised. Toodle-oo mister big shot anime writer, fly away." Lance walked to the door and knocked, "I'm finished." He said the door slid open and Lance walked over to Detective Hojo. "Have you checked every inch of his apartment complex?" Hojo nodded, Lance looked at him, "You need to send some men back over there and have them check the utility room. I think, and I am not positive on this, but there may be a dead body there." Hojo looked at him, "How can you be sure?" Lance followed Hojo down the hallway, "When I talked to him he mentioned strangling Kagome from Inuyasha. Now I am no detective here but he must have been having one of his delusions when he did this and stored the body in his complex's utility room." Lance said stopping at the entrance, Hojo went to the front desk, "Yoko," he said to the dispatcher, "Sent some men to 333, West Murasaki Avenue, we may have a body somewhere in the utility room." Lance walked out into the sunlight, he zipped up his coat and wrapped his scarf around him, he didn't know why but the world seemed colder than usual.
"How about this one, I think you would look ravishing in this!" Angela said as she held up a dress, Oguie looked at it and shook her head. "I would look like a total prostitute in that. Seriously Angela, why do you pick out the strapless numbers?" Angela blushed as she followed Oguie around the store, "Ogi-chin, If I told you something, would you promise not tell anyone?" Oguie looked at her, "Yeah, you know you can count on. Is it Lance, trust me if he is sleeping with another woman I will give him a Shinigami noggin chop!" Angela shook her head, "No not really, it has nothing to do with Lance. My mum is coming for a visit, her and I got into an argument on the phone today about my father. My father has always dreamed me joining a convent and trying to lead a good clean life. It has been that way since he got his MS in 1997. My auntie told me to follow me dreams and living here in Japan is the ultimate dream." She said Oguie turned and looked at her "So why don't you tell her to fuck off! I mean you're happy and that's it. Why should it matter if you are a freaking nun or not, frankly it is none of their business?" Angela sighed, "It's not that easy, and my dad's MS is getting worse. He can barely walk, his doctor said he could keel over any time now; I am giving it some serious thought. I'll just spend some time in the convent and then come back and do some work here!" Oguie looked at her with wide eyed puzzlement, "Are you serious? In two months Saki-chan and I will be doing the same thing you are doing for me now. If you leave Lance now you will never forgive yourself." Angela nodded, "You are right but my dad means a lot to me and I don't want him to die without his wish being fulfilled. It's like watching all six seasons of Inuyasha and you get to the end and all of a sudden it ends and you have a gaping hole inside of you. I don't want my dad to die that way!" Oguie looked at Angela, "I think you should talk with Lance first before you go jumping into the lake without a lifejacket." Angela nodded, "Thanks a lot Oguie, I feel somewhat better." Oguie looked at her, "You are very welcome. What do you think of this dress?" Oguie held up a white dress, its chest area covered, in glittering sequins. It had a tapered waist and looked as if it was something out of Disney's Aladdin, Angela looked at it. "Go try it on; I want to see how you look in it!" She said with girlish glee. Within moments Oguie popped out of the dressing room, her hair down and a mischievous look in her eye, "I am ready for my close up!" she said, both of them laughed, they both knew this was the dress. Picking the dress off the rack, the giggling girls walked up to the counter just as Angela and Lance's song "Take a Chance on Me" by ABBA was playing over the loudspeaker.
The men knocked on the door of the landlord, within moments a fat, balding man in a smudged tank top opened the door. "Yeah, what do you gentlemen want?" The men flashed their badges, the Landlord threw up his hands, "Jesus Christ, you people again, I thought you were done searching here?" Hojo's car pulled up behind the two deputies, "Relax Mr. Yamamoto we just want to look in your utility room." One of the deputies said, Yamamoto grumbled and grabbed his keys. They walked down the corridor to the room, "Ya know ever since that French looking bastard left, there has been this god awful smell coming from here! Ya think there could be a corpse or something?" Hojo spoke, "As of now we cannot confirm of the presence of a corpse until we can check in here." Yamamoto walked over to the door and inserted the key. The door opened and a stench so powerful, that all four men gagged, wafted into the night air. Hojo put his handkerchief over his nose and walked in with a flashlight. There sitting over in the corner, next to the boiler was a body. She was wearing a green skirt and a white blouse with a green collar and a red ascot tied around her neck like a tie. In her hands was a photo ID, the girl in the picture had on too much eye makeup and lipstick. Looking at the name Hojo turned to the deputies and told them to race to the four hundred block of Kurasawa Street.
Sassahara sat in his chair watching an episode of Soul Eater, it was a repeat but Lance had turned him on to this show and now he was addicted. It was the episode where Tsubaki was fighting with her brother inside a demon sword; she was just beginning to say something to her brother when a knock came at his door. He shut off the TV and saw the flashing police lights outside. Opening the door he saw two deputies, "Kanji Sassahara?" one said, "Yes, that is my name, what is this all about?" The deputy took off his hat, "I am very sorry to tell you this but we found your sister." Sassahara had remembered that two weeks before comi fest, his sister has visited him on one of her cash runs and never made it home. "Is she okay? Can I see her?" he asked, the deputy shook his head, "They just found her body, and she was in the utility room of an apartment complex not too far from here." Sassahara was stunned, "I am very sorry sir." The deputy said, Sassahara slammed the door and walked over to his sister's picture on the wall, he took it down, clutching it he began to sob, just as Oguie walked in the door. "Sassahara-kun, are you okay, I saw the police drive off just a few moments ago?" Sassahara looked up at her, "She is gone. My sister is gone. They found her body in a utility room." He began sobbing; Oguie embraced him and rubbed his back, "We'll get through. We'll get through." She said and sat next to him on the floor.
Lance sat in his apartment and watched the news, nothing new same shit different day, as Tilden would say. Lance was about to turn the channel when he heard the familiar sound of an urgent bulletin. The reporter spoke, "TV Tokyo has just learned that one of the Comi Fest shooters, Manabu Kuchiki, was found dead in his prison cell no more than two hours after his first murder victim, Keiko Sassahara was found in the utility room of his apartment complex. According to prison officials, Kuchiki was found hanging from a pipe in his cell with a bed sheet wrapped around his neck, in an apparent suicide. We repeat Comi Fest shooter Manabu Kuchiki has committed suicide." Lance changed the channel, an advertisement for the new episodes of Inuyasha he had written. Lance walked over to his fridge and picked up a rice beer, "Nah Nah Nah Nah , Hey Hey, Goodbye!" Lance said to himself and placed a "Holic" DVD in his player, "Good riddance to bad rubbish." He said and took a sip of his beer, today was a good day.
To Be Continued. . . .