Street Sweeping Chapter – Part IV
The evening air is cold, but he no longer stumbles through the night like the one-legged man he really was. He'd put more into his body in the last few months than he ever had before – and tonight all that work would truly be put to the test.
The river that cuts through the heart of Shirakawa-go is calm that night – along the edge of the bank he can see clearly through the water's surface, and can even vaguely make out the small channel that cuts underneath the Kimiyoshi property. He looks towards the estate in the distance – it's almost midnight, but there's still signs of activity at the Gathering Hall. He would have to start there – in his hopes to catch Natsumi Kimiyoshi out and about on her own.
Breaking and entering – it's a serious affair. He's agreed to do Rika's bidding, but he doesn't go about his work without his reserves. Even now after everything, to work against the law he had etched into his soul from his youngest years was a source of tremendous anxiety. This time, after all, he's taking the plunge all on his own. But he owes Rika, and for quite a bit – this time. So he can settle for not being caught. This time.
Carrying the sword wrapped in a waterproof cover on his back, he positions himself by the water's edge. He inhales softly, the light of the moon reflecting off the water onto his face. He applies pressure to his prosthetic and ensures the added padding is firmly in place. Tonight he has to proceed without his straps, so his right leg has a bit of a mind of its own, but for now things feel okay. With that, he takes a single step off the edge into the watery depths below.
From the moment his head fully sinks past the surface he propels himself forward with broad strokes. Even though Rika had cut down on his prosthesis's weight as much as she could prior, between it and the sword on his back he would sink straight to the bottom if he didn't push himself as hard as he could. He manages to reach the bank wall straight across from him without too much issue and proceeds to follow it towards the channel.
The opening in the wall is not a straight shot to the sluice gate – it slopes downward on an angle which skews lower than he expects. He ends up sinking all the way to the bottom before he can see where the opening continues. Putting as much strength into his legs as he can, he propels himself through the narrow opening that continues upward.
He nears the limit of how long he can hold his breath. He continues to push towards the surface. Eventually the space widens, and two dim light fixtures built into the concrete shimmer in front of him – he can see the sluice gate just ahead.
But at that moment the sword catches on a strip of metal protruding from the narrow path just beneath him and pulls him back downward. The sword still firmly on his back he struggles to find where the covering had gotten caught, lurching his body each way all he manages to do is quicken his own suffocation.
His lungs crying for mercy, just above him he can see it – the surface of the water, as close to the top of the cavern as it appeared to be. In his panic things start to make sense – the chamber he was in now was partially above the water level.
His hands shaking he picks at the knot keeping the sword fastened to him – it's wet enough a knot that he's at long last able to set himself free of the blade and kicking as hard as he can makes for the top of the chamber.
He manages to poke his head through the water's surface mere moments before his lungs give way. But it's such a narrow space that he bangs his head against the ceiling at first. Letting out an agonizing cough he hugs the walls of the chamber for dear life, his head tilted at almost a ninety-degree angle, his hands darting around for anything he can use to hold himself up before his leg drags him back down under.
A moment to breathe before being reclaimed by the water, again and again on loop. His violent movement stirs the surface and makes splashes, creating an illusion of the water rising. His lungs taking in just enough water to choke on all the while, he wades his way towards the sluice gate, still kicking as hard as he can and starts beating away around the center, looking for this flimsy latch to give way. The gate itself is thin enough that he's able to tell exactly where it is from the other side, but try as he might, his own arms aren't enough – and he could already feel the air growing thin.
In a final fit of desperation he tries to find some kind of a foothold on the submerged light fixtures that were carved into the concrete walls. It doesn't do much to stop the water from trying its best to choke him out, but he's able to stop kicking with all his might for just long enough to get a rational thought in.
He inhales deeply, and then begins his descent towards the trapped sword. With a much better angle he's able to free the sword from the metal strip. Making his way back to the sluice gate he rams the sword from the hilt against the gate as hard as he can, over and over.
At long last, the latch on the sluice gate gives way. Water starts to flow from the chamber into the space beyond the gate. He pushes himself through and then closes the gate back up as quickly as he can. He emerges in a much larger chamber, this one with a sizable and mostly empty pool built into the floor. He nearly loses his footing and falls into it, but keeping his balance he hugs the outer wall leading towards a small platform and a ladder on the left side of the space. The ceiling is fairly low, but the ladder leads upward far past it.
He dries himself off as best as he can, using one of the towels nearby – once he's no longer dripping water, he sets the towel back on the rack he'd found it on and then proceeds up the ladder. His shoes slip on the metal ladder at first, but he slowly ascends all the same with the sword on his back.
At the top he comes upon the hatch door – it hadn't looked like there was a lock on it from the outside, and fortunately for him, there's no lock on the inside either. He slowly pushes the hatch upward and as the air flows in he does his best to survey the ground just above him before pushing it all the way open.
He creeps out onto the Kimiyoshi lawn. The lights in the Guesthouse are all off – affording no further delays, he takes note of the Storehouse and heads for it straight away. He sets the sword and its wrappings down in the tall grass just behind it, totally out of sight, and then begins his slow trek towards the Gathering Hall with a huge weight lifted.
While he can't use the connecting walkways, there's a crawlspace that runs underneath them that he can use to navigate from one building to another. As he presses onward, the boards above him start to creak as someone passes over him, coming from the Guesthouse. He stops and listens – he hears a man's exhausted sigh as he heads off towards the Gathering Hall.
By the time Kanbei makes it to the Gathering Hall the man is already inside, and he can vaguely hear someone greeting him at the entrance. It really doesn't look like he was going to be able to just walk in through the front door.
He rolls out onto the grass, firmly pressing himself against the ground. He looks up – there's an open window on the second story. The lights are off in the room. These are good things.
With that he revs up Rika's crown jewel. It had added a few extra pounds to his earlier water escapade, but it was at least going to be useful now.
Fastening one end of the rope he pulls out of his knapsack to his right arm, he reaches around and pulls out the claw shaped metal hook fastened to the other end. He throws the hook up and through the opened window. He starts tugging on the rope until he can feel that the hook on the other end managed to catch itself on something – then, yanking on it more firmly one last time, begins to climb the rope. He pulls himself through the window and into the dark room without a sound.
The space around him looks to be something resembling an attic – musty and spacious with a low ceiling and very poorly lit. Moving around it's apparent that there's a hollow space beneath the floorboards – which also creak loudly. He slows his walking as much as he can. He can vaguely hear the sound of voices below him. A light suddenly flickers on behind him, and he turns sharply – he can make out an exit to the room from the dim glow just beyond the doorway.
Instinct tells him to look for another way out of the room – and only moments later, he hears someone coming up a set of creaking stairs. Backing himself further and further into the room as the noise grows louder he almost literally stumbles upon some very loose floorboards. Lifting them he finds that the space under the floor is a lot larger than he was anticipating. He's able to slip through the opening by sliding two boards out of place.
The moment he crouches down the room is lit up by an almost blinding light with the flick of a light-switch. He slides the first board back into place above him. And then someone enters the room. His heart stops. He freezes, then a moment later pulls his hand back, having never touched the second board. The air grows thick. He knows the face – it's Mion Sonozaki's lawyer, Ryou Sekiguchi. He was even wearing the same black suit from that day. Mere moments before he turns his head in his direction, Kanbei ducks completely into the space below.
He's in the rafters above the ceiling to the bottom level. There is definitely room to move. This is good. But there was an exposed floorboard in the room above, and one of six people on the planet that would kill him specifically on sight in the room with it. This isn't good.
Sekiguchi moves about in the room above. The rafters support Kanbei's weight as he moves just below him, but he has no way to stop the creaking – he has to match Sekiguchi's movements perfectly, desperately looking for some way to conceal himself. For a few moments the sounds stop – he fears that he screwed up. But then he hears his voice.
"Hey you left the window open up here, want me to close it?"
He's responded to by a woman's raised voice, from almost directly beneath where Kanbei is crouching. "Yes, thank you."
He hears the window close upstairs. But then the footsteps resume, closing in on the opening in the floor.
"The hell is this about?"
Kanbei holds his breath – he's far enough away from the opening that the darkness might save him, but all he can do is curl up in a ball and obscure his form as much as he can, silently praying that Sekiguchi just puts the floorboard back.
Lying there in wait, something brushes up against his hair – and then starts crawling on him. It's some pawed creature, down there in the dark with him, climbing on top of his head. He covers his mouth with his hands and starts shaking as it sniffs about on top of him.
Just then, Sekiguchi shines a light into the rafters below, in his direction no less. The creature on top of him shrieks and starts running towards it. With a scoff Sekiguchi backs out of the gap, taking the light away with him.
"Hey, a squirrel got in under the floorboards. Prolly came in through the window. Crafty little shits."
"It's okay," The woman downstairs replies. "That happens. They always find a way out."
Kanbei does his best not to audibly sigh with relief. The furry creature looks back in his direction. Thank you, squirrel. He nods towards it, and apparently having understood his intentions the squirrel runs off in the opposite direction.
As Sekiguchi proceeds back across the room Kanbei moves across the rafters once again matching the sound he was making – he's able to find a small gap that he can peer through into the space below. It's a large room with very little in the way of furniture, but plenty of seats lining the walls towards the back of the room, with a room width bracket shaped table just in front of them.
Just in front of the table, closer to the center, she was sitting there. At first he almost can't believe his eyes – she looks just like one of them. Wearing a black kimono, she sits on a cushion just in front of what appears to be a tea set placed on a small serving table just in front of her. Her dark green hair is long, longer than any Sonozaki's, so much so that it almost touches the floor as she sits. But as he watches her, he knows – she's no Sonozaki. She's too dignified.
Eventually Ryou returns and sits just across from her, taking the cup she had set aside for him and drinks from it.
"Are you satisfied now?" She asks him with a sweet smile. It was definitely her – it was Natsumi Kimiyoshi.
"Hey, you never know with these things. I've got the right to be paranoid."
"I assure you, it's not so easy for unwanted ears to listen in on our council."
It's a classic scene - she sits there in perfect seiza, he sits there cross-legged, playing the part of the disrespectful grunt. He sets his cup back down. "Be that as it may, the level of security is still wanting. You might keep the homeless out with an alarm and some locks, but if Sayaka feels like torching this place overnight your prospects look pretty damn grim."
"You seem fond of her."
"I'm terrified of her, honestly. Not too many other reasons why I'd be here."
"Hmm… I don't quite believe that, but we'll proceed with that assumption for now." She smiles at him again with her eyes closed.
"Sheesh. You're laying it on awfully thick."
"On that note – there's something else I don't quite understand. Mainly why you're so apprehensive with regards to the head of our security."
"Okonogi's a real old face in my neck of the woods. You ever hear of the Ushiromiya Group?"
"I'm a bit familiar with his prior dealings, but that doesn't really have much of an impact on where things are with him now."
"That man was the only member of their executive board that didn't end up with a criminal charge in his lap when the Tokyo judges dissolved them. There were thirty of them."
"Well, that just means he's the only one who didn't do anything wrong, right?" He sighs at that, and she giggles. Nope, definitely not a Sonozaki.
"Trusting him is a mistake. If it comes to conflict with the Furude girl he'll be the first one to cut-and-run. I guarantee it."
"Akira will be the judge of that."
"We've gotta talk about that too, if I'm going to start representing you."
"The answer is no."
"I didn't even say anything yet."
"I'm not keeping him out of any of our conversations. The only reason why he isn't here right now is because the children aren't asleep yet."
"I'm just letting you know ahead of time – you're gonna have to find someone else to back you over any kind of a marriage dispute. That's not my thing."
"We're not going to have any, so that's fine." Another curt smile.
Ryou shrugs. "You know at the rate this seems to be going I almost believe it."
"Things are going to be different around here from now on." She replies. "Everything you know about this village is going to be turned on its head, and in just three days. You'll see."
"...There's really just one other thing."
"Hm?" She questions him, though the look on her face says it all – she already knows what he's going to ask.
"About that business in '83. I need you to tell me what you can."
"I figured your previous retainers would've filled you in on quite a bit of that."
"That doesn't matter. I've seen your medical history already, but there's really a whole lot that still doesn't make sense."
"If you're asking me to introduce you to her, I can't promise your safety at that point."
"Is it even something you can do at will?"
"Not entirely." She states plainly. "But this entire time, she's been begging me to smash my cup and gouge your eyes out with the fragments. So I don't think it would take very much."
"That's funny."
"Really?"
"You wouldn't be the first Level Five recovery that's tried to kill me." His eyes are hungry. But it's not her body he's after.
Her shoulders quiver for a moment. He can spot a small trail of saliva making its way out of the corner of her mouth. Did she just have a seizure?
"Let me ask you something, then - did you come here to represent this girl at all, or were you just looking for a fight with me?" She speaks again – her voice is similar but different. Vocal cords that were undoubtedly her own, but a sound that wasn't quite the same – as though comprised of signals from a different brain entirely.
She reaches for the string hanging around her neck and lifts it over her head – dangling from makeshift necklace is the key, red ribbon and all. She sets it down on the serving table, and then moves to take off her earrings. Sekiguchi pulls off his suit jacket and rolls up the cuffs of his sleeves. He's wearing a vest underneath – it looked like a pretty sturdy one, too.
All she's wearing is a white gown – she doesn't even have any shoes on. But as Sekiguchi puts on black leather gloves, it really does look like the two of them are about to fight.
"I can't defend my client if I don't know at least this much about them." Sekiguchi's response doesn't match the fiery look in his eyes at all. He's a very plain man at a glance, everything down to the same short slicked back haircut he'd had since he entered the legal circle, but in that moment he gives off the vibe of a gangster itching to beat someone down.
And he stands there, prepared to receive her – he recognizes it instantly, both from that stance and the way he shifts his arms as she lunges towards him. He fights like a Hida City cop – exactly the way Oishi had taught Kanbei to fight. But that couldn't be right.
But for Natsumi Kimiyoshi, his impression matters even less. From the moment that seizure takes hold of her, her whole body seems to move like water. Her arms hang low, her slender legs seem to glide across the wooden floor. Her movements are feral, but experienced. She's almost too fast to watch as she lays into Sekiguchi, one blinding strike after the next. But where her fists come flying in one right after the other, his stance holds. Her strikes are fast paced, but they lack the power behind them needed to penetrate the shell of Oishi's trademark turtle, and the vest absorbs enough of the impact on its own.
Sekiguchi manages to grab hold of her left arm in time, and moves to elbow her right in the face with the opening she'd given him. But she's able to block that so perfectly that it almost looks like she'd planned the entire exchange.
Sekiguchi still has a free hand, which he also tries to grab hold of her with, but by then it's too late – she's broken free from his grasp and crouches low to the ground. Before he can realize what she's doing, she slides right between his legs – popping up right behind him she launches herself into the air with a flip, throwing a strong kick right towards the back of his head which connects and sends him tumbling forward into the serving table.
He gets back up a moment later and turns to face her – a cut has formed along the bridge of his nose. But he looks like he's having the time of his life.
The next time she comes at him, she straight up jumps at him, which he just narrowly manages to avoid - only as she lands, she slides her hand under the cushion she'd been sitting on before and retrieves what looks like a kitchen knife. Still low to the ground, she twists her wrist at an awkward angle and points the tip of the blade right at him.
A moment later she flies across the room, looking to plunge the knife straight into him. Once again he receives her with that bastardized martial art – but once she's closed in enough, he shifts himself ever so slightly, predicting a change in her trajectory before it even happens.
Because of this, she flips the blade around in her hand – instead of stabbing, she's looking to cut across his skin. She swings low, looking to cut him somewhere around his stomach – but he stops her by striking hard at her wrist. Try as she might, he has the advantage in build, and even for Kanbei watching them from above, it was apparent that Natsumi fought as though it were the other way around.
The blow is hard enough to disarm her. The knife goes flying and lodges itself deep in a ceiling panel, centimeters from Kanbei's face. He does everything he can not to completely lose his shit.
Even that isn't enough to stop her. Her now free hand goes straight for his throat, which in the extremely short window that she reacts he can't protect himself from. She crashes into him at enough speed to topple him over – she sits on top of him, now swinging away at his face while he tries to pull her off of him. He starts to pull on her arms as hard as he can, but it's no use – everything from the waist down isn't going anywhere.
All he really needs to do, however, is hold her still long enough that he can hook her right in the face. He manages to get one of his hands around her chin, but it doesn't last, and she bites down on him as hard as she can, glove and all. It hurts like hell. But it's enough – his left fist goes swinging straight for her face, and it connects. Her right eye is bruised from the impact. It's not enough to stop her, but the scales finally tip towards a perfect balance.
At the very height of the pummeling, suddenly a voice calls out.
"Natsumi."
Almost like on command, she stops moving completely. She hangs her head. Standing in the doorway just behind them is Akira Kimiyoshi.
Then she stands. "It's okay." She speaks. It's her own voice again. "We're just about finished here, aren't we?"
Sekiguchi grins through the gradually swelling in his face. "Is that really where you want to stop?"
Akira nearly steps forward at that, but Natsumi stops him with a wave of her hand.
"Take those bruises with you back to your woman in the mountains." She continues. "Let her know that if she intends to threaten the Kimiyoshi family further, this is what awaits."
"This is still a mistake." Sekiguchi insists. "Throwing your lot in with these people won't get you what you want."
"I already have exactly what I want."
With that Sekiguchi stands and leaves, without another word. He walks away appearing to be thoroughly satisfied by it all, while Akira approaches his wife and touches at her injuries.
"What on earth were you thinking?!" He speaks in a hushed voice.
"We need this kind of approach for that family." She says with a cough. "They don't know anything besides blood. And the new head made it clear that wouldn't change after what she did to that poor boy."
"You can't be doing things like this entirely on your own."
Natsumi shakes her head. "We should be past violence altogether, but we still aren't, because people like Sonozaki Sayaka still exist. I don't want anyone else wasting their blood to keep balance. That responsibility is mine. It shouldn't be anyone's besides mine."
Akira sighs. "You're not going back to the house looking like this."
Natsumi shakes her head. "Don't change the subject. I need you to promise me." She tiredly embraces her husband as exhaustion starts to overtake her. "This is all I have to atone. Don't take this from me."
"Alright, I promise."
Natsumi laughs wearily. "You liar."
Akira supporting her, the two of them leave the room through the other entrance – leaving behind the destroyed serving table and the key to the Storehouse.
He doesn't have time to process the events. He quickly searches for some way to descend into the room from the ceiling – he manages to find a loose panel not too far from where the key was. Tying the hook to a wooden plank up in the rafters he descends into the room. Doing his best not to step into any of the blood on the floor, he scoops up the key before climbing straight back up, Natsumi and Akira bickering in earshot about tending to Natsumi's wounds. Moving the ceiling panel back in place, he works his way back through the rafters, feeling around above him for the loose boards on the second floor. He successfully emerges, and from there moves about the attic space – but the order of events isn't lost on him. He can't leave through the window – if he does, it would mean someone else opened the window after Sekiguchi closed it.
He makes his way down the stairs to the first floor – as he does Akira and Natsumi return to the main room. He ducks right back in to the stairway before he's in their line of sight.
No more than ten seconds later Natsumi speaks up. "Ah, I can't find it."
His heart sinks. Oh come on. Is this the key to her fucking snatch or something?!
"What?"
"For the Storehouse. I took the key off, I think."
"Did you go upstairs?"
"Hmm… Did I?"
No no no no no you most certainly did no such fucking thing…!
"I could check."
His heart starts beating out of his chest. I swear to god if you come this way you're gonna regret it forever.
"No, I think Sekiguch-san went up there."
"Ah, I should make sure he didn't take anything he shouldn't have, then."
"Oh don't worry about upstairs. I just want to find it right now, okay?"
"Are you sure he didn't take it, then?"
"I'm sure."
"Maybe you left it in the bedroom. Chisa was fiddling with the ribbon before."
"Ah, yeah, that's probably it."
He exhales, covering his mouth when he realizes how loud he'd just been. But the two go on chattering as though they didn't hear anything. Eventually he hears both of them start to walk off, heading further and further away from where he was.
He peeks out from the staircase – the coast is clear. He creeps towards the doorway, and finally steps out of the room, concluding his hellish business in the Gathering Hall -
Just outside on the small landing that led to the connecting walkways is a small child, a little girl with fat little cheeks, no more than four years old all dressed in her pajamas, her faded green hair tied up in twin buns. The small child sleepily stands there, looking right at him as he emerges.
Fucking.
Kill meeeeeeeeeeeee-