Questions and Answers
The crow cawed again like it was laughing. This time, Bobby didn't feel like it was laughing at him, but rather with him. It then leapt off his shoulder and flew off high into the sky. Not having any particular destination to go to just yet, Bobby began making his way back towards the festival. As he walked, Moe's confession and revelation resounded painfully in his mind. This whole woeful mess wasn't the result of getting into an argument with some gangsters in a nightclub, it was an assassination ordered by the father of the woman he loved. What drove the knife of betrayal in even deeper was the fact that her father did it out of love for his daughter. A question then sprung into his mind and seared itself there. Does Anna know what her father did? That question led to others like a row of dominoes. If she does know, would she allow him to exact his revenge upon her father, or would she stand in his way? Does she like the life she has now without him? Does she even remember him? The wave of questions made his head spin and he suddenly felt nauseous. He stopped by a lamp post, closed his eyes and leaned his head against it to try and collect himself by taking several slow deep breaths.
While Bobby focused on collecting himself, three black sedans roared past him headed in the opposite direction from the one he'd been headed in. Alone in the backseat of the middle sedan sat Tada. He was nervously tapping his foot on the floor, anxious to get to his destination. Shortly after Bobby had gone into the back room to deal with Moe, the woman behind the counter called Tada to let him know there was trouble and that he should send help right away. Unfortunately for Moe, that help moved too slowly to save him from his fate. Fortunately for both parties, neither noticed the other, lest a big row break out in the middle of the street.
The sedans pulled up and Tada got out to survey the scene before his driver could open the door for him. He could see Moe's car smashed up and two of his men lying dead out in the open for anyone passing by to see. Armed men got out of the other two sedans and formed a barricade between the scene and any potential onlookers. "(Get these two in that trunk in case the cops show up!)" Tada ordered to a couple of his men as he pointed to Moe's car before pointing at one of the dead men. "(That one's going to have the keys. Then clean this fucking place up and get Moe's car to the normal disposal site. I'm going inside.)"
The men immediately got to work fulfilling their orders while Tada headed for the front door. He could see that it had been kicked in and suddenly thought better than to go in alone. With a whistle, he beckoned two of his men over to him and motioned to the door. They nodded their heads quietly and then burst into the apothecary, scanning the room for signs of intruders and waving their guns about in an intimidating manner. The only person they found was the woman behind the counter. Tada and his men relaxed their posture and Tada walked up to the woman.
"(What happened?)" Tada asked simply. "(Is the guy you called about still here?)"
"(He just left,)" answered the woman timidly.
Before Tada could question her further, another one of his men came in with Moe's man that Bobby had given the message to. The sedans had passed by him as well and he had recognized their cars, so he turned back to the apothecary to meet up with them and let them know what had happened.
"(Why the fuck were you out there and not in the back room with Mr. Mogami?)" demanded Tada. "(Taking a fucking break?)"
"(No, sir!)" answered Moe's man instantly, clearly trying to avoid getting himself into trouble. "(I was sent to deliver a message to you and Mr. Chosokabe.)"
"(From whom?)" Tada continued to demand. The man hesitated and broke eye contact. "(Well? I'm waiting!)"
"(The man who killed Mr. Mogami,)" answered the man timidly.
"(Come again?)"
"(The man who killed Mr. Mogami wanted me to tell you and Mr. Chosokabe about what he did.)"
"(Did he say why?)"
"(No.)"
"(Did he say anything else?)"
Moe's man hesitated and got a nauseated look on his face. Tada could tell that the man was hesitating because he was afraid he'd be punished if he relayed the rest of the message.
"(Just fucking say it,)" Tada said plainly.
"(He said to make peace with whatever higher power you believe in because you and Mr. Chosokabe will be joining Mr. Mogami in Hell before the end of the night,)" Moe's man said before taking a preemptive step back in fear and uncertainty.
Tada got a contemplative look on his face and weighed the statement in his mind. Once he finished thinking about it, he whipped open his jacket, ripped his pistol from its holster, and shot the man in the head. All three of Tada's men inside the apothecary flinched, though they tried to conceal it. "(Put him with the others and clean this mess up,)" Tada ordered in an irritated tone. "(Now!)"
His men acknowledged his orders and set about fulfilling them while Tada, gun still in hand, returned his attention to the woman, who hadn't dared to move from her spot. "(Now,)" he began, trying to act and sound calm. "(Where were we?)"
"(You had asked if the man responsible was still here and I told you he had just left,)" replied the woman in as calm a tone as she was currently able.
"(Right. Thank you. What did he look like?)"
"(He was wearing plain clothes. A hoodie, sweatpants, and sneakers. Though he seemed to be sort of concealing his face, he was clearly Caucasian.)"
"(Concealing his face? How do you mean?)"
"(He had the hood of his hoodie up and his face was painted.)"
"(Painted?)"
"(Yes. Mostly white but with a black crow with its wings outstretched. It was foreboding.)"
"(A crow?)"
"(Yes, a crow.)"
"(Face. Paint. Face. Paint. The festival. Thank you, ma'am, you've been very helpful. Someone will be by later to fix the door.)"
"(Thank you very much, sir.)"
Tada smiled a reassuring smile to the woman and put his gun away. He then turned and left the apothecary and headed back to his sedan. By this time, the scene had been cleaned up and Moe's car with his dead men in the trunk had been driven away by one of Tada's men to be disposed of as instructed.
"(He was at the festival,)" Tada said to his driver as he paused at the door of his sedan. "(We need to find out where.)"
"(Understood, sir,)" said his driver as he opened the door for Tada.
Elsewhere, Bobby had followed his crow back to the festival. The path he was on took him past Michelle and Yuuji's shop. As he passed by, he smiled at Michelle, who was back behind her portable stand, and said cheerfully without breaking stride, "So far, so good." He then winked at her and blended into the crowd before she could reply. Though she didn't get a good look at him, Michelle brain told her that his hoodie was now riddled with holes. Given everything earlier, she knew better than to chase after him to ask about what she suspected she'd just seen. It then occurred to her that she'd probably see him yet again before the night was through.
Bobby made his way through the crowd and found himself approaching the front of one of the ritzier hotels in the neighborhood. At first he wondered why he had come here, but then he heard his crow caw from a nearby street lamp. He looked up confused and saw that the crow was looking down. Dropping his gaze downwards, he saw that a group of black sedans had pulled up in front of the hotel. As he watched, the occupants of the sedans got out. Most of them were Japanese men dressed in black suits. Then, a man that Bobby recognized instantly got out of the middle sedan. It was Hideo. Instantly, images of the confrontation that night flooded his mind. At first he felt nauseous, but the nausea quickly gave way to seething rage. With the fires of hate burning inside of him, he began to move forward. Then, all at once, he stopped in his tracks and the fire within died out as Anna stepped out of the middle sedan as well. Joy gripped his heart and his breathing became short and rapid. Hideo hadn't noticed him and he made his way towards the entrance of the hotel with Anna on his arm. As they walked, Anna gazed across the sea of faces that was the crowd. Bobby just stood there, rooted in place and staring at the woman he loved. Anna's gaze moved over him and she paused in her stride with Hideo. For a few seconds, but what Bobby hoped was an eternity, Anna's eyes locked with his. Bobby could see the faint glimmer of recognition in her eyes. She sees me, he thought to himself. Hideo had noticed that Anna had stopped and, not bothering to see why she had, he grabbed her arm forcefully and pulled her along with him towards the entrance. Anna silently, though ever so slightly grudgingly, complied with him. The moment over, and with his love so close, despair replaced the joy and he fled the scene.
Meanwhile, Tada rolled up in his sedan and lowered the window to survey the scene that was the festival. His gut instinct told him that he'd find the answers he was looking for somewhere in all of the hustle and bustle. The only unknown, as far as he was concerned, was where to start looking. With a huff and a sigh, he looked at his watch. "(Not a lot of time,)" he said aloud to himself. "(I have somewhere to be in less than an hour and I really don't want to think about this shit right now.)" He ran his hands over his face and let out another huff and sigh into his palms, though this time they were slightly more exasperated. With time growing short, he knew his only course of action was to just get out of the car and have a good look around. Upon seeing him exit the sedan, the remaining group of his men who hadn't stayed behind at the apothecary to manage the rest of the cleanup got out of their sedan as well. Unlike Moe's men, Tada's knew enough to not brandish their weapons unless a show of strength was necessary.
"(Fan out,)" he ordered. "(Look for anyone who's doing face painting.)"
The men nodded their heads to acknowledge their understanding of his order and dispersed to begin their search. Tada remained at his sedan and surveyed the scene again with a look on his face that was a mix of contemplative and annoyed. "(A crow,)" he said quietly, as though trying not to be heard. "(Does Heaven judge us tonight? Are our sins about to catch up with us?)"
Bobby came to a stop near a large trash bin in an alleyway near the hotel and tried to calm himself down. At first, he found he was almost choking on his grief and despair. However, after a couple of minutes of barely breathing, he was able to settle down and center himself. He began to replay the scene in his mind and the dawning realization hit him that Anna appeared trapped. She isn't with him willingly, he thought to himself. She didn't betray me. His breathing quickened again almost to the point of hyperventilation and his heart lightened. "She loves me!" he shouted to the heavens. "She really loves me!" In that moment, he knew he had to find a way into the hotel and see her again. As he moved back to the entrance to the alleyway, an image thrust itself into his mind. It was of the festival from a slightly elevated vantage point.
Two of Tada's men came across Michelle at her stand outside the shop. They noticed the sign advertising face painting and gave her a hard stare. "Problem, boys?" she asked, trying to sound cheerful so as to defuse the situation.
"(You the one doing face painting?)" asked one of the men.
"Are you the one doing the face painting?" asked the other in English just in case Michelle didn't actually speak Japanese.
"Not me specifically," responded Michelle. "(Japanese or English, I speak both just fine. I will humbly comply with whichever you choose to have this conversation in. If it pleases you.)"
"(If you are not the one doing the face painting,)" said the first man. "(Then who is?)"
"(My grandfather is the one,)" replied Michelle politely, having come to the realization that these were serious men who likely worked for some potentially dangerous people. "(If you would like to know anything about it, it would be best for you to ask him. I only know about the selling of the items in the shop.)"
"(Are you aware of anyone else doing face painting at the festival?)" asked one of them.
"(In truth I do not,)" replied Michelle, trying to sound as harmless as possible. "(I have to run the shop and sell our goods. I have not had the chance to see much of the festival beyond what I can take in from my stand.)"
One of the men took a few steps away and brought out his cellphone and made a call while the other continued to stare Michelle down. A cold chill ran down her spine and she knew that something unpleasant was more than likely about to occur. She also got the feeling that Bobby was somehow involved. "I wish you were here," she said in tone so low that it was barely audible.
Bobby started looking for a back way into the hotel when another image jumped into his mind. This time it was of Michelle and Tada's two men at her stand. When he snapped back to reality he spun about and looked in the direction of her stand, though he could not actually see it at the present time. "They've tracked me back to Michelle and Yuuji," he said with wide fearful eyes. "They're going to hurt them if they discover they helped me."
The sound of the crow's laughing caw filled his ears and he dropped to his knees with his hands pressed to the sides of his head. Conflicting thoughts tore through his mind and battled one another for dominance. The first thought was of the revenge he craved on those responsible for his and Danny's deaths. The next was of his burning desire to see Anna. The last was of his worry for Michelle and Yuuji and what might happen to them. The thought of revenge silenced the other two and pounded him like a hammer against an anvil so hard that his chest felt heavy. It then mixed with the crow's laughter and his coherent thought began to melt away. Revenge. Take revenge. That is what you are here for. Nothing matters. Not the innocents caught in the middle. Not even HER! Kill them for what they've done to you! Make them pay. Make them all PAY!
The thoughts vanished abruptly as Bobby heard a scream that was equal parts physical pain and mental torment. It took a few seconds for him to realize that he was the one doing the screaming.
To be continued…