5 / Truck's Misbehavin'

A few days later, Okoba was back where he had started.

He had had his drink, more than he absolutely needed, in fact. The reporter had woken up from such a headache that he had forgotten almost everything he had done a day prior. The pictures, the articles, Sakura Minamoto's death in a hit-and-run, everything.

The migraine had made him forget, made him irritable, made him wonder what all these pictures meant before throwing them in the trash.

His assistant had berated him days later, asking him if he had thrown the pictures he had taken from the Arpino event in the trash bin. Okoba had the decency to look guilty. But then he remembered. He remembered the ghosts of the past, remembered Ai Mizuno, Junko Konno and Lily Hoshikawa, all haunting him with the faces of Three, Four and Six. He remembered the articles he had read about Saki Nikaido and Sakura Minamoto, the fine prints he had found of the woman named Yugiri and the enigma that was Zero.

Asking for a few days off, Okoba got to work.

He printed every article he could find of the other three girls, minus Zero.

Okoba didn't know what he was looking for. Siblings? Cousins? Distant relatives? He wanted to find something and make it mean anything.

A part of him was urging to let this go, that it wouldn't be worth it, but the other, well, the other was stubborn. He wanted to know who these girls were and why they looked so much like the dead.

The man had seen the dots, he just needed to connect them. And since he knew nothing of the living, he'll try searching with the dead.

Okoba skipped over Mizuno, Konno and Hoshikawa, moving straight to the real unknowns, Nikaido, Yugiri and Minamoto. Zero, he figured, could wait.

He started with Nikaido and Dorami.

Making a few calls and sweet-talking his way to some files and documents, Okoba was able to get a file on Nikaido's former criminal record (as well as a file on the Minamoto case at least the information they were willing to part with).

Vandalism, grand theft auto, street fighting...all before hitting fifteen.

According to the notes in the file, Nikaido had no immediate family. Parents were dead, grandparents died almost twenty years back. One trail gone cold.

Okoba moved to the file he had been given about Dorami. A biker gang formed from local girls living near the area around Kagamiyama. The gang, from what the police had been able to gather, had been formed to fight another local gang by the name of Oki. The Oki were wannabe yakuza that terrorized local businesses with vandalism and threats. Apparently, the Oki had crossed the wrong people too many times because the next thing they knew, the girls they had terrorized came for a vengeance, beating them up before forcing them out of Kyushu. Not that they needed any help. As one detective put it, in-fighting plus the threat of tough as nails bikers had done the Oki in. Unfortunately, that meant Dorami was there to pick up the pieces.

The biker gang started small, picking on the local students to get their tributes and winning the rest in street gambling with other biker gangs. With the cash in hand, the Dorami gang grew and grew, with a few fights breaking out here and there but nothing the Dorami couldn't handle. As it turned out, Nikaido and the first leader of Dorami, Reiko Kirishima, were quite the pair, taking out bands of twelve or more by themselves if the reports were to be believed. If anything, it certainly made sense for why the girls conquered most of Kyushu so quickly.

Okoba figured that their guts and power had to do a lot with it; having guts commanded a strange sort of respect and power, well, power was hard not to admire.

Yet as quickly as Dorami came to notoriety, it broke apart just as fast.

Okoba realized it all began with Saki Nikaido's untimely death on that fateful day in August 1997.

The death had been rather graphic, as expected of someone of Nikaido's reputation. Falling off of a cliff had killed her and the explosion that followed after had scattered the pieces.

With Nikaido's death, the power that Dorami once had began to wane. Their leader, Kirishima had stepped down just days after Nikaido's passing. Later on, more gang members went their separate ways and Dorami became a shadow of its former self. The last leader, Souta Kenta, was arrested on 2009 for murdering a biker due to a dispute involving a man. After that, Dorami became history, or would have, but according to a blog that posted news about the happenings in Karatsu, word on the street was that Dorami had risen again. The story was an odd one.

Apparently, the leader and another biker gang had made peace with each other after a small dispute. No one was sure what had ended the dispute but rumor had it that on the foot of Mt. Kagamiyama they found the remains of a bike, burned to cinders. No bodies were found.

Whatever had happened between the new Dorami and that other gang had to do with that burnt bike, but no one was able to make heads or tails of it, even local police were stumped. A mystery for another day, perhaps.

Okoba let out a sigh.

And that was the story of Saki Nikaido, nothing but fire and conquest left to her name.

/…..

Okoba was a little lost when it came to the courtesan called Yugiri.

There wasn't much information besides prints and anecdotes of encounters with the courtesan. Nothing too explicit, of course. Most of the anecdotes Okoba had found that mentioned her were poetic in nature, describing her beauty, charisma and charm. Nothing much to go on if he was being honest.

Eventually, after having no luck on the web, the reporter ventured to a few libraries, wondering if he would find information that the internet couldn't provide. It took Okoba at best five hours before he found anything; more prints, even more provocative than before, a few other poems for the woman, some confessions, but still, not enough. So, the reporter decided to change his approach. He moved to find information on all the brothels that had been active during the Meiji era in Saga, to see if any of them had advertise the so-called "Legendary Courtesan".

Okoba was a little disappointed a day later. He found nothing.

The man suppose that was fair. Brothels wouldn't have openly advertise their services during those times, and if there had been records, they had been lost.

Whatever Yugiri's story had been, all was lost to the sands of time.

/…..

Okoba tried, once more, to find any information on Number Zero, or at least a lookalike, but try as he might, he comes out empty. A day later, he moves on.

/…..

In all fairness, Okoba realized he shouldn't have been so interested in Minamoto's story. Perhaps it was the intrigue that seemed to rise up from something so simple. She wasn't like Nikaido, not like the beautiful Yugiri. She was just normal.

At least, that's what Okoba figured until he began reading the report and the extensive notes detectives had kept on the case. The report itself, unlike Nikaido's, was heavily redacted, especially when it concerned the names of the victim's family and friends, as well as no addresses.

The man was a little miffed about it but his friend at the station had informed him that it was to protect their privacy. "Or rather, to watch my back," the friend had told Okoba, because after all, it wasn't Okoba's neck on the line, it was his if they found out he was giving confidential information on a still open case. Well, whatever. Okoba would just have to make due.

(he'll have to take a look at that old newspaper article to get a name)

Minamoto grew up in the island of Kyushu, born and raised in Karatsu. Her family includes both parents, divorced in 2004, and a younger brother. Family also extended to distant uncles and cousins. The report also included persons of interest, like the mother's new boyfriend and a few of Minamoto's classmates. Protocol, the reporter figured.

(Okoba made a mental note; try to locate immediate family as soon as he could get a name. But for what, even he wasn't so sure)

Minamoto had been killed early in the morning, April 7, 2008. From what police had gathered, Minamoto had left for school earlier than usual that day before meeting her untimely demise minutes later. Okoba's gaze harden as he caught the small note near this information. Police had found the victim's father in shock, staring at the body while they waited for the ambulance to arrive. A few neighbors, witnesses of the accident, had provided most of the information on that fateful morning.

Poor man. He must have heard the truck hitting her. Must have thought he would reach her on time.

The reporter shuddered and moved on, skimming over the details of the damage Minamoto had suffered. It was a rather graphic event, all things considered. She had been hit so hard that her body flew over the truck before landing on the pavement seconds later.

He made a note.

Okoba didn't know the speed one needed to send a person airborne after getting hit by a car but if Minamoto had been hit this hard to go over it...just how fast was that truck actually going? And in a residential area, to boot.

Minamoto had died almost instantly after hitting the ground, cracking her skull wide open.

(and her father had seen her like that...Okoba shuddered again)

He went on.

The young woman had suffered multiple injuries, most likely suffered from the collision with the vehicle. Glass was found on the scene and all over Minamoto's body, indicating that most of the damage came from the body breaking the windshield as the truck hit her. It was the head trauma that killed her in the end, surprising enough. The coroner did note that had the girl not cracked her skull open, she wouldn't have long to live considering the damage to her internal organs.

Okoba put the coroner's report aside and moved towards the people of interest.

Police, at first, had suspected an insurance fraud. It had happened before, sadly enough. But the investigations found nothing of the sort. The only one that had any life insurance was Minamoto's father and most of that money would be going to his ex-wife and children, now only child. There was no benefit gained from Minamoto's death. The girl's mother had been living in the other side of Karatsu at the time and her boyfriend had just arrived at work. Minamoto's brother had been living with his mother for over two years then. More protocol that ended up wasting time, Okoba figured as he turned to the other people of interest listed on the file.

Detectives had visited Minamoto's school, name redacted (thank you very much), wondering if she had had any enemies or boyfriends of the sort when attending there. Okoba almost wanted to groan as he read the next notes; a girl like her had to be popular in something and it probably wasn't academics. Jackass.

Minamoto, it turns out, was rather popular but not for the reasons detective asshole thought she was. The girl was known as sweet and kindhearted, lending a hand to anyone that needed it. She was not the best student but according to her teachers, she was far from average. Minamoto had scored high in exams and was an impressive athlete, apparently being the the fastest runner in her age group in middle school for at least two consecutive years. However, it wasn't just her affinity for academics and sports that made her popular. A footnote at the end of the file informed Okoba that the detectives had found out that Minamoto was called the "Legendary Jinx" by some of her classmates.

Minamoto was well-known for having terrible luck, even her family couldn't really deny that she did draw the short end of the stick most of the time. And when the kids of school had gotten wind of it, well, it was almost inevitable. The nickname itself had been utterly malicious, as one friend of Minamoto's had told detectives. Yet, Minamoto never stopped being kind, being helpful.

One thing that did catch the detective's attention, which Okoba took note of, was that Minamoto had not joined any clubs during her first year of high school. Perhaps she hadn't been interested at the time or was she avoiding someone? Minamoto's friends did say that she hadn't really been active during her first year, either. She seemed off to them, although they figured it was the disappointed of not getting to her desired high school that had caused it. One girl did mention that just a few months before the end of their first year, Minamoto had returned to her old, friendly self.

Nothing else was found on the classmates; there was a boy in her class that Minamoto had begun to hang out with due to their shared interests in music, but they found nothing on him either. He had been just as devastated by Minamoto's passing like the rest of them.

And with no more persons of interests nor suspects, the trail had gone cold.

Not that the detectives handling the case cared, from what Okoba had deduced while reading their notes. The men had made up their mind a long time ago.

Case was open and shut, really. The driver, their killer, had been in a rush and stepped on the accelerator and Minamoto, in a moment of great carelessness, rushed to the street (in a residential area, Okoba noted) and was hit. The man, unwilling to take the blame, sped off. Case close, minus murderer. There had been no evil plot at the end of the tunnel, no conspiracy. Everything happened because of a careless girl that didn't look both ways and a moron who woke up late.

And yet, the case was open but Okoba knew better. Changes in the laws meant nothing if Minamoto's case was hidden in the pile with the others, forgotten like the rest.

He sighed.

Minamoto's story ended, lost within mountains of paperwork and terrible luck.

"...according to witnesses' reports, a bear has been seen near the forest by the foot of Kagamiyama...police have warned locals to beware of the animal as some encounters have turned deadly…"

"A bear…?"

Junko sounded nervous, eyeing the old-school radio she had bought on one of their most recent outgoings.

The Showa idol had been all smiles when she spotted the model; she remembered having one exactly like this when she was alive. Unfortunately, the price had been a little too much and Kotaro was being rather stingy with the money as of late. Yet, the other girls noticing Junko's sad smile, had pitched in, offering their allowances to get their friend that radio. The young woman had protested but everyone insisted and it had all been worth it at the end. Sure, it was bulky and it confused Yugiri to no end but it was a helpful device. So long as Tae didn't try to eat it of course.

But now, the news had interrupted the tunes, the girls all staring at each other with some measure of worry and nervousness, well, minus Tae, who was napping by Sakura's side.

As the news went on in the background, Saki scratched her head. "A bear? Seriously? Are there even wild bears in Karatsu?" she asked Sakura, who turned her head to the side, and put a hand on her chin.

"It's probably a black bear that's wandered too close…"

"Is that normal?" Ai asked but Sakura only offered a shrug.

"I remembered hearing a few incidents when I was alive but the bears just left on their own without biting or hurting anyone…"

The girls were silent for a while before Junko moved to turn the old radio off.

"Let's just hope people take that warning seriously," Ai began, as the girls began to get ready for bed and Sakura began to wake up Tae to help her to her futon. "Besides, with any luck, the authorities will find the bear in no time."