Chapter 9

10 Years Ago

His mother never changed anything about her apartment. The magazines remained in neat piles on the table, and the pictures were on the windowsill, even the ones of his father and him that he didn't want out for show. He had offered to buy her new furniture, and she had gently refused.

"How many times do I have to tell you to take off your hat?" she said as she set down the tea set. "You may be a big tough guy to everyone else, but you're still my little boy." Which was saying a lot, since he was two feet taller than she was.

He sat down for the tea, removing the hat and brushing his stray hair out of his face. "How are you?" The Diesi-Jigen family didn't stand much on ceremony, even tea ceremony.

"How would you know?" she said without malice. "You're off in New York."

"Actually, I'm back in Osaka for a while," he explained. "New job. New employer. Name's Lupin."

"Are you happy?"

It was the sort of question no one else would think to ask him. "... Yeah, mom. I'm happy. I like my work and I like my boss. What can I say?"

"I'm happy that you're happy," she said. "As long as you're not getting into any trouble."

"No mom," he said. "No trouble at all."

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The Present

"So," Ben said, "you let her go."

They were standing out on the dock, facing the water – the original gang. Goemon was sitting on one of the beams, apparently deep in meditation, and Lupin had yet to reappear after his hasty exit from the church.

"I said I would," Jigen said. The sand was still as brown and the water as murky as he remembered it, and it felt good anyway.

"I was barely willing to let her off so easily – but hey, if Jimmy was," Chris shook his head sadly. "I wasn't gonna stand in the way of that. Sorry for having you shot, by the way."

"Sorry?" Jigen chuckled, lighting a cigarette. "Are you kidding? It was the best thing that ever happened to me."

"At the time you didn't seem so enthused," Ben noted.

"I mean in the long term. No offense to anyone present, but I'm richer and freer and happier as a thief than I ever would have been in the Family. If there was a better way out I would have taken it, but there wasn't."

"None taken."

He paced the boardwalk. "Don't get me wrong – I still think Silvia's a whore – no offense – "

"None taken," Chris said again.

" – but it's like this crazy guy I know always says – 'Betrayal is a woman's exclusive right.'"

"Speaking of Lupin," Goemon interrupted, "Has anyone seen him since the wedding?"

"Not since he proposed to Fujiko," Jigen laughed. "He's such a ham. I wonder how he's gonna get himself out of this one."

"The guy in the red jacket, right?" Chris gestured over towards the land. "He's coming this way."

It was indeed Lupin, running across the junkyard at top speed. He barely caught himself in time to stop in front of his partners, panting for breath. "Guys ... you've got ... to help me ... not ready ... to settle down ..."

"Just give her the diamond, Lupin."

"Can't ... – help me..."

"Lupin!" It was Fujiko, still in her wedding dress, appearing over the scrap piles. "Get back here!"

"Aiee!" Lupin nearly leapt over Jigen to get to a motorboat that was parked at the dock.

Nodding to Goemon, Jigen tipped his hat up to his old friends. "That's our cue to go."

"Are we ever going to see you again?" Ben asked. "I need to stop asking that question."

"Just ask around at Interpol. They always seem to be on top of us," Jigen said, stepping back into the boat with Lupin and Goemon. They kicked off just in time to miss Fujiko, who slammed past Chris and Ben.

"Don't make me come out there!"

"I love you too!" Lupin said. Finding the motor not operational, he began paddling madly. "But I'm just not ready for a commitment!"

"Lupin!"

"Don't just stand there, guys!" he commanded his partners. "Hurry up and paddle!"

Fujiko wasn't the only thing they were leaving behind. As Jigen half-paddled, he waved good-bye to Ben and Chris – that was, until he was whacked in the back of the head with a paddle.

"Stop waving and start working!" Lupin shouted. "I've already been to one wedding today; I'm not going to another one!"

All right, so there were even more wisecracks with his new partners than his old ones. There had to be a balancing factor somewhere. It was karma, or some other kind of Buddhist-Shinto thing. He had traded his old life for a new one.

"Perhaps we should let her catch you," Goemon said. "She may have something to teach you about honoring your vows."

"This, coming from a thieving samurai," Lupin spit back.

And Jigen decided that wouldn't trade it back – for anything in the world.

The End