CHAPTER FIVE
A soft cry had woken me up that Sunday. I caught a glimpse at the red numbers of the clock, which read 6:00 on the dot. Hiten was asleep and the hall lights were off, the door still closed. Rising despite my still drowsy state, I walked to the computer room.
"Lets see…" I said wiggling the mouse, the static of the screen signifying that the computer was on. I clicked the internet button and waited patiently for the search screen to load.
A Google search later and I was on "How stuff Medical Dictionary defines amnesia as "a disturbance in the memory of information stored in long-term memory, in contrast to short-term memory, manifested by total or partial inability to recall past experiences." Amnesia is a condition in which someone can't recall stored memories, like their mom's maiden name or what happened last Christmas, but they may recall the knock-knock joke their little brother told them a few seconds ago. This is actually an example of retrograde amnesia." I raised my brow. It somewhat matched what Hiten had, If you count past experiences as two days ago. And if said person can't even remember that their human beings.
"Well how do they get out of amnesia!" I asked the computer, angered severely.
"As the amnesiac recovers, he or she usually recalls older memories first, and then more recent memories, until almost all memory is recovered. Memories of events that occurred around the time of the accident or onset of amnesia are sometimes never recovered." This scared me. He might never remember what happened that night. Not to mention, he was drunk as hell when it happened so the chances of him recalling the crash were slim.
I heard a door open and footsteps patting on the wooden floors.
"Aniki, I had a bad dream." I jumped in my chair.
"Oh Hiten…its only you. Come here." I wondered in that moment where he learned about dreams and the word 'I' for that matter.
He came over to the light of the screen, his face stricken with fear.
"What happened?" I asked, turning the chair towards him. He sat on the floor next to me. It was strange that he was not crying about it.
"A scary man was yelling at me, he said I stole his body and that he wanted it back."
Have you ever seen one of those horror movies where there's a little kid and it has some relation to the ghost? Well I felt like I was in one of those movies right when he said that. I was pretty freaked out.
"What did this man look like?"
"He has a long braid, and red eyes. He was wearing a shirt like mine." Ok now I was just plain scared. Why did Hiten have to wait in till it was dark and I was alone to say this?
He looked down at his hands and resumed to tremble. I slid out of the chair and joined him onto the floor. "How did you know that this was a dream?" He shrugged.
"I don't know." Sliding back to the chair, I turned back to my computer and clicked on the 'home' button.
Just as I clicked on the search bar a news article flashed onto the screen.
"CAR CRASH AT HIGH SCHOOL KILLS 1, DRIVER MISSING."
"No way!" I yelled. Before the next article came onto the screen, I quickly clicked it.
"Hiten(16) and Manten (15) Indrashi's car was found in the staff parking lot Saturday morning containing the body of Manten, who died of a cardiac arrest. Resources say they left a band concert intoxicated. Hiten, supposedly the driver, was no where to be found, but blood on the steering wheel indicated he was most likely kidnapped, reasons unknown.
Their mother is throwing an open casket this Tuesday for Manten. Funeral, Friday."
"No!" I stood grabbing my head. I could already see the bars of the prisons cell, I couldn't believe this was happening.
"Aniki…what's wrong?" Hiten stood with me, looking at me with worry. I opened my mouth to answer, when the phone rang to interrupt me. I leaned over to the desk and answered it.
"Hello?" I asked, a wave of fear went down my spine.
"Hey it's me, Renkotsu." I released a sigh of relief. "Sorry for calling so late, but it's important. Did you see the news!" He asked.
"On the computer. Oh my god Renkotsu what do we do?" I said in a panicked whisper.
"Ok, where's Hiten?" He asked.
"Here" Renkotsu let out a sigh of relief familiar to my own.
"If you're doing anything today, cancel it. We have more important things to do."
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It was raining that Sunday, in fact it was pouring. Hiten was at home, watching a movie quietly in my room, sure to not say a word. Renkotsus car was warm, and the rhythm of the of the windshield wipers was calming. He had bought a bag of strawberry jelly beans. They were gone now, from both of our nervous eating.
"I think this is it." He breathed.
"Why couldn't we do this at the open casket?" I begged, looking at the small house. Renkotsu pulled into the driveway. "Because you cant pose as a detective around real detectives!" He then took out a camera and wrapped it around his neck.
"Where did you…" I started.
"Art class."
He turned off the car and we went out in the pouring rain. The house was silent; a certain gloomy aura resided from all around it. We walked up the steps to the front door. Renkotsu pushed on the door bell button. The door was opened by a small girl with pig tails. She looked pale with dark bags under her big eyes.
"Are you the detectives?" She asked, using her entire arm to wipe her nose.
"Yes…" I started, only to be jabbed had in the chest by Renkotsu.
"Yes little lady, my name is Rensuka and this is Banaka, a student detective. So… could you direct us to your brothers room?" The little girl sniffed.
"My name is Souten, not little lady." She opened the door and rushed off down the hall.
We slipped off our shoes and put on the slippers that were laid out for us.
"Banaka!" I growled to my comrade. He shrugged.
The Indrashi's home had white walls and a popcorn ceiling. The rug was a messy tan color, where it was spotted with little toys within a couch barrier. The TV was set to the news. Pictures of the family covered the walls. I was distracted by one that had caught my eye. It was of a man and women standing behind someone in a marching band uniform. I leaned forward just a bit, that someone was Hiten.
"Hey are you coming or not?" The little girl ran over to us with her arms crossed. Renkotsu nodded and started down the hall she came from. I followed after she joined him. The hall was thin and dark. All the way at the end, to the left, was an open door. Souten bowed and went back to the living room.
Hitens room wasn't large, but fitting. It had a single bed against the wall to my left and a desk to my right. A dresser was in between the two. Posters covered the walls almost completely. What surprised me was that they weren't entirely of Punk bands but also of jazz musicians too. A single poster rested behind the desk of a thunder bolt made up of dots on a green field. Under it read "The Okihama Marching Bolts." Just like Hitens magazine. The room was clean, unlike his car.
Renkotsu took plenty of pictures. I opened a drawer in the desk. It was filled with papers. One was his school schedule.
"Hey Ren…take a look at this!" I said. He came over to me and peered over my shoulder.
"1rst Semester- Musical Theory, Marching Band, Music History and PE. 2nd Semester Honors Musical Theory 2, Symphonic Band, Math, Musical Appreciation. Geez what did this guy want to be when he grew up?" Renkotsu said, reading over my shoulder.
"A professional conductor." A soft voice said behind us. The voice was filled with sorrow, and sadness. We both turned. A tall women stood at the door holding a box. She had long hair that had a blue sheen. She had a soft complexion. She has a small waist…and looked like she was in her mid-20's though she couldn't be if she was his mother. Her eyes were a burgundy color, like her sons. Around them make up had fallen with her tears.
"I am Shiten, Hiten and Mantens mother. Here's a box for evidence and what not. Do you have any leads on where my Hiten is?" She said bowing to both of us. Guilt was taking over slightly. "Any leads at all?"
I looked to Renkotsu. "I'm sorry, but so far we have nothing." She stiffened. I stomped on his foot. He shoulders trembled.
"You call yourselves detectives! My baby is no where to be found. You're supposed to be able to find him and bring him home to me! What if he's hurt? They say there was blood on the steering wheel. What if that rapist has him! They say there's one out near that area! Oh my little Hiten!" She fell to the floor crying. Renkotsu shrugged and continued to take pictures. I walked over to her.
"I swear to you, you'll have your son home safe." I said. I bent over and picked up the box. "Thank you"
"No, thank you! You know, you look a lot like one of my sons friends. You're a student detective right?" I froze.
"Yes, but I've never seen him before in my life." I lied.
"Oh. Well maybe you should interview him. Hiten and he seemed really close. His names Bankotsu Ryuumasa." I almost dropped the box. How did she know what I look like?
"Would you have a picture of this Ryuumasa person?" I said lowering my head to make sure my bangs hid all they could of my face. She nodded.
"Yes. I'll go get it." She was smiling now, almost like for the first time in a long time. She rose and walked down the hall.
Renkotsu laughed and looked at me with his usual glare. I opened the empty box and started to fill it with sheet music, pictures, and then I started to pack in some of Hitens clothes from the dresser. My hand brushed against something square and boxy. There was black video cassette box labeled "Hitens fav. Vids." I placed that in the box as well.
Ms. Indrashi returned with a small piece of paper. "This is him." I placed the box on the dresser and walked over to her. The picture was a newspaper clipping from one of the Band of Sevens concerts. I admit that picture was one of my best. I nodded and excused myself as I continued to pack things.
"Just tell me when you're ready to leave so I can give you two lunches." She walked of with an extra skip in her step.
Once she was out of earshot Renkotsu came over to me with notebook in his hand. "Looks like that punk had a little journal!" He looked evil when he said this. I nodded. "Well we should leave now." He said eagerly.
Before I could protest he grabbed my hand and dragged my out the door, the box of things under his other arm.
"Ms. Indrashi! We're leaving now!" He yelled. She emerged not but seconds later with two paper bags.
"Here you are boys." She had put on an apron, her face was cleaned off and make up redone.
She hugged both of us and gave us both a kiss on the cheek. Something was seriously strange with this woman. We both walked out to the car, with her still standing at the door waving at us, Souten joined her. Pulling out of the yard I looked down at my brown lunch bag.
"Oo-Aniki…does your bag say what my bag does?" Renkotsu asked me. I turned the bag around where a there was something written in marker on it.
"Hiten" I read. Renkotsu handed me his. It read 'Manten'.
Shiten Indrashi had confused us as her own sons. I took out my food. It was a thunder bolt shaped ham sandwich.
"I'll give this to Hiten." I said. Renkotsu ate his crustless peanut butter and jelly sandwich as we went down the highway.
"Are you going to give him back to her?" he asked me, dead serious as he usually is. I thought about it.
"It's kind of like finding a runaway pet. You want the owner to be happy, but the animal makes you happy and you want to keep it."
"But Hiten is a human being." He corrected me. I sighed.
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When we came into the house Hiten was sleeping in front of the TV. Renkotsu held the box of his things while I carried his lunch.
"Hiten we're home!" I said, he rose rubbing his eyes.
Hiten smiled at us both, all most too innocently. He ran over to me. "Hey! Oh, what's that?" He was looking at the paper bag in my hand. I gave it to him. "It's your lunch Hiten."
He sat back on the floor and opened it. Renkotsu sat next to him and placed the box between the two. I assumed my place in on the other side of Hiten.
"Wow! This is yummy!" He said, quickly devouring the sandwich.
Renkotsu pushed the box a little closer to him. "Open it" and so he did. He pulled out his clothes, only looking at them for about 2 seconds each. When he reached the pictures he stared at them with an empty gaze.
"Do you recognize anyone from those pictures?" Renkotsu asked. Hiten shook his head. The sheet music didn't help either. Nothing was gained from the contents of the box. Hitens memory still not recovered. "What about the tape you found?"
It was the last object left in the box. I pulled it out and took it out of its case. I scooted over to the TV, taking out 'Hercules', the movie Renkotsu had rented to keep the amnesiac busy, and popped in the unmarked video tape.
The screen was static until a rhythmic drumbeat changed it. A band marched onto the field the famous Okihama bolt formation.
"Ladies and gentlemen please put your hands together for The Okihama Marching Bolts! Drum Major Indrashi are you ready?"
The screen cut to Hiten, dressed in black and blue. He was standing on a small white ladder. He saluted and then faced the band.
"Drum Major Suzuki, are you ready?" The screen went to a similarly dressed man, who saluted and turned to the band.
"The Okihama Marching Bolts!" The announcer said one last time.
A drum started it all off. The band split up into separate pods, traveling around a main pod of brass instruments. The song was loud and clear. The formation flawless.
The song ended 9 minutes later.
Cut to static.
This time it was a rock show.
"Please welcome…THE BAND OF SEVEN!"
I turned off the VCR in absolute horror. Hiten, a punk, had come to our show! Renkotsu had the same look on his face.
"Well, I have important business to attend." He rose and left in a rush, looking somewhat offended. I'm guessing he didn't like The Marching Bolts.
Hiten clapped. "Did you see the Drum Major? He looked just like me!" He scooted over to me.
"Yes Hiten. That was you!" I said with false joy in my voice. He looked even happier.
"Really? That was me? Wow I was a Drum Major!" His eyes seemed to twinkle.
I started to pick up the area, and he helped me. "Can you tell me what's going on in these pictures?"
"How about we go back to my room just incase mom comes home early." I said grabbing the box.
Hiten followed me humming the song from the tape. I went into my room placing the box on my bed. He sat down lying on the pillows. I had to admit he looked so peaceful there. I opened the box and sorted out the pictures from the other items. I moved backwards in till I was beside him holding all of the pictures.
The first picture was of him and Manten, it was a professional portrait.
"That's you and your little brother. Do you remember his name?" I asked. Hiten smiled.
"No." But he looked so happy at the sight of his little brother. "Manten" He said letting the name sink in. He took the picture from me and started to run his finger the image his brother.
"When can I see him?" He seemed to look forward to his reunion with his sibling.
"And this is your mother." I said hesitatingly handing him the picture. He took it happily.
"Wow, she's so pretty. I can't wait to meet her too!" I felt an overwhelming guilt. He held the two pictures to his heart, closing his eyes. Jakotsu would have attacked him by now.
Night came quickly after I had taught Hiten how to take baths by himself. He changed into his own clothes and quickly jumped into bed. He was laughing sweetly...isn't that giggling? Anyway, He made himself comfortable and turned out the lights as soon as I laid my head down onto my pillow.
"Sweet dreams…Ban-chan."