Chapter Ten
"Rin and Yugo unintentionally spread happiness around them"
Near Hancock, Maryland
Thursday 31st December 1931
00:00
Meiru, not for one second, was ashamed of the fact that she threw up at the sight of what was inside the freight hold.
For one, she hadn't seen the horrors in the caboose or the dead bodies in the dining car – she'd been having quite a chipper, bloodless evening by the rest of the train's standards.
And also, she would like to think that the sight of a legless corpse would send anyone reaching for the window, heaving it open and propelling vomit up their throat.
Just as she was thought she was finished, she heard Yuzu pondering:
"How did all that blood get all the way up on the ceiling?"
Well that just set her off all over again.
This time, once she was done retching, Meiru was happy to announce that no on else said anything to make her feel even worse. Instead she leant back against the window frame, droopy eyes watching the smoke pouring from the top of the funnel at the front of the train, with some light from the windows of the carriages lighting up the gold decorative pieces along the walls of the carriage.
They also happened to light up the form of a figure clinging onto the side of one of said carriages.
No, this time Meiru didn't want to vomit. She instead wanted to faint. Or scream. Both at the same time would be good.
"Hey guys?" she somehow managed to choke out "Either my vision's gone hinkey or there's something crawling around on the outside of the train."
The three others looked at each other in disbelief. Noburu pulled her away from the window, laying a massive hand against her forehead.
"You're flushed but not warm" he admitted "No fever."
"I'm not hallucinating!" she insisted "I think…Go take a look for yourselves! It's probably still out there!"
The three once again looked at each other, now daring one another to look first.
"Fine" Yuzu declared "We all look together on the count of three."
The boys found those terms acceptable. The three of them moved their heads over to the window.
"One…Two…Three…GO!"
They all shoved their heads out at the same time, just in time to see a red shape jump from the side of the third-class carriage to the roof, out of sight.
All three were silent for a moment, unable to process what they just saw.
It was Yuya who spoke first.
"I…I think that was the Rail Tracer!"
Chicago Police Headquarter, Illinois
Monday, 1st December 1930
10:00
"Everyone! Can I have your attention please!"
The sixty some detectives in the room, all from Chicago or its neighbour cities, fell quiet, the only sound being some cigarettes being lit.
"Thank you everyone" the head of Chicago police continued from the front of the room, gesturing to two men to his right "These two gentlemen here are FBI agents Hikage and Tsukikage Fuma. They're here tracking a pair of fugitives, and of course I guaranteed them the cooperation of all of you."
There were a few coughs and some more cigarettes being lit, but no objections.
"These two agents have been tracking a pair of robbery suspects" he explained "They've struck everywhere from San Francisco to DC, with over 80 jobs known to be under their belts so far. Of course, considering how far apart these jobs are, these agents have come to suspect the pair are using the railways to escape. And since all trains inevitably end up in Chicago, they're hoping that we could keep a look out from them in our enquiries."
A projector started up and a series of pictures began flicking across the wall behind him.
"These are the only known pictures of the robbers."
What flickered across the wall, however, were some of the strangest pictures the detectives had ever seen. First there was a picture of a man and a woman dressed up as mimes, carrying sacks over their shoulders as they gave the camera the thumbs up. The next picture was them dressed up as Charlie Chaplin, carrying a large chest between them but still apparently having time to help an old lady cross the road. Then they were dressed up as mummies, carrying a large oaken door between them.
It was definitely the same man and woman every time though. The man had hair down to his shoulders and a jovial grin in each photo. The woman had a bob haircut, with expressions ranging from equal joy to exasperation.
"Chief, are you trying to put one over on us?" someone finally asked.
"I can see why you'd think that" the chief of police admitted "But these suspects are the only jokers."
"Chief, if they have time to pose for photos, how have they not been caught yet?" somebody else asked.
"I think I had better let Mr and Mr Fuma take over for that" the chief decided, allowing the agents to address the room.
"All of these photos have been handed into us by members of the public, taken because they were curious about their costumes" Tsukikage told the room "It appears that all of them thought they were watching a performance by actors, and only realised they were robbers after they had fled."
"So far they've mostly been doing petty crimes, nothing that would land them on our most wanted list" Hikage informed the detectives "Small stuff. Chocolate, candy, watches-"
"They one time stole the door to the National History museum" Tsukikage reminded him "Any cash they gleaned from these robberies was minimal at best."
"The last we've heard of them, they robbed a grocery store in Modesto, California" Hikage continued the story "They were dressed as corn stalks and stole only cereal. They've been off our radar for the last month though."
"So why all the interest now?" one of the detectives asked "Why not send them back to their mothers and let them spank them for us?"
"Because they're starting to hunt bigger game" Tsukikage explained "Just before they dropped off the radar, they made off with most of the fortune of the renowned millionaire, Eita Kyuando."
There were a few whispers at that. Even in Chicago, most people had heard of Eita Kyuando. He was a new business tycoon in New York, buying up old family-built and run jewellery stores, taking all their stones and connections and then closing the store and having it demolished, then stretching out the return payments so far that the families he had bought out wouldn't see any money until most were dead and buried. He wasn't exactly the most sympathetic victim in the world.
"Most unusually, most of the money they stole seems to have ended up in the hands of families that Kyuando bought out, such as the Kotsu and Anderson families" Hikage added "The rest has turned up in soup kitchens and other charities."
"So they kept none for themselves?" a detective asked, apparently finding this absurd.
"It appears so" Tsukikage confirmed.
"Why the change of pace?" another detective asked.
"We don't know" Hikage told him "That's something I would like to ask them myself. Once these thugs are behind bars, of course."
Near Flintstone, Maryland
Wednesday 30th December 1931
23:15
"RIN!"
Rin jumped from where she was looking into a broom cupboard in second-class. She immediately looked over at Yugo, who was gripping his head in what appeared to be agony.
"What is it?" she asked, worried "Are you having a seizure?"
"THIS IS TERRIBLE!" he yelled, turning to her, eyes wide with horror "WE FORGOT MASUMI!"
Rin froze for a few seconds, then appeared to tip backward onto the floor, face now also contorted into a look of horror.
"This is terrible!" she also declared "Yugo!"
"RIN!"
The two practically collapsed into each other's arms in a fountain of tears.
"WE FORGOT TO BUY A PRESENT FOR MASUMI!"
Near Hancock, Maryland
Thursday 31st December 1931
00:00
"Is it gone?" Meiru finally asked, not daring to stick her head out the window like the rest of her group.
"I think so" Noburu admitted.
Yuya pushed past them both of them and out the door to the connecting point between the freight carriage and the third-class carriage. He looked up at the roof of the third-class carriage where the Rail Tracer had jumped up to. He couldn't see anything from down here.
"Up there!" he declared "That's how it's not being seen! We need to do that too!"
As the other three came pouring out of the freight car, Yuya pointed up at the next roof.
"Noburu, can you boost us all up there?" he asked.
Although the request was weird, Noburu nodded and helped Yuya and the girls up onto the roof.
"Meet us at the next connecting point" Yuya told Noburu, who was still at ground level, clearly not able to heave his massive frame up to the roof himself "And watch out for the guys in the black suits!"
"Got it" Noburu agreed, heading into the third-class carriage.
The other three began their long trek to the end of the carriage roof. The wind was harsh up there so, with Yuya leading the way, they stayed low and crawled their way along single-file.
"Hey Yuzu!" Meiru yelled over the sound of the wind "Yuya seems pretty determined about this!"
"I guess so" Yuzu would've shrugged if she was able to from a crawling position.
"I haven't seen him this focused about something since the Fusers killed eight of our men" Meiru admitted, sounding a bit exhilarated by the whole thing really "He really put away the tears and pulled it out for that one. Wonder what he's gonna do this time?"
Up head, Yuya wiped his eyes. But he held back the tears and ploughed on through the wind.
Near Hagerstown, Maryland
Thursday 31st December 1931
01:00
"So, what did you see?"
Yuya's gang had all taken to using the rooftops to spy on the various carriages. Now they had all meet back in an empty suite in second-class.
"First-class is empty except for one suite" Meiru told him "I guess everyone else was in the dining car when the commotion broke out. The only one still occupied I saw one black suit in. I could only look for a second though, because I think he saw me and I thought I'd better shift."
"There are two of them in the dining car, guarding the thing with tommys" Yuzu told him "I don't think they want the people in there running off and alerting anyone still in their cabins. Its past midnight now – no one but us should be running around outside the dining car."
"Us and the white suits, anyway" Yuya admitted "Speaking of, I haven't seen any of them. Have you guys?"
"Just the three in the caboose" Meiru admitted "Come to think of it, I haven't seen many black suits either. It seemed like a lot more of them were on the platform."
"Maybe they're hiding?" Noburu suggested "Or jumped off?"
"They can't jump off at this speed" Yuya pointed out "That would kill them."
"There's another thing" Yuzu added "Everyone we spoke to earlier is still gone, except for Michio. No sign of Ray or Zarc or Reira. Not even Rin and Yugo."
"But we've searched the length of this train" Meiru pointed "If they were all in the room with those black suits, surely I would've seen one of them in the time I was looking through the window."
"That or the white suits killed them already" Yuya's hands were shaking "We need to look for them. Everywhere. We're not getting off for another few hours anyway, we have time." He looked at the girls. "Girls, I want you to take the roof and head towards the dining car and first-class." He then turned to Noburu. "Noburu, you're with me, heading the opposite way." Finally he turned back to Yuzu and stepped forward until he was right in front of her, her body sandwiched between him and the wall. "Hey, Yuzu. I'll be right back, so don't worry."
Before his nerves could fail him, he kissed her right on the mouth. Not allowing her time to respond however, he quickly hurried out the carriage, Noburu running behind him.
"Yuya, that sly dog" Meiru just grinned lecherously after him.
Near Carroll Valley, Pennsylvania
Thursday 31st December 1931
02:00
In their search for Yuya, Rin and Yugo had finally made it to the caboose, where they were staring in horror down at the carnage in there.
Well, Rin was. She'd insisted Yugo watch her back, which he thought meant he had to be always facing behind her. He was still refusing to turn around and look into the caboose instead, content to just imagine it himself.
"This is horrible" Rin breathed, eyes surveying the scene with…actually less horror than realising they forgot Masumi's birthday present.
"Yes, awful" Yugo nodded. What he was imagining in his head was something Rin didn't want to inquire into.
"There's so much blood" she reached back and grabbed Yugo's hand for a little comfort.
"Do you think the Rail Tracer did this?" Yugo asked.
"Probably" Rin nodded.
"But no Yuya" Yugo pointed out "I don't see him anywhere."
Rin didn't see him either, if you wanted a more reliable source.
"He must have been swallowed whole by the monster!" Rin declared "He's probably still alive inside its stomach!"
"SWALLOWED WHOLE!" Yugo wailed in horror, hands reaching up to his face in the perfect imitation of The Scream painting "HOW DO WE SAVE HIM?!"
"We just have to hope the monster is still on this train!" she decided "Then we can reach in and rescue him!"
"Poor Yuya!" Yugo sobbed "Gobbled up by the Rail Tracer! What a great guy!"
Now even Rin couldn't help but sob, sad piano music echoing in the aether.
"YUGO! RIN!"
Rin tried to turn around upon hearing a voice call her name, but her eyes were too blurry to see properly. Yugo, however, was still watching her back, so insisted on turning too, which meant that Rin was now facing up the corridor, and he was looking into the caboose. Thankfully his eyes were still shut with misery.
"The poor little guy!" he sobbed.
"RIN! YUGO! ARE YOU ALRIGHT?!"
"We'll be alright Yuya" Rin sobbed as well, eyes too blurry to see properly.
"It's like we can hear his sweet voice calling our names right now right now!" Yugo raised his hands together like he was praying.
"RIN! YUGO! YOU'RE ALIVE!"
That did actually sound a bit like Yuya.
Drying her eyes, now she could see who was running at full-pelt down the carriage towards them and the very large man running just behind him.
"Yuya!" she declared with delight, running forward and hugging him as the sad piano music finally stopped "You escaped the Rail Tracer's stomach!"
"We knew you could do it, old buddy old pal!" Yugo declared, also jumping into the hug.
"STOMACH?!" Yuya yelped, but recovered quickly "You know what, why don't we get out of here and go talk about it in the baggage car?"
"Sounds good to me!" Rin declared, wiping away the last remnants of tears on her face.
Noburu sighed and headed back to the freight hold, Yuya and the couple that wouldn't stop clinging onto him following.
Only a few seconds after they shut the door behind them, a figure slipped through the window into the conductors' cab. Moving expertly around the broken bodies and pools of blood, it reached up and flicked the switch to the outside lamp three times.
Near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
Thursday 31st December 1931
02:30
"You know, I finally think I understand what's going on here."
It had taken an inordinate amount of time for Yuya and Noburu to explain to the couple what had been going on. Both boys were still confused about how they had apparently missed all the white and black suits running around, receiving nothing more than broken sobs about birthday presents and something called Masumi. So the idea they had made enough progress with at least one of them to get an understanding as to what was going on was a great positive to them.
"This train is now like The Romance of The Three Kings" Rin declared wisely.
Yuya and Noburu in return looked at her like she was nuts.
"R-Romance?" Noburu couldn't get his head around where that idea had come from "This reminds you of a romance?"
There was a long pause, with only the sound of the train clattering in the background disrupting the air between them.
"I don't know what that is" Yuya finally admitted.
Rin straightened her back and thoughtfully raise a finger, as if she thought she was about to make an important point. Yuya could've sworn vaguely oriental music started playing from somewhere.
"It is a piece of ancient historical Chinese fiction" she declared "It tells the story of three great warriors who divide their land in a feud."
She stopped for no discernible reason, the mysterious music stopping also.
Everyone leant in a little closer to her, urging her to continue.
"And?" Yuya tried to press her on.
"Their names were Sau Sau, Lao Be and Hoku Si" she finally continued, the mysterious music from nowhere starting back up again; Noburu was now looking around for it, vaguely perturbed.
"And in ancient works of art, they were often represented by the snake, slug and frog" Yugo added, pretending like he was putting on a pair of glasses and reading a book.
"Which one got the slug?" Yuya couldn't help but ask.
In response, Rin jumped to her feet, pointing at Yuya so severely she almost stabbed him in the eye with her fingernail. "Yuya! You must become Billy the Kid!"
Not missing a beat, Yugo almost jumped to his feet and pointed at Yuya. "Be him!"
The vaguely oriental music was still going on in the background. Noburu half expected it to change to being a western now.
"Be someone that legendary?" Yuya questioned.
"Yes!" Rin declared "You can do it!"
"You can do it!" Yugo mimicked her.
"Well…I was planning on saving all the passengers by taking care of those guys in the black suits and Polyma's goons" Yuya admitted "But I'm honestly not that great of a person myself. All I do is bootleg liquor and yesterday I ended up killing three people."
It was actually two days ago now, but since Yuya was without a watch and the freight hold without a clock we can forgive him for this mistake.
"Killing?!" Both members of the couple reared back away from him, eyes practical falling out of their heads. The oriental music skidded to a crashing halt.
"No" Noburu put an end to that line of thought immediately "We're the ones who killed them. Yuya didn't do anything."
"What's the difference?" Yuya very almost scowled "It happened. The Fusers got eight of our friends, killed them."
"KILLED THEM?!" If it was possible for Rin and Yugo to real further back, they somehow achieved it.
"It went and got me so mad, that I went and knocked over eighteen of the Fuser's speak-os" Yuya admitted "And when the Kurosakis stepped in to demand their share of the profits, I set fire to their building!"
"Eighteen robberies, and an arson?!" Yugo questioned.
"That must have taken all month!" Rin commented.
"NO! I did it in one night!" Yuya jumped to his feet and practically yelled it in their faces.
"ONE NIGHT?!"
"Yuya was angrier than I'd ever seen him before" Noburu confirmed the story "Which means he cried a whole lot more too."
"I avenged my friends but all I did was just make it worse" Yuya sank back down to the floor in defeat "When the cops went to arrest the Kurosakis with the evidence they found in their building, two of them got killed. And then those three guys who came to get me, they died too." He sagged in on himself. "A guy like me just can't be a great hero."
Yugo suddenly sprung forward, grabbing Yuya's collar in one hand and ruffling his hair roughly with the other.
"Hey!" he declared with a smile "Don't let life get you down, partner!"
"Yeah!" Rin added, the music now returning and taking a turn for the adventurous, apparently satisfying Noburu's wish for more of a western beat "In The Romance of the Three Kings, Sau Sau and Billy the Kid slaughtered thousands, millions, trillions of people! That didn't stop people from thinking they were great guys, which means that they could only have been great guys!"
There was a long pause, where no one spoke again, the music cutting off abruptly again.
"So you've got to live in the moment!" Yugo finally decided upon.
"Right!" Rin agreed.
The pair linked hands began to move their arms in a wave, the mysterious music now turning Hawaiian.
"We believe in you Yuya!" Rin continued her thought "And that wave of positive thoughts will be enough for you to surf over all of your negative troubles!"
"Don't miss the wave, Yuya!" Yugo cheered "Go with the flow! All you need to make those waves is for just one person to think you're great! And you've got two!"
"We know you're great, Yuya!" Rin kept the lively atmosphere going "We're making waves for you!"
Yugo then moved his arm so she spun into his arms like they were ballroom dancing.
"Ok?" they both looked at him and spoke in unison.
Yuya paused as the music also paused, then broke into a smile. "Thanks you two."
They then leapt out of each other's arms and moved to the door, raising their arms and waving at him in unison now.
"Bye" they echoed each other.
"Where are you going?" Yuya questioned "It's safer for you in here."
"My friend, we are going to hunt down the Rail Tracer" Rin told him.
"We're going to ask it very nicely to get off the train" Yugo added.
"And if that doesn't work?" Yuya winced slightly at the idea.
They both moved in unison to shoot him a thumbs up. "Then we'll tan his hide!"
"And what if that doesn't work?" Yuya asked.
They now both just looked confused. Twin looks of identical befuddlement.
Then they just gave him the thumbs up again with a hearty grin. "Then we're run away and hide!"
Yuya just slumped in recognition of the fact his words clearly weren't making an ounce of difference.
"That monster's very dangerous" Noburu decided to try now "Be careful."
"Don't worry! If things get ugly-" Yugo turned his hands into finger guns and pretended to fire them. The music started up again, gunshots echoing in the air before a distinctly old western song started playing, a little horse whinny in the background for good measure. Yugo pretended to blow out his finger guns. "I'll use my trusty hundred guns!"
The fact he was dressed up as a cowboy seemed to have gotten to him, as he certainly wasn't carrying any guns. Yuya and Noburu weren't entirely sure how quasi-real gunshot sounds were going to work against a mythical monster.
"But you don't have any guns" Yuya tried to get them to see reason, even as Rin was now mimicking the finger guns.
The pair just whistled in amazement, but only god knew what the heck that meant.
"Well how about that" Yugo shrugged, playing with the rim of his cowboy hat "But a grizzled old ranch hand told me once: 'Know why a real cowboy keeps his gun, son? In his heart'!"
With that the pair of them pointed their finger guns at their hearts, the mysterious gunshots echoing in the air again.
Noburu wonder idly if that was kind of dangerous. Anything seemed possible with these two.
"Try not to die, ok?" Rin asked, opening the door so they could side-step out of it in unison.
Both raised their hands again to waved goodbye. "Bye!"
The door slammed shut in Yuya and Noburu's faces.
"Well I'm not sure if either of them are playing with a full deck" Yuya admitted "But I have to admit, those two have got way more guts than I do." He turned to Noburu "Noburu, we can't let them show us up. So why don't we become the biggest, baddest guys on this train?!"
Noburu stared at him, then relaxed into a smile a bit. "Yeah, sounds like that could be fun."