Part II
Ryo and Umibozu were drinking together like any other night in the past. Unlike Umibozu, Ryo always drinks to his fullest. When he is drunk, he talks his heart out. It's as if he doesn't stay in his senses. Umibozu always listens patiently what this drunk, pauper man has to say. But tonight seemed a bit different, Umibozu was trying to tell something to Ryo. He couldn't muster his courage to bring out the matter until Ryo finally spoke of Kaori like any other night. When he gets drunk, he is an open man. He can't hide his heart from the once-rival, now-friend Umibozu. He never even tries to do so, because this person knows him better than all the persons he is linked with now. Old Doc, Miki, Reika and Nogami. They all know him well, but this man, he knows him better than all others. It's because he was once his rival. He too was an assassin like Saeba Ryo himself, who would kill for money, but its history now. Umibozu and Ryo, now have a friendship that no one can understand. They foul-mouth each other, but in time of need, can even offer their lives for each other. It was Umibozu who first came to know about Kaori. One night like this, when it was raining heavily, Ryo had told him that he liked Kaori. Umibozu initially paid no attention thinking that to be another perverted activity of Ryo. Pervert as he was, one could hardly think that a person like him can commit to a relationship, to a person, above all, to a girl like Kaori who keeps beating the shit out of him! But soon enough, he understood that Ryo really liked Kaori, and he had no bad intention towards her. Umibozu had a soft corner for Kaori knowing that she is an orphan, but after knowing that Ryo was there for her, he was assured that no harm would come towards her. Tonight when Ryo was talking about Kaori, Umibozu felt for the first time in his life, tears falling from the soft eyes of Ryo and his voice was damp with a stored up pain. Never even in his dreams, could Umibozu even think of Ryo crying over anything. He knew him too well for that, and in some areas of life, even envied him. Ryo didn't know about his parents. They died in a plane crash while travelling. Ryo was travelling with them too, in fact he was the sole survivor of the crash. Ryo had seen too many deaths since his childhood. After the crash, he wandered off in the jungle as an orphan, not knowing what to do, what to eat, where to sleep. He was taken in by some tribal guerillas who were having a revolution with the president then. Ryo was forced to go through rigorous training to improve his reflexes and was versed in all kinds of fire arms known to man by them. In fact even Umibozu lacked in reflexes compared to Ryo. There was only one drawback in Ryo's character. His pervertedness and his lecherous activity. One could hardly imagine an astounding person like Ryo to be so irritatingly a pervert! But Umibozu liked him still for he had a pure heart. It caused him great pain tonight sensing him crying for Kaori. He understood his pain all too well and wanted to help him, but he remembered their previous conversation with Saeko and restrained himself to be blown away by emotions. He knows well that if the topic of the conversation leaks here in a careless mind, that person sitting on the chair and drinking to his heart's content being driven by melancholy, can bring a wrath upon the whole of Shinjuku! He would have to be very careful. The whole of Shinjuku is at stake here, one wrong move and he can't secure even his own life against the incidents that will follow after it! "Damn it!" thought Umibozu, "I can't even find a way to start the topic."
"Where are you Ryo?" thought she, "I want to see you again, feel your touch again, above all, hold You again. Where are you?". As she thought all this, there were numerous police inspectors surrounding him. It was like as if she knew this fact and so she blushed deeply.
In the dead of the night, Umibozu was in a mental trauma regarding where to start the conversation from. Ryo was now a completely drunk man, out of his senses. All he spoke of, was about Kaori. How he met her for the first time. How he fell for her simplicity and straight forwardedness. Umibozu got a point to start the conversation "Why don't you forget the past and move on, Ryo? Its been more than a year since that fateful night when Kaori san died saving someone. Move on and save yourself from this depression that is killing you in each and every moment of your life since then. Kaori san would want this too, I'm sure about it, Trust me." Umibozu turned around as he was talking, and what he felt was enough for his legs to shake. Ryo's aura had suddenly changed, it suddenly seemed that he is a completely different man, and the voice he spoke in, further sealed his doubts. His voice was strong, Umibozu couldn't find a bit of remorse, sadness, or grief in that voice. Ryo spoke in a monotonous stone-cold tone that Umibozu didn't hear from him since the last year, "Hayato Ijuin, stay in your limits! Don't ever …. I repeat, EVER, try to come between me and Kaori! I know she will come back! She can't die. She just can't die leaving me alone, and when she comes back, I am gonna interrogate her and find out the man who attempted to kill her and when I do that, he is finished. His fate is doomed. I still don't believe that the corpse I saw back then was of Kaori. It can't be! She has to be alive." Umibozu remembered for the first time after so many years that his name is Hayato Ijuin, this 'Umibozu' name was given to him by Ryo after they had declared a mutual truce between them. "What a profound man Ryo was! He and his .357 Colt Python were a perfect match, and now look at him, merely a shadow of his former self! Damn this thing called Love! It has made both of us incapacitated. We both are now completely defenseless." Thought Umibozu. Still he had to keep this conversation going, so he resumed from where Ryo ended "And what do you think You would do if you ever get him?" With this Question the atmosphere of the room suddenly seemed to have changed, Ryo's aura suddenly turned to that of vengeance. Although Umibozu was blind now, still he could strongly feel the aura of vengeance and hatred that emanated from the man in front of him, but his voice didn't change even a bit. He said in a cold manner which was characteristic of him "Kill him of course. The worst death that any person have got. He just doesn't know who he's messed up with. She was my…." Ryo couldn't complete the sentence, Umibozu stopped him midway, "So why didn't you ever ask Saeko about it? You know, she is a cop, so maybe she knows some information as to the whereabouts of this particular person! Why didn't you give a thought about that?" As this conversation was rapidly drawing to its end, Ryo and Umibozu both became aware of a suspicious identity strolling around the café amidst the night. In spite of being drunk like a pig, Ryo as usual, was steady as hell with his favourite Colt Python. Without wasting a single moment, he nonchalantly fired sitting on the chair itself. Accurate as he was, one could hardly believe that he could miss a single target! And he hit this time too. There was a loud groan heard outside showing that Ryo had succeeded in his attempt. Umibozu, as usual, was as cool as ever, but he could sense that there was a change in Ryo's behavior. He wasn't the man drowned in sorrow and disdain, instead he seemed very much alive suddenly. Its as if he had remembered something that he had forgotten long back. He stood up, waved Good Bye to Umibozu and rushed from the café in the middle of the night. As Umibozu was about to close the counter, he could sense a familiar aura behind him. "So you are awake Miki san? I guess the sound of that idiot's gun must have woke you up from your sleep, isn't it?", he said without looking back. His wife answered in an anxious tone "Yes Falcon, I am awake but where is he headed to at the middle of this night? And what about the sudden change in his behavior? Moreover, how did the conversation go between the two of you? Is he ok? Did you tell him about her?" Umibozu answered in the cold tone as ever "Yes, I did, only that much which he needs to know for the present moment. As to where he is headed now, I have a hunch that he is headed towards Saeko's apartment"
