Hyouka – The AfterStory
Project Collaboration by Commander Cody & Maria
EPISODE 06
Eru, Houtarou, Satoshi, and Mayaka arrived at the Hayashi residence. The house, two stories in height, stood on level ground. The house was modest in size, and was in the style of many buildings built back in the old days, resembling the houses built back in the days of the Meiji era. The house had black, shingled roofing, and had a roofed entrance, supported by two columns.
By his body language, Houtarou told the four that he would take the initiative in seeking entrance. An elaborate wooden stick inscribed with kanji characters, presumably the name of either the owner of the house, stood attached to the wall near the door. Houtarou observed these kanji characters; it carried the family name of Hayashi.
"Ano…Houtarou-kun, what shall we do if this Hayashi-san offers us refreshments?" asked Eru. She was not naïve about Hayashi; but she was afraid of deviating from her habit of observing proper protocol in the presence of hosts and visitors.
"Hai," Satoshi agreed with Eru. "He might have something up his sleeve, Houtarou."
Houtarou took a deep breath; more of a way to prepare himself than a sigh. "We'll observe good manners by accepting his refreshments, but we shall not taste them," he said. "If he does press the matter, we'll tell them we'll be fine…before we cut to business."
"Hai," Eru agreed, relieved to have advice from Houtarou on which to follow.
He pulled the cord to ring a bell, and upon letting the cord spring out of his hands, awaited the answer of either the house owner or a servant. Seconds later, a young man appeared.
"Ano…is this the house of Hayashi-san?" Houtarou inquired.
At first, the young man said nothing, before replying, "Hai."
"We are here on behalf of one of Prefecture's influential landowners, Chitanda Tetsugo-san," said Houtarou.
"Chitanda-san…" the young man uttered. "Ah," he said, upon stumbling upon the fact that the name seemed to ring a bell. "What did he send you for?"
Houtarou had to make up a reason that was at least close to the truth. "It's…related to business," he said. "We have questions about the rice."
"Your name?" asked the young man.
"Oreki Houtarou desu," he stated simply.
The young man did nothing for a moment. Then he stepped aside, inviting the four into the house. The four stepped inside.
Strange, thought Houtarou. He never bothered to ask the rest of us who we were. He thinks I'm the leader of this group.
The interior of the house was modest, and buitt in the style of most traditional houses. Judging by the size of the interior, the house looked smaller in size compared to the Chitanda house. The ceiling was arranged in squares, and the floor was made entirely of polished wood, covered with tatami mats.
Standing on the tatami mats was a large rectangular kotatsu, slightly higher as to resemble more of a western coffee table; a feature unusual to the young men and women present. At each length of the kotatsu stood two rows of Japanese-style sofas, those sofas with long seats and relatively low but plushy backrests. Houtarou, Satoshi, and Mayaka could hardly recall Eru's house having these kinds of sofas. Much of the time Eru and her family sat at a kotatsu in seiza position, or simply sat at table in the Western way.
At the left side of the room stood a large painting of a cherry blossom tree, which, of course, Eru found enchanting, were it not for her fear of encountering this mystery fellow behind the poisonings.
"The place looks friendly, but don't let your guard down," Houtarou warned everyone in the room. Eru's fear came back again, making her see the house as unwelcome to her.
A gentleman in his elderly years, yet still relatively fit, emerged from the hall, much older than the four. Past his prime, he seemed to have gained more weight. The four young men and women immediately bowed to the gentleman. "Konnichiwa," they greeted him.
"Hajimemashite," the gentleman grunted in a casual way with a wave of his hand. He did not seem enthusiastic about greeting them, which made the four, particularly Eru and Mayaka, seem alarmed.
"He does not even take the time to greet all of us individually," a nervous Eru confided to Mayaka in a low tone of voice. "It's…bad manners."
"That man is probably rude, as I can tell," Mayaka huffed.
"Watashi wa HayashiHideki desu," Hayashi said, introducing himself in a very deep voice. "Please…sit," he commanded, pointing to the other row of sofas at the other side of the kotatsu, opposite of where he would sit.
The four young men and women took their seats promptly upon command. The seating arrangement was a bit unusual for Houtarou, Satoshi, Mayaka, and Eru, as they are used to sitting on tatami mats in seiza position.
"I'm an old man," grunted Hayashi in a blunt manner. "Sitting on the floor…has been difficult…for me. The sofas will do fine."
"I've never seen such elaborate, comfortable sofas," Satoshi whispered to Houtarou. "Hayashi-san seems to have been living a life of too much ease."
A serving woman in a kimono emerged from the kitchen with refreshments in the form of green tea. Upon being offered tea, the four took the tea and their corresponding teacups, before the serving woman left the living room.
"So…what can I do for you?" Hayashi posed the question as a matter of courtesy.
Houtarou was hesitant to cut to the chase; he wanted to put Hayashi at ease that he could induce him to let down his guard. "We are here on behalf of Chitanda-san," he said. "Our affair concerns problems were having with the rice."
"What sort of problems?" Hayashi inquired.
"Chitanda-san's supply of rice was tainted," said Houtarou.
"Meaning that it was poisoned," added Satoshi.
"Hmm…" Hayashi mused. "I wonder why Chitanda-san couldn't just stop by himself." Being a bit of perceptive man, he noticed that even any of the four refrained from sipping the tea.
"The tea is not prepared for your liking?" asked Hayashi.
"We're waiting for it to cool," said Satoshi. Houtarou felt relieved he didn't have to say anything, and he almost took Hayashi's off-topic remark about the tea as a diversionary tactic. Houtarou himself would not be distracted.
"He…Chitanda-san…is busy doing damage control…because someone tried to poison the rice supply," the young man said. "We've done some investigation…and we think it's you."
At Houtarou's direct accusation Hayashi brought his face to focus on the young man; narrowing his eyes with a laser-like focus just as intimidating as a tiger staring at its prey. Eru and Mayaka became frightened at this sight, afraid of what Hayashi would do next.
"I'm not Chitanda-san's direct supplier," Hayashi spoke out with confident retort. "And if you have come to insult me, I'll tell him later that he should be more careful whom he deals business with," The large man retorted with great calm that put a chill into his guests. "Making enemies with business partners…not a good habit…Oreki-san."
Houtarou pretended to remain unfazed. "I could bring up that matter to the prefectural police," he said. "It would seem pretty interesting for them to look at."
Hayashi recoiled like a cornered animal as Houtarou cast a hard, steely glance at him. It was a threat made in the veneer of courtesy, which a young man had dared to carry out to an elder man. The others knew about the accusations leveled against Hayashi. Having the police involved in investigating him was the last thing he wanted.
The young ladies, but Eru, though cross with him, were struggling to contain her fright. Houtarou remained calm, and Satoshi was trying to calm the ladies.
Hayashi seemed to have little choice but to resign himself in cooperating with Houtarou.
"All right," he was forced to admit out of great fear for his own skin. "I was involved. Demo…the plan was to bring down the Chitanda family…not kill them."
"Demo…the food poisoning…it almost killed me!" cried Eru, horrified over Hayashi's indifference over the young woman's near-death experience.
"If it was…it was someone else's doing!" Hayashi was quick to protest. "The man under my employ…deviated from my orders!"
"Who then?" asked Houtarou.
"Shimizu Ibuki-san!" Hayashi answered quickly. "Someone else wanted to inflict the Chitanda family with food poisoning."
"Tell us more about him," demanded Houtarou.
"He was a low-level bookkeeper and finance specialist," said Hayashi.
"Is he connected with the Yakuza?" Satoshi piped up right away.
Hayashi made an audible grunt. "The Yakuza…"
"I believe Kaho-san mentioned that," said Eru.
"Who?" Hayashi asked with curious mien.
"A friend of ours," said Mayaka. "She works at the Arekusu Shrine. She mentioned that name and we presumed he worked there, too."
Hayashi slumped on his couch. "I never heard back from Shimizu-san when I issued orders to sabotage the rice supply. If he went there…"
Houtarou sensed that Hayashi was dodging questions. The young man decided to be more direct this time.
"Did you know of Shimizu-san's ties to the Yakuza when you employed him?" asked Houtarou.
Hayashi was cornered now. There was nowhere to beat around the bush. His livelihood hung on the balance.
"He did have ties," Hayashi admitted.
Satoshi was pretty intrigued, as this seemed too strange and frightening to believe. "Did he have a tattoo?" he asked.
Hayashi made a nod of acknowledgement. Satoshi looked at the others in surprise. Even that mentioned frightened the young ladies. Mayaka could hardly understand why Satoshi seemed so intrigued by that. But their suspicions were now confirmed.
"Demo…an educated man like that…why would he have done that?" a confused Eru asked. It was within reason for her to make that inquiry because attaining some kind of university degree in a business field in preparation for any kind of gainful employment took a lot of work. A man like that would not just simply throw away his career in a respectable place of employment.
"But if he was a business specialist…how did he come to know anything about poisons?"
"It…doesn't take much expertise," said Hayashi. "He must have bought ingredients from the black market and was given a procedure on how to concoct it."
"Hayashi-san…you knew about Shimizu's ties to the Yakuza. Why did you keep him?" asked Houtarou.
"Because I figured that of the many people at Kamiyama, he would have little trouble carrying out my orders."
"As I said; unscrupulous," Satoshi concluded. That man named Shimizu would have been quite the accomplice for someone like Hayashi.
"But I suspected that the local Yakuza had another plan in mind: deprive the Chitanda family of their only heir," Hayashi elaborated. "Take the daughter out of commission…and the Chitanda family would be deprived of their only child who could carry on the family legacy."
Something dawned on Houtarou's mind. "We paid a visit to Nakahama Industries," he said. "The plant manager, Ogawa-san, received reports about tainted white rice. Would Shimizu-san have had an accomplice within the company?"
Hayashi heaved a sigh. "As to that, I don't know," he said. "Though it would be reasonable to consider that. Shimizu had ties to the Yakuza; he could have had someone under his employ to tamper with rice shipments."
Interesting, thought Houtarou. Chitanda-san's investigator Sunohara-san is working on that. His mind debated again. Maybe the information I brought up to Chitanda-san could coincide with what Hayashi-san is saying.
"Chotto matte…" Eru pleaded in desperation.
Houtarou and Satoshi looked at Eru. Eru was speaking to an elder in an informal manner, but she was still in fright, and she had something urgent to say.
"Kaho-san said Shimizu-san was a business specialist," said Eru. "How would he know…about poisoning?"
Satoshi scratched his head. "That's a curious question," he remarked. "Maybe he asked someone."
This revelation put poor Eru in fright. Someone tried to make an attempt on her life. Mayaka becomes frightened, too.
"Ano…" Satoshi began to interject. "You wouldn't happen to know of Sekitani Satoshi, would you? I had been aware that you were part of the Kempeitei."
Hayashi made an audible grunt that seemed to tell the others that he knew about him sometime, and that there was more to than just simply knowing his name.
"We once visited the house of Sekitani Satoshi," said Hayashi. "As he was the head of his household…we placed him under arrest."
At this, Eru became startled. "Was…was it reasons related to un-patriotism and un-cooperation?"
"Hai…"
Eru became downcast. The history was true, and she was now face-to-face with a man who was a former member of that brutal police force.
"Much of the time, we simply arrested anyone…for anything," Hayashi added. "We booked suspects. There were records of someone by the name of…Sekitani Satoshi."
"It…it all sounds pretty strange to believe," said Satoshi.
Hayashi sighed. "Come with me," he said simply, as he got up from the seat with a lot of effort. He led the four through a hall, sliding a door leading downstairs. Houtarou exchanged glances with Eru, Mayaka, and Satoshi, as if to warn them to be on their guard, lest they become trapped in any of Hayashi's schemes.
He led the four to a basement room; a room filled with many articles of clothing, uniforms, some certain medals for some accomplishment he performed during the Second World War; perhaps nothing significant. There at the center of the room stood a hand-crafted wooden chest, resembling a great treasure chest one could come across as part of a furnishing dating back to the Meiji period. He has not opened this wooden chest in years. Hayashi unbolted the lock and opened the lid. Inside, over whatever lay inside of the chest, lay his Kempetei uniform.
"I had some sentimental value over this uniform," Hayashi said to himself. "But I did not want to make a prominent display of it."
"Why not?" asked Houtarou.
"The repercussions against my family would have been bad," said Hayashi.
"Figures," said Satoshi. "Hardly a surprise at a time when the Japanese people are trying to forget all the terrible things done during the Second World War. But you seem to have been attached to this uniform."
Satoshi looked around the room, observing some of the knickknacks Hayashi accumulated during his war career. Given the notoriety of the Kempeitei, it seemed Hayashi hardly had any qualms about what he did to suffering people during the war. "It's little wonder you are so unscrupulous with your business dealings," he remarked.
"To tell you the truth…there were some things I felt I was not proud doing…but I did it anyway…because I thought it would save my country," said Hayashi. "Now I am trying to save a business."
"By tearing down one?" challenged a furious Houtarou.
Hayashi took a deep breath. "I was desperate," he said. "My business was failing; Chitanda-san had too much influence on the farmers. If I could but bring him down…just a little…"
"You…you have no shame!" Eru cried. "What did my father do to you?! What could you possibly have against him?!"
There was silence. Eru had a cross face; something she hardly manifested in her behavior.
"Chitanda-san…," Satoshi interjected. "I think Hayashi-san answered your question."
"Do you think it might have been envy?" asked a fearful Eru. The injustice of Hayashi's legacy was too much to take, and Mayaka felt the same thing, except her face was sullen. What if Hayashi harbored resentful feelings against the Chitanda famly?
"Jealousy never crossed my mind," said Hayashi simply. "What it was…involved strategic calculations."
"Hayashi-san may be unscrupulous, but from what we know, he was not directly responsible for sabotaging your family's rice crops," Satoshi said to Eru.
"But intent to harm, and intent to damage property…" said Houtarou.
It all seemed to make sense. For those things Hayashi could be held directly responsible.
"Eru," said Houtarou. "Hayashi-san is cornered now. We can render him blameless of involvement in exchange for two things: compensation for damages and the whereabouts of Shimizu."
"Chotto…I'll think about it," said Hayashi.
Judging by the look on Hayashi's face, Hayashi was trying to decline the offer…in a polite way. Or at least that was what Houtarou was thinking. But too much is at stake for the Chitanda family; the rice crops, and Eru's life. Houtarou became filled with righteous anger; he would not take "No" for an answer; much less a "No" conveyed in a polite way.
"Then you will face charges!" Houtarou scolded him, with great finality.
"That's curious," Satoshi whispered to Mayaka. "Why would Hayashi-san refuse such an offer?"
But the young women became amazed and afraid. For them, it was the first time that Houtarou had dared to confront a person much older than he was.
"In exchange for information on Shimizu, we will keep the matter under wraps…unless Chitanda-san asks about it," said Houtarou.
"Eru…What do you think?" asked Houtarou
"Ano…" said a nervous Eru at a loss for words.
"Eru…Hayashi-san…has nowhere to run," said Houtarou. "He is willing to cooperate with us."
"He has to cooperate, anyway, since he seems more interested in saving his own skin," Satoshi remarked.
Eru was still overwhelmed. "I'll have to take it up with my father…"
"Just agree with it for now…while we still have that Hayashi-san on a leash," Houtarou commanded Eru with great urgency. Under pressure, Eru made a nod.
"She agrees," said Houtarou, having to spell it out lest Hayashi misunderstood.
"So…Hayashi-san…where is Shimizu-san?"
"Ano…from what trails Shimizu-san had left in his paperwork…he seemed to have business with Arekusu Shrine."
"Arekusu Shrine…that's Juumonji Kaho-san's Shrine!" cried Eru.
"Business…hmm…" Satoshi mused. "Sounds like nefarious activity to me."
"What kind of 'business'?" Houtarou interrogated him rudely.
"I don't know!" cried Hayashi. "Who knows?! Maybe it has something to do murder!"
"Murder? That's impossible!" cried Mayaka. "It makes no sense! Why would a businessman want to do that kind of thing?! He'd get sent away…"
"I'm not sure!" cried a panicky Hayashi again. "If not murder…maybe he'd be up to some kind of activity requiring a little more…financial finesse. If he works for the Yakuza…perhaps the Yakuza are after some kind of activity involving money laundering. Or something related to stealing financial records. Or stealing customer records! Anything related to siphoning funds from another business! Who knows?! Whatever he's doing…Shimizu-san was promised a huge bonus by the Yakuza if he succeeded!"
"When?!" Houtarou raged. Hayashi mentions the current date. Urgently, Houtarou asks Eru to contact Juumonji Kaho, to tell her about an attempted plot.
"Eru…go with Satoshi and Mayaka to the Arekusu Shrine. Satoshi…you have a phone. Contact the prefectural police. Inform them there is a suspected plot to sabotage the Shrine. Tell them to look for a man named Shimizu."
"Shimizu Ibuki-san," said Hayashi.
"…Shimizu Ibuku-san," Houtarou added.
"Hai," Satoshi acknowledged right away. He, Mayaka, and Eru left the house.
Then Houtarou faced Hayashi, as if ready to take him on in a game of negotiation. "Now," the young man challenged the older man. "Let's start talking."
Satoshi, Mayaka, and Eru reach the Arekusu Shrine, with everything in panic. The administration building, standing at the side of the shrine, was cordoned off by the prefectural police in their blue-collared uniforms and black vests, alongside marked cop cars with their red lights flashing. The prefectural police had responded, after all, but there was no way to know for sure whether Shimizu was caught.
Satoshi observed the building, and judging by the way it looked, it looked like a building for administration. Affairs related to business were conducted in that building.
The three approached the building. A policeman held up his hand.
"Ano…we're with Juumonji-san," Satoshi said right away.
"Hai," Eru added right away. "My friend is inside, too."
The policeman studied the three for a bit. He moved out of the way, motioning them inside.
The inside of the Shrine's office was rife with a flurry of panic as anxious visitors and personnel crowded around, waiting to hear the latest news about the incident. The three had to weave their way through.
Eru found Kaho in the lobby, stunned, yet for some reason managed to keep still. "Kaho-san, daijoubu desu ka?" Eru asked in great urgency.
Kaho was stunned. "Chotto…everything's in a panic now," she said in trembling voice. Usually she was calm, at least on the outside.
Eru looked around, anxious over what was going on in the lobby"Your father," she said. "He seems to be all right."
"He may be a little nauseous in the head," said Kaho. "But he can still get up. He took some persuading, though. When Fukube-san mentioned that man named Shimizu and his involvement in the plot, he started contacting the police, too."
He became completely startled the moment he heard about a plot against Arekusu Shrine. But he became surprised that the police started sweeping the Shrine."
Meanwhile, Satoshi approached Kaho's father. After conveying the traditional greeting, he got down to business.
"Juumonji -san, we had word that your shrine was about to be compromised," said Satoshi.
Kaho's father was troubled, and his face reflected it. "Hai," he affirmed in a gruff voice. "As it turns out, we had a lot of funds siphoned out of the business account. But what is worse…our donors had their private information compromised." He shook his head in despair. "I'm going to have a lot of words with the shrine's donors. The sooner I exercise damage control, the better."
"Juumonji-san…did you have anyone working in the shrine named Shimizu-san?" Satoshi inquired the man.
"I heard about the name," said Kaho's father. "It turned out he escaped again. I gave whatever details I could to the prefectural police. Shimizu-san will run…but they know about him now."
Satoshi made a glum face…
"Demo…Fukube-san…it would have been a lot worse if you had not warned us," said Kaho's father. The three looked at him, for even Kaho's father still could put affairs in perspective. "I think the moment we were warned, we started making inquiries to our employees. Shimizu -san by that point was alerted to what was going on…and that made him bolt. If we had not had much warning, the entire account would have been squeezed dry."
"Oh…well, it was nothing," said a nervous Satoshi.
"Don't say it was nothing!" Kaho's father cried out him in a stern manner. More than ever, he became quite passionate about giving credit where credit was due, especially if the services rendered made a huge difference in his life. "We would have been completely broke if it were not for us being alert."
But Satoshi felt a little guilty about being proclaimed as the one who came up with the conclusions on his own. Eru and Mayaka were involved, and Houtarou was leading the group. "Besides…Mayaka, Chitanda-san and Houtarou was involved, not just me," he added.
"Ah," said Kaho's father, seeing that Satoshi wanted to give credit where credit was due. "Houtarou? You mean…Oreki Houtarou-san? Where is he?"
"On business," said Satoshi, leaving the answer intentionally vague.
"Sou desu ne," said Kaho's father. "Well, please accept my gratitude and convey mine to Oreki-san. I must go now to address donor concerns." And with a bow, he took leave of the three as the group bowed in turn.
Satoshi pulled out his phone. He looked up Houtarou's number, and then dialed it.
Houtarou remained in the living room with Hayashi. So far, nothing else had happened, other than for Hayashi remaining still where he was, never budging even an inch from the sofa where he sat during the entire interrogation.
Suddenly, Houtarou's mobile phone began to ring. From his caller ID, he was able to identify who was calling at this hour.
"Satoshi?" he asked.
"Houtarou…I talked with Juumonji-san," said Satoshi over the phone. "Hayashi-san was right, after all. The shrine had someone working for them, after all. Shimizu."
Houtarou was relieved that at least Hayashi had kept his word about the whereabouts of this mystery man. "Have the police caught him?"
"Not from what Juumonji -san told me," said Satoshi. "But Arekusu Shrine was hit hard. Juumonji-san had funds siphoned out of his business account, and the financial records of the Shrine's donors was stolen."
Houtarou jumped in shock. "That's serious…"
"Not all funds were siphoned, though," Satoshi was quick to add. "But still…how is Hayashi-san?"
"He's willing to cooperate," said Houtarou.
"Cooperate? That's good news. Are you going to tell Chitanda-san what went on? He'll want some answers."
Houtarou felt stumped over this suggestion. If he left out key information to Eru's father, there would be such deep rift between him and the Chitanda family capable of separating him from them forever, which he desperately wanted to avoid. He suspected that Eru's father would be deeply unhappy that he kept crucial information from him. He would have some explaining to do.
"I'll get to it," said Houtarou. "Arigatou."
"Take care, Houtarou. And by the way…Juumonji-san conveys his gratitude to you."
Houtarou heard a click on his phone, followed by a dial tone. Houtarou dialed a number, with great trepidation. . He would contact Eru's father.
"Ano…Chitanda-san…we found the culprit."
END OF EPISODE
NOTES:
The Kempeitei: Paramilitary branch in the Imperial Japanese Army, responsible for order in the civilian realm. (See Wikipedia for more info: wiki/Kempeitai)
For Hayashi's recollection of his career in the Kempeitei in a brutal confrontation with Sekitani Jun's family, I used a reference from Letters from Iwo Jima. An officer, formerly in the Kempeitei, had to deal harshly with a family who kept a barking dog. The officer allowed the family to keep the dog, on the condition that the family prevent the dog from barking. When the dog barked, however, the other Kempeitei officer barged into the house and shot the dog without a second thought.
Japanese Naming Convention:
Surname: Given Name:
Hayashi Hideki
Shimizu Ibuki
Western Naming Convention:
Given Name: Surname:
Hideki Hayashi
Ibuki Shimizu
Vocabulary Translations from the Japanese Language:
Hai - Yes
Iie - No
Ano... - Umm... (Filler Word)