Silent Parade

50

She hung the noren curtain over the front door and flipped the wooden sign over from CLOSED to OPEN. Natsumi felt that she had accomplished something meaningful.

She heard a woman’s voice behind her. “Ah, so you’re reopening, then?” When she turned around, she saw the woman from the local tofu shop. She was on the plump side and her dark-purple cardigan was clearly rather a tight fit.

“We are, yes. I hope you’ll come in for a meal.”

“Best of luck. I’m rooting for you.” The lady smiled warmly. “I’ll drop in very soon. Promise.”

“Thank you very much. Look forward to seeing you.” Natsumi clasped her hands at her waist and bobbed her head politely.

“See you later,” the woman said and went on her way. Watching her waddle off, Natsumi let out sigh of relief.

Namiki-ya had been closed for a long time because of the frequency with which Yutaro was being summoned to the police station for questioning. It got to the point that the family started worrying about having to shut down for good. The restaurant could hardly keep going if the owner was arrested and sent to jail.

The police were questioning Yutaro in connection with two crimes: acting as an accomplice and conspiracy to murder. He ended up not being charged with the former, as he couldn’t be expected to have foreseen what Niikura ended up doing. That left conspiracy to murder.

The facts were these: Yutaro has asked Tojima to procure and put in place the liquid nitrogen, which was used in Hasunuma’s murder. His plan had been to use the liquid nitrogen to frighten Hasunuma. He hadn’t made a final decision on whether or not to kill him. He intended to make that decision only after hearing what Hasunuma had to say.

The problem was, would anyone accept such a rationalization? The police thought that Namiki had made up his mind in advance that Hasunuma had murdered Saori; he simply wanted to get him to admit his guilt before he went on to kill him.

When the detective responsible for interviewing him pressed him on this issue, Yutaro had the following to say.

“I can see why you might see it like that. The truth is, though, that when I asked Shusaku to get me the liquid nitrogen, I hadn’t yet made up my mind. I never really felt that I would be capable of committing a dreadful act like murder... At the same time, I thought I might suddenly feel the compulsion to kill him when that monster... that Hasunuma told me how he killed Saori.”

Whatever anyone else might think about his explanation, Natsumi, at least, was convinced that her father wasn’t lying. At bottom, he was mild-mannered, even timid. She knew that he was mortified at his own spinelessness, when he’d failed to grab a knife and launch himself at his daughter’s murderer when the man had been right there in front of him.

The detective interviewing Namiki seemed to have formed the same impression. Ultimately, the police decided not to charge him with conspiracy to commit murder. And that was how the restaurant was able to open up again for the first time in a while.

If the rumors were to be believed, Tojima wasn’t going to be charged with anything serious, either. At the end of the day, he had only tried to help Yutaro Namiki; he hadn’t procured the liquid nitrogen for Naoki Niikura. His use of the helium tank to create a false alibi remained problematic. Since, however, he had done so without knowing what had really happened, the police expected this issue to settle down with no legal sanctions.

Tojima would probably show up at some point, when word reached him that Namiki-ya had reopened. He’d probably carry on as if nothing had happened. Natsumi looked forward to seeing him being his old generous and openhearted self.

The whole thing had been a dreadful experience.

Following Naoki Niikura’s confession, a series of astonishing revelations had come to light. Natsumi had no idea what had really happened and who was or wasn’t telling the truth.

That was when Yutaro finally decided to tell his wife and daughter the truth. Although her mother seemed to have some knowledge of the plan, she hadn’t been given the full picture.

Natsumi was astonished at the notion of using liquid nitrogen to terrify Hasunuma into telling the truth. She was even more astonished when Yutaro explained all the different tricks that he and his fellow conspirators had deployed. Wow! All that was going on at the same time as the parade, she thought.

That wasn’t how things turned out. The case took off in a new and wholly unexpected direction, which started with the arrest of Rumi Niikura — a person everybody had assumed had nothing to do with the case. When the Niikuras’ statements were made public, Natsumi was astonished. Naoki Niikura confessed to having killed Hasunuma intentionally, motivated by the blackmailing of his wife.

Natsumi found it hard to believe. Rumi Niikura had always struck her as a kind and friendly person. Could she really have killed Saori? Of course, had she not done so, she wouldn’t have been vulnerable to blackmail.

Natsumi was mystified. Like her mother and father, her days were anxious and her nights sleepless. After a certain amount of time, Chief Inspector Kusanagi came to visit them.

“My being here today is a breach of the most basic police regulations. Nonetheless, I felt that forcing you to wait until the trial was over would be just too cruel.”

Kusanagi stressed that they should not share what he was about to tell them with anybody else.

Although Kusanagi’s tone was very matter-of-fact, Natsumi found everything he said astonishing. The fact that Saori intended to abandon her dream of becoming a professional singer was already a major surprise, but when she heard why — because Saori was pregnant with Tomoya Takagaki’s child — Natsumi simply couldn’t believe her ears. Her parents seemed to feel the same; they just kept repeating, “Is that true? Are you sure that’s true?”

Kusanagi always gave the same reply. He didn’t believe that Rumi Niikura was making things up.

Keeping his eyes fixed on his notebook and his voice heavy with suppressed emotion, he outlined what had happened in the park. When he got to the point where the enraged Rumi shoved Saori to the ground, he spoke a little faster as if he wanted to get it over with as quickly as possible.

After dealing with Hasunuma’s blackmailing of Rumi, Kusanagi then switched over to Naoki Niikura’s testimony. He read them the part in which Niikura made up his mind to kill Hasunuma, after Rumi had confessed what she had done to Saori.

“Everything from that point on, we uncovered in our original investigation.” Kusanagi closed his notebook. “Do you have any questions?”

Natsumi couldn’t think of any. She looked at her parents. The sheer volume of unexpected news seemed to have left them unable to think straight.

“There is one more thing that I should mention,” Kusanagi went on, somewhat stiffly. “We got the results from an item of evidence, which we sent for analysis.”

The item in question was the hair slide. Kusanagi explained what the implications would be if blood was — or wasn’t — found on it.

“The bottom line is this,” he went on. “There was no blood on the hair slide. DNA testing of trace amounts of sebaceous matter and skin on the slide has enabled us to confirm that it is definitely the hair slide that Saori was wearing.”

“What does that mean? That Saori lost consciousness when she was pushed to the ground by Rumi Niikura, but that Hasunuma was the one who actually killed her?” Yutaro asked.

“We can’t definitively reach that conclusion,” Kusanagi said, weighing every word with care. “Nonetheless, I would certainly expect her lawyers to present it as a possibility in court.”

Natsumi felt a sense of relief. She had no desire to see Rumi Niikura as an enemy.

“We’ve got to draw a line under this,” Yutaro announced after Kusanagi had left. “We can’t go on agonizing about this forever. We’ll end up going crazy. We should let the police and the prosecutor do their jobs, while we concentrate on getting the restaurant up and running again. Are you both okay with that?”

Machiko nodded her head in silent agreement and Natsumi did the same. Her father was probably right.

I must do my best, she thought, as she remembered that day. She ran her hand down the freshly laundered noren curtain.

She had opened the door and was about to step back into the restaurant, when, out of the corner of her eye, she noticed someone walking hurriedly toward her. She looked up and gave a start.

It was Tomoya Takagaki. How long was it since they had last met?

“Reopening on schedule, I’m glad to see,” Tomoya said, his eye on the noren curtain.

Natsumi had sent him a text the day before to let him know that they were planning to open today. He had texted her back right away. I’m pleased to hear it. Wishing you the best of luck. Natsumi had detected a hint of something standoffish in his language.

“Tomoya... I thought we wouldn’t be seeing you here again.”

Tomoya’s gaze shifted from the noren to Natsumi. “Why?”

“Coming here must awaken so many painful memories...”

Tomoya gave a curt nod and his face darkened.

“You’re right. It will take me years to forget. I’ll always be mulling things over, you know: ‘What if Saori were still alive today?’ ‘What would our baby be like?’”

Shocked, Natsumi looked up at him. “Who told you?”

“The police called me in the other day. They asked me if I knew Saori was pregnant. I was stunned. I had absolutely no idea.”

“And how she died — did they tell you that?”

“The broad strokes.” Tomoya looked at the ground. “It’s all so staggering. Incredible, really.”

“Yes... I know what you mean.”

“They told you, too?”

“Yes, the head of the investigative team came here and talked us through everything.”

“If I’m honest with you, Natsumi, I was of two minds about coming here today. But I had the feeling that if I didn’t come today, tomorrow would only be that much harder. When I walk from my house to the station, my route always takes me past Namiki-ya. The idea of trying to live my life while deliberately avoiding this place is a recipe for heartache. I realized that the best thing for me to do is to keep coming here and to build myself a stock of nice, new memories.”

Tomoya was clear-eyed and articulate. Natsumi could see why her sister had been attracted to him. Saori must have felt that life with him would be a positive and enjoyable experience, if not a glamorous one. She must have been thrilled when she found out that she was pregnant. It was the sheer joy of that moment that had exploded her dreams of becoming a singer.

Natsumi said nothing.

“Is something wrong?” Tomoya asked timidly.

She shook her head. “No,” she replied. “It’s good to see you. In you go.”

She escorted Tomoya to a table. “We have our first customer,” she called in the direction of the kitchen.

Yutaro’s face popped up behind the counter. Catching sight of Tomoya, he flinched almost imperceptibly, then came out into the restaurant.

“It’s been a long time,” Tomoya said.

Yutaro removed his half apron. “We caused you a lot of trouble.”

“No, I mean, trouble. That’s hardly...” Tomoya waved his hand deprecatingly.

“No need to be coy. The police must have called you in quite a few times?”

“Um... well... yes, they did. Not that many times, really... I told them about transporting the liquid nitrogen.”

Yutaro clicked his tongue disapprovingly. “Yes, I heard that silly bugger Shusaku got you to do that. Personally, I never wanted to involve you.”

“Mr. Tojima was just thinking about how we all felt; how we all wanted revenge. I’d have been more upset if he hadn’t approached me.”

“The police told Tomoya everything,” Natsumi chimed in, “including the fact that Saori was pregnant.”

“Oh, really,” Yutaro replied. His voice was low.

“Mr. Namiki, I owe you an apology,” Tomoya said, rising to his feet and bowing deeply. “I was the one who suggested getting married to Saori. I was completely sincere, but what I said had a terrible impact on her life. I should have been more careful; she was at a crucial stage in her life.”

He seemed to be apologizing for having got Saori pregnant.

“Look at me, Tomoya,” Yutaro said gently. “We’re grateful for you. It’s true that had Saori not been pregnant, she probably wouldn’t have chosen to abandon her singing career — and perhaps she would still be alive today. But that doesn’t take into account her own feelings. She was thrilled to be pregnant with your child. She was thrilled at the prospect of becoming a mother. As a parent, the thought that she was able to enjoy feelings like that, even if it was only for a short time, is a comfort to me. Am I right?” Yutaro looked to Machiko for her support.

The rims of her eyes were red. She nodded emphatically.

“We bear you no ill will, Tomoya. None. If anything, it’s ourselves we should be ashamed of. When Saori found out she was pregnant, she must have been happy and anxious in equal measure. But she never came to talk to me, or her mother. She probably didn’t want to worry me. It breaks my heart; as a parent, I wasn’t there for her.”

Unsure how to respond, Tomoya just stood there in silence.

At that moment, there was a clattering sound as somebody pushed open the front door. Glancing at the entrance, Natsumi saw Yukawa poised on the threshold.

The professor was somewhat put-out when he found himself being stared at by the whole group. He caught Natsumi’s eye. “It looks like you’re busy.”

“No, no.” Natsumi waved her hand. “Come on in. Sit wherever you like.”

“I’m not here for dinner today.” Yukawa turned and faced Yutaro. “I’ve completed my work at the research center here, so I won’t be able to come to Namiki-ya for a while. I’m here to say goodbye, for the time being at least.”

“Really?” Natsumi exclaimed.

“I’m very sorry to hear that,” Yutaro said wistfully. “I was hoping for a good, long chat with you. I have so many questions.”

“You do? Well, let’s do that when we get the chance.”

Bobbing his head to them all, Yukawa left the restaurant.

“What a character!” Tomoya sat back down.

“You’re telling me. And I never managed to figure out what his relationship with the police was,” said Yutaro, before returning to the kitchen with Machiko.

Natsumi slid open the front door and went outside. She spotted Yukawa walking off down the street and launched herself after him. “Professor!” she yelled.

Yukawa stopped and turned around. He looked rather puzzled.

“Tell me,” Natsumi said. “Who are you, really?”

“Who am I?” Yukawa knitted his brows. “I’m just a regular physicist.”

“That’s not true. You’re a detective.”

Yukawa recoiled. “What are you talking about?”

“You first came to our restaurant just after Hasunuma had been released. Now the case has been solved, you’re leaving. It’s a bit too much of a coincidence. We talked about you. We were saying that you must have helped the police solve this case. That you’re a modern-day Hercule Poirot.”

“Flattering, but you give me too much credit.”

“Really?”

“The fact that I’ve completed my research and can leave Kikuno at this particular moment is purely a coincidence. That’s not true for my reasons for coming to your restaurant in the first place.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m the same as Mr. Tojima.”

“The same as Tojima? How?”

“I wanted to help a close friend of mine who’d had a difficult experience. I thought that I might get a hint or two by coming to Namiki-ya and getting to know the locals.”

“This friend of yours... is he by any chance a policeman?”

Yukawa said nothing; he gave her a knowing smile and made as if to walk on.

“I’m sure you’ll be back, Professor.”

Yukawa looked thoughtful.

“When I do, make sure that your fabulous takiawase’s on the menu,” he said.

Natsumi nodded vigorously. “That’s a promise.”

The physicist grinned at her, adjusted his spectacles with the tip of his index finger, then turned on his heel and strode off with a spring in his step.