“I think that’s a good idea. For a couple of old men like us. And I think you ought to be very careful to lock up your room—don’t forget your door. After all, they do say there’s a murderer on the loose in the house.”
“You don’t say!”
Kikuoka laughed heartily as if he found it amusing, but it was clear that he was actually quite nervous.
“Hey, you never know. If I were a bloodthirsty killer, I’d be after you, Mr Kikuoka!”
This time Kikuoka positively roared. He was trying to seem amused, but there was sweat visible on his forehead.
At that moment, Chief Inspector Ushikoshi came over to Kozaburo and asked to speak to him for a moment.
“Yes, of course!” replied Kozaburo, still in high spirits.
He glanced over to see the other three police officers huddled together at a corner of the dining table, discussing something in hushed tones.
Seeing Kozaburo turn away to talk to Ushikoshi, Kikuoka decided to talk to Kumi instead.
“Hey, Kumi, does your bed have an electric blanket?”
But his secretary appeared to be in an unusually foul mood.
“Yes.”
She still had the same wide-eyed expression as always, but tonight her catlike eyes were not turned on her sugar daddy. She was sulking about something.
“Didn’t you find… Well… that it wasn’t all it’s cracked up to be?”
“No,” she said curtly. The implication was, And neither are you.
“You know, it’s the first time in my life I’ve slept under an electric blanket. But it wasn’t quite enough. I can’t criticize the heat it gives off but… Was there a duvet in your room too?”
“Yes.”
“Where? I mean, where did you find it?”
“In the wardrobe.”
“What kind of duvet?”
“A down one.”
“In my room there didn’t seem to be anything like that. Guess it’s because it’s not really supposed to be a bedroom. The bed’s so narrow that if you turn over you end up on the floor. The cushions are nothing to complain about though. Have you seen it? Hey? It’s like this chair but with the sitting part pulled way out like this… Well, it’s a sort of couch, I guess, but there’s like a backrest on the end. Odd sort of a thing, really.”
“Oh?”
Kumi’s responses were so brief that even Kikuoka noticed the change in his lover.
“What’s the matter with you?”
“Nothing.”
“Obviously, it’s not nothing. You’re in a really crabby mood.”
“Am I?”
“Yes, you are.”
Anyone observing this exchange would realize that Kikuoka was capable of speaking in a low voice after all.
“Let’s go and talk in my room. I was just about to go to bed anyway. Look, I’ll say goodnight and head downstairs. You wait a bit and then casually follow. We’d better look over my schedule.”
Kikuoka got up. From the far corner of the table, Okuma spotted his move and came over to speak to him.
“Ah, excuse me, Mr Kikuoka, if you’re off to bed, please make sure you lock up your room properly. Don’t forget the door. After all that’s happened, you can’t be too careful.”
SCENE 2
Room 14, Eikichi Kikuoka’s Bedroom
“I can’t take it any more! I want to go home. I told you I didn’t want to come. I can’t put up with it a moment longer.”
Kumi Aikura was sitting on Kikuoka’s lap, pouting.
“What are you talking about? You know that nobody can leave right now. After what happened we’re under house arrest. What on earth is wrong?”
Right now Kikuoka was displaying an expression of utter Zen Buddhist calm, one that none of his employees had ever even glimpsed (except once in 1975 when the company’s gross income had suddenly doubled).
“You know how I feel, don’t you? You’re so mean!”
This scene had repeated itself over the decades and not once had the women’s lines changed. Why did this never go out of fashion?
Kumi lightly punched Kikuoka right where he sported what he believed to be a fine crop of chest hair. This required some level of skill. The punch shouldn’t be too hard or too gentle. Kumi didn’t realize there were genuine tears in her eyes. Tonight had been so incredibly mortifying. Heaven had happened to send her the most effective tool to get what she wanted.
“You are awful!”
She buried her face in her hands.
“I can’t understand what you’re saying if you cry like that. Come on, love, what’s made you so unhappy? Huh? Was it Eiko?”
Kumi nodded, her face dripping tears.
“Poor thing. You’re such a sensitive soul, Kumi. I’m afraid if you’re going to survive in this world, you just have to get used to stuff like that.”
Believe it or not, his words came from the heart.
Kumi nodded again charmingly.
“But you know I really love that about you—you’re so sensitive, it’s cute how naïve you are.”
Kikuoka put his arms around Kumi and hugged her tight—a gesture that he hoped made him seem like her dashing protector—and brought his lips to hers. But if anyone had happened to be watching, the view would have seemed more like a massive bear devouring its prey from the head down.
“Stop it!” said Kumi, pushing his chin away. “I am so not in the mood for that!”
There was an uncomfortable silence.
“I told you I didn’t want to come, and now Ueda’s been killed! And I never imagined there could be such a bitch as that woman. That’s why I wanted you to go alone, Daddy—”
“I told you not to call me Daddy!”
Daddy was angry. If he didn’t put a stop to it right away, one day she might say it in front of an employee.
“I’m sorry.”
Kumi looked crestfallen.
“It’s not that I don’t want to take a lovely trip with you to a snowy place. I was looking forward to going away together so much. But I never imagined I’d meet such a horrible woman. It was such a shock.”
“Ah, that one—she’s not like a woman at all.”
“Right? I’ve never met anyone like her before.”
“But what do you expect? She’s the daughter of the kind of nutty old man who would build a weird place like this just for fun. You know she’s got to be a bit touched in the head. The crazy daughter. If you take everything she says seriously, then you’re going to end up driving yourself mad.”
“But I—”
“Society has rules. They say we’re all equal but there’s still social status. You can fight against it all you like, there’s nothing you can do to change it. And so when somebody bullies you, you can always turn and look over your shoulder, and there’ll be someone standing right behind you, ready to be bullied too, so you just start beating on them. This world is the domain of the powerful. Just keep on bullying those weaker than yourself. That’s why I have my minions, so I can treat them however I want. In this life there’s no pleasure without pain. You can’t let yourself be the loser.”
From Kikuoka’s mouth these words were very convincing.
“It’s common sense.”
“Yes, but—”
“What is it with young people these days? Always questioning everything. It’s all ‘But… But… But…’ They’re all wishy-washy, can’t make a decision. I just don’t get what they’re thinking, all these airhead types. Just be a man! Go for it! God put sheep on this earth to feed the wolves. Unwind, relax, enjoy life by bullying your minions; it builds up your strength. That’s what we pay them for!”
“Be a man? But what about me? Who am I supposed to bully?”