CH 56

Main Story 56

What I heard from the landlady gave me a shock. I could not believe that Fuki-san would do something so terrible. But it must be true.

From where the landlady left off, my father’s tale was continued by Mossad Tanaka-san, Lawyer Tamaru, and Dr. Suzuki.

3 months after he promised marriage to the landlady, my father bought engagement and marriage rings at Harry Winston, New York 5th Ave. But upon returning to Japan, he found the landlady gone, leaving behind only a farewell letter. The letter said that she had a miscarriage due to her own carelessness, and had since left the house since she felt she should no longer stay in their care. It also said to never look for her.

He desperately searched for her, but in vain for he did not find even a single clue as to her whereabouts.

Mari-sama, meanwhile, no longer had any care for either the Kujouin household or the landlady. She was about to go to the United States to undergo surgery for her hands. If she could live as a pianist once again, to Mari-sama, everything else were but trivial matters. Mari-sama and Fuki-san left for the States.

During that time, father continued looking for the landlady. However, he still had to continue working. My father, back then, was serious and hard working. Using the limited time he had in between work, he searched for the landlady, making use of the influence and monetary resources he had. But the landlady still could not be found.

Fuki-san and the secretary Sugiyama-san had beat him to the punch. My father, being still young and having spent most of his youth in the United Kingdom, had not much influence. No matter how much information he collected, he still could not get his hands on the correct ones. All he could gather were fake information.

It was after 3 years had passed that he found her. By that time, the landlady had already built her own family and was living a happy life.

In the home he saw, carp streamers were swimming in the sky, blown by the gentle breeze.

My father finally gave up on the landlady. He then poured himself even deeper into work.

Though the surgery Mari-sama underwent was successful, she could not play for as long as she used to. Still, she started playing again. But not only did she refuse to show anyone her performance, she would not even let anyone hear the timbre of her tones. Mari-sama came to live in a world only of her own. And close to her, Fuki-san was always there. Fuki-san was trying to make a world only for the two of them.

“I don’t know Yamada Fuki well. She could see nothing but Tooru-san’s mother.” (Landlady)

There are a lot of mysteries surrounding Fuki-san. She was always there with me since I was a baby, but I did not even know she had a son until Mari-sama’s death.

Just as father was starting to pull himself back together, Mari-sama’s secretary Sugiyama-san died of illness, and my father just happened to read the notebook he kept. It was a notebook he kept for work, but there are fragments regarding the landlady there. Father then came to know the truth: that the landlady was kicked out after being made to terminate her pregnancy. But he came to a misunderstanding here; he thought that it was Mari-sama who had driven the landlady out. But in truth, everything had been Fuki-san’s doings, carried out without first consulting Mari-sama.

My father, now knowing what had actually taken place, blamed himself, resented Mari-sama, and left the Kujouin household.

Father fell into despair, but at the same time, he started living more freely. Perhaps too freely.

At that time, with the Vietnam War being fought, there was an increase in the number of hippies in the United States due to anti-war movements being in the rise. As such, spiritual matters were taken seriously. My father then sold them incense sticks at 10 dollars apiece, telling them that the incense sticks will help hone their spirituality. He also popularized the use of fundoshi (TN: traditional undergarment for both male and female, loincloth). He showed Lawyer Tamaru pictures of the hippies forming rings with only a piece of fundoshi on, laughing widely. He encouraged their activities, all the while taking pictures while being fully clothed himself.

He looked down on people, made fools out of them, and scammed them out of their money. Within scams, we classify them up into “Shirosagi”, “Akasagi”, and “Aosagi”.[1] My father also committed ‘M fraud’[2], one considered as “Shirosagi”. Though it must have been but a mere coincidence, he did it using Mari-sama’s maiden name. He lived while thinking of the world as being filled with nothing but fools. He also made fun of the young involved in student movements. It might be because he was born in the 1960s, but Lawyer Tamaru thought nothing of it when my father told him all these.[3] Tanaka-san, on the other hand, only now getting to know of it, is unable to hide his shock.

He apparently got even worse as time passed, but the landlady does not know of the details. But according to Lawyer Tamaru, his activities only got more conspicuous once I was born.

Mossad Tanaka-san did not know of this side of my father. Today, here, is the first time he’s heard of any of these. To him, my father was a noble person who was able to recognize the ideologies he held. He would never dream that my father might be making fun of them. To him, my father was someone who joined shoulders with him, with the promise of building their ideal country. He was someone who sang “We Shall Overcome” together with him. Speaking of, they say that my father was very good at singing.

Even through all his twisted ways, my father was never able to forget about the landlady. He did not wish to disturb the happiness the landlady has achieved. He was someone who had that kind of kindness within him.

Whenever he returns to Japan, without fail, he would always go to see the landlady. Secretly, taking care to never be found out. Though they share no blood between them, the landlady had a good relationship with her stepson, and her husband was someone kind too. There was no opening for my father.

My father turned all the anger he felt towards Mari-sama. After thinking of what could possibly make the proud Mari-sama suffer more than death, he decided to bring ruin to the Kujouin household. It was an easy feat. If you were to send documents to Mari-sama, she will sign them without sparing a thought. Mari-sama, who has always had people to sort things out for her, would never examine any documents before signing. Father had only to tell the secretary he appointed to Mari-sama to have the documents signed, and it will be done.

My father made Mari-sama invest ridiculous amounts, completely draining her of all her assets, and imprisoned her in the secondary villa. She did not even have the money to hire servants. She had nothing but her pension money. But it seems that Fuki-san was instead delighted to live that life with only the two of them. The one who had done the job here was Lawyer Tamaru.

Father read the intermittent reports regarding Mari-sama his subordinates submitted to him with a sour expression. He wanted to corner Mari-sama even more.

It was during such a time that my father was contacted by my mother Kiryuu Ruriko’s brother to save her. Though she may have abandoned the Kiryuu name, it was still a fact that she, a descendant of the Kiryuu name with the Kiryuu blood in her veins, was being sold in an auction. My mother had made a phone call to her childhood friend in Japan to say goodbye. This childhood friend of her was also a man she had a relationship physical in nature with. Quite possibly of the immoral kind. Even with this, my mother’s brother came to know of the auction. In which case, he thought that she should at least be bought by a Japanese, and therefore asked my father the favor. Due to financial difficulties, the Kiryuu family did not have the money to save her themselves. Which is how they came to ask for my father’s help, for he was someone the brother had met through investments during the economic bubble period.

“Mother must have been loved by her family. It is a bit hard for me to understand how she could have thrown that away for the sake of a life of freedom…”

I turn my face up and look towards Comrade Yoshio.

“If only I had not gone on duty and instead stayed by her side…!”

Ah, his reaction is just as I had imagined, right to a T.

“I would not be in this world then. It makes me sad to hear.”

I purposefully chose such words. Just as I had expected, Comrade Yoshio shakes his head and heaves a sigh.

“You’re right. Reiko. It is just as you said.”

The story continues until the point of my birth, and what an idiotic tale it is. They were careless, thinking that being in her age, my mother would not get pregnant. My mother did not realize she was pregnant until the 8th month.

“Eh…?! That would never happen to a proper adult. I somehow feel unfortunate. Ah, how regrettable.”

In any case, I was born. My mother died from cerebral hemorrhage during childbirth.

“Ah, Ruriko..!”

With his fingers, Comrade Yoshio puts pressure in the inner corners of his eyes. How nice my mother had it. She was loved by her family, by Comrade Yoshio, and was able to live freely. I start to feel envy for her, just a little.

Now having no mother, I was put in the care of Mari-sama, who by then was already living in the secondary villa, by my father. At that time, Lawyer Tamaru also went with us.

Mari-sama refused to take me, but father put baby me in a basket and left me there. Fuki-san apparently seized the basket up in a rough manner and made to return it to my father. However, my father replied thus: If they will not take me in, he will instead take Mari-sama away and make it so that Fuki-san cannot do anything about it. Mari-sama and Fuki-san were but complete strangers. In the whole wide world, it was only my father who had the obligation to support Mari-sama. Left with no choice, Fuki-san took baby me.

So Lawyer Tamaru guiltily related to us.

I feel sad. I truly am a child nobody wished for.

However, while raising me, Mari-sama came to see me as the successor to the Kujouin line, and raised me as such.

Before turning 1, I was already able to solve simple puzzles. And I was also able to recognize sounds. I was different. Fuki-san was the one who realized this. She told Mari-sama that I am disgusting and should be thrown away.

But Mari-sama recalls the tales told of her husband’s, Kujouin Juuichirou’s, early childhood days. My behavior was similar to my grandfather’s.

Mari-sama became bent on raising me to be like my grandfather. She saw my talent in the piano and started teaching me the basics herself. Mari-sama poured all her time into educating me.

My father, however, did not think well of this. The complex he has from continuously being told he’s a failure came back.

Once again, he made Mari-sama sign some documents. This time for a joint surety. And once again, Mari-sama, who never has anything aside from the piano in her mind, signed them without sparing a single thought. Mari-sama never learns.

In the end, Mari-sama brought ruin upon her own self. Fuki-san tried to help her, even when Mari-sama had to let go of everything she had. But just as when he left me with them, my father told her that he will take Mari-sama away if Fuki-san tried anything.

What happened after has elements of Lawyer Tamaru’s speculations in it.

Father allotted the detached house in the landlady’s premises for Mari-sama’s living space and had her live a miserable life. Pushing such a life onto Mari-sama, who had a pride even higher than Mt. Everest, was one of the ways with which he was exacting his revenge. Mossad Tanaka-san gave my father intermittent reports on how Mari-sama was living. My father had Mossad Tanaka-san monitor Mari-sama, who he said to be a bourgeois who discriminates against people by the ideologies they hold. However in reality, not only did Mari-sama not even have enough interest in others to discriminate against them, she had also fallen into ruin and was living in poverty; there was nothing bourgeois about her. Mossad Tanaka-san had been used.

Father thought that he was putting Mari-sama and Fuki-san in a situation worse than the one the landlady had endured. But Fuki-san was determined. The life they lead was in no way poor. She called for high quality ingredients to be sent, and at times go to Tokyo to select fabric.

The lease was signed by the landlady’s husband who was still alive at that time. The landlady was only informed of the three of us moving into a detached house on her premises after the matter was already settled. At the same time, she also received word from my father through Lawyer Tamaru: he wants her to exact revenge on Mari-sama and Fuki-san. He will not mind it no matter what she does; he will be the one to take care of the aftermath.

“Even though Tamaru-sensei told me that I can do whatever I want with the two of them, I did not even interact with them. It was all in the past. I did not plan to have anything to do with you either, but I saw a little child, left alone outside. You were too pitiful. You were a child who would greet me properly, your adorable little self, whenever I call out to you. You were truly such a good child.”

The landlady was kind to me not because I am my father’s child. Knowing this makes me so happy. Comrade Yoshio, who was so very kind to me, and Mossad Tanaka-san too, they were all nice to me because of my mother or father. They would not have even spared a glance at me had it not been for my parents.

After the landlady’s husband passed away, and her stepson, together with his wife, left Hanaoka Town, the landlady became alone. The frequency of my visits to the landlady increased. During these visits, we would do things such as pickling vegetables and tending to vegetable plants together. The landlady was someone who would teach me such things.

Last year, my father came to see the landlady. What transpired after was something I already know.

Still, I was treated as a burden to a further extent than I had thought. And to think that it all started the moment I was born.

How sad.

In times like these, what are you supposed to do?

I am too sad to even shed any tears. My heart is empty.

Translator’s Notes:

[1] Scams in Japan are classified into four groups: Akasagi, Aosagi, Shirosagi, and Kurosagi. “sagi” means scam, while aka=red, ao=blue, shiro=white, and kuro=black. Akasagi (red scam) means scams concerning romantic relationships, oftentimes being marriage scams. Aosagi targets companies and would involve official documents. Shirosagi consists of scams targeting normal individuals, such as auction scams, ticketing scams, etc. Kurosagi is when a scammer scams another scammer; a scam between pros, so to say.

[2] https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20210625/p2a/00m/0na/043000c

[3] People born in the 1960s were called 新人類, read as shinjinrui, literally meaning the new humankind, by Kurimoto Shinichiro, an economic anthropologist. By the time this generation goes to university, student activism was losing momentum and political interest was down. Due their childhood taking place during a time when Japan was economically well, previous generations (such as those who lived through the war and its aftermath) regard them as spoiled and lacking in common sense.