“Why are you even asking me this stuff? Does her divorcing my dad have something to do with the case?”
Alarmed, the detective said, “I have no idea. Right now, we know nothing about anything. Now, as regards where your mother was living...”
“I only heard about that today, from my dad. I can’t believe how close by she lived.”
“That’s what we were wondering. Was it a coincidence, or something more than that? Mineko Mitsui moved to an apartment in this area a couple of months ago. Isn’t it possible that she elected to live here after finding out where you lived?”
“That seems out of the question. There’s no way Dad would have told her where I live. It had to be a coincidence, pure and simple.”
“You think so?” Uesugi looked unconvinced.
The detective went on to ask Koki some questions about his mother’s friends and her interests. Koki answered as best he could. He found it hard to believe that he was contributing much to the investigation; indeed, the detectives looked rather bored by his responses.
Koki tried to get some information about the circumstances of the crime from the detectives, but they told him very little. It was early days, and they knew almost nothing, they insisted. From their manner, though, Koki was convinced it wasn’t a simple robbery that turned into murder.
“I have a final question.” Uesugi raised a finger. “Can you tell us where you were last night between six and eight p.m.?”
Koki could feel the scowl forming on his face.
“You asking me for an alibi?”
“It’s just routine. We have to ask everyone connected to the case. If you’d rather not answer, you’re free not to.”
Koki bit his lip, then said:
“I was in the performance space. You can ask any of the other actors.”
“That’s fine, then,” replied the detective carelessly.
Koki got home a little after eight. Normally, he’d have stayed and worked on the set, but tonight he had no choice: Shinozuka had all but ordered him to leave.
There was a light in the apartment window. Ami must be back already. When he pushed the front door open, his girlfriend turned toward him, her face bright and cheerful. “Koki? You’re early.” She was watching TV.
Her face crumpled when Koki told her about his mother.
“God, come to think of it, my boss said something about it at work today.” Ami frowned.
“Said something about what?”
“That there’d been a ton of police cars. Our shop’s quite close to Kodenmacho. I just can’t believe it, though. I mean, why on earth...?” Ami blinked back her tears.
“I dunno. The detectives just told me she’d been killed. That and nothing else.”
“What are you going to do? You’ll have to go to the funeral.”
Koki had no idea what his mother’s life had been like since the divorce. In fact, he hadn’t wanted to know. He had left home and was living his life the way he wanted, and she had every right to do the same. Not only that, he was just too darn busy to think about anyone else.
He lay down on his futon, but sleep wouldn’t come. Ami, who was tossing and turning next to him, seemed to have the same problem. As Koki’s eyes became accustomed to the dark, he could make out the vague outlines of the stains on the ceiling above his head.
Koki had met Ami Aoyama at a musical. She was in the seat next to him, and they got talking. Originally from Fukushima, she was a year older than he and had moved to Tokyo to study design. She was studying at technical school while working part-time.
The apartment they shared was originally Ami’s. Koki had moved in with her.
Koki discovered acting during his first year at college. Wandering into a little local theater, he had caught a performance by Shinozuka’s company. He’d made up his mind about his future on the spot. He stopped going to class and joined the company instead.
After some soul-searching, Koki made up his mind to drop out of college. Naohiro, his father, was violently opposed to this. That was no surprise. But Mineko, his mother, didn’t support him, either.
“If you really want to drop out, then go ahead and do it. Just don’t expect any help from me. You’re on your own now,” were his father’s parting words.
“That’s exactly how I want it,” spat back Koki. He got up from the dinner table, went up to his room, and started to pack.
Mineko followed him as he was leaving the house. “Let me know when you’ve found a place of your own,” she whispered.
He shook his head.
“I won’t be calling you. And I’m going to get a new phone.”
“But—”
“Mineko!” A shout from the dining room. “Just forget about that loser.”
The expression on her face was a mixture of sadness and perplexity. Averting his eyes, Koki stalked out of the house.
Now his mother had been murdered. She was no longer among the living. Although Koki knew it was true, he still couldn’t bring himself to believe it. It still felt like something from a soap opera.
3
The next morning Koki left the apartment with Ami when she went to work. Her job was in a café in Horidomecho, the neighborhood next to Kodenmacho.
Koki mounted Ami’s bicycle and got her to perch behind him. They’d often ridden the same bicycle back when he was working in the basement of Tokyo Station at a place that sold ready-made lunches. With the first night of the play getting closer, he was taking a temporary break from the job.
They got to the main Kodenmacho intersection in under ten minutes. Koki dismounted, and Ami took the handlebars.
“I’ve got school tonight,” she said before pedaling off. That meant she would be back late.
“Got it,” replied Koki, with a nod.
When Ami was out of sight, Koki took a look around. Spotting a convenience store, he headed for it.
There were no other customers. The clerk, a young man with dyed brown hair, was restocking the shelves with sandwiches and rice balls.
“Sorry to bother you,” said Koki. “You know the murder that happened near here the night before last? Do you know where it took place?”
The shop clerk shook his head impatiently.
“Sorry, I don’t have that shift.”
“Oh... right. Well, thanks anyway.”
Koki nodded at the clerk and left. Koki tried his luck at several other nearby stores, but nobody seemed to know anything about the recent murder. Their attitudes changed the instant they realized he wasn’t going to buy anything; as far as they were concerned, he was just wasting their time.
After drawing a series of blanks, he finally hit pay dirt in a stationery shop.
“The woman who was killed, you mean? It happened in that block of apartments right there.” The proprietor, a bald man, pointed a little way down the street. “A policeman came over to ask us if we’d seen anything suspicious. It must have happened about nine p.m. the night before. I told him that we’d closed several hours earlier, so could hardly have seen anything.”
“Do you happen to know the apartment number?”
“I’m not that well informed, no. Why are you so interested?”
“I... sort of knew the victim...”
“Gosh. I’m very sorry to hear that.” The storeowner looked grave.
Quickly saying his goodbyes, Koki left the shop and walked over to the apartment building. It was a long, narrow, cream-colored building and appeared quite new.
Why was his mother living here, of all places? Her parents’ house was in Yokohama. He’d assumed that she’d moved back in with them after the divorce. He had never imagined that she was living alone somewhere.
Still, given Mineko’s character, it made sense. She’d always wanted to escape the drudgery of housekeeping and engage with the “real world.”