Evil and the Mask (28 page)

He blew out a puff of air and rubbed his eyelid, as if the twitching was bothering him.

“It won’t go that smoothly,” I said. I could feel the corners of my mouth curling in a faint smile. “Even if people like you make your plans, humans don’t always react as you expect. Sure, we’re busy with our own problems, and it’s hard to pay much attention to contracts for rebuilding in Africa. But you’re carrying out your plan in Japan, right? I can’t see the Japanese public acting like you think they will.”

“That’s right. You’re not dumb, are you?” His voice grew stronger. “In fact, after we set things up, I think people’s reactions are likely to be even more extreme than we anticipate. We’ll just provide the catalyst, but the wave will pass through that human maelstrom and burst out in unexpected directions. Look at history. Before the Second World War, when
Japan walked out of the League of Nations, the forerunner to the UN, Japan’s elite didn’t expect their stupidity to be greeted with wild applause by the public back home, did they? Even World War Two itself, which unleashed Father’s violence, the people supported it sincerely, fanatically. In other words, their frenzy provided the foundation for his violence. Do you think that the highest-ranking officials thought right from the start that the general populace would cooperate so eagerly with the war effort? They even continued to feed the public lies in order to manipulate them. But the people were busy and narrow-minded. They believed that they should slaughter foreigners to protect their friends and families. Their excitement and violence, rooted in a good cause, rose like a flood. It’s a fever, get it? That fever, that’s what I want. That fever, that flood, heading for doom.”

By now he was almost shouting.

“Everything fits together as part of the system. That JL group that’s active right now, their aim is probably to undermine authority. They’re trying to bring it all tumbling down. But even their attacks on authority are ultimately part of the system. Thanks to JL, people are far more security-conscious, and at the moment my security firms are making a killing. Burglar alarms, everything, they’re selling like crazy. Share prices are rising too, so the shareholders are making more money. The more they stir up trouble, the more money us rich people make. That’s how the system works. You see? They probably don’t even realize it themselves, but we actually provide some of their funding. This world is a monster.”

He laughed and his eyes grew wider.

“Now that I would love to see. All the buildings collapsing, the fortress of people’s happiness collapsing because their closed-up nature allows wars to break out and they get caught up in them. All that violent karma flying through space and time, converging on a single point. Wouldn’t that be a sight? For warped specimens like us? As I looked on the ruins of the earth, with my dying breath I would mutter, ‘Construction boom.’ If the human race dies out entirely, then beauty and morality will disappear too. If that happens, even the gods who have neglected this world for so long will scowl with displeasure—if gods have eyebrows, that is. The human race, that failed experiment, will take revenge on the gods through their own downfall. Revenge on their father. Maybe the gods will come to stop it partway through. If they do, humans will be able to see them in person for the first time. Wouldn’t that be amusing? It can all go to hell. In my dystopia, it can all just disappear!”

Suddenly he started to tremble, eyes blazing. I had a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach, but I couldn’t tear my eyes away from him.

“Ah, here it comes! Now!”

He clamped his lips tightly together, sweat pouring off him, still staring into space. His hands fumbled under the table, searching for something.

“Right. How about it?”

His hands came out holding a knife. Slowly, carefully, he placed it on the table like some precious object.

At some point the heater had stopped blowing out warm air, and I was getting cold. He took his hand away from the knife and sat rigid, as though turned to stone. His eyes
remained unblinking, like a man possessed. I remembered the exalted state he had been in last time we met, similar to this. His gaze bored into mine, and I couldn’t break free.

“Look!” he whispered in a choked voice, as if afraid of being heard. “Don’t you see? Look! Now’s your chance … look, do it, don’t miss it. What are you waiting for? Look, here’s my throat. Like this, like this.”

He was making stabbing motions with an imaginary knife, as though teaching a child how to use one.

“This person called Mikihiko Kuki, he’s already way past breaking point. Now’s the perfect opportunity, don’t miss it! Don’t let it get away. Yeah? Quick! Before the moment passes. Quick, it’s slipping away!”

He forced the knife into my hand. I couldn’t move.

“Now is the time. This is what you see at the limits of depression. Death isn’t the end, it’s just one part, it’s just one component. Give me that part, while I’m in this state, the epitome of evil, then my depression will break through, it will be complete, I will attain my true nature. Touched by death, the pleasure of extinction, at that instant I’ll overflow, I’ll become myself. I’ll become my true self, death itself, the end itself, perfectly, perfectly, in that single second. It will all soak right through me. I’ll join every other death, the pain and death of every person in every age, I’ll savor them all. Every nerve that runs through my body will experience an unbearable delight as that huge, final wave washes over me. That’s the moment. That’s what my life is about, to go there, to experience that feeling. Everything yearns for oblivion. No matter how hard people struggle, all things are just waiting
for death, trembling with joy. That’s the reality of the world. It’s here, the end of everything, it’s really coming, subverting and perverting our innate energy.”

He squirmed in his seat, speaking coaxingly, as though whispering words of love.

“Quick! It’s all right. I’ve turned into this gigantic, grotesque monster before your eyes. You will be forgiven. The murders you’ve committed, they will all be forgiven. All your sins will disappear, by destroying an evil like me, by saving the lives of tens of thousands of people.”

The knife started to shake in my hand.

“I’m right, aren’t I? If I die, it will all be over, and I can become my true self. Kaori will be yours. Here’s my throat, one second will solve everything, the depression that’s holding me back, the revelation of my real self. Right here, right now. I can feel it coming.”

I couldn’t breathe. His soft, fat neck was right there in front of me.

“Do it quick. Yes, like that … Humans have always done this. They’ve always solved problems like this, by killing people they think are evil, by killing people who threaten their well-being. A man like me, who wants to destroy humanity, I’m an abomination, aren’t I, for all those people who want happiness, even for the gods? Aren’t I?”

Suddenly he began to shout. His mouth opened so wide I thought it would split and his bloodshot eyes bulged. In his exposed throat the thick veins stood out clearly.

“Quick! Everything will be forgiven. The gods and history are watching.”

He stretched his neck even more, staring at me. My hand clutching the knife was soaked with sweat. I saw my father, twitching and convulsing with hunger in that tiny room.

“I can’t.”

“What?”

His face contorted.

“I’m too tired,” I said. “Tired of this feeling.”

He looked at me, mouth sagging.

“What a weakling! You’ve already killed two people. I expected better of you.”

Gradually his expression regained its former blankness, as though something had passed. All that remained were the beads of sweat on his forehead. Once again his face revealed no emotion at all.

“You’re pathetic. Really. Here’s what will happen if you don’t. I’ll ruin that girl Kaori, and there’s no way you can stop me. I’ll keep her alive, but I’ll destroy her, and I’ll make you watch. I’ll finish what Father couldn’t. Perhaps that echo will alleviate my depression a little.”

He picked up his whiskey again. I took out my pen.

“I’ve recorded all of this. The whole conversation.”

He looked at me impassively.

“Since you’re the Number Two in the Kuki Group, that could make life difficult for you. That you’re helping JL, and all your crazy plans.”

He laughed softly.

“Were you just pretending to be drunk, coming up with a feeble trick like that? What a loser.”

From my bag I removed the bundle of documents and the compact disks.

“These contain proof of some of the things you’ve done so far. Even a recording of you killing your own daughter in this very room.”

“Yeah?”

“Your secret discussions with a certain politician. Your illegal exports of large numbers of weapons, including centrifuges that could be used to develop nuclear weapons and helicopters that can be converted for military use. Even proof that you killed two prostitutes.”

He regarded me with a bored expression.

“How did you get these?”

“Your own father was checking up on you the whole time. He always had reservations about you. He suspected that one day you’d be a danger to the Group.”

“That detective?”

“I can’t say. But your father had lots of other investigators apart from him. In terms of keeping tabs on people, he was way ahead of you. He compiled this material when you started going off the rails, as a threat to make you stop.”

“I got someone to search his room after he died, and there were no records.”

“He was careful.”

I gripped my knees to stop my hands shaking.

“People like you, until your evil takes over completely, you pile up one crime after another. It goes without saying there’s going to be a record.”

I glanced at the knife on the table.

“Now even if you shoot me or something, it won’t do you any good.”

I looked at my watch. It was five to one.

“These are copies. In fact, I made multiple copies, and at one
A.M.
a friend is going to send them all off to the metropolitan police, the public prosecutor, the newspapers and TV, foreign corporations whose interests are opposed to the Kuki Group, and to the shareholders of every company you own. The cops will be knocking on your door any day now. You’ll be caught and you can tell the police whatever you like, I don’t care anymore. I hope you fall into the arms of the law, into a media storm, into the frenzy you were just telling me about.”

To my surprise, he grinned.

“So the old man didn’t love me after all.”

The smile stayed on his face. Images of Father’s missing ear, of the farming village in the Philippines that was the trigger for his explosion of violence, floated through my mind. Mikihiko sighed.

“Not bad. But you don’t understand the first thing about me.”

He took another gulp of scotch.

“Those things don’t work on me. Do you really think I care about stuff like that? You’re a real disappointment.”

I took the explosive device out of my bag, the one that Ryosuke Ito had given me for safekeeping.

“This is cheap and simply made,” I said, “but it’ll blow away everything in this room. Now it’s switched on.”

I pressed the button on the cell phone that I’d modified and connected to the wiring. His face betrayed nothing.

“If you want to stay alive, it’s easy. All you have to do is turn off the phone. You’ve got thirty minutes.”

I got to my feet.

“I hope you get scared for your own life and turn this thing off. And think about all the people you’ve killed, all the people you were going to kill.”

He gave a short laugh.

“Scared for my life? You’re a cancer, aren’t you?”

“I was just playing my small part, while evil monsters like you and Shozo Kuki took the leads. All I did was tie Shozo’s malicious inquiries to your evil. And besides, Fumihiro Kuki is dead. My name is Shintani.”

I put on my gloves. I didn’t have any fingerprints, but I gathered up the knife and glass anyway, conscious that they might show palm prints. On the cell phone’s display the tiny numbers were counting down.

“You don’t understand a thing,” he said quietly. “That won’t affect someone as powerful as me.”

“That’s what you think.”

“You’re wrong.” He gave a sigh of exasperation. “Just suppose that the world really worked the way you want it to. You’d still never get me inside a courtroom. The status quo will never change, because that’s just how it is.”

He continued wearily.

“Nothing will touch me. Unfortunately. Nothing can touch me. In the end, nothing will change. I’ll just keep on living, just as I am now, whether I like it or not, wrapped in my own despair. And you will lose the girl.”

“You’ll never get your hands on Kaori,” I said.

Our eyes locked for a few seconds. My gaze wavered, but his dull eyes didn’t move. The timer on the bomb continued to count off the seconds.

“And while you’re scared for your own life,” I began, but he cut me off.

“You really don’t have a clue. Nothing will change. Nothing can change. That’s not what I want. Scared for my own life? What the hell are you talking about? Is that what you want?”

He was still lying deep in the sofa, wooden as ever, as though he was planning to sleep there. His face darkened.

“Are you telling me to cling to this ridiculous world? To life?”

He spoke lazily, sipping his drink.

“You must be joking.”

I turned and walked away without answering. I could feel his presence at my back, but nothing happened as I left the room. I went down the hall, putting on my mask and beanie. Opened the front door, closed it gently behind me, lit a cigarette and headed towards the elevator. Not a sound came from Mikihiko Kuki’s room.