Summertime of the Dead (3 page)

I ran down to the Prada Building to buy the bag. I didn't care how much it cost. I wanted Miko to have it, and I wanted to be the one to buy it for her. And so I ran all the way to the store, and moving straight to the bags I looked for the one that she'd liked. But I couldn't remember which one it was. And I didn't want to buy the wrong bag. The smartly dressed salesman came towards me. He was tall and about twenty and he had stylish hair like a footballer. He picked up a bag and smiling he handed it to me. Straight away I knew it was the one.

I paid for the bag and left as quick as I'd come. The Prada people bowed to me as I was leaving. And following me outside they bowed some more. But I was already running up Omotesando Boulevard, weaving my way in and out of the many shoppers. But it wasn't long before I had to stop and walk with the crowd. I swear, Tokyo's the worst city in the world when you're in a rush. I was on the verge
of getting pavement rage, but then I got a break and I made the most of it. I ran past Ralph Lauren, Louis Vuitton and Versace, and crossing the road at Harajuku station I headed towards the Meiji Shrine.

I passed under the huge Shinto gate, which was shaped like soccer posts and built from tree trunks, and ran down the wide gravel path. The path was lined with tall trees that blocked out the noise of the city and all of a sudden it was like being in a forest. I kept going until I saw the Meiji Shrine, which was dedicated to Emperor Meiji and his wife, Shoken. They used to come here when they wanted to get away from things, and so when they died a shrine was built in their honour.

I came to a sink and washed my mouth and hands. It's important to wash before entering a shrine because cleanliness shows respect for the gods. I went to the shrine shop and bought a wooden plaque from one of the maidens, whose name was Tomoko. She was as cold as the nun was warm and I'd never so much as seen her smile. All the maidens were straight-faced, if you ask me, but she was more so because she was the head priest's daughter.

I wrote a prayer on the plaque and hung it
around the divine tree, which was just outside the main courtyard. The plaques would be collected that night and the prayers would be read out at the morning ceremony. I didn't need to have the prayer said here, but this was where my father's birth was registered, and so it fitted in with tradition. And we're kind of traditional in Japan.

Before I left I faced the building where our old emperor was enshrined and bowed before running back down the path. I ran around the corner and sprinted into Yoyogi Park. Then I turned around and ran back. I'd left the bag at the shrine shop! I ran as fast as I could and headed through the gate. As I did one of the security guards tried to stop me. ‘We're closed,' he shouted. But I ignored him and carried on running. There's no way Miko wasn't getting her bag on her birthday.

When I got back to the shop three of the maidens were looking at it.

‘Here he is,' said Tomoko. It was the first time I'd seen her smile. I didn't think she knew how. ‘Who's it for?' she asked, handing me the bag.

‘My girlfriend,' I said. I don't know why I lied. But it wasn't such a big lie. And maybe it wasn't a lie at all.

‘She's a lucky girl,' said Tomoko. ‘Getting a bag like that.' Then the three of them started to giggle. What they were giggling at I don't know. Girls giggle for no reason.

I took the bag and ran all the way to the house, where I showered and changed. And then I ran downstairs with my damp shirt sticking to my back. Then I ran up them again because I'd forgotten the bag. And then I jogged over to the twins' place just five doors down. They live in a one-bedroomed apartment and it's pretty small at that. Their grandad sleeps in the living room on a bedroll and rolls it up in the morning. But they've got the place as nice as it can be and it's pretty cosy at night.

I ran up the steps and knocked on the door. And there they were, looking as smart as I'd ever seen them. Hiroshi was wearing black pants and a white shirt, like me. But Miko was wearing the black dress that she'd made herself, and boy did she look good. What's more she was wearing make-up. I'd never seen her in make-up before. It made her look older, and prettier.

‘Happy birthday, Hiroshi. Happy birthday, Miko,' I said, and I handed her the bag. But she never smiled like I thought she would. For a second
I thought she was going to cry. Suddenly she threw her arms around me.

Hiroshi rolled his eyes. ‘You two are going to be kissing next.'

We laughed then and she let go. Then their grandad shuffled to the door. ‘Are you all ready?'

‘We're all ready,' said Hiroshi.

Their grandad, who was older than my grandmother, looked kind of concerned. ‘Well, look after them, Yukio. And have them back by midnight.'

‘I will,' I said.

‘Come on then. Let's go!' said Hiroshi.

I bowed to their grandfather and we trotted down the steps.

‘I can't believe I'm going to a real nightclub!' said Hiroshi. ‘Miko showed me how to dance. I'm going to dance all night!'

We laughed, but we were quiet as we made our way down to Shibuya. I was a little nervous. I suppose I was worried because I wanted the twins to have a good time. And it must have rubbed off on them. Hiroshi looked like he was trying to think of something to say, and Miko looked a little awkward in her high-heeled shoes.

‘Shall we get a taxi?' I asked.

‘Don't be silly,' she said, and put her arm through mine.

I was happy then and all the nervousness went.

There weren't many people on the streets on our way to Shibuya, but as we neared the centre they started to fill up. First there were tens of people and then hundreds and then, when we reached the Shibuya Crossing, there were thousands of people swarming back and forth. The sun had set by then but it was still hot and Shibuya was ablaze with lights. The streets buzzed with music and excited talk, and shouts from the touts as they enticed people to various restaurants. Happy businessmen came from the bars while groups of people came from the karaoke clubs, filling up the already crowded streets.

I held on to Miko's hand, and following Hiroshi we weaved our way through the crowds. We turned up a backstreet and headed towards the club. As soon as we did we saw a long line of kids waiting outside. They were our age or older and they were all talking excitedly or swaying to the music that was coming from inside.

Hiroshi stood on his tiptoes. ‘Are they letting us in yet, Yukio? Can you see?'

‘Not yet,' I said. ‘But soon.'

And then the line started to move and we headed for the door.

It seemed to take forever to get there but we were soon inside. We passed a doorman, and handing a woman the tickets we scurried downstairs. The place smelled of stale beer and smoke, and the carpet was sticky to walk on, but boy was it buzzing! The music was blasting, the spotlights were beaming, and then the dance floor lit up like a rainbow. Everyone scurried to get a seat, but we grabbed a booth by the bar. More kids poured down the stairs and within no time the place was packed. But when the girls took to the dance floor the club began to rock.

‘This is great!' shouted Hiroshi.

I got three Cokes from the hard-faced barmaid, and by the time I got back Hiroshi was on the dance floor. I'd never seen him happier. He was dancing with two girls at once and he was dancing well. And then I felt obliged to ask Miko.

‘Do you want to dance?'

‘Do you?'

‘I don't know how,' I said.

‘Come on. I'll show you.' And taking my hand she led me on to the dance floor. Miko danced an
easy dance and I tried to do what she did. But I ended up looking like a robot that needed oil. I saw some girls laughing at me. I felt embarrassed at first, but then Miko laughed and I didn't care. She was having a good time and that's all that mattered.

We danced to half a dozen tunes and then we took a seat, but Hiroshi didn't. He kept on going, and when there were no girls to dance with he danced by himself.

Miko cradled her bag. ‘It's the best present anyone's ever bought me.' She looked right in my eyes. ‘I just love it!'

I felt kind of shy and I had to look away. And that's when I saw them.

It was the Tanaka girls, Riko and her psychotic sister, Louise. They paraded in with their entourage and their yakuza bodyguards. The yakuza are the Japanese mafia, and the girls were princesses in a criminal empire, known nieces to gangster godfather Uncle Benni. Why they called him Uncle Benni I don't know. But there was a big stink in the paper, not so long back, when he was photographed at a banquet with the Mitsubishi board of directors.

The girls were his brother's kids, but the brother was in prison. And from what I heard he was never
getting out. And so Uncle Benni looked after them, or he tried to. They were as wild as they come and they were famous in Tokyo because they were the only teenage girls to have committed
yubitsume
. You see, when a yakuza fails in their duty they're expected to take a sharp knife, cut off a section of their pinky finger and hand the amputated part to the person they've offended. Not even Uncle Benni could protect them from that ritual. Louise had lost a section of one pinky, but Riko had lost a bit of them both.

But now there's an operation you can have. They amputate your little toe and sow it on to your pinky, so no one would ever know you were yakuza. But the girls didn't care. They had steel claws made and put them over their missing digits. They were yakuza to the bone and they always would be. They even had tattoos. Tattoos are taboo in Japan. Even yakuza men keep them covered up. But the girls had them all over their arms and backs, and Louise, who was younger, had serpents curling up around her neck. She looked scary, but she was nowhere near as scary as Riko. Riko was blind in one eye because of a beating she received from her gangland boyfriend. But then her boyfriend had to answer to
her stepmother, Matsu. And she wasn't an eye-for-an-eye sort of person. Whatever you'd done to her she'd do double to you.

You see, there used to be two rival yakuza clans who were always at odds. The Tanaka, led by Uncle Benni, and the Yamamoto, led by Tomi Yamamoto, who now rules Osaka and everything south of it. But when Uncle Benni met Tomi's sister, Matsu, it was love at first sight. They were married and an alliance was formed with Uncle Benni at the head. Matsu couldn't have kids and so she doted on the girls. And when she found out what had happened she went ballistic. She scoured Tokyo, with a crew, until she found Riko's boyfriend, and then she put things right. He ratted her out, of course, and she was given ten years. When the judge asked her if she had anything to say about the awful thing she'd done, she quoted a samurai saying: ‘If you're going to stab, stab to the eyes.'

There was nothing fuzzy about the Tanaka, and the Yamamoto were just as life-threatening. You see, I knew all about the yakuza because of this kid at school called Kane. His father was a cop in the Organized Crime Division. He'd tell his son stories, and his son would tell them to me. He even gave
me books on the yakuza to read. But I didn't need a book to know who the Tanaka girls were. They were like celebrities in Tokyo and everyone knew them, or knew of them. And everyone knew to keep away.

They took a booth opposite us and bottles of sake were brought to their table. And boy could they drink. They knocked back one shot after another and kept it up like it was a competition. And if it was, Riko was winning. You could tell the girls apart because Louise had dyed blonde hair. But even if she hadn't, Riko's right eye gave her away. It was like a cat's eye caught in the dark and it blazed in the lights like a blue gem. Then her face hardened like a mask carved for the Noh theatre. She'd noticed us looking and she didn't like it. Without taking her eyes from us she said something to Louise. And then Louise said something to a guy next to her. That's when I recognized Kako.

He used to go to my school, but he was expelled over an incident that happened between him and a woman teacher. I never heard much about it because it was hushed up. But he was always making himself out to be yakuza, which he wasn't. And he told everyone that he was a Tanaka. But that wasn't
quite true either. His name was Kakomo and he was the illigitimate son of one of Uncle Benni's distant relatives, but he'd been killed in a car accident. And so the only real connection he had to the Tanakas was that he dated his cousin Louise.

Louise went to the DJ stand and the music changed. Then she got on the dance floor and danced like a drug-crazed zombie to a song called ‘Psycho Killer'. And didn't she look like death on the dance floor. Then a drumbeat played over the song and Riko got up. Talk about psychopathic, she looked like a loon trying to get out of a straitjacket. Everyone started to move away and I didn't blame them. Then their whole crew took to the floor and danced like they were possessed.

Hiroshi came running over to us. ‘The Tanaka girls are here! They're so cool! I love this place!' He went off to dance near them.

‘Hiroshi!' I shouted, but he never heard me.

I was going to get up, but the girls paid him no attention and so I sat back.

Then I saw Kako ogling Miko. And then he started dancing next to Hiroshi. They were laughing and joking and then Kako introduced him to the Tanaka girls and they all danced together.
For obvious reasons I didn't like it. And when the song ended they came over to us, which I liked even less.

‘This is my twin sister, Miko,' said Hiroshi.

Kako gave her a sickly smile and taking her hand he kissed it. ‘Very pleased to meet you.'

Miko wasn't pleased. She just looked embarrassed.

‘And this is our friend Yukio Takeda.'

‘You don't have to introduce me to the best kendo swordsman in our school,' said Kako. ‘How are you, Yukio?'

‘OK,' I said. I was kind of cold towards him, but I have to admit I felt boosted that he knew my name. We'd never spoken at school, not once.