The Psyche Diver Trilogy: Demon Hunters (34 page)

“Who are you?”

“We haven’t had the pleasure until now. But I think you might have heard my name.”

Toyama made a show of looking him up and down. Then a look of abject terror appeared on his face, as if remembering something. The fear seemed to propagate through his entire frame.

“You look like it’s come back to you.”

“F...Fuminari?”

“The one and only. Senkichi Fuminari.”

Toyama stumbled backwards. Fuminari took a single, deliberate step, closing the distance between them. Toyama’s knowledge of Fuminari appeared not to end at his gigantic size alone. Beads of sweat had started to gather over his nose and forehead.

“Minister Toyama,” Fuminari said, making it clear that he already knew who he was addressing.

“W...what are you doing here?” Toyama’s voice was breaking.

“What am
I
doing here?” Fuminari repeated in a low snarl. He cocked his head to the right and gave Toyama a powerfully murderous stare. Toyama shrunk like a small forest animal cornered by its natural predator. “Let’s just say it happens that I have a few questions for you.”

“Questions?”

“About
Pan-shi-ga-ru,
” Fuminari said, emphasizing each syllable.

Toyama looked suddenly worried; he looked purposefully at Natsuyo, then back at Fuminari.
Afraid for her to hear the word.
Fuminari reached down and plucked the man’s sunglasses from his face, revealing a pair of cowering eyes.

“No need to hide your face anymore, is there?” Fuminari said.

Toyama looked at the floor, his eyes strayed again to Natsuyo.

“Yeah yeah,” Fuminari nodded, chuckling as his grin deepened. “You, come over here,” Fuminari said, addressing Natsuyo.

Natsuyo pulled away, perhaps an instinct. When she turned, making to run, Fuminari brought the side of his hand sweeping down to impact her neck. She collapsed without a sound. The gown had ridden up her legs, exposing the smooth curves of her buttocks. The swell of flesh between her legs was visible, pressed together by her thighs.

“Now you won’t have to worry about her overhearing.”

“Did you
kill
her?”

“She’ll live. I just sent her to sleep for a while.”

Toyama said nothing.

“Take a seat?” Fuminari used his jaw to gesture towards the sofa he had been sitting in before.

“Do you know what it is you’re getting into here?” Toyama asked as he sat down.

“Words I’d expect from a politician, but one straighter than you.”

The rebuke silenced Toyama. His greying hair was loose over his forehead. The man was fifty-six, but it looked like he had suddenly aged a great deal. Heavy lines crossed his forehead. Toyama put one of his hands inside his summer suit. Fuminari had the man’s arm in a lock before he had even blinked.

“Listen, you
don’t
want to fuck around with me.” Fuminari squeezed the man’s wrist, twisting his arm upwards. Toyama had been reaching for a checkbook. Fuminari took it off him.

“What are you doing?”

Fuminari tossed the object on the table in front of them.

“Just tell me how much you want,” Toyama begged.

“Don’t insult me.”

“You don’t want money?”

“I told you what I’m after. Shall I spell it out to you again?”

Toyama clamped his mouth shut.

“I’m here for information on Panshigaru. I want that abomination Hanko’s head,” he practically roared the words.

He grabbed Toyama’s chin in his right hand and pushed it upwards. He placed a thumb over the man’s lower front teeth and pushed. Three of Toyama’s teeth snapped with a gory crunch. The man screamed, making a noise like a strangled bird as blood and saliva gushed from his mouth and over the table. The three broken teeth came out in the mix. Toyama traced his tongue over the stumps where his teeth had been, he began to moan. Fuminari forced the man’s jaw up again, bringing their faces so close it was difficult to focus.

“You will answer my questions. If you stumble over an answer, at any time, I will smash more of your teeth.”

Fuminari grinned as blood and saliva dribbled from Toyama’s mouth, soaking his hand. He pawed the blood back into Toyama’s face, then took the man by the jaw again.

“Let me start with something easy. There is an organization called the L.L.S. Tell me about it.”

Toyama remained silent. Another crunch. The man was sweating profusely, soaked like he had been caught in a thunderstorm. His face was white.

“They’ll kill me if I they find out I told you anything,” Toyama finally spoke, his mouth trembling as he did.

Another crunch as more teeth were broken.

“You’d rather die now, I take it?”

Fuminari grabbed the back of the man’s head and pushed the tip of his right thumb into the man’s nose. He pressed, almost casually. There was a crack as his finger crushed through cartilage. Toyama had reached his threshold. It had been the sounds made as his teeth and nose broke that had levied the greatest effect, inciting more fear than the pain itself. Blood trickled from his nose as he opened his mouth to speak.

“The Life and Light School is a new religion, run by a woman called Miwa Ishibashi and a man called Geshin.” Blood continued to seep from his nose and mouth, running over the collar of his shirt and onto his skin underneath. He had tears in his eyes.

“That much I know already. What I want to know now is how it relates to Panshigaru,” Fuminari clarified.

Toyama closed his mouth and rubbed his hand over his face, spreading the red blood everywhere. The sight was disgusting. Fuminari’s nose filled with the stink of the man’s blood.

“The L.L.S. is a front for Panshigaru. It exists as camouflage for the organization.”

“Huh.”

“Only a handful of its staff know of Panshigaru’s existence.”

“What does Panshigaru do?”

“I don’t know all the details.”

“Playing dumb?”

“No!”

“Okay, fine. Tell me what you do know.”

“All I know is that they’re searching for a method to attain immortality. Eternal life.”

“And they’re serious?”

“They seem very serious.”

“You said ‘they’? Aren’t you in cahoots with them?”

“I’m just a puppet in this. All I do is execute Master Kurogosho’s orders.”

Fuminari considered this.

“It was ten years ago. I was visited by a man called Akio Ishibashi. At the time I was failing as a politician, unlikely to make Minster, getting nowhere in the Conservative Party.”

“Akio, your secretary...”

“He turned up with two-hundred million yen in cash. He stacked it up before me, asking me to hire him as my personal secretary. He told me that if I did he would provide more funds, even guarantee that I made Minister.”

“Huh.”

“Naturally, I asked him why. Don’t get me wrong, I needed that money, but there was obviously something underfoot going on. He told me that he wanted me to be a spokesperson for a new religion once I had become Minister.”

“The L.L.S.”

“Yes. He promised that the L.L.S. would furnish me with all the votes and funds I needed.”

Fuminari waited for him to continue.

“So I agreed to let him introduce me to Miwa Ishibashi.”

“What kind of woman is she?”

“She had spent a lot of time traveling the world when she was young. Most notably in India, gathering information on various religions. After returning to Japan she founded the L.L.S. Now, she is an old woman in her seventies.”

“What’s her relationship to Akio Ishibashi?”

“She's his mother.”

“Right, so you took their money and hired Ishibashi as your secretary.”

“To be frank, I regret ever doing so.”

“Why?”

“The L.L.S. are bad enough, but Panshigaru is nothing short of terrifying.”

“I know. Tell me about Kurogosho.”

Toyama said nothing.

“You might as well spit it out, you’ve said this much already.”

“He came into money while working for the military during the Manchurian Incident; well, some say he was already rich, there are a load of stories. I don’t know the truth, and I wouldn’t want to find out.”

“Was Enoh with him then?”

“Yes, they met in Manchuria. Again, many of the details are unclear.”

“What about Geshin? He was a monk at Mt. Koya, right? How did he get involved with Miwa?”

“They met by chance. Together, they share a vast knowledge of cult religions, so I initially thought that was the reason behind the union. It appears that I was wrong though.”

“How so?”

“It was Geshin that told Miwa Ishibashi about Kukai. She took it on herself to pass the details to Master Kurogosho.”

“What did he say about Kukai?”

“That Kukai was...still alive.”

“Is he?”

“All I know is what Geshin told her. I don’t know if it’s true. That was when Panshigaru had Enoh and Hanko steal Kukai from the burial chamber.”

“Now we’re getting to the meat of it. Hanko. Where is he now?”

Toyama said nothing, his tongue dabbed at his blood-soaked mouth.

“Tell me now!” Fuminari roared, grabbing Toyama’s throat in his left hand.

“L...Lake Megami,” Toyama answered, voice breaking.

“Lake Megami?”

“Yes, Lake Megami, in Shinshu. Master Kurogosho’s residence is located in the forests beyond the lake.”

Just then, as Toyama was speaking, Fuminari heard a subdued sound from beyond the door. Footsteps, approaching stealthily over the carpeted floor.

“You bastard, Toyama!”

Fuminari grabbed the man’s chest with his left hand, feeling through his inside pocket with his right. There was something there. Fuminari pulled it out, a micro-transmitter. Toyama had probably switched it on when pulling out the checkbook, it had been misdirection. He had tipped off his bodyguards, letting them know he was in danger. The method of the man’s deception was clear.

“Damn it!”

Fuminari grabbed the man, pulling him up just as the living room door was violently kicked in. Muted gunfire cut through the room, their guns were fitted with silencers. Fuminari pulled Toyama around as a shield; bullets rained into the man’s back. One grazed Fuminari’s right shoulder. He charged at the gunmen, carrying the weight of Toyama’s sagging body.

He had already taken note of his opponents, two with guns, two with knives ready to attack.

An animal roar thundered from his lips. His right foot sent one of the guns into the air as he hurled Toyama at the other gunman. The second gunman tumbled backwards as Fuminari propelled himself into the air, directly towards him. The man steadied himself and made to bring his gun to Fuminari.

Fuminari’s kick was faster. As he descended, Fuminari had aimed a kick directly below the man’s gun. The man’s wrist snapped as the gun went flying into the far wall. Fuminari landed with the heel of his right foot in the face of the man now lying on his back. Fuminari’s entire falling weight flowed into a single point. The man’s face collapsed, crunching as his skull broke, leaving Fuminari’s heel half-stuck in the remains. The man’s eyes popped out as the carpet silently absorbed the twin streams of blood that had jetted from his ears. The man’s body jerked around under Fuminari’s boot, as though performing some macabre dance. A cute show for his compatriots, while he died in front of them. The remaining three men watched in shock. None of them appeared to have thought to pick up the gun that had just gone flying across the room.

Fuminari was in motion before the man’s dance ended, his chain of moves already assembled in his mind. First he would smash his right leg into the abdomen of the man with the knife closest to him. He would duck and snatch the knife from the man’s hand as he fell. He would launch the knife sideways into the throat of the man that had first pointed a gun at him, already on his way to pick it up, a thank-you present. By the time the man collapsed, the last of them would have turned to escape, convenient for Fuminari to bury his left leg in his back. He estimated needing a second or so to accomplish this.

His tree-like leg burst into flight with an audible rush of air, aimed directly for the first man’s abdomen. The man’s mouth was open, about to shout something as Fuminari readied this, his first step.

Everything proceeded as planned.

3

Fuminari gunned the Bluebird down the Tomei Expressway, exiting at the Gotenba Interchange on his route to the mountain pass.

He saw a single set of headlights in the rearview mirror still shining through the wide darkness. Fuminari already knew he was being followed. He had noticed the tail as he sided into the Tomei Expressway. Each time he accelerated, the car would accelerate with him; when he slowed, the car would match his drop in speed. This time, he left the indicator lights off as he turned off the expressway for the Gotenba Interchange. The car had braked hard, forcing it to veer into a sideways yaw. It managed to get onto the slipway, but only just. That had been his final test to confirm that the car was tailing him.

He turned to look at it as it sidled up behind him in the line for the tollgate; there were five men inside. Fuminari grinned, brandishing his teeth for the benefit of the man in the driver’s seat. It was the smile of a lion before the kill. Fuminari felt his dark blood coming to boil, the first time he’d felt the rush in a while. The smell of blood in Natsuyo’s apartment had rekindled his inner warrior.

The tailing car made its move once they were clear of the Otome Pass tollgate. It accelerated fast, apparently trying to overtake and force him to stop. It was close to midnight. The two cars picked up speed, flying past occasional cars still out on the roads. Fuminari took a hard left as they began to descend into Sengokubara, swerving into a tree-lined road. The road wove through Kintokiyama towards Minami Ashigara from Hakone. His plan was to find a place to stop and launch a pre-emptive strike.

The tail had probably been with him since he left Natsuyo Kuwabara’s apartment in Seijo. Toyama most likely had two security teams; one tasked with his direct protection, the other with orders to follow whoever left if the first failed. He had already vacated the lodge as a necessary precaution now that Hosuke Kumon was in the enemy’s hands and there was a chance he might reveal the location. Fuminari had to consider the eventuality that they would torture Hosuke for information. For now, he and Ryoko had booked a hotel in Atami to lie low.