Tokyo Year Zero (22 page)

Masaoka Hisae who follows her landlady back along the narrow wooden corridor, back down the steep wooden stairs to light a cigarette and tighten the belt of her
yukata
and narrow her eyes and scowl and then sigh and ask us, ‘What do you want this time?’

*

The Shibuya police station is tense. The Shibuya police station is armed to its teeth. Nishi and I should have taken Masaoka to either the Meguro or the Atago police station. But the chief told us to take anybody we find into the Shibuya police station. The Shibuya station is tense. The Shibuya station is armed to its teeth. The Shibuya station raided the headquarters of Kakyō Sōkai, the association of Chinese merchants. The Shibuya station took away Kō Gyoku-Ju, the vice-president of the Kakyō Sōkai. The Shibuya station tense. The Shibuya Station armed to its teeth. The Shibuya station is holding Kō Gyoku-Ju in a cell downstairs. The Shibuya station doesn’t want anyone to know. Shibuya station tense. Shibuya armed to its teeth. But everyone knows what will happen next –

Because they are coming. They are coming
…

Nishi and I commandeer an upstairs room to use to interview Masaoka Hisae. Then Nishi and I send a message to Chief Inspector Kanehara at Metro Headquarters. Now Nishi and I leave Masaoka in a downstairs cell to wait until Inspector Kanehara arrives from Headquarters. Until it’s time to begin the interview –

They are coming. They are coming
…

Masaoka in the downstairs cell opposite Kō Gyoku-Ju and his bloodied face and his blackened eyes –

They are coming
.

*

The night is coming down now. Chief Inspector Kanehara here now. The sweat running in rivers down Masaoka Hisae’s face and neck. The fan in her hand never stops. The scowl on her face never leaves –

Never leaves until Kanehara shows her a photograph –

Masaoka stares at the photograph. Masaoka nods her head and says, ‘Yoshiko and I visited his room in the barracks…’

‘He has a room in the barracks, does he?’

‘Yes,’ she says. ‘Just a futon and…’

‘So you went there for sex?’

‘He promised us
zanpan,’
she says. ‘Bread and sausages from Shinchū kitchens. Leftovers and scraps…’

‘Did you screw him?’

‘Yes,’ she says.

‘Did Abe?’

‘No,’ she says. ‘At least not while we were there together. She refused him…’

‘And when was this?’

‘May or June…’

‘Where?’

‘The Shinchū Gun barracks down at the old Naval Business and Accounting School in Shinagawa. That was where he worked and that was where he had his room…’

‘Did you stay there?’

‘Yes.’

‘Both of you?’

‘Three of us.’

‘Who was the third girl?’

‘Tominaga…’

‘And did she fuck him?’

‘Maybe,’ laughs Masaoka. ‘He could
fuck
all night could that one, said he was making up for all the screws he had lost…’

‘But he wasn’t Shinchū Gun, was he?’

‘He had bread. He had meat.’

We have no rice. No food
…

‘You fuck for bread?’

We all beg for food
…

‘He was kind to us.’

We all beg
…

‘Kind to you?’

Beg
…

‘Yes.’

‘So, after Abe was murdered, you never thought it could have been this man who killed your friend on the ninth of June?’

‘No, but now you’ve told me all these things and now you’ve shown me his photograph, maybe…’

‘But you didn’t mention him to Chief Inspector Mori at the time of the murder, did you?’

‘No one mentioned him to me and I didn’t think he could have been her killer…’

‘Did he tell you he’d already been convicted of the murder of his father-in-law?’

‘He never said,’ she smiles. ‘Or I would have mentioned it.’

‘He’s also confessed to the rape and murder of a girl.’

‘Well then, maybe he murdered Yoshiko…’

‘But he definitely knew Abe Yoshiko?’

‘He definitely knew her, yes.’

‘He had asked her for sex?’

‘He asked her for sex.’

‘And she refused?’

‘That night, yes.’

‘Thank you,’ says Chief Inspector Kanehara. ‘You have been very helpful, Miss Masaoka.’

Masaoka Hisae narrows her eyes now and scowls at him and asks, ‘Can I go home then?’

‘In a little while,’ I tell her. ‘But I have a few more questions to ask you first…’

Masaoka Hisae folds her arms back in front of her and says, ‘Go on then, please.’

‘I want you to tell me a little bit more about your group.’

Masaoka Hisae laughs. ‘My group? My
fūten
group?’

There are boots on the stairs now, boots coming
…

‘Yes,’ I say. ‘Their names and their ages…’

Boots coming down the corridor
…

Now the door flies open without a knock, a uniformed policeman falling into the interview room, panting, ‘All hell’s broken loose, sir! The Formosans, the Chinese and the Koreans have all joined forces and they have attacked the markets at Shimbashi and at ōji and they have stoned the Atago and ōji police stations and they have injured Police Chief Hashioka of the ōji police station…’

The Chinks are murdering the Japanese
…

‘There are thousands of them and they have come up from Osaka and Kobe and they have got Chinese sailors from a Chinese battleship anchored in Yokohama and they are armed with machine guns and they are firing at the police and the Japanese…’

The Chinks are murdering the Japanese
…

‘Now they are all heading this way, heading here to the Shibuya station to bust out Kō Gyoku-Ju…’

*

Kanehara, Nishi and I run downstairs and outside.
They are coming
. The night is here.
They are coming
. It is 9 p.m. and the battle lines have been drawn.
They are coming
. Two hundred policemen standing guard outside the Shibuya police station.
They are coming
. Inspector Adachi here, a short sword in one hand, a drawn pistol in the other.
They are coming
. Five trucks full of Formosans approach –

Nerves. Nerves. Nerves. Nerves. Nerves. Nerves
…

‘They are here! They are here! They are here!’

Nerves. Nerves. Nerves. Nerves. Nerves
…

Police stop the first truck.
Nerves
. The driver tells the officers they are heading for the Kakyō Sōkai headquarters.
Nerves
. The officers make their report to the Shibuya chief.
Nerves
. The Shibuya chief tells them to let the trucks pass through.
Nerves
. The first truck is allowed through the checkpoint.
Nerves
. Then the second.
Nerves
. Then the third.
Nerves
. Then the fourth.
Nerves
. Finally the fifth –

Nerves. Nerves. Nerves. Nerves
…

The fifth truck with its tailgate down.
Nerves
. The fifth truck with a machine gun mounted in the back.
Nerves
. The machine gun mounted in the back that now opens fire, that cuts through the night, that sends policemen running, hitting two policemen, cutting them down, other officers scrambling for their own revolvers, firing back –

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang
…

Now I see Senju’s men and Tokyo policemen side by side –

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang
…

Formosans firing back from the trucks. Formosans falling from the backs of the trucks, bleeding. Formosans lying in the street –

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang
…

One, two, three, four, five, six Formosans lying in the street –

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang
…

Through the windscreen of a Formosan truck, the driver hit –

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang
…

The truck up on the sidewalk. The truck fast into a wall –

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang
…

Formosans spilling out of the back of the truck –

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang
…

They have iron clubs. They have pickaxes –

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang
…

We have revolvers. We have bullets –

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang
…

I see Senju Akira with his pistol –

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang
…

One, two, three, four –

Bang! Bang! Bang
…

Dead Formosans –

Bang! Bang
…

Five, six –

Bang!

*

There is blood in the entrance to the Shibuya police station. There is blood on the floor of reception. There is blood down the corridor. There is blood on the stairs. There is blood on the walls. There is blood in the cells downstairs. The cells all full. The cells all silent –

There are men with buckets. Men with mops –

The Victors will be here at any moment –

Men with cloths and men with bleach –

Men with pistols and men with gags –

The Victors will demand answers –

‘They’re here! They’re here!’

We can hear the engines of the Victors’ jeeps. We can hear their trucks. We can hear them pull up outside the Shibuya police station. We can hear their doors slam. We can hear the Victors’ boots. Now we can see the Victors’ faces –

Here they come again
…

Through the station doors, the Victors and their Nisei translators, waving their arms and shouting their orders –

‘What’s happened here?’ they ask the Shibuya police chief –

‘There was an attack by a group of Formosans,’ he says –

‘Where are these Formosans now?’ they ask him –

‘They have fled in their trucks,’ he tells them –

‘Did you make any arrests?’ they ask him –

‘Not yet,’ the Shibuya chief tells them –

‘You have no suspects in custody?’

‘Unfortunately not,’ he says –

The Victors look around at the entrance to the Shibuya police station. The sparkling clean entrance to the Shibuya station. The Victors look around at the reception. The sparkling clean reception. The Victors look down the corridor. The sparkling clean corridor. But the Victors don’t look down the stairs. The stairs that were covered in blood. The Victors don’t look at the walls. The walls that were covered in blood. The Victors don’t ask to see the cells downstairs. The cells that are full of men with gags in their mouths, full of other men with pistols in their hands, bloody gags and bloody pistols –

The Victors don’t see these men with bloody pistols –

These men with bloody gags in their mouths –

See nothing. Hear nothing. Say nothing
…

The Victors go back out through the station doors. The Victors get back in their trucks. They get back in their jeeps –

The Victors start their engines. The Victors leave –

‘They’re gone!’

And now so are we, back down the stairs that were covered in blood, back past the walls that were covered in blood, back to the
cells that are still all full, that are still all silent –

No one can save them now
…

They have stripped the Formosans of their pistols.
No one can save them now
. They have stripped the Formosans of their knives.
No one can save them now
. They have stripped the Formosans of their staves.
No one can save them now
. They have stripped the Formosans of their clubs.
No one can save them now
. They have stripped the Formosans of their pickaxes.
No one can save them now
. They have stripped the Formosans of their money.
No one can save them now
. They have stripped the Formosans of their clothes.
No one can save them now
. Now they will strip these Formosans of one last thing –

Every man in Shibuya police station down in the cells –

The rumours of dead Japanese policemen
…

Policemen with guns. Policemen with swords –

I don’t know why I came down here
…

The cells have been opened –

I don’t want to watch
…

The beatings begun –

I don’t want to see
…

Chief Inspector Adachi with his short sword drawn; his lips are moving but no words are forming, tears rolling down his cheeks –

Adachi brings the blade of his short sword up close to his face. He stares into the blade, bewitched as the blade catches the light –

His eyes, red spots on white
…

‘Revenge! Revenge!’

Blood on the blade
…

‘Captain!’

There is fresh blood on the walls and there is fresh blood on the floors, on their knuckles and on their boots, on their shirt cuffs and on their pant legs, tonight the fresh blood is Formosan blood –

The blood on our hands and the blood on our lips
…

There are lost teeth and bits of their bones –

We are the Losers. We are the Defeated
…

There are screams and then silence.

They will drive their bodies out of the city, out beyond Kokubunji, beyond Tachikawa. They will turn their bodies into ash out among the trees of the Musashino plain. Then they will drive back into the city with the morning light. They will hose down the backs of their trucks. They will set fire to their arrest sheets. They
will destroy the custody records. Then they will rewrite history –

Their history. Your history. My history. Our history
…

They will tell lie upon lie, lie after lie, until they believe lie upon lie, lie after lie, until they believe there were no custody records. There were no arrest sheets. There were no beatings in the cells. There were no murders in the cells. There were no bloody bodies in the backs of their trucks. There are no ashes and bones out among the Musashino trees. They will tell lie upon lie, lie after lie after lie –

The caretaker and the boiler-man pick up their spades
…