[Narise Konohara] In the Box - Pt. 13

("Out of the Cage" Part 3)

This is a continuation of PART 12.

After that, Kashiwai continued to question Douno on every little detail about himself, but thanks to his mild tone of speech, it did not get on Douno’s nerves. Last time he had been arrested, he had felt sick to the stomach at the investigating detective’s arrogant attitude, not to mention the interrogation, which had practically been a blackmailing session. At the time, Douno had vowed never to get involved with the police again, but now he wondered if the police were kind to him because he was the victim this time.

His conversation with Kashiwai finished past four in the afternoon. The police had begun to sweep the river-bottom earlier on, but nothing had turned up by evening. Douno was quite frankly relieved.

[Narise Konohara] In the Box - Pt. 12

("Out of the Cage" Part 2)

This is a continuation of PART 11.

Overtime wore on late that day, and by the time Douno left the office, it was past nine at night. An accident had happened along the route home, closing off an entire lane and bringing traffic to a standstill. Douno did not get to his apartment until past ten.

The asphalt in the parking lot still carried a damp smell from the heat wave during the day. Exhausted, Douno climbed the stairs with a drooping head, and when he opened the door to his apartment, the first thing he saw was a familiar pair of shoes. Dirty white runners―Kitagawa was here.

[Narise Konohara] In the Box - Pt. 11

("Out of the Cage" Part 1)

This is a continuation of PART 10.


OUT OF THE CAGE

It was warmer outside than he thought―enough to make him think he did not need the coat he had worn out that day. Takafumi Douno was sitting on a park bench, absently watching his daughter, Honoka, play in the sand. She was turning four this year.

The three of them had gone out shopping when his wife, Mariko, said she had forgotten to buy something. When she explained that it was dish detergent, Douno offered to go back and buy it for her.

“But you don’t know which brand we use, do you?” Mariko had answered him, hunching her shoulders.

Schools were out for the spring holidays, and it was a sunny Sunday afternoon. There were many children in the park who looked about primary-school age. Douno remembered Mariko mentioning she wanted a second child. He liked children and they were dear to him, but his low salary made it hard to say yes.

[Narise Konohara] In the Box - Pt. 10

("The Fragile Swindler" Part 5, final)

This is a continuation of PART 9.

On Saturday, March 27, Oe participated in the gathering as Taketoshi Matsuzaki. His wife stopped him before he left the house.

“I have something I need to tell you tonight,” she said. Oe assumed it was about their daughter’s university admissions fee, tuition, and other such things.

“I don’t know what time I’ll be back. Can we talk about this next time?” Oe managed to defer the topic, all the while feeling just a little bit weary of it all.

Oe arrived an hour early at the hotel in Omiya, Saitama, where the gathering was to be held. It was a small venue, like an extension of a business hotel. Oe had researched the scale and size of this event beforehand, but he was nevertheless relieved upon seeing the real thing. A hotel like this, with only one entrance, was much easier to stake out than a luxury hotel with multiple entrances and exits. The only fault he could find was that the entire lobby, which was small like the rest of the hotel, could easily be seen from the reception desk. However, his stakeout was not going to be several days long. Most likely the people at the front desk would only think of him as a loitering customer. Oe had actually wanted to stake out the venue entrance, but the place was cramped and there were no chairs nearby. He would end up making himself conspicuous if he lingered for an hour or more. The last thing Oe wanted to do was leave some sort of impression on Douno, who was possibly attending this gathering as well.

[Narise Konohara] In the Box - Pt. 9

("The Fragile Swindler" Part 4)

This is a continuation of PART 8.

It wasn’t until he got home that Oe realized his wallet was missing from his back trouser pocket. He did not remember putting it in his coat. Perhaps he had dropped it on the way home ― but at this point he did not care much. There was not much cash in the wallet anyway, and as for credit cards, all he had to do was freeze them. He didn’t need the coat that Kitagawa was curled up in, nor the 70,000 yen inside it. He didn’t care about the pittance. He wanted to sever all relations with that man. Right here, right now, if he could.

Oe sat down, propped his elbows on the dining table, and cradled his head in his hands. He had gone too far. He had never been more wrong in his choice of victim.

Oe had no idea that Kitagawa had killed someone, and not even in the normal sense of stabbing someone in a fit of passion. The man ripped people apart. No one in a stable state of mind could do that.

[Narise Konohara] In the Box - Pt. 8

("The Fragile Swindler" Part 3)

This is a continuation of PART 7.

Oe took the paper bag he had received from Kitagawa home to his own apartment. If it was found in the office by the chief or by Katori, he would not be able to account for it. He took a cheap dinner at a beef-bowl franchise for under 500 yen, and got home past ten o’clock. Only the light in the doorway was on, and it appeared his wife and daughter were already asleep.

Oe went to the kitchen and took out a beer from the fridge. He took a swig, then began to lay out the investigation reports from Kitagawa on the dining table. There were about twenty reports, and he sorted them out by year.

The oldest was from four years ago. In a year, Kitagawa had commissioned three to four detective agencies for two to three months each. He supposed price-friendly agencies would charge about 400,000 yen per case at the cheapest. Continue that for four years, and it added up to 6 million yen. Going by this calculation, it meant this man had already spent this ridiculous sum of money solely for the purpose of finding one man. Oe unwittingly sighed―out of exasperation.

Oe perused the reports in order from the oldest. He could sense from the writing the kind of difficulty each agency went through because of the lack of information.

Some agencies had searched for prisoners who lived in the same cell as Kitagawa and Douno. They had probably figured they could find out about Douno from other cellmates, but it was difficult to find cellmates based on just their names. They had found one man called Kakizaki, however―“Re-arrested and currently serving in prison. Unable to secure an interview,” said the report, and that was the disappointing end of that thread.

[Narise Konohara] In the Box - Pt. 7

("The Fragile Swindler" Part 2)

This is a continuation of PART 6.

The next day, the man that Oe had been tailing finished work at ten minutes to seven and headed home without stopping anywhere along the way. Oe’s job was over the minute the man stepped into his house. The time was half past seven. It was approximately twenty minutes from the man’s house to Oe’s office. He could make it for his eight-thirty appointment without rushing.

In truth, Oe was less than eager to see the persistent man again, but he felt guilty pushing the burden onto his chief. Oe steeled himself and strode purposefully down the narrow path through the residential neighbourhood.

He was not in a rush by all means, but a sheen of sweat began to form on his forehead. The ground had still not dried from the rain, which had not let up until late last evening, and the humid air stuck to his skin. It felt like the rainy season was here already. When Oe boarded the train, he was momentarily released from the humidity by the cool air in the air-conditioned car.

[Novel] NO. 6 - Afterwords

Jump:
Volume 1 B | Volume 2 T/B | Volume 3 T/B | Volume 4 T/B | Volume 5 B
Volume 7 B (NEW)
T = tankobon = hardcover edition
B = bunko = paperback edition

* * *
last -- 2013.06.04
Since I only have up to Volume 5 in paperback (which includes hardcover afterwords as well), I will only be able to post those up. As far as I know she has no afterwords in hardcover editions of Volume 6-9. If the paperback editions of these have afterwords that you would like to have translated, if someone can send me scans I will be more than happy to.

For more information about bunko and tankobon, please read here.

* * *

[Narise Konohara] In the Box - Pt. 6

("The Fragile Swindler" Part 1)
Here begins the second section of In the Box.

This is a continuation of PART 5.


THE FRAGILE SWINDLER

It was the kind of wearisome day where it had been raining since morning, extinguishing any desire to go out. Rainy days were becoming more and more often since entering the last weeks of September. One’s wet umbrella had barely any time to dry before being drenched again.

It was past three in the afternoon when the doorbell in the Nishiyama Detective Agency rang. Michitoshi Oe was in the middle of typing up an investigation report on his computer. The template made his work easier, but he was not very skilled at composition to begin with. Twenty years of doing it had not made him like it any better. A sigh escaped his lips every time he got stuck on a sentence.

[Narise Konohara] In the Box - Pt. 5

My apologies for my utter lack of ability in writing titillating sentences.

This is a continuation of PART 4.

WARNING: Sexual content.

Douno resigned himself to being kissed at night, and concluded that there was nothing he could do. If he said no, Kitagawa would not listen; on the other hand, if he resisted and made a commotion, he would only cause trouble for his fellow cellmates. If he felt Kitagawa kissing him, Douno made sure not to open his eyes. He pretended to be asleep, and waited patiently for the man’s presence to leave him.

Perhaps because of his long stint in prison, Kitagawa was sensitive to the footsteps of the night guard. Sometimes in the middle of a kiss, Kitagawa would draw away suddenly. A dozen or so seconds later, the guard would come patrolling. The guard walked on the carpeted part of the hallway during rounds, and his footsteps were faint; they were not faint enough, however, to escape Kitagawa’s uncanny hearing ability.

Kitagawa was also a master of concealment. The cold pills he had given to Douno were pills he had been collecting since summertime, by lying at every medical checkup that he was ill. Collecting medicine was against the rules, and was punishable if caught. But even during spot checks of their belongings in the group cell or in the factory, Kitagawa’s pills were never found. When it came to hiding things, he was incredibly adept.