mission report for nanyakanya
Title: Janizu Crossing: A Tale of Murder, Mystery, and Mayoring
Groups/Pairings: Nishikido Ryo/ Masuda Takahisa (if you squint), appearances by the rest of NEWS and assorted other Johnny's.
Rating: G
Warnings: none
Summary: Ryo moves to a new town for a fresh start and musical inspiration. But what he finds there is more than what he's expecting.
Notes: Thanks to my wonderful, wonderful beta and the ever-patient mod for enduring my slowness. I hope you enjoy this, Zoe!
It’s a sunny day in Janizu, on the day of the Mayor’s arrival.
Koyama hums all the way to the café for his morning mocha. He is in a fantastic mood. New mayor arriving, the peaches are thriving, and he can almost taste Shige’s perfect blend. He’s happy.
“Good morning!” Koyama says with a smile as he throws open the door to Shige’s place.
There’s a surly grunt from a hunched over figure by the counter. “Says who?” it asks crossly over a steaming mug.
“Don’t be like that, Yoko,” Koyama says, sliding onto the stool next to his. “I’m sure your night at the Post Office was uneventful as always - isn’t that a good thing?”
“You try a job where almost nothing ever happens except - yay - you get to sort through piles of letters with barely legible handwriting.” He knocks his empty mug against the countertop. “Fill ‘er up, Shige.”
Shige rolls his eyes at Koyama and does so.
“And someone’s always complaining that their letter got lost - like it’s my fault your stupid letter didn’t get there. I don’t do deliveries. And how do they find out it’s lost? They went over to the guy next door and asked if their letter ever came! Really? They went over to talk to the guy face to face about their letter?”
“Maybe you should cut back on the espresso,” Koyama says lightly.
Yoko empties his mug, making a small noise when the coffee burns his tongue, and sets it back down with a thud. “Ugh, that hits the spot. I’m going to home and I’m going to sleep for the next three years.”
Koyama laughingly shakes his head.
“You seem to be in a good mood,” Shige tells him, taking Yoko’s mug and wiping down the counter.
“New mayor coming in today. Finally. This town can get moving again after that last one ditched us and disappeared to who-knows-where. Probably bought his own island like that other old mayor and is living it up by the beach sipping coconut juice and surrounded by lovely ladies dancing in grass skirts.”
“You sure that’s not your own fantasy speaking?”
Koyama frowns. “Don’t be silly, Shige. You know I live only to work for this town. I want it to be the best. I want everyone to be happy.”
“Uh-huh. Just be sure you include yourself in that ‘everyone’ you’re talking about.”
Koyama finishes his coffee with a smile. “Thanks. Now I have to go to the station and wait for our new mayor.”
Shige nods. Koyama gives him a small, jaunty wave and whistles as he leaves. He just hopes the new mayor will be better than the last.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Janizu smells of peaches. Ryo takes a deep breath. Peaches and roses. Clean and fresh. It’s almost unnatural and he considers turning back before he remembers there’s no other place he would rather be. He reminds himself that he has chosen to come here himself. His friend told him about the town and recommended it heartily. Still, in the end he has come of his own free will, hoping the change in scenery and of pace will do him good and get the creative juices flowing once again. After all, it worked for one of his idols: his favourite musician of all time, Domoto Tsuyoshi, is always in Janizu these days.
He slings his backpack over one shoulder and his guitar over the other, steps out of the old red brick station, and blinks in the morning sun.
“There he is!” someone shouts from below the station steps. “There’s our new mayor! Welcome to Janizu!”
There is a bang like a gunshot. Ryo has a moment to think, Wouldn’t want to be that new mayor, before covering his head and ducking for cover.
There’s another bang, and another, and things start to fall from the sky. Colorful... swirly... things?
“Wait,” the same someone shouts. “I think we startled him.”
Ryo gingerly lifts his head. For a moment, there is nothing but glitter and confetti. However, his eyes soon adjust focus and he can see a small crowd standing at the bottom of the steps, watching him in concern.
Someone tall and leggy comes over and bends down to peer at his face. “Are you okay?” the man asks.
“Nhuh?” Ryo returns in confusion, slowly getting to his feet.
“Did the poppers startle you?”
Oh. Poppers. “Of course not!” he lies.
“Sorry about that.” The man glances back at his fellows. “He’s okay!” he yells. “The new mayor’s okay!”
And there is much cheering and applause.
Ryo dusts dirt off his clothes and checks his guitar, ignoring the noise, until it finally hits him. “Wait, what did you say?”
“Let us now take our new mayor to the town plaza for the ceremonial tree planting!”
“What?”
The man smiles at him. “Please follow me,” he says and marches off.
“Wait, wait! There must be some mistake! I’m not-aaargh, you don’t need to carry me on your shoulders!”
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Somehow, Ryo ends up living in a one-room shack near the edge of a cliff by the sea. He can hear the waves in the night, loud and yet calming at the same time. The scent of countless peach blossoms waft in through the open windows, for on the side of his house that doesn’t lead to an abrupt fall is a small peach orchard that, in the haze of his confusion earlier, he thought he heard the real estate agent
(Nagase? Tom? Tomoya? Whatever.)
say was part of the land, and up to him to tend.
Never signed up to be a peach...farmer? Orcharder? Ryo sits on his cheap, narrow bed and scratches his head. Things he knows about farming amount to about zero.
Things he knows about mayoring amount to even less. Yet no matter how much he shouted and protested, that darned smiley mayor’s assistant named Koyama just laughed it all off.
Ryo yawns and stretches.
Tomorrow, he thinks. I’ll sort it out tomorrow. And anyway, surely, the real mayor will show up and everything will be fine. But at that moment he is too tired from the trip and moving and all the excitement and tree-planting.
He lays his head on his pillow and closes his eyes. He’s asleep in the next instant, the sounds of the ocean to him a gentle song lulling him into a deep and peaceful slumber.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Ryo doesn’t notice the days go by, and before he knows it, he’s been in Janizu acting as the mayor for an entire week. No one has come to claim the seat and Koyama continues to be insistent, only nodding and smiling no matter how much Ryo shouts and waves his arms and explains. Ryo also realizes that it was a mistake to accept the house on the first day because now he’s several thousand bells in debt to Nagase and something tells him that for all his leniency and assurances of letting Ryo pay whenever he wants, it would be a whole different thing to just run out of town entirely.
That and one of Ryo’s life policies is to never trust a guy with slicked back hair and a sweater vest. Especially one who looks like he can pick Ryo up in one arm and break him in half.
Ryo consoles himself with the fact that the town is small and more or less manages itself, and the manual labour is almost cathartic in a way. There is something about working the land with your own two hands that gives him a feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment. Plus, hacking at trees with an axe turns out to be better stress management than anything Ryo has ever heard of.
That Domoto Tsuyoshi has an acoustic show practically every weekend is merely a bonus.
At the moment, Ryo and Koyama are going around town inspecting the existing public works and contemplating installing new ones. Someone asked him for an illuminated arch at every intersection. (That conversation ended badly.) However, some of the other requests are for more useful things - a water pump, a well, or a new bridge. It’s a bit of a pain to have to go around inspecting potential sites with Koyama - a complaint that Ryo has voiced loudly, repeatedly, while holding his axe. But Koyama blithely ignored all implied threats and dragged him out of the office that morning to go look around town.
Ryo pauses in the heart of his peach orchard after about an hour of wandering and listening to Koyama’s endless litany of why this or that spot would not ever do because they have to secure endless forms, or need more room, or have to deal with resident complaints before they could even start. He wipes sweat off his forehead and looks around. Something about the small clearing in front of him now just seems suddenly perfect. Well, almost perfect, but for a single tree standing in the way.
Koyama looks questioningly at him and consults his clipboard. “What is it? Do you think it’s a good spot for a well?”
Ryo breathes in. “It will do.”
Koyama frowns and goes up to the tree. “Well... This tree would have to go,” he said dubiously.
“We can always plant a new one somewhere,” he says.
“Yes, but are you sure? We might find a better spot later. And-”
Ryo groans, picks up his axe, and very deliberately swings at the trunk to head off any further protests.
The tree shakes at the blow.
And that’s when the brown burlap sack comes crashing through the branches to land at their feet with thud.
Koyama blinks. “Sir?”
“What’s that?”
“A sack,” comes the unhelpful reply.
Ryo rolls his eyes. “Yeah, I can see that. Come here and help me undo the knot at the top.”
It takes them over a minute of concerted effort to finally pull the rope tying it shut apart. The stuff inside make a strange dry, clacking sound.
Ryo glances at Koyama, shrugs, and finally turns the sack over, its contents spilling down onto the leaf-strewn ground.
“What’s that?” Koyama asks weakly after a moment of silence.
“Oh, I don’t know. Why don’t you try to break off a piece and taste it? It looks like it might be candy,” Ryo manages to say sarcastically.
Koyama looks at him blanky.
“It’s a goddamn skeleton,” Ryo shouts.
Koyama suddenly turns pale.
“Don’t you dare. Don’t you DARE faint on m- Oh, god damn it.”
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Nakamaru hasn’t been assigned to the Janizu station for very long. He’s only been there longer than the new mayor by about a week. His predecessor led him to believe that it’s a quiet, sedate town with very little crime, where the worst situation they experienced on the job was the one time two people showed up to claim the exact same lost and found item, resulting in a very heated janken marathon and a hole in the station window after one of them fired a slingshot.
Nakamaru wishes he were still around so that he can call the man a liar to his face.
“Is that a skeleton?” he asks, staring at the jumbled pile the mayor and his assistant have dumped on the bench in front of him.
“If you faint on me, too, I swear to god I’m going to punch you,” Ryo threatens.
“Where’s its skull?”
“How should I know? Well? As the resident police officer, what’s the protocol?”
“Protocol?” Nakamaru asks uncertainly.
“You know. For when a dead body falls out of a tree,” Ryo says with exaggerated patience.
“That’s...that’s not a dead body, is it?”
“It sure as hell doesn’t look alive.”
Nakamaru glances at the mayor. “I mean...is it even human? It’s hard to tell without the skull. It could be anything.”
“Are you serious?!” Ryo asks in disbelief. “You’re not just going to dismiss this, are you?”
Nakamaru nervously strokes the bridge of his nose. “Well...don’t you know how many bones we dig up around here?”
“It was up a tree,” Ryo says flatly.
“Fossils can be found everywhere in this town! Janizu is a prime archaeological spot.”
“I don’t remember seeing that on any of the brochures.”
“Haven’t you ever been to the museum?”
Ryo looks down at his feet. “I’ve only been here a week,” he mutters.
“You haven’t been, have you?” Koyama asks disapprovingly.
“I have work to do,” he says loftily. “Besides, what does it even matter if I haven’t?”
Nakamaru suddenly slams his right fist into his open palm. “That’s right. The museum.”
The two of them look at him, startled.
“We should take the bones to the museum. The curator would know what to do.”
“Are you saying we should put some guy’s remains on exhibit?” Ryo chokes out.
“Yes-I mean, no. Just for...appraisal.”
“What kind of policeman are you?”
Koyama clears his throat. “Well. To be fair... There’s some merit to the idea. At the very least, the curator can ID it for us. If it’s human or something else.”
Nakamaru nods enthusiastically. “He might be able to help.”
“He might be able to, but will he?” Ryo asks.
Nakamaru answers this with a bright smile. “Everyone in Janizu is always ready to help.”
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The curator, as it turns out, is a surprisingly upbeat young man that’s not at all what Ryo expected. His office is crammed from top to bottom with odds and ends - fragments of bone and rock, old vases, faded paintings, and a few forlorn-looking sea bass swimming listlessly in a tank.
Ryo takes one glance at this “Massu” after being introduced and turns to Nakamaru. “Are you sure he’s the one in charge? He looks like an intern to me.”
Nakamaru laughs and Massu looks a bit offended.
“I’ve been working here for years,” he says a touch resentfully. “I know all the exhibits by heart.”
“Sure.”
Massu shifts behind his desk so that Ryo is out of his field of vision. “What can I help you with?” he asks, directing the question at Nakamaru.
“We have some fossils for you to assess.”
Ryo puts out his hand and waves Nakamaru’s statement aside. “They’re not-”
“We found them in the field,” Nakamaru goes on loudly over Ryo’s protests.
Massu taps on his desk. “Spill them out.”
Ryo glances at Koyama. The latter nods, heaves the sack up, and lets the bones tumble out with a clatter.
No one speaks while Massu leans over the skeleton, making thoughtful “hm-hm” noises every now and then.
“Well?” Ryo asks impatiently after a minute or so has passed.
“Very interesting,” Massu says, straightening. “These bones are most probably human.”
“But how can you tell when there isn’t even a skull?” Nakamaru asks.
“There are ways. Just looking at the length of the femur versus the tibia, the spine, the ribcage... It’s human. Or very close to one.”
“So... someone was killed in this town and stashed up a tree,” Ryo states.
“Why must we jump to murder?” Koyama whines.
“It’s a fossil,” Nakamaru says with a firm nod. “And even if it is a murder, I don’t see what it matters now. It’s been decades, judging by how all the flesh has been stripped away.”
Koyama makes an small mewling sound.
“Not necessarily,” Massu disagrees. “Did you know that there are several insects that can accelerate the process? A colony of dermestid beetles, for example, could have done it in a few weeks. Funny things, dermestids. Reminds me of that time I-”
Ryo clears his throat. “Do you mean...flesh-eating beetles could have done this?”
“Well, yeah.”
“So not only do we have a possible murder, we also have beetles that will strip the meat off your bones?”
There’s a thud from somewhere behind Ryo.
He sighs.
“I think your secretary just fainted,” Massu says helpfully.
“Yes, I know. Thank you,” he says dryly.
Move to Janizu, his friend told him. It’s relaxing, reinvigorating, healing. Looking back on it, Ryo realizes he really should have known better than to take the word of a gyroid-obsessed freak.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
“Thanks for helping me lug this idiot all the way here,” Ryo tells Massu some time later, after bringing the still-unconscious Koyama home, Nakamaru having already returned to his post.
Massu pulls away from Koyama’s sleeping form on the couch. “He’s my friend.”
“Right. Well, thanks. I didn’t even know he has a house. He’s always at the Town Hall.”
“We should let him rest,” Massu says, heading for the door.
“I should get the skeleton back from your office, anyway. It’s evidence.”
They leave Koyama’s house and walk in silence for a while.
“What do you think the skeleton is?” Ryo finally says.
“What do you mean? It’s a skeleton.”
“No. I mean... are you like Nakamaru and do you think it’s just a random fossil?”
“You said you found it up a tree?” Massu asks.
“Up a tree, in a sack.”
“Doesn’t sound like a fossil to me.”
Ryo glances at him appraisingly. “You’ve been here all your life you said.”
“Yes.”
“Has anything strange ever happened? Anyone gone missing? Vanished all of a sudden?”
Massu thinks about it. “Well... I can only think of one, actually. Not too long ago.”
“Who was it?”
Massu suddenly stops in the middle of the street. A breeze passes through the trees, rustling the leaves. A shiver runs down Ryo’s spine and he tells himself it is just because of the wind and not at all because of the odd look in Massu’s eyes and the ominous words that follow. “It was the mayor.”
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Ryo never considered himself a coward. He always thought of himself as possessing a reasonable level of bravery. However, that night, he finds himself unable to sleep and he's honest enough to admit that it’s most likely out of fear.
He thinks of the bag of bones he found. Massu agreed to keep them in the museum safe for the time being - at least until Nakamaru could be convinced to open an official investigation and accept them as evidence. Maybe he doesn’t even need to be afraid. Maybe the previous mayor’s disappearance had nothing to do with him being the mayor and was more of a personal thing. It’s not like it’s necessary for Ryo to quit the whole thing, pack up, and leave, right?
Eventually, his exhaustion from the day’s events begins to take over. His eyes start to fall shut and his mind to gently drift into a sea of dreams. Just as he’s about to sink all the way into unconsciousness, something makes him sit bolt upright in bed, all thoughts of sleep vanishing from his head. A sound.
A thud against his door.
Ryo freezes, hoping that it was just his tired mind imagining things. And just as he has almost convinced himself of it, someone sneezes.
That’s it. Whoever it is, if they’re up to no good, they’re getting a shovel in the face, he thinks irritably, throwing off his blanket and groping his way toward the front of his house where he left the tool propped against a wall.
He finds it by the solid wood handle in the dark and picks it up. The weight of it is reassuring. All the same, his hand hesitates as it reaches for the doorknob.
There’s another sneeze.
What the hell, he groans and throws open the front door, roaring at the top of his lungs.
“Aaaaah!”
“Aaaaah-” Wait a second. “Koyama? What the hell are you doing here?”
Koyama opens his eyes drops the arms he’s raised in defense. “Oh. Um...”
“I’m itching to smack someone on the head with this shovel,” Ryo growls. “You have five seconds to convince me why that someone shouldn’t be you.”
“Janizu can’t afford to lose another mayor and I’m just here to make sure that doesn’t happen!” he says in a rush.
Ryo stares at him. Finally, he sighs and lowers his shovel. “We need to talk. But I need coffee. Give me five minutes and we’ll go to the cafe.”
“Can I wait inside? It’s kind of cold out-”
Ryo slams the door shut.
“I’ll just stay out here then!”
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
“Pretty unusual to see you here at this hour,” Shige says, pouring Massu a cup of tea. “Shouldn’t you be holed up in the museum cataloguing your beloved bugs?”
“You know I’m not really fond of bugs, Shige,” Massu replies.
“Hard to tell. You get pretty excited every time you open a new exhibit with them,” he says dryly. “By the way, I thought I saw you and the mayor carrying Koyama past the cafe earlier. What happened?”
“I’m not sure I can tell you.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Massu opens his mouth to answer but stops when the door to the cafe suddenly opens and the mayor walks in with Koyama in tow.
“Hey, Shige,” Koyama says cheerfully, though his face looks tired. “A mocha and a roast, please. We’ll be over there.”
Massu watches the two of them sit at a dimly lit table at the farthest corner of the room. He finishes his tea and is just about to leave when someone taps him on the shoulder. He looks up. “Koyama?”
“The mayor asks if you could join us.”
“Actually, I have to go back-”
“He’s not really asking. I’m just being polite,” Koyama says apologetically. “But could you? Please?”
Massu sighs. “Another cup of tea for me, Shige,” he says, getting up and reluctantly following Koyama back to his table.
Ryo acknowledges him with a nod as he sits down. “How’s the-the fossil doing?” he asks as Shige approaches with the drinks.
“It’s fine.”
“Thanks, Shige!” Koyama says brightly.
Ryo waits until Shige is out of earshot before leaning forward. “Is there any way to identify who the, uh, fossil belongs to?”
Massu shakes his head. “Without a skull and dental records, it’s impossible.”
“But if we could get DNA or something?”
“Even if we could, what would we compare it to?” Massu asks. “And shouldn’t you be talking about this with the police?”
Ryo lets out a small, irritated sound. “I tried. Don’t you have any of the old mayor’s things?”
“None,” Koyama said.
“What about his old house?”
“You’re living in it. Nagase’s crew came in and cleaned it up pretty thoroughly before you moved in and sold all his old belongings,” Koyama says.
“I’m living in a dead guy’s house?” Ryo asks in a strangled voice.
Koyama frowns at him. “We don’t know that for sure.”
Massu watches the new mayor lean back in his chair and wearily massage his forehead.
“I just wanted a nice, quiet place to write music in,” Ryo says.
“You could leave,” Massu suggests.
“Massu!” Koyama chokes out. “Janizu needs a mayor!”
“Someone who actually wants the job could do better.”
“Are you implying that I’m a shitty mayor?” Ryo asks.
“No. I’m just saying-”
“I financed a well and a bridge. All in a week!”
“True,” Massu concedes, and takes a sip of tea.
Ryo stares at him expectantly for a moment then sighs when Massu would say nothing more. “Is there anyone who could have wanted the former mayor out of the way?”
Koyama shrugs. “I can’t think of anyone here who’s even mildly violent, let alone a murderer.”
“I don’t know. That Nagase guy seems pretty suspicious,” Ryo mutters. “Plus, he had the perfect opportunity to clean up the crime scene.”
“Nagase is a pillar of the community,” Massu disagrees. “He would never do that.”
“I just paid off my loan and he’s already leaning on me to get another one,” Ryo says. "He just seems pretty sketchy to me."
“You just don’t like him because he’s tall.”
“What does that have to do with anything?”
Massu stands up. “Nothing. You’re right. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’d rather not participate in this finger-pointing. I’m going back to the museum.”
Ryo sniffs but doesn’t stop him.
Massu is halfway out the door when he hears Koyama ask Ryo, very earnestly, “Do you hate me because I’m tall?”
And the reply-unexpectedly half-heartedly-is, “I hate everyone.”
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Maybe this wasn’t such a smart idea, Ryo finds himself thinking the following morning, staring nervously as Nagase leans back in his office chair and props his feet up on the desk. Behind him are piles of pebbles, stacks of slate, and bundles of bamboo.
“Anything I can help you with?” Nagase asks, dusting imaginary lint off his sweater vest and staring right back.
“Well-” I’ve come to accuse you of murder wouldn’t be a very diplomatic way of saying it, Ryo muses.
The door opens as he is thinking and Nagase suddenly jumps to his feet, grinning hugely. “Ah, Ohno!” he says, his arms opened wide. “Good to see you, good to see you. How’s the house?”
“Perfect, thanks,” a slight, sleepy-looking man with lightly sun-browned skin answers. “Well, almost perfect. I need more room.”
Nagase raises one hand. “Say no more. Which do you need work on?”
“I’m running out of room for my sea bass collection. The basement’s all full up.”
“Ah. Ah. I just remembered. You haven’t finished paying off the expansion for your back room yet.”
“I just made the last deposit.”
“Hmm... Did you? Well then. Tell you what. I’ll call the bank and if they can confirm it, I’m going to start work right away. How’s that?”
Ohno frowns. “Fine, I guess. Just hurry, okay? The sea bass just keep swimming right in.”
“Sure, sure.”
Ryo waits until he’s gone and clears his throat. “Does everyone pay up in the end?”
“Of course they do,” Nagase says. “The people here are very honest.”
“And you don’t care that it could take some people forever?”
“Not really.”
“But has anyone ever reneged on a deal?”
Nagase gives him a funny look. “I trust my clients. Most of them.” He furrows his brow and Ryo wills himself not to step backward. “You’re not thinking of being the first, are you? Mr. Mayor?”
“The first? Someone’s got to have done it before. What about the last mayor? I thought I heard that he disappeared suddenly. Did he finish paying off his loans before that happened?”
Nagase’s frown deepens. “He did have an outstanding balance for a long time before he disappeared. What are you trying to say here?”
“Define a long time,” Ryo presses on.
“A few years. Maybe three.”
“And that didn’t, I don’t know, annoy you?”
Nagase considers him thoughtfully and then leans on his desk, his face mere inches from Ryo’s own. “Even if it did, what could I have done?”
“Oh, I don’t know. Something permanent.”
To his surprise, Nagase laughs. It’s a deep booming sound that fills the small, cramped office and bounces off the walls. “Boy, that’s just not good business.”
“W-what do you mean?”
He suddenly stops laughing and Ryo’s heart almost stops with it. “Skeletons can’t pay mortgages, Mr. Mayor.”
“Who said anything about skeletons?” Ryo says past what feels like a coconut-sized lump in his throat.
Nagase smirks. “You better be careful. In a small town like this, even the walls have ears.”
“Are you threatening me?”
“Just a tip. Now, unless you want to add a second floor to your house, leave me alone.”
Just like that, the conversation is over. Ryo hesitates but then realizes he isn’t going to get anything more out of Nagase. Not that he wants to stay a minute longer alone with him, anyway. Not with so many blunt, heavy objects around.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
“This really won’t take long,” Ryo shouts over the drone of a sewing machine. “If you could just give me a few minutes.”
Koki, the local tailor, gives no indication at all that he even hears him, his feet pushing steadily up down the pedal while his hands deftly steer two pieces of cloth around the needle. One piece is a bright shade of fuchsia while the other is lime green.
“Don’t take it personally,” the shop attendant, a guy that Ryo vaguely remembers is called Junno, says from where he’s busy arranging the display. His voice startles Ryo, who has failed to notice him amongst the mannequins. “He ignores everybody when he’s working.”
“I have questions.”
“You can ask me,” Junno says with a friendly grin.
Ryo steps away from Koki. “It’s about the previous mayor.”
“Oh. That guy.”
Ryo’s eyebrows shoot up. That guy? “You didn’t like him?”
“I didn’t really know him. I mean, he was here for a long time. Several years. We just...rarely saw him outside, you know? Just between you and me, he seemed pretty aloof most of the time.”
“So... he wasn’t a good mayor, then?”
“He was okay.”
“Do you know if anyone had problems with him?”
“No, we had no mayor problems,” he says, suddenly chuckling and pointedly wiggling his eyebrows.
“Er...?”
“No mayor problems, just minor ones.”
“...Is that supposed to be a pun?” Ryo asks after an awkward moment.
Junno sighs, crestfallen. “Never mind. No, no problems. No complaints or anyone saying they hated him... Well, there’s Yoko over at the Post Office. But he complains about everything and hates everyone.”
Ryo makes a mental note. He looks around the shop. He hasn’t had the time to go clothes shopping since he arrived and it’s his first time in it. He notices a doorway in the far wall. “What’s in there?”
“Oh, that’s just the passageway to the hat shop next door,” Junno says.
“I think I’ll check it out.”
Junno waves cheerfully at him, “Please come again!”
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The hat shop has an entirely different ambience from the tailor’s. After the latter’s frantic yet comfortable atmosphere, the hat shop feels shockingly silent and almost stiflingly proper. He can feel the shop owner, Kame, watching him like a hawk beneath perfectly sculpted eyebrows.
“I don’t really like to gossip,” Kame says disapprovingly when Ryo asks him about his predecessor.
“It’s not gossip,” Ryo answers. “It’s very important that I know.”
“If you want tips on how to do mayoring right, maybe you should just ask your secretary.”
“That’s not what I’m after,” Ryo retorts. “I just need to know if anyone ever had any trouble with the previous mayor. Anything serious.”
“It’s really not my place to say.”
“You’re just making yourself sound suspicious, you know.”
Kame throws his hands up. “All right, fine. He only came in here twice. Once to buy a hat and another to complain about it. It’s not my fault. I told him to try it on first. And then when I told him that, he got all stern and said I should treat my customers a little more courteously. Courteously. As if I’m rude.”
“Right.” Ryo makes another mental note.
“But other than that, I suppose we was okay, as far as mayors go,” Kame says, regaining his composure. “He renovated the museum and provided jobs when he opened the cafe. That’s all I can tell you. I didn’t really see him much.”
Ryo absently strokes the brim of a nearby fedora as he contemplates Kame’s story. “I see. Well, thank you for your time,” he says, turning to leave. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Kame bustle over to the fedora and dust the brim right on the spot where Ryo touched it.
Ryo snorts as he leaves. Well, I’m never coming in here again.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The atmosphere in the cafe is unusually heavy when Massu comes in for his afternoon tea. It isn’t too hard to determine the source of the dark aura, however, as he immediately spots Ryo in a corner drinking coffee as though it is vodka.
“What’s with him?” Massu asks Shige with a nod in the mayor’s direction.
“I don’t know and I don’t really want to know,” Shige says, pouring him tea.
“Thanks.” Massu watches Ryo down the contents of his cup in one gulp and then pour himself another cup from the pot next to him. “You gave him his own pot.”
“I was getting tired of going back and forth.”
Massu takes his tea and carries it to Ryo’s table. “You can’t get drunk on coffee blends, you know.”
Ryo glances sourly at him. “Leave me alone.”
Massu sits down totally uninvited. “So how many people did you question today?”
“Of course you heard about it.”
“It’s a very small town.”
“Do you want something or do you just want to annoy me?”
“I want to ask if I can study the skeleton on my own. I didn’t really look at it that closely last time and I might find more information.”
“Do whatever you want, I don’t care,” he muttered, emptying the pot.
Massu finished his own drink and got to his feet. “Thanks... Listen, if you’re still going to ask around, I can come with you if you want. The townspeople might be more forthcoming if they see a friendly face.”
Ryo blinks at him. “I’ll let you know if I need help.”
Massu is halfway to the door when Ryo calls out to him.
“Wait a sec. There’s someone else working with you in the museum, right?”
Massu turns back around. “Yeah, Tegoshi. He runs the gift shop and the special exhibits.”
Ryo sets down his cup with an air of finality. “Let me walk with you. I need to interview him, too. Might as well get it over with.”
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Tegoshi is not at his post when Massu and Ryo get to the museum. Massu doesn't say anything and simply turns back around and leads Ryo downstairs and into his office.
Ryo stops in the doorway. "There's a girl napping on your couch."
"Hmm? Oh. That's Tegoshi."
Ryo is confused. "I thought you said Tegoshi's a he."
"He is."
"He's in a dress."
"That's because Koki's shirts and pants are boring," the lump on the sofa says suddenly, startling Ryo. Tegoshi sits up and yawns. "Hey, Massu. Mayor."
Ryo inclines his head in acknowledgement as Massu walks to his desk and starts to go through the papers on it.
"So what brings you to the museum, Mr. Mayor?" Tegoshi asks.
"Oh. I'm just going around. Talking to the citizens."
Tegoshi smiles winsomely at him. "What do you want to talk to me about?"
Ryo glances at Massu, who just shrugs at him. "I was asking around about the old mayor. If anyone has any complaints and stuff. So I can learn from his mistakes."
Tegoshi thoughtfully taps his chin. "I can't really think of anything. He was nice. Kept to himself mostly, but I liked him!"
"Only because he rented all the exhibit rooms," Massu says.
"Quantum Physics: A Journey was epic, Massu. The exhibits are still all up, by the way. In case you want to see them? I recommend starting with the Moon Adventure."
"Er...Maybe some other time. I have to go."
"Are you sure?"
Ryo still has a lot of people to see and a town still living in the shadow of a possible murderer, though the town itself remains unaware. Tegoshi seems harmless enough to not spend much more time questioning. "Pretty sure. Massu, if you learn anything else about that weird fossil, let me know, ok?"
Massu meets his gaze for a fraction of a second, and Ryo isn't sure if he sees in it sympathy, understanding, and respect. But then he nods and goes back to the papers on his table, and Ryo leaves with nothing more.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"And you should probably tell that mailman to start doing his job right or not all the free coffee and donuts and flowers in the world will keep me from kicking his ass to the next town!"
Ryo pauses halfway out the door to the post office. "Tell him yourself!" He shoots back before running right out of there.
"I see you finally met Yoko," a voice says in amusement from somewhere across the street. It's Massu, and he looks like he's trying hard not to laugh.
"Ugh. Don't say anything. Not a word."
"He's actually kinda nice. Works really hard and just wants everyone to do the same, you know?"
"I don't," he snaps. "But I don't think he can hurt anyone, much less murder someone."
Massu coughs. "Ah, yes. About that..."
Ryo suddenly snaps his full attention to him. "Did you learn anything new?"
Massu starts to answer but seems to think better of it. "I'll tell you later. Domoto Tsuyoshi has a secret acoustic show in a couple of minutes."
"I can't believe you think a secret acoustic show is more important than a murder investigation," Ryo says with largely feigned indignation. Actually, he’s just a teeny tiny bit envious. The murder investigation has taken up most of the day, and now all he has to look forward to while half the town goes to the concert is his empty house.
"I have an extra ticket," Massu says blandly.
"What, really?! How much do you want for it? I draw the line at kidney." Ryo coughs. "I mean, it would be a nice break...if you're willing to part with it."
"Someone else just gave them to me so it wouldn't be fair to charge you."
Ryo reaches for the ticket excitedly. "Thanks, Massu. You're not as bad as I thought."
"You're welcome, I guess. I figured you might like it, since you said something about wanting to write music."
Ryo looks at him, aware that he has a stupid grin on his face but powerless to stop it. "Like it? Are you kidding? I could kiss you right now."
"Maybe you should save it for the third date. Well? Shall we go?"
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Ryo is enjoying himself immensely. There's something almost magical in Domoto's fingers as he strums his guitar and croons softly, most of his stage persona stripped away in the small club.
"Thanks for giving me a ticket," Ryo whispers to Massu over a peaceful rendition of Azure Ricecakes.
"No problem."
"To be honest, my investigation was getting me nowhere."
Massu fidgets. "Um."
Ryo looks at him. "Didn't you want to tell me something?"
"Yeah. It's nothing important. No big deal. Just that there hasn't been a murder. Probably."
"WHAT?"
"Ssh!" Someone from up front hisses, and Domoto himself looks out sternly at the crowd.
"What?" Ryo repeats in a lower, yet still intense, voice.
"The bones that you found might not be from one man after all."
"But you said--"
"They're fakes."
Ryo rolls his eyes. "What, you failed to notice they were made of plastic, Mr. Bone Expert?"
"No. They're real bones. They've just been altered and molded and mixed up. I looked at them more closely and some of the proportions were just off. Some of them still seem human, but I highly doubt they're all from the same source. It's like someone tried to make a full skeleton from spare parts just lying around."
"Not very reassuring."
"Now that you mention it...it isn't," Massu admits.
"And there's still the matter of the former mayor's disappearance. Which we can't confirm any way."
Massu studies him closely. "So what are you going to do?"
Ryo slowly shakes his head. "I have no clue.”
The closing strains of Azure Ricecakes drift over the audience and are swallowed by the following applause.
Ryo and Massu clap along with the rest of them. Domoto Tsuyoshi bows, winks, and disappears into the wings.
"Maybe we can just set the case aside for now," Ryo muses as he and Massu get to their feet and prepare to follow the crowd’s slow exodus out of the club.
Massu is surprised. “I didn’t expect you to give it up so easily, not after all the work you’ve done so far.”
Ryo glances at him out of the corner of his eye. “Easily? At this moment, I’m trying hard not to punch you.”
“Punch me?!”
“You said the bones seemed human!”
“And some of them still are,” Massu retorts stubbornly.
Ryo stops in the middle of the street and hangs his head, exhausted. “It’s just… this town is so bloody pleasant. So pleasant, it’s suspicious. There almost has to be something dark underneath the surface.”
“I guess the question is, do you want to find something dark underneath the surface?”
Ryo lifts his gaze and meets Massu’s. “You know…as boring as it would be to have the town as picture perfect as it appears, I would rather not.”
“Nothing’s perfect, not even Janizu.”
Ryo nods and starts walking again. He knows this, of course. But it doesn’t mean that Janizu has to be hiding a sinister secret, either. He can either take the town at face value and believe that it is all it seems to be, or he can go through everyday looking for shadows where there are none and live in suspicion of everyone.
But what if something bad did happen to the previous mayor? Maybe someone in town is a murderer. What then?
“Do you want to leave?” Massu asks tentatively.
Ryo laughs. “If I had to move out of towns with unsolved murders in them, I’d have nowhere to go. And it’s not like we even have one for sure.”
“So what do you want to do?”
He thinks about it hard for a few seconds then finally shrugs. "Live each day as they come. Do mayorly things. If more information comes up, we can pick up the case again."
"Is that the mayoral 'we' you're using?" Massu asks, amused.
"No. That's the you and me 'we'. You're in it because I say so," he says firmly. "And because if a cache of flesh-eating beetles turn up, you're the only one qualified to handle them."
Massu groans. "I really hate bugs, you know."
"Then you're in the wrong line of work, pal."
Massu comes to a halt at the intersection along Main Street where they would have to go different ways. "And you? Whatever happened to just wanting to write music?"
"Nothing's stopping me from doing that," Ryo says. "And unless you guys band together to oust me, I see no problem writing music while being a mayor...I might be awful at one or the other, but I'm sure everyone will tell me when I'm doing something wrong."
And Ryo knows that everyone will. Having met most of the townspeople during the course of his investigation, he has found that most of the are honest, possessing varying degrees of bluntness and tact, but honest. It's kind of funny, and as refreshing as Janizu's peach-scented air.
Massu waves goodbye at him as they go their separate ways.
Janizu is a strange place, with stranger occupants and a mystery that he has yet to figure out. But at least he's made a friend or two. That, Ryo thinks, is worth more than all the trouble and worry he's been through.
Well, he smiles to himself, almost.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Sorry to hear that they accused you of murdering me, Nagase," the voice on the phone says from across miles of static, not sounding sorry so much as amused by the whole thing.
"Nah, it's okay. What did you expect after planting that skeleton up a tree?" Nagase asks, putting his feet up on the desk.
"I thought it would make my former secretary stop wondering about where I've gone to."
"Well, it worked. He's so scared of imaginary plots against mayors now he's constantly hovering over the new one."
"Speaking of which... What's my replacement like?"
"Small."
"Everyone's small to you, Nagase." There are sudden noises in the background and he pauses. "I have to go! The race is starting. I can't miss this!"
Nagase laughs. "Fine, fine. Enjoy your race."
"Talk to you soon!"
"Ah. Wait a sec, Koichi!"
"What?"
"Maybe you should come back and visit some day, after our new mayor's all settled in."
"I'll think about it," Koichi says hurriedly and then hangs up.
Nagase hangs up, too. That was a more positive answer than any of his previous ones. Maybe after a few more conversations, he could get him to change his mind.
He shuffles his papers around on his desk. Now, what was it I was going to do...?
He finds the sketch he's looking for and picks it up.
Oh, yes. The sea bass collection.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
It's a new day in Janizu. Bright, clear, and sunny.
Perhaps later it will rain, someone will inevitably show up to complain about the town's bee problem, or some hapless, clumsy soul will fall into a pit again and start screaming for rescue until they're found.
But perhaps nice things are also waiting in the corner. Perhaps a double rainbow will grace the sky, someone will get lucky and hit gold while working in town, or maybe Ohno will reach whatever number he's trying to reach for his sea bass collection quest.
And perhaps, if someone bothers to look in the right places, they will notice the small plant growing upon the side of one of the town's many cliffs, its thin and fragile flowers glowing white beneath the yellow sun, swaying in the cool ocean breeze.
The first Jacob’s Ladder of the season, perhaps of many more soon to come.
Groups/Pairings: Nishikido Ryo/ Masuda Takahisa (if you squint), appearances by the rest of NEWS and assorted other Johnny's.
Rating: G
Warnings: none
Summary: Ryo moves to a new town for a fresh start and musical inspiration. But what he finds there is more than what he's expecting.
Notes: Thanks to my wonderful, wonderful beta and the ever-patient mod for enduring my slowness. I hope you enjoy this, Zoe!
It’s a sunny day in Janizu, on the day of the Mayor’s arrival.
Koyama hums all the way to the café for his morning mocha. He is in a fantastic mood. New mayor arriving, the peaches are thriving, and he can almost taste Shige’s perfect blend. He’s happy.
“Good morning!” Koyama says with a smile as he throws open the door to Shige’s place.
There’s a surly grunt from a hunched over figure by the counter. “Says who?” it asks crossly over a steaming mug.
“Don’t be like that, Yoko,” Koyama says, sliding onto the stool next to his. “I’m sure your night at the Post Office was uneventful as always - isn’t that a good thing?”
“You try a job where almost nothing ever happens except - yay - you get to sort through piles of letters with barely legible handwriting.” He knocks his empty mug against the countertop. “Fill ‘er up, Shige.”
Shige rolls his eyes at Koyama and does so.
“And someone’s always complaining that their letter got lost - like it’s my fault your stupid letter didn’t get there. I don’t do deliveries. And how do they find out it’s lost? They went over to the guy next door and asked if their letter ever came! Really? They went over to talk to the guy face to face about their letter?”
“Maybe you should cut back on the espresso,” Koyama says lightly.
Yoko empties his mug, making a small noise when the coffee burns his tongue, and sets it back down with a thud. “Ugh, that hits the spot. I’m going to home and I’m going to sleep for the next three years.”
Koyama laughingly shakes his head.
“You seem to be in a good mood,” Shige tells him, taking Yoko’s mug and wiping down the counter.
“New mayor coming in today. Finally. This town can get moving again after that last one ditched us and disappeared to who-knows-where. Probably bought his own island like that other old mayor and is living it up by the beach sipping coconut juice and surrounded by lovely ladies dancing in grass skirts.”
“You sure that’s not your own fantasy speaking?”
Koyama frowns. “Don’t be silly, Shige. You know I live only to work for this town. I want it to be the best. I want everyone to be happy.”
“Uh-huh. Just be sure you include yourself in that ‘everyone’ you’re talking about.”
Koyama finishes his coffee with a smile. “Thanks. Now I have to go to the station and wait for our new mayor.”
Shige nods. Koyama gives him a small, jaunty wave and whistles as he leaves. He just hopes the new mayor will be better than the last.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Janizu smells of peaches. Ryo takes a deep breath. Peaches and roses. Clean and fresh. It’s almost unnatural and he considers turning back before he remembers there’s no other place he would rather be. He reminds himself that he has chosen to come here himself. His friend told him about the town and recommended it heartily. Still, in the end he has come of his own free will, hoping the change in scenery and of pace will do him good and get the creative juices flowing once again. After all, it worked for one of his idols: his favourite musician of all time, Domoto Tsuyoshi, is always in Janizu these days.
He slings his backpack over one shoulder and his guitar over the other, steps out of the old red brick station, and blinks in the morning sun.
“There he is!” someone shouts from below the station steps. “There’s our new mayor! Welcome to Janizu!”
There is a bang like a gunshot. Ryo has a moment to think, Wouldn’t want to be that new mayor, before covering his head and ducking for cover.
There’s another bang, and another, and things start to fall from the sky. Colorful... swirly... things?
“Wait,” the same someone shouts. “I think we startled him.”
Ryo gingerly lifts his head. For a moment, there is nothing but glitter and confetti. However, his eyes soon adjust focus and he can see a small crowd standing at the bottom of the steps, watching him in concern.
Someone tall and leggy comes over and bends down to peer at his face. “Are you okay?” the man asks.
“Nhuh?” Ryo returns in confusion, slowly getting to his feet.
“Did the poppers startle you?”
Oh. Poppers. “Of course not!” he lies.
“Sorry about that.” The man glances back at his fellows. “He’s okay!” he yells. “The new mayor’s okay!”
And there is much cheering and applause.
Ryo dusts dirt off his clothes and checks his guitar, ignoring the noise, until it finally hits him. “Wait, what did you say?”
“Let us now take our new mayor to the town plaza for the ceremonial tree planting!”
“What?”
The man smiles at him. “Please follow me,” he says and marches off.
“Wait, wait! There must be some mistake! I’m not-aaargh, you don’t need to carry me on your shoulders!”
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Somehow, Ryo ends up living in a one-room shack near the edge of a cliff by the sea. He can hear the waves in the night, loud and yet calming at the same time. The scent of countless peach blossoms waft in through the open windows, for on the side of his house that doesn’t lead to an abrupt fall is a small peach orchard that, in the haze of his confusion earlier, he thought he heard the real estate agent
(Nagase? Tom? Tomoya? Whatever.)
say was part of the land, and up to him to tend.
Never signed up to be a peach...farmer? Orcharder? Ryo sits on his cheap, narrow bed and scratches his head. Things he knows about farming amount to about zero.
Things he knows about mayoring amount to even less. Yet no matter how much he shouted and protested, that darned smiley mayor’s assistant named Koyama just laughed it all off.
Ryo yawns and stretches.
Tomorrow, he thinks. I’ll sort it out tomorrow. And anyway, surely, the real mayor will show up and everything will be fine. But at that moment he is too tired from the trip and moving and all the excitement and tree-planting.
He lays his head on his pillow and closes his eyes. He’s asleep in the next instant, the sounds of the ocean to him a gentle song lulling him into a deep and peaceful slumber.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Ryo doesn’t notice the days go by, and before he knows it, he’s been in Janizu acting as the mayor for an entire week. No one has come to claim the seat and Koyama continues to be insistent, only nodding and smiling no matter how much Ryo shouts and waves his arms and explains. Ryo also realizes that it was a mistake to accept the house on the first day because now he’s several thousand bells in debt to Nagase and something tells him that for all his leniency and assurances of letting Ryo pay whenever he wants, it would be a whole different thing to just run out of town entirely.
That and one of Ryo’s life policies is to never trust a guy with slicked back hair and a sweater vest. Especially one who looks like he can pick Ryo up in one arm and break him in half.
Ryo consoles himself with the fact that the town is small and more or less manages itself, and the manual labour is almost cathartic in a way. There is something about working the land with your own two hands that gives him a feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment. Plus, hacking at trees with an axe turns out to be better stress management than anything Ryo has ever heard of.
That Domoto Tsuyoshi has an acoustic show practically every weekend is merely a bonus.
At the moment, Ryo and Koyama are going around town inspecting the existing public works and contemplating installing new ones. Someone asked him for an illuminated arch at every intersection. (That conversation ended badly.) However, some of the other requests are for more useful things - a water pump, a well, or a new bridge. It’s a bit of a pain to have to go around inspecting potential sites with Koyama - a complaint that Ryo has voiced loudly, repeatedly, while holding his axe. But Koyama blithely ignored all implied threats and dragged him out of the office that morning to go look around town.
Ryo pauses in the heart of his peach orchard after about an hour of wandering and listening to Koyama’s endless litany of why this or that spot would not ever do because they have to secure endless forms, or need more room, or have to deal with resident complaints before they could even start. He wipes sweat off his forehead and looks around. Something about the small clearing in front of him now just seems suddenly perfect. Well, almost perfect, but for a single tree standing in the way.
Koyama looks questioningly at him and consults his clipboard. “What is it? Do you think it’s a good spot for a well?”
Ryo breathes in. “It will do.”
Koyama frowns and goes up to the tree. “Well... This tree would have to go,” he said dubiously.
“We can always plant a new one somewhere,” he says.
“Yes, but are you sure? We might find a better spot later. And-”
Ryo groans, picks up his axe, and very deliberately swings at the trunk to head off any further protests.
The tree shakes at the blow.
And that’s when the brown burlap sack comes crashing through the branches to land at their feet with thud.
Koyama blinks. “Sir?”
“What’s that?”
“A sack,” comes the unhelpful reply.
Ryo rolls his eyes. “Yeah, I can see that. Come here and help me undo the knot at the top.”
It takes them over a minute of concerted effort to finally pull the rope tying it shut apart. The stuff inside make a strange dry, clacking sound.
Ryo glances at Koyama, shrugs, and finally turns the sack over, its contents spilling down onto the leaf-strewn ground.
“What’s that?” Koyama asks weakly after a moment of silence.
“Oh, I don’t know. Why don’t you try to break off a piece and taste it? It looks like it might be candy,” Ryo manages to say sarcastically.
Koyama looks at him blanky.
“It’s a goddamn skeleton,” Ryo shouts.
Koyama suddenly turns pale.
“Don’t you dare. Don’t you DARE faint on m- Oh, god damn it.”
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Nakamaru hasn’t been assigned to the Janizu station for very long. He’s only been there longer than the new mayor by about a week. His predecessor led him to believe that it’s a quiet, sedate town with very little crime, where the worst situation they experienced on the job was the one time two people showed up to claim the exact same lost and found item, resulting in a very heated janken marathon and a hole in the station window after one of them fired a slingshot.
Nakamaru wishes he were still around so that he can call the man a liar to his face.
“Is that a skeleton?” he asks, staring at the jumbled pile the mayor and his assistant have dumped on the bench in front of him.
“If you faint on me, too, I swear to god I’m going to punch you,” Ryo threatens.
“Where’s its skull?”
“How should I know? Well? As the resident police officer, what’s the protocol?”
“Protocol?” Nakamaru asks uncertainly.
“You know. For when a dead body falls out of a tree,” Ryo says with exaggerated patience.
“That’s...that’s not a dead body, is it?”
“It sure as hell doesn’t look alive.”
Nakamaru glances at the mayor. “I mean...is it even human? It’s hard to tell without the skull. It could be anything.”
“Are you serious?!” Ryo asks in disbelief. “You’re not just going to dismiss this, are you?”
Nakamaru nervously strokes the bridge of his nose. “Well...don’t you know how many bones we dig up around here?”
“It was up a tree,” Ryo says flatly.
“Fossils can be found everywhere in this town! Janizu is a prime archaeological spot.”
“I don’t remember seeing that on any of the brochures.”
“Haven’t you ever been to the museum?”
Ryo looks down at his feet. “I’ve only been here a week,” he mutters.
“You haven’t been, have you?” Koyama asks disapprovingly.
“I have work to do,” he says loftily. “Besides, what does it even matter if I haven’t?”
Nakamaru suddenly slams his right fist into his open palm. “That’s right. The museum.”
The two of them look at him, startled.
“We should take the bones to the museum. The curator would know what to do.”
“Are you saying we should put some guy’s remains on exhibit?” Ryo chokes out.
“Yes-I mean, no. Just for...appraisal.”
“What kind of policeman are you?”
Koyama clears his throat. “Well. To be fair... There’s some merit to the idea. At the very least, the curator can ID it for us. If it’s human or something else.”
Nakamaru nods enthusiastically. “He might be able to help.”
“He might be able to, but will he?” Ryo asks.
Nakamaru answers this with a bright smile. “Everyone in Janizu is always ready to help.”
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The curator, as it turns out, is a surprisingly upbeat young man that’s not at all what Ryo expected. His office is crammed from top to bottom with odds and ends - fragments of bone and rock, old vases, faded paintings, and a few forlorn-looking sea bass swimming listlessly in a tank.
Ryo takes one glance at this “Massu” after being introduced and turns to Nakamaru. “Are you sure he’s the one in charge? He looks like an intern to me.”
Nakamaru laughs and Massu looks a bit offended.
“I’ve been working here for years,” he says a touch resentfully. “I know all the exhibits by heart.”
“Sure.”
Massu shifts behind his desk so that Ryo is out of his field of vision. “What can I help you with?” he asks, directing the question at Nakamaru.
“We have some fossils for you to assess.”
Ryo puts out his hand and waves Nakamaru’s statement aside. “They’re not-”
“We found them in the field,” Nakamaru goes on loudly over Ryo’s protests.
Massu taps on his desk. “Spill them out.”
Ryo glances at Koyama. The latter nods, heaves the sack up, and lets the bones tumble out with a clatter.
No one speaks while Massu leans over the skeleton, making thoughtful “hm-hm” noises every now and then.
“Well?” Ryo asks impatiently after a minute or so has passed.
“Very interesting,” Massu says, straightening. “These bones are most probably human.”
“But how can you tell when there isn’t even a skull?” Nakamaru asks.
“There are ways. Just looking at the length of the femur versus the tibia, the spine, the ribcage... It’s human. Or very close to one.”
“So... someone was killed in this town and stashed up a tree,” Ryo states.
“Why must we jump to murder?” Koyama whines.
“It’s a fossil,” Nakamaru says with a firm nod. “And even if it is a murder, I don’t see what it matters now. It’s been decades, judging by how all the flesh has been stripped away.”
Koyama makes an small mewling sound.
“Not necessarily,” Massu disagrees. “Did you know that there are several insects that can accelerate the process? A colony of dermestid beetles, for example, could have done it in a few weeks. Funny things, dermestids. Reminds me of that time I-”
Ryo clears his throat. “Do you mean...flesh-eating beetles could have done this?”
“Well, yeah.”
“So not only do we have a possible murder, we also have beetles that will strip the meat off your bones?”
There’s a thud from somewhere behind Ryo.
He sighs.
“I think your secretary just fainted,” Massu says helpfully.
“Yes, I know. Thank you,” he says dryly.
Move to Janizu, his friend told him. It’s relaxing, reinvigorating, healing. Looking back on it, Ryo realizes he really should have known better than to take the word of a gyroid-obsessed freak.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
“Thanks for helping me lug this idiot all the way here,” Ryo tells Massu some time later, after bringing the still-unconscious Koyama home, Nakamaru having already returned to his post.
Massu pulls away from Koyama’s sleeping form on the couch. “He’s my friend.”
“Right. Well, thanks. I didn’t even know he has a house. He’s always at the Town Hall.”
“We should let him rest,” Massu says, heading for the door.
“I should get the skeleton back from your office, anyway. It’s evidence.”
They leave Koyama’s house and walk in silence for a while.
“What do you think the skeleton is?” Ryo finally says.
“What do you mean? It’s a skeleton.”
“No. I mean... are you like Nakamaru and do you think it’s just a random fossil?”
“You said you found it up a tree?” Massu asks.
“Up a tree, in a sack.”
“Doesn’t sound like a fossil to me.”
Ryo glances at him appraisingly. “You’ve been here all your life you said.”
“Yes.”
“Has anything strange ever happened? Anyone gone missing? Vanished all of a sudden?”
Massu thinks about it. “Well... I can only think of one, actually. Not too long ago.”
“Who was it?”
Massu suddenly stops in the middle of the street. A breeze passes through the trees, rustling the leaves. A shiver runs down Ryo’s spine and he tells himself it is just because of the wind and not at all because of the odd look in Massu’s eyes and the ominous words that follow. “It was the mayor.”
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Ryo never considered himself a coward. He always thought of himself as possessing a reasonable level of bravery. However, that night, he finds himself unable to sleep and he's honest enough to admit that it’s most likely out of fear.
He thinks of the bag of bones he found. Massu agreed to keep them in the museum safe for the time being - at least until Nakamaru could be convinced to open an official investigation and accept them as evidence. Maybe he doesn’t even need to be afraid. Maybe the previous mayor’s disappearance had nothing to do with him being the mayor and was more of a personal thing. It’s not like it’s necessary for Ryo to quit the whole thing, pack up, and leave, right?
Eventually, his exhaustion from the day’s events begins to take over. His eyes start to fall shut and his mind to gently drift into a sea of dreams. Just as he’s about to sink all the way into unconsciousness, something makes him sit bolt upright in bed, all thoughts of sleep vanishing from his head. A sound.
A thud against his door.
Ryo freezes, hoping that it was just his tired mind imagining things. And just as he has almost convinced himself of it, someone sneezes.
That’s it. Whoever it is, if they’re up to no good, they’re getting a shovel in the face, he thinks irritably, throwing off his blanket and groping his way toward the front of his house where he left the tool propped against a wall.
He finds it by the solid wood handle in the dark and picks it up. The weight of it is reassuring. All the same, his hand hesitates as it reaches for the doorknob.
There’s another sneeze.
What the hell, he groans and throws open the front door, roaring at the top of his lungs.
“Aaaaah!”
“Aaaaah-” Wait a second. “Koyama? What the hell are you doing here?”
Koyama opens his eyes drops the arms he’s raised in defense. “Oh. Um...”
“I’m itching to smack someone on the head with this shovel,” Ryo growls. “You have five seconds to convince me why that someone shouldn’t be you.”
“Janizu can’t afford to lose another mayor and I’m just here to make sure that doesn’t happen!” he says in a rush.
Ryo stares at him. Finally, he sighs and lowers his shovel. “We need to talk. But I need coffee. Give me five minutes and we’ll go to the cafe.”
“Can I wait inside? It’s kind of cold out-”
Ryo slams the door shut.
“I’ll just stay out here then!”
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
“Pretty unusual to see you here at this hour,” Shige says, pouring Massu a cup of tea. “Shouldn’t you be holed up in the museum cataloguing your beloved bugs?”
“You know I’m not really fond of bugs, Shige,” Massu replies.
“Hard to tell. You get pretty excited every time you open a new exhibit with them,” he says dryly. “By the way, I thought I saw you and the mayor carrying Koyama past the cafe earlier. What happened?”
“I’m not sure I can tell you.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Massu opens his mouth to answer but stops when the door to the cafe suddenly opens and the mayor walks in with Koyama in tow.
“Hey, Shige,” Koyama says cheerfully, though his face looks tired. “A mocha and a roast, please. We’ll be over there.”
Massu watches the two of them sit at a dimly lit table at the farthest corner of the room. He finishes his tea and is just about to leave when someone taps him on the shoulder. He looks up. “Koyama?”
“The mayor asks if you could join us.”
“Actually, I have to go back-”
“He’s not really asking. I’m just being polite,” Koyama says apologetically. “But could you? Please?”
Massu sighs. “Another cup of tea for me, Shige,” he says, getting up and reluctantly following Koyama back to his table.
Ryo acknowledges him with a nod as he sits down. “How’s the-the fossil doing?” he asks as Shige approaches with the drinks.
“It’s fine.”
“Thanks, Shige!” Koyama says brightly.
Ryo waits until Shige is out of earshot before leaning forward. “Is there any way to identify who the, uh, fossil belongs to?”
Massu shakes his head. “Without a skull and dental records, it’s impossible.”
“But if we could get DNA or something?”
“Even if we could, what would we compare it to?” Massu asks. “And shouldn’t you be talking about this with the police?”
Ryo lets out a small, irritated sound. “I tried. Don’t you have any of the old mayor’s things?”
“None,” Koyama said.
“What about his old house?”
“You’re living in it. Nagase’s crew came in and cleaned it up pretty thoroughly before you moved in and sold all his old belongings,” Koyama says.
“I’m living in a dead guy’s house?” Ryo asks in a strangled voice.
Koyama frowns at him. “We don’t know that for sure.”
Massu watches the new mayor lean back in his chair and wearily massage his forehead.
“I just wanted a nice, quiet place to write music in,” Ryo says.
“You could leave,” Massu suggests.
“Massu!” Koyama chokes out. “Janizu needs a mayor!”
“Someone who actually wants the job could do better.”
“Are you implying that I’m a shitty mayor?” Ryo asks.
“No. I’m just saying-”
“I financed a well and a bridge. All in a week!”
“True,” Massu concedes, and takes a sip of tea.
Ryo stares at him expectantly for a moment then sighs when Massu would say nothing more. “Is there anyone who could have wanted the former mayor out of the way?”
Koyama shrugs. “I can’t think of anyone here who’s even mildly violent, let alone a murderer.”
“I don’t know. That Nagase guy seems pretty suspicious,” Ryo mutters. “Plus, he had the perfect opportunity to clean up the crime scene.”
“Nagase is a pillar of the community,” Massu disagrees. “He would never do that.”
“I just paid off my loan and he’s already leaning on me to get another one,” Ryo says. "He just seems pretty sketchy to me."
“You just don’t like him because he’s tall.”
“What does that have to do with anything?”
Massu stands up. “Nothing. You’re right. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’d rather not participate in this finger-pointing. I’m going back to the museum.”
Ryo sniffs but doesn’t stop him.
Massu is halfway out the door when he hears Koyama ask Ryo, very earnestly, “Do you hate me because I’m tall?”
And the reply-unexpectedly half-heartedly-is, “I hate everyone.”
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Maybe this wasn’t such a smart idea, Ryo finds himself thinking the following morning, staring nervously as Nagase leans back in his office chair and props his feet up on the desk. Behind him are piles of pebbles, stacks of slate, and bundles of bamboo.
“Anything I can help you with?” Nagase asks, dusting imaginary lint off his sweater vest and staring right back.
“Well-” I’ve come to accuse you of murder wouldn’t be a very diplomatic way of saying it, Ryo muses.
The door opens as he is thinking and Nagase suddenly jumps to his feet, grinning hugely. “Ah, Ohno!” he says, his arms opened wide. “Good to see you, good to see you. How’s the house?”
“Perfect, thanks,” a slight, sleepy-looking man with lightly sun-browned skin answers. “Well, almost perfect. I need more room.”
Nagase raises one hand. “Say no more. Which do you need work on?”
“I’m running out of room for my sea bass collection. The basement’s all full up.”
“Ah. Ah. I just remembered. You haven’t finished paying off the expansion for your back room yet.”
“I just made the last deposit.”
“Hmm... Did you? Well then. Tell you what. I’ll call the bank and if they can confirm it, I’m going to start work right away. How’s that?”
Ohno frowns. “Fine, I guess. Just hurry, okay? The sea bass just keep swimming right in.”
“Sure, sure.”
Ryo waits until he’s gone and clears his throat. “Does everyone pay up in the end?”
“Of course they do,” Nagase says. “The people here are very honest.”
“And you don’t care that it could take some people forever?”
“Not really.”
“But has anyone ever reneged on a deal?”
Nagase gives him a funny look. “I trust my clients. Most of them.” He furrows his brow and Ryo wills himself not to step backward. “You’re not thinking of being the first, are you? Mr. Mayor?”
“The first? Someone’s got to have done it before. What about the last mayor? I thought I heard that he disappeared suddenly. Did he finish paying off his loans before that happened?”
Nagase’s frown deepens. “He did have an outstanding balance for a long time before he disappeared. What are you trying to say here?”
“Define a long time,” Ryo presses on.
“A few years. Maybe three.”
“And that didn’t, I don’t know, annoy you?”
Nagase considers him thoughtfully and then leans on his desk, his face mere inches from Ryo’s own. “Even if it did, what could I have done?”
“Oh, I don’t know. Something permanent.”
To his surprise, Nagase laughs. It’s a deep booming sound that fills the small, cramped office and bounces off the walls. “Boy, that’s just not good business.”
“W-what do you mean?”
He suddenly stops laughing and Ryo’s heart almost stops with it. “Skeletons can’t pay mortgages, Mr. Mayor.”
“Who said anything about skeletons?” Ryo says past what feels like a coconut-sized lump in his throat.
Nagase smirks. “You better be careful. In a small town like this, even the walls have ears.”
“Are you threatening me?”
“Just a tip. Now, unless you want to add a second floor to your house, leave me alone.”
Just like that, the conversation is over. Ryo hesitates but then realizes he isn’t going to get anything more out of Nagase. Not that he wants to stay a minute longer alone with him, anyway. Not with so many blunt, heavy objects around.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
“This really won’t take long,” Ryo shouts over the drone of a sewing machine. “If you could just give me a few minutes.”
Koki, the local tailor, gives no indication at all that he even hears him, his feet pushing steadily up down the pedal while his hands deftly steer two pieces of cloth around the needle. One piece is a bright shade of fuchsia while the other is lime green.
“Don’t take it personally,” the shop attendant, a guy that Ryo vaguely remembers is called Junno, says from where he’s busy arranging the display. His voice startles Ryo, who has failed to notice him amongst the mannequins. “He ignores everybody when he’s working.”
“I have questions.”
“You can ask me,” Junno says with a friendly grin.
Ryo steps away from Koki. “It’s about the previous mayor.”
“Oh. That guy.”
Ryo’s eyebrows shoot up. That guy? “You didn’t like him?”
“I didn’t really know him. I mean, he was here for a long time. Several years. We just...rarely saw him outside, you know? Just between you and me, he seemed pretty aloof most of the time.”
“So... he wasn’t a good mayor, then?”
“He was okay.”
“Do you know if anyone had problems with him?”
“No, we had no mayor problems,” he says, suddenly chuckling and pointedly wiggling his eyebrows.
“Er...?”
“No mayor problems, just minor ones.”
“...Is that supposed to be a pun?” Ryo asks after an awkward moment.
Junno sighs, crestfallen. “Never mind. No, no problems. No complaints or anyone saying they hated him... Well, there’s Yoko over at the Post Office. But he complains about everything and hates everyone.”
Ryo makes a mental note. He looks around the shop. He hasn’t had the time to go clothes shopping since he arrived and it’s his first time in it. He notices a doorway in the far wall. “What’s in there?”
“Oh, that’s just the passageway to the hat shop next door,” Junno says.
“I think I’ll check it out.”
Junno waves cheerfully at him, “Please come again!”
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The hat shop has an entirely different ambience from the tailor’s. After the latter’s frantic yet comfortable atmosphere, the hat shop feels shockingly silent and almost stiflingly proper. He can feel the shop owner, Kame, watching him like a hawk beneath perfectly sculpted eyebrows.
“I don’t really like to gossip,” Kame says disapprovingly when Ryo asks him about his predecessor.
“It’s not gossip,” Ryo answers. “It’s very important that I know.”
“If you want tips on how to do mayoring right, maybe you should just ask your secretary.”
“That’s not what I’m after,” Ryo retorts. “I just need to know if anyone ever had any trouble with the previous mayor. Anything serious.”
“It’s really not my place to say.”
“You’re just making yourself sound suspicious, you know.”
Kame throws his hands up. “All right, fine. He only came in here twice. Once to buy a hat and another to complain about it. It’s not my fault. I told him to try it on first. And then when I told him that, he got all stern and said I should treat my customers a little more courteously. Courteously. As if I’m rude.”
“Right.” Ryo makes another mental note.
“But other than that, I suppose we was okay, as far as mayors go,” Kame says, regaining his composure. “He renovated the museum and provided jobs when he opened the cafe. That’s all I can tell you. I didn’t really see him much.”
Ryo absently strokes the brim of a nearby fedora as he contemplates Kame’s story. “I see. Well, thank you for your time,” he says, turning to leave. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Kame bustle over to the fedora and dust the brim right on the spot where Ryo touched it.
Ryo snorts as he leaves. Well, I’m never coming in here again.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The atmosphere in the cafe is unusually heavy when Massu comes in for his afternoon tea. It isn’t too hard to determine the source of the dark aura, however, as he immediately spots Ryo in a corner drinking coffee as though it is vodka.
“What’s with him?” Massu asks Shige with a nod in the mayor’s direction.
“I don’t know and I don’t really want to know,” Shige says, pouring him tea.
“Thanks.” Massu watches Ryo down the contents of his cup in one gulp and then pour himself another cup from the pot next to him. “You gave him his own pot.”
“I was getting tired of going back and forth.”
Massu takes his tea and carries it to Ryo’s table. “You can’t get drunk on coffee blends, you know.”
Ryo glances sourly at him. “Leave me alone.”
Massu sits down totally uninvited. “So how many people did you question today?”
“Of course you heard about it.”
“It’s a very small town.”
“Do you want something or do you just want to annoy me?”
“I want to ask if I can study the skeleton on my own. I didn’t really look at it that closely last time and I might find more information.”
“Do whatever you want, I don’t care,” he muttered, emptying the pot.
Massu finished his own drink and got to his feet. “Thanks... Listen, if you’re still going to ask around, I can come with you if you want. The townspeople might be more forthcoming if they see a friendly face.”
Ryo blinks at him. “I’ll let you know if I need help.”
Massu is halfway to the door when Ryo calls out to him.
“Wait a sec. There’s someone else working with you in the museum, right?”
Massu turns back around. “Yeah, Tegoshi. He runs the gift shop and the special exhibits.”
Ryo sets down his cup with an air of finality. “Let me walk with you. I need to interview him, too. Might as well get it over with.”
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Tegoshi is not at his post when Massu and Ryo get to the museum. Massu doesn't say anything and simply turns back around and leads Ryo downstairs and into his office.
Ryo stops in the doorway. "There's a girl napping on your couch."
"Hmm? Oh. That's Tegoshi."
Ryo is confused. "I thought you said Tegoshi's a he."
"He is."
"He's in a dress."
"That's because Koki's shirts and pants are boring," the lump on the sofa says suddenly, startling Ryo. Tegoshi sits up and yawns. "Hey, Massu. Mayor."
Ryo inclines his head in acknowledgement as Massu walks to his desk and starts to go through the papers on it.
"So what brings you to the museum, Mr. Mayor?" Tegoshi asks.
"Oh. I'm just going around. Talking to the citizens."
Tegoshi smiles winsomely at him. "What do you want to talk to me about?"
Ryo glances at Massu, who just shrugs at him. "I was asking around about the old mayor. If anyone has any complaints and stuff. So I can learn from his mistakes."
Tegoshi thoughtfully taps his chin. "I can't really think of anything. He was nice. Kept to himself mostly, but I liked him!"
"Only because he rented all the exhibit rooms," Massu says.
"Quantum Physics: A Journey was epic, Massu. The exhibits are still all up, by the way. In case you want to see them? I recommend starting with the Moon Adventure."
"Er...Maybe some other time. I have to go."
"Are you sure?"
Ryo still has a lot of people to see and a town still living in the shadow of a possible murderer, though the town itself remains unaware. Tegoshi seems harmless enough to not spend much more time questioning. "Pretty sure. Massu, if you learn anything else about that weird fossil, let me know, ok?"
Massu meets his gaze for a fraction of a second, and Ryo isn't sure if he sees in it sympathy, understanding, and respect. But then he nods and goes back to the papers on his table, and Ryo leaves with nothing more.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"And you should probably tell that mailman to start doing his job right or not all the free coffee and donuts and flowers in the world will keep me from kicking his ass to the next town!"
Ryo pauses halfway out the door to the post office. "Tell him yourself!" He shoots back before running right out of there.
"I see you finally met Yoko," a voice says in amusement from somewhere across the street. It's Massu, and he looks like he's trying hard not to laugh.
"Ugh. Don't say anything. Not a word."
"He's actually kinda nice. Works really hard and just wants everyone to do the same, you know?"
"I don't," he snaps. "But I don't think he can hurt anyone, much less murder someone."
Massu coughs. "Ah, yes. About that..."
Ryo suddenly snaps his full attention to him. "Did you learn anything new?"
Massu starts to answer but seems to think better of it. "I'll tell you later. Domoto Tsuyoshi has a secret acoustic show in a couple of minutes."
"I can't believe you think a secret acoustic show is more important than a murder investigation," Ryo says with largely feigned indignation. Actually, he’s just a teeny tiny bit envious. The murder investigation has taken up most of the day, and now all he has to look forward to while half the town goes to the concert is his empty house.
"I have an extra ticket," Massu says blandly.
"What, really?! How much do you want for it? I draw the line at kidney." Ryo coughs. "I mean, it would be a nice break...if you're willing to part with it."
"Someone else just gave them to me so it wouldn't be fair to charge you."
Ryo reaches for the ticket excitedly. "Thanks, Massu. You're not as bad as I thought."
"You're welcome, I guess. I figured you might like it, since you said something about wanting to write music."
Ryo looks at him, aware that he has a stupid grin on his face but powerless to stop it. "Like it? Are you kidding? I could kiss you right now."
"Maybe you should save it for the third date. Well? Shall we go?"
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Ryo is enjoying himself immensely. There's something almost magical in Domoto's fingers as he strums his guitar and croons softly, most of his stage persona stripped away in the small club.
"Thanks for giving me a ticket," Ryo whispers to Massu over a peaceful rendition of Azure Ricecakes.
"No problem."
"To be honest, my investigation was getting me nowhere."
Massu fidgets. "Um."
Ryo looks at him. "Didn't you want to tell me something?"
"Yeah. It's nothing important. No big deal. Just that there hasn't been a murder. Probably."
"WHAT?"
"Ssh!" Someone from up front hisses, and Domoto himself looks out sternly at the crowd.
"What?" Ryo repeats in a lower, yet still intense, voice.
"The bones that you found might not be from one man after all."
"But you said--"
"They're fakes."
Ryo rolls his eyes. "What, you failed to notice they were made of plastic, Mr. Bone Expert?"
"No. They're real bones. They've just been altered and molded and mixed up. I looked at them more closely and some of the proportions were just off. Some of them still seem human, but I highly doubt they're all from the same source. It's like someone tried to make a full skeleton from spare parts just lying around."
"Not very reassuring."
"Now that you mention it...it isn't," Massu admits.
"And there's still the matter of the former mayor's disappearance. Which we can't confirm any way."
Massu studies him closely. "So what are you going to do?"
Ryo slowly shakes his head. "I have no clue.”
The closing strains of Azure Ricecakes drift over the audience and are swallowed by the following applause.
Ryo and Massu clap along with the rest of them. Domoto Tsuyoshi bows, winks, and disappears into the wings.
"Maybe we can just set the case aside for now," Ryo muses as he and Massu get to their feet and prepare to follow the crowd’s slow exodus out of the club.
Massu is surprised. “I didn’t expect you to give it up so easily, not after all the work you’ve done so far.”
Ryo glances at him out of the corner of his eye. “Easily? At this moment, I’m trying hard not to punch you.”
“Punch me?!”
“You said the bones seemed human!”
“And some of them still are,” Massu retorts stubbornly.
Ryo stops in the middle of the street and hangs his head, exhausted. “It’s just… this town is so bloody pleasant. So pleasant, it’s suspicious. There almost has to be something dark underneath the surface.”
“I guess the question is, do you want to find something dark underneath the surface?”
Ryo lifts his gaze and meets Massu’s. “You know…as boring as it would be to have the town as picture perfect as it appears, I would rather not.”
“Nothing’s perfect, not even Janizu.”
Ryo nods and starts walking again. He knows this, of course. But it doesn’t mean that Janizu has to be hiding a sinister secret, either. He can either take the town at face value and believe that it is all it seems to be, or he can go through everyday looking for shadows where there are none and live in suspicion of everyone.
But what if something bad did happen to the previous mayor? Maybe someone in town is a murderer. What then?
“Do you want to leave?” Massu asks tentatively.
Ryo laughs. “If I had to move out of towns with unsolved murders in them, I’d have nowhere to go. And it’s not like we even have one for sure.”
“So what do you want to do?”
He thinks about it hard for a few seconds then finally shrugs. "Live each day as they come. Do mayorly things. If more information comes up, we can pick up the case again."
"Is that the mayoral 'we' you're using?" Massu asks, amused.
"No. That's the you and me 'we'. You're in it because I say so," he says firmly. "And because if a cache of flesh-eating beetles turn up, you're the only one qualified to handle them."
Massu groans. "I really hate bugs, you know."
"Then you're in the wrong line of work, pal."
Massu comes to a halt at the intersection along Main Street where they would have to go different ways. "And you? Whatever happened to just wanting to write music?"
"Nothing's stopping me from doing that," Ryo says. "And unless you guys band together to oust me, I see no problem writing music while being a mayor...I might be awful at one or the other, but I'm sure everyone will tell me when I'm doing something wrong."
And Ryo knows that everyone will. Having met most of the townspeople during the course of his investigation, he has found that most of the are honest, possessing varying degrees of bluntness and tact, but honest. It's kind of funny, and as refreshing as Janizu's peach-scented air.
Massu waves goodbye at him as they go their separate ways.
Janizu is a strange place, with stranger occupants and a mystery that he has yet to figure out. But at least he's made a friend or two. That, Ryo thinks, is worth more than all the trouble and worry he's been through.
Well, he smiles to himself, almost.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Sorry to hear that they accused you of murdering me, Nagase," the voice on the phone says from across miles of static, not sounding sorry so much as amused by the whole thing.
"Nah, it's okay. What did you expect after planting that skeleton up a tree?" Nagase asks, putting his feet up on the desk.
"I thought it would make my former secretary stop wondering about where I've gone to."
"Well, it worked. He's so scared of imaginary plots against mayors now he's constantly hovering over the new one."
"Speaking of which... What's my replacement like?"
"Small."
"Everyone's small to you, Nagase." There are sudden noises in the background and he pauses. "I have to go! The race is starting. I can't miss this!"
Nagase laughs. "Fine, fine. Enjoy your race."
"Talk to you soon!"
"Ah. Wait a sec, Koichi!"
"What?"
"Maybe you should come back and visit some day, after our new mayor's all settled in."
"I'll think about it," Koichi says hurriedly and then hangs up.
Nagase hangs up, too. That was a more positive answer than any of his previous ones. Maybe after a few more conversations, he could get him to change his mind.
He shuffles his papers around on his desk. Now, what was it I was going to do...?
He finds the sketch he's looking for and picks it up.
Oh, yes. The sea bass collection.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
It's a new day in Janizu. Bright, clear, and sunny.
Perhaps later it will rain, someone will inevitably show up to complain about the town's bee problem, or some hapless, clumsy soul will fall into a pit again and start screaming for rescue until they're found.
But perhaps nice things are also waiting in the corner. Perhaps a double rainbow will grace the sky, someone will get lucky and hit gold while working in town, or maybe Ohno will reach whatever number he's trying to reach for his sea bass collection quest.
And perhaps, if someone bothers to look in the right places, they will notice the small plant growing upon the side of one of the town's many cliffs, its thin and fragile flowers glowing white beneath the yellow sun, swaying in the cool ocean breeze.
The first Jacob’s Ladder of the season, perhaps of many more soon to come.