In the box (BoyXBoy)

The fragile swindler pt.4

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.
He had not expected Kitagawa to have committed such a serious crime, considering his age and demeanour. He had left prison five years ago, which meant he had been thirty. Was it possible to get out of prison at thirty for killing someone in such a cruel manner? Wasn't it normal to be imprisoned for fifteen or twenty years for that? Or had he been a minor? Was he still in his teens when he had torn enough people apart to be called "Jack the Ripper"?
Oe sprang out of his seat as if he had been burned, checked the locks on his door, and chained it. He checked the locks in the kitchen and bathroom windows, and as for the living room, he even closed and locked the shutters. He knew that there was no way Kitagawa could come murder him in such a weakened condition, but Oe did not feel rested until he had fixed the locks.
He would be losing his life over a mere five, six hundred thousand yen sum. Absolutely ridiculous, he thought. He had to stop the search for Douno before he was discovered. But Kitagawa was sorely attached to the searching for the man. He would probably not be convinced if Oe suddenly brought up the topic of quitting. More than anything, Oe feared that Kitagawa would fly into a temper. In that case, it was not entirely impossible that Oe would get killed.
He heard pattering footsteps. They were coming closer. He could not tell whether they were his wife's or his daughter's, but Oe kept his head down. He was called, but he did not answer. He did not feel like talking to anyone.
A piece of paper was slipped across the table into Oe's vision. On it was a series of numbers. For a moment, Oe could not comprehend what they were.
"I want you take a look at this. Miharu's grades aren't very good." At his wife's words, he finally realized he was looking at a percentile chart. An intense loathing overtook Oe towards the woman for coming to him about such an insignificant matter when there were more important things at hand.
"I'm thinking of sending her to short-term intensive cram school, even just for the winter holidays. They're still taking registrations. It'll be about forty thousand yen, though."
Money again. Money, money, money....
"Besides, she would need to learn the tricks on how to pass the entrance exams."
I didn't care. I never cared about money, but that was all she talked about, so I was forced into frauding a dangerous guy like him.
Oe swept up the percentile chart in front of him and threw it on the ground.
"What the hell was that?" His wife's usual high voice turned so low, it seemed to crawl across the ground.
"If she's not going to study, make her go to work," Oe said.
"Miharu says she wants to go to university. It would be unfair to make her work."
"It's for her own good if she gets out into society, instead of studying pointlessly." When Oe looked up, his wife's face was twisted in fury as she glared at him. Oe felt neither panic nor fear. This woman was not Jack the Ripper. In the end, this was all she amounted to.
"It's your fault that we're poor," she accused. "Do you know how humiliating it is that we can't even give her an education because we can't pay for it?"
Shut up, shut up, shut up! Oe plugged his ears. This isn't the time to be having arguments like this. I'm going through hell of a lot more right now. If I take one wrong step, it could cost me my life. This and everything is all your fault.
His wife changed tactics when she saw Oe's stubborn attitude. Suddenly, her voice turned sickeningly silky.
"Please, will you let her go to cram school? I'm begging you."
Oe's brain began to ache dully. His hands were already full with his own affairs; he wished she would not bother him with trivialities.
"Why don't you use the money that you've saved up behind my back?"
His wife's face suddenly blanched.
"You keep it behind the frame of the painting in the bedroom, don't you? Last time I checked, you had 140,000."
"Y-You―"
"This conversation is over. Get out. I still have work to do!" he snarled at her. His wife bit her lip angrily, then stormed out of the living room. As if fearing for his life wasn't enough, his wife had to add to his troubles with trivial concerns like percentile grades and cram school. If his wife were to die right now, Oe knew he would probably not shed a single tear.
How would he evade Kitagawa? No matter how many possibilities he pondered, the only conclusion he reached was that he would have to stop the search for Douno. If he were to stop, he would have to discuss it with Kitagawa at least once. He would also need a report. Oe brought out his laptop to the living room and began to type up a report at the dining room table. He had not collected his sixth payment yet, but having already received 500,000 yen, he was afraid of what Kitagawa might say if he came out with a report that was half-baked.
I wish Kitagawa's cold would just get worse until he died. Then everything would come to a clean close, without any loose strings to take care of.
But no matter how hard he wished for the man to die, he knew people did not expire that easily. Oe knew it well, which was why he pressed on in his efforts to put a decent-looking report together into the wee hours of the morning.