Pic above : Mr. Y is based on Kirio Kikuhara from the anime Devil's Line
I will not pretend to say my entire sojourn at Mr. Y's company was uneventful.
A clique of workers who reminded me of the delinquents in high school paraded in the company.
The afore-mentioned comparison was because no one talked to them and vice-versa but everyone talked about them in hushed tones.
One night, I was pretending to work over-time as Jill had wanted to go to an animation movie and I needed an excuse to back out.
That is when I found out that not all the company's drugs were over the counter.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
I did what any person in my situation would do, I immediately left and went to that sappy movie which worked out for me because it won me some brownie points with Jill.
Of course I worked there only till I became tired of the monotony and because I got fired for telling Mr. Y that his ideas were stupid at a board meeting in front of live audience of over a hundred and local press.
So much for freedom of speech in this country !
It was indeed a preposterous idea.
I mean you'd never think a leading pharmaceutical company in palliative care would champion a moratorium on death penalty.
That is corporate suicide.
Our operation now had an expiry date, so I shut it down.
We decided to instead go after the guy who killed Aoi.
Prison records and medical records are pretty hard to crack.
But with Jill it's a cinch.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
His name was Red and his address found , we headed to a reclusive quiet cabin that most convicts would choose over the disapproving eyes of society.
And he didn't know he was having company for dinner.
The door creaked on its hinges and gave way to a bent haggard old man, the face had wizened but I still recognised his features.
But his eyes seemed nothing like the ones that was burned in my memory.
The old man grew shaky, especially when he saw the gun in my hand and he ran away putting distance between us.
"There's no mistake, that is the man," confirmed Jill which brought me out of my reverie.
I wrestled with my clouded thoughts and then I finally broke into a sprint in his pursuit with the others close to my heels, flooding the rough path ahead with flashlights.
Salty air stung my eyes making me realise that we were in the vicinity of the coast.
Suddenly the figure stopped dead in his tracks and screamed, "Who is in the mood for a swim ?"
We looked at each other bamboozled. "Oh! That's too bad, you guys are a bunch of scaredy-cats," he pouted and then hollered.
I tried to grab hold of him but It was too late and he plummeted down the cliff.
The wind blew his jacket in my face and my stomach felt queasy.
"Camphor!" was all I could muster out of my lips before I spewed vomit into the shrubbery nearby.
The law is not about protecting us from just the terrorists, murderers and rapists out there.
It is or should be more about protecting us from the monsters within.
It is about protecting me from myself and for good reason.
I was blinded by a false sense of superiority, gloating at my astounding success as the hand that delivers justice.
I did not realise that I had become the monster that I saw in the dark alley of my childhood.
Mr. Y's company was shut down for dealing with illegal drugs.
Everyone was glued to the television set watching the extensive, racy media coverage of the expose- everyone except me.
I had on this day dressed in my black suit and driven to a social gathering.
It was the first one I was attending out of my own volition.
"Dearly beloved, we are gathered today to lay to rest a man who lived a life of immense suffering.
Not only did he have to fight cancer but he also had to fight the inner demons that made him turn to drugs for solace and led him to live a wretched existence till the end.
As your fellow brother, I wish that the God's grace shall be on you and that your afterlife be sweet deliverance from the trials you faced on this earth."
Thus concluded the service.
I carefully made space for the bouquet of lilies I had brought, and whispered softly.
"I'm sorry Red and I forgive you."
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Pic above: Aoi chan, the protagonist sister who passed away is based on Yuzuyu Sakashita from the anime Aishuteruze Baby.
