Work Text:
Notes:
The following snippets, drabbles, commentaries, etc can be read mostly as stand-alones for either the Gokusen or Trick universe. However, it's perhaps better to have read the main story, Do! first, to get the gist of the story.
Back to main story chapter 1
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[01] Sawada Shin & the Case of the Never-Ending School Days
Sawada leaned back in his seat, stretched his spine and sighed loudly. He was suddenly reminded of himself, a long time ago, when he had been a freshman in a bottom-feeder school ready to sail the world aimlessly. Suddenly, things happened, and within the intermittent years years, the snot-nosed kid who had been indifferent to the world, found himself aiming for a noble cause.
His requisite four years of undergraduate school had passed by really quickly—in three years in fact. A fact sometimes made bearable only because he remembered why he embarked on this crazy journey in the first place. He had never studied so hard, not even in his elite primary and junior high school days.
Whenever he remembered his speech to Yamaguchi that day of his high school graduation, he cringed a little. Wasn't it trite? He thought so. “I want to be useful to you and the people who are important to you.” He was really a kid back then, wasn't he? Today, as he continued to be engaged in a long protracted war, armed with his well-thumbed Six Codes, extra-strong coffee, and an extra pair of sharpened 2B pencils, he would like to think that he’s a little bit less of a kid, and a little bit more of an adult.
Yet, how far had he come, how far he still needed to go. To start with, he still had three more grueling years before the bar exams. He sighed again and stared at the open book in front of him, words swimming around like koi fish in the river. Uesugi, the little shit, had goaded him to finish him in two, making bets on who would come second to Onitamagawa. “In any case, maybe you should try for one year, Sawada. Don’t you want to propose to your girlfriend already?”
If I read it correctly, then the stages would be: four (or three) years of general undergraduate, three (or two) years of graduate law, bar exams, and then one year (or eight months) compulsory training at JRTI. After completing training at the Institute, they can start building their career as either prosecutor, judge, or lawyer.
Bar exams run in May (total 4 days), not sure when they release the results, but I hope it's after Summer, to allow Sawada to go on a summer adventure with Yamaguchi (*wink*)
Law schools and legal education in Japan: (01) (02)
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[02] Ueda’s Story
In Malaysia, Yamada Naoko had promised she would be back in a year, after completing a task only she could do. The liar.
Two weeks past the one-year mark, Ueda Jirou went on a solo investigation trip to a backwater village on a mountain somewhere. But he kept turning around to ask for her opinion on things he already knew. Since then, he had turned down any trips, because he thought it was unfair to her. He would never hear the end of it, if she found out he went on these fun holiday/investigative trips without taking her.
(the onsen was really fun, even Yabe said so)
His books had dried up, too; the thought of writing just didn’t excite him anymore, even though he had a lot of materials to work with. His publisher had given up saying “Why don’t you do your best?” to his face, stopped coming altogether, and maybe his writing contract would not be renewed.
It’s one month past the one-year mark now. He’s back in his old office—the narrow but long-enough office from when he was still assistant professor. Truth be told, he didn’t like the big Superstar Professor room anyway. He liked this room better, but had it gotten smaller? Perhaps he just had more crap than before. He knew for certain that the turtle and the mouse hadn’t been there before. Their glass boxes sat on the floor behind his supremely untidy desk.
Speaking of turtle and mouse, he thought, as he fed them their lunch. He wouldn’t admit it, but he could point to where (the owner of the two animals) had stood that day, with her unfashionable dress and her cheap magic trick.
He tsked when he gave one too many fat worms to the mouse. He fed it another one just to be sure.
“Are you fattening it up for some reason?” came a voice from the doorway.
He turned around to find a kimono-clad old man leaning on an expensive looking cane just inside the door. Ueda thought he should know this person; he must’ve seen the old man enough times on a television program someplace.
The old man’s white cloud of hair seemed to float around wildly and ominously as he hobbled into the room. He would’ve been menacingly handsome when he was younger, Ueda surmised.
(much like myself)
“Well, I heard that you’re in a slump,” the old man said, claiming one side of the sofa nearest to the door. “How about a change of scenery?”
“I’m not taking any investigative jobs, right now,” Ueda told the man. “I’ve had it with these fake spiritualists.” Really, they brought nothing but trouble, Ueda thought darkly as he hesitated in front of his tea collection, wondering which one he should serve to the old man.
“Don’t worry, that’s not why I’m here for,” the old man leaned back. “Ah, and I’ll take some Longjing tea.”
The man knows his tea for sure, Ueda tsked, as he pushed around different pots of tea to get to his treasured stash. The sound of water boiling, dry tea falling to the bottom of a cup, the sound of flowing water, the fragrant billowing steam.
“I talked to your department head,” the man continued, nodding his thanks when Ueda placed a cup on the glass table in front of him. “She agreed to lend you to me for two years. You’ll be good publicity, and maybe you’ll find your mojo again.” Ueda knew she had been trying to get rid of him for about five times that long.
Ueda waited until the man finished drinking, and was glad to see that the man took his time to enjoy and appreciate the ultra-high grade yellow tea he had lovingly made.
(although maybe two hours was a bit much, in hindsight)
“Well, see you in the new school year.”
The old man left an old-fashioned calling card on the table, with his name in calligraphy (if it were any older, he would’ve been looking at a carved menhir, instead). “University of Tokyo… Faculty of Science… Professor Emeritus… Oni..tama..gawa… is it?”
(eh, even the name is great.)
Back to main story chapter 2
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[01] Kumai Sayuri’s Story
There’s a regular at Yasue-mama’s store who worked as a manager of a cooking school. He always smelled delicious. One time, he came in smelling like curry, and other times of icing sugar. These days, he would come and give Kumai Sayuri a huge grin, bearing stories about her son.
Her son never told her anything much, only that his training was going well or that the ramen shop was doing well. Sometimes, he would leave food on the table for her to reheat once she came home from work. But, she supposed boys everywhere were economical with their words.
“Your son is turning to be quite a cook, Sayuri-san,” Mr. Cooking Manager would say. “He’s not the most natural in cooking, but his hard work really pays off.” This month, the man told her, they’re experimenting with summer menu. Teruo had chosen to explore the Thai taste—fresh spicy chili, and bright sour lime.
“I look forward to it,” Sayuri would say. When she came back home from work that night, her son would tell her that her huge grin was a bit weird and borderline creepy.
Recipes for Thai Style Pulled Pork Banh Mi; Thai Green Chili and Lime Jam
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[02] Nikujaga
To Kishimoto Seiji, nikujaga tasted like home. It also tasted like normalcy. His aunt was a high-flying journalist who never seemed to be home for longer than a few days at most. And she could only cook two things: butter rice and nikujaga; although she never made either whenever she was home these days. It would mostly be take-outs—fancy sushi or high priced steak sometimes, convenient store bento most of the time.
But she had taught him how to make nikujaga a long time ago, and it was the only thing he could cook. She had also taught him to stretch his money by substituting beef with pork. When loneliness became to lonely, he would cook a lot and reheat them day after day until the flavor became too concentrated and too strong, until the bottom of his pot blackened. Sometimes, his aunt would come back before then.
Much later, he would come across a ramen store owner called Kumai—an ex-student of his homeroom teacher. Sometimes, his aunt would come home and Kishimoto would have other dishes simmering on the stove next to a pot of nikujaga.
“To get a richer taste, try adding coarse-grained sugar. You can also try adding sweet onions...”
~ Shinya Shokudo, Season 2 Ep. 9
Back to main story chapter 3
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[01] Kishimoto Seiji's Story
The one thing that stayed most with Kishimoto about his birth island was what a treasure-trove of geographical phenomena it was. They made an endlessly amusing playground for a loner like him, every day seemed to be a day for new adventures and discoveries. The eastern portion of Shin-Kokumon-to was a white sand beach, with star-shaped grains—five-pointed tiny miracles nestled between round coarse sands. The family obaasan called them the lost star children. She was the island’s soothsayer—he would later learn that she was not his direct grandmother, but he loved her like his own nevertheless—and he would sometimes watch her cup a handful of little stars and heal many people’s hearts.
Somewhere to the south of the island, deeper inside the imaginary boundary marking Pacific Ring of Fire, the beach had very little sand. There were rocks, rushing up to the waterline, and that looked like a network of honeycomb, or a deep impression or a turtle’s back. The old folk’s tale said that a long time ago, a great earthquake occurred and the tsunami churned up the waters and dragged up the great turtle from the bottom of the sea.
The turtle was flung onto this part of the island, and it fell mightily on its back that it compressed the sand into rock, and impressed its patterns forever. The strongest man of the island managed to turn it back into the water, and to this day, it was never seen again. When high tide came and engulfed the whole beach, he could almost believe the turtle had made it back home.
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[02] Kokumon-to & Shin-Kokumon-to
I stole the many geographical contours of Shin-Kokumon-to from many of the interesting phenomena found in Japan’s Southwest Islands and Okinawa:
Star-sand beaches (hoshizuna no hama) can be found in islands of Taketomi, Iriomote and Hatoma, further southwest from Miyakojima, around 200 km from Hualien County in Taiwan. They are actually cute and tiny foraminifera shells.
Travelogue: Okinawa's Incredibly Shaped Living Fossils
Honeycomb Rocks, also known as tatami-shaped rocks (tatami-ishii; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tatami-ishi) can be found in the island of Ojima, to the west of the main Okinawa Island. It comprises of hundreds of 1-meter pentagonal or hexagonal shaped flat rocks arranged in a vast expanse along the waterline.
Travelogue: Okinawa's Secret Beaches
The Trick canon places the fictional island of Kokumon-to somewhere off Miyako-jima, Okinawa. When shamanism was banned from the island by the Meiji government, and practitioners were either eradicated or driven out of Kokumon-to alongside the then-ruling Satsuma clan members. They settled in many islands in the Okinawan peninsula, including Shin-Kokumon-to, Kishimoto’s birth island.
In any case, user hanadatattsu (Hiroshi66) on BCJKDramasinCalifornia message board has a lengthier explanation of the true historical event surrounding Meiji government and Ryukyu Kingdom (read here)
Back to main story chapter 4
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[01] Kyou-san Spills the Beans
That night, when everyone’s gone to bed, Ooshima Kyoutaro sat up and accompanied Kuroda-oyabun drinking tea and watching the moon from the engawa.
“That Sawada boy told me about his plans to re-propose,” Ooshima said. Because they all still remembered the amusing retelling of the time when the boy, a fresh high-school graduate had confessed and promptly left by the roadside by his flustered homeroom teacher.
“Did he now?”
“I might have goaded him a little bit,” he chuckled. “Told him that old story with Uma-no-o’s nidaime.”
“Well, wasn't that a laugh and a half, once I got past my mortification,” Oyabun said, pretending that he didn’t just choke on his tea at the memory.
It took them a while to stop cackling like schoolchildren. “I think he’s still serious, and I don’t think Oyabun can convince him to go away like you did with Shinohara-sensei.”
“I might be able to, but Kumiko won’t be happy with me.”
The trees rustled, and the night wind was fragrant. “So, what next?”
“I might be able to think of something,” Oyabun smiled at him. There hadn’t been this much excitement in the household in a long while.
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[02] The Traditional Japanese House
The grass is always greener on the other side. In Sawada's case, the house was always nicer when it's not his house. Especially Yamaguchi's house that seemed to anthropomorphize and welcome him warmly, every time without fail. Maybe it was the worn and deeply etched wooden grains of the engawa that reminded him of his grandmother's warm weathered face. Maybe it was he flowers on the tokonoma, which betrayed Kyou-san's poetic sensibilities (not that the man would ever admit it). Maybe it was the warm hearth that made shadows dance on paper walls, as though no one is ever truly alone. Or that bamboo fountain that Fuji secretly loved.
Seventeen features of a traditional Japanese home.
Back to main story chapter 5
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[01] Sawada Gou
Going by the manga (vol. 13) and Gokusen's wikipedia page, Sawada's father is, I think, a NPA Bureau Director (or Director-General, kyokucho). Should he have been promoted since then? Since I'm not sure, we'll go with this. I use the Detective Conan World wiki for additional reference.
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[02] Onitamagawa Sayuri
We never really see Onitamagawa Sayuri in the mangas, but this girl with perfect marks who pooped on Uesugi’s parade (Well, okay, maybe both she and Sawada did; see manga chapter 11, episode 103, Results of the National Moc Examination) is interesting to me.
My character headcanon for Onitamagawa runs on the long line of celebrated women in severe bob cuts and round eyeglasses. Or more precisely, an amalgamation of Udagawa Kachiko (from Yamato Waki’s Fusuma Land 4.5 manga); Morimoto Tomomi (from IQ246 tv series); and finally Edna Mode (from The Incredibles)
Udagawa is how I imagine Onitamagawa to be in her high school years, a great advocate of honor, academic diligence, discipline, and friendship forever. Morimoto is the genius forensic expert who is deadly in love with incredible brains and impossible scientific mysteries. While Edna Mode is, of course, the no-nonsense fashion designer to the World’s Greatest Superheroes.
Back to main story chapter 6
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[01] Lieutenant Yabe Kenzo's Story
After being on the fast-track for so long, being kicked to the not-so-fast track did not sit well with Lieutenant Yabe Kenzo’s ego. And all because of a lousy escapee of a hack spiritualist. Assistants came and went, bosses came and went, and Yabe Kenzo was still stuck at Lieutenant level. What he wouldn’t give to have his hands around Komatsu Junko’s neck.
Speaking of assistants, thank goodness his current assistant seemed much more bearable. He slapped Akiba Harando across the head for good measure. Damn the man for having so much hair anyway.
After almost so many years, finally he got wind of Komatsu’s movement. Apparently, she was still hung up about Kishimoto—her lover’s—death, and had managed to pick up Kishimoto’s remaining relative to take care of. His boss did not waste any time at all sending him to a town called Shirokin, which seemed rather a quaint and sleepy place. Nothing much went on in the town it seemed, and the only excitement at the police station was solely due to the antics of a local all-boys high school, perhaps home to the majority of Japan’s delinquents.
Which was also the place where Komatsu Junko sent her dead lover’s nephew to.
Go figure, really. Criminals breed criminals, and send them to criminal school.
Funnily enough, he was told that the younger son of Director-General of the Crime Investigation Bureau had gone to Shirokin High as well—its top graduate and now a Toudai-attendee.
Well, if you want to raise a great spy, you have to throw ‘em in the lion’s den from a young age, Yabe supposed.
Today had started out quiet, that he could even do some strategic planning at the nearest hair specialist. But reality soon slapped him in the face and he a great police detective like himself was actually needed to attend to a mere case of food poisoning. He really wished he could catch that Komatsu sooner rather than later.
Watch the Lieutenant's shenanigans in his own spin-off drama, Keibuho Yabe Kenzo (two, very entertaining, seasons so far).
Back to main story chapter 7
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[01] The way to a boy's heart
The owner of the ramen shop, Kishimoto learned, was an ex-student of Kumiko. He was a bit on the round side, and on the smile-a-lot side as well. While the three adults were chatting animatedly by the window, Kishimoto minded his own business, slurping his ramen almost mechanically, keeping his head down.
“What’s your name?”
It took Kishimoto a while to realize that he was being addressed. He lifted his head quickly and a string of ramen slapped wetly on his chin.
“Sorry?”
“What’s your name?” the ramen shop owner asked him.
“Kishimoto Seiji,” he answered cautiously. He could smell a conversation tactic from a mile away.
“Wha’dya think of Yankumi?” the man… no older boy… asked him. (‘man’ would be that tall scruffy person currently being yelled at by Yankumi).
“She’s nice for a teacher.”
“Nice.” An amused laughter. “That’s an understatement if I ever heard one. Although… she can be overbearing sometimes, can she?”
Kishimoto found himself nodding, involuntarily. He hoped it was not an affront. Clearly, Ramen Guy respected Yankumi well enough.
“Oh, call me Kuma, everyone does,” he said belatedly, as he pulled an empty stool next to Kishimoto. “Yankumi told me about you… a loner boy, who’s good at cooking.”
Kuma-san wouldn’t mind Kishimoto coming to the shop and learn how to cook. After all, Kuma-san was still learning himself, and his cooking instructor said there’s no better way to learn than to teach someone. Kishimoto wondered if all of Yankumi’s students were busybodies like her.
He wouldn’t dare say it out loud, but all of this attention was making him feel uneasy.
The last time he had been anyone’s center of attention, it was from the family’s obaasan. And it was a long time ago, maybe it was just an imagination. An odd-ball like him would definitely have an old woman as an imaginary friend.
He made a show of finishing his soup and politely declined another serving. He made noises about having homework to do, and took out his books and pencils. Kuma-san laughed and said he had never seen anyone from Shirokin as diligent as Kishimoto before.
When days-weeks-months later Kishimoto showed up like a timid haunting inside the shop's door, Kuma-san did not appear surprised. The kitchen was hot and smoky, but Kishimoto found that cooking together so much better than doing it alone.
Back to main story chapter 8
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[01] Orange Season in Okinawa
Mikan and Tankan grow in the Northern part of Okinawa where the picking season, or Mikan-gari, runs from October to February (with most orchards open from January to February). Indeed, it is said that Chinese (Far-East) tangerines are the sweetest around the Lunar New Year! Around the same time, there’s also strawberry picking, on the other side of Okinawa (more specifically at Ginori Village).
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[02] The Bookstore
He had barely recovered from the Tsuruwa-kumi Ojousan debacle when he was moved out of his apartment rather unceremoniously. His father supervised and his friends summarily lost a place to hang out. But most significantly, he lost that constant contact with his friends. It all happened in what felt like a blink of an eye.
Sawada didn't realize just how much he missed having them loiter around, come around unannounced, or generally treat his apartment as their own. There had been jokes about dividing up the electric and heating bill with ethem, but most of all he liked that never had to return to an empty apartment.
He kept his part-time job at the bookstore, which was really really far from his father’s house, so much so that the commute became a downright nuisance in the winter. He persevered though, because it was been the only place he could meet his friends.
Friends who never bought anything. Friends who loitered around longer than was proper in the graphic novels section and who constantly asked him to produce the bookstore’s racier stock. Friends who goaded him into chasing them out of the bookstore with a duster. Friends who came by at odd hours and kept him company when the bookstore got too quiet.
It was a second-hand bookstore, with owned by a stereotypical old man who disliked books, but had been married to a bookworm. It was one of those fairytale-like stories where the man kept the bookstore running because it reminded him of his wife. The books the man sold was mostly his late wife's. Every day he would straighten them up like one would do for a drunken friend after a night of revelry. The way he sold each of them, it was like he was entrusting a piece of his wife to a book loving stranger. The man had no children, so he doted on Sawada and was always charmed by Yamaguchi.
Soon enough, his law office internship became too hectic though he held out as long as possible. He didn’t want to miss seeing his friends, nor did he want to miss learning shogi from the old man. So he stuck with it, losing naps was a small price to pay.
In the end, the old man took the choice away from him. “Maybe,” the man said one bright sunny day, “I’ll go see Japan in my little car.”
Maybe one day, when he had run out of land and sea, he would come back again to reopen the bookstore.
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[03] Yamaguchi Kumiko and the Case of Disappearing Students
This year's school trip brought her back to Okinawa. In order to avoid confrontation with students from other schools, and to keep trip costs low, the Principal decided to have a three-day retreat at an orange grove instead, with daily morning excursions to Okinawa's many beach. The students can benefit from clean air and natural beauty, the Principal had said. What crock.
They were about two seasons too early, so all the orange trees were bare. The information center was closed, the hotel's entertainment system was under repair, and the only thing that stopped the students from escaping was the fact that the nearest narrow road was miles away.
How are they not dead from boredom yet? She wondered. But at least, this year she would have a good night sleep.
But as luck would have it, every year without fail, however, students would try to sneak past their teachers to enjoy the nightlife of their host city. They’re almost always students from Yankumi’s homeroom.
The last time they were to Okinawa, she reminisced. Uchi had gone missing. They had found him, made new friends, and even picked up a gangster cat. This time…
Kishimoto Seiji!
So much for a good night’s sleep, Yamaguchi fumed. Sawada’s presence next to her as they went hunting for the lost boy did very little to soothe her frayed nerves. They trudged up and down a dark and empty orange orchard, hoping to hell that the boy hadn’t escaped the compound.
For a non-delinquent, that boy sure got into a lot of trouble, she thought darkly. The odd thing was that he seemed to disappear into thin air, right in front of Iwamoto-sensei’s nose.
“So did you find what you’re looking for?” She asked when she (finally!) found him sitting behind a shack, next to a bald tree that was all limbs and big trunk and nothing else. The faint scent of orange blossom might as well be a product of her imagination.
The poor boy shot several metaphorical feet into the air. But he soon settled into a determined curl under the tree.
“A long time ago, my aunt used to live a few hours from here,” he said after a while, putting his forehead against folded arms, propped up on his knees. “I used to visit her there with our family's obaasan. Obaasan was't really my grandmother. Everyone called her Haha no Izumi; she’s really like a grandmother to us all. I remembered playing hide and seek in the orchard, go orange picking…”
“I’m sorry,” she said.
“It’s okay. Then it was suddenly decided I should go live with my aunt. Not long after, Haha no Izumi left the village to set up somewhere else, I’m not sure where. A place with a windmill anyway. We moved around a lot, me and my aunt,” He sighed. “Sometimes I wish I could stay with Haha no Izumi. Sometimes I wish my aunt is just a regular office lady instead of an investigative journalist, you know.”
Many years ago, when she was just a rookie teacher, she would’ve invited Kishimoto to sneak out of the resort and try to find his aunt's old village; or even the grandmother's village, the one with the windmill. But she’s older now, hopefully wiser; it’s a place unknown to her with street signs only the locals could decipher.
“We’re going to visit the sea again tomorrow!” Yamaguchi said unhelpfully, instead. If they thought the one they visited earlier was secluded, they’d be lucky if the one tomorrow actually existed.
Kishimoto looked at her skeptically, and Yamaguchi found herself uncharacteristically tongue-tied. For one, she could not imagine moving around so much in life. In fact, her whole life, she only knew two homes. First with her parents, and then with Grandpa. The poor boy, she thought sadly. She remembered he had once told her that he did not even remember what his parents were like.
“Have you gone back to the island?” she asked, hoping she’s not making the wrong decision to talk about this part of his life.
“No. But maybe one day,” he said it with a sense of finality that nothing was said for the next few minutes.
“Hang in there, okay?” Yamaguchi added softly, after a while, she couldn’t see his face properly in the dead moon night. The resort’s main building was a bright dot some ways behind. If the orange trees were leafier, they wouldn’t be able to see it.
“Yosh!” She said, finally, slapped his back and half-dragged him onto his feet. Sawada appeared almost out of nowhere to help her. She threw him a thankful glance, for patiently waiting all this time. The mosquitoes must've half eaten him alive. Truly, Yamaguchi had never seen someone more of a mosquito-magnet than him. “Let’s go back before Iwamoto-sensei throws a fit.”
Yamaguchi hummed a random tune, loud and off key, trying valiantly to keep her hand from taking Sawada's. She didn’t hear Kishimoto promising, “We will go back to the island, you’ll see.”
Back to main story chapter 9
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[01] Riding in Cars with Boys
These days, Sawada spent more time with the on-campus study group than was actually sane. On top of that, were the hours he spent in the same internship as the Terrible Two, courtesy of their law professor. Four times a week, the three of them went from campus to their internship in Onitamagawa’s souped up vintage Mazda R360, and ate at Kumai’s most nights. He still couldn't remember the reason why he became friends with these two crazy people, or why the Terrible Two managed to befriend some of his Shirokin friends, courtesy of Kuma.
“What did you do to your car, exactly?”
“Lots of things. It runs on electricity now, if you haven't realized.”
“More like it runs on other people’s misery,” Uesugi chirped from underneath his pile of printouts on the front seat.
I've always wondered what would happen if all three of them ended up doing Law at Todai. I always thought that Sawada's schedule after entering Toudai might differ from most of his friends who probably entered the workforce directly after school, or some vocational course/apprenticeship, maybe his interactions with his Shirokin friends would change somehow. So, one thing led to another...
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[02] Shiso (Perilla mint)
In real life many forms of Perilla frutescens contain a chemical called perilla ketone. In laboratory mice, it has been shown that too much of this chemical can induce very active intestinal propulsion (or, the runs). Further, if the victims were goats, as Onitamagawa said, their corpses would've shown that they died of pulmonary edema (alternatively: pneumonia or pulmonary emphysema if they were cows; or restrictive lung disease if they were horses). However, as far as we know, real-life shiso or perilla mint or beefsteak plant is still safe for human consumption.
For the sake of the story line, let's just say that there's one species of shiso that, after first eating, would cause symptms akin to food poisoning (diarrhea, active intestinal propulsion), but would later affect the human lungs. It's far-fetched of course, because the digestive system and respiratory system aren't so easily/arbitrarily connected, or are they?
Perilla frutescens in the Encyclopedia of Herbs (pp. 388ff); and this weed management brochure (Purdue U.)
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[03] Fujiyama-sensei’s Story
Fujiyama-sensei was too well-blessed that she felt like she was cursed most of the time. She had her fair share of stalkers and creepers, although their number had steadily diminished ever since Yamaguchi-sensei came along and helped where she could.
On the flip side, the number of kidnappers was definitely on the rise.
At least this time she’s not tied up (for long) or put into a stupid wrestling mask. She’s not into BDSM and she’s definitely not into fetishwear, thank you very much!
She roamed the small square room with wooden paneling on all four walls and floor, the ceiling was high with wooden beams as well.
She could hear her kidnappers talking frantically outside, so she pressed her ear onto the door and closed her eyes. She’s getting a headache from all the heavily grained wood paneling, and she could hear better with her eyes closed.
“You’ve got the wrong person!”
“But Kishimoto said… a tracksuit-wearing female teacher from Shirokin?!”
“Did he say there’s only one female teacher? Stupid! Idiot!” some slapping and hitting noises could be heard. “Anyway, didn’t Komatsu-san said the woman is hinyuu? Are you fucking blind? That woman we just caught, she’s F-cup at least! In what world is that a flat-chest to you?”
“She could’ve gotten a breast implant since Komatsu-san saw her last, Brother!”
She heard more slapping and hitting, but this time, there’s more yelling as well. A lot of threatening noises were being made outside of her door, and a lot of things were falling down, breaking or crashing.
“Police! Stand back!” came an order from the other side of the door, and she wisely chose the farthest corner away from the door. A few thumps, and the door broke at the hinges.
Her eyes goggled as she saw who walked in. “Principal Sawatari?!”
There’s a heavy groan coming from the man, and Fujiyama could swear that his entire hairline receded right there in front of her eyes. “Not Sawatari. Ya-be! Lieutenant Ya-be Ken-zo.” He brandished a square card thing that could’ve been his police ID. Fujiyama’s vision was swimming again.
Back to main story chapter 10
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[01] University of Tokyo, Hongo Campus Map.
[02] Renaissance Man: both old and capable
“Yo, Sawada.”
“Uesugi,” Sawada replied without turning around or taking his eyes off Professor Beanpole. “Is it time to draw Onitamagawa out from her lair?”
“Yo!”
“Miracles do happen,” Sawada drawled. “Oni, it’s very rare to see you voluntarily leave your experiments.”
“I do leave them once in a while, you know.” Usually to attend seminars and tutorials, sit for exams, or prey on the hapless. Or attend to interesting things. Right now, the most interesting thing in the whole building for Onitamagawa was the view of Sawada Shin glaring balefully at the Visiting Professor her grandfather had invited. “Why are you glaring daggers at him?”
Uesugi nodded discreetly at Sawada’s violent-and-not-girlfriend-ex-teacher. “Hey Sawada,” he needled. “Is the professor a rival in love?”
Onitamagawa claimed an empty seat next to the door. “Professor Ueda Jiro, one of Japan’s most decorated left-field physicists. I heard he even had a special room built for all his medals and trophies from all sorts of science awards. Top of the non-fiction best-sellers for how many years running.”
“In short, a nerd,” Uesugi supplied. “Don’t worry, Sawada, you’re still ahead in the ‘let’s go to war and die next to your loved ones’ department.”
“I wouldn’t be so quick to say so,” Onitamagawa grinned, when Sawada looked at her. “Regional judo champion. He helps out the on-campus judo team once in a while, if you care to know.” Sawada had heard passingly about the judo team sudden undefeated run to the Nationals.
“Oh, I remember now. I know something interesting about the professor as well,” Uesugi said in a way that indicated he had always remembered, but Sawada had already decided he would just block them out completely.
Back to main story chapter 11
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[01] The Lawyer Returns
It was not Yamada Satomi’s first visit to Kamiyama. She had forgotten about it but was strongly reminded of it when she saw the Kamiyama Shrine. A long time ago, grieving for the loss of her beloved husband, she had left a young Naoko with some relatives and went on a soul-searching journey (whenever they fought, Naoko would say that it was just some tourist travel). Somehow she had ended up in Kamiyama, where she met illustrious men.
But we’re not really talking about Yamada Satomi right now, although her stay at Kamiyama was interesting enough.
On the day that Yamada Satomi-sensei held her shodo class at the shrine, another person returned, after a long time away from it. He didn’t go to the shrine, however, but went directly from the train station to an office building.
“How’s life?” someone asked him in the elevator that would take him to the Legal Department.
He now led a quiet life as a village lawyer—his days were full of excitement with no shortage of pickpockets, shoplifters, and cat burglars, not to mention the occasional divorce. He smiled at his questioner—short, stout, and missing hair—someone he vaguely remembered. The elevator pinged, he smiled and made his way to the Department Head’s offices. Years might have passed, but his feet still remembered the beaten path.
The office room was small to begin with, not at all glamorous, and made smaller by the bookcases and cabinets crammed against every wall. It looked smaller now; his replacement wasn’t the tidiest person in the world, especially now when she’s two days away from getting married.
“How’s the bride-to-be?” he asked, leaning against the doorjamb.
“Like the world’s about to end,” the woman answered without pausing her rummaging through volumes of bound documents stacked higher than herself. “We have a deposition early tomorrow, and I can’t find the files.”
Back to main story chapter 12
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[01] School’s Out Forever
Uesugi Ritsu’s and Onitamagawa Sayuri’s next career moves reflected their shared late-blooming rebellion. After complying meekly with the demands placed upon them by generations of familial expectations, they broke away completely.
Uesugi’s father had long believed that his son’s odd friendship with a Shirokin Gakuen student would end up in a big mess. Top-three in the nation the student may be, but he was still from Shirokin. Younger son of the Police Director General he may be, but everyone knew there’s always a bad apple hanging in every family tree.
The old man’s suspicion grew even more when Uesugi turned down an internship offer from the prosecutor’s office, and went with the Sawada boy and the Onitamagawa girl. His eyebrows nearly shot out of his forehead when he was told that his son had no intention to take up the post already prepared for him at the district prosecutor’s office.
His son, he was told, had already signed up to clerk for a law office. Not just any law office, its senior partner was his long-time rival. It was definitely an overflowing well of gossip. He didn’t know which one he feared the most, the fact that his son had turned his back from the family’s honored trade spanning generations, or the fact that his son might hear stuff about him from his rival.
He threw a vase against the wall, and belatedly realized he forgot to check its maker’s mark. He wasn’t going to check now, he decided, fervently praying it wasn’t one of his wife’s prized Sevres.
In any case, he had calls to make. Maybe one of the instructors at the Training Institute could still help sway the boy.
* * * * *
On the other side of the city, a very old man of indeterminate age sat quietly in his office, all lights turned off except for the faint reading light over his massive oak desk.
His great-grandniece had just left the room. It had only been a few short minutes of conversation, barely a few dozen words exchanged. But what a rollercoaster that had been; his heart had yet to stop racing. Come to think of it, it had been a rollercoaster couple of decades.
Sayuri was the only family he had left, and the only one who could match his brain power. He had been elated when Sayuri showed a lot of interest in science, and began following him into the forensics lab once she was old enough to understand the word “no, don’t touch.”
Perhaps, it was his fault, for lamenting too much about the state of Japan’s medicolegal, criminal and forensics system, in front of a child whose brain might as well be an ultra-absorbent sponge. Then one day, little Sayuri sat next to him watching the evening news and learned about the Parliamentary system. Sayuri had always dreamed to be a member of the Diet from when she first understood what the word meant.
He always held out hope that Sayuri would realize that becoming a politician was not what she wanted, even as she breezed through law school and her internship at a law office. However, he was also someone who could admit defeat, and had been ready to give it all a rest when Sayuri passed her bar exams with the most stellar results anyone had ever seen.
But she had come in to his office earlier in the evening to tell him that she intended to turn down a clerking offer with one of the Diet’s fastest rising star, and neither will she join her two friends at the Institute.
“I’m not interested in becoming a lawyer or a judge, granduncle,” she had said. “Instead, can you write a reference letter, so I can join the rotating study group at the Police Science Institute?”
He had barely enough restraint not to throw a party then and there—his grandniece had returned to the science fold!
His elation must have shown on his face, somehow, because his balloon of happiness was shot down mercilessly. “After all, how can I possibly reform Nippon’s forensic science if I don’t understand the crime scene first of all? The Diet can wait.”
(To say that he barely survived an aneurysm would be a gross understatement.)
Japan abolishing the Medical Examiner System
Difficulty in solving cases due to low autopsy rate
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[02] Bengoshi no Ongaeshi, Redux
Not long after he had practically forced Kuroda-oyabun's hand, the older man summoned him to a discussion. It's about your job, the man had said. Shinohara had expected to be coaxed into returning to the straight and narrow layman's life.
But instead, he had been given a reason to hang around. There was this front company, the Boss had said, and it needs a good legal head to keep it on the straight and narrow path.
He hadn't known then, but the company was part of an effort to legitimize a lot of the group's dealings. No one knew when it really started, this effort to go straight and narrow. Or at least straighter and narrower than most Yakuzas.
There had been—still were—rumors around the office, that it was due to Kuroda's daughter, Yuriko-san, eloping with a layman. A teacher or some such. But the Wada group boss, who had been with the group for a long time before breaking off to set up his own group, had once told him otherwise. Long before that, the Wada group boss had said, before going mum ever since.
There had been oppositions, he heard. Not everyone agreed with the Boss at first, he was told. The older ones and the few hot blooded ones. But the Boss had a way with words, and so that was that.
Most of the people he had chosen for the then-newly established legal department were still working there, managing that company and all the other companies. Now, more than ever, going straight and narrow seemed like a destined Kuroda legacy, especially with it's sole heir, Yamaguchi Kumiko, showing no interest in the traditional Yakuza life.
But all of that went up in the air again, an uncertain but exciting future as things got shaken up. Because, almost as Shinohara did so many years ago, another young man had all but barged in from the outside. Yet, unlike Shinohara, that young man would definitely stay put and never leave.
* * * * *
It's only been a day since he's been back in town—mostly only so that he could attend his protege's wedding—and he had already experienced more excitement than he did a whole month in his hometown.
"Say, Shinohara-san, talk to me about things other than my wedding tomorrow."
"Nevermind that you're spending the night before your wedding getting blind drunk with a man not your husband-to-be."
"But you're like a big brother I never had." Because none of her four brothers were any good in her eyes. "And you're my boss."
"Ex-boss."
"Once the boss, always the boss," she blinked owlishly at him before polishing off her gin and tonic. "Right?"
"So, I heard the Boss introduced a new guy to your department."
"Oh yeah, that kid. Brilliant mind, I was told. Definitely needs some attitude adjustment, though," she scowled. "Already asked for leave even before starting one day of work. The nerve of him. I envision a difficult road ahead for that kid."
"I'm sure he has his reasons."
"Sure, sure. I'll know it when I see it," she said as she waved down a bartender. She ordered a bottle of sake which she didn't seem to want to share with him. "Heard you're fond of him," she drawled accusingly. "I won't go easy on him."
"Go for it," he said.
At the other side of the bar, near the entrance, a harried man looked around anxiously. Shinohara caught sight of him and thought the man was rather familiar.
Five minutes later, a bottle of heated sake came with a fresh cup but she was already long gone, choosing to leave (now, right now) with her husband-to-be, who had broken the 'No seeing the bride on the night before the wedding' rule and who knows how many traffic rules to get to her.
He thought of another man, young and hot-blooded, who was perhaps breaking a different set of rules on his own for the sake of a woman.
He idly poured himself a hearty cup. Maybe he should come down here more often. He didn't realize how he missed the excitement.
Back to main story chapter 13
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[01] Ueda Jiro and Yamaguchi’s Island Adventure
“So, how did we end up in a locked hut, exactly?” Yamaguchi had no patience for shenanigans. They had gone to the island to save an allegedly-kidnapped Kishimoto, but in the end, she was the kidnappee.
This sort of thing had happened before, and she cursed herself for falling to the same dupe over and over again. She sighed and looked around.
Lieutenant Yabe and Sergeant Akiba were still out for the count, having been dumped unceremoniously in a corner of the hut. Professor Ueda was coming around. Yamaguchi guessed that blood circulation took longer if you’re as tall as a telephone pole.
“Now what?” she asked, trying to squint through a gap in the woodwork.
“You’re going to act like you’re really actually Yamada Naoko,” the professor replied.
“But I’m not, though…”
“So, they kill us.”
Yamaguchi eyed the faces of her kidnappers. They didn’t look violent at all. They looked nothing like the people she grew up with, the people whom society thought as violent and dangerous. Books and covers, she thought.
“What do they want exactly?”
“If the last time was anything to go by…” the professor said, wiping his glasses on the hem of his shirt. “Treasure.”
“What kind of treasure?” she asked. Islands and treasures made her think of pirates. Which reminded her that her local cinema had somehow managed to get their hands on a digitally remastered version of Dai Tozoku, a masterpiece, even though everyone else around her seemed to think otherwise. It had been a while since she last ogled Toshiro Mifune in pirate mode.
(must remember to get Sawada a ticket too...)
After all, she still owed him for skipping out of Sibling Ship way back when. Engrossed with her movie plans, she momentarily forgot about the present trouble at hand. She straightened her back and hoped she did not looked too inattentive. She needn't worry, though, as the professor didn't seem to care or even notice.
“If the last time was anything to go by…” the professor said like a bad case of déjà vu, “the cursed kind.”
“Which is why they need Yamada Naoko, because she had magic blood or something,” Yamaguchi surmised; she caught at least that much from the conversation on the ship all the way from Okinawa to the island. They kept going on and on about shaman blood, no matter how much she tried to convince them that she wasn’t Yamada Naoko and that she was magicless.
And then she had to feel bored and engage the professor in some card tricks to kill time.
“Well, it was stupid of you to play card tricks on them,” the professor scoffed.
She still couldn’t believe that those villagers would mistake card tricks for genuine magic. “That’s crazy,” Yamaguchi fumed. “I can't believe it! There’s not even sleight of hand involved.” It was the only card trick she knew how to do; it was all card counting and mathematics (which she was really good at), with no sleight of hand at all (which she was really bad at).
There should be a limit of how gullible a person can be, she fumed inside. She’s never going to touch trump cards for the rest of her life, she swore. Goodness knows what sort of trouble they could land her in.
“Well, for some people, the physical world may seem very magical.” Like how the genius of Pythagoras, Da Vinci, or Newton had discovered the secret of the universe through numbers and letters, but many people saw them as magi and sorcerers anyway.
Yamaguchi sighed. “If only I can convince my students that the miracles of calculus is exactly the type of miracles they need.” The two teachers spent the rest of their wait completely restraining themselves from any more card tricks. They exchanged math jokes, instead.
Yamaguchi's 27-card trick, or the Base-3 card trick
(watch here)
Back to main story chapter 14
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[01] Southern Island species oddities
The southern island trees first appeared in Trick, Season 2, Episode 11.
The man-faced flying insect, Gattsusekimammushi, first appeared in Trick, Season 3, Episode 1.
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[02] Shaguma
Refers to the shaggy, coarse long wig made bear hair, worn by officers during the Boshin War. The red one should actually suit Sawada “Red Lion” Shin, but isn’t Sawada’s hair dyed? So on the island, Sawada’s hair would have an ombre-lion effect. Very 21st century, if I may say so myself.
A short guide to uniforms of the Boshin War,
Or arrange a visit to Kyoto Jidai Matsuri to see them in living color.
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[03] “It furthers one to cross the great water” – I Ching
The storm lasted three days and several hours. It must be a record or somethings, Sawada griped under his breath. Almost no trees were left standing, although their hut managed to survive almost unscathed. Perhaps, there’s magic on the island after all.
The problem now became: how to get off the island. Looking forward, Sawada spied black shadows appearing across the blooming horizon. Dread came to him, more enemies? He tensed up.
“Shin!”
His old gang was there, grinning like maniacs. He grinned back, took a deep breath and called out to Yamaguchi. He needed have shouted as she was already bounding up to them.
(the woman really has a sixth sense when it comes to her students)
His friends were mad at him. How dare Sawada go and have so much fun without telling them? Where did they hear it from? Kuma of course, who heard it from Uesugi and Onitamagawa. The former because he couldn't keep his trap shut, and the latter really needed minions to help her harvest the island off its miraculous biological phenomena (and then some).
Sawada did a headcount and, for the first time, realized that there were some unfamiliar faces.
Unfamiliar perhaps only to him, though, because Yamaguchi sure knew them. She took a long time greeting them and patting them on their backs, then turned around and called for Kishimoto on top of her lungs.
"Kishimoto! Kishimoto!" she called out, arms windmilling in the air. "Look who've come to find you!"
The sheepish lot were Kishimoto's classmates, Yamaguchi's current homeroom students. They huddled around Kishimoto and gave him a good friendly ribbing, almost the mirror of what Sawada himself had received from his friends. The boy looked embarrassed, flushed red like a cooked lobster, and more than a little bit touched. Who knew the loner had so many friends; Sawada didn't think that the loner himself realized.
Yamaguchi came up to his side and smiled up at him. "I guess everything turned out well in the end."
There was a ruckus along the shoreline as Onitamagawa cut their tearful reunion short and quickly put them to work. The students grumbled and called out to Yamaguchi for help, but their homeroom teacher thought it would be good for them to get some physical activities in. She laughed gaily from where she stood next to him and waved at them, telling them to be good.
There was a ruckus behind them too, Sawada realized. Lieutenant Yabe was shouting at them.
"Help! The prisoners have escaped! Help!"
"Let's go!" Yamaguchi pulled him along, all too eager to burn some energy.
Sawada sighed and looked up, the after-typhoon sun shining fiercely into his eyes.
He ran.
Back to main story chapter 15
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[01] Chanko-Nabe for All Seasons
For the Kuroda-ikka household, cook this recipe tenfold!
And why not add a block of butter to make it extra rich and creamy?
~ Chef: Three-Star School Dinner, Season 1, Episode 9
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[02] Ueda Jiro's Story, Once Again
Exactly two years since the one-year mark, he was back to where it all started.
He sighed as he nudged a pile of phone directries to make space for the turtle and another stack of something for the sleeping mouse. He wondered whether he should buy bigger boxes for both animals. They’re growing well and fast, if he said so himself.
“She’ll come back for sure.”
He almost gave himself a whiplash, turning around. “Mother!”
Yamada Satomi smiled at him serenely, taking exactly one step inside the doorway. He was about to clear off some books from the chaise by the door when she waved him off.
“That’s okay, I won’t be staying long this time,” she said, smiling kindly at him.
(going on a date, are you?)
“Ryuuichiro-san is waiting in the car downstairs,” she giggled like a schoolgirl, which was oddly reminiscent of another, younger woman. He drew in a sharp breath.
Her gaze darted around the room, taking in the mess with a polite eyeroll. Ueda stood there like he was a second-grader on an underwear inspection. “Don’t worry so much,” Yamada Satomi said finally, sobering up. “That girl is greedy, so she’ll definitely contact you.”
He had remembered her words by heart. “Even if a person dies once or twice, their personality won’t change at all.”
Every year she would say that to him, and it brought him great comfort that she did. He suspected that she did it for herself as well—after all, they were the only two people in the world who shared the same heartsickness.
“When the time comes, please take care of Naoko,” she said, voice trailing away to a whisper.
“Well, anyhow, if that time isn’t today, come to the Kuroda homestead why don’t you?” she said, brushing off a piece of non-existent lint from her sleeves. “They're having chanko, and we can’t possibly finish it by ourselves.”