“Bud says thank you, Ren,” Fuwa translated and Ren nodded in silence. Ren didn’t want to look at Bud’s face. Bud squatted down next to the cot and said something to Kazutaka. Kazutaka simply rolled his eyes, looking dumbfounded. He couldn’t understand a thing Bud was saying.
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“You can’t, Bud,” Fuwa grabbed Bud’s arm gently and pulled him back.
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“What is Bud saying, Yuri?”
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“He’s saying that he can sell Kazutaka-san for a better price than the jewelry.”
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“Please limit the deal to the contents of the case. I don’t want to have anything to do with human trafficking.”
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“Oh, he’s just joking, Ren.” Despite Fuwa's reassurances, Kazutaka must have heard a semi-serious tone from when Bud had spoken as he'd lost his smile. Fuwa had spent a lot of time trying hard not to cause Kazutaka any fear, then Bud walked in and had given him something to worry about. What was so fun about disturbing a hostage’s mind? Look. Now Kazutaka had a stone cold expression. Ren wanted to remonstrate with Bud as his father would have. Unless you know the right time, place and audience, jokes either don’t work or they can be very offensive. But perhaps he shouldn’t be prejudiced against non-Japanese people. Ren didn’t think he could express himself well in English either, so Ren held his tongue.
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“Kazutaka-sensei can’t move until I’ve finished my job here. And I need to concentrate on the scanning, Yuri, so I don’t need any distractions. Tell Bud that he can joke around outside,” Ren said without taking his eyes off of the screen Fuwa smiled.
✦ ✦ ✦
Although Bud didn’t speak Japanese, he seemed to understand. Bud nodded with an earnest look, looking directly into Ren’s eyes. He then looked at the equipment with a smile, touched the attaché case softly, and finally stroked Fuwa’s shoulder down to the arm before getting out.
✦ ✦ ✦
Bud’s series of actions could be translated into Japanese as "Ren, I didn’t mean to interfere with your work. I was just kidding about this boy being so cute. I just wanted to tease him a little. Opening the attaché case is the top priority now, of course. We’re counting on you, Ren. I’m stepping outside so I won’t bother you. Come, Yuri, my sweetheart."
✦ ✦ ✦
Something like that, anyway. Bud spoke with his eyes more than with his mouth. You didn’t have to understand English to get the meaning of his looks. Bud left the vehicle and Yuri followed shortly after. Just then, there was a beep from the screen, indicating a hit on an infrared wavelength.
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“That was a hit, 820 nanometers. This is going well.” Ren reset the wavelength and pressed a switch on the transmitter. There was a small sound of metal moving inside the attaché case. Kazutaka on the cot looked happy, too.
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Huh? How about that? Ren thought that Kazutaka was acting like a teacher now. He looked as if he were smiling at a child whose efforts had finally been rewarded with success. The child-like face was still there, but Kazutaka had a very pleasant smile. Ren understood that his teacher's smile must be very encouraging.
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“That was quick, Ren.”
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“I thought it’d take five hours, but one lock is already done. Let’s move onto the next one.”
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“Can I turn over?”
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“No. Don’t move.”
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“All right.” Kazutaka pouted at being denied but obeyed Ren.
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Ren thought Kazutaka now looked more like an obedient child than a teacher. Not being able to move, just having to lie there must surely be mind numbingly boring for Kazutaka. It wasn’t like Kazutaka would get anything out of this, but he was being a good sport over it all. Being cooperative is a good thing. Some machines seemed to have minds of their own and those often proved hard to handle. Subtle differences in tuning make for big differences in the finished product, Ren had learned this the hard way.
✦ ✦ ✦
Ren liked straightforward machines. Not only machines, Ren liked simple, straightforward, and easy-to-understand people. Ren could not handle complicated and bizarre love relationships. Ren thought it would be ideal if he could say, "I love you," and his partner would be able to respond with "I love you, too" using exactly the same level of emotion.
✦ ✦ ✦
Catching himself mid-thought, Ren paused and cocked his head. Why am I thinking about my preference in love relationships when I am supposed to be tackling the attaché case? Focus, Ren. Don’t get distracted, he scolded himself. Machines won’t function the way you need them to if you let yourself get distracted.
✦ ✦ ✦
Ren needed to open the attaché case as soon as possible so that Kazutaka could go home. Kazutaka didn’t even work at a jeweler, for heaven's sake. He had simply decided to cooperate when asked to take these valuables to the police station because he was kind and good natured. Ren had known him only a few hours, but he could tell how loyal and honest Kazutaka was.
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A group of thieves must have appeared scary to Kazutaka, yet he remained polite, respectful, and fair towards them. People didn’t learn such accepting attitudes overnight. It could only be personality traits that Kazutaka had established over many years. Ren didn’t want to keep Kazutaka in custody for too many more hours, causing him more emotional pain.
✦ ✦ ✦
“I’m onto the next one. If all goes smoothly, I’ll be able to open the case by this evening and let you go before we board the ferry. So bear with me.”
✦ ✦ ✦
“Okay.”
✦ ✦ ✦
Ren turned on a switch and stared at the screen. It had taken Ren less than three hours to unlock the first lock. Ren adjusted the pulse’s speed, hoping that the rest of locks would be on a shorter wavelength as well. With a few short mechanical sounds, the equipment started to do its job.
✦ ✦ ✦
It was four o’clock in the morning when Ken-kun, their lookout, informed the group that Shīno was acting strangely.
✦ ✦ ✦
“There’s no sign of the police working on a search. That's weird,” Chief Fuwa said, crossing his arms.
✦ ✦ ✦
Kazutaka wondered if this meant that Shīno hadn’t bothered reporting him as a missing person.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Shīno left for the police station shortly after I did, didn’t he?”
✦ ✦ ✦
“Yeah. He did go to the police station but Shīno came out in less than ten minutes and went home. The driver from the security company was released a short time ago. He went straight home, too. It doesn’t look like anybody notified the authorities of anything awry.”
✦ ✦ ✦
That sounded strange to Kazutaka, too.
✦ ✦ ✦
Jewelry worth twenty billion yen stolen and Kazutaka kidnapped, but the driver didn’t notify anybody? He should have run to the police station to explain that the robbery had taken place, Kazutaka thought.
✦ ✦ ✦
Judging from how things were going, Kazutaka wasn’t going to be released by tomorrow morning. That meant he wouldn’t be going to work.
✦ ✦ ✦
There were 15 students and two teachers at Nagomi Kyōshitsu. Tiny organization though it was, Kazutaka still could not be absent without notice and Kazutaka would be unable to prove that his reason for missing work was legitimate unless Shīno filed a police report.
✦ ✦ ✦
Chief Fuwa contemplated the situation for a while and then called Ken-kun back. After talking on the phone for a few minutes, Fuwa shook his head and sighed.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Maybe the stuff we have is fake.”
✦ ✦ ✦
“Fake? What’s the deal with this elaborate attaché case then?”
✦ ✦ ✦
“While we’re wasting our time struggling to open this case, Shīno can disappear with the genuine jewelry. You may have been used as a decoy.”
✦ ✦ ✦
“Shīno wouldn’t do that to me. He’s my friend.”
✦ ✦ ✦
“Sorry to have to break the news to you, Kazutaka-san, but Shīno has often fenced stolen jewels.”
✦ ✦ ✦
“What?!”
✦ ✦ ✦
“Let’s just open the attaché and check out the contents. Even if they are fakes, we’ll send you home safely. You can find out what Shīno’s true intentions were afterward.”
✦ ✦ ✦
“Fuwa-san, you don’t trust Shīno, do you?”
✦ ✦ ✦
“No, I don’t, but Shīno is the only one who can remove the handcuffs. So you should go see Shīno when you get back, Kazutaka-san.”
✦ ✦ ✦
It appeared that Fuwa kept a watch on Shīno. Kazutaka didn’t know whom to trust. Shīno or Fuwa? Looking back, it was strange that Shīno had entrusted twenty billion yen of goods to Kazutaka alone. Shīno hadn't ridden along in the transport car, either.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Traveling with key and attaché case together doesn’t make sense, Yui.” That was the reason he'd given for driving his own car to the police station.
✦ ✦ ✦
Shīno had left Shīno Jewelry about the same time Kazutaka did. But Shīno entered the police station five minutes before this R.V. had gotten onto the Tōmei Expressway. Since he had been blindfolded and unable to check his phone, Kazutaka didn’t know the exact time that had occurred. Even so, he realized that there was an unusual gap in the timing of the sequence of events.
✦ ✦ ✦
Kazutaka couldn’t ferret out the truth since Shīno wasn’t here to question. All he could do was hope that Ren was able to finish his job swiftly. That way, once they checked the contents of the attaché case, Kazutaka could walk free.