Hakata Tonkotsu Ramens Volume 7 Chapter 6

Even when morning came, Banba remained absent. Lin had expected him to return soon based off the amount of clothes he took with him, but he had not heard anything from him today either.
A trace of unease began to cloud over his thoughts. I hope he isn't dying in a ditch somewhere. Lin frowned. It was not particularly uncommon for someone with their occupation to get attacked by enemies at any given time. Lin did not believe Banba would slip up, but he could not stand by idly as the days pa.s.sed by without being able to contact him.
I guess I should start looking for him, Lin decided and took out his cell phone. If he could not directly contact Banba, he had to resort to other methods.
The moment he went to dial a number, Lin's cell phone began to vibrate. It was an incoming call from Enokida.
He took the call and pressed the device to his ear. “‘Sup.”
‘I have something to talk to you about.'
“...No greeting?” Lin smiled wryly. “Sure. I actually have something for you too.”
Lin was just considering to have him find where Banba was. It was perfect timing.
“Where are you right now?”
‘I'm heading to Hakata. Let's meet at the station.'
“Alright. That'll work.”
‘I'll see you at the cafe in front of the subway ticket gates in fifteen minutes.'
“Got it.”
The call was dropped.
Lin swiftly got ready and left the office.
The weather in f.u.kuoka City was terrible again today with heavy rainfall. Lin took out his umbrella and jogged to Hakata Station. He entered the subway from the station's concourse and headed to their rendezvous spot. Enokida was already in the cafe. He was eating a sandwich at a seat for two in the tiny shop.
Once Lin ordered a hot coffee at the register, he took a seat across from Enokida. “Sorry for making you wait.”
Enokida spoke after swallowing his food. “Regarding that case you asked about earlier, he's not here for Saitou-kun at all.”
“Really?”
Lin had tasked Enokida to find out what the a.s.sa.s.sin from Murder Inc was here for. Enokida was fast as usual.
“Yeah. He's after a different man this time.”
“Is that right?”
Lin sighed in relief. That was one concern dealt with.
“And? Was that all you wanted to talk to me about?”
“No.” Enokida shook his head. “I'm getting to it.”
He took out a piece of paper from his bag.
It was a copy of a newspaper. The headline read: ‘A male was stabbed to death in f.u.kuoka. An unconscious man was arrested at the scene.'
“Read it.”
At Enokida's prompting, Lin glanced through the article.

The f.u.kuoka police force has detained the unemployed drifter Eitarou Bessho (28), who is suspected of robbery, murder, and breaking and entering.
The suspect, Bessho, had broke into the home of f.u.kuoka resident Kazuyoshi Banba in an attempt to steal money around eight thirty pm on the 3rd of this month. He had beaten and stabbed mister Banba. He is also suspected of attacking mister Banba's eldest son who had returned from school around then. Mister Banba had been stabbed in the stomach with a blade and was sent to the hospital in an unconscious state, but a few hours after his arrival he was announced dead. His son has received grave injuries across his entire body including a broken skull, and he is currently still hospitalized with an expected recovery period of a few months.
According to the suspect's testimony, he claimed he was not acquainted with mister Banba at all and had denied any ill-will to kill him. He had said, “I threatened him to give me the money, but he resisted. While we were fighting, I accidentally stabbed him. I didn't mean to kill him.”

It dawned on Lin as he read the pa.s.sage.
Kazuyoshi Banba - that was the same name as Banba's father.
“Could this be-”
Lin muttered and looked over the article once more. The kanji of the name was written with ‘one' and ‘good' like in the word ‘good and evil,' and the spelling was read as Kazuyoshi, just as Banba had told him. This could not have been anyone else.
Lin shifted his gaze from the article up to Enokida. “Hey, isn't this about Banba's dad?”
“It is.” Enokida nodded. “The eldest son mentioned in here is referring to Banbsan.”
Lin glanced down to the newspaper article and asked. “Is this article real?”
“I didn't look into every detail, but I did look up the general case. What the article covered was true. This incident did in fact happen thirteen years ago.”
Lin glanced down at the pa.s.sage once more. Robbery, murder, blade, attacking, gravely injured, unconscious, dead. Those words were listed in that order.
Lin had no idea that something this traumatic happened to Banba.
“His father died in a robbery…”
Lin a.s.sumed that Banba's father had pa.s.sed long ago from how Banba spoke of him, but he did not know it had involved a robbery.
However-
“That said, this wasn't just a robbery.”
Enokida smirked.
Lin frowned. “What do you mean?”
“That a.s.sa.s.sin from Murder Inc you spotted yesterday is after this man, not Saitou.”
Enokida pointed to Eitarou Bessho's name written in the article.
Lin immediately made the connection. “Then that means the culprit, just like Saitou-”
“He's an ex-employee of Murder Inc.”
It was baffling. Lin c.o.c.ked his head. “Why would someone who worked for a hitman contracting company commit a robbery…?”
“Yes, now that's the intriguing question, isn't it? If this was an ordinary person, I can imagine they would only resort to committing crimes after quitting the company and are financially in a pinch.”
“But that can't be it. If he could earn money by killing people, there would be no reason for him to quit a company like that to begin with.”
“Exactly.” Enokida agreed. “Besides, Banbsan lived in an apartment with his father. And when I looked up the address, I found out it was a 40-year old apartment building. There wasn't much value to gain from there given the high risks at stake. If I was going to commit a robbery, I'd go after a more wealthy house.”
“Meaning the objective wasn't the money.”
It was hard to believe this had been an act after the money. It was possible Banba's father had been the target from the start. And unfortunately, Banba had been there at the wrong place and time and ended up getting caught in the mix.
Lin could believe that to be the case. As Enokida said, this was not just a burglary.
“So where's this Bessho now?”
“He must be serving time in jail by now. But maybe he'll be released soon since Murder Inc had sent an a.s.sa.s.sin after him.”
“Do you know when he's getting out?”
“I didn't get that far. Should I look into it?”
In that moment, a thought came to Lin's mind. He thought back to Banba's odd behavior lately. Banba had claimed he was going off to train and had not returned. And Lin could not get in touch with him.
Maybe all of that is connected to this case?
Banba could be preparing to take revenge and find this Bessho right now. He could be quietly whetting his blade, training in order to avenge his father.
“By the way, what did you need me for?”
“Oh yeah,” Lin started when asked. He had planned to have Enokida find where Banba was.
“Yeah, I need you to-”
But partway through he stopped.
What if I'm right? What if Banba is going to take his revenge soon?
Maybe I should let him be for now. Lin decided. I can't let myself barge into Banba's business and get in his way.
Lin shook his head.
“...Never mind. Forget about it.”
After Banba completes his revenge, I'll greet him as I usually do when he gets home. That's my job.

Lin left without having Enokida find out Banba's whereabouts in the end. He took the escalator up to get to the ground floor and exited Hakata Station.
It was still raining outside. Lin took out his umbrella and thought over everything as he walked back to the detective office where Banba was absent.
Lin felt like he finally managed to piece the whole picture together from his conversation with Enokida. If he a.s.sumed Banba was trying to settle affairs from his past, then everything up until now made sense.
Banba had been living as a hitman in order to avenge his father. Once he accomplished his goal, he would no longer have a reason to continue hitman work. As such, he intended to go into retirement. When Genzo mentioned the reason was related to a motivation issue, he must have been alluding to this.
Lin continued to walk down the street, dodging the puddles on the way. The streaks of pouring rain only grew. It was downpouring. Eventually, it had begun to thunder outside. Black clouds loomed over in the sky, making the area drewly dark as though it was night.
Lin had arrived to the building the office was in while he had been lost in thought.
“Ah.”
He spoke unconsciously.
A car was parked out in front of the building. It was a red mini Cooper with white lines on its hood - it was Banba's vehicle. It had been a while since Lin had seen it here.
“He's already back?”
How anti-climatic. Banba was not dying alongside the road somewhere. Lin had worried for nothing. Guess I didn't have to search for him anyway, he shrugged.
Just as Lin folded his umbrella and was going to ascend the stairs, he stilled.
“...What is this?”
Blood.
There was blood on the floor.
Fresh blood stains were leading up the staircase next to soddy footprints.
“Why the h.e.l.l is there…?”
Lin muttered softly. What happened?
Lin followed the trial. He reached the second floor before proceeding to the third where the footprints and bloodstains were leading to.
It can't be. Lin's heart began to pound faster.
He felt a person's presence at the top of the stairs.
Someone's there.
Lin slowly ascended the stairs with caution, making sure not to make a sound, and peered over towards the office.
“Ah.”
A man was there.
It was Banba.
“...It was just you?”
Lin sighed in relief.
Banba stood still in front of the door to the office. He must have noticed Lin's presence as he slowly turned around to face him.
The moment he did, Lin was greeted by an unimaginable scene.
“Wh”
Lin's eyes widened in shock.
Red liquid trickled off from Banba - specifically, blood.
“...No way, you're kidding.”
It was not a spurt of blood that had gotten on him. A knife was plunged into Banba's stomach. Bright red blood thoroughly soaked his white clothes near his stomach. When Lin examined him closer, he noticed his arms were injured too. Red drops of blood were seeping out of his upper, left arm. There was a tear and what looked like to be a singe on his clothes. Had he been shot?
In the following second, Banba keeled over.
“H-hey!”
Banba fell forward as though all the strength left his body at once, slumping against Lin.
“Banba!”
Lin went to support his body when he noticed: Banba was as cold as ice. He was thoroughly soaked from being pelted by the rain. But that was not all. The warmth receded from his body due to the loss of blood.
“Hey, wake up! Banba!”
Banba did not respond no matter how loud Lin shouted. He was pale and his eyes were blank. He was barely conscious at this point.
“s.h.i.t!”
Lin had no idea what had happened, but at this rate it could be fatal. There were huge gashes on Banba. He was losing way too much blood. He probably needed a transfusion. An underground doctor would not suffice. Lin immediately called for an ambulance.
“Come on, you idiot. Don't you dare die on me.”
Lin clicked his tongue.
“Come on, wake up! Banba!”
Lin placed a hand against Banba's cool cheek and continued to shout his name.

After Enokida said his goodbyes to Lin at the Hakata Station, he went inside a nearby internet cafe. He shut himself in a non-smoking booth and set up his laptop.
He got a new e-mail in his personal account. When he opened it up, he saw the sender was Shigematsu. There was a short message which read, ‘here's the fingerprints you asked for,' and the data of the comparison results were there as attachments. They were for the serial case of drugging-robberies Lin was currently investigating.
The fingerprints showed they matched the ones found on the victims' belongings the police obtained. Shigematsu had gotten the help from another police detective and managed to have the fingerprints match with the man Lin had captured.
The fact the two samples matched meant the man Lin had captured was behind all the drugging-robberies. Lin had requested Enokida to figure out the man's ident.i.ty for him, so Enokida began to work right away. He laid out the culprit's belongings on the table: a wallet, a business card case, and three cell phones.
Enokida first looked through the man's wallet. The name Ryouta Ishikawa was listed on both the driver's license and insurance card, but no one existed under that name. The name, birth date, and family registry were all fake.
There were a couple variations of business cards in the case. The t.i.tles on them varied from an attorney and judicial clerk to a security personnel and travel agent. He had used all these different ident.i.ties to trick women up until this point.
“He's like a swindler.” Enokida murmured with a smile.
The last items were the man's cell phones. Enokida hacked into the cell phone company's client database and found three different contractor names for each cell phone: Yasushi Uemu, Aiko Nakamura, and Kouki Bessho. The ages, s.e.x, and addresses listed under each name were different. It was possible that these cell phones were purchased under borrowed names where no one could trace them. Other criminals do the same with their private devices.
But one of the names had caught Enokida's attention.
“Kouki, Bessho…?”
The other two contracts were fairly recent, but the device with the oldest contract had kept the same number since its beginning. The contract holder was a man named Kouki Bessho.
“Isn't this name-”
Enokida thought he had seen that name before.
Naturally he would have as the name was listed in the data Nguyen had shown him in the business hotel. The man was Eitarou Bessho's little brother.
Enokida began to quickly type on his keyboard. Once he sent a virus to someone's computer with administrative authority and hacked into it, he was able to infiltrate system to look up the family registry in the device. He extracted the information, and as he looked over Kouki Bessho's registry he had found Eitaro Bessho's name listed as well.
His investigation was complete.
Kouki Bessho was the robber Lin caught. Eitarou Bessho was the convict who murdered Banba's father. And coincidentally enough, the two were brothers.
“...I managed to hit the jackpot.”
Enokida was stunned.
He tried to call Lin to let him know, but the other did not answer. Lin could be on another call at the moment.
Guess I don't have a choice. I'll try sending it to him directly. Enokida printed out the information he found and typed on his computer as he gathered all the material. He was looking up Lin's whereabouts through his cell phone's GPS.
A red mark appeared on the map displayed on his screen. Lin's signal was coming from an emergency hospital within the city.
“...The ER?” Enokida c.o.c.ked his head. “Why is he in a hospital?”

The ambulance had arrived only five minutes after Lin made the call. Banba was at death's door, unconscious and pulse weak.
The ambulance blared the siren and sped off to the emergency hospital in the city. Lin joined the ride to accompany Banba. The paramedics questioned Lin about Banba, but Lin was unable to given any information like his birth date, blood type and any ailments.
The red ‘surgery in progress' sign lit up once Banba was rushed into the operating room on a stretcher. Banba had remained unresponsive even to the nurses during transportation as well.
Lin paced in front of the operating room restlessly. He kept moving around needlessly, unsure what to do and unable to keep himself still.
An hour pa.s.sed, and yet Banba was still under surgery. It did not seem like the operation would be over anytime soon. It would be a long battle.
Just then-
“Lin!”
Someone had called to him from behind. When Lin whipped around, he saw Shigematsu. The detective was pale as he ran towards him.
“Is Banb”
Sweat was visible on Shigematsu's brow. He must have sped here when he got Lin's memo. After catching his breath, he asked.
“...How's Banba doing?”
The tension in Lin eased now that someone he was familiar with was here. After letting out a sigh, Lin explained the situation. “The surgery is still going on. It sounds like he's in critical condition from what the doctors told me.”
“What happened?”
“I don't know,” Lin shook his head. “When I came back to the office, Banba was there, and he was covered in blood, and shortly after he lost consciousness…”
Lin had no idea how Banba had gotten in that state. But he knew for certain someone had attacked him.
“It looked like he had gunshot wounds. The hospital may report this to the police. That's why I thought about letting you know first.”
“Yeah, I get it. I'll pa.s.s it along to the police, so don't worry about it.” Shigematsu nodded. “Where did Banba get shot?”
“His arm. But the more serious wound was from the knife. He got stabbed in the stomach, and there was so much blood.”
Shigematsu's complexion changed the instant he heard those words. “...What type of knife was it?”
“It was just an ordinary survival knife. The handle was black. From its size, I'd say it was roughly ten centimeters long...But the blade was lodged into him up to the hilt, so I'm not certain.”
Shigematsu's breath caught in his throat. He slumped into one of the chairs in the hallway and held his head. “I had no idea that would…”
Something was odd about his behavior. “Hey, what is it?” Lin gazed at Shigematsu.
“...I had a bad feeling about this.”
Shigematsu sighed and hung his head.
“...It's my fault.” He muttered in a heavy voice. “If I stopped him, this wouldn't have-...”
“Hold on. What do you mean?” What is he getting at? Lin frowned. “Do you know something about this?”
Shigematsu replied in a hoa.r.s.e voice at Lin's demanding tone. “That knife is probably the same one I gave Banba.”
Lin was not able to process the information. His brows knitted in confusion.
Shigematsu fell silent, hands still bracing against his head.
“Shigematsu.”
Lin sat down next to him and said with a stern expression.
“Tell me.”
What had happened to Banba?
Even if Lin asked that question, he would still be unable to do anything. There was not a single thing Lin could do to help Banba other than to pray for him to come out of the surgery alive.
Nonetheless, Lin wanted to know.
“Please.” Lin demanded. “Tell me everything you know about him.”
Shigematsu remained silent.
After the silence lingered for a couple beats more, Shigematsu stated in a near whisper. “...Don't tell Banba I told you this.”
He emphasized before beginning.
“Everything started from that one incident...It was the night I met him for the first time, as well as the night that tragedy happened.”

----
Translation: Kaede726
Reposts are prohibited and should be exclusive to Kaede726 on blogger.
Editor: Voissane
----