Pathway to Japanese Literature

“Ah.”
“Pardon me, pardon me.”
“So you’re Li Fa-kun?”
“Second-year at Kyushu University’s Faculty of Law and Literature… Hmm.”
“Smuggling Mahjong to fund your tuition, I hear.”
“Hmm.”
“Impressive indeed.”
“Young people nowadays need that sort of initiative.”
“Hmm.”
“I don’t carry calling cards...”
“Hah.”
“Did Mr. Wang tell you about me?”
“I see.”
“Pleased to make your acquaintance... or something.”
“You’ll forgive my poor Japanese.”
“Well...”
“I understand perfectly.”
“That much competence suffices.”

“Hngh... Heave-ho... and... Ah, what a rush.”
“How about a cigar... What, you don’t smoke?”
“Well then, I’ll take my leave.”

“Just before departing Shanghai, a call had come from Mr. Wang’s shop about you.”
“For now I’ve had them instructed to show you to my cabin… How does that suit you?”
“Did you like my room…? Though even if you didn’t, there’s no better room than this, so it can’t be helped.”
“Hahaha… This ship’s a cargo vessel—we don’t have fancy things like a saloon.”
“Meaning the cargo’s our honored guest, so we humans get the rough treatment.”
“When even the Chief Engineer of the mighty 2,500-ton Kairyūmaru gets crammed into this hole, you can imagine the rest.”
“Hahaha… Inconvenient as it is, do me the honor of using my berth till Nagasaki.”
“Not that I ever sleep here myself.”
“There’s another workroom in the engine room corner.”
“Blankets and pillows stay there.”
“I’ll have them fetch yours now.”
“No books here, but old magazines if those suit.”
“Shall I have them brought?”

“Hmm… hmm…”

The truth was he had wanted to check on her sooner but found himself occupied in the engine room while that pilot remained aboard. To make matters worse, today’s fellow had been someone unfamiliar who, clearly a novice, kept spouting petty complaints left and right.

“Well now,” he drawled, “when it comes to harbor pilots round these parts, I could teach ’em a thing or two myself. But rules are rules—gotta have some greenhorn aboard whether they’re wet behind the ears or not.”

The Captain leaned against a bulkhead, grease-streaked fingers drumming the pressure gauge. “That fool finally steamed off just now. You saw it… Hmm?”

A metallic groan shuddered through the deck plates as he grinned. “She’s ours proper now.”

“We’ll amble along at economical speed to Nagasaki,” he continued, plucking a wrench from his belt to emphasize each point, “dump that worthless cargo, then it’s off to the South Seas like always.”

The wrench clanged against a pipe in time with his laughter. “With anti-Japanese sentiment running this hot, you can’t shift so much as a teacup’s worth of cargo.”

“Well...” He let the word hang like boiler steam before shrugging. “As if there’s anything needing apologies here.”

His boot kicked a stray valve wheel across the grating. “Once you’re aboard this rustbucket, toss out all those prissy formalities.”

“International tramp steamer,” he declared with mock grandeur, spreading oil-blackened hands wide enough to graze the sweating pipes on either side. “If easy money’s your game, we’d be hauling rifles for Chiang’s boys upriver.”

The sudden bark of laughter made Li Fa’s shoulders tense. “Only thing worth fearing here’s the South China Sea’s triangle waves!”

“What?” He feigned surprise at her unspoken question, teeth glinting in the red gauge lights. “Fare?”

The wrench clattered to the floor as he spread empty palms. “Don’t need such trifles.”

“Didn’t Mr. Wang tell you that?”

“Yeah.”

“I did say that, but how unfortunate.”
“Don’t be absurd.”
“If you’re paying, ten or twenty in pocket change won’t suffice.”
“What a waste—smuggling mahjong!”
“I won’t accept a hundred or two hundred… What… That doesn’t square the accounts.”
“Look there—ha ha ha!”
“I’m letting you board out of personal kindness.”
“It being none other than Mr. Wang’s request, you understand.”
“Treat me to abalone once we make land.”
“That’ll suffice.”
“Ha ha ha.”
“No need for gratitude.”

“But enough of that—how about we move on? Why don’t you come take a look at the engine room? Let’s work while we chat. Just conversation fodder. The world probably doesn’t realize that the true lowest circle of hellish existence is this derelict ship’s engine room. They say there’s hell just beneath the hull, but that there exists a hell floating atop another hell—well, no one but sailors could know such a thing. Though if this were ever known, even a hundred Kochitora heads wouldn’t suffice. Hahaha. There’s nothing to be afraid of. Since I, King Enma’s servant, am guiding you…”

“What… this room?”
“It’s okay.”
“I’ll leave this key with you—lock it properly now.”
“You should keep the key yourself.”
“Lock it every time you leave.”
“Crewmen here are all thieving bastards… Shove that suitcase under the berth.”
“Hmm.”
“You’ve locked and sealed it?”
“Then we’re safe.”
“If they find mahjong inside, they’ll swarm like hornets.”
“They’ll whine ‘do this, do that’ till you buy them drinks.”

“……Come here.”
“It’s cooler outside now.”
“Two hundred twenty days of calm… I can still see smoke from that little steamer back there.”
“Ebb tide’s carrying it out through the harbor entrance.”
“You can’t see it.”
“I see.”
“Those glasses—UV filters?”
“Awfully dark lenses you’ve got.”
“Take them off and you’ll see.”
“……Still nothing?”
“You’re just not used to it.”
“Sailors develop better distance vision.”
“Ahaha.”
“No joke.”

“How exactly did you come to know Mr. Wang?”
“I suppose it was for some entertainment purposes, wasn’t it?”
“Hahaha.”
“Nah, nothing like that.”
“You went into Mr. Wang’s restaurant planning to exchange money.”
“Hmm.”
“The steak there’s cheap and tasty.”
“It’s internationally renowned.”
“Ah, right.”
“Was it your first time?”
“You were surprised by its splendor when you entered.”
“Of course you were.”
“A place like that’s hard to find even around Marseille.”
“Though the front entrance is rather crude.”
“More importantly, there must’ve been plenty of beautiful women.”
“Hmm.”
“Did you try hitting on any?”
“Hahaha!”
“You should’ve tried hitting on them.”
“Who cares if it’s broad daylight?”

“After all, it’s where high-ranking crew members go.”
“They installed top-notch facilities in the basement.”
“They say their techniques are Shanghai’s finest.”
“I’m a regular there.”
“Though I do owe him five or six hundred ryō.”
“Mr. Wang’s generous enough to lend up to a thousand.”
“Of course, you’d need charm with women too.”
“Ha ha.”
“Excuse me—need to visit the head.”
“Care to join…?”

Hmm… So she’d been completely oblivious.
No wonder.
Hmm… She knew every trick for procuring mahjong.
Lately she’d gone to Suzhou herself… Was Shanghai’s craftsmanship lacking?
Hmm.
The carvings were gaudier there… but Suzhou’s tiles felt sturdier.
Did Chinese and Japanese tastes really differ?
“I’m utterly clueless about such things,” she mused.
Hmm.
Those dumpling-shaped patterns and stylized birds—Japanese clients seemed fixated on them.

"So that’s how it was," I thought.
"I see... So mahjong gambling had started to become popular in mainland Japan."
"And so the high-quality smuggled goods began to sell."
"In other words, Japanese mahjong was on the verge of becoming full-fledged."
"Before long, Chinese-style rules would make a comeback... I wondered."
"Anyway, it seemed like quite the fascinating business."
"Hmm, hmm..."
"So I went to Suzhou and purchased mahjong sets."
"Hmm, hmm..."
"On the way back, having run out of small change and intending to cut the trip short, I accidentally entered Mr. Wang’s restaurant."
"I ordered a dish and was drinking coffee when—"
"‘Can’t handle alcohol, can you?... That’s no fun at all.’"
"I was going to treat you to a glass of Dynamite Gin, but—"
"They mix dynamite—that is, nitroglycerin—into the gin."
"It’ll get you pleasantly drunk, you know."
"I learned how to make it in Cape Town."
"...Hmm, hmm..."
"While you were drinking coffee there, a bunch of women swarmed over."
"Heh."
"You’re quite the proper one, aren’t you?"
"Moreover, you put on airs of an aristocratic young gentleman."

“Ha ha.”
“Don’t give me that flattery.”
“Hmm.”
“So what happened next?”
“You got dragged into the back room by force.”
“Ahahaha!”
“They pegged you as top-grade merchandise.”
At that moment, Mr. Wang appeared with extravagant politeness.
“Ah hah hah hah!”
He roared with laughter.
“That’s Wang’s masterpiece for you.”
“Not one to misread customers often.”
“And then…?”

“So after making the women leave, you sat facing Wang and spilled everything—that your story?”
“Turned your pockets inside out.”
“Ha ha.”
*I figured as much.*
“How painfully honest.”
“Should’ve eaten your fill before confessing… Like I’d actually kill you over that.”
“Wang would’ve wined and dined you before sending you off.”

“Even blackmailers get gently shown out.”
“That’s how he keeps his sterling reputation.”
“Hmm, hmm…”
“Then Mr. Wang took pity and tipped you off about this ship.”
“Hm—m.”
“Moved by your filial devotion, he spilled the details.”
“A mother alone in Chongqing… That’s your whole story?”
“Try speaking truth for once.”
“Hiding gets you nowhere.”
“You’ll learn that when you see Wang again.”
“Nah—no one’ll hear a thing.”
“Machinery’s too damn loud… What… What’d you…?”

“Ha ha ha.”
“Well, well.”
“So Mr. Wang advised you to drop out of university and become a restaurant boy?… Ahahaha! This gets better and better—what a masterpiece!”
“So they claim that if you worked in the second-floor ladies’ salon, they’d guarantee at least a thousand yen in tips? That’s exactly what I’d expect.”
“Mr. Wang was thoroughly taken with your figure at first glance, wasn’t he?”
“You’re far too stylish for a student.”
“So he conveniently pulled you into the back.”
“As expected, Mr. Wang has quite the discerning eye.”
“Ha ha ha ha.”
“So he asked you to be sure to drop by again next time you’re in Shanghai?”
“He’s quite tenacious… What? You were told not to mention that thousand-yen tip business to me?”
“Ha ha ha. You’re making a fool of me!”
“He says such things because it’s leagues beyond my salary.”
“He’s a thorough man, but that’s just first-class Chinese overcaution for you.”
“As if I’d go getting myself hired there!”
“Ha ha ha ha...”

There we were.

“…This was the engine room.”
“You’ll need to descend this vertical iron ladder.”
“It’s slippery with oil—be careful.”
“If you fall…”
“Well…”
“You do sports…”
“Skiing…”
“Now…”
“No wonder…”
“Whoa…”

“Come…”
“……Can’t…”
“Hey…”
“I said…”
“Be careful…”

“This is my workroom.”
“Take a seat in this chair.”
“Yikes….”
“Was it wet?”
“My apologies, my apologies.”
“Couldn’t see in the dark.”
“They left a teapot or something here.”
“Well now.”
“Your backside’s soaked through.”
“Ah ha ha.”
“Tea dregs stuck to you.”
“Can’t be helped.”
“Sit on this iron chair.”
“It’ll dry soon enough……Take a look.”
“You can see the boiler at full blast straight ahead.”
“When things get hectic, I come here to oversee operations.”
“During storms, I sometimes go a week without sleep.”

“Hey!”
“Someone come here.”
“……Can’t you hear?…… You there—press that call button.”
“……Oh, Bon State.”
“Yeah.”
“Go to the cook’s quarters and fetch coffee and sweets.”
“Not the regular stuff.”
“The Captain’s got premium goods from Shanghai.”
“If they’re not in the cook’s quarters, check the captain’s cabin.”
“Go snatch those and bring ’em here.”
“Like hell I’ll get beaten!”
“Keep yappin’ and say I ordered it!”
“I owe the Captain… I’ll go…”

“……How’s this?”
“An engine room’s cruder than you’d expect once you’re inside, eh?”
“Can you hear me?”
“What I’m saying.”
“You can hear… Good… That nickname’s Bon State.”
“Did you think that was French?…… Ahahaha! What a joke!”
“Once you climb down that vertical iron ladder, anyone loses their real name.”
“This is hell’s first district.”
“We’ve all taken to calling each other by assigned names here.”
“Bank robbers become Gin State, burglars become Wanko, woman-killers become Ete-kun, mediocre ones become Bon State… Before long, you’ll get one too.”
“Something like ‘Black Glasses’.”
“Ha ha ha… Never mind.”
“Everyone here serves their sentence.”
“They end up confessing everything.”
“They’re all dead men walking if they ever return ashore.”
“They work in exchange for keeping their necks – that’s why they confess so neatly.”
“That’s why they call me Yama-sama.”
“Wouldn’t be right otherwise – couldn’t make ’em dance when needed. ……Look there.”
“That’s the oldest Miyahara-style boiler.”
“An antique from twenty or thirty years back – museums would kill to have it.”

“Ha ha.”
“Oh, it’s perfectly safe.”
“Won’t explode or anything.”
“Old-fashioned make, but built like a tank.”
“See that safety valve spewing white steam?... Hear that blasting sound?”
“Yeah... I see it but can’t hear... Still getting used to this.”

Ah… opened the lid.
"Blinding, isn’t it?"

"I’ve opened the boiler lid."
"It’s just like the sun, don’t you think?"
"Ha ha ha."
"It’s already glowing white-hot like that, you see."
"That thing’s probably about twelve or thirteen hundred degrees."
"Even so—toss one person in there, and not even ash remains after five minutes."
"Just a mouthwatering stench lingering… Ha ha ha!"

“Ever thrown a human in?……” “Of course I have.”
“Not just humans.”
“Goods, whatever—anything troublesome gets chucked right in.”
“Just the other day—we’d loaded guns bound for Wusong when right before docking, found two spies among the crew. So without a peep, they tossed ’em in for me.”
“Claim they were swept overboard mid-voyage—end of story.”

Ah… Just in time—the tea arrived.
“Have a cup before you go.”
“While we wait—something amusing will begin shortly. Stay and watch—you’ll grasp everything soon enough.”
“Terribly diverting.”
“A simple wager.”
“You’ll comprehend when witnessing it.”

“Ha ha ha… No need to worry.”
“There’s no anesthetic or anything in hell’s coffee, you know.”
“There’d be no point drugging you to swipe ten measly boxes of mahjong.”
“If I meant to kill you, I wouldn’t have dragged you all this way.”
“Spineless for a student, aren’t you?”
“Ha ha ha ha ha.”
“Now drink your coffee.”
“Sumatra beans – exceptional aroma.”
“Once your nerves steady, my tales might amuse.”
“Knowing this world exists will serve you well.”
“Thoroughly hellish, this engine room life…”

“I see...”
“For you lot, graduating school must be your top priority right now.”
“The term exams will be starting soon... Is your mother waiting back home?”
“Hmm...”
“Right, right.”
“Well then, do your best.”
“But you talk about exam season—school tests these days are child’s play.”
“If I told you about becoming Chief Engineer, it’d make your hair stand on end... Listen close... You’ve no business in your cabin now.”
“What? Want to read books?”
“Best go easy on books.”
“What they teach in school won’t help you in reality.”
“If machines worked by theory alone, we wouldn’t need a Chief Engineer.”
“If the world ran how scholars think, Bolshevik theory would’ve been settled long ago.”
“Quite the scholar yourself.”
“Heh heh.”

“Hey.”
“Bon State.”
“Come here.”
“Go make another cup of tea.”
“This time it’s black tea.”
“Mine’s whiskey cut with water.”
“And shut that door.”
“It’s eight kettles noisy here…”

“How’s this?”
“With the door shut tight like this, you can only faintly hear the machinery’s noise.”
“The door’s thick, you see.”
“But even with faint noises like this—if there’s a fault somewhere in the machinery—it immediately pings in my head.”
“Must seem strange I can even pinpoint exactly where the fault is.”
“Ah, it’s nothing.”
“Years of experience.”
“When I sleep in this room—something wakes me with a start in the dead of night.”
“Hmm.”
“Lie there half-asleep wondering why... then it clicks.”
“One particular noise in all this racket’s causing it.”
“The small piston valve deep inside acting up... I know right away.”
“You’d think such faint sounds couldn’t rouse anyone—but here’s the marvel—I sleep sound while the machinery’s jazz plays smooth... yet let one note go sour—eyes snap open.”
“Stay too long on one ship—all its gears become your own nerves.”
“Like when we catch the Kuroshio Current—helmsman jolts awake same instant.”

“There’s still more astonishing stories.”

“That big boiler you saw earlier—you know the one.”

“Under that bulb straight ahead was something like a clock, its single needle quivering away.”

“That’s the boiler’s pressure gauge. Stand before it when that needle’s dead still on its mark—say two hundred degrees—and there comes this instant where you just know: will it climb… or drop? That realization pierces your mind like a spike.”

“A stationary needle, mind you.”

“Unless your brain can catch that spike of clarity, you’ve no right calling yourself a proper chief engineer.”

“And when you see the pressure won’t rise past this point? Intuitions flood in—‘the coal’s gone bad’ or ‘there’s a glitch somewhere.’”

“Because even whether we’ll have enough coal to make port hits me with that same sharp clarity—that lone needle’s nothing to scoff at.”

“Right… Call it a sixth sense, if you will.”

Of course, reaching that point took considerable effort on my part.

“Well then, listen well…”

“...Heeey... Get in here...”

“Ah... Here he comes, here he comes.”
“You brought it in a thermos.”
“For someone like Bon State, you’re being pretty considerate.”
“Whose whiskey is this?”
“Oh—the Captain’s.”
“You’re really attentive now... What a waste of K.O.K., ain’t it?”
“Splendid, splendid.”
“How about adding a little whiskey?”
“What?”
“Getting soused on pickled radishes?”
“You’re quite the Japan expert.”
“Then serve the castella.”
“It’s a Nagasaki specialty reimported from Shanghai.”
“Consider this payment for listening to my stories.”
“Hahaha… Hey, hey… You fool.”
“Aren’t you going to shut it?”
“Idiot…”

“No.”
“It’s been ages since I last spoke this sort of talk.”
“I took the chief engineer’s examination when I was twenty-one.”
“Oh? You’re twenty-one too?”
“Well, that’s a coincidence!”
“Hahahaha.”
“And to top it off, since that was a perfect score exam, it’s something else, don’t you think?”
“You won’t understand how amazing it was unless I tell you.”

“After all, on one hand I was throwing my meager savings—piled high with debt—into exam fees amounting to several dozen yen, while on the other trying to teach myself seamanship in my spare time. It was do or die.”
“I had to memorize every last page of advanced mathematics textbooks—couldn’t make heads or tails of them—from cover to cover.”
“Has anyone ever done something so reckless?”
“There hasn’t been anyone.”
“It’s beyond description.”
“In my boarding house in Hyogo, I plastered papers scrawled with formulas all over—from the ceiling to the walls, from the sliding doors to the paper screens, even onto the lampshades—so that when I opened my eyes in bed, they’d immediately land on them.”
“Once I memorized them, I’d peel them off and put up new ones—that was the system.”
“The landlady was shocked. ‘My goodness, so many!’”
“She asked, ‘Is this some kind of charm to pass?’”
“Indeed, it must have been a charm.”
“It was such a precious charm that I wanted to roll it up and swallow it. Hahaha.”

Then when I went to the exam site on the day—the first day being all written exams—it seems this guy managed to get a perfect score anyway; by evening, a notice had arrived at my boarding house telling me to attend the next day’s exam.

So the next morning, when I came to the exam hall all fired up, I was shocked.
“Of the seventy-some examinees who’d been there, only two remained.”
“I wondered if there’d been some mistake and looked around restlessly.”
“Well, you see...”
“They were all eliminated.”
“Because it was a true perfect score exam.”
“Even one wrong character in spelling meant failure—that’s how brutal it was.”
“Seventy-some people had their fees cleanly pocketed.”
“If this isn’t the government’s doing, it’s a gold-leafed swindle.”

The guy who stayed behind with me was some bearded fellow in his thirties from Shimane Prefecture, but in that vast classroom, we were made to work on blueprints at opposite ends... We exchanged looks with faces caught between tears and laughter.
...But when I went there the next day, that guy had been knocked out.
“So there I was—the youngest—left completely alone. The loneliness was so bone-chilling it beggars description.”
I felt like I’d wandered alone to hell’s threshold.
“But that examiner didn’t show an ounce of mercy.”
“They couldn’t care less if nobody passed—that’s how cold-blooded they were.”
“In the oral exam, they hurled about a hundred thirty questions at me one after another.”
“Of course I answered each one on the spot.”
“They’d just glare at their watches for twenty or thirty seconds—let a full minute pass and you’d get failed right then and there.”
I reckon all color must’ve drained from my face.
Still, wiping away sweat as I somehow kept going, the examiner suddenly snapped his notebook shut. When I froze thinking I’d failed, that bastard grinned right in my face.
“No—you’ve worked hard.”
“Full marks.”
“Let’s have tea in that room over there.”
When he rattled this off, I nearly fainted on the spot.
But overjoyed nonetheless, I practically wagged my tail as I tiptoed after him down a corridor bend into an empty room, where he poured me a cup of scalding bitter tea.
As I glanced around the room, that examiner bastard smirked again.

“How many tons of coal do you think can fit in this room?”

He said it like a joke... yet that expression of his was absolutely no laughing matter.
Indeed, wearing an expression that still seemed fully immersed in the examination, he plopped down.
When I think about it, when he declared my perfect score, he only said “You’ve worked hard,” and didn’t utter a word of congratulations.
“It’s a scheme to lull them into dropping their guard just a bit, then ambush and knock them down.”
“Has anyone ever fallen for such a nasty exam before?... There hasn’t been anyone, I bet.”

The moment I realized this, I nearly blacked out again. To endure that, I gulped down a cup of hot tea and mustered my tattered, shitty nerve.

“Hmm… Could it hold sixty tons?”
“Can it really hold as much as sixty tons?”

When I replied jokingly like that, the examiner bastard widened his eyes in surprise,

“Well...”
“Does that much really fit in?”

he sneered. Moreover, he added,

“The capacity of a room is something easily misjudged, you see.
“When anyone boards a ship for the first time and tries loading coal, their estimates never quite work out, so they end up getting mocked by the lower-ranking crew members… Hah…”

He stroked his chin. ……Well…
“As if they’d say something like that out of kindness.”
“It must’ve been a scheme to fluster me.”
“…Hmm.”

“So about fifty tons… or something like that—if I were to humor them with an answer… There!”
“There it was—the trap.”
“They’d hit you with ‘Failed at 99.99 points…’ of course.”
“It’s outrageous how they’re scheming to pocket the exam fees even if they have to make people bite the dirt.”
Even someone like me couldn’t help but be overwhelmed at that moment.
“After all, I was young... What a damn fool.”
I’d reached the point of thinking ‘to hell with it all.’

“……Well…… But sixty tons was your exam answer.
“Your calculation accounts for every inch up to the ceiling, but frankly speaking, this question itself is preposterous.”
“If you actually packed that much coal into this room, the walls and floor wouldn’t hold up.”
“Heh heh heh heh…”

When I showed him a teasing laugh, that examiner bastard glared at me with a sour face, then stormed out in a huff. Having resigned myself to failure at the very brink, I drank myself into a stupor that night for the first time in ages, and before I knew it, dawn had broken while I lay soundly asleep. The boarding house landlady shook me awake roughly, saying, “It's already nine o'clock for you. A letter’s come for you.” Of course, it must be a failure notice. What good would looking do? Thinking “To hell with it” over and over, I opened it because it bothered me, only to find something utterly unexpected. It was handwritten by the examiner, but a pass through and through. “At any rate, I offer my congratulations.” “In light of this, we would like you to board as replacement chief engineer for the hospital ship Jujimaru, currently anchored in this port (Kobe), with a tonnage of 3,200. What are your thoughts on this matter?” Monthly salary: 100-some yen. And so on... it was like some Sun Wukong tale. At such times, my head would start throbbing again, you know. Around 1907 (Meiji 40), 100 ryo was no small sum. To call it influential or whatever would be an understatement—it was one hell of a promotion. Moreover, while the young chief engineer’s record-breaking feats had become the talk of the town—sought after from all directions and treated like royalty—the truth was, this very thing proved to be his undoing. “As they say, the struggles of one’s youth are worth their weight in gold.” Rising too quickly in life or becoming society's darling too early—that’s no good at all. Thanks to that, I’d thoroughly toughened my body like a yakuza’s, and then in my first year aboard the current Jujimaru, I shook off the propeller in the Seto Inland Sea. “When I boarded the ship, I thought I had thoroughly inspected and accepted all the machinery, but neglecting to check the propeller itself was my undoing.”

“Though being in the Seto Inland Sea meant we got off easy,” he continued, stroking the boiler’s rivets. “Had it been off the Cape or such, we might’ve been swept clean to Antarctica.”

...This marked the start of my curse—every ship I’ve boarded since has been dogged by ill luck. That showpiece turbine shattered center-stage in Biscay Bay’s theater of waves. Off Alaska’s coast with land nearly in spitting distance, we’d run short of coal.” His laughter clanged like loose boiler plates. “They’d toss American flour into the furnace then—men and hull alike powdered white as ghosts.”

“Never our blunder, mind you! Just rotten fortune’s hand.” The Captain spread his arms along the railing, embracing the engine room’s heat. “So here I am—reduced to nursemaiding these antique boilers aboard this floating scrapheap.”

A dry chuckle escaped him. “Hah! Though through it all... perhaps I’ve stockpiled adventures to thrill bookish sorts like you.” His fingers twitched near an imaginary helm. “That propeller business revisited me in the Indian Ocean—even now, recalling it chills my marrow.”

His voice dropped conspiratorially. “It was when Europe’s war first boiled over. The Emden—that three-thousand-six-hundred-ton wolf from Qingdao—was ravaging India’s coastal waters...”

Under the Osaka Merchant Marine’s Australia route, there was an express ship called the Sanyo Maru.
It was a passenger ship of about seven thousand tons that had changed its route and resolved to make an all-or-nothing voyage to Europe, but with none willing to go for fear of the Emden at that time, I ended up taking charge of the machinery and coming to Singapore—an unforgettable day, September 15, 1914, the third year of Taisho... the height of summer.
There we loaded about three hundred fifty male passengers bound directly for Marseille from Port Said and as much high-quality tea as we could carry. If this ship had safely entered the Mediterranean, it would’ve been a massive profit, of course.
For we were loaded full with both the finest first-flush tea that all Europe—friend and foe alike—awaited with gullets aquiver, and customers who’d gone beyond mere monetary coercion.
“This isn’t some commotion over Kishu tangerine ships.”
“Mitsui’s operations are something else… So there we were, receiving wireless transmissions from the Combined Fleet while boldly charging into the heart of the Indian Ocean—how’s that for you?”

On the early morning of the 23rd, the third day after leaving land behind, the wireless operator came tumbling down from the bridge, paralyzed with fear.
...Last night at midnight, the Emden suddenly appeared off the coast of Madras on the opposite shore and shelled the row of oil tanks.
Edward Battery panicked and fired their cannons into the dark night, but by then the Emden was already gone.
If the Sanyo Maru continued on its current course, it might soon cross paths with the Emden’s escape route.
A wireless message saying ‘Be on alert…’ came beeping... beeeeping in, they said.

Well... with everyone turning pale... that captain who'd been declaring grand words about resolve and such—a Japanese man no less—was first to panic and proposed retreating to Singapore at full speed.
In other words, they must have calculated that with Emden's death-defying speed at 27-28 knots against Sanyo Maru's absolute limit of 23-24 knots, once spotted, there'd be no arguing.
"Moreover, if that was their calculation, why bother sailing all the way to mid-Indian Ocean just to tally it up?"
"He's no Chūbē-san."
"He should've estimated this from Osaka's docks. Truth is, that wireless message blew a fresh crop of cowardice straight down his collar—whistling like winter wind through rigging."

The chief engineer tried to restrain him by force.
That situation was then noticed by a former Irish naval officer among the passengers, who went spreading word of it throughout the ship until things became utterly unbearable.
Blue-eyed passengers with bulging eyes clamored “Me too! Me too!” as they swarmed into the captain’s cabin, surrounding the ashen-faced captain and jostling him with “What now? What now?”
The chief engineer and purser wedged themselves into the fray, fumbling about.
“I’ll spare you the captain’s name—it’s not even worth mentioning as a national disgrace.”
“What a contrast he made with the Emden’s captain.”

“In the end,” he continued,“with that rabble swarming about and their desperate stalemate reaching an impasse,I found myself summoned into their very council chamber.”

“Whether we could squeeze more speed from her boilers became their burning question.Whether to risk Suez or retreat to Singapore—whether to jettison cargo or cling to profit—all hung on my answer.”

“When they posed this dilemma,I knew victory was mine.’Perhaps I’ll line my pockets here,’I mused,‘while turning those foreigners’ courage inside out.’ With such thoughts,I flashed them my most disarming smile.”

“You folks have boarded a lucky ship.”
“If you give me ten thousand pounds, I’ll increase our speed by five knots beyond what it is now.”
“Of course, the cargo can remain as it is now.”
“If we go five knots faster, even the Emden wouldn’t catch up… But one can’t be too careful with these things.”
“If by any chance you folks find that even five knots still aren’t enough, I’ll need you to generously contribute an additional ten thousand pounds for each extra knot beyond that.”
“If even that isn’t enough, we’ll have to toss the tea overboard.”
“I guarantee a top speed of thirty-one knots.”
“If even that doesn’t shake them off, you gentlemen will simply have to leap into the sea.”

“I’d given them just a taste of intimidation, but even I was taken aback by how quick those foreigners were on the uptake. They barely had time to confer in a side room before five or six sharp-looking men came back and shoved a wad of two thousand pounds in my face. Naturally, the remaining eight thousand was promised under proper promissory note upon reaching Port Said – I’ll admit even I had to hand it to them then. ‘Men who practically had banks jingling in their pockets,’ you see.” He chuckled darkly. “Survival must’ve been their sole concern. The best part? Even the captain and chief engineer looked relieved – hilarious, that bit. All things considered, I nearly felt like bowing to Lord Emden again and again and again.”

……That’s how it was.

To tell the truth, if I had machinery like the Sanyo Maru’s, increasing speed by five knots would’ve been child’s play.
"The new machinery’s power had been considerably underestimated internally, you see… Not that the captain or driver could’ve managed such tricks, of course."
"You might say it was my personal patent—so to speak."
“Long ago, when pirate ships plagued the South China Sea, I’d secretly researched adjustments countless times for emergencies and mastered them thoroughly.”
I returned to the engine room and immediately slipped two or three iron scraps between the boiler’s safety valve springs, flicking out my red tongue.

Just that alone earned me ten thousand pounds, but I must confess—this was a flagrant violation of maritime regulations.
“If discovered, they wouldn’t just revoke the Chief Engineer’s license.”
“You’d get slammed with a colossal fine on top of prison time—so you can imagine that gamble was worth every penny.”
“Especially when balancing hundreds of lives against it.”

And with just that slight adjustment, the boiler’s pressure rapidly surged until the pressure gauge’s needle stood vertical, barely grazing the full circle.
Simultaneously, the propeller’s rotation intensified.
This wasn’t mere acceleration—it was a roaring ascent.
To untrained eyes, our speed might’ve seemed nearly doubled.
The thunderous crash of waves against both sides crescendoed—first a low growl, then a deafening roar—until those on deck appeared wholly reassured.
Their earlier anxieties must have drained them completely.
One by one, they returned to their cabins and fell into deep slumber.
There I remained, locked in my mechanical vigil, convinced all was stable as I dozed in my chair… That part went smoothly enough… What followed proved less amusing.

It was in the still dim light of the following morning.
"In the midst of dreaming about counting banknotes in Port Said, the massive cylindrical rod serving as the propeller's central axis snapped clean through midway."
The sudden surge of horsepower must have struck the rod first.

"Ahahahaha! Even I was stunned at that moment."
When it broke, the machinery's vibration—now spinning like a mad thing—shook through the ship's very bowels, leaving no room for debate.
Seems the captain and others became convinced we'd been ambushed by the Emden using some Go-stan tactic or such.
In an instant, the ship erupted into chaos like poking a hornet's nest—deafening uproar everywhere.
Crew and passengers alike came pouring out onto the deck.
"They say the delicate ones fainted outright... but this was no mere dizzy spell."
"At any rate, we had to stop the engines and swap in the spare shaft."

Then another disaster struck.
Stopping the ship in the open sea was like painting a target for the Emden, so the passengers began panicking with wild desperation.
The captain—to say nothing of the driver—started fretting like turkeys, making things utterly unmanageable.
Meanwhile, the ship itself remained blissfully unconcerned.
Carrying all that commotion, it began drifting aimlessly toward where the Emden was likely lurking.
In seas two to three hundred fathoms deep, an anchor won’t hold worth a damn.
“Not a single passing ship would ever spot us.”
“Even if we sent out an SOS, the Combined Fleet wouldn’t respond… so you can well imagine the chaos that ensued.”

……But then, as ill luck would have it, replacing that cylindrical rod took precisely one week.
In other words, during that entire period, we had completely halted the machinery’s operation and were left drifting about freely without control.

……Why……why don’t you just think about it?
“That steel cylinder—two feet and some inches in diameter, over two hundred feet in total length—the massive one.”
“As for its weight—how much do you think it could be? You couldn’t possibly grasp it even if you tried.”
“Actually, come closer and see.”
“When you realize this was made by human hands, it’s so magnificent it leaves you speechless.”
“Even just hoisting that thing up inch by inch with wire cables and chains is no small feat.”
On top of that, trying to gently push it into the ship’s propeller shaft hole—after two days of transferring cargo amidst that violent rocking and barely managing to lift the stern a fraction—was clearly an impossible demand from the very start.
“Even if done in a dry dock, it would be an immensely laborious task—and here we were attempting it while adrift in the open sea. Not to mention, as I said earlier, this steel log was meant to push a seven- or eight-thousand-ton hull to the ends of the world.”
“It’s been polished to a shine and made slick with oil—no handholds whatsoever.”
“No matter how tightly you secure it with wire and chains, once it starts sliding, human strength can’t stop it.”
Once it slides an inch, it’ll go a foot… once it slides a foot, it’ll go a yard—after that, momentum takes over completely.
“No courtesy or compromise here.”
Once it started grinding forward relentlessly, there was no stopping it.
It would pierce through iron plates like cardboard and inevitably protrude outside the ship.
“If it’d slid all the way out clean? That would’ve been our final act.”
“This was beyond irreparable.”
“If that thing burst out leaving a gaping hole as its farewell gift? The original hull wouldn’t stand a chance.”
“Bubbling up from behind the shaft……Hah! What do you think?”

“Do you understand? The sheer magnificence of the shaft!”
“Yeah.”
“You get it. A chief engineer who endured such absurd hardships—there’s hardly another like me.”

“But the world has its mercies. When it comes to perilous work—not to boast—I’ve grown accustomed to it.”
“Though perhaps it was my boarding that broke the shaft in the first place—hah!”
“We triple-checked everything beforehand, working sleepless until we finally brought steam back on the seventh day—but the chaos during that time defied description.”
“The ten thousand pounds? Gone up in smoke, naturally.”
“With a ‘to hell with it all’ resolve, I pushed through—though truth be told, I felt years stripped from my life. The passengers? Well...”
“Had anyone carelessly mentioned drifting for a week mid-Indian Ocean from the start, the rash ones might’ve jumped overboard.”
“Westerners are surprisingly delicate creatures.”
“Desperate souls emerged immediately.”
As proof—while fobbing them off with ‘tomorrow, tomorrow’ as we worked—within three days, not one passenger slept anymore.
“Seems they all developed nervous collapses.”
“Day after day floating as target practice for the Emden—no wonder they cracked.”
“Not that we feared the Emden less—but what good would fear do now?”
“Waste our lone spare shaft, and that’d truly be our luck’s end.”

Thus, thanks to having steeled ourselves from the start and worked diligently, we finally managed to get the ship moving—only for it to refuse building any speed this time.
We overrode the 8,000-pound certification and ripped out the safety valve’s metal fragment.
Then again, soon enough, even that seasoned ex-naval officer among the passengers—the panicky fellow I mentioned earlier—succumbed to a severe nervous breakdown.
“Started bellowing about killing the Chief Engineer or some such nonsense, waving his pistol around till it got too dangerous to approach...... When the purser came sniveling about it, I roared back at him till I thought my eyeballs would burst.”

“There’s no issue…”
“Bring him to the engine room.”
“Once we throw him into the boiler… he’ll regain some sanity.”

When I said that to him, the purser bastard got so frightened he ran away.
“Ha ha ha ha….”

“Hey!”
“Get in here!”
“Hey.”
“Get in here…”

“What?”
“Bon State?”
“What is it?”
“What?!”
“I can’t hear a damn thing!”
“Get in here!”
“Close that door… I can’t hear a damn thing.”

What was wrong?
Hmm... Had they finished the inspection?
That took a dreadfully long time.
Eight mahjong boxes in a brass-bound trunk... All the tiles hollowed out and stuffed with cotton-wrapped jewels... An old trick.

“Hold on.”
“Wait there, Li… It’s too late to pull out a pistol now.”
“If the guy under the bunk behind you cuts the switch, 1,500 volts will flow through that iron stool you’re sitting on.”
“That’s why I wet your seat beforehand—didn’t you notice?”
“Ha ha ha….”

“Haven’t I been tediously explaining this since earlier? If you’d climbed down that vertical iron ladder, your luck would’ve run out... Ha ha ha.”
“Do you get it?”
“If you’ve understood, then sit back down.”
“It’s safe.”
“The current isn’t flowing yet.”
“We’d lose everything if we charred you black, you see? Right?”
“You understand now.”

“You didn’t board this ship believing it an ordinary vessel, did you?”
“You must’ve suspected secrets from the start and entered the tiger’s den.”
“It might’ve taken guts to come down here meaning to expose this ship’s secrets along the way—but I can’t say I’m much impressed by that.”

“What?”
“So those jewels are imitations?”
“Ha ha ha.”
“That may be, but imitations work just fine.”
“There’s no issue with us taking them.”
“What—you’ll give us everything if we spare your life?”
“Ha ha ha ha... Depending on time and circumstance, I might spare you—but that would do poor justice to Mr. Wang.”
“According to Mr. Wang’s call, you’ve been serving as secretary to General Holwat—that decrepit White Russian leader in Beiping—but after Japan’s Tanaka cabinet fell and no nations remained to support him, you cut your losses and defected to the Communist Army under the name Sai Mei Ron.”
“Then you recently became a free-floating GPU cell drifting into Shanghai, soon turning adopted child to Seikou-jo—who’s been building her name as an international spy and anti-Japanese group leader—and per Mr. Wang’s report, R-4 indeed appears to be you.”

“...Now then, regarding what capabilities this R-4 possesses—as I mentioned earlier, their background being so tangled means we’ve no clear picture—but we’ll take a rough stab and focus our efforts. Though we haven’t fully pinned down the trunk’s contents yet, word has it they’re valuables entrusted by Shanghai magnate Yellow Crane to Seikou-jo for delivery to Nagasaki branches, anticipating Sino-Japanese tensions will flare up soon.”
“Ha ha ha.”
“Mr. Wang does have quite the eye for quality.”

“What... Are you asking what Mr. Wang’s true identity is?”
“Heh heh heh… What’ll you do if you hear that?”
“Since I’m Mr. Wang’s close friend, you can probably imagine.”
“Incidentally, I am not this ship’s chief engineer or anything of the sort.”
“So all those verbose stories I’ve been telling from the start are just a hodgepodge of everyone’s secondhand tales.”
“The ruse to string you along until we uncovered the trunk’s contents… If I told you that, wouldn’t the focus become perfectly clear?”
“Ha ha ha... What... A Japanese spy ship... Me, a staff officer... Ufufu.”
“I’ll say it’s not quite on the mark, but not far off either.”

...Hmm.
"What’s this about having a secret discussion with me?"
"What."
“Go ahead and say it.”
“What?!”
"I can’t talk if there’s someone listening."
“Yeah.”
“There there...”
“Hey.”
“Bon State.”
“Take away this one’s toys.”
“She doesn’t have anything else on her now, does she.”
"Just a fountain pen and business cards, huh?"
“There there.”
“Leave those.”
“We might need to have her write something later... Then you lot get out of this room and shut the door tight.”
“If you need anything, ring the bell… You know.”
“Don’t worry about me.”
“This young master here understands things quite well...”

“There we are.”
“There’s no one here.”
“The keyhole’s locked too.”
“Let’s hear about this secret business of yours.”
“What’s this? What’s this?”
“What’s this about stripping?”
“Ha ha.”
“You sewed it into the lining.”
“A GPU directive?”
“Hmm.”
“It’s code.”
“Right.”
“You’ve confessed at last.”
“The Japanese General Staff Headquarters will rejoice.”
“Seikou-jo underestimated Japanese intelligence work too thoroughly—that’s why you’re in this fix.”

...What now?
“Still undressing?”
“More secrets stitched inside… Ah…”
“You’re a woman.”

“No... This is... From the start, you nonchalantly took off your tinted glasses and even entered the men’s restroom with me—so I thought you were the exact opposite... Ha ha... But you’re both Mr. Sai Mei Ron’s Seikou-jo and R-4.”
“Hmm…”
“I hadn’t the slightest idea.”
“Oh I see now, I see now.”
“The trousers needn’t come off.”
“Understood… Ah….”

“W-well... wait, wait! Wait, please. This won’t do here. Dangerous! Dangerous! It’s actually dangerous! W-well... w-well... just put your kimono back on! If they discover you, it’ll be problematic... Hurry and fix your clothes! Right, right! Now, regarding our discussion... Right, right… No! If it becomes known that you’re R-4, the ones who’d be most pleased would be the Japanese General Staff Headquarters! It seems they’re having trouble figuring out GPU’s chain of command! Allow me to pay my respects to you! And then please shake hands with me once! I like to think I’m rather quick on the uptake! Heh heh heh! Right, right! After all, even I am a cosmopolitan working for profit! The world splits into dictatorships and communist states... When neither makes money, well—it’s more convenient to become a cosmopolitan! All intellectuals around the world are a sort of cosmopolitan-type egoist, you see!”

“Right, right… If I shake hands with you, I can make a considerable profit.”

"I apologize, but please sit down once more."
*Huh.*
Can it be heard outside?
Since the outside noise is louder... That talk about there being an electric current was nothing but a lie.
There’s no one under the bed.
"If you’re concerned, I’ll exchange my chair with yours."

“Take a look.”
“There’s no cord or anything attached, right?”
“Ha ha ha….”
“...Now then... lend me your ear.”
“I’ll just explain what’s necessary here for now.”
“Now then... You must have already guessed this ship’s true nature.”
“This vessel goes wherever ordered by a single wireless command from Japan’s General Staff Headquarters.”
“We were never headed to Nagasaki in the first place.”
“If you doubt me, go up to deck and check the compass.”
“We’ve properly set course for Dalian.”
“Truth is, we just received a wireless message from Dalian... See this ciphertext written inside the coffee cup?”
“Tilt the dregs like so—it appears simultaneously... More work of this sort awaits there.”
“Naturally—men like Mr. Wang have their networks spread wide...... But that’s not all.”
“An expert like yourself would’ve noticed immediately.”
“As for our current speed... we’re building up to twenty-one knots and one-tenth.”

"...You see?"
"You’ve realized our positions aren’t straightforward, haven’t you?"
"As state detectives, the gap between your standing and mine is like that between a general and a foot soldier—but unless you leave matters to me for the time being here, I’ll be inconvenienced."
"Are we clear?"
"You remain R-4 of the independent cells."
"If you don’t plan to obey my every word in that capacity... Right, right... Then that’s acceptable."

“Let’s return to the room on deck for now.”
“Let’s have a proper discussion there.”
“Huh.”
“In this ship, everyone from the captain down moves according to my orders, so there’s no need to worry.”
“The real problem will be once we reach Dalian.”
“There’s a route from Dalian through Chongjin to Vladivostok... Since Russian should be right up your alley... Good... Now, if you’d be so kind, press that bell once more.”
“As many times as you like.”
“Let’s have bedding for two prepared in the room on deck.”
“Heh heh heh... Hey.”
“Bon State, Gin State, Ete-kun.”
“Hey. Come here.”
“I’ve got business... Yeah.”
“Close the door and crawl in here….”
“Restrain this one… Seize that fountain pen… It’s suspected to be poison gas…”

“Ha ha ha.”
“How’s that?”
“Can’t move a muscle, can you?”
“My men work fast.”
“Ha ha ha.”
“Let me clarify—everything I’ve told you until now was lies.”
“This ship isn’t some international tramp steamer or Japanese spy vessel.”
“What you don’t realize yet—this is the K.G.M., G.P.U’s maritime headquarters disguised as a cargo ship running between Japan and China.”
“And I am this ship’s captain.”
“Understood?”
“Ha ha ha... Mr. Wang saw through your betrayal of G.P.U and plan to hide in Japan—handed you over temporarily... What? My nationality?”
“Name... Heh heh heh.”
“Using Japanese makes me Japanese now—enter Vladivostok and I’ll pass for Russian.”
“These brutes all speak Japanese like Koreans—not one holds proper papers... Ah well—irrelevant details.”
“What? My Japanese too refined?... None of your business.”
“Your Russian’s no better.”
“Tokyo’s vaudeville houses got Russians doing stand-up these days.”
“...Nichieuo... Careful with that pen—place it gently on the shelf.”
“Drop it and we’re all cooked... Called you here precisely because it’s dangerous.”
“Might as well peel off her clothes.”

“It doesn’t matter if you cut them open with a knife.”
“Yes, yes….”

“Ha ha ha... How’s that? Surprised?”
“You’re a woman, aren’t you?”
“Nice figure.”
“Huh... As if there’s any room for pity or damn decency here.”

“Strip everything off.”
“Arrange the clothes on this bunk.”
“The shoes too…the drawers too…I’ll check them later.”
“There should still be a separate G.P.U roster and cipher key hidden within Japan proper.”
“This bastard brought it here meaning to sell to the Japanese General Staff Office.”
“Dangerous doesn’t half cover it…”

Thud.
"There’s no need to make her suffer."
"Female spies have experience."
"A woman at this level won’t spill anything now."
"Search every inch of her body instead."
"Don’t let her bite you."
"Someone grab her hair with one hand."
"Then bring a wrench to pry her mouth open."
"If it won’t open, make her bite that knife."
"Stubborn bitch… That’s right."
"If there’s gold teeth or amalgam—pull them with pliers… Can’t see through the blood?"
"Bring a flashlight."
"I’ll look… Hmm."
"Clean teeth… Good… Now check the nostrils… There."
"Hold her lips tight."
"If she spits—filthy business… Hold this light."
"Don’t move her."
"We’re using a reflector… Hmm."
"If nothing… Try the ear canals?"
"Hmm."

“Good, good.”
They’d cleaned up thoroughly.
She wasn’t much like a student.
Heh heh.
“What about inside her hair?”
“Nothing there?”
“Good, good.”
“That’ll do…”

With that, there was no further use for this stripped body.
Harasho.
“I’ll hand her over to you bastards, so take her over there and dispose of it… What….”

“What was this... There was one more thing to say.”
“Go ahead and say it.”
“Haa… I shouldn’t have doubted you all.”
“It’s not that I betrayed G.P.U.”
“By making it look like betrayal... transporting a crucial secret document to Tokyo’s XXX Embassy...”
“I see...”
“The document’s contents?...”
“Hmm.”
“Because of Shanghai’s anti-Japanese… Because of Shanghai’s anti-Japanese… What does that matter? Hey! Pull yourself together! Here… I’ll let you drink brandy… Pull yourself together.”
“What about Shanghai’s anti-Japanese… Hmm.”
“Through Shanghai’s anti-Japanese movement… we’ve gained sufficient prospects of creating a fuse for world war… Let XXX hold the casting vote without allying with other nations… Relay to your home country that we approve their requested concessions… What.”
“Is that the Nanjing Government’s secret document… No, it’s not.”
“Chiang Kai-shek’s work, hmm? That’s a massive problem.”
“……The main text is embedded in the fountain pen’s casing.”
“So this... I see.”
“It ain’t ebonite.”
“A paraffin-coated paper contraption?”
“A clever piece of work… Un.”
“So this is the secret document?”
“Most grateful. Most grateful.”
“This thing’ll fetch a fortune.”
“Though selling it to the Wakatsuki Cabinet would be a losing proposition…”
“Hmm.”

“She finally spat out the truth.”
“……Hey, Miss.”
“Didn’t you take this ship for a pirate vessel bent on smuggling?”
“Or rather, you’ve forgotten what Mr. Wang looks like already?”
“You’ve done some minor tinkering, but it’s hardly worth noticing.”
“You’d think just looking at your eyes would make it obvious you’re Japanese… Ha ha ha!”
“This doesn’t suit you either, Miss.”
“Just because you didn’t realize K.G.M was a pun on Ushiumaru, you’ve gone and completely laid bare our true colors, huh?”
“Hmm hmm hmm…”

Ah, he was spent.
The refusal to come into focus had made her an absolute nuisance.
"Women... such a hassle... Hah..."
"Enough—clean this up."
"Look... Didn't I just say not to let it sink its teeth in?"
"Look..."

“……Hey hey.”
“Is there anyone who’d leave the damn door wide open?”
“You damn fools!”
“Ha ha.”
“Toss the rest into the boiler... Ha ha ha ha ha...”