Pathway to Japanese Literature

A backstreet ran along Shinjuku Gyoen.
Dilapidated row houses that had survived the fire stood in a line.
Here and there, a section of the row house had been modified into a bar hung with pink curtains and adorned with neon.
The Burglar pointed to the neighboring row house,

“That second floor there is my woman’s apartment.”

He appeared exceedingly proud of this fact.
An external staircase had been attached to the second floor of the row house, allowing access without passing through the lower floor.
Pedestrian traffic was extremely sparse, and since bars resembling questionable inns were also scattered about, even walking around late at night or in the early morning hours wouldn’t arouse suspicion.
It was conveniently close to both the national railway and city tram, making it one of Japan’s prime locations for the Burglar’s hideout.

“You go climbing up this staircase with a tap-tap like this...”

With his spirits light, the Burglar stood ready to give the tour. He opened the second-floor door and was about to call out “I’m home—” while removing his shoes when his eyes caught on a shoehorn lying beside the woman’s wooden clogs in the earthen entryway.
His complexion visibly changed.
He picked it up and hurriedly stuffed it into his pocket,

“When I return from a trip, I always think things seem off, but sure enough…”

His physiognomy changed completely, leaving him utterly despondent.

The second floor consisted of two connected rooms—a six-tatami space and a three-tatami one. Upon first seeing this so-called landlady, even Shishido seemed rather startled. Her facial features sat in disarray without cohesion, and she carried considerable bulk. She appeared about twenty-five or twenty-six—roughly half the Burglar’s age. Perhaps due to lingering traces of girlish charm, there were angles and lighting conditions where her jumbled features might almost have passed for endearing. Both her face and figure resembled a goldfish’s.

“This is Otsu—Otsu-chan.”

The Burglar made this introduction, but Otsu glared at Shishido with a fierce look,

“What’s this blockhead doing here?”

Otsu was a simple country bumpkin.
Like a dog wary of mangy strays, she regarded and despised people of shabby appearance.

“He’s someone who came back from China. Don’t mind his looks—I’ve never once misjudged a face in my life. Might seem like a dim-witted oaf, but he’s harmless enough. Be nice to him now.”

“Do you intend to bring this bastard into our home?”

“What’s the harm?”
“He’s got nowhere to stay.”
“I’ll have him help with my work.”

“What do you plan to do if you bring this bastard into our home and he starts dropping lice everywhere?”
“Bastard!”
“Stay put in the three-mat room!”
“If you come over here, I won’t stand for it!”

Appearing truly enraged, Otsu heaved her shoulders with each breath as she glared menacingly.
She seemed confident in her physical strength.
Shishido set down his rucksack in the three-mat room and sat cross-legged.
Seeing that he could no longer persuade Otsu, the Burglar alone moved into the six-tatami room, where he suddenly turned pale and began trembling uncontrollably.

“You’ve been sneaking men in while I was away, haven’t you?”

“What nonsense are you spouting now?”

“Look at this shoehorn.”
“Whose is this?”
“’Cause this was lying in the earthen floor—I won’t let you claim no man came up here!”

“I don’t know.”
“This place only gets cleaned three times a month—ten days’ worth of stuff ends up on the floor.”
“You think I can remember every single thing?”

“Don’t play dumb.”

“Cut it out.”
“I’m so in love with you that I’ve been scrimping even on three meals a day—each just a single serving—while you were away.”
“Other men? They might as well be horseflies or dragonflies to me.”

Otsu’s sulking in earnest was likely because she had genuinely convinced herself of it. Moreover, the way she suppressed her anger and made such an earnest plea served as proof that she was truly in love with the Burglar.

As for the Burglar, though his suspicions hadn’t been dispelled, without evidence there was nothing he could do.

“Anyway, go buy liquor and side dishes for dinner.”
“Make it a cutlet.”

“I don’t have that kind of money.”

The Burglar reluctantly handed over a single thousand-yen bill.
Otsu went out shopping.
Then the Burglar’s demeanor changed.

★

Years-honed burglary trade, seasoned techniques.
He thrust his hands into the bedding to check for hidden items.
He opened the closet and gave it a once-over.
In the end, he even removed the lid of the rice bin to inspect it.

"While I was away, she must've been sneaking in a man and stashing away secret savings."
"She's not the kind of woman who'd give herself away for free, so there's got to be secret savings..."

He was irritably rummaging through every corner.
At that moment, Shishido called out.

“Old man. You even burgle your own place?”
A bolt from the blue.
Startled by the unexpected voice, the old man flinched and froze.

“What the hell?”

“Old man, you’re a burglar, aren’t you?”

“Hmm.”
“You fuckin’ knew all along?”
“I just saw you demonstrating it right in front of me.”

“Hmm.”
“That’s an unexpected thing to say.”
“There hasn’t been a single instance where my physiognomy assessments missed their mark.”
“……Which means you’re a burglar too.”

“Quit it.”

“Then why’d you follow me knowing I’m a burglar?”

“I had nothing better to do.”

“Hey!”
“Show your face.”
“Hmm.”
“I don’t think my physiognomy readings are off, but somehow I’ve started to get confused.”
“Ah, whatever.”
“It might be better that you know I’m a burglar—that’ll make things easier to discuss.”
“It’s not like I brought you here for no reason.”
“This too was based on my physiognomy assessment, but…”

Putting a cigarette between his lips and lighting it appeared driven by an urgent need to steady his nerves.
Since arriving here, there had been a continuous series of unexpected events.

“There’s this factory I’d had my eye on for a while. While you were missing a train earlier, I passed by it just now and found a posted notice looking for night-shift security guards.”
“So the reason I rushed back to Shinjuku Station in such a hurry was to look for you—call it a sixth sense that prickled through me.”
“What I liked was your repatriate look and, more than anything, that owl-like face of yours.”
“To anyone’s eyes, that look makes you seem like nothing less than the perfect candidate for an honest night watchman.”
“You go meet the factory manager and try asking, ‘I’ve just returned from China and have nowhere to stay—please hire me as your night watchman.’”
“They’ll be thrilled to have such an ideal guy show up and put you to work.”
“This is my sixth sense.”
“That’s the moment it prickled through me.”
“It can’t miss—go ahead and try.”
“You’ll be living in the factory.”

“Not bad.”
“You serious?”
“I’d like that.”

“Hmm.”
“But somehow, I just can’t trust you.”
“How much d’you want?”
“You wanna split the take?”

“I don’t want any money.”

“Hmph.”
“Sometimes I can’t stand your answers.”
“So you plan to move into the factory and help with the burglary, huh?”

“Since I don’t have a place to stay, I’ll move in.”
“Sleeping during the day suits me too.”
“Nights work better for painting—quieter.”

“If you’re saying this knowing I’m a burglar, you’re one creepy bastard.”
“Or maybe you’re just a half-wit?”
“No, no.”
“Since you spotted my sleight of hand, you’re no half-wit.”
“So you’ve got a rap sheet.”
“You killed folks in China, didn’tcha?”

“It was wartime.”
“And being a soldier—might’ve had two or three drop from my bullets.”

“Hmm.
“Don’t know.”

The Burglar glared sideways at the other man’s physiognomy and sank into thought, but when footsteps ascending the outside stairs reached him, he jolted alert,

“Shh!”
“Don’t you dare tell Otsu I’m a burglar.”

Otsu returned from shopping.

★

“You left the closet wide open!”
“The rice bin’s lid is off!”
“Did you let this bastard get his hands on our rice?”

“Shut up.
“Can’t you even use kind words with me—a man who just got back from a business trip?”
“That’s a four-gō bottle!”
“Why the hell didn’t you buy a one-shō bottle?”

“Even if you buy a one-shō bottle, you only get exactly one shō.”
“You don’t get a whole cup extra as a freebie.”
“There’s no idiot who buys stuff in bulk without getting freebies.”
“If you’ve got time to nitpick about my shopping, then throw that bastard down the stairs already!”

“Since he’s helping with jobs, show some damn warmth.”
“Hey—get over here and take a swig.”

He hoisted the four-gō bottle toward Shishido. Otsu smacked it down.

“That rotgut ain’t for bastards.”
“Make him lap up sauce!”

When he heard this, Shishido felt a thrill—life grew more enjoyable. She looked like a goldfish yet had hidden fierceness. He wanted to tease her.

He slowly stood up and headed to the six-tatami room.
He grabbed the newly purchased sauce bottle on the kitchen table, removed the lid, and was about to bring it to his mouth when—

“Bastard!”

Otsu slapped the sauce bottle away.
She took the sauce bottle to a corner of the room.
While she was at it, she brought a ladleful of water,

“Here, take this!”

She flung the ladleful of water at Shishido.
Because he took the water full in the face, Shishido gritted his teeth, his expression one of utter defeat.
He finally finished wiping his face with his sleeve,

“That’s truly astonishing stinginess.”

“What the hell?!”

“There, there.”
“With how you were carrying on, I figured you’d slap that sauce bottle and drench me in sauce—but no! You tucked it all neat into the corner cupboard and threw water instead. Now that’s what I call dedication to stinginess.”
“Truly admirable stinginess.”

“You bastard!”

Otsu switched the ladle to her left hand, formed a fist with her right, and struck Shishido’s stomach with a single blow.

“Ugh!”

Shishido pressed a hand over his stomach and staggered.
Gritting his teeth and desperately enduring, he managed to return to the three-tatami room and collapsed against his rucksack.

Hmm.
To switch the ladle to her left and strike with her right fist—what stinginess!
Every movement, every utterance—not one free from stinginess.
To think the Burglar's second-in-command could be this stingy!

He began to voice this, then hastily swallowed the last words.

★

She only bought one cutlet too.
Otsu herself had no intention of eating the cutlet; as for Shishido, she had no intention of letting him eat even rice—much less a cutlet.

As Shishido took out dried provisions from his rucksack and began eating, the Burglar brought over some torn pieces of cutlet and simmered small fish arranged on paper.

“She isn’t a bad-natured woman, but for some reason she seems to have taken a dislike to you."
“Just put up with it for today.”

the Burglar apologized in a whisper.

“With that spineless disposition, I’m amazed you keep up that line of work.”

Shishido said this while grabbing a piece of cutlet and munching loudly without even a word of thanks, making the Burglar take offense as he glared back with cold eyes before retreating.

He started guzzling the four-gō bottle by himself, but there was an undeniable melancholy to this despairing drink.

“Hey, Otsu. You’re the one who’d never go and betray me, right?”

“What are you talking about?!”
“I’m head over heels for you.”
“If other men look like horseflies to you—”

“Huh. Yer actin’ real cold too.”
“And what’s more, yer actin’ all standoffish.”

“What’s that?”

“You still haven’t given back the change from that thousand-yen bill earlier.”

“What? You think you don’t need any other money?”

“That’s separate—I give you that every month anyway. This is money I specially set aside to buy tonight’s liquor, so hand over the change.”

“Hold on now, you. A man shouldn’t fuss over money he’s already handed out.”

“I’m not a man.”
“Right? Isn’t that so?”
“To you, that three-tatami bastard seems way more like a man than me.”
“Quit lying.”
“I can tell.”
“I ain’t no man.”
“Don’t you dare gang up and mock me!”
“If you bastards think I can’t read your mugs proper, you’re dead wrong!”
“I can see clean through every last one of your faces with half a glance!”
“Think you can make a fool of me? Go on—try it!”

“You…
“You’re acting strange tonight.”
“That’s why.”
“Didn’t I tell you not to bring that good-for-nothing bastard in here?”
“That bastard’s the problem.”
“What’s this? You got some weak spot he’s got a hold on you or something?”

“Hmph. Do you think I’ve got some weak spot that could get caught?! I’m different from you. You’re probably out there selling yourself while I’m away, stashing your dirty savings.”

“What?!”
“That’s blasphemy!”
“You...”
“If you think pure-hearted, devoted wives like me are a dime a dozen, the gods will punish you!”
“The village I was born in has been renowned for generations for its strict upbringing.”
“There may be women who’ve turned to streetwalking among them, but my character’s different.”
“To be filial to parents, serve one’s husband well, and protect the home—that’s a woman’s duty, and it’s been stamped right here in my heart since birth.”
“There are so many streetwalkers around here that when I go out walking, it’s not like men don’t try propositioning me with their ‘How ’bout some fun?’, but I’ve never given those types a second glance.”
“There’s nothing I despise more than streetwalkers.”
“I...”
“What I like best is lying perfectly still inside the house waiting for my husband to come home.”
“I don’t want movies or books or fancy things—a woman’s duty is lying here relying on her dear husband without lifting a finger, and cheating aside, haven’t I not even gone to the public baths while you were away?”
“If you truly thought I was some cheating woman, you’d never have brought that bastard into our home in the first place.”
“All your other men look like nothing but blockheads to me anyway.”

“You’re not cheating, but when some man tugs at your sleeve asking for a little fun, I bet that doesn’t feel too bad now does it?”

“It makes me feel awful.”
“It churns my stomach with disgust.”
“I’m not some cheating woman like that.”
“But you know, when I think you’re getting jealous over me, it makes me so happy.”

“I see.”
“My fault.”
“Damn, I’m just... so damn lonely.”
Somehow, a shiver ran through me—like I’d been tossed all alone into the dead center of some endless plain beneath this yawning sky, helpless with nothing to cling to.
I didn’t have a shred of confidence left.
Every last bastard in creation stood higher than me.
My knack for reading faces must’ve gone dull.
But that guy? Hell of a piece of work.
However you sliced it, he wasn’t some dime-a-dozen punk.
That part—seemed I couldn’t lay a finger on it anymore.
“I’m just life’s leftover scrap now, huh.”

“Oh, stop it.”
“You cryin’ over some blockhead like that?”

“He’s no mere blockhead.”

The Burglar stood up and made his way to the three-mat room.
The Burglar sat down before Shishido and bowed his head,

“Master.
I must apologize.”

“…………”

“I underestimated you.”

“…………”

“I won’t ask Master to help with my petty jobs anymore.”
“Master ain’t no ordinary bastard.”
“Master’s an ambitious man.”
“Master’s a man of grand ambitions.”
“Hey, that’s right, ain’t it?”
“I understand clear as day.”
“Master’s a man who lives for grand ambitions.”
“Please, Master—lay bare those ambitions.”
“Let me get a piece of that action too.”
“I’ll throw my whole fortune at you, Master—how’s that sound?”
“In return, when Master hits it big, make me your number one beneficiary.”
“Hey, Master.”

“…………”

Whether he heard or not, Shishido, eyes half-closed, showed no sign of responding.

The one who flew into a towering rage at this spectacle was Otsu. Her husband—the one man in all the world she relied upon—now knelt groveling with both hands on the floor, and so this trickster raccoon who’d bewitched her man was beyond forgiveness; snatching up the toilet plunger handle, she circled behind the rucksack, leaned against it, and wrapped the plunger’s handle around the drowsily dazed Shishido’s neck—

“You cocky bastard!”
“You dare make my man work for you without even a single greeting?”
“You think you’re so damn great?”
“Great or not, I’ll see what you really are.”
“Well, how’s that?”

With one elbow, she lifted Shishido’s neck and slowly wound the handle around it.
Shishido offered no resistance, letting it all happen.
Of course, who could predict what Otsu would do?
No one besides Otsu could predict what would happen anymore.

“Hiyah!”

When she wound the handle around his neck, Otsu suddenly tightened it with all her strength.

“Gyah!”

Letting out a bizarre shriek, Shishido went completely limp from just a single squeeze.
There was nothing dramatic about it at all.
It was like a frog caught in a trap, stretched out.

The one who was shocked was the Burglar.
All at once, the drunkenness vanished completely,

“Otsu—you killed him, didn’t you?”

“So what if he’s dead? Like I’d give a damn?”

“Wait!”

“What?”
“If he’s dead, just chop him up and dump him.”

“Please. Hey.”

Finally making Otsu release her grip, he removed the handle from Shishido’s neck.
At this moment, even his fingertip magic lost its power, leaving everything in complete disarray.
In a frantic hurry, he brought over a bucket of water and splashed it on him.
Shishido calmly came back to life.

“He’s alive!”
Thank goodness.
“Saved!”

He was overcome with emotion.
The tension that had gripped him so tightly it nearly made his knees give way suddenly eased, and tears of joy streamed down his cheeks.
However, the only one overwhelmed with emotion was the Burglar.
Both the revived Shishido and Otsu, who had failed to kill him, showed not the slightest sign of agitation, as if nothing had happened.
Shishido was merely displaying the same reaction as if he’d been splashed with a ladle of water.

★

The Burglar didn't sleep a wink that night.
He couldn't stop worrying about Shishido's presence in the three-mat room.
He couldn't stop worrying that Shishido, seeking revenge for being strangled by Otsu, might rise in the dead of night and come to kill him.

However, from the three-mat room came the sound of Shishido’s loud snoring.
This snoring’s a trickster.
He might be putting on a show of loud snoring while keeping his eyes open.

However, right next to the Burglar, Otsu was also asleep with loud snores.
This snoring was unmistakably genuine.
At this point, that Otsu wench wouldn’t wake up even if you pinched her or beat her.

Before he could even manage to doze off, worrying that Shishido might come sneaking in through the sliding door while snoring away, the summer night began to dawn.

"Well, managed to cheat death, did you?"

With that, the Burglar quietly slid open the paper door and peered inside, only to find Shishido—far from feigning sleep like a tanuki—slumbering even more deeply than Otsu.

Truly an utterly undignified sleeping posture.
His torso, hands, and legs each contorted into inexplicably bizarre curves, while his nose produced a steady trickle of snot and his mouth spewed drool as copious as Mihara Volcano’s lava.
Such a perfectly undignified sleeping posture was a rare spectacle indeed.

"Umm... Was I so terrified of this undignified man that I couldn't even doze off?"

As he thought this—whether his tension had eased or rather than finding it absurd—he felt a sudden shudder run through him.

What crass nerves both this man and Otsu had.
As if he alone had been left behind, he felt an unbearable loneliness.

"What if... I might lose Otsu to this man."

For some reason, the Burglar suddenly felt this to be true.

Shishido had been half-killed by Otsu—they might seem like sworn enemies—but between Otsu’s utter nonchalance in delivering near-fatal blows and Shishido’s complete indifference to receiving them, wasn’t there truly nothing more alike than these two?
They felt like two sides of the same object—a single entity.

"That's right—today's Sunday.
That girl had definitely said she’d meet me Sunday at ten in front of Mr. Saigo’s statue.
This is it.
This is the only way.
If I don’t secure what’s mine, I’ll lose Otsu to him!"

The Burglar had been waiting impatiently for the two snores to cease, but even as eight o'clock came and nine o'clock arrived, there remained no prospect of the snoring stopping naturally.
Unable to bear it any longer, he woke Otsu and roused Shishido.

“Hey, old man.”
“Get up.”
“Today’s Sunday.”
“You had that appointment to meet that naive girl at ten today, wasn’t it?”

“That was the arrangement, wasn’t it.”

“You can’t just stay calm like this.”
“It’s already half past nine.”
“You gotta hurry or you’ll be late!”

“If I don’t make it in time, I just won’t go.”

“That’s not fair to the girl.”

“She’ll find another man soon enough.”

“You’re oddly calm about this.”
“You’ll never meet a girl that good again.”
“It’s a pity. You should go see her.”

“I think I’ll head over to the factory that’s looking for security guards.”

“You’re hopeless.”
“A person’s gotta have what they need first and foremost.”
“If you won’t go, fine—I’ll dash over there myself, so wait here for me.”
“I sure hope that girl’s waiting...”

It was nearly ten o'clock.
Reaching Ueno would likely take until around eleven o'clock.
That said, he couldn’t very well splurge on a one-yen taxi.
The Burglar rushed out in a great hurry without even eating.