Freesia 69

Freesia, Volume 11, Chapter 69 (pp. 55~80)


<55>
Chapter 69: Personal Inquiry


<56>
=Hey!
=What are you doing!?

=Stop it!
=Look, I told you we're playing the monarch game!

=Just tits, okay? Just tits...
=S-Someone...!

=Hey, don't go too far, Tomita-kun.
=No raping or anything, alright...


<57>
=Don't worry, Tanaka-kun! She's not resisting that much!
=...What the fuck are you talking about.

=Hey Shunpei, you come over and help out!
=Huh?

=Hey, just cut it out!//Tomita, Kitaguchi!
GRACK

=Wh-What's up!? Stop bothering us, Tanaka-kun!
=Look, just let her go already!

=I'm saying,
=The police are gonna come for us!


<59>
=Oh.


<60>
WHAP
=Steeerike yeeer out!

=Gaaa—me set!
=Wha, wait a sec!
=No waiting, fool.

=What the hell you doing, Shunpei—You sucker—!
=We're gonna fucking kill you!

=S-Sorry bro.

=That was our big chance for a comeback—//Looks like your team's gonna end up in the gutter again.//Shut up—!//Yo, let's hit the bar.//You won't beat us in a drinking game, heh-heh-heh.

=Shunpei, you stay behind and clean up for everyone as a penalty.//I'm in charge of the party, so I gotta head off—


<61>
=Yeah, alright.

=I'm too tired anyways.
=I'm just gonna head on ho—me.

=Baseball... Looked like you were having fun out there—Mr. Shupei Okada.

=Who are you people.
=We're from the Katsumi Agency. The ones who called yesterday.


<62>
=You can't head on ho—me.
=Until you promise to provide us with testimony on Keita Tanaka's evil doings.

=I told you yesterday.
=I'm not gonna testify.

=But why, sir? Why? Why do you hide the truth? You're abandoning your moral obligations.

=Easy for you to say. You guys make a living off your moral cause...
=But I work at a liquor store. I can't make a living unless I make deliveries and stock rice.

=Toshi-cha—n!


<63>
=Huh—? Where's everyone else?
=Why are you the only one left?

=Is this another penalty 'cause you screwed up again?
=You never learn, do you—

=Look, you're about to have your baby, Michiko. You shouldn't be here.//What're you gonna do if you have a miscarriage!?

=Actually I was making deliveries while you guys were off playing baseball.
=Came close so I thought I'd stop by.


<64>
=By the way, who are these people? Haven't seen them around.
=Oh... They're, uhh—Insurance people.

STARE—
SMILE

=Ohh—
=They work Sundays too, huh—

=Oh well. Where's Taka-kun? Did he go drinking?
=Bro's in charge, so he's gonna be late... I'll head home as soon as I finish cleaning up.

=Really? Niii—ce//We haven't eaten together in a pretty long time—
[bubble]GRIN

=Alright, I'll go home and make you something—!
=I'm gonna fucking kill you unless you come straight home! For real!
=Right.


<65>
=Wow—What a lovely lady—
=Absolutely—And she seems like a nice person, too.//Talk about pearls before swine—

=Huh?//What're you guys talking about?
=And get your hands off the equipment.

=I think I underestimated you—//How in the world did you find someone like that?

=How...?

=Michiko is... A childhood friend of mine.
=She's been hanging around with me and my brother ever since when we were little.


<66>
=Out here in the countryside, the kids in the neighborhood stick together.
=I grew up with all the guys on the baseball team.//I've known their wives since they were little, too.

=So it was only natural,//For Mr. Okada to fall in love with Ms. Michiko and marry her. That's so romantic.

=Well...
=That's about it...

=Get married, have kids,//Raise them,
=Then shrivel up and die here.

=That's how it's gonna go on forever unless this place burns up into ash.
=That's life... And everything you need to know about us.

=...So?


<67>
=Look... You can't live in these parts if you cross the Tanaka Family.
=It's the equivalent to destroying your own identity.

=So I don't give a damn about the truth.//And I don't want moral obligations or anything like that.
=I just want my life to go on like this forever.

=That's all it is.
=You got that?

[bubble]TAP


<68>
=What.
=Don't look at me like that.

=Really?
=Is that what you really believe?

=Ah?

=Oh—we—ll.
[x3]ZUP
=Hey, where you guys going?

=To see the other potential witnesses.//Tomita, and... Kitaguchi, was it?

=We'll ask them to testify.
=Wha...

=Hey, wait!
=You don't wanna mess with those guys...!//And gimme back the helmet and the bat, dammit!


<69>
=Oh?//And why shouldn't we?

=Those guys are crooks... I've cut ties with them, too.//Word is, they got all kinds of stuff from the Tanaka Family afterwards. Who knows what they'll do to you two.

=Oh, so you are going to testify for us?
=Huh...!?
=Oh... That's...
=Can't.

=Then why don't you just sit back and watch, okay—?

=H-Hey...
=It's gonna be dangerous with just girls...//And gimme back the helmet and the bat...
=One!
=Two!
=One!
=Two!

=I'm not taking responsibility for this...


<70>
[song lyrics: probably best to leave in Japanese]A Northeast~Solo~Voyage~


<71>
=You don't let up, do you...
=I already told you I'm not gonna testify.

=Please don't say that.
=We need your testimony in order to invoke the Proxy Act on Keita Tanaka.

=GLUB

=Look, I don't remember too much about that night, alright missy?
=It went down just like I said in the trial—

=Right, Kitaguchi?
=I was asleep during that whole thing, so...

=I didn't see anything.


<72>
=There you go.
=Why don't you just give up and go home.

=...Very well then.

=I suppose we'll be relying on Shunpei Okada after all.
=Sorry for bothering you.

=Did you say Shunpei?
=You went and talked to the younger brother from the liquor store?

=That's right.

=We met this morning.
=He told us he would consider it in a positive light.


<73>
=He said, in order to uncover the truth and pursue his moral obligation,
=He would give us his full cooperation. Even if it meant sacrificing everything in his daily life.

=Wh-
=What did you say...!?

=Let's go, little elf.
=Little...!?

=Hey, what're we gonna do, Tomita-kun.

=Fucking bastard...


<74>
GRICK


<75>
BLIP

[x3]=Bitch!
GRICK
[x2]GRACK


<76>
=Bitch!
[x2]WHACK
=Bitch! Bitch!

=Bitch!

=Hey, cut it out, Tanaka-kun!
=What the heck is wrong with you...!?
=Bitch!

=Bitch! Bitch!
=Get her outta here, Shunpei!
=R-Right.


<77>
=H-Hey, are you okay?
=Are you hurt...?


<78>
=Shit...
=That woman made me have a bad dream.

=Wonder if they really went over to see Tomita...
=Hope they aren't getting harassed or anything.


<79>
[bubble]SS—T

=Michiko...

WHOO—SH

=I think we should keep pressing Tomita.//What do you say we narrow our search down to Tomita and Kitaguchi?


<80>
=All sorts of things should pop up if we pressure those two,
=And if we extort them with that, we might be able to get a testimony.

=Okada just got married, and he's about to have a child.
=I'm sure he doesn't want any trouble...

=Don't you feel like we should just leave those two alone?
=Are you listening, Ms. Higuchi?

WHOOOSH