Killer of Killers by Mark DeRobertis

Author:Mark DeRobertis
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: murder, japan, drugs, martial arts, immortality
Publisher: Melange Books, LLC

Chapter Eleven

Wipe Out

Standing in the doorframe of Shoji Wada’s tea room inside the Tokyo Dojo, Trent was younger and clean-shaven, but he was also distraught. “They deserve to be wiped out!” The words were Japanese, and he spoke them in anger. It wasn’t typical. Trent had been a fixture of twenty plus years at the academy, and never before had he lost his cool.

Shoji was kneeling on the tea room’s mat, and his wrinkled face remained calm. “Please, come in,” he said.

Trent entered and knelt opposite him. A low wooden table separated them as distant repetitions echoed through the paper-thin walls of the dojo. Teen girls in kimonos served tea and then scuttled away.

Shoji spoke again. “Please, share with me this burden you bear.”

Trent, hands on knees, resolved himself to reveal his double life. “Master Wada,” he began, “I know you will not be pleased to hear what I am about to say, but it is better you hear it from me. You have never approved of using our skill in a ring of sport. I have learned that what we do here is for the betterment of our physical and mental existence. But ever since Jiro left...”

Shoji nodded. “We each follow our own path, my son.”

“And if that path is not one to which you would agree?”

Shoji smiled. “I would never presume to dictate another’s road to self-fulfillment. I merely avail to each the paper on which a destiny may be drawn. You are your own artist, and you will sketch your own future.”

Trent eyed the table between them. He searched for the right words. “Then you would not deny me the right to express myself in the circuits of Japan?”

“Certainly not. You will choose your own path, just as Jiro has. We never begrudged him. Nor shall anyone begrudge you.”

Trent lifted his head. “But that’s just it. People do begrudge me. Not for who I am, but for where I’m from. The news from America has tainted me. I have become a walking time bomb. The gaijin who cannot be trusted.”

Shoji’s eyes closed and then reopened. “Do not think you can manage the thoughts of others or the actions of others. Be true to yourself, and no one here will question the steps you take.”

“The steps I take will be steps that make a difference. I must do the honorable thing by you, by Jiro, and by the land of my birth.”

“I am troubled by your choice of words, Tora. Let me remind you of the Mon we share. Translate into English, please, and tell me what you see.”

Trent looked to the wall-mounted coat-of-arms and answered, “I see Ryu, which means school. Ko, which means old. And Sho, which means pine tree.”

“Yes,” Shoji said. “And this was a very special pine tree. It was old, but it was also strong and majestic, cherished above all other trees that grew in the forest behind our school. It symbolized great strength and well-being. With a fit body and a strong soul, a man can be of prodigious service to God, Buddha, and the community in which he lives.

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