“Bokuchu” Us vs the Police: 700-Day War

<Warning>
All right. Although “Bokuchu” has been totally goofing off until now, because this story is a half-documentary, there were some serious things that happened, and this incident was a major event that even developed to the point of being in the newspaper. Because of it, this will be the first serious story since we started. There’s absolutely nowhere to laugh. I’m sorry.

Volume 5 “Fireworks Thieves” Chapter 11: Night of the Summer Festival 3

By her tired expression, we could tell that Yuko-chan must have been looking for us for a while.

“Umm. My brother suddenly said that he would go to Hime-pond and if he didn’t return in a hour, to contact everyone, and handed me this.”

On the paper was written, “I’m going to Hime-pond. If I don’t come back contact them,” and about eight of our members phone numbers were scribbled under it.

“He said if they didn’t pick up the phone, they should be at the festival. So I snuck out of the house…”
Yuko-chan was already half crying. It was already a big deal for her to have snuck out of the house and come to the festival.

We panicked.

“So basically Inoue went to Hime-pond, right?”

We had a basic understanding of the situation from just the note. Hime-pond became a meeting place for delinquents on the weekends. Tonight especially, with the night festival. There is no telling who would show up. Inoue-kun, worried for Minako-san’s safety, probably headed for Hime-pond. It was approximately 20 minutes from Inoue-kun’s house to Hime-pond. If he wanted to bring her back, one hour would have been more than enough. If he didn’t come back in an hour…

I stopped thinking further than that.

“I called… but no one was there…”
Yuko-chan said, half crying.
That’s right. Most of the members whose number were listed were here. (Just to be certain, I remind you that this was a time far from cell phones.)

“What about Takaaki?”
“Takaaki-san wasn’t there, either… I left a message with his older sister.”

“Eh? What? W-with that sister, … y-you talked with her, Yuko-chan…?”
Yuko-chan nodded.
“Y-you’re brave, Yuko-chan…”
Saijoh-kun was impressed.
That’s right. Takaaki’s sister was the leopard print sister from volume 4 that everyone feared. Saijoh-kun especially dreaded her.

“Just leave the rest to us. Murayama, you take Yuko-chan back to her house.”
“Got it.”
“And you Jaime, go look for Chuzai-san and confirm with him that Minako-san went to Hime-pond, right away. If she did go… Tell him to head over to Hime-pond ASAP.”
“Affirmative! Senpai.”
“The members who came here by motorcycle head over to Hime-pond now. Don’t wait for the slow ones. Start looking for Inoue as soon as you get there.”

I hadn’t mentioned it before other than Saijoh-kun, but all of our members except Inoue-kun and Jaime had motorcycles. But the engine sizes had a large range, from 50cc’s to 400cc’s depending on the financial situation and strictness of the family. I had a Yamaha Mate 50cc, and my girl bike.

“Chiba, you go and get as many of the other members as possible. We’ll meet at Hime-pond!”
“OK!”

We’ll meet at Hime-pond.

Although the points may have a sounded good, we, excluding Saijoh-kun and Takaaki-kun, were definitely not used to these situations. To tell you the truth, my heart was beating heavily as I rode my motorcycle.

I prayed that at least Takaaki-kun would arrive there first. He would be able to deal with two or three hoodlums.

We headed towards Hime-pond at full speed (that being said, we were only going about 60 km/h (40mph)). After a while, next to us appeared a woman riding a 650cc Yamaha. It was a bike we didn’t recognize. Rather than that, it was rare for a woman to be riding a bike this big, so Saijoh-kun and I were surprised.
The woman, opening the visor on her full face helmet, said

“Guys!”

W-what? Minako-san? … No…
Ma’am??

“Whaaaa!?”

The wife yelled with the bike’s sound in the background.

“Surprised? I used to ride.”

Of course we were surprised.
“It’s Secret Weapon Motorcycle Number 1!”
Motorcycle Number 1… Both husband and wife used just a description…

“I’m worried about my little sister, so I’m going ahead!”

The wife spurred her 650 with amazing acceleration. So cool… Saijoh-kun with his Dax and me with my Yamaha Mate, saw her off, stunned.

“The rumor that she was a former ladies… was true…”
“Yeah… what a surprise…”
(from “Main Characters Featured up to v3“)

When we finally reached Hime-pond, Inoue-kun was nowhere to be seen.

“Crap!”

The people that arrived earlier (with faster motorcycles) came to report.

“Inoue’s bicycle’s over here!”

Following that, the wife came over.
“Minako’s telescope was over there… on the ground…”

No way…

“I’m going to look over there.”
The wife left on her motorcycle.

“It means that they were taken somewhere?”
“Deeper. Let’s look deeper.”
“How do you know?”
“When doing something bad, most people want to go deeper, right?”
“I see.”

“The people that came with trail motorcycles (off road motorcycles) use them to look around. Either way, look for a place big enough to park a vehicle. The rest of you search while running.”

“Inoue——————–e”
“Inoue——————–e”
“Inoue——————–e”
“Minako-san——————n”

We screamed as loud as we could.

I hadn’t even walked a hundred meters.

“Inoue——————–e”

“Ah! Over there! Look over there!”

There was something shining a couple hundred meters ahead.

It’s fire from a fountain……

“Everyone! Over there! Head over there!”

Why was there a fountain shining? Why did I think Inoue-kun would be there? I can’t explain. But, without question, I was confident that they were there.

We discovered one motorcycle a little ahead of where we were heading.

“Hey. This is Takaaki’s CB!”
“I see. Takaaki got here before us!”
We calmed down a little bit. At least, things were a lot better than the gentleman Inoue-kun by himself.

“Inoue——e! Where aaarrre yooooou!?”
“Takaaki———!”

While we were screaming, about 6 motorcycles roared past us.

“Those guys…!”

“Hm? That’s…”
It seemed like Saijoh-kun had a clue about the guys that just ran away.

“Saijoh, you know them?”
“Yeah. Probably. I know most of the delinquents in the area.”

That was in a thicket a little ways from the road.
What we feared had become reality.

“Inoue…”
“Minako-san…”

There in the darkness was Inoue-kun lying face-down.
Next to him, as if to protect him, was Minako-san who had broken down crying.
And leaning against a tree while sitting was Takaaki-kun, still wearing his helmet.

Takaaki-kun said while taking off his helmet.
“Saijoh… You’re late. Idiot…”

“Sorry…”

<- Review?