umonji was in heaven. Standing next to him was a beautiful girl in the uniform of a well-known high school. Her dyed-brown hair hung loose across the smooth white skin of her cheeks, and her pink lips were slightly parted. The arch of her narrow eyebrows set off her lovely eyes, and her miniskirt barely overlapped a pair of long, slender legs. She was so good-looking she might easily have been a model - and here she was, talking to him. It was all he could do to stay cool.

'What do you want to do?' he said, his voice low and urgent. 'I don't care,' she whispered, sweet and raspy. 'Whatever you want to.' Her whole body seemed to exude a perfume he couldn't quite place. Her accessories were all by the top designers. She was, in a word, perfect. But where could this miracle have come from? The high-school girls he was used to seemed to be a whole different species, girls who spent their time in dingy fast-food places, their hair reeking of cheap conditioner. But thanks to the money he'd realised on his little scheme, he could afford to take a girl like this to a real hotel, without so much as blinking at the ¥100,000 she wanted up front.

'What would you say to getting a room somewhere?' he said.

'That sounds fine,' she said.

'It does? You mean you'll …?' The girl nodded shyly, and he began racking his brain for the name of a hotel they could reach before she changed her mind. But just then, the cell phone in his hip pocket began to ring. 'Excuse me a second,' he said. He had left everything at Million Consumers to a female assistant so he could relax and enjoy himself. She'd been with him forever, so she ought to have been able to handle whatever it was - and she ought to have known better than to call him at a time like this.

'Yes. Jumonji,' he said, barely disguising his irritation.

'Akira? Where are you?' said a toneless but unmistakable voice.

'Soga-san? It's good to hear from you, and I want to thank you again for your help the other day.' The girl watched him grovel into the phone for a moment, then turned her back, pissed at the sudden change in his manner. Noticing her begin to slip away, Jumonji grabbed her elbow.

'Don' t mention it,' Soga said. 'Are you in Shibuya or something?' he asked, puzzled by the background noise. Jumonji wanted to howl at the bad timing.

'Something like that,' he said.

'Shibuya? Really? You're amazing. I bet you're all dolled up like a teenager.' Jumonji scratched his head. He still had the girl by the elbow, but she was looking around for a way to escape. There were any number of men like Jumonji waiting here on Shibuya's main drag, hoping to meet a girl like her. In fact, a ring of them was beginning to tighten around her now. Seeing their hungry eyes, Jumonji began to panic. 'You still got the fuzzy dice on the rearview mirror?' Soga went on, obviously enjoying the chance to tease him.

'Was there something you needed?' Jumonji said.

'You're with a girl, aren't you? Robbing the cradle again, you dope?'

'Guilty as charged,' Jumonji said. 'But I wonder if we could talk about this later?'

'Sorry, no can do.' Soga's voice was serious now. 'We've got ourselves a job.'

'What?' said Jumonji, releasing the girl's arm.

'Bye,' she said, wandering off with several Jumonji look-alikes in tow. Shit! He watched longingly as she disappeared into the crowd, saying a reluctant farewell to the short skirt, the cute little ass it covered... But business was business, and he could afford ten girls like her with the money from another job. Pulling himself together, he apologised to Soga.

'Sorry, I was a bit distracted.'

'She get away from you? Well, you need to have a clear head for this anyway. You screw up and we're all dead!' Jumonji began to concentrate, imagining the look in Soga's eyes as he said this.

'I know,' he told him.

'Anyway, it seems that word got out that your first job was a success....' The phone connection began to break up, so Jumonji moved under an awning, away from the crowd. 'Just make sure you do the same thing this time. They'll have it for you by tonight.'

'Tonight?' Jumonji repeated, wondering whether he'd be able to get in touch with Masako at such short notice. Glancing at his watch, he saw that it was barely 8.00. He should still be able to catch her at home.

'It's fresh, apparently, so we have to act fast.'

'Understood,' said Jumonji.

'It'll be at the rear entrance to Koganei Park, at 4.00 a.m.'

'I'll be there,' Jumonji said.

'So will I,' said Soga, his voice more subdued than usual. 'This one turned up by a slightly different route, and I just want to make sure everything goes as planned.'

'Different how?' Jumonji asked. The people pushing past him on the street eyed him curiously, apparently unused to seeing someone talking seriously on a cell phone.

'I have a supplier I'm sure I can trust - the old guy the other day came from him. But this one just showed up, you might say.'

'Showed up? Not from somebody in the business?'

'That's what I don't know,' Soga said. 'The guy just said he'd heard about the service and wanted us to do it. He wouldn't take "no" for an answer. Even when I told him it'd cost ten million, he didn't bat an eye.' Jumonji's heart leapt at the news.

'That means an extra million for you,' he said.

'And an extra million for you,' said Soga, enjoying the role of generous patron. By now Jumonji had forgotten all about the girl. If he kept this windfall a secret from Masako, he would clear three million this time.

'Soga-san, you're a prince.'

'Yeah, yeah. But I think we have to watch it with this one. I'll be bringing some muscle with me, and you might think about fishing your bulletproof underwear out of the closet.'

Jumonji laughed, then closed the cell phone. It occurred to him that perhaps Soga wasn't joking, but he was too excited by the prospect of the money to care. And he needed to get in touch with Masako right away. He began looking for her number in his book; if he couldn't catch her now, he would have to drive around all day with another of those spooky things in his trunk. Masako answered almost immediately. From the sound of her voice, she had a cold.

'We've got another job,' he told her. 'Can you manage it?'

'It's awfully soon,' Masako said, her voice louder than usual.

'Word gets around when you're good,' he said. Masako was silent, ignoring his enthusiasm. He could sense her uneasiness, but he had to get her to agree. 'Can I count on you?' he said.

'Why don't we pass on this one?'

'Why?'

'I just don't feel right about it.'

'Our second job, and you don't feel right? I'm not sure I follow you.' He was pressing now. 'I'll have egg on my face if we turn this down.'

'Better that than something worse,' she said enigmatically. 'What do you mean by that?'

'I don't know, I just don't feel good about this.'

'You've got a cold; you don't feel good. But that's got nothing to do with the job.' He was getting desperate. 'I have to go all the way to Kyushu to dump it. You're not the only one taking a risk here, you know that.'

'I know,' she murmured. Jumonji was upset now.

'If you pull out, I'll get the Skipper to do it, or Kuniko. That cow would do anything if the price was right.'

'You can't do that,' Masako said. 'If she messes up, she'll put us all in danger.'

'Of course she will!' he moaned. 'So you've got to do it. Just this once.'

'All right,' she said, giving in. 'Can you get some goggles?' As soon as she'd made up her mind, she was all business. Jumonji breathed a sigh of relief.

'I'll bring the ones I wear on my bike. They should be okay.'

'Then call me if anything changes.'

Satisfied that the negotiation had gone so well, Jumonji snapped the phone shut again and glanced at his watch. There was plenty of time before he had to be at Koganei Park - time enough to find another girl like the one who got away. With all that money coming in, he could pay whatever she asked. He looked out across the crowded street, resuming the hunt. He didn't have time now to wonder why Masako had seemed so hesitant.

***

Four a.m. As arranged, Jumonji parked his car at the back entrance to Koganei Park. A dense wall of vegetation loomed over the guard rail that lined one side of the street. On the other side, a row of houses lay sleeping behind tightly closed shutters. There were no streetlights in the area, and the neighbourhood was dark and lifeless. Jumonji turned his back to the line of black trees in the park, trying to ignore the eerie rustling of the wind in the branches. He suddenly remembered that Kuniko had left her share of a dead body somewhere near here, and he found the coincidence slightly unnerving.

It was cold. Sniffling a bit, he moved his hands toward the buttons of his coat only to discover they'd all been torn off. For that he could thank the girl he'd been with just a while ago, whom he'd taken for a teenager until he found out she was actually twenty-one. He had caught her searching his coat when he came out of the bath, and the buttons had come off when he'd grabbed it from her. Crummy luck - the words popped into his head - but he was quick to drive them out again. What was crummy about an unexpected bonus of three million? But just as he'd managed to steer his thoughts in this direction, he heard a car coming from the right, and a pair of headlights lit up the area.

Soga stepped out of the black sedan and raised his hand in greeting. Despite the time of night, he was wearing a camel-coloured cashmere coat over a black suit. The kid with the dyed blond hair was driving, and another fellow had climbed out of the car behind his boss. Soga nodded to Jumonji with a sleepy look.

'Sorry to get you out so early,'Jumonji said.

'I wanted to see this character for myself,' Soga said, turning up his collar and shoving his hands in his pockets.

'And his little problem,' Jumonji added.

'If he's willing to pay ten million to get it fixed, it might not be so little.'

'You may be right.'

'You going to cart it away in that?' Soga said, pointing at Jumonji's car.

'What else?'

Soga pulled a face. For the first job, the driver and the other guy had brought the body and the cash to Jumonji; Soga had merely arranged things by phone. Jumonji had felt a bit resentful that he was making two million for a few calls.

'All part of the job,' he added.

'Well, you're a better man than I am,' Soga said, patting him on the shoulder sympathetically. At that moment, a van appeared from the opposite end of the street and rolled toward them with its high beams blazing, like the eyes of a wild animal.

'It's him,' Soga said. He ground out his cigarette on the guard rail and handed the butt to his deputy.

'What do I do with this?' the man asked, holding it in his outstretched palm.

'We can't leave any evidence in the area, asshole,' Soga said. 'Eat it.'

'Eat it? Really?'

'No, you idiot. Just take care of it.' The guy quickly shoved the butt in his pocket. Jumonji swallowed. He no longer felt cold. The van stopped in front of them, but the lights were still on high, obscuring their view of it. The door on the driver's side opened and a man stepped out. He was tall and solidly built, dressed unobtrusively in a jacket and work pants. His cap partially hid his face, but the sight of him made Jumonji shiver, though he wasn't sure why.

'Soga, from the Toyosumi organisation,' Soga said.

'Bit of a crowd, isn't it?' the man murmured.

'Sorry. It's just that we haven't dealt with you before. I wanted to ask how you heard about our service.'

'Does it matter?'

'I'm afraid it does.'

'Nosy, aren't you?' the man said, taking a paper bag from his pocket and tossing it toward them. Soga caught it and checked the contents. Peering over his shoulder, Jumonji could see bundles of ¥10,000 bills. Satisfied, Soga nodded toward the van.

'Okay,' he said. 'Let's get it.' The man pulled open the door. Inside, they could see a human form wrapped in blankets. It was short and thick - a woman, Jumonji thought, frozen to the spot. It had never occurred to him they might be getting a woman's body.

'What's the matter?' the man sneered at him. 'This scare you?' He reached in and dragged the body out of the van. Soga's men came running over to help, but before they could get there, the man had dropped the body on the asphalt and slammed the door. Without another word, he got behind the wheel and backed down the road the way he'd come. The high whine of the engine in reverse filled the silence for a bit and then died away in the darkness. The whole transaction was over in a moment.

'That's one scary guy,' Jumonji said.

'What do you expect from a killer?' Soga laughed. Had he really killed her, Jumonji wondered, staring at the squat figure wrapped from head to toe in blankets and bound tight with rope.

'Why did he back away?'

'To keep us from seeing the licence plate and to make sure we didn't follow him,' Soga said. Jumonji began to tremble, finally realising that he might be in over his head. He should have known from the way he felt when he first saw the van.

Opening the paper bag, Soga extracted three of the bundles and shoved the rest at Jumonji.

'It's all yours,' he said, nodding toward the blond and the bodyguard who were struggling to fit the awkward bundle in Jumonji's trunk. Soga watched them at it for a moment, his face twisted in distaste.

'It looks like a woman,' Jumonji said.

'I was just thinking the same thing,' Soga said, turning to look at him. 'A high-school girl, maybe.' He wasn't smiling.

'Don't say that,' Jumonji murmured, feeling a chill come over him that was only partly due to the dawn air. The trunk closed with a bang, and the two men backed away, rubbing their hands and sniffing at them, as if what they'd just touched was unclean.

'We're off, then,' Soga said, patting Jumonji again on the shoulder. 'Good luck.'

Jumonji glanced at him with a panicked look. Soga's tongue flicked nervously over his lips.

'You're not chickening out, are you?' he said.

'No...,'Jumonj i whispered.

'Listen, Akira,' he said. 'This is serious business. Don't blow it.' The bodyguard had opened the door and was standing waiting. Soga signalled to him, and a few seconds later their car was speeding away, as if fleeing the scene of a crime. Jumonji was left alone in the dark. Resisting the urge to simply turn and run, he climbed into his own car and switched on the engine. As he crept down the street, he realised almost immediately that he'd never been quite so frightened in his life, but it took him several minutes more to understand that it wasn't the body in the trunk that scared him so much as the man who had left it.