Strange awakening

Suzuki Jiro awakes one morning to discover he is all tied up and lying on the floor of his office. The poor man has no idea what happened or why someone would do this to him. All he can do is try and free himself. Jiro places the knot of the rope around his writs between his teeth and begins to pull. After a moment of struggling and spitting fibres from his mouth, the rope comes undone. Then he becomes aware of footsteps in the other room and a draw slamming shut.

"Where is it?"

The rough, deep voice sounded familia and he waits a moment to see if the man comes to him. The outer door slams and Jiro quickly carries on uniting ropes from around his body and ankles. He sits up to see the desk is a mess and blood lies on the blotting paper. The blood is from the back of his own head, there is a small cut and a lump. The thing is Jiro has no idea what stuck him or what he could have struck his own head on. He quickly gets to his feet and the room begins to spin. Jiro closes his eyes for a moment to study himself and the poor man starts to feel a little sick. It is clear he has a concussion and he needs to get to a hospital.

Jiro takes his time to walk out of the office in to the main room to see that too has been turned over, draws left open and papers scattered across the floor. The young man stumbles over to the door, opens it and it all goes black.

When Jiro comes too he find himself in a warm bed within a small room. He looks around and breathes a sigh of relief. Jiro was in a hospital side room. Then that leaves the question who raised the alarm and how did he get here?

The door opens and young lady with all of her hair in a bun, enters dressed in a lap coat. She goes on to check his vitals and shines a light in his eyes.

"You are lucky," she tells him, "you have stuffed quite a nasty blow to the back of the head. You have a concussion, along with three cracked ribs and an alcohol level of zero point four. Are you able to tell me your name?"

"Suzuki Jiro… How did I get here?"

"Easy. I am Doctor Yamamoto and it was your secretary who found you and raised the alarm. Ropes were found inside your office. When you are ready the police would like to talk to you."

Jiro shakes his head. "The thing is I have no idea what happened. I awoke in my office all tided up with that lovely egg on the back of my head," he explains all confused.

The doctor places her hand upon the man's shoulder. "Calm yourself. You are safe here and I am going to leave you to rest. All right?"

The young man nods and closes his eyes.

In his dreams Jiro starts to see the man he loves, Takahashi Akira. He liked the way his long fringe would frame his serious, thin, always pale face. They have been dating for nearly a month in secret as the last thing wanted was for people in the office to know they were lovers. Akira also feared it could cost them their jobs if the boss was not too happy about two work collages being together. That is why they would always keep it under wraps whilst they were at work. However, the moment they left it was a whole different story. But they never kissed or cuddled in public only when they were back home. Jiro would close the blinds and they would strip and spend the evening naked. They had only had sex a few times and they were still working out what position they enjoyed the most.

The dream begins to grow dark and Akira suddenly had Jiro pinned against the wall of his office and he searching him for something. Then the blow to his stomach awakens him with a cry.

This brings a man in to the room. "Easy, deep breaths. I am nurse Saito. You have been through quite an ordeal. Would you like some pain relief?"

Jiro sighs and shakes his head. "No, I am not in pain. I just had a bad dream."

"All right. Is there anyone you would me to contact?"

The young man is about to ask for his love, then he changes his mind as he now knows it was him in the office. Just what was Akira looking for?

Jiro looks to the chair to see his folded clothes have been placed there. "My mobile?"

"I am afraid we did not find one. Even the receptionist has not been able to find it."

"In that case never mind," says Jiro as he falls back to sleep.

When he awakens night has fallen and smell of food is drifting in to the room. Jiro could just go for some rice or noodles.

The door opens and Doctor Yamamoto enters the room. "Would you like to try and eat some rice?"

The young man nods and the doctor adjusts the bed.

"Take your time and I will be back later to see how you are doing."

Doctor Yamamoto pours him a glass of water before she walks out of the room.

Jiro picks up the bowl and places the rim to his lips so she can use the chopsticks to shovel the rice in to his mouth. The problem is it does not taste that good on it own without some garlic or curry source. It does not matter as he is too hungry to think about it. Jiro manages to eat nearly all of it and sits back to look out of the window. All he can see is the evening sky and a plane is passing over.

A soft knock comes at the door before it opens and a man's face peers through the gap. He is young with a thin moustache and styled short hair.

"Might I have a word, Mr Suzuki? I am Detective Watanabe."

"Of course Detective. But I am afraid I have no idea what happened… my mind is a complete blank."

Detective Watanabe steps inside the room closing the door behind him. "I understand. I am just wondering if you have any idea who might wanted to hurt you?"

Jiro shakes his head. "No, as I had no enemies at work. I got along with everyone fine. Even I cannot think of anyone who would attack me."

The Detective can tell the man is keeping something back, but he knows there is no use in pressuring him as that could make things worse.

The young man sighs and his eyes begin to close. Detective Watanabe goes to place the covers over the man's naked chest when he notices the bruising around both of his arms and upon his abdomen. It is clear Mr Suzuki has been in a fight and someone pinned him down. All he can do is hope he begins to remember and tells him what he is hiding.

The door opens and Doctor Yamamoto snaps in a harsh whisper, "What are you doing? I told you he is no fit state to be questioned."

"I'm sorry doctor I was just leaving," he replies perfuming a quick bow and walks out of the room.

Doctor Yamamoto shakes her head. She goes on to make sure Mr Suzuki is all right before she leaves.

Overnight the swelling in Jiro's brain gets worse and he is placed in to an induced coma. Meanwhile back at the office the police have found the weapon that was used to knock Mr Suzuki out under the desk. A marble statue of Ryūjin. Blood along with a few strands of black hair are found on the dragon's head. When it is dusted for prints it has clearly been held by the base and they soon have a suspect a Takahashi Akira who is already in the system for drunk driving and assault of a young lady. There was not enough evidence to charge him and the case was closed. Detective Watanabe does some further digging and uncovers the man is also in his youth been caught for shoplifting and driving without a licence. Parents were killed in a car accident which Akira was the soul survivor. He was raised by his uncle Benjiro who turns out to be manager of respect rice company based in Kyoto. The Detective thought the surname sounded familiar. Before they can arrest Akira they needed more evidence he was at the office. Later that night fingerprints recovered from opens draws and papers prove he was there and the man is quickly arrested.