In Cold Blood [Ash Lynx] - Banana Fish

Twenty-Nine - Happy Judgement Day

Snipping the end of the thread, Max tucks away the surgical needle back into the first aid kit, zipping the bag closed.

"There, all done. She won't be able to walk on it for a few days and she shouldn't try to anyway."

"Thank you, Max. I appreciate it."

Max chuckles, turning on his chair next to the bed to look at him. "You don't sound like you're joking for once."

Ash shakes his head. "I'm not joking, I really am grateful. Thank you."

Waving off his comment, Max collects his things up, pulling his bag on his shoulder. "It's no trouble. I guess I'll be off then."

"Wait a sec," Ash stands up from the sofa. "There's something I want you to help me with."

As Ash releases his closed fist, Max stares at the silver necklace hanging from his grip. "What is it?"

"Tora's necklace, shaped like a bullet." Ash raises his brow. "Remind you of something?"

Max clicks his fingers. "It's like the one you found from the man in the alleyway, the same one who told you Dawson's address."

"Do you remember what that had inside?" Ash asks and Max nods.

"A sample of Banana Fish."

Twisting the top of the bullet cap off, Ash holds a tiny SD card between his fingers. "Not quite a sample of Banana Fish, but certainly something of interest."

Placing his bag down, Max points to Ash's laptop. "Have you looked at what it contains?"

Ash shakes his head, motioning to the adapter attached to his USB port. "I wanted to wait for you."

Max takes a seat on the arm of the sofa and Ash sits back down on the couch cushion. Taking in a deep breath, Ash inserts the micro SD card into the adapter, minimising the other tabs on his laptop screen and watching as a file appears on his home screen. The file reads 'Daikoku-Kai'.

The two share a look and Ash hesitantly clicks on the file to open it up. Inside the folder itself are various subcategories, including one that reads 'Seikatsu'.

"What does that mean?" Max asks.

Ash types away on his phone using Google Translate, eyes widening as he flashes his screen at Max. "It means 'life'. Is this it? This looks like the formula for a compound drug. Is this the counter drug?"

Max scratches his head. "It looks like it. There's also a file named 'Koji' here. Who do we think that is?"

"No idea, but this could all take hours to sift through," Ash tells him. "Can I get you to look into this, Max?"

Sending him a swift nod, Max turns back to Tora in bed, stirring in her sleep. "She was really shaken up last night, wasn't she?"

"She was in a state when I found her." Ash sips his coffee. "She'll probably wake up soon."

"If she's had all the information in an SD card this whole time, why not tell us?" Max wonders.

Ash shakes his head. "She hasn't told us because she doesn't know it's been with her. Let's keep it that way for now."

Max raises his eyebrows. "Why keep it from her? Shouldn't she know?"

"If she knows she's got it then she could be in danger. Once you've read through everything, let me know and we can tell her of its existence."