Kodou (Throbbing) by Takakura Row
(Spoilers)
"Oneshot about two former friends, one a policeman and one a bomber."
A bomb in his chest marks the passage of love.
The manga starts with the statement "This is about wanting to escape from reality." Cop is frustrated with the "noisy" society and hectic life. Someone regularly plants bomb in police station mail box and emails them about it. Seems like bomber delights in watching people's reaction as low-ranking officers, like Mitani Yakumo, dismantle the bomb. Despite its intricate design bomb never detonates.
Third time, Mitani notices his friend Kushinada Takeshi in the crowd. Mitani and (frighteningly pretty) Kushinada were bestfriends during high school. Kushinada came onto Mitani who was frightened by his forcefulness and fled the scene. Not long after, Kushinada changed schools and Mitani, who couldn't face him, felt relieved.
Mitani decides to visit Kushinada, whom police haven't exactly placed on suspect list but are suspicious of. Kushinada welcomes Mitani into his home with a "You solved it right away." While peeking into a cupboard, Mitani discovers evidence that Kushinada is the bomber.
Mitani asks Kushinada about his motive. To get to see Mitani is Kushinada's answer. Kushinada is out of beers and plans to go out to get some but Mitani handcuffs him to himself.
"I ran away from him that time. But now there is a small iron cuff that binds us both together. He hasn't forgiven me for running away."
Mitani ate the key and Kushinada's gonna get it by stimulating his rear, fingers and showerhead. Mitani notices the scar on Kushinada's chest - pacemaker for his Adams-Strokes Syndrome.
Stokes-Adams syndrome (also called Adams-Stokes syndrome or cardiac syncope) is a sudden, brief loss of consciousness from a large drop in cardiac output. This happens because of an abnormal heart rhythm and a change in heart rate. You faint because your brain's not getting enough oxygen-carrying blood.
Pacemaker helps him maintain heart-rate but prevents him from getting excited. "But if it's you, I just might."
Mitani notices that even though he climaxed often, Kushinada's heartrate didn't change, remained contant. Kushinada gets Mitani on a catheter since he want to keep watching TV. About making him drink urine he says "This might be cleaner than Tokyo's water supply." Mitani refuses to do it and Kushinada asks him to go out with me. Mitani notices that during the days of his confinement, Kushinada's tone doesn't change, which he finds comforting.
As they keeping doing the deed (cruel stimulation), Kushinada comments that it's becoming a habit. Kushinada notices Mitani's quickened pulse rate. Mitani's feels like his body is throbbing like his heart. Kushinada tells Mitani, "When you pushed me down the excitement accumulated in my body, ran through my blood. As that excitement went up and down, I could feel the sensation in my chest. It's as if everything inside me stopped." [This seems to be a recollection of their high school day.] Mitani wonders if they would have been together if he hasn't stopped him that day in high school.
At night, when Mitani takes out his cellphone, Kushinada reveals the last piece that will detonate in ten minutes, saying that "Anyway it's impossible to live like this for long." Kushinada informs that the bomb can be stopped by cutting the red wire and that the pacemaker will malfunction when its within 22 cm of a cellphone. Mitani's cell is out of battery. Kushinada asks him, "Out the battery in quickly! You backup will have to stop it." But Mitani does neither and the bomb doesn't detonate. Kushinada tells him that cable wasn't connected. Mitani's expression changes from shocked to smirk. Mitani concludes, "When I pushed you in the club room, your whole body was trembling. And them, every time I'd see you at school, wasn't your heart beating so fast, that it could be heard by everyone?
[I admired his looks and his smarts.]
You tried so hard to avoid being noticed.
[ And I thought that by being with me, Kushinada immersed himself in his superiority complex more and more.]
And I was so nervous thinking that one day, you'd attack me again. But you suddenly disappeared.
[I felt relieved. Because that throbbing wasn't there anymore.]
I might have been waiting."
"You could hear the whisper of my heartbeats in that noisy school?!"
"It echoed in my head."
Kushinada calls Mitani by his first name and says, "Yakumo, if you're feeling good too it'd be nice if you say it!"
[Next day?] Kushinada picks the handcuff's lock with the frame of the glasses he wears while watching TV.
They decide to be together and make up for the lost time. Kushinada has to change the pacemaker's battery once every seven years.
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The story is very good. Art is typical and oscillates between very good angles and not so good ones. Seme is pretty and cruel and wears spectacles. They are of the same size. Sadomasochistic play. Translated by eternal dream.
