by Kat Cotton
Yuki put her nose in the air and sniffed. “I can’t smell any danger. You’ll be fine.”
Could she actually smell danger or was she messing with me? I went back to the window but there was nothing unusual in the courtyard. Just crows. Quiet, calm crows. That reassured me. I could’ve sworn that cheeky one winked at me.
“Five minutes,” she said and rushed out the door.
As the door shut, I realized what she was doing. She didn’t want beans. She’d gone to buy cigarettes. I’d bet good money on it.
With Yuki gone, the tapping from the box got louder and more insistent.
“Let me out of this damn box. Now.”
That voice had definitely come from the box. The kami spoke to me.
Chapter 14
I tried to resist. I really did. But that voice telling me to open the box got louder and louder. Surely it wouldn’t hurt to open the box just a little. No matter what Yuki said, I couldn’t imagine anyone would know if I did it. Even if she found out, what would she do? She couldn’t tell anyone without saying that she left me alone so she could buy cigarettes.
Outside the crows had gone silent. I took that as a good sign. No warnings about danger or any of that.
I opened the flaps on the cardboard carton. The gold box sat inside. I traced my fingers along the filigree work. Pure gold, it felt warm to the touch.
“Just open the box already.”
That voice grew louder and stronger, sounding like a grumpy old man.
I tried to lift the gold box out of the carton but I couldn’t budge it. Not even a little. That box weighed even more than I thought.
“Open it.”
“I can’t,” I replied.
Did he think I was a weightlifter or something? I put my hands on each side, trying to grip the lid and managed to raise it a little. Even that had made my arms ache. How had the goon carried this thing in from the car?
It kind of worried me that the voice had become so pushy. What if he got out of the box? He’d be even more demanding.
“Ah, fresh air,” the voice said.
I guess being stuck in an old box would get a bit stuffy after a while. I searched around and grabbed Yuki’s cigarette lighter to prop the lid open.
“What do you want?” I asked.
“I want to get out of this box,” the voice said. “You try being locked up in a box for centuries.”
“But you’re not real.”
Even as I said that, tiny fingers poked through the crack in the box. That was no spirit, that was a real, living... something. Those fingers were as solid and visible as anything else in this room. And kind of freaky. Little whitish pink things with knobbly ends, like some kind of weird lizard.
Okay, that proved he was real and not just a voice in my head.
Yuki had been wrong. Or she’d lied to me. Or maybe someone had lied to her. No matter what, I could sure as hell see him and hear him.
“I can’t let you out,” I said. “I’m not allowed.”
The kami scoffed at me. “You can do what you want,” he said.
Yeah, it was fine for him to say that. He’d probably never met Yamaguchi and anyway he was a god. He could do what he liked but I didn’t have that kind of freedom.
“Yes, you do,” he said.
Huh? Could he read my thoughts? I didn’t want that cranky old kami in my head. I had thoughts in there that an old man like him didn’t need to know. And some of them involved Shun.
“Come on, girl. Let me out.”
“You’ve got to stay in the box. Now shut up.”
I wasn’t sure if you were supposed to tell gods to shut up but that guy scared the hell out of me. I couldn’t let him out of the box. He might do something stupid like run away. If I lost him, I’d be the one with my ass in a sling. I might be a bit naive sometimes but I wasn’t a complete idiot.
“I’ll leave it open a crack,” I said. “Just a crack.”
After all, I didn’t want him to curse me or anything like that.
“I need food,” he said.
I’m pretty sure I shouldn’t just be feeding him random human food. But what would he eat?
“Anything is fine,” he said. “I can’t just survive on air. Well, I can but I don’t want to. I know you have food there. I can smell it. It smells different from anything I’ve eaten before. Sweet and a little bit bitter.”
I looked around. He meant the chocolate?
“Can you eat chocolate?”
“I’m not sure what it is but give it here, karusu-sama.”
I hoped it wasn’t some Japanese insult like Yuki had used that time but I broke off a little crumb of chocolate and pushed it through the slit in the box. A tiny bit of chocolate wouldn’t hurt him.
“Oww, that got me on the head!”
“Really?”
“You won’t know, will you, because you won’t open the lid.” Then he made a weird noise. That sucking noise old people without teeth make.
“What do you call that stuff?” he asked.
“Chocolate. You’ve never had chocolate before?”
“All they’ve ever given me is damn rice. For centuries. Rice and sake. It gets boring as hell.”
“I bet.”
I never imagined I’d ever have a conversation with any kind of god in my life but, if I’d thought about it, the conversation in my head would’ve gone nothing like this. What kind of god was this guy?
“That was damn tasty. Give me more.”
“Where’s Mr. Manners?” I asked. The guy might be a god or a spirit or whatever but surely he could say please and thank you. There was no excuse for rudeness.
“I’m a kami. I have no need for manners.”
“Well I have no need for giving you chocolate,” I told him.
I folded my arms, waiting for him to argue with me. Even if he was a crank, he was funny. Poor guy, never tasting chocolate. I’d give him some as soon as he asked nicely.
“Who are you talking to?”
I jumped at the sound of Yuki’s voice. When had she returned? I tried to get the flaps back over the cardboard carton but she grabbed my hands, pushing me away from the box.
“Keep away from that.”
“Don’t listen to her. Give me chocolate!”
I waited for Yuki to say something. She had to have heard him. But she kept glaring at me.
“You lied to me,” I said. “You said I couldn’t see or hear him.”
She put her hands on her hips but tried to edge me away from the coffee table with her hip.
“What are you talking about?”
“The old man. The kami.”
She glared at me until I backed away. “Are you crazy? You can’t talk to the kami.” Then she laughed. “You are stupid. Even if you could talk to him, he’d speak Japanese. You wouldn’t understand him.”
“She’s wrong,” the old man shouted. “You can understand me. You understand I want chocolate.”
That got no reaction from Yuki at all. She couldn’t hear him. Oh great. I had a cranky old kami talking to me and everyone would think he was my imaginary friend. I’d end up with everyone thinking I was crazy. Not just Yuki but Shun as well.
Maybe I could just ignore the kami. There were only a few days left until he went back to the shrine and he’d be gone from my life forever. I could pretend I didn’t hear him until then.
How did he talk to me, anyway? I kind of figured I could only hear him in my head and that meant maybe I didn’t hear his actual words but his intentions. That would explain why there was no language barrier.
I sat back down while Yuki folded her arms and stared at the box. Poor guy. No more chocolate for him.
“Fight the kitsune,” the kami said. “Who does she think she is anyway. Kitsune should be servants not huffy bitches. You could take her on. One good punch, that’s all it needs.”
That guy might be a spirit but he lacked good sense. I couldn’t take on Yuki. Yuki scared the hell out of me. She had all
kinds of weird powers and I had nothing, not even an evil glare to match hers.
“You have powers,” the kami said.
He could say that but I had no idea what they were.
A little later Shun arrived.
Yuki began raving to him in Japanese. It didn’t take language skills to work out what she said, though. The way she pointed from the box to me made her meaning pretty damn clear.
“She’s saying you’re crazy,” the kami said. “Let’s run away.”
Shun nodded his head and didn’t say anything.
“I’m telling the truth,” I told him. “I know it sounds strange but I spoke to him.”
Shun drew his mouth in a thin line. “You can leave early if you like,” he said. “It must be tough on you.”
I wanted to stay and get this sorted out. I had to make them believe me. But, no matter what I said, I couldn’t prove it.
“Why don’t you talk to Yuki?” I asked the kami.
But he stayed silent. Bastard.
Shun and Yuki both glared at me. Shun had taken Yuki’s side so easily. Even though it might be hard for him to accept, I’d totally believed everything they’d told me. I’d never scoffed and said kitsune and baku were just made up things. I’d never told Yuki she was stupid.
Shun might be a nice guy at times but there was no guessing where his loyalties lay. I stood up and shook myself. Screw them. I didn’t need them. What I needed was a drink.
“Take me with you,” the kami said.
Yeah, as if. I needed to get away from that guy too. There had to be a bar around here somewhere.
Shun barely looked at me when I said goodbye. The two of them exchanged glances like they wanted me gone so they could talk about me. Fine, then. Let them talk.
I set off down the street, looking for somewhere to drink when someone grabbed my arm. I spun around, freaked that someone touched me. I’d fight them off. In this mood, hitting someone would do me a world of good.
Before I could lay a punch on him, I realized it was the guy I’d met at the temple. Hokuto.
“Where are you going?” he asked.
The way he smiled at me made my belly flutter. He was even hotter than I remembered and his eyes sparkled.
“Drinking,” I told him.
“So am I. Wanna join me?”
I smiled. That sounded like the best thing I’d heard all day.
Chapter 15
Hokuto introduced me to a few of his friends then went to get drinks. If I’d realized we were going to a cool bar, I’d have changed before heading out. I should’ve known by the way Hokuto was dressed, in a military style jacket with awesome silver buttons.
Still, no one made nasty comments or even looked strangely at me.
We stood around a table in the middle of the room. I thought they’d move away and ignore me when Hokuto went to the bar, but nope.
“Where are you from?” one of them asked.
I told him I lived in Melbourne because no one in this world would’ve heard of the stupid town I really came from.
“Are you on holidays?”
“Ah... yeah.” These people might be nice but that didn’t mean I’d spill all my secrets to him.
Then one of the girls asked about my dinosaur backpack. She loved it.
“We should go shopping while you’re here,” she said. “I know some awesome shops.”
“She should know,” Hokuto said, setting a round of drinks on the table. “Mai is an expert on shopping.”
You only had to look at her outfit to know that. Mai had candy cotton pink hair in two high pigtails. She wore a cute t-shirt with a pink cheerleader style skirt and bright green and white striped tights. Cool badges and patches covered her jacket. And she had cute dimples when she smiled. Yuki never smiled.
I’d definitely go shopping with Mai.
What more did I need but friendly people and a cold beer? Photos to post online, that’s what.
I got out my phone and took a photo with Mai. She did a cool V finger sign next to her eyes so I copied her. Then she made me do one with the two of us putting our hands together in a heart shape.
This was exactly how I’d imagined my time in Tokyo would be, drinking in bars with really fun people.
“Now, I’ll take one of you with Hokuto,” she said.
Hokuto stood beside me. I wasn’t sure if I should do a cute pose with him or not.
“Chu, chu,” Mai yelled.
Huh? What did that mean?
I soon found out when Hokuto leaned over and kissed my cheek for the photo.
I laughed. Before tonight, my level of fun had hovered around one out of a hundred. Maybe a bit higher when I went shopping but mostly so far it’d been all stress and worry.
Hokuto pointed at my glass. I nodded. Heck yeah. He came back with something different, not a beer.
“Lemon sour,” he said.
I sipped it. It wasn’t very strong but it sure tasted good. I needed to be up early tomorrow anyway so I had to cap it at a few drinks.
When I glanced over, Hokuto watched me. I glanced down as heat flooded my body. I couldn’t kid myself. Hokuto had no interest in me. Not with girls like Mai around. Then I looked up again. Oops.
“Delicious?” Hokuto asked, pointing at my drink.
I nodded. “Thanks.”
He rounded the table to stand beside me. Just standing, but his body brushed against mine and I could smell the citrusy fresh fragrance of his hair. Oh, I wanted to bury my face in that hair and take a deep whiff. I guessed that would be wrong and a bit freaky.
I’d only just finished my drink when Mai returned from the bar with another round.
“I’ll get the next lot,” I said.
“No way,” Hokuto said, putting his arm around my waist. “You’re our guest. Let us buy.”
Damn it. I really needed to go to the toilet but there was no way I’d leave now. Not with the weight of his hand resting on my hip. My whole body tingled from the feel of it. And boy, was it hot in here?
A few drinks turned into a few more and then the bar was closing and I was nowhere near ready to go home. Even when I couldn’t understand what they were saying, just their body language and expressions made me feel included.
Hokuto and a few of the others said they were going to karaoke.
“It’s 3000 yen nomihodai,” he said.
“Nomihodai?”
“All you can drink.”
I side eyed him, not sure I heard right. “All I can drink? I’ll send them broke.”
Hokuto slapped me on the back.
“Mori, you are fun,” he said.
Yes. He was right. I’d been so caught up in all this weird Yamaguchi stuff that I’d lost sight of the real me. Fun. Party girl. And fun party me would never refuse a chance to go drinking with a hot guy.
“How long do these free drinks last?” I asked him.
“Four hours.”
“Let’s get this party started,” I yelled, punching the air.
“Yes!” Mai replied, punching the air too.
She put her arm around me and we headed off. I had a nagging voice in my head telling me I should get a good night’s sleep before I had to be back to Yuki’s apartment in the morning but I ignored it. I’d had enough voices in my head today. The only voice I wanted to hear was my own voice belting out some tunes at that karaoke.
Chapter 16
The others left, leaving only Hokuto, Mai, another guy and me. I didn’t know the other guy’s name but he seemed fun too. He only wore a t-shirt and jeans. I thought he’d freeze in the cold night but he didn’t seem to even notice it.
We went into the foyer of the karaoke place, which was way too brightly lit for my liking. Loud, tinny pop music pumped over the speakers.
Hokuto did the talking while I checked out the basket of tambourines on a shelf near the counter.
“Let’s tambourine,” said Mai, standing beside me bouncing on her toes.
I grinned and then we
high fived.
The four of us took a tiny elevator out to the 11th floor. Wow, that other guy could cut back on the aftershave a bit. The musky smell overwhelmed me in such a small space.
We went into a room with vinyl seats down two sides. There was a massive screen for the karaoke and some high-quality looking microphones.
A tablet type thing and a bunch of laminated menus sat on the heavy coffee table while disco lights reflected colors on the walls.
The place smelled of stale smoke and booze and maybe a little bit of vomit but I could ignore that. A private room just for the four of us? That seemed a helluva lot less embarrassing than singing in a bar.
“So, what’s with the free drinks? I asked.
Hokuto picked up an old-fashioned phone handset hanging on the wall. “What do you want?”
“We phone for drinks? You’re shitting me?”
He just grinned. “Beers all round?”
Sounded good to me. The other guy had put an old ‘90s song on. I knew it, I just couldn’t place who sang it. I picked up a microphone and joined him while Mai banged her tambourine not even bothering to keep time with the music.
The other guy had a good voice but he postured so much while he sang, I wasn’t sure if it was meant to be a joke or his usual style.
Before the song finished, someone turned up with a tray of drinks. This was the life, beer in one hand, microphone in the other. Only, I gave up my microphone to Mai when her song came on. Then Hokuto handed me the tablet thing so I could put on songs of my own.
A few songs in and somehow, we ended up having a drinking contest. Empty glasses littered the table and we’d gone onto drinking harder stuff. Those drinks had to be watered down, though, because they didn’t hit me at all. I was still as sober as I’d started. I mean, the words on the karaoke screen were getting harder to read and everything had a warm, fuzzy edge but I could handle that.
I won the drinking game. Or lost. I wasn’t sure of the rules but I got handed a shot glass that I scoffed down. It tasted sweet and syrupy.
The others all cheered me on.
“Mori, you’re so cool,” Hokuto said. “Fun Mori.”