Millennial Mischief

by Kat Cotton

  I gave him the thumbs up and he shot me back a smile that zinged my heart.

  Then I got up to go to the bathroom. I stumbled on the way out the door but righted myself. Mai laughed and I laughed back. It had been pretty funny.

  When I returned, Hokuto was singing a Japanese song. Obviously, I didn’t know the song but he had an amazing voice. I curled into the corner of the bench, tempted to have a little snooze. Then Mai squeezed past me and knocked my phone off the table.

  I jolted awake.

  “Sorry,” I said, not sure why I apologized.

  She handed me my phone and my glass.

  “Drink more. It will keep you awake,” she said with a laugh.

  The room seemed a bit spinny and the smell of that booze did weird things to my belly, not to mention all the sugar in the mixer. But I drank it down. I had more singing to do.

  Then the phone rang.

  “Our time’s up,” Hokuto said.

  Four hours already? That’d gone too fast. I still had a heap of songs I wanted to sing.

  “We should extend,” Mai said. “Two more hours.”

  “Three hours,” the other guy said.

  Hokuto looked at me. Hell yeah, I’d extend. More drinking. More singing.

  Then I checked my phone. Was that the time? When had it got so late? Well, so early? I had to be at Yuki’s at 8am. That gave me two hours.

  But I was having fun. Yuki was no fun and I’d just be sitting doing nothing when I got there. I could drink for two more hours then sleep it off when I got to her place. All this responsibility stuff didn’t suit me at all.

  “Two hours,” I said. “Then I’ve got to go.”

  Hokuto sat down, putting his arm around me.

  “But you’re on holidays, right?” he said, his breath fluttering the hair near my ear. “You can stay out as late as you like. You don’t have to work.”

  I sighed. “I have to meet someone.”

  Hokuto moved his hand up to caress my head. The way his fingers moved through my hair felt so good.

  “Text them and say you’ll meet later,” he said.

  I looked at my dud phone. “I don’t even have a SIM card,” I told him. “I’m like a non-person since I came to Japan.”

  “You don’t have a SIM,” Mai said. “We will get one when we go shopping.”

  “Is that okay?” I asked. “You won’t feel like you’re babysitting me?”

  Mai laughed. “It’s no trouble.”

  Wow, I didn’t want to be overly sentimental or anything but a lump rose in my throat. Mai was so awesome. In the past few days, I’d forgotten what it was like to have someone want to hang out with me.

  “Tell me more about your friends you’re meeting,” Hokuto asked.

  I might’ve been a bit fuzzy headed and I might’ve been totally blissed out by the way he massaged my head but there was something in his questioning that seemed a little over keen. I moved back a little. I couldn’t exactly tell him about Yuki and Shun. And there was no way I’d tell him about a little man in a box who spoke to me.

  “They’re just people who I hang out with,” I said. “It’s complicated.”

  “They can’t be very good friends or they’d help you get your phone sorted out,” he said.

  He reached down to where I held my phone in my hand, his fingers lightly tracing mine.

  They weren’t my friends at all but I wasn’t going to tell Hokuto that. I wanted to change the subject but, more than that, I really wanted him to kiss me.

  “You have such beautiful fair skin,” he said.

  I almost snorted. All my life I’d been mocked about my lily whiteness. No matter what I did, I never tanned. He put his arm next to mine, comparing. That did nothing to convince me that my fair skin was anything good. The warmth of his skin tone made my color look almost blue in comparison. But, more importantly, he had the sexiest forearms I’d ever seen.

  Then I looked into his eyes, those beautiful brown eyes framed with thick lashes. There’s no way I could refuse those eyes. I’d stay and drink with him. I’d still get to Yuki’s on time, if I ran.

  I grabbed one of the drinks off the table. I wasn’t even sure which one was mine. Mai had stopped singing and had slumped in the corner, not far from sleep but the other guy belted out a power ballad.

  “Of course, we could always go somewhere quieter,” Hokuto whispered in my ear.

  I wasn’t sure about that. I mean, there was a whole part of me who wanted to go somewhere quieter. A holiday fling with a hot guy wasn’t something I’d say no to, but I hardly knew this guy.

  “Maybe we should just hang out here for a while.”

  But Hokuto took my hand and coaxed me from the room. Surely we couldn’t just leave like that, though.

  Instead of leaving though, he took us out to a landing on the fire stairs. That landing was mighty small and the two of us had to huddle together.

  I’d expected it to be dark outside but the cold morning hit us. That wouldn’t be flattering. I bowed my head, not wanting him to look at me in the harsh light.

  He lifted my chin.

  “You’re so pretty,” he said, running his finger along my jawline. “Can we meet some other time, just the two of us?”

  Hell yeah we could. I nodded. He didn’t break eye contact with me and that eye contact had my belly flip flopping all over the place. His breath brushed my skin as his face moved closer.

  My heart thudded as he put his arm around my waist.

  This would be my first international kiss and it’d be with one of the hottest guys I’d ever met. Could things get any better?

  As his lips brushed against mine, something touched my head. I tried to brush it away without breaking the kiss. We hadn’t even got to the tongue bit yet and his lips were the sweetest thing I’d ever tasted.

  I grabbed something from my hair and had to break away for a minute. A black feather.

  Feathers. What the hell?

  “What’s that?” Hokuto asked.

  “Nothing,” I said throwing it to the ground.

  The crows cawed as though calling me a liar. Those damn crows could leave me alone.

  Then I remembered my promise. That’d I’d listen to them if they warned me of danger, but was this a real danger or were those crows just cock blocking? How dangerous could one kiss be?

  I bet they were just nagging me because they wanted me to go back home, like the horrible voice of my conscience.

  I smiled at Hokuto, encouraging him to kiss me properly. Those crows could nag someone else. I’d make it back to Yuki’s, no problem. But I had time to fool around a bit first.

  Hokuto ran his finger over my bottom lip. I could barely stand looking at him. He flooded me with emotion.

  Then, just as he moved in to kiss me, the crows scooped. The cloud of black surrounded us.

  “Get out of here, you damn crows,” I screamed. “Leave me alone.”

  I tried to swat them away.

  “Don’t worry about the crows,” I said. “I’ll get rid of them.”

  The swatting didn’t work so I jumped up, swinging my arms in the air. That didn’t stop the crows though. They cawed and swooped. That was not normal. Hokuto stared at me like this was my fault. I’d get nowhere with crows attacking us.

  “Go away,” I screamed again. “Let the hot guy kiss me.”

  Then I realized I’d said that out loud, which probably wasn’t the best idea. I really did want him to kiss me but blurting it out seemed wrong.

  The sky cleared. The crows flew off to wherever crows go to when they aren’t bugging me.

  I turned back to Hokuto but he’d gone. Swell. Just swell. Those horrible crows had scared him off.

  Chapter 17

  I rushed back inside but Hokuto had disappeared and I didn’t blame him. He probably wanted to hide out in the bathroom or somewhere to escape the crazy crow lady. I’m pretty sure he’d never want to kiss me again after that. And his lips had been so soft and sweet
.

  But, if he did want to kiss me again, I’d make damn sure it’d be indoors, well away from any crows.

  That had been one of the more humiliating kisses ever. #FML didn’t even cover it.

  The other guy still sang while Mai napped.

  I needed to grab my stuff and get out of there. I grabbed some money out of my wallet, hoping it’d cover what we’d spent, and threw it on the table.

  “I have to rush,” I said. “Thanks for the fun night.”

  I didn’t make eye contact with either of them as I said that. Before I got to the door, Mai called out to me.

  “Don’t forget your phone,” she said, handing it to me.

  I nodded thanks but she’d curled back in the corner, looking asleep, before I got a chance to ask about meeting up for shopping later.

  Outside, the sun shone bright, making me wish I had my sunglasses with me, but the wind whipping my legs froze me to the bone. Where had those damn crows got to? They needed a stern talking to. For once, I couldn’t see a single one anywhere around.

  I tried backtracking to the bar where we’d been drinking earlier in the night. From there, I could work out my way home but all these streets looked the same. The bar had been down a small alley but which one?

  Everywhere looked different in the daylight, too. These streets had seemed full of excitement and adventure last night but now everything looked a bit dingy.

  The bar had a yellow sign out front. I didn’t know the name or anything else about it but I remembered that.

  I found a ton of bars but none of them had a yellow sign.

  I got out my phone. If I had Wi-Fi, I could check Google Maps instead of wandering around aimlessly looking for a yellow sign. I tried to find a free network I could use but nothing came up.

  Where were those damn crows? They could make themselves useful.

  How far had we walked to the karaoke place after we left the bar? I’d paid no attention. It hadn’t seemed to take long but then we’d been talking and I’d been all moony-eyed over Hokuto.

  Just remembering that kiss made me redden. Attacked by crows while kissing on a fire escape. That could only happen to me. Maybe it’d be a funny story one day but right now, I just wanted to wipe my memory.

  After wandering down a few more alleyways, I saw a conbini. That had to be the one near my apartment. Nearly home.

  When I got closer though, I wasn’t so sure. That car park opposite, had that always been there? I didn’t think so.

  Hell, I could be anywhere in this city and walking in the opposite direction to my apartment. I got out my phone to check again for networks. Maybe I could hack into someone’s phone network.

  Wait, the convenience store had Wi-Fi? I tried connecting.

  Yes!

  I went into Google maps. It took forever to load but eventually I worked out how to get home. It looked pretty simple but it was a ten minute walk and I was already late. I screen dumped the map so I could use it offline then rushed down the street.

  That worked. I made it back to the apartment although from a totally different direction than I expected.

  “Where the hell have you been?” Yuki yelled when she opened the door to me. Then she took a step back. “You stink.”

  Wow, if I’d hoped for any kind of change in Yuki’s attitude, I’d been mistaken.

  “I got lost,” I said.

  I looked to Shun, hoping he’d back me up. I wasn’t that late and obviously nothing bad had happened while I’d been gone.

  “I had to be at an appointment this morning,” he said. “If we can’t rely on you, I’ll have to talk to Yamaguchi about it.”

  I bit my lip. Shun should’ve told me he needed to leave early. And I couldn’t have gotten here any earlier, anyway. Not without having some kind of navigation.

  “I’m sorry,” I said. “It’s just that I—”

  Shun waved his hand. “I’ve rescheduled so go have a shower and change your clothes.”

  “Thanks. I really am sorry. It won’t happen again.”

  Shun didn’t look at me. I wasn’t sure what I could say to make this better. He’d been my only ally on this team and now I’d alienated him. Not to mention whatever shit Yuki had told him last night.

  Before I could say any more, he started talking to Yuki in Japanese. The two of them totally froze me out.

  “Get me chocolate,” a voice said before I left.

  That damn little kami. I guess I should be grateful at least someone was still speaking to me.

  Then the kami laughed. “Wow, that must’ve been embarrassing,” he said. “Crows!”

  I rushed upstairs and jumped in the shower. When I got out, I picked up my clothes to throw in the washing machine. Yuki hadn’t been wrong. Those clothes reeked.

  My stomach rumbled. It’d been an age since I’d eaten. I opened the fridge. I had a smoothie I’d bought the other day and some sandwiches that looked a bit stale. Still, better than nothing.

  One sip of that smoothie and I threw it in the bin. I bolted down the sandwiches and put on my shoes, even though my crappy futon tempted me to crawl under the covers.

  Shit. Garbage day. I had no time to sort that garbage though. It could wait for the next collection.

  When I got back to Yuki’s, Shun was still there. I tried to apologize again but Shun brushed me off.

  “We can’t work with you,” Yuki said. “You are unreliable and stupid.”

  Wow, that wasn’t very nice. I hovered in the doorway, not sure if I should sit down or not. Tears prickled in my eyes and my throat felt dry.

  “We can talk to Yamaguchi,” Shun said. “You didn’t really want to do this job anyway so it’s an easy way out for you. He might still give you the information you want. We can tell him we’ll do the job alone.”

  Fine. If that’s the way they wanted it, I’d leave.

  I took one step then stopped. That might be true but I wasn’t entirely to blame here.

  “You know, it’s not like I’ve exactly been made to feel welcome.” I glared at Yuki. “You didn’t want me to work on this team from the beginning. You’re nasty and cruel. You try to make me feel stupid when I don’t know things but how am I supposed to know everything when I’ve only been in this country a few days?”

  I folded my arms.

  “You come to this country and haven’t tried to learn anything. You don’t know one word of Japanese or how to fit in. Why should I make an effort when you don’t?”

  “I know some Japanese. Like conbini.”

  She scoffed. “That’s not even Japanese. It’s English.”

  “Is not. I’ve never heard one person ever use that in English.”

  “You complain all the time about not having a phone but you haven’t done one thing to try to get things sorted out yourself. Then you turn up late and we can’t contact you.”

  “I’ve tried. It’s not my phone this country has stupid laws.”

  But had I really tried that hard? Since I’d been able to use Yuki’s Wi-Fi, I hadn’t even looked online to see where I could buy a SIM.

  “And you are crazy. You think you can talk to the kami but only priests can talk to the kami. You’re not even Japanese. Why would the kami talk to you?”

  “Maybe because I don’t say mean things. He’s not going to talk to you.”

  She glared at me and I glared back. This argument would go nowhere. I knew that but I didn’t want to back down. Even if they wanted to get rid of me, I wanted Yuki to admit that some of this was her fault.

  Yuki lit up a cigarette. I didn’t say anything but I tsked loudly. Not that she’d care.

  “Is it any wonder I’d rather go out drinking with my new friends instead of being with you?” I asked.

  “What new friends?” Shun asked.

  Suspicion dripped from his voice, as though I wouldn’t be capable of making friends. His words and betrayal hurt me more than anything Yuki said. I’d thought we’d bonded a little bit at least but he’d obvious
ly only been friendly to me out of obligation not because he liked me.

  Before I could answer him, the caw of the crows became so loud, I covered my ears. What the hell was going on that I could hear them so loudly even in here?

  I rushed toward the glass doors to see what was wrong. As I did, the doors shattered, showering me with glass. I put my hands up to shield my eyes as an intruder smashed into me.

  We were being attacked.

  Chapter 18

  I screamed at Yuki but she didn’t do her magic on the box. Maybe she didn’t have time. I didn’t know how it worked. But I did my part by screaming and waving my arms around.

  Smashed glass covered the floor and two men rushed toward the box. They wore robes and freaky horse head masks.

  Shun plowed into one of them, knocking him to the floor.

  They can’t lift the box, I thought. They aren’t strong enough. But even if they couldn’t lift it, having two intruders smash through the glass doors freaked me the heck out.

  I picked up a cushion off the floor and threw it. That barely slowed the intruders down but it was all I had at hand. I looked around for something better to use as a weapon. Nothing. Not even a heavy ornament.

  One of them reached the box. Even if Yuki made it appear to disappear now, it wouldn’t matter. He could feel it. He knew it was there.

  Shun grappled the invader and had him around the neck but the loose robe the attacker wore made him hard to hold. I rushed for the second one. I couldn’t fight well but I had to do something.

  “What’s going on?” the kami asked. “Your mind’s gone all fuzzy and weird.”

  I didn’t have time to explain.

  I threw a punch at the intruder but he ducked. Then he threw me to the floor. My hip slammed into the floor boards. Damn, that hurt. Before I could get up, Yuki rushed him. She slammed her forearm into the guy’s neck.

  Nice move.

  I stumbled to my feet and tried to get a grip on him. If I could hold him while Yuki hit him, we’d take him down in no time.

  All I could manage to clutch was a handful of his robes. Yuki came at him again, this time knocking him to the floor. I almost whelped in victory, then I saw the box!