by Kat Cotton
“Thanks.”
“Wait, Molly,” Shun called. “Come here.”
He held up my phone and I was going to yell at him for invading my privacy but the look on his face stopped me.
“What were you doing with this guy?” he asked.
Chapter 20
He held up a photo of Hokuto and I at the bar. I had my arm around him and boy, had I really looked that tragic last night? My face looked all washed out with massive bags under my eyes. I’d delete that photo. It had to just be bad lighting.
“One of my new friends,” I said. “We were hanging out last night. I told you about that.”
Something about Shun’s questioning got me defensive. He exhaled loudly then called Yuki over. Yuki looked at the photo and gasped.
“Hokuto!” Yuki knew him? “I knew it was them. There’s no way it could’ve been anyone else but Jin. Bastard Jin. I’ll cut that bastard.”
Shun ignored her and turned to me.
“This guy is our rival,” he said.
“Huh?”
Was he saying that Hokuto had been involved in the break in? But it couldn’t have been him. He was much taller than either of those guys.
“Yamaguchi has more teams than just ours. Competition between them can be very fierce. The Shinjuku Snakes are the worst team. They are demons.”
“Do you mean that literally?”
I’d kind of kissed a demon? I tried to process this. It wasn’t something I had a lot of life experience with.
Shun nodded. “They’ll stop at nothing. Did you tell them anything?”
I sat down, thinking. What had I told them?
“I don’t think so. I was pretty drunk but mostly we were singing.”
“You went to karaoke with them?” Yuki said, thumping her hand on the coffee table. “Who else was there?”
I gulped then scrolled through my photos until I found one of Mai and the other guy.
But they’d been my friends. We’d gotten on so well. We couldn’t be rivals. When Shun said that, maybe he meant like some kind of friendly rivalry, obviously, with pranks and hijinks.
Yuki shook her head when she saw the photo. “Of course. Jin. Bastard.”
“You don’t think it was them...” I glanced over at the box.
“Jin is the worst,” Yuki said. “He’s a dick.”
Jin, he’d been the guy at karaoke who’s name I couldn’t remember. He hadn’t seemed to have any special abilities other than having the lung capacity to belt out power ballads for hours, but then he would hardly have revealed his thieving talents to me.
“He was the one who moved the box?” I asked.
That musky scent in the apartment had seemed familiar. Jin’s aftershave. Of course. My chest tightened. Had I led those attackers here?
Shun nodded. “I think that’s a safe assumption. I thought so at the time but couldn’t be sure. Now that we know there’s a connection, it’s pretty much certain.”
“It was them,” Yuki said. “Those guys would do anything to destroy us.”
I wanted to run away. The way Yuki and Shun stared at me left no doubt that I’d done something really bad.
“How could you be so stupid?”
The way Yuki said that made all my guilt seep away to be replaced by anger. Screw her. No one told me a damn thing then Yuki got all up in my face every time I did something she didn’t like. How was I supposed to know they had this whole West Side Story gang thing going on with the Snakes? Even if I’d done something stupid or bad, I hadn’t done it maliciously. Was I supposed to do a background check on everyone I went drinking with? No matter what I did, Yuki got angry.
“How was I supposed to know?”
We both stood up with our hands on our hips while the wind whistled through the broken door. She might scare the hell out of me but that didn’t mean I’d let her walk all over me.
Shun stood up, moving between the two of us.
“This is no time to argue. Our first priority is to get the kami to safety.” He walked over to where the cardboard carton now sat on the floor. “I can’t move this thing on my own and the sooner we move him, the better.”
We squatted down to get some leverage in lifting it. Shun took one end of the box while Yuki and I grabbed the other. I angled my body away from her so we didn’t touch.
“On three,” Shun said. “One, two, three...”
I put my all into lifting but the box tilted dangerously to the side. Yuki barely budged her end.
“Are you even trying?” I asked.
“I’m not made for physical labor.”
“Yeah well neither am I but I’m making an effort here. And so should you unless you want to spend the night in a freezing cold apartment.”
Shun sighed and indicated for us to try again.
“I didn’t tell them anything,” I said.
I couldn’t be certain of that, though. I’d thought I’d been careful but we’d been drinking and I’d assumed they knew nothing about me. Even without spilling my guts about the whole kami thing, I could’ve let something slip.
Hell, they couldn’t have even followed me back here. I’d been so lost and the streets I’d wandered down had been empty. No way could they have followed me without me noticing. I had nothing at all to feel bad about.
Shun counted again and we heaved. With a lot of effort, we got that box up on the coffee table.
“This isn’t going to work,” Yuki said. “It took all our energy just to get the box this far. We’re too weak.”
“We can do it,” Shun said.
But his face had gone all red. He seemed the type who’d say things were fine even if this was killing him.
“We need a trolley or something,” I said.
“If we had a trolley, we’d use it,” Yuki said.
I didn’t look at her. Shun had been right. We needed to get this done without fighting. The fighting could wait until later.
“Well, there has to be a better way than this,” I said. “We could put the box on a blanket or something so we can pull it. Or put something under it that’ll roll it.”
Yuki sighed and rolled her eyes.
“She’s right,” Shun told her. “I’ve got a skateboard upstairs somewhere. That’d make much the job much easier.”
“What’s going on?” the kami asked. “Are you getting me chocolate?”
“Not yet,” I told him. We had enough going on without that kami nagging me.
Shun rushed off and Yuki sat back down on her futon bundle. She grabbed her cigarettes off the coffee table. If she wanted to smoke, fine. I’d go outside. I headed out to the courtyard. Even though I’d worked up a sweat trying to move that box, the wind out there cut through me. I folded my arms and leaned against the wall.
The crows settled on the wall near me. They cawed like crazy. I ignored them. What were they trying to say? That they’d been right about Hokuto. I really didn’t want to discuss it with them at the moment. Maybe they should go inside and talk to Yuki. She’d be more than happy to bitch about me.
“Shut up, you damn crows. I get it already.”
I thought I heard Shun come back so I went inside. He wasn’t there but Yuki had curled up on her pile of bedding and fallen asleep. At least that meant she wouldn't be bugging me.
I sat down and checked through my phone. Then I remembered, when I’d come back inside at the karaoke place, Mai had handed it to me. Even if I hadn’t said anything, she could’ve searched through and found information. But she’d have to know my code.
Shit, I’d been played for a sucker. A heavy feeling sunk through me. She’d violated me. My phone was my life. I quickly put it away. There was no way I’d tell Shun or Yuki, not with them already annoyed with me.
Then I got it out again and checked the apps. There was something in Japanese. I had no idea what it was since I couldn’t even read the name so I deleted it.
My stomach clenched.
Before I could do any more, Shun returned w
ith his skateboard and some rope.
It took a while to get the box sorted out but it did become much easier to move. I thought the kami would bitch about being jolted around but he stayed quiet. Good thing too. I had enough anger directed at me without him joining in.
I held onto the box, keeping it steady and pushing while Shun pulled from the front.
Yuki ran ahead and cleared our path then opened the other door.
“What is this place?” I asked.
Storage boxes and racks of clothes filled the apartment, like some kind of storage unit.
“I keep my stuff here,” Yuki said. “I don’t like clutter around me.”
No wonder Yuki’s apartment had looked all Zen and minimalist. How come she got two apartments anyway? I only had one apartment. Of course, I had a lot less stuff than Yuki.
Shun ran back and got the rest of Yuki’s stuff from her old apartment. When he dumped the futon on the ground, we sat on that. I had to lean a little because we’d had to put the futon half under a rack of clothes.
“Now that that’s out of the way, what are we going to do about those Shinjuku Snakes?” Yuki asked. “We can’t let them get away with this.”
She sat down on the futon beside me, handing me a container of red beans and a spoon. It had whipped cream and some kind of white balls in it.
“Why would they try to steal the kami? I asked.
I took a mouthful of the beans. I wasn’t sure if it was meant to be a peace offering but I figured if she was offering then I should eat them.
“If we screw up our assignment, there are all kinds of consequences,” Shun said. “Not pleasant ones. Yamaguchi is a harsh man. He doesn’t like being messed around.”
“Can’t we tell him that they messed with us? Surely they can’t just try to mess up our job and get away with it?”
Yuki scraped out the last of her beans. “Yeah, they can. Yamaguchi loves the Snakes and he’s not that fond of us. See, those guys work with him because they want to. We don’t.”
“She means Yamaguchi isn’t that fond of her,” Shun told me. “They don’t see eye-to-eye on some things.”
Shun and Yuki exchanged looks. The look on Yuki’s face said not to ask any more about that.
I sighed and flopped back on the futon.
“But it’s all okay, right? I mean, we still have the kami and the festival’s tomorrow so we’re home free. Well, I’m home free, literally. You guys still have to work for Yamaguchi.”
Yuki gave a low chuckle. “You think you’ll get out of Yamaguchi’s hands that easily?”
I sat up again. “I made a deal. I do this job, he gives me the information I need.”
“You’re a very simple girl even if you are a god,” she said.
With that, she got up and took the empty container to the bin.
I wasn’t sure what she meant. It wasn’t like he could make me stay here against my will. Anyway, my visa was only for 90 days. After that, I had to leave the country whether I wanted to or not.
After the festival tomorrow, I could do some sightseeing. And shopping. I assumed that even with the information about the stone, I wouldn’t need to hurry home.
No more sitting around Yuki’s apartment with that grumpy kami bossing me around. Then it’d be back to Melbourne and uni and all the normal stuff of my life. It seemed like a very simple and effective plan.
Speaking of which, the kami had been quiet ever since we’d moved him. Even though it was nice to have a break from his nagging, I didn’t like the silence. I walked over to the box.
“Hey, kami. Are you okay?”
He didn’t answer. I hoped we hadn’t jolted him around too much. Surely he could handle a little knocking around.
“Is he okay?” Shun asked.
“He’s not answering me.”
Did kami sleep? I had no idea. Shun looked concerned. I tried again.
“Hey, dude, I have chocolate for you? Want it?” Still no answer. Damn. If the guy was awake, he’d be all over that. “He’s not talking,” I told Shun. “I’m worried.”
“Does he always answer you?”
“He does for chocolate.”
Yuki got some chocolate and waved it around near the box. The kami didn’t respond
“We should open the lid,” I said. “We might’ve knocked him around when we moved him. If he’s injured or something then we need to know.”
I wasn’t sure if that was possible but I really needed to find out why he didn’t answer.
The cardboard carton had gotten battered during the move but we hadn’t been able to take the gold box out while moving it. That gold box on its own would attract too much attention. It had to be worth a fortune. Now though, Shun tore the cardboard sides away so we could get to the box inside.
“The lid isn’t on properly,” Shun said. “It must’ve come loose when we moved it.”
“Damn.”
The two of us managed to get it open. I hadn’t seen inside the box before. The red satin lining had faded to a dull pink but the box was completely empty.
“He’s gone,” I said. “That little shit. He’s run away.”
Shun and Yuki exchanged glances.
“What’s with that?” I asked him.
“Maybe he didn’t run away,” Yuki said. “Maybe all that...” She waved her hand at her old apartment. “Was a distraction and they’d planned to take him during the move the whole time.”
That made sense. He’d spoken just before we’d moved him. And now, no kami.
Yuki’s expression said it all. We were screwed.
Chapter 21
My chest tightened and my heart went cold. The kami disappearing was bad enough, if the Snakes had taken him, that was even worse.
“Maybe he ran away,” I said. “I’ll go look for him.”
The lid of the box could’ve come loose when we moved him. Maybe he jumped out and was playing games with us. That had to be it.
Anyway, if I went searching for him, it would get me out of the apartment and away from their accusing stares.
“We’ll help,” Shun said.
I shook my head. “You can’t do anything. You could be right next to him and not know it. But put chocolate around the apartment. That will lure him out if he’s around.”
Shun nodded. “We’ll do that. And I’ll keep checking the books for any information.”
“If the Shinjuku team have the kami, how did they take him?” I asked. “They can’t see him or talk to him, right? Or can they?”
“I wondered that myself,” Shun said. “But Jin can work with energy. I think that’s how they did it. Even if he can’t see the kami, he’d sense the energy around him.”
I grimaced. I wondered if I should tell Shun about Mai taking my phone but if I did that, it’d be like having a huge arrow pointing to me saying I was the one in the wrong here. And, no matter how they’d found him, the most important thing was getting him back, not laying blame.
“How does the kami move?” I asked. “Does he have to walk on his stumpy little legs or can he move through time and space?”
Yuki shrugged. “Usually they get carried.”
That didn’t help.
“We’ll look into it while you search,” Shun said.
I left the apartment but Yuki ran after me. I turned back, expecting more guilt to be heaped on me.
“Take my phone,” she said. “We’ll have Shun’s here so we can contact you.”
I rushed through the streets, calling out to the kami in my head. I promised him chocolate and other treats.
“Kami.” I called out loud now just in case that worked better.
A woman stopped me. “Have you lost your cat?”
“No. I’ve lost... yes, my cat.” I could hardly tell a random stranger on the street I was looking for a kami.
“There’s a gray cat on a wall down that alleyway,” the woman said.
I thanked her and ran off. Now that I’d said I was looking for a cat, I had
to follow through. But that street had no kami and no cat either.
When I was alone, I called out to the crows to help me. A couple of them circled around me and that same one landed on my shoulder. He cawed. I had no idea what he said but I think he tried to tell me he couldn’t help me with this.
I ran down every street and every little laneway leading off the streets. I even ran down places that might’ve just been driveways. I couldn’t hear the kami. I couldn’t sense him.
My pleadings got more desperate. People stared at me but I didn’t care. We needed that kami back, no matter what.
After hours of searching, I had to admit defeat. I didn’t want to return to the apartment empty handed but I couldn’t search all night. If that kami had been in the neighbourhood, I’d have sensed him by now.
I messaged Shun and he told me to come back to the apartment.
“Get food on the way,” he said.
I’d hoped that maybe while I’d been out searching the streets, the kami had come back. That I’d at least get a message saying the chocolate had disappeared. The hope had earlier died inside me.
I didn’t know what they wanted to eat so I got some of those delicious pizza buns and chicken and a bunch of other stuff. Now that I’d stopped running, I realized how hungry I was.
“No luck?” I asked when I got back, knowing the answer.
As we ate the pizza buns, I thought about this.
“So, we find where they’re based and then break in and get our kami back,” I said. “That can’t be too difficult. What time is Yamaguchi picking him up tomorrow?”
“Finding their base is the hard part,” Shun said. “We have no idea. If we had something of Hokuto’s, I could enter his dreams and find out but without it, I can’t do a thing.”
“That’s a stupid idea,” said Yuki. “Maybe you should just shut up and let us do this.”
I wasn’t going to say anything, I really wasn’t. I bit my lip, trying to keep the words inside me but those words had to be spoken. I had a gutful of being attacked by her.
“Maybe if you hadn’t been sleeping, the kami wouldn’t have been taken. Surely it’s not that difficult to keep your eyes on a box for a few minutes.”