by A. J. Roe
“Yuriko are we in a love hotel?” he said through the side of his mouth, half amused and half embarrassed in front of the old man, who clearly didn’t care in the slightest.
She ignored his question. “Kore Kudasai-That one,” she said, pointing to one of the least exotic pictures. Combover man reached behind him and took a key from a hook below the picture. Attached was a handwritten plastic tag that said “402”. He slid it across the counter, bowing his head ever so slightly and with a wave of his hand, directed them to a lift at the far side of the lobby.
Rick entered the room just a step behind Yuriko and his smirk gave way to full-on laughter. For a moment he completely forgot the horror of their night as he clamped eyes upon the massive heart-shaped waterbed on one side of the room and ten-foot-high sex swing on the other. It was basically just two pairs of fluffy harnesses clipped together, dangling from the ceiling. The whole room reeked of musky, cheap air freshener and hospital cleaning fluid. Probably the least erotic combination of smells he could possibly imagine. Rick cringed at the thought of what this room must have seen.
Yuriko twisted the catch on the door and slid the chain across for an extra layer of safety. She dragged her feet to the bed and dropped flat on her back, gazing up at the ceiling as though she could no longer muster the energy to even sit. Rick perched on one of the brown plastic stools beside the swing.
After a second of rest, he tried to swivel the stool back towards the bed and found his trousers were stuck to its surface. He dry heaved, suppressing a wave of nausea at the thought of what the adhesive-like substance must be.
Yuriko led out a deep sigh. “We should be safe here for a while at least.”
“Good thinking,” Rick said. “Now, care to tell me what the hell happened back there?”
She pulled herself upright and crossed her arms; he knew he’d hit a nerve. “What? I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Yeah right. That guy in the Professor’s office knew who you were—he looked right at your face and decided not to shoot. Now tell me what that was about.”
“I honestly don’t know,” Yuriko tweaked her expression, trying to appear innocent but she obviously wasn’t a well-practiced liar. “Maybe he didn’t expect a Japanese person to be there?”
“Why would it make a single bit of difference if you were Japanese or not?”
She pressed her face into her hands and began to sob. After watching her silently cry for a minute or so it was obvious, even to Rick, that this approach was getting him nowhere.
“Listen, I know how hard this must be,” he said, “but if you tell me what you know, maybe we can work together to find a way out. Please?”
She rubbed her eyes with the back of her hands and took a deep breath. “It might be easier if I show you.”
Slipping her phone from her pocket, Yuriko spent a few minutes tapping away at the keypad before finally handing it over to Rick. “This is a copy of a document from the Japanese Imperial Library,” she said, “It was written in the eighth century and speaks of a weapon that the Kusanagi-No-Tsurugi myth was based on.”
“I don’t speak Japanese.”
She reached over and tapped the translate icon near the top of the screen. “Scroll down.”
Rick ran his eyes over the text, moving across the garbled mishmash of translations. It was some sort of poem, divided up into four-line verses. His eyes were drawn to one line in particular: “He who holds the blade, will be blessed with the voice of God.” A lump rose in Rick’s throat.
Below the poem was a square box, neatly set into the faded black calligraphy. Sure enough, there was a perfectly drawn copy of the relic—although the scale of the image made it look larger.
“That’s it!” He studied the picture on the tiny screen examining every detail as best he could before a worrying realisation sprung to mind. “Wait, why didn’t the Professor know about this?”
Yuriko chewed her lip, looking like she was about to cry again. “These are highly classified documents. I can only access them through an illegal back door and could be thrown in prison for even showing you. I had to wait until I was sure.”
“Really?! It’s just a damn knife.”
“Kusanagi is one of Japan’s imperial treasures. It has been passed down for centuries from Emperor to Emperor as a symbol of divine appointment. This document, when backed up by hard evidence, basically proves it is nothing but a myth. The implications of your find are beyond money, this is just colossal.”
That’s not even the least of it, he thought.
“Now I need to ask you some questions,” Yuriko said, her tone dropping a full octave. “I need to know how you knew so much about the Professor’s estate?”
“It was luck. That’s all.”
“Liar! You knew where the gun was, you knew how to escape through the wall. Tell me the truth.”
“Fine,” he said wincing, this was going to be a hard sell. “Sometimes when I hold the relic, I hear a voice. It told me where to find that gun and how to escape through the hedge.”
“Come on, that’s insane. These stories are fairy tales,” she said, tapping her phone screen to bring the poem back on display. “Now you’re telling me you think you are actually being guided by some kind of God?”
“No. Honestly, I don’t know what it is. I thought I was going schizophrenic—but this can’t just be coincidence, I mean look at the text!”
Yuriko sighed in exasperation. “I suppose there’s a minute possibility it could be some kind of chemical interaction or toxin from the relic that causes hallucinations.”
“Exactly,” Rick said, “I must have known about the exit subconsciously and my mind only brought it forwards when I was under pressure. I drove right past the gap in the hedge earlier today. It's the only thing that makes sense.”
“But how could that possibly explain the gun?”
“I don’t know,” he slumped back down onto the stool. Even though it had been the attacker or himself, knowing he’d actually shot and killed a man, was a hard pill to swallow.
With a flash of inspiration, an idea formed. “You should try it,” he said, pulling the relic out and holding it handle-first towards Yuriko. At least then he could confirm if he really was losing his mind or if it was something altogether more inexplicable.
Yuriko looked uncertain but curiosity soon got the better of her. She held her breath. Trembling, her wiry fingers reached out for the hilt.
16
“Sorry. I hear nothing.” Yuriko’s words echoed in his head. Rick spun the tarnished gold taps and doused his face with cold water.
Catching a glimpse of his own reflection in the tacky, heart-shaped bathroom mirror above, Rick recoiled. The face staring back was gaunt and pale with heavy black circles hanging beneath the eyes. At least something made sense; with the time difference factored in, he’d now essentially had only one night’s sleep over the course of three days.
It can’t all be in my head, can it? It was hard to tell at this point—Rick’s sleep deprived thoughts were growing more and more irrational by the minute and he could no longer even remember if it was day or night. None of this was helped by the fact that Yuriko had ranted at him for at least half an hour, trying to get him to admit he was lying about the voice, before eventually reaching the conclusion that he was completely unhinged.
For the three hours since, Rick’s reluctant accomplice had been completely out of it, curled up on the silk and rubber-covered bed.
Yuriko had tried to fight falling asleep at first, which was understandable considering she was locked in a sex hotel with a mentally unstable stranger. Eventually, she had settled for sleeping with a screwdriver that she’d found in the bathroom, clasped tightly in her hand, just in case.
Rick had tried to get some rest too, lying awkwardly on the shag-carpeted floor by the swing, but his mind had fought him every step of the way. He hadn’t been able to shake the image of the man he’d shot from his mind; the look of shock
, anger and sadness that all rose up in the fraction of a second when he realised he was dying. The bastard brought it on himself.
It was all too much. A mixture of grief, guilt and fear all coalesced until Rick was gasping for air, bent double over the sink, red in the face, with tears rolling down his cheeks. Why the hell didn’t I just stay at home? Once again, he’d let greed take precedence over everything that truly mattered, he didn’t know if he’d ever even see Ellie again, and he despised himself for it.
A few minutes passed before Rick could breathe properly. He washed his face and cleaned the dried blood from his forearms, elbow and knees, wincing in pain as he discovered dozens of tiny shards of broken glass still protruding from his skin and squeezed them out.
Rick took the relic carefully from his belt, rested it on the edge of a huge circular jacuzzi to his rear, turned to the toilet and unzipped his fly. Standing there, he found himself contemplating what he actually knew about the soft-spoken female voice, it wasn’t a lot.
As his piss began to flow, Rick could have sworn there was a buzz of static crawling up his spine. He finished quickly and snatched up the relic.
“Hello my friend.”
“I need to know what is happening to me. Are you just in my imagination?” he whispered, very aware that Yuriko could be listening to every word.
“No, I am sorry to disappoint you.”
“If you’re not in my head then what are you? Telepathy? God?”
“I am not a human, if that is what you are asking. Nor am I God; although my presence has certainly inspired some representations of the divine.”
“Well, are you all powerful or something?”
“Unfortunately not. Besides communicating through a number of objects, such as the one you hold in your hand, my abilities consist only of observation.”
“But you can see everything, right? That’s how you helped me escape.”
“Once, maybe. But here and now my vision is somewhat limited.”
“Why are you talking to me then? Why now?”
“The relic you possess acts as an antenna, a device that allows direct communication between you and I. There used to be many such items but over time most were destroyed or lost to the ages. Now, to business. It has been an extremely long time since I have had access to a physical presence in this world and as discussed, I would like to make a deal.”
“What kind of a deal?”
“I will get you out of here and safely back home but in return you must do something for me.”
Rick slumped back against the bathroom wall, his heart was racing. “What do you want me to do? I don’t have to kill anyone else do I? Because I don’t think I could go through that again.”
“Nothing like that... not yet anyway.” The voice laughed, but he wasn’t so sure it was a joke. “Let’s just make sure you survive the night first. Do you agree to my terms?”
“This is insane. I mean, none of this makes any sense, you’re my subconscious, you must be.”
“You know as well as Yuriko did that it was impossible for you to have any idea where that gun was or how to escape the compound wall.”
Rick shook his head, staring at his own eyes in the mirror, a swell of anger started to rise like bile in his throat. “What if I say no? How can I agree to this without even knowing what you’re asking me to do?”
“The police are already at the Professor’s house and they will track you here soon enough. As far as I can see you have three options: One, you see through our arrangement and I will guide you home safe and sound. Then you can sell the relic and live a happy life with your daughter again. Two, you pretend I do not exist and wait here, where you will be caught and spend the rest of your life behind bars for murder. Three, you try to run and most likely get shot in the back by the police. Please think carefully but do not take too long. I believe I have already demonstrated tonight that timing is everything.”
Rick took a deep gulp of air, his head felt like it was full of bees, buzzing with noise, blocking out his attempt to formulate any rational thought. He closed his eyes and exhaled slowly hoping to drown out the sound.
“Fine. Well, do you at least have a name or something? If I’m gonna talk regularly to an invisible, possibly imaginary demigod, I figure I should know what to call you.”
“Very well. You can call me Thyos.”
“Okay Thyos,” he said, trying to focus on the task at hand rather than let his thoughts wander to the question of who had named her or what it meant. “Next problem. Who’s after us then?”
“Yuriko was correct. The man pursuing you is Hazumi Sota, he has tracked your movements since you first landed on Japanese soil. Sota has a wide network of informants in the police and other criminal organizations and he will not stop until he finds you.”
“Why me?”
“Because of what you possess.”
“Then can’t I just let him have it and get out of here with no harm done?”
“I am afraid not. You know too much. There is no way he would let you live.”
“Well that's just damn fantastic.” Rick let out a sigh. “How the hell are you planning to get me out of this shithole country then?”
“You will be safe in the hotel for another few hours at least, I suggest you rest. Before dawn you must make your way to the docks, approximately four miles northeast from this location, I will do the rest.”
“What if we get lost? How am I meant to communicate with you then? Do you read my mind or something?”
“Unfortunately not. If you wish to speak with me, it must be out loud. I will try to respond quickly but this is not always possible.”
“Okay. Speak out loud,” he made a mental note. “Now what can I do about Yuriko? She thinks I’m crazy, can you talk to her?”
“No. I can only have one point of contact, otherwise things get messy. But maybe you can prove that I exist. She is now awake and listening to this conversation from behind the door. The manager is also walking up from the lobby as we speak, in exactly sixty-three seconds he is going to slide a free sachet of sexual lubricant under the door.”
“Seriously? That's a pretty inelegant solution for an omnipotent being.”
“I never said I was omnipotent. But if you are not happy with my solution, then there are other ways to convince her. Yuriko has been lying to you about her role in all this—ask her how she got you into the country without the relic being discovered.”
17
“You told the goddamn Japanese Mafia about the relic?!” The arteries on Rick’s neck were pulsing, his face was swollen and red, barely managing to restrain himself from marching over there and breaking her nose.
“I had no choice.”
“Why?”
“Do you really think it is easy for a foreigner to carry a priceless, ancient weapon into one of the most tightly-regulated countries on earth? I reached out to one of my contacts to make sure you got through without any security checks. All I wanted to do was to get the relic somewhere safe, where it could be studied.”
Yuriko’s face flushed, her eyes darted around the room, desperately searching for a distraction. After a couple of seconds, she settled for the sticky red carpet and took a couple of slow breaths. “I had no idea that Sota would come after it. I swear. If I’d known for a minute it would put us or the Professor in danger, I would never have even tried.”
Rick pressed his face into his hands. Running the bizarre turn of events through his head hoping to find clarity. At least two men were dead already, who could he trust? How could things possibly get any worse?
After a minute of contemplation, Rick broke the silence “Is it possible that this Sota guy knows what the relic is? That he knows about Thyos I mean?”
Yuriko tapped her foot nervously. “I’ve been asking myself the same thing. But he can’t know, it's impossible, all he sees is power and status. The only reason I believe you is that you just proved it beyond all reasonable doubt. How else could you have known
about the house or that they knew about the relic because of me?”
“I might have figured that last one out.”
Yuriko chose not to reply, she might as well have just admitted she thought he was an idiot.
“Well then, at least someone believes me.” It was a relief to be reassured of his sanity if nothing else.
“What did Thyos tell you then? What’s our plan?” Yuriko said, “We should get out of Japan. Here, Sota and his men can go anywhere and get to anyone, but outside the country, lying low somewhere hard to find, we would have a much better chance.”
“Our plan?” Rick could barely believe her gall. “I’m going home, I suggest you do the same.” Yuriko looked like she’d been slapped across the face. Rick enjoyed it for a second before a familiar pang of guilt kicked in.
“You can’t go home,” she said, “Not yet anyway, it's too dangerous. It would mean putting your loved ones at risk, we have to get the relic somewhere it will be safe first.”
Just then he remembered the deal he’d made with Thyos and shuddered at the thought of what she might demand of him in return. Fortunately, he hadn’t told Yuriko about any of this and wasn’t planning to, not until he figured out if he could trust either of them at least.
“I can help you,” she said. “Please? If I stay here they’ll kill me.”
Rick had no intention of abandoning her, not yet anyway, but he was certainly going to make sure she suffered a little for lying right to his face.
“I know you hate me,” she continued, “but condemning me to death for a lie is a different matter altogether.”
“Yeah, but it wasn’t exactly a little white lie, was it? You nearly cost me the relic and got us both killed, your lie did get the Professor killed.” He sighed, shaking his head. “Fine. You can come along.” Rick narrowed his eyes and pointed a finger at her, “But if so, we’re doing things my way. That means no questioning what I say and no more jibes at my intelligence as though you’re some sort of mega-genius.”