You have to do this.
He can’t stop you.
Er, yeah, he can.
Well, fuck him! He can’t be a dick about this. It’s his life you’ll be saving!
Felt like every inch of me was frozen, even my heart and lungs. I was as stone-like as he was.
“Then you must go.”
That nearly floored me. “For real?”
“Who am I to refuse the call of duty? I had mine. I defeated the mazoku queen. Now you will save us all, and maybe kill the new queen.”
“Potentially.”
He titled his head. “Indeed.”
“So…what do I do?” This was way too easy.
He came over, walking right up to me. Then he did something that I swear stopped my heart for a second. Hitoshi Murakami, my dad, put his hand on my shoulder. Fire and ice burned me at the same time. He’d never…not that I could remember…ever…never…ever…had any physical contact with me unless it was disciplinary or violent.
My next swallow felt like a bag of nails was passing down my throat. “Dad?”
“My son. My child. Because that is what you are. My son. All of you are. All…three of you.”
“Dad?” He was too close. I didn’t know how to feel about the proximity. “I…”
“Akira, I am well aware you know everything about Zach.”
I waited, stuck in some fucking twilight zone. What the hell was this?
“Mama Rita is, was, a woman by the name of Linette Blair. She was my lover, and I spurned her. For many years, I thought she was dead, or back in the elven realms with Zach.”
Linette? “She said you wanted her dead, as well as Zach.”
“I wanted her dead, yes. I will not deny that. But not my child. Never my child.” A pause. “I didn’t want to have him arrested, but he was a suspect at the time. I had no choice.” Another pause. “Now he is a victim of his mother's insanity.”
“But she…she said…she wants revenge.”
“I know she does.”
“What about Zach making a claim for your power?”
“Is that what she said?”
“Yeah.”
“And you believed her?”
“Well, yeah. We’re not exactly on good terms, are we?” His hand dropped, and my mouth kept going. “We don’t have the best relationship, do we?”
“No.”
“There’s not much…love.”
He stared at me for another full minute. Yeah, I counted the seconds. Worse this time as he was closer to me. “You’re right.”
“And you blamed me for mum’s death.” Another stare. I cut it off after thirty seconds. “Do you blame me?”
“I will have the plane ready for you immediately. You will be escorted to Murakami Airfield.”
That was it? No answer?
He did blame me.
“Gabriel?” Dad said.
“Yes, sir?”
“I want you to make arrangements regarding luggage for your trip.”
“Of course, sir. Consider it done.” He left the room.
My dad walked past me, stopping at the door. “Be ready to leave within the next few hours.”
I was too deflated to be angry.
He blamed me for mum’s death. Why?
“Dad—”
“I wish you well, Akira. I believe in you.”
This was all too surreal. “But Zach.” I moved away from the blaming thing. “You didn’t want Zach dead? Why did she say you did?”
“I didn’t, Akira. Linette, sorry, Mama Rita is a hateful woman. Zach is my child. I don’t kill my children.”
“So, why do you hurt me? Why did you let me have the shit kicked out of me? Why do you say the things you say to me?” And did you know about Colin? I left that last part out.
He didn’t say anything, his back to me, still standing by the door.
I was on a bit of a roll I didn’t wanna be on. “You say you believe in me, but you never have before. Why now, eh? Because I’m saving your life? Your family’s life?”
“You are my family, Akira,” he replied quietly.
“Yeah, I am. But only now that I’m saving your backside. Now there’s something to believe in.”
“Akira…” Whoa. He never trailed off like that. “I will give you Ryoka Takeda’s address when you depart.”
“Why can’t you tell me more, Dad? Why? I need—”
“What you need, Akira, is to prepare to leave.”
“But, Dad. Please.”
He walked away, going back to Sarah. I went to the door, watching him embrace his wife and new son.
A family.
My family.
I left without saying another word.
* * *
Sitting on the private plane—fancy with two Japanese flight attendants waiting on us even though it was just me and G—I stared down at the piece of paper my dad had given me with Ryoka Takeda’s address on it.
Flat 12,
Fuyu Building,
Kojimachi-Gakuen-Dori,
Chiyoda City,
Tokyo
息子よ、気をつけて
That last part (be careful, my son).
My dad had shown a flicker of a caring side, and I didn’t know how to deal with it. Having G look out for me was something else—like he cared about me being alive. Fine. But this was different level stuff, a baring of his soul. Okay, not that far, but it was the closest I’d ever seen to receiving affection from him, even though I wouldn’t call it affection.
I sipped the orange juice I’d been given as we waited for take-off. I even had a book about King Henry VIII of England in my lap. G had sourced it for me ‘cos I wanted to know who this geezer was. The book was proper old and yellow and falling apart. Probably wouldn’t get any reading done in all this, but there you go. I’d still try. The blurb had told me he’d had six wives.
Greedy bastard!
Man, I was confused. About the whole him not wanting to kill Zach like Mama Rita said, and, well, everything.
G, who had managed to get us clothes and toiletries mega quick, took my hand. We were sitting together in a two-seater, me by the window. There were only ten seats in total, plus an actual dining table in the center of the plane.
What having bucket loads of money can buy, eh?
G gave my hand a squeeze. “This wasn’t how I was expecting things to be at three in the morning.”
“Same, bruv.”
We were both wearing the weird dreamcatcher pendants. He hadn’t asked too many questions about them. G knew when to do what he needed to do, and I loved that about him. Proper soldier.
Love?
Shut the fuck up!
Another squeeze. “I’m with you all the way, Aki.”
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
I turned my head from the window. Man, I wanted to kiss him. He didn’t need to be here. Not at all. But here he was.
“I’m glad you’re here, G.”
Such a beautiful, warm smile. “Me too, Aki.”
Twenty minutes later, we took off.
Chapter Sixteen
Fourteen-hour flight to Tokyo, then whisked from Haneda Airport by wolfy peeps on this side of the world in black SUVs to the ironically-named Mūnfurawā (Moonflower) Hotel in Minato City—all on the down-low. My dad wanted me completely low-key for as long as possible out here, so as not to attract any unnecessary attention. Back in London, my dad had given a TV speech that I was safe in The Spire. How long this would last, I didn’t know. But I had hats and glasses and shit to help hide myself. I was good at blending in.
It was two o’clock in the morning local time, and I was shattered, wearing glasses and a baseball cap pulled low, watching Tokyo roll by. We were almost at our destination. My dad had peeps set up in the hotel to look after us. Discreet peeps. The Mūnfurawā Hotel wasn’t in the price range of, well, me or anyone else who didn’t swim in money in their spare time. Still, it was secure, and a cool b
ase to work from. Having staff acting on the orders of my dad was good.
We rocked up outside the building—sleek, black glass, tall, shimmering in the city lights around it. It screamed, ‘Hello! I’ll suck your life savings dry if you wanna sleep here.’
Into the lobby of gray stone walls, a couple of black feature walls with square lights fixed into them, and gray floors. There were pale wooden chairs, a black main desk with a small orange Bonsai tree sitting on it, ornate lighting fixtures above my head, and gray sofas with black and gray cushions placed in an alternate pattern. It was all very chic and modern.
We didn’t stop at the desk. Instead, a guy in a black suit greeted us cheerily but without making a fuss, then took us up to the fourteenth floor—the top floor—in the smoothest lift ride ever.
Room 1413. The guy opened the door. “Please, enjoy your stay, sirs,” he said in Japanese. “If there is anything you need, do not hesitate to call the front desk. Room service is available twenty-fours a day.”
“Arigato.” I bowed to him. G did the same.
He bowed in response. “Doumo arigatou gozaimasu.”
G handed him a tip.
“Arigatou gozaimasu,” the guy thanked him, bowing once again. “Oyasumi.”
“Oyasumi,” me and G said it at the same time. Snap! Ha!
The door closed, and my jaw hit the floor. “Whoa. This room.”
“I know, Aki.”
The room was huge, with light wooden floors and walls. There were white sofas in the main living space, with a panoramic view of Minato. The Tokyo Tower was all lit up, right there in the center of our view. Man, it was all so pretty. And there was a balcony with some seats and a small table for fresh air and drinking it all in.
We checked out the bathroom first, opening one of the washi paper doors that separated each room. Gray stone with wooden tops between two stone sinks. A shower and a deep furo bathtub big enough for two people.
“Swanky,” I proclaimed.
The bedroom had two beds that faced yet another panoramic view. There was a charcoal window seat stretched across the windows, complete with a reading lamp and another orange Bonsai tree sitting on a wooden table.
Of course, Dad had made sure to set some clear conditions. G and me weren’t allowed to go out alone. We had to keep inconspicuous, so our protection would be done by some hardcore peeps we’d never meet unless we had to. That was already in place, apparently. Also, we had to share a room. Safer together.
Thank the tenshi there were separate beds.
I sat down on the bed next to the bathroom door, my mind going back to the kiss we’d had at The Spire. We hadn’t mentioned it since. Of all the things that were going on, that I could be thinking about, it was the thing that floated to the top like a hungry koi ready to snack down on the food in my hand.
Wow. What a stupid analogy.
We’d hugged at the hospital, and he’d taken my hand on the plane, and I was getting all confused, and I didn’t wanna be confused here in Tokyo when I had to have my head fully in the game.
Damn.
“G. I need to say something.”
“What is it, Aki?”
“About the kiss.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah. So, I’ve been thinking about it and come to a conclusion.”
“You have?”
“Yeah. We’re both lonely and spending all this time together. Gets confusing. But it don’t have to mean anything. We’re buddies, right? We don’t have to do all this awkward shit. We’re just young, dumb, and full of cum. Well, you’re not dumb.”
“You’re not dumb, Akira.”
I shrugged. “What do you say? Move on? It was just a kiss.”
Except, it wasn’t. Total bullshit. It was more than that, and by the look of hurt on his face, which he was trying to hide, it’d meant more to him too.
But I couldn’t do this.
He deserved better, and I couldn’t…just couldn’t. All that led to a mess, to pain. I wasn’t ever going down that road again.
“Hug it out?” I opened my arms. “Er, maybe not a good idea.”
He shook his head and came over. A bruv hug with a slap on the back. All very ‘I’m not gonna shag you’ and stuff.
“Cool,” I said. The hug ended. “Glad we cleared that up. You’re a good kisser.”
“You too.”
If I’d ever needed to bake it off, it was now. “Think the hotel would let me use the kitchens to whip up some cupcakes?”
“Seriously?”
“Yeah.”
“You want to bake in the hotel?”
“I do.”
“I think you should sleep. Maybe ask tomorrow. You need to get on Tokyo time.”
“I’m proper knackered, but I need to bake.”
“Do you want to go and see? They might accommodate you.” He stifled a yawn.
How was I supposed to drag him down to the kitchens at this hour? I mean, yeah, they might indulge me, but G would have to be with me, and I didn’t wanna be the one to keep him up all night.
“Let’s sleep.”
“I’m so glad you said that.”
“Hey, I can cool off my fancies when I need to.”
“Interestingly put.”
“You mocking me, bruv?”
“I’m too tired to care, Aki.”
“Okay, you win. Let’s hit the sheets.”
Damn my blushing.
He smiled and headed to the bathroom. “You want this first, or am I good to use it?”
“I’m not the boss of you or the bathroom, G. Go for it.”
“Okay.” He went inside.
Had I just hurt him again? I liked to think I didn’t fuck my friends over, but I saw the pain, the disappointment, in his face.
Felt it in my heart.
Ah, ball sacks of the sweatiest kind!
This was going to be a very interesting trip.
Chapter Seventeen
Being dark all the time meant we could sneak about on the streets of Tokyo whenever we wanted, even if it was one in the afternoon. All these shadows were proper handy.
After a late Japanese breakfast of Tamago gohan, we headed out into the streets of Minato.
It wasn’t too busy, the city still reeling from the werewolf slaughter that’d gone down. Gabriel had his collar covered up with a teal turtleneck jumper, just to give us that more of a ‘we’re no one’ look. I did clock a few wolves as we wove our way through the streets. Peeps out doing their daily things crossed the road if they got too close to a wolf or gave them wary looks. Didn’t blame them.
We arrived at Onarimon Station as the SkyMetro train boomed above, leaving a beam of blue light in its wake.
The hotel had provided us with unlimited passes to use the Tokyo SkyMetro as much as we wanted. It was a useful way of getting around the city, yeah, but I was looking forward to navigating it as much as I liked using the SkyTube.
Which was never.
The Onarimon elf trading point was on the opposite side of the road to the station, locked up, guarded by two wolves, and two SCU agents. It was weird seeing the same lockdown implemented on the other side of the world. But there it was. No elves allowed anymore.
Me and G went up to the platforms to use the Mita Line (blue), finding the platform for the right direction. Head to Jimbocho Station, change to the Hanzomon Line (purple) to be whisked to Hanzomon Station.
Thank the tenshi the trains weren’t busy. I didn’t sit down, though. Would probably never get over my fear of public transport seats being kingdoms of germs, along with handrails.
“You can sit,” I said to G, my eyes on the glass-bottom floor lighting up blue, ready to depart.
“I’m good, Aki.”
“Nice brekkie, eh?”
“It was.”
Small talk! What a load of bullshit. “Sorry, G. I never fill the minutes like this.”
“You can talk about whatever you want, Aki. I don’t mind.”
Stop bei
ng so nice! I’m awkward, and so are you.
That whole kiss thing was a big fucking screen between us now. Thorn in our friendship. It didn’t have to be, though. What the hell was wrong with me? Why did I have to give that big speech and make myself look like a cold-hearted bastard?
‘Cos you are…
Fuck off!
“We’re here.”
“Huh?”
“We’re here, Aki. We need to change trains.”
“Oh. Cool. Right.”
* * *
Pausing outside an open convenience store, on a street walled in by residential blocks, I looked up at the yellow-tiled building opposite the shop. A café and two takeaway places were at the bottom, with the flats above those.
The Fuyu (winter) Building. Those yellow tiles didn’t sit with the name, but who gave a shiny shite?
There was a stairwell on the side of the block, and we took it up. On each level, there were locked gates with electronic panels and buzzers, all flats clearly marked.
If you were a master sword maker and wanted to keep a low profile in a city, you’d go to a place like this, almost hidden in plain sight. Either that or head-on into the sticks. Didn’t think I’d stick around in a city to hide if it was me, but then hiding out in the countryside was more obvious.
Look at me trying to get into Ryoka Takeda’s head.
Four floors up, we came to the gate with Flat 12 marked on the panel.
“Shit,” I said, “we’re here.”
“You okay, Aki?”
“Yeah, I just need to take this in.”
“Okay.”
“What the fuck am I talking about?”
“Only you can answer that.”
“Taking it in. Yeah. Preparing.”
“Take all the time you need. When you’re ready—”
I hit the buzzer. Screw waiting. I’d spent my whole life waiting for answers, and this was my chance to discover another more.
This geezer made my swords stuck in the moon. This guy actually made my energy-sucking babies.
Man, I missed them hardcore.
Because of them, the curse was—
Nope. I wasn’t carrying that crap.
“Who is this?”
Four Moons: The Complete Collection: (Books 1 - 4) Page 35