My phone meows with a notification. I pick it up. The KillChat App on my phone has a red notification bubble in the corner now. Did it finish? I tap it.
A message box pops up.
Hello Ms. Jun Mei Akiyama!
Thank you for signing up for the new KillChat App! If you are receiving this message now, your phone has been successfully linked with PoleControl system and you can now use all functions of KillChat. From this point on, your phone’s security will be monitored and in the event that your security is compromised both you and PoleControl will be notified and in additionally you will be sent instructions on what to do next. Until then, please enjoy your retiree benefits that come with app.
Explore Now?
Yes! >>Maybe Later…
It’s about time Showguns finished with that. But that means that I’m going to need to go down to PoleControl again to return my issued phone and my gun and gods know I don’t feel like doing that. Unlike riding up and down to PoleControl, there’s no “nice way” to get to Ise Shrine. Trains don’t go there at all. Buses pass it, but they don’t stop at anywhere near it anymore. Not to mention that the nearest stop in that direction for either is so far to walk. And my chances for a cab are slimmer than an eyelash. I guess I’ll wait until Tammy leaves. Hopefully, Showguns won’t press me about hurrying on the return.
Before I can get put my phone down an incoming call comes in from Regi. I swipe my finger across the screen to accept the call. “Hello?”
“Hey, are you at home right now?” Regi asks.
“Yeah, why? Are you still coming over?”
“I will if you really want me to. Traffic is kind of hellish right now, but I’m closer to you than I am to home.”
I open my mouth to tell him he doesn’t have to come, but then I stop. After today, I might never even get to see or touch Regi again unless he’s wearing a hazmat suit. No matter how much we’ve fought these past days, I don’t want to die with my last impressions of him being bad memories. “I’d really appreciate it if you were here with me.”
Regi’s blinkers click through the phone speakers. Then in a softer voice, he asks, “Do you want to talk about it?”
I thumb at the band of my engagement ring. “You can already tell, huh?”
“I figured something’s up if I have to be there in person,” Regi says. “Do you want me to bring you anything? Food? Drink? Pain pills? Allergy meds?”
“A warm oolong tea would be nice in this weather.” I get up from the computer desk.
“Will do. When are you getting your tattoo worked on?”
“I’ll leave around five. But since Megumi still isn’t home, you could stick around.”
“Megumi’s not home on a weekday?”
“No one knows where she is,” I say. “She’s been gone since I was with you.”
“Oh right, right. Forgot about that. Ah, well I guess I could stay the night and finish what I’m working on. I have a change of clothes already.”
“Great, then I’ll see you when you get here.”
“See you in a little bit.”
I hang up and lay the phone down so I can’t see the screen. Inside, my throat tightens like a squeezed sponge. I put my head in my hands. What am I going to say? In assassin training at Red Dragon Academy, you’re taught to deal with death in so many forms: cleaning up after a death, what to do when your mentor dies, mental preparation to not hesitate in situations where you can die from not acting. But right now, all of my training feels as slippery as milk tipping out of a bottle and equally as unhelpful.
Deciding to give the ruminating a break, I go to the closet to pick my clothes for tomorrow. Heaven didn’t say what I should wear, but with the job being physically intensive, comfortable is probably my best bet. Tomorrow, it’s not supposed to rain as heavy. But it still might be cold, I opt for a pair of sweats. After that, I head downstairs with my phone. King joins me on the couch and curls under my armpit while I open up KillChat again.
This time it prompts me with a new message.
Please enter your issued PoleControl ID.
I quickly type in all the numbers. Then immediately it takes me to a profile page, already filled in with my information.
Jun Mei Akiyama (Not viewable to the public)
Classification: Hound
Rank: Daimyo
Status: Retired
Alias: (Not yet set)
Would you like to edit this information?
>>Yes No
I click on alias, type in my Lords of Earth name iSoFly, and hit enter. The screen loads and then brings up a whole new menu.
What would you like to do today iSoFly?
Help A Trainee (New)
IT Discussion Forum
Hound Discussion Forum
Escort Discussion Forum
Geisha Discussion Forum
Trending Topics (New)
I select Hound Discussion Forum. At the top, the most viewed topic is: So About The ChiGuard 220… I click it out of curiosity.
PearlyGates: So guys, I know we Hounds generally don’t get to talk much outside of meetings, but since we finally have a forum all to ourselves, I’ve been dying to ask, is there any gods damned way to crack the 220 faster? I actually set up timed run of how long it takes to crack one and it took me over thirty minutes. -_-
AbsoluteCerberus: You’re new here, aren’t you Pearly? :P
NoAssassinsHere: Why is this question not in Help A Trainee? Or are you trolling?
IcarusSmicarus: The fastest Hound speed cracks 220s at seven minutes thirty seconds. Most experienced Hounds can get down to about ten minutes at least. If you’re taking thirty minutes on average to crack every 220, you probably just need to practice more. :)
PerfectlyUltimateGreatHound: With the 220 being the longest ChiGuard to crack, it makes you wonder why the hell the civilian side of Pole Control even bothered to upgrade the security. Let’s be honest here, if the 220 was still around, half of us would be in jail and the other half would just say fuck it and convert to being an Escort or Geisha. But to each their own.
SnoopHound: ^ This.
ForeverBroke: Yeah, idk why civilian PoleControl made security easy for us with that update. It’s not like they don’t know that we’re cracking their shit.
AbsoluteCerberus: TL;DR: Homeowners and business owners complained that it took so long to change security settings. Not to mention, the security surveillance that came with the 220 were just awful. You might as well just set up your own camera on a tripod and put it directly in front of your door. @Icarus, are you talking about MimiLuvsMe?
PearlyGates: Someone does it under ten minutes? Wtf…
IcarusSmicarus: @Absolute: Yeah. She even put out a video on it. Should be somewhere in the forum.
ForeverBroke: Wat? LINKS OR IT DIDN’T HAPPEN
SnoopHound: LINKS OR NO BALLS
AbsoluteCerberus: How To Speed Crack The 220. Should be the right video.
Might be helpful. I click on the link. But before the screen can fully load, the doorbell goes off. King wriggles out from underneath me and barks at the door, his tail wagging. That must be Regi. I get up to get the door.
A blast of cold comes in from outside as the door opens. Messenger bag over his shoulder and a backpack on, Regi shakes his umbrella out under the portico with one hand and hands me my drink with the other, then he reaches around to hug me. His teeth chatter faintly in my ear. “You’re so warm. You wouldn’t believe how cold it is out there, babe. Brrr!”
I put my empty arm around him. “I have an idea. I was out there earlier.”
Regi gives me a wide-eyed gawk. “For what? Not work, right? Isn’t that tomorrow?”
“No, it was for something totally unrelated.” I stand up to kiss him on the cheek.
King jumps and paws at Regi’s knees until Regi picks him up like a baby. Regi turns King so he can stare at him. “Oi, you’re getting fat, big boy. Soon I’m not going to be able to pick you up anymore.” Then Regi p
uts King back down and closes the door. “That reminds me. I want to show you something. You might like it.”
“What is it?”
“Everyone at the studio is excited because we’re producing music for a movie. You’ll never guess what it is,” Regi says.
I lift my latte cup. “Live action of The Red Hood?”
“Nope.” Regi fits his hand around mine, pulling me toward the stairs. “Guess again.”
“Can I have a hint?”
“It rhymes with dough buns.”
Now it’s my turn to gawk. “Showguns?”
Regi grins from ear to ear. “Bingo! And yours truly is making the main theme. So I’m gonna need your opinion on it. I wanna make sure it sounds gangsta enough.”
I can’t help but smile at his enthusiasm. “I’ll do it on the condition that you never say that again.”
“Oh right. I need to use street lingo, right?” Regi looks up at the ceiling. “How about dope or dank?”
“No.”
“Ooh ooh, I know!” He snaps a finger. “Hella!”
“NO.”
“Illest!”
I smack Regi’s shoulder with the back of my latte-holding hand. “For your information, no one in Showguns says any of that. We’re not street thugs.”
“Really?” Regi pouts. “You should tell that to the guys making the movie. They’re doing it all wrong.”
“Oh gods, dare I even ask?”
“Do you want to see the Showguns’ walk?”
“The what?”
Regi lets go of me once we reach my room and opens his messenger bag. “It’s a gangster walk, babe. You know like the Crip walk for the American gangs?”
I mock-wretch at those words and take a seat on my bed. “What the fuck is this movie even about? I don’t know if I want to see it.”
Regi takes off his jacket and cozies up next to me with his laptop. I lean on his shoulder, inhaling his sandalwood aftershave while he logs in to his computer.
“Alright, the song is still coming along, so…” He plugs in his earphones and hands them to me. “Go easy on me.”
I cover my ear with the ear cups. Regi pushes play.
Brass explodes into my ears. Then the horns and string stabs come in. A light beat clicks over it. Synth tops over it. And a swingy bass threads underneath. And the piano finishes it off. “Wow. It sounds like a party song.” I slide the headphones off. “It’s nice.”
“I’ve been playing with the instruments for a while now and I had so much trouble trying to figure out what Showguns sounds like,” Regi says, putting an arm around me.
“I was expecting it to sound more Asian.”
“I thought that too, but it’s called Showguns,” Regi says. “I wanted to play around with the show part.”
I roll my eyes. “You’re the second person to say that this week.”
“Well, great minds think alike, eh?”
I don’t say anything to that. You don’t want to be anything like the Geisha.
Regi closes his laptop and moves it off his lap. “So…what did you want to talk about?”
I bite my cheek, put my lips over my latte cup. Now that I actually have his attention, it feels like I have a golf ball in my throat. “I wanted to apologize. I know I’ve been kind of an ass lately.”
“Hey, don’t worry about it.” He leans over. His lips brush my forehead. “I totally get it. You’re stressed. A lot of change is happening all at one time. And Megumi is gone.”
“And Mai is gone.”
Regi’s eyes widen. “Mai? Dragon Lady?”
I elbow Regi in the side. “Yes, that Mai.”
“Wait, wait—She died?”
“No, no. She’s just been taken off the locators for safety reasons. She was shot.”
Regi runs a hand through his ginger hair, face tightening up as if he’s in pain too. “Damn. By who?”
“I don’t know. Mai wouldn’t say, and no one knows where she is either.” I say.
Regi is quiet for a while before saying, “Think they might be related?”
Could they? I have a hard time seeing it. The two don’t really have anything in common besides knowing me. And even if they were related, why would the same person want them both gone? Megumi, sure, easy target. But then targeting Mai doesn’t make any sense, if the assassin had any sense, they’d have researched Mai beforehand and know that a half-assed drive by wouldn’t work because of her Akuma genes. Not to mention that targeting Mai raises even more red flags than killing Megumi. No experienced assassin would take a job like that unless they clearly didn’t know who she was. And trying to be an assassin on your own without Showguns’s IT support is near impossible. I shake my head. “I doubt it. Because think about it, what would Megumi do to get someone to come after her?”
Regi rolls his shoulders, then shrugs. “Dunno. I mean you know how I feel about her.”
I nibble at my cup lip. “But enough to kill her, Regi?”
“No. But you know people out there are crazy, Jun,” Regi says. “Just because the big bad PoleControl can see everything doesn’t mean someone won’t try something. Besides, I read that there’s two common reasons why people murder: jealousy and insurance money. Either of those sound like it?”
“Jealousy maybe, but what are people jealous of? That she breaks the curve in chemistry or something? That’s petty.”
“Petty, but some people are,” Regi shrugs again. “The other thing is money. Gods know Megumi’s dad has plenty of that.”
“Then that would mean Megumi would have to be kidnapped,” I say. “And Mai’s side would be the one that doesn’t add up then. Why kill one and only kidnap the other?”
Regi puts both hands on his head. “I don’t know. And all these mysteries are twisting my brain into knots. Maybe they ought to film you instead, babe.”
Gods know my life is dramatic enough.
When I don’t say anything, Regi pulls me closer to him. “Hey, don’t worry to much about it. True you don’t know if they’re okay, but you also don’t know if anything is wrong.” He reaches for my hand and pecks me on the lips. “For now just take things one at a time.”
Fluttery warmth kindles in my stomach at the gesture. This is the man I said yes to, not the one I’ve been arguing with left and right, and maybe the one thing in my life that hasn’t suddenly disappeared or had something terrible to happen to him. I lay my tea aside on the table and embrace Regi fully. Let me have something for once in my life. I’ve lost my parents, my mentor, my career, and my friend. Please, don’t take away my fiancé too.
“Hey, hey come right in!” Ken opens the door wide for me. “Hope you don’t mind, I have a visitor.”
I stay at the door. “A visitor?” My face heats a little. “While I’m being tattooed?”
“Oh no, no. Nothing like that.” Ken rubs the back of his neck. Then looks back toward the table.“It’s not going to be long, right Susano?”
At Ken’s dining room table, a man sips from a gold-rimmed red teacup. With his bright orange robes, he looks like he came straight from a Buddhist monastery. He’s all Tokaido-descent in the face, but his blue eyes are two chilled marbles which makes me wonder if he might be half of something else like me. He smiles faintly. “Of course, we’ve finished our business.” Then he stands up. “Would you like for me to wash this cup?”
“You can leave it on the table. I’ll get it,” Ken says.
I walk inside as Susano stands up. The monk man dips his head to us both and passes me. From his walk to his gestures, I’m almost reminded of my first impression of Heaven: that queer “something missing” factor.
Ken closes the door after him, and jogs over to take the teacup into the kitchen. “I’ll be with you in second.”
“Who was that?” I call, taking off my jacket.
“Oh, just an old friend of my Dad's. He came over to talk about some Showguns stuff.”
“Susano is a part of Showguns?”
“Uhhh…not qu
ite. I mean he gets involved with us sometimes. Mostly the behind the scenes stuff,” Ken says. “Since Dad might be ready to leave Showguns.”
For a moment I almost wonder if maybe the Geisha has something to do with it, but then I brush the thought off as quickly as it comes. There’s no way the Geisha could get away with blackmailing him. Besides, Shogun Tatsuo is pretty old; I doubt anyone needs to blackmail him to get him to step down.
While Ken turns on the water, I sit down in a chair to wait for him. “Your Dad is okay, isn’t he?”
“Huh? Oh, yeah, yeah. Dad’s fine.” Ken scrubs the cup and swills it out.
As I watch him, I get that same “missing” feeling from him that Susano and Heaven had. But the more I observe, it doesn’t seem like Ken changed anything from his last visit. “Did you change your hair or something?”
“No.” Ken looks at me over his shoulder. “Why? Do I look different?” His voice is hopeful, but I can’t imagine what he’d have to be hopeful for if he didn’t change anything.
“You seem different today, but I can’t figure out what it is,” I say.
“Hah.” Ken turns off the sink and puts the teacup into the dishrack with a smirk. “That’s because I didn’t change anything on the outside, friend. But I’ve been trying out new stuff lately and took some dating advice.” Ken grabs a white and red plaid towel from the oven handle and wipes his hands. “Working on building confidence and all that.”
“Really? Does this mean you finally found a girlfriend?”
“Jun!”
I hold my elbow. “Sorry, but what am I supposed to think when you say that?”
Ken shakes his head. “No Jun, my girlfriend is a work in progress.”
“So you do have a girlfriend for sure?”
Ken sighs.
“Sorry.”
He shrugs. “It’s okay. I ought to get used to those questions by now.” Ken puts the towel on a nearby chair and gestures to the raised tattooing bench. “But we’ve got business to get to, no?”
“Speaking of business…” I stand up and move to the bench. “Can I ask you a favor?”
Vicissitude Yang Side Page 24