“They didn’t let you see her?”
He sighs and shakes his head. “Apparently, coming out of Mai’s birth canal doesn’t count for anything. But I’d rather not argue with an Escort’s fists. Some of them looked like they didn’t take their control meds today.”
“Same. Besides, I need to eat so I can go out to Taitai. I might bring Jin by later tonight if I can.”
“Be safe then.” He pecks me on the lips. “I hear that traffic is a little heavy going that way.”
As if the driving distance wasn’t bad enough already. But that’s my fault for staying up so late. And besides, doing this on a Monday would’ve been much worse.
After I eat breakfast, the weather finally lets up and the showers taper into faint sink-drip. When I get back to my driveway at home, I find Regi’s car gone. Did he go somewhere? I walk inside and find my suspicions confirmed in a sticky note on the dining room table.
Jin wanted to come along for breakfast and play games with the triplets at my house. King is with me too, so don’t freak out or anything. I’ll drop them back before I have to do errands and come back later.
Beneath those words, the words Love Regi are crossed out to the point that there’s a hole in the note, but then next to them he wrote Love you. In the stack of sticky notes next to it, the inkless words are imprinted into the next note; I wouldn’t be surprised if they were imprinted into the whole stack. There’s an anger in the gouging lines that you can feel. Just how much restraint it must have taken to not ruin the whole note, how badly he’s trying to be an adult about this.
My face heats as I realize I forgot to bring my ring along. Imagine if he was here. Awkward.
But even still, it’s bittersweetly endearing that he can find the heart to write that now. I fold the note in crisp Megumi-style. I guess we’ll have to postpone our talk again.
I hop in the shower upstairs, change and gather an extra change of clothes for me and Jin into a backpack just in case. It’s going on 1 o’clock and I know for sure that by the time I get back it’s going to be dark.
Once I get into Tammy’s car, the first thing I do is turn on the heater and rub my hands together. This is definitely one thing I will miss about my old Panda: not getting shat on by the weather.
The freeway is so slow that it’s borderline painful, even the carpool lanes. Halfway to Taitai, the lanes get bottlenecked into two because of a turned over freight truck and three smashed up cars on the shoulder. And of course, everyone else wants to snail by slower than necessary to see the wreck.
I’m glad when the traffic gets moving again and I can finally get off the damn thing. While I’m turning in the off-ramp, my phone goes off. I answer it at the red light and put it through my car speakers. “Hello?”
“Kitty-cat? What on earth is going on with Mai? Jin is saying something about her getting shot.”
The light turns green. I turn. “She did.”
“Again?” Tammy doesn’t even sound shocked, like Mai getting shot is becoming the new norm.
“Yeah, I know. She was just getting better,” I say. “But this time, she’s not going to be able to walk.”
“She’s paralyzed?” Now cue the real shock. “What is she going to do? Be in a wheel chair?”
“I don’t know. She might not even hold on for much longer.” Not if I go through with the trial. Well I can’t say if. I have to. Before I lose both her and Amaterasu for good. But Mai never really got around to explaining how the hell I absorb a life. “She wasn’t even conscious last I checked.”
Tammy is so quiet that I hear a Chinese woman shouting in the background. “My gods… She was fine the last time I saw her. How did all this start happening?”
I stay quiet. I don’t know if Mai was open with Tammy about Showguns the way she was open with my mom and me about it, and I’m definitely not going to air that out now.
She sighs. “I was thinking of maybe coming home early and—”
“No, Tammy. Finish your meetings. You know Mai wouldn’t want you to do that. Not even if she was dying on the floor.”
“But I want to see her. I know she’s not family, but she feels like it.”
“Maybe we can set up a video call later,” I say. “But right now, we’re not even allowed to see her, so there’s no point in jumping on a plane this second anyway.”
“Alright, but as soon as she is allowed to see someone. I want to talk to her.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll make sure you get it.”
“Good. I trust the house hasn’t fallen apart?”
“Nope.” I turn onto my old street. “Still standing and everything is fine.”
She chuckles. “Well, excuse me then. Enjoy your last few days of being woman of the house.”
To be honest, I’d be thrilled to have someone else in charge of things for once. Every day is becoming a cycle of waking up and crossing my fingers that someone else I know doesn’t get shot, hurt, blackmailed, robbed, or kidnapped. How the fuck do you even adult normally at that point? I park in front of the driveway. “I’ll try.”
We hang up and stare at the house. Let this be the last time that I ever have to crack a 220. I stand out there for a draggy fifteen minutes of breaking the chi-guard, before I finally get inside.
I lean against the door and survey the living room. “Mom?”
Neither the piano or radio stir.
I wonder if I should try drawing her out? Should I try my magic? Or maybe try playing the piano? A chilly prickling snails over me at the thought of being so close to a dead spirit. I know Mai said that spirits can’t hurt me for real, but that doesn’t make it any less unsettling. I inch closer to the piano like a wolf unsure if the thing in front of it is prey. I feel for familiar beating of my resonance to get ready. I sit down at the seat and place both hands on the ivory keys. There’s a sheet music on the music rack. I’m rusty at reading music and piano, but it doesn’t look too foreign. I think this is the song she was playing when I last here. Inhaling through my nose, I push and hold my chi at my fingertips. Then I slowly start at the right end of the keys.
The high notes plink softly into the quiet, one after another.
Come on.
Warmer sweet chords follow.
I know you’re here.
Once I get to the end of the sheet, I stop to turn the page. But as soon as I do, the piano’s keys pick up where I left off, smoother and far more skillful. The radio crackles, mom’s voice hums along. Slowly, a gaseous form slips from the radio.
That’s right. I get up and put my hands together. Time for you to finally get the rest that you deserve. I move my hands in a circle. The connective tendrils snake toward her. I brace myself for the impact.
A sharp jolt races through my body and my vision goes back. In the midst of the pain, I sense her resonance, much quicker than mine. I match mine to hers.
Jumbled images flood my vision.
“No, my…granddaughter. She lives somewhere else.” Mom’s anxious voice comes. Her fear electrifies me as if it were mine.
The face of a man coalesces. Kind crimson eyes. Bushy eyebrows. Long beard. And strange noodle-like feelers extending out from his upper lip. Deep set wrinkles in his face. He doesn’t look like a murderer. Red monk robes drape his figure. “Somewhere else? All your neighbors say the contrary, Ma’m.”
The men behind him, put their hands on their weapons. “On your word, General Ushi.”
Jun, wherever you are, please stay there for a little while longer. Please…
General Ushi closes his eyes briefly. “I’ll let you choose where.”
Mom’s throat gets tight. I’m shaking with her. “The piano.”
“Very well. Play the song you love most.”
The dragons behind him hand him a piston. Mom goes to the piano bench, ignoring the phone vibrating on the table. She sits down and puts her quivering hands on the keys. Beside her, the radio crackles something indistinct.
“I’ll wait until the end,” Th
e General says.
And he does.
BANG!
5-8 'Ah'
“Get up.”
Something shakes my shoulder. “Get up, Jun please. You have to get home.”
Icy urgency floods my system. My eyes snap open. The living room ceiling comes into focus. I sit up, hand on my head. What the? What happened? The last thing I remember is being at the piano and—
Mom’s voice. I heard it just now, didn’t I? I look around, but there’s no one else here. What time is it? I check my phone. 5:28. I grimace.
I’ve been here way too long.
I hurry out of the house and get in the car. Even with empty roads and traffic clear on the other side of the freeway, it’s not fast enough. Every red light is too long. I can’t catch any greens fast enough.
Finally I turn onto Sakura Boulevard and pull in behind my motorcycle. Glancing at the house, I unbuckle my seatbelt.
The house is in tact. No smoke, so no fires…
The kitchen lights are flickering?
King’s shrill yelps slice my eardrums. His yelp tapers off.
My pulse jumps. What the hell? I run to the porch and press my finger to the key pad.
The door slides open.
Blood-reek hits my nostrils. I step inside and the air is so cold I can see my breath. In the flickering light, King’s mangled body rests in a pool of his own blood and shattered glass while a thick cloud of darkness pulses overhead. Red lightning marbles it as it stretches and reforms. A snake-like head stretches out of the darkness, tongue flickering.
That’s the snake from Ise! And a spirit with a form. That can hurt me. Swallowing, I retreat back a step.
Light from upstairs flicks on. Jin comes down the stairs. “Jun?”
The snake’s eyes gleam at the sound of his voice. It floats closer.
Cold floods through me. My fear hardens into firm resolve. “No! Jin go back upstairs!”
It recoils back at the blow, hissing. With a hiss, its red eyes flash. It opens its mouth and red lightning jets from its throat.
Shift! I change just in time to duck low to the ground. The lightning streaks out of the house. A car alarm sounds across the street.
I streak down the stairs and leap at the snake.
It hovers just out of reach, then slaps me down to the ground with its tail.
Fire blazes through my shoulder. I get up just in time to dart away from another jet of lightning. The snake twists around, snapping at me.
I veer to avoid the jaws, then whirl to claw at its chin.
It wrenches back with a hiss, then lashes its tail at me again.
This time the hit catches me in the flank. I barrel into the dining room table, knocking it over. Pain spikes through my flanks. Stars flood my vision.
"No! No! No!" Jin screams.
C'mon! Get up!
The snake slithers downstairs, Jin coiled in its tail.
I summon every ounce of strength I have left and change back into human form. I bring both hand in front of me and send the connection tendrils after it. “No, you don’t!”
The snake opens its mouth. Lightning tears from its jaws.
The lightning collides with my tendrils. Agony spears through my body.
All I see is Jin's wide terror-stricken eyes in the frozen instant before the world blows apart.
Consciousness slips like a sudsy soap bar on a wet floor. My vision flickers in disembodied panels. One minute I’m on a stretcher surrounded by paramedics, the next I seem to be alone in the ICU with a heart monitor beeping next to me. Then I’m on a bed, surrounded by the dark suits of Escorts. Then back in the ambulance.
A blurry man in a mint scrub and a surgical mask leans close. His mask creases and stretches. He taps my cheek.
“Miss? Miss? Can you tell me your name?” His voice is full of echoey reverb. Drifting.
My name?
I drift into the darkness again and this time I’m not alone. Tamotsu’s hand is clamped tight around mine. “No. Your name isn’t Jun. Jun left. Don’t you remember?”
Switch.
Florescent light blinds me for a moment. I’m in a white room. A black-haired woman with green cat-like blurs into focus. “Do you remember who you are?”
Switch.
“Process her chi sample. We can get her name.”
“526 Sakura Blvd. Her name is—”
Switch.
Tamotsu’s voice. “Goddamn it, Mai. Don’t you ever scare me like that again.”
Switch.
The cat-like woman’s voice. “Please rest, Amaterasu. You’ve been through a lot.”
Switch.
“Contact family members now.”
The hall of the hospital blurs past. “Tamamo Nomae?”
“Not picking up. Anyone else in her records?”
“Let’s see we got a…Reginald Beauregard? Mai Fujiwara?”
"Alright…call them.”
Switch.
The room is spinning. I’m cold. So cold. I can’t breathe. I can’t see. I want my mom, my brother, my dad, and Tammy. I want Mai most of all. I don’t want to die alone.
Switch.
Everything is white. Eight hazy female figures appear at my sides, voices indistinct. One by one, they leave. Until one silhouette remains at my side. It reaches out gentle shadowy fingers resting warmly on my forehead. “You’re going to be okay,” A soothing voice whispers. It’s familiar. A voice I can’t place.
“I’ve been looking forward to meeting you,” The voice continues. “Ever since you were born. And now you’re finally ready.”
I try to open my mouth, to try to make noise, but I can’t even do that. All I can do is remain quiet as the figure pulls her hand back.
“I know none of this was asked for, but you wouldn’t have been chosen if you weren’t the best person for the job.” She turns away. “Please remember that when you forget who you are.” She walks away, fading like the other figures. “I’ll wait for you.”
Only when I’m all alone does everything start to click.
That the voice that spoke to me had been mine.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
Rainfall pit-pats in my ear. Ripe banana drifts into my nostrils. Someone is chewing.
Where am I? I open my eyes. Everything is white as bleached clothes. Doctors and nurses pass by my window, voices like watery burbling. Some glance at me.
Beside me, Vampire sits in a chair, hair yarded back into a ponytail as she nibbles on a naked bit of a banana and swipes through her Gene Watch with a hand. Her gaze slides to me and perks. “Heyo bish!”
“What happened to me?”
“You tell me,” Vampire says. “Docs just say that home emergency alert went off at PoleControl and they found you unconscious and all your house is all fucked up like a demolition derby. You had a concussion I think.”
Just a concussion? Praise Fedora for Akuma genes. “I see…” My gaze strays to the beady-eyed teddy bear in her lap. It’s dressed in a hoodie and sneakers. No pants. A tiny flap of felt tongue protrude from its mouth. It looks kind of like Jin. An icy zap clips my heart. Jin! I stir. A sharp sting races through my back, forcing me to lay down. “What about my little cousin? Where is he?”
Her eyebrows furrow. “Huh?”
“My cousin,” I repeat. “My cousin was at home. I was supposed to at home watching him and…” Seeing the blankness on Vampire’s face, stop there.
Oh no…
Vampire scratches her head. “How much do you remember?”
I drove home. Then that snake…
It must’ve taken him.
Gritting my teeth, I try to sit up again through the pain.
“Woah, woah, woah…” Vampire puts a hand on my shoulder, easing me back down. “Take it easy, bish. You just woke up.”
“Vampire, some asshole kidnapped my cousin!”
She snorts. “And we’ll get him when you’re better. Who you gonna save while you’re half-naked in a hospital gown, bish? Lay y
our ass down.”
I scowl, glaring up at the ceiling. Heat boils under my skin. Then it gives way to ache. Pain swells up from the bottom of my lungs. I cover my face in my hands. I should’ve brought him with me. I should’ve fought harder. He should’ve never been alone. “It’s all my fault.”
“It’s not your fault. Someone else kidnapped him,” Vampire says. “You can’t change what happened, but you can fix it.”
Can I really? That demon kicked my ass. Even with my new powers. “What’s today?”
“Monday.”
“And you’re not at work?”
Vampire shakes her head. “Some big move is going on. They didn’t want people there today. And Pan Pan is all into her Quiverback game, so I came as soon as I got the call from Mai.”
I sit up again. “Mai is awake?”
“Rest, bish!” Vampire pushes me back down. “Yeah, she’s alright. Ain’t going’ nowhere, but she’s cussin’ people out last I heard from her so I figure that’s a good sign.”
I nod slowly. That is a good sign. She’s healthy enough to terrorize humanity again.
“By the way…” Vampire leans in close, eyebrows coming together. She cups a hand to the side of her mouth and whispers, “Bish, you got a sugar daddy?”
I stare at her with my mouth agape. “A what?”
“You know, an old geezer with lots of—”
“I know what a sugar daddy is, Vampire.” I fold my arms. “I just have no clue what you’re talking about.”
“Well, rumor in the hall is that a good-looking, well-off dude paid off the docs to not hold you for having all those Akuma genes in your body.”
Regi? Did I tell him I had Akuma genes in my body? I know I told him I was immune to Devil’s Disease itself but I don’t remember how much detail I went into.
Did Genji do it?
“All I’m saying is, if you got a rich sugar daddy…” She smirks. “Can you hook me and Pan Pan up and have him slide us some weed?”
I roll my eyes and try to hold my serious face, but with Vampire batting her eyelashes at me like a shameless hooker it’s not happening. “Not even gonna comment on that.”
She slumps dramatically in her seat, grinning. “Worth a shot, right?”
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