Kari had stared at Hinobu Castle as it had eclipsed the setting sun. The eastern style building had always stuck out in the city skyline to her. It had felt like a fitting place for her journey to come to an end. The rustling of the bushes followed by the distant sound of crickets had only heightened her anxiety.
She took and breath and swallowed hard as her eyes began to scan the front entrance. A few guards had been posted out front. One in a booth behind a Plexiglas window while the second stood by the front door. On the approach, she had tried to refrain from making eye contact with the guards. After a quick glance, she had not recognized any of the men from her previous encounter.
“Hey you,” the guard from behind the glass called out to her before waving over to another standing by the door. “You all were supposed to get ready in the back.”
Kari had been frozen in place as the guard by the door started to approach. She had recognized him from days earlier when her and Andrew had driven in to see Isamu.
Tony, I think that was his name. What now? She had been at a loss of words. Tony had gotten close to her and quickly looked at her costume.
“You didn’t have to come around front,” Tony said to her. Kari instead kept silent, only causing her anxiety to surge. “Ah crap, you don’t speak English, do you?”
“Just walk her through.” The guard behind the glass said before waving his hand.
“You heard him. Oh wait, you don’t speak English,” Tony said before shaking his head. He waved to her and very slowly muttered, “Follow me, we walk now.”
Kari tried to keep from cracking a smile after the gesture. She took a few steps forward and lifted her arm to him to prompt him to escort her forwards. After Tony looped his arm around hers, he started to walk her with him through the front lobby. The tables and slot machines had not quite begun to fill. It would be another hour or so before the foot traffic would really start to pick up. While making her way across, she had started to scan the upper floors. Isamu and Kurisu were nowhere to be seen, but she would make sure to be on top of it whenever they finally showed.
“What’s your name,” Tony asked her while they started to make their way towards the back. The had been a set of doors in place for the staff of the establishment. He looked back to her on the approach, pointing to himself and saying, "Tony. You are?
“Bucho.” Kari stuttered, trying her best to try and mimic a broken American accent.
“You are kind of butch just walking up in here,” he said before pushing the staff doors back. The area behind the doors was a large kitchen which was already filled with dozens of men and women dressed in white aprons and chef’s hats. Steam had started to pillow through the doors with a collage of scents. Tony started to guide her to the left before muttering, “Back through here.”
The tile floors beneath them had eventually led them towards another hallway with polyester carpets. Every few feet there had been a door—each one had contained their own dressing room. Moments passed before Tony had lead her to a set of double doors on the left.
“This is it, Bucho.” Tony declared before banging his fist onto the wood of the door. Kari pulled her arm free from him and pushed the door open. He had eyeballed her as she walked into the large dressing room. She had been the only one on the inside. The entire room had been lined with mirrors and several small booth filled with makeup and other cosmetics. She stepped over to the nearest chair to sit down and touch up her makeup.
After pulling out a small cosmetic brush from off the first table and reaching for a small organizer, she had taken notice of Kitsune mask a few booths down. Its hollowed eyes and smile had stood out, so she stood up to go and retrieve it. Once again, she had felt a quick burst of pain in her abdomen that had caused her to freeze in place.
She then reached into the breakpoint on the front of her Yukata to retrieve the pill bottle. On the inside were two pills she had to get her through for the rest of the night. She popped the lid off and reached in to finally swallow one. This was going to have to do it for now. Anymore and she would have to worry about being nauseous for the action ahead.
After stashing the bottle and reaching for the mask, she had noticed the dressing room doors starting to open. She placed the mask over her face and turned back to the mirror. A few women started to walk through and fill the booths one by one. While they started to get dressed for the coming party, Kari had decided to take a seat and wait to move with the crowd.
An hour had passed and the entire room had been dressed with similar outfits. Shortly after, they had all started to make their way towards the kitchen area. Kari had used this opportunity to slip back out and onto the main floor. From there, she moved in towards the casino area to try and get a better vantage point.
The middle of the floor had been fit with a large ceramic pig—resembling a massive piggy bank. Near the top, a staff member had been feeding loose dollar bills into it. There was already a crowd of people gathered around. Just as the staffer had closed the top of the bank, the people started to light up with applause and cheers while the donations started to rack up.
Kari scanned the front door once more to notice two flanks of men dressed in two piece suits escorting a large man. The man had been dressed in a Kimono and Kabuki-style pig mask. To his left, he had held onto another costumed woman’s hand who had worn a similar outfit. Kari was certain that it was Isamu and Kurisu. The sight had made her vision go red while the two started to make their way across the floor.
They had started to make their way up the spiral staircase and towards one of the rooms. After getting inside the first room, Kurisu had removed her mask and tossed it onto the table in the center. Isamu followed suit and then walked around the table to take a seat.
“I love the sound of money,” Isamu said as his face lit up with joy. His calm and happy demeanor carried on as he watched the staffer at the center of the floor bringing another bucket towards the large piggy bank. “Our guests really dug deep for this one.”
“It’s a shame we couldn’t keep the club. I hope the payout really covers for it,” Kurisu replied before sitting across from him. “It’s the only underground venue in the entire city.”
“Come now, we can build more. Everything is going to change after tonight.”
Kari had cautiously walked past the room and a few guards who had been posted out front. She had barely been able to hear their muffled voices. The two guards in front of the door had started to carry on with a conversation of their own which had only drowned out Isamu and Kurisu.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
If I’m going to do this, I have to make a move soon, Kari thought again. She had two silenced 9mm pistols stashed under her robe, but she was not sure how to carry on. From here, she had started to let her old instincts kick in. Old habits die hard.
The walk around the balcony had been calming. She folded her arms and reached deep into her baggy sleeves towards the pistols still stashed away. While in middle of the walk, another set of guards had entered the room with Kurisu. As they had entered, Kurisu had glanced down the hall and taken notice of Kari in the middle of her walk.
“The girl with the mask,” Kurisu blurted out as she extended her finger towards Kari. She then muttered, “Go.”
All four of the guards had responded by immediately exiting the room and walking over towards Kari. The first two had started to walk directly towards her, leaving the last two to come in for a flank from the other end. Kari kept her hands grasped on the pistols under her clothes while starting to deviate from the path. She had made a quick right turn to go deeper into the Castle.
Moments later, she had finally walked into an empty hallway to face the first two guards. She stopped in place and turned to them while starting to calculate the next attack. Both of the men had gotten in arms reach of her.
“This floor is for VIP’s only,” the first guard said after letting out a cough to clear his throat. “Are you lost or something?”
“I’d start talking if I were you.” The second added as he readjusted his sunglasses. At that time, Kari had been fixated on the lenses over his eyes and noticed the last two guards approaching in the reflection. She quickly swiped her arms forward with the two silenced pistols in her grip. The first guard had motioned for his gun, but before he could fire, Kari had pointed the pistol towards his face. All at once, she squeezed the triggers of the weapons and struck the first two directly in the forehead.
The two guards behind her had barely been able to react as Kari spun around. With extreme precision, she delivered two more shots to the remaining men. The entire maneuver had been executed in the blink of an eye, leaving the four guards frozen in place. Without skipping a beat, she had quickly holstered the pistols. The sudden thud of the gunmetal greeting the leather sleeves caused all four of the men to drop at once. Kari immediately reached for her mask, pulling it from her face and dropping it to the floor.
The party below had continued—every person on the floor had been oblivious to the very one-sided battle that had just occurred above. Shortly after the guards were deployed, Kurisu and Isamu had already made the decision to exit through the balcony. Kurisu started to lead him away from Kari, quickly making their way towards another kitchen located on the second floor.
“I thought we had taken care of her?” Isamu said as sweat started to bead down his face. He had tried to keep up with Kurisu while they continued through the kitchen.
“You should have just let me shoot her instead of burning the entire club down instead.” Kurisu replied with a smirk.
“Forget it, you can handle her," he started to panic as he spoke. "We need to exit through the roof, I have a helicopter.”
“I’ll deal with her.”
While they started to move, Kari had emerged from around one of the corners with one of the silenced pistols in her hand. Kurisu jerked her pistol forward, causing Kari to move back behind cover. She fired two quick shots that had struck the wall next to Kari, causing a cloud of splinters to explode from the wood. The thud from the rounds had barely been heard over the music already blaring on the floor.
“You should have killed me when you had the chance.” Kari shouted back, still trying to bide time for the assault.
“To be honest, I was hoping you would have escaped,” Kurisu said while she slowly started to step back. She scanned the kitchen behind her to notice Isamu had already escaped out the back. At the same time, Tony and a few more guards started to approach. The kitchen staff had already started to run out the back, leaving the stoves running. Kurisu started to walk back towards the exit and past another one of the cooks who had just emerged from the freezer in the back. A cloud of cold air had greeted her, prompting her to smile and shout to Kari, “I hope you can get through this next one, I want our final battle to be a good one.”
Kari emerged from cover and started to run towards the kitchen while squeezing the triggers of the pistols rapidly. Kurisu leapt over the countertop dividing the kitchen, barely avoiding the incoming fire. She pointed her finger back towards the entrance, prompting them to act before continuing out the back. The two guards with Tony went to take cover.
Kari had rushed into the kitchen and immediately ducked behind the large metal counter once the bullets started flying. She had been locked in place, keeping a low profile while the two guards had started to fire over her head. During the barrage, she had noticed the guards’ legs had both been visible through a small divider on the back of the counter—both completely exposed for her next attack.
She then turned her pistol towards them and started to unload her pistol. The legs of the first guard had let out an explosion of blood as the bullets had torn through his shins. He instantly dropped to the floor and howled in pain. After getting eye level with Kari, his eyes shot open just before he had been struck by another bullet. The last shot had caused the back of his head to pop open, releasing a pink mist through the air.
The second guard had been struck in his left knee by another bullet and started to flail his arms towards the nearest surface. He had accidentally reached forward and dipped his hand into deep fryer, causing him to let out scream. The blood and grease on the floor only caused him to loose his footing and fall. He smacked his head on the tile floor, knocking him unconscious.
Kari rose to her feet to finally deal with Tony. Just as she came from cover, she was forced to dive back towards it as Tony had sighted in on her and began to unload. The pistols erupted, sending smoke pillowing towards the top of the kitchen while the bullets began to fly. The two had started to dash towards the end of the kitchen, taking shots at every moment. The tiles on the wall and other utensils scattered about had been struck, exploding into dust while Kari and Tony continued towards the end of the counter.
The two clashed once more, this time getting up close and personal. Kari had instinctively pointed her pistol towards his chest before squeezing the trigger again. The cotton from Tony’s shirt ripped open while the bullets had struck, pushing him back. She then lifted the gun towards his face to go for the kill but had felt the trigger lock into place. After glancing at Tony, she had realized that he had shrugged off the bullets.
“Bullet proof vest, bitch,” Tony laughed before noticing the slide on the top of her pistol had locked into place. He started to lift his weapon to her, quickly muttering, “End of the line.”
Kari reached over towards the counter after taking notice of bottle of wasabi powder resting on it's surface. In one motion, she had grabbed hold of it and swung towards Tony’s face. The green powder pillowed through the air before striking him in the eyes. He shouted once more before immediately starting to gag as the contents of the bottle had started to enter his airways.
While he started to swat at his face, Kari followed up by grabbing a hold of the fryer basket behind him. She then swiped it towards his head, covering him with grease and burnt potatoes. The flesh around Tony’s face started to bubble off of his head, causing him to let out an ear-piercing scream in horror. He had dropped his pistol on the floor and started to stumble backwards towards the freezer.
“Time to cool off.” Kari said before dashing towards him. She leapt from the ground and swung her leg into his chest. The force from the kick had sent him flying across the floor and into the freezer. He had been knocked unconscious as well, leaving her to deal with Kurisu and Isamu. Kari walked over and slammed the freezer door shut on Tony before pulling a magazine from the belt around her waist. She placed the magazine into the pistol while stepping back towards the deep fryer. One of the guards on the ground had let out a soft groan as he came back to consciousness.
Kari then released the slide of the pistol and chambered a round before pointing down to his face. The silencer let out a hiss—a bullet had exited the barrel and struck the man in the forehead, killing him instantly. Kari kept her focus on the exit, not even bothering to watch the blood splatter. She started to sprint down the hallway, hoping to finally cut off Kurisu before they could make their escape.