“This is a pretty shit ride,” said Kigali.
“I know.”
“What do you need to make it highway-activated for?”
“Just in case I need to chase the bad guys.”
“I think they just need to give you a real bike, or a car.”
“They don’t have the funds for that.”
“I can just lend you one,” said Kigali.
“Can’t use personal vehicles, that’s against the rules.”
“Bureaucracy, gotta love it.”
“Exactly.”
Kigali stood up from where he was crouched next to the scooter. “That should work it to bypass the barrier, though I’m not sure what a reactor that small will do for your speed. May need some more work.”
“And how much would that cost?”
“You can pay me later. I have something in mind.”
“Somebody’s rich now.”
“Doing better than before,” Kigali admitted. “But let’s take a break.”
The two of them sat down on the flower bed. Kigali lifted the plastic bag he brought, dropping it gently on the metal. He extracted a bottle of tea from the bag, opened it, and raised it to his lips. “Not as good as beer, but I had this laying around in the fridge instead. Decided to come here straight, instead of stopping at the store."
"Can't drink on the job anyway."
"Figures." Kigali took a sip.
“But we do need to drink a few, whenever I can get away from this pillbox.”
Kigali looked behind YF to the koban. “Seems like you would easily go crazy.”
“Already have, multiple times.” YF crossed his arms, leaning back until his hair touched the leaves. “Do you like Reo girls?”
Kigali shrugged. “Most people do. But I think they're not for me.”
“Why not?”
Kigali rubbed his neck before taking another sip. “People say getting with a Reo girl means staying in Kazen forever. I used to not mind that but I started missing home. I'm going to see things through, then I'll probably move back."
"This country doesn't like outsiders,"
YF admitted. "It's dumb, but true."
Kigali finished his tea in one gulp.
"Yeah, don’t plan to be here after all this is over."
***
When Misaki finally showed up back at Club Mermaid, YF monitored the spider bot's feed every minute that he could. But each time he checked the footage, he found that she had not gone anywhere out of the ordinary, nor said anything noteworthy to the few, regular customers. YF noticed that Misaki sounded disinterested in most conversations, often arriving late to greet people at the door.
YF had sent the bot to follow her after work a few times, each time arriving at Misaki's mother's house. The house was situated in the same place it was since YF first visited about fifteen years ago. Misaki had a going away party when she was accepted to university, and invited everyone from their homeroom to the gathering. She was never particularly well liked. YF was not sure if people were jealous of her achievements in a town where almost nobody made it to university, or whether the fact that Misaki was self conscious of her elevated status made her cold and distant. Perhaps it was both. Uwada was famous in the district for being good at bat in fieldball. Everyone suspected he went straight to sectarian activities after school as many fieldball players do. The idea of him and Misaki being together didn't jive in YF's mind.
When YF checked the visual feed again, Misaki had already walked past the station she usually used to go home. YF could hear the click click of her heels against the pavement. She raised her receiver to her ear. “Torii. I plan to go to the shrine to pray Gold Day evening. Hope that works for you…I—” Misaki stopped as her receiver beeped, seeming to detect YF's intercepting signal. She turned around violently, head swiveling to and fro. YF managed to cut the signal and scramble the bot over the platform above Misaki where it had been eavesdropping such that she barely missed it when she looked straight up.
YF's heart skipped a beat. "Torii?" He took a deep breath. He counted to twenty before reengaging the control signal. But by the time he waited to bring the bot back to its position below the platform, Misaki was already gone, disappeared into the station.
***
YF decided to show up to Itsugo Shrine a few weeks later, while Torii was working during the day. She seemed obviously exhausted from the previous night’s shift at the club.
“How may I help you Sakai?” she asked, exacerbated.
YF looked over at the large van parked in the corner, then back to her. “I’d like to pray.”
“I don’t remember you being much into
the gods, Sakai.”
“There’s a time for that to change
right?”
“You’re familiar with the procedures?”
asked Torii.
“No,” YF lied. Who in their country didn’t know the procedures? But YF felt slightly annoyed by Torii’s attitude.
Torii smiled one of the angriest smiles he had ever seen. “Approach the chozuya and perform the ceremonial hand washing. Left, then right, then mouth. Spit the water in the trough below.Then please proceed to the shrine. Place your donation in the slotted box, bow twice, clap twice. Pray, then bow once before leaving.”
If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
“Ah, it sounds simple when you explain it like that Torii. Makotoni-arigatou-gozaimasu.”
YF thought he could see her eyebrow twitch.
She bowed once.
“Could you come pray with me?” asked YF.
“This is not a shrine for The Way, Sakai. Such things are not done.”
“Are you busy?” asked YF.
“Yes,” said Torii.
“As a non religious man I feel as though the kami will pay more attention to my prayer in the presence of one such as yourself. I’d hope to make them listen to me as much as possible. Won’t you come join? I don’t see how praying some more would hurt the shrine.”
Torii looked at YF's uniform, then behind her, grimacing. “After you, Sakai,” she said, pointing toward the chozuya.
The two of them came up to the ritual washing area with YF picking up the ladle closest to him. He then turned to wait for Torii to do the same. The latter hastily took the ladle on the opposite side of the fountain and started the washing procedure. YF found it comical she was so irritated but tried not to show his pleasure, turning to face the water. He followed her actions but much more slowly than she performed them, letting the water drip slowly between the fingers of his left hand. Torii placed the ladle gently back onto the stone in a violent way — if such a thing was possible. She then continued toward the shrine without him. YF took a long time to wash his mouth, swishing the water between his cheeks a few times before spitting it out into the collection trough.
He then walked up to the shrine just as Torii stopped in front of the donation box. When he drew near her he could hear that she had already clapped twice. Her eyes were shut as he arrived, but opened when he did. She smiled at him, as if urging him to pray quickly. YF took out his receiver and swiped toward the box before pocketing it.
YF clapped twice and closed his eyes, sinking into his thoughts. He purposefully took his time to ruminate over all that had happened over the past few weeks: Erika’s text, Kita's slap, the Silver District Case, Misaki, and finally Torii. When he opened his eyes, Torii was still standing there, a conflicted look in her eyes. YF took out his receiver and looked at the image of Kita's black credit card. It covered his screen as if it were sure of itself, and wanted that to be known.
He pocketed the receiver. "Torii whatever you think you must remember we're from the same place. I think you will find our interests are ultimately aligned: the peace and stability of Itsugo." YF bowed once toward the shrine and walked back toward his scooter.
***
On his way back to the koban, YF decided not to take the usual route. He aggressively merged onto the highway and pulled the throttle as hard as he could, advancing quickly to the right-most lane. He deactivated his helmet, feeling the rush of the wind through his hair. His eyes then immediately started to water as he accelerated, which forced him to duck down behind the windshield.
Lane splitting to the left around the other cars — only to return right away to the passing lane — and trying to stay alive while doing so helped him forget about everything he had to do when he got back. YF could tell a few cars were about to pass or block him until they saw "Town Police" blazed across his scooter. They slowed down to let him through, even though YF was sure they could easily overtake him.
He eventually stopped at a bus station on top of a large hill on the outskirts of town where he knew nobody was usually waiting. He crossed his arms and watched the west, seeing the first rays of sunlight crawl over the mountain tops. Just as the rays reached where he stood the sun shield activated, dimming the natural light. YF scratched his face before reaching a hand out, placing it against the back of the shield.
***
YF heard a knock on the metal security door. It sounded like someone was hitting it with an open palm, something he knew the local sectarians and Kigali did not do. YF drew his pistol from the drawer, holding it at a low ready stance as he approached the door. He reached down with his left hand to the door latch, sliding it slightly aside before peeking over it to the screen door. His eyes widened as he lifted his shirt and holstered the weapon, grabbing the latch with both hands and flinging the door wide open.
Seeing Erika for the first time in so long made him freeze in place.
"Open up," Erika ordered, blinking.
YF fumbled with the security door a few seconds before managing to get it open. He stared into Erika's eyes, the eyes that still mesmerized him even after all those years. The bags under those eyes hinted at all that she had gone through, causing a tightness to form in his chest. Erika stepped forward and embraced him tightly. The obvious bump on her stomach pressed into him.
That hug from Erika conveyed something to YF that he simply understood. That she had not wanted to come back to him, though something had happened, and now she was here. In the past, YF would have pressed further, but he knew he should remain as silent as he possibly could. Her swollen eyes betrayed that she had cried many nights before she arrived at his doorstep. But now that the tears had dried, the usual Erika — the problem solving Erika — was about to tell him things that he did not want to hear.
“The house in the Ward. Get rid of it," she said.
YF held his hand to her stomach. "We're not going to talk about this?"
"We need to take care of some things fast. I will talk about everything after. The house, get rid of it," she repeated.
He did not like the sound of what she was saying. Had something happened between her and Reina? “Why?” he asked.
Her expression of fear sent shivers down his spine. “Do you trust me?” she asked.
“Yeah,” he replied.
“Get rid of it,” she said. “We’ll find a place to live.”
“Saru and I were staying at The Black Hat,” YF blurted out. “Well, before I started koban duties.”
The fact that Erika did not seem mad about that made YF even more scared.
“Oh. Lydia’s club right? We can stay there.”
“Ah…” YF did not know how to follow up on that. “Well…it seems like Lydia really likes you. I’m sure she’ll be fine with it.”
“Great. When do you get off work?” she looked past him into the koban.
“I don’t really get off work,” said YF. “They promised me a partner but I never got one.”
“Doesn’t Kuroda like you?” asked Erika.
“Something like that.”
“Then get your ass out for a minute and come with me to Nishida.”
It did not take long for YF to decide whether he feared Kuroda or Erika more. “Get on," he said, starting for the scooter.
Erika held onto him on the way to Nishida the way that she held onto him on their first date. The feeling was so nostalgic, pleasant, and yet sad at the same time that it made it hard for YF to concentrate on the road ahead.
YF was not sure how he arrived at The Black Hat in Nishida, but when he did, Lydia was already standing on the rail of the side entrance, smoking her cigarettes as usual. When Erika got off, YF could see that she was staring at Lydia's cigarette, only averting her eyes at the last second. Lydia had the wisdom to ignore it.
“It’s really been too long, Erika,” said Lydia.
“Reika,” Erika replied.
Lydia raised an eyebrow. “How about some breakfast?” she asked.
Erika wolfed down the chicken and waffles Lydia whipped up personally, startling the latter so much that Lydia stood there staring, holding an unlit cigarette between her fingers.
“You’re going to need to stretch your paycheck a bit,” Lydia quipped at YF.
“I can take care of myself,” Erika snapped.
“Don’t worry girl, I know.” Lydia looked at her cigarette, as if for the first time cognizant that it was there. "I'm going outside. You two have some alone time."
"Wait," said Erika, wiping her mouth.
"Yes?"
"Can we stay here for a while? We can
talk payment when you get back."
"It's on the house," said Lydia. She looked down at the empty plate, then at Erika's stomach. "Chip in a bit for you and Sakai Junior's groceries and it'll be a deal."
Erika stood up and grabbed Lydia's hand, causing the latter to step back. "Thank you, I'll make it up to you."
"We can talk details later," said
Lydia, smiling before embracing her. "My office is soundproof and I can get the girls to move some things. You'll need it."
As if on cue, the club's background music switched to a more lively track, reducing Lydia's voice to a murmur in YF's ears.
Erika hugged Lydia back as she spoke. The interaction should have warmed his heart, but YF could feel something was wrong. From where he stood he could see Erika smiling; but after a few moments he could tell her eyes carried the same expression of fear from before.