Chaos in Kadoma Ward – Chapter 18

My eyes burn with fatigue and nervousness as Rin and I arrive at K&G Noodles for the day. After Rin’s first real display of affection, he was so tired that we said goodnight and each slept alone. Staring at the ceiling and wondering what will happen to us if we’re caught up in a war is not the best way to start the day. I thought my dreams would be rife with explosions and fires, and instead, they were filled with sex and naked bodies.

My brain and I are no longer on speaking terms.

I try to enter the kitchen and act like nothing’s changed, even though Rin is beside me for the first time in two weeks. Kotashi glances up from kneading the noodle dough and jumps in surprise.

“Rin, it’s good to see you,” he says, smiling as he dusts off his hands with a wet rag. “Gina and I have been following the news, and we’ve been proud to see all the work you’ve been doing. Gina was worried watching you fish that android out of the sewer the other day. It looked like a steep drop.”

I cross the room to sit in the android’s vacant chair while she chops vegetables at the counter next to the grill. Chop, chop, chop. Her metronome is on point today.

I straighten out my new pants, admire my new shoes, and set my new bag to the side. Finally I feel like a real person. I feel comfortable in my own skin and body. Slinging my bag across the back of the chair, I reach in and grab my tablet like I do every morning.

“Thank you. I’m glad you approve.” Rin smiles, clapping and rubbing his hands together. “I’ve taken the morning off to come here and see what Yumi has learned from you both.”

I raise my gaze to watch them both through my eyelashes while keeping my face directed at the tablet. I hate to admit it, but it’s satisfying to see Kotashi squirm.

“You’re… staying?”

“Of course! It’s not often that I bring someone into my household and arrange for them to get an education. I want to see what she’s learned.”

I almost laugh at Rin’s enacted enthusiasm. He should’ve gone into theater.

I turn off my tablet and set it aside, folding my hands in my lap and bringing my attention to them both.

Kotashi turns his back on Rin, circles around the kitchen island, and returns to the noodle dough.

“Well, you see, she hasn’t been very eager to learn —”

I raise my finger into the air. “Nope. Try again.”

“We’ve just been too busy —”

“Strike two,” I say, my voice icy. Rin folds his arms over his chest.

Kotashi ignores us both, kneading the dough over and over. Kay’s chopping continues with carrots, her attention never wavering from the task at hand.

“It appears my investment of time and money to get Yumi’s education on track so she can earn out her contract has gone wasted. And I know it’s not for lack of trying on her part.”

Kotashi sighs, throwing his hands up. “You can’t expect us to drop everything to train her. We have a business to run.”

“I expected you to involve her in the business as we discussed. She’s not stupid. She can learn quickly. If anything, you should put her to use during your busiest hours, but you’re not even doing that.”

“We can’t,” Kotashi pleads.

Who are they hiding me from? Now I really suspect something else is going on.

“Did someone come here to talk to you about me?” I step into Kotashi’s line of sight. “Besides those men from Amagasaki?”

“That’s none of your business,” he snaps, revealing that yes, someone has been here to dissuade him from employing me.

“Tall guy? Thin face and lots of hair? Smug?” It’s the best description of Gen I have, and it hits home. Kotashi remains stiff. He’s lying.

So, Gen has been here on behalf of Aoi Uma. Now, everything makes sense.

“You know,” Rin says, sauntering around the kitchen and peering into the back of the grill and the wok, “I’ve always been pleased with the level of cleanliness and strict adherence to food safety standards you and Gina abide by, but I’m sure an inspector will have more rigorous guidelines than I do.”

Ouch. Kotashi reels back like he’s been slapped.

“Rin, I can’t believe what I’m hearing.”

Rin stiffens, a cold, frosty wave of anger flowing off of him and cooling the room by five degrees. “I can’t believe you haven’t held up your end of the bargain. And there was a bargain made,” he growls out. “You came to an agreement with both Atsumi and me.”

The two men stare at each other, and my smugness turns to defeat. I’m sure everyone would be better off if I took Rin right now, and we went home. But there’s a judge on my case, and someone who works for him could show up any day to make sure I’m here and employed. My alibi is a shaky house made of sticks built on a muddy foundation in the middle of the rainy season. I am this close to losing everything.

I’m damned if I do, damned if I don’t. There is no safe way out of this for me. I might as well let Rin have his way.

“So, I’m here to do the job you wouldn’t do,” Rin says, crossing the kitchen to the lockers along the wall. He opens the one on the end, searches inside, and pulls out two aprons. “Yumi, let’s get started by making the dough.”

—-

Gina shows up in the kitchen in time to witness me kneading my own batch of dough and Rin directing me.

“Keep going. You should knead this for at least ten minutes before letting it rest.”

“Okay,” I say, folding the dough over and pushing it with the heels of my hands. “Should I be looking for anything in particular, to know when it’s done?”

“The dough will be homogenous and elastic, but it will be even more elastic once it’s done resting. Then we’ll get to the spinning, which will lengthen the gluten even more.” Rin glances over his shoulder, noticing Gina in the room. Her mouth is open, and her eyes are narrowed while she mouths, “What is going on here?” to Kotashi.

“Rin, I didn’t know we were expecting you today.” Gina snaps out of her expression, crossing the kitchen to the lockers.

“I wanted to give Yumi some extra pointers for her hand pulled noodles.”

I look up at Rin, and he winks at me. A smile hits my lips before I can stop it, but I can’t help myself. Rin is becoming addictive.

Returning to knead the dough, I relax my arms between pushes and try to disconnect from my body. I’m sure I’ll be sore tomorrow.

“I’ll get her up and running in no time, and then she can help during the lunch rush.”

“Okay,” Gina says, directing her eyes at the floor. I know she’s cringing about me actually being involved.

Rin glances at the clock. “You can stop now. Cover the dough with this cloth and let it rest for an hour. Then I’ll teach you to spin it.”

I do as he instructs, looking around the kitchen and wondering what I can help with next. The dishes are done. The vegetables are chopped. Gina is making her soup stocks and sauces, both of which she won’t let me touch and won’t for ages.

“Have you brought in stock from the UPN?” Rin asks, and I shake my head.

“Of course not,” he mutters. “Come. I’ll show you.”

“That’s my job,” Kay says, wiping off her hands on an apron.

“Not today,” Rin says, his voice authoritative and strong. Kay stops in her tracks, turns, and sits down in her chair. Wow. Is that the way to handle an android?

I follow Rin into the back storeroom. In the two-plus weeks I’ve been here at K&G Noodles, I’ve only ever looked in the door as I passed by. I was expected to sit in my chair, and I could use the bathroom located next to the storeroom, but that was it. Crates and shelves line the space from front to back, and the floors sparkle, clean and shiny. Bulk bins hold flour, spices, and dried fake meats. A refrigerator on the opposite side of the room is stocked with vegetables and eggs.

Rin stops and closes the door behind us, his hand grasping my upper arm to stop me. We’re finally alone, and the way he’s looking at me turns my belly inside out with glee. I didn’t imagine what happened last night, I guess.

He reaches out and rubs his thumb along my chin. “You have flour on your face.” His smile is infectious, and my face flushes. Damn, I hate blushes. They always give me away. Then I remember that even though I’m thrilled with the extra attention, we cannot do this. Fines. Jail time. We’re supposed to show some restraint.

I step away from him and brush off my chin. “Flour probably doesn’t go with my makeup. So, are you going to show me the UPN?”

“Sure,” he says, pressing his lips together and holding back a smile.

Way back at the rear end of the storeroom is a locked steel door. On the panel next to the door, a blinking notice reads, ‘Shipment Arrived.’

“Okay, this is what you do.” Rin taps on the panel, and the door opens. Inside, a crate waits to be unloaded. “Grab the crate and set it off to the side. Be careful. It may be heavy.”

My arms are like rubber from kneading dough all morning, but I follow his instructions. When I heave the crate from the UPN entry point, another crate floats up from beneath it.

“The UPN is like a smaller butsu,” he says, acknowledging my stare of wonder. “There are designated paths throughout the city and crates travel them at fast speeds, faster than the green lane.”

I grab the next crate and one more comes up behind it.

“All the crates are tracked and there are points within the system that push crates onto different UPN paths, so they get to their destination. Come look.” Rin sticks his head in the door, and I jump forward to pull him back. What the hell? A crate could fly out of nowhere and take off his head!

When he remains undamaged, I inch forward and join him. The space where the crates show up is small, only about one or one and a half meters square. Rubbing my shoulder against Rin’s, I look down into a whistling expressway of crates flying along. They zip by at irregular intervals about five meters below us.

“Wow.” I pull my head out of the UPN cave and smile at Rin. “Does it work in reverse? Can Kotashi and Gina send stuff from here to other places?”

“Sure,” he says, shrugging his shoulders. “They don’t really need to, but they return the crates to the distributor the same way. Once you unload everything, you put the crates back in, push them down, and use the wall panel to call for a return. Close the door, and the system takes care of the rest.”

“That’s pretty amazing.” I step back from the UPN drop as Rin closes the door. Now, we have these crates to unload. “I can only imagine how this technology could totally change my world.”

My thoughts are a billion kilometers away, dreaming of home but with a butsu connecting parts of our cities, even whole towns through the countryside. The area between my hometown of Yamato and Izumo to the north of us has flourished with new towns and developments. We’ve been building a train system to connect the two, but it won’t be done for another five to eight years.

Rin smiles at me, coming to my side. “Do you think this would be something they’d be interested in?”

“Of course! I wonder if Shiroi Nami would sell or license us the technology.” I unload bags of flour and add them to shelves. “And maybe we could even dig under our cities to put in UPNs of our own.” I laugh, giddy with the idea. I imagine being the head reporter on that story, investigating how the butsu and UPN would change not only the lives of those who use the technology but also the jobs it would create.

“Maybe this could breach the gap between our people.” My eyes are misty when I turn to Rin. “Can you see the potential?”

The moment freezes as I detect the shift in Rin, the same change I saw last night as he held my hand, the same change in his eyes as he brushed the flour from my chin. He wants to go further.

He takes my left hand in his right and pulls me towards him. “I know how to bridge the gap between us.” My heart speeds up, my body unbelieving as he wraps an arm around my waist.

Wait, Yumi! This is not a good idea.

Shut up, brain.

I free my arms from being limp noodles and return the gesture, lifting my hands up to glide along his shirt, up to his neck.

“Can I…?” He lowers his head, his lips millimeters from mine.

I shouldn’t. Really. He’s not supposed to do this. We’ll be in a lot of trouble if people find out. He’s successful and wealthy and too good for someone like me. I’m the fuck up who can’t even get a job as a kitchen assistant. I can’t even keep my mouth shut when my life is on the line.

And maybe this would just signal to everyone else that I’m weak and he’s the same as any man here.

But I don’t care about everyone else, and he’s not the same as any other man.

“Yes,” I breathe out a moment before our lips are together. The connection is electric. It’s a thunderstorm on a hot summer day — roiling and tempestuous. My whole body comes to life as his lips move over mine. My dead heart pumps ten times faster than it has ever gone, wild and manic.

No, it’s too much.

It’s exactly what I want.

His kiss is insistent, taking from me what I’ve been holding back for weeks now. Our lips are one, entangled in a smooth but hurried dance. I open my mouth to his and sink against him as our tongues slip over each other. My lungs halt, remembering the dream I had last night. Him kissing me, touching me.

It’s better than it was in my head.

His lips leave mine for a second, our breaths rushing. I’m not ready for this moment to be over so quickly. Tilting my head for a better fit, I press my lips to his again, groaning at the sheer weight of lust settling low in my belly, a boulder of want and need this passionate kiss has kicked down the hill.

“Mmmm,” he breathes out, disengaging but traveling down across my cheek to my neck. I groan as his teeth tease the skin along my collarbone. My hands have a life of their own, repositioning themselves to pull at the back of his shirt. My eyes drift open so I can gauge what he wants. A make-out session hidden away from prying eyes, or even more? But I spot movement in my peripheral vision and yelp as I jump back from him.

Kay stands, watching us, her face nonchalant but her head tilted and eyes blinking like a curious kid who just caught her parents having sex.

“Shit,” I squeak, turning away from them both before looking at Kay again. “Do you, um, need something?”

“No. I have what I need,” she says, turning and leaving the storeroom.

She has nothing in her hands.

My eyes meet Rin’s as we both try to catch our breath. I had hoped this would come when he held my hand last night, when he danced with me on the butsu, when he saved me from Aoi Uma, when he put me through the test, when he became my obsession, when he didn’t kill me the first time he saw me. This is where I hoped we’d end up.

This is why it can’t happen.

Everything I have ever wanted this badly has gone wrong.

I try to control myself as I step away from Rin, letting cooler air come between us. I regret it immediately because now we have to talk to each other, and what do you say after a heated kiss like that? Uh, let’s do coffee? How about that baseball game last night?

His lips try to hold back a smile as I smooth my shirt out.

“Sorry if that came out of nowhere,” he whispers.

Sorry? Good God, it was the best kiss of my life.

But wrong, so wrong.

But if I’m going to fall for anyone, it should be him, right?

I wrap my arms around myself, trying to quiet the yammering pros and cons in my head. “I’m damned sure that wasn’t out of nowhere. But you’d have to be pretty stupid to want to start something with me.” I fish for the easiest excuse I can come up with and settle on an old favorite — self-deprecation. “I’m not exactly the easiest person to get along with.”

I close my eyes, waiting for the “yes, you’re right” or the “maybe it was a mistake.”

“I’m full of stupid ideas.” He runs his finger down my bare arm, and goosebumps raise in response, my body giving me away.

“I’m serious, Rin.” I put more space between us even though every fiber of my being is screaming not to. “We can’t… We shouldn’t do this. This goes against Judge Saruma, against the contract. Everyone expects us to blow it, and they’ll use any excuse to separate us. Do you want my contract to be transferred to someone else? It’ll be safer for both of us if we don’t get attached.”

Safer was the right word to use. Rin is all about safety.

He leans in, and I don’t duck away. “It’s too late for that. You know it, and I know it.”

Ugh. He’s right. My body responded so readily to him, I couldn’t hide it.

But that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t try.

I put my hand on his chest and push, averting my eyes to the floor. “Don’t make this any harder than it has to be.”

As usual, he doesn’t believe me because I’m a horrible liar. “Let’s get back to work. We can pick this back up later.”

Hell no, we won’t. Not if I can help it.