Fukusha Model Eight – Chapter 8

“We have to get out of Kitakyushu,” Kazuo says, running up next to me at the side of the apartment building two blocks up the street. We all huddle on the corner, in the shadows, waiting to see if anyone’s out and about.

“I can get us out.” I heft my bag up tight, across my shoulders in the back, and stretch my legs. Ninjin sits at my side.

Rescue Rin. I don’t know where he is or why he’s being held, but if we have to bust out of here to rescue him, then I will lead us out of Kitakyushu if it kills me.

“What did you do with the guy who followed me here?” I glance out at the street and don’t see anyone.

“Someone followed you here? I didn’t see anyone.” Kazuo sweeps back his hair with a handkerchief and ties it tight around his head.

“Great,” I mutter. Who knows where that guy went or what he saw?

I’m exhausted — the excitement, adrenaline, and alcohol of the evening having worn me thin — but now is not the time for sleep. Now’s the time to get the fuck out of here before we all become fertilizer.

“Anyway, I can lead us to the city limits. Outside Kitakyushu, though, I’m useless. I’ve only been here the last few months. I know nothing about the towns south and east of here.”

“You get us out of the city, and I’ll cover the rest,” Kazuo assures me.

“What about these two?” I gesture at Saki and Shun. Seeing them together, I feel betrayed. It’s obvious they know each other well. I saw their body language from afar as they huddled close and spoke at the fight. When we watched the video earlier today, she didn’t mention she knew the man claiming to be part of some terrorist organization.

All of Saki’s reticence to talk about her past and anything even remotely personal is beginning to make sense. When we talked, it was about everyday events, customers at the noodle shop, my neighbors, the people on the street. Nothing that ventured farther than our tiny Kitakyushu bubble.

“These two…” Kazuo looks between me and Saki and Shun. “Well, that’s a long story, but they’re coming with us. We need them.”

I bite my lip and look at the ground for a moment.

“No. I don’t trust them,” I say, lifting my head and making eye contact with Saki. “I think Kazuo and I should head out alone. I don’t know who the two of you are —”

Saki’s face crumbles. “Yumi, it’s me. I’ve given you no reason not to trust me these past few weeks.”

“Are you joking?” I hiss, trying to keep my voice down. “You may not have lied, but you’ve held back from me.” I point at Shun.

“I told you so,” Shun says to Saki.

I’m not sure what that means, but I’m not sticking around to find out. I’m pissed that my friend has turned into something different from what I thought she was.

I begin to walk away, and Ayamé, my dead friend who’s always up for haunting me, appears in my path. I’m so used to her showing up that I don’t even flinch.

“You needed a friend. Take the friend, for better or worse,” she says.

“This is not marriage,” I bite back. Ninjin looks up, his eyes questioning, as Kazuo runs up next to me.

“Stop, Yumi.” He grabs my arm and brings me to a halt. “Who are you talking to?” He lowers his voice, his eyes drilling into me.

“Ayamé. I’m talking to Ayamé.” I look past him to her standing not but a meter away. “And I don’t want to hear any crap about me being crazy or losing my grip on reality. It is what it is. I have no friends here. No one I can rely on. So she’s it.”

He lets go of my arm, and his stare is soft and caring with just a pinch of pity. Whatever. I’ll take it.

“You have me, of course. And I don’t care. Whatever gets you through this mess,” he whispers back, leaning in to plant a kiss on my forehead. I’m lucky he continues to watch out for my sorry ass after everything I’ve pulled.

“Saki and Shun are coming with us. Their organization, Samurai Seven, is holding Rin, and they want some of the data we have. And possibly an alliance.”

“For fuck’s sake. Chiéko gave me that data device to help save us all, and it’s been nothing but trouble. How about we kidnap them? Huh? We’re always one step behind these people.”

“Yumi…” His voice is full of warning.

I sigh, knowing I’ve lost this argument. These people have Rin, and as much as I want to ditch them, I have to keep an eye on them. I want to go it alone with Kazuo and Ninjin. The three of us could be very powerful on our own. I have no idea who these two really are nor what the Samurai Seven represent besides the destruction of Aoi Uma. We may have the same objective, but our reasons could be on opposite sides of the spectrum. How do I know what kind of people they are?

I don’t.

I’ll have to find out.

“I don’t want to come along either,” Shun says, his voice rough. “We were ordered to do this, to help our people. Our main mission is to end the Fukusha Model Eight, not make friends. But you have data we need, so that’s the end of that discussion.” He stands over me, using his height to his advantage. “You want to see your boyfriend again? You better cooperate.”

I bite back a sarcastic reply.

“Come on,” I say, jerking my chin at Saki and Shun. “Let’s go before Haku and his men get back.”

I lead Kazuo through my neighborhood, crouched down and skirting the shadows between buildings, just like he taught me to. It’s almost three in the morning now, that transient time between coming home from the clubs and waking up for an early shift at the harbor. The pathways between buildings are quiet, and apartment buildings lining back alleyways are shuttered and dark.

I’m grateful for the work I’ve done with Ninjin these past three months. He came to me obedient, already two years old and trained in all the basics, but I’ve done good work with him. I’ve taught him to heel in most circumstances, to stay directly at my side even if he’s unleashed. A trashcan up the alleyway shudders, and we all press ourselves to the cool brick wall. I hold my breath as a cat skulks out and saunters away. Ninjin doesn’t move.

“Good boy. You’re doing great.” I lean over and scratch behind his ears.

Kazuo nods slowly. “Looks like you’ve done a good job with this one.” He also scratches Ninjin behind the ears. I’m pleased Ninjin seems to recognize Kazuo as a friend right away. “It took forever for Kohi to heel or even listen to commands.”

Kohi was our coffee-colored Akita, the family dog who often slept on my bed and licked my toes when I ignored the alarm clock.

“You know I loved Kohi, but that dog was dumber than a box of rocks. Ninjin is at least ten times smarter. At least.”

Kazuo huffs a laugh. “I’ll have to take your word for it for now.”

The safest way out of the city is up the hill and over the mountain to the other side. Going to the harbor and stealing a boat would cause too much attention and taking either the Eastern or Western butsu would mean we’d come across too many incoming or outgoing merchants.

“Where do you want to go, Yumi?” Saki asks. She comes up beside me, her face open and helpful. I sigh, remembering this morning and our hike up the hill. We had stuck together all the way through our encounter with the Kiiroi Yama police officers, and she treated me to lunch, let me use her shower and nap on her couch.

I just said I didn’t trust her, but is that true? Did she lie to me?

“We need to get up to where we were hiking this morning. Then we can take the butsu stairs up past the temple and hike down the other side.”

I wait to see if she agrees, but she shrugs instead.

“That’s the best way out of the city as far as I can tell. It’s quiet and less traveled at this time of day. There may be a few monks meditating, and it’s likely they’ll ignore us. But…”

Shit. She’s right.

“The area will be crawling with Kiiroi Yama officers.” I turn to Kazuo. “You heard what happened in town today, right?”

“Yeah,” he says, jerking his thumb in Shun’s direction. “I helped them source the explosives two weeks ago.”

I chuckle and shake my head. “Of course you did. You love to create mischief.” I pause, running that through my filter again. “Two weeks ago? You’ve been working with the people who are holding Rin hostage for two weeks?”

“Ask me about it later. Look, we’ll slip around the Kiiroi Yama guards, no problem. They’re not our enemies, anyway. What about androids?”

“I haven’t run across any since moving here, except that one.” I clench my teeth around the sound of Rin’s name being used to describe that creature I stabbed.

“Right. Me neither. Okay. We’re more likely to run into Aoi Uma operatives in town and along the butsues than we are in an area crawling with Kiiroi Yama officers. Let’s go.”

I lead the way up Main Street, across Seventh Avenue, past the grocer, past the pawn shop, past the nail salon. I count each building in my head, marking them on my mental map of the area. This apartment building is owned by a little man who sits outside all day long and comments on the women who walk by. That bank is the best place to hide a weapon in a security deposit box.

We stop before rounding the corner when I smell the distinct odor of herb smoke. I peek my head out and find two yakuza, tattooed to kingdom come, smoking and drinking outside of a flophouse.

“I’ve seen these guys,” I whisper, nodding at Saki. “They’ve been to Haku’s place, so they’re probably a part of his crew. We should go around.”

We turn and head back the way we came, circling around the block in the opposite direction, but there’s a problem. Two Kiiroi Yama police cars sit outside of an apartment building, their lights off. Officers search the building, and flashlight beams bounce around the inside of darkened apartment windows. A few people filming the scene with their tablets stand on the sidewalks. Whatever’s going on here, it’s big enough to capture the attention of most people on the block. Those who’re awake, that is.

“For fuck’s sake. Why is everything happening on this one night?” My hands are beginning to shake from fatigue, and I appear to be the only one suffering. Saki and Shun seem up for a marathon, and I bet Kazuo could go several more days without sleep. My outfit is covered with the android’s blood. I’ll never sneak past this blockade without changing. Do I have time?

“Doesn’t matter,” Kazuo says, pulling me back from the corner. “We don’t have time for this. Sun rises in an hour, and we need to be out of the city by then, or we’ll be seen and caught. We need to use the darkness while we have it. Options,” he demands. He’s back in battle mode.

“We can’t go in the opposite direction,” Saki fills in, while I rub Ninjin’s head. “There’s a retainer wall on that side of the block. It’s at least four meters high with no way to scale it.”

“What about up and over? Take to the rooftops,” Kazuo asks.

“No,” both Saki and I say at the same time, and I have to smile.

“We can’t do that. Lots of homeless sleep on rooftops at night. Kiiroi Yama wanted them off the streets.” I shrug my shoulders. “And if there aren’t people up there, then there are guard dogs or owners with their arsenal. Some of them have alarm systems. Saki and I found this out the hard way.”

We both laugh. She’d been in town for one week and new to her apartment building when we decided we’d spend the evening drinking on the roof. We set off the alarm system, and the landlord gave us a severe talking-to. But she was such a nice woman that she joined us for a drink on the stoop instead. That was a great night.

Kazuo snaps his fingers in my face.

“Sorry,” I say, coming back to the present. “I don’t know what to do. It’s either the yakuza or nothing.”

He thinks for a moment before sighing and squatting down. “Okay, the yakuza it is.” Pulling his pack off his bag and around his sword, he opens it and extracts two tiny discs. “You know how to use these?” he asks Shun.

Shun is quiet, his stare burrowing down into the air between us, before he blinks and looks up. Something about him rubs me the wrong way.

“Yeah. No problem. How about I go first? I’ll act drunk, ask them for a smoke and a hooker. Then once I have their attention?” He raises his eyebrows.

“I’ll be there,” Kazuo fills in. He hands a disc over to Shun before Shun stumbles into the open.

Act drunk, indeed. Shun is a master of theatrics. His walk is overly careful, like someone who doesn’t want to appear drunk but damned well is. He pauses to stop himself from retching, which is a nice touch, before approaching the group of men on the stoop.

“Excellent,” Kazuo whispers. He looks up at the building and the downspout system before he peeks around the corner and up at the windows along the second story. “I’m going up. Be sure to cover your eyes before everything happens.”

Before I can ask him anything, he’s scaling the wall, up the side first, then levers himself around to the second story windows.

“Hey, man. Can I get a smoke?” Shun asks, enough slur to his voice to be drunk but not inebriated. “All the shops are closed.”

The group of guys stop talking and fan out. Thankfully there are only three of them, but there could be more inside.

“I don’t know,” the biggest one says. “Might cost ya.”

The other two grin. Shun leans against the cement stairs.

“You wouldn’t, by chance, have any girls unoccupied tonight?” Shun asks, and their eyebrows raise. “I was at the fights, and I won some coin. I need to spend it before my old lady sees it.”

One guy throws his head back and laughs. “Who’d you bet on?”

It’s a test, but he was there.

“That last fight. Saki, right? She took that other girl down in only one round.” Shun fakes a few sloppy punches. “The bookie tried to get me to bet against her, but I could see it. She was sure to win.”

I glance back at Saki, but if she’s pleased with herself, it doesn’t show. Her face is slack, and her lips move like she’s reciting something she knows by heart. I’m about to jostle her when Kazuo catches my eye. Up along the wall, he hangs over the group, ready to pounce.

“That one’s gonna get in trouble, eventually. She never loses,” one guy says, elbowing the other.

“I’ll take her on,” he replies, cracking his knuckles. “No way would she beat me.”

“Maybe so,” Shun says, straightening up. He’s dead sober. “But she’d fool you with a flash and a bang.”

He throws the tiny disc at their feet, crouching down into a ball. Saki grabs me, and I almost blind myself. Pop, pop! The explosive flash is enough to light up the entire street, and it casts a harsh shadow down our alley hideaway for several seconds. We stay pressed against the wall as the sounds of a fight bounce off the surrounding buildings.

It doesn’t last long.

“Yumi!” Kazuo’s whisper is loud enough to cut through all the noise in my head and spur me into action.

Saki and I run out to meet them. All three yakuza are in a bloody pile on the steps.

“Help.” Kazuo’s got one by the underarms and is dragging him to the side of the building, under the steps. I grab the dead man’s legs and help carry him along while Ninjin stops to sniff at the trashcans. We drop the man into the basement stairwell and help Shun and Saki with the other two.

“Why bother hiding the bodies?” I ask as we finish.

“Maybe it’ll buy us a few extra minutes,” Shun says, dusting off his hands. He glances up at the apartment building as a few lights click on. Either people heard the flash-bang, or they’re ready to wake up for the day. “Let’s go.”