Released – Chapter 28

My mind and body wake of their own accord at nine. Five hours of sleep is not enough to accomplish the kinds of things I have to do today, but it’ll have to do. Jiro is still asleep, and for once, not attached to me like a barnacle so I get up to take a shower. Once I’m out, Jiro’s up and making the coffee and tea, so I dress in Nishikyō grays and join him in the kitchen.

The door chimes, and it’s Oyama, bent at the waist, his hands by his side.

“I’ve come to offer my resignation. My inattention to my surroundings led to Miko’s poisoning. I have completely let you down —”

“Oyama, stop and come in, please.” He stands immobile, and I sigh. “Please. I don’t want to have this conversation in the hall. You are not quitting. I will not allow it. Your absence yesterday was the trigger in my brain that something was wrong. You taught me well. There’s a reason why you’re in my life, and you can’t quit. I will certainly die if you do.”

“Sanaa —”

“I hope you brought breakfast,” I say, interrupting more apologies. “Jiro and I got less than five hours sleep, and if I turn on the stove, I’m going to burn the place down.”

“I… I did. A peace offering?” He kicks off his shoes and shuts the door behind him.

“Trust me. You’re not the one I’m angry with right now.” My sadness at Yoichi for betraying my love and devotion to this family has turned to dark, smoldering anger this morning.

Oyama glances past me to Jiro, and Jiro shakes his head. “Not me, thankfully.”

“Anyway,” he says, lifting the bag next to him. “Here. I made a lot. I heard someone in the shower a while ago and got these on the griddle right away.”

Griddle! I open the box on the kitchen table and inside lies giant stacks of chocolate chip pancakes. I nearly cry from joy. Coffee and chocolate chip pancakes are just what I need.

The door chimes again, and this time Kentaro is waiting when I open the door. Now, I’m giddy with joy. I wish I had this much traffic in our apartment every day.

“Hey, we need to talk,” he says with no other preamble and comes straight in. Miko and Yoichi’s door opens behind Kentaro, and my eyes meet Yoichi’s.

“Sanaa, I’m so sorry —” He starts, but I shoot my hand up, halting any easy apologies.

“Don’t talk to me for at least twenty-four hours.”

I shut the door on him as he’s about to say something else and stalk back to the table.

“Pancakes. Please.” I bite off each word, clip them short so they’re barely P’s. Kentaro’s eyes skip from me to the door to Jiro. Jiro shakes his head and makes a cutting gesture across his throat while mouthing, “Don’t ask.”

I plate my pancakes and sit down at the table with some coffee. Wasting no time, I eat one after another until I feel the rush of sugar and caffeine start to take hold of me. When I look up, all of the boys are frozen watching me. They’ve barely eaten, and I’ve finished half a stack.

“Can we talk?” Kentaro asks, sitting across from me.

“Of course. Did you get any sleep last night?”

“None. I just came from tailing the waitress and Risa all night with Usagi. When you left to go to the hospital, Sakai took out his tablet, and we sat down to see if we could figure out what’s going on. We tracked the waitress and Risa to an alley in my family’s territory behind an udon restaurant, one I’m quite familiar with as it belongs to distant cousins of mine. Here. Give me your tablet, and I’ll show you what we found. Sakai showed me how to do all of this.”

He takes my tablet, taps parameters into the GDB surveillance feeds, and we sit and wait. “Yes! This is it. No audio, as you know.”

The camera is pointed on a back alley behind a restaurant, boxes and trash bags stacked next to a door for incoming produce. From one direction comes Risa and looking at the time code, it wasn’t long after we called the ambulance all the way in Ku 7.

“She waits here for fifteen minutes before the waitress finally shows up. She left the izakaya and took a circuitous route through the neighborhood before getting on the transitway.”

Kentaro scrubs the video forward, and the waitress appears. The two talk for a moment, both becoming more animated as the conversation heats up. Risa is pissed. She’s balling her hands into fists and running her fingers through her hair. I blink, and they’re fighting with each other.

“Whoa!” Jiro says and laughs. “She’s a horrible fighter.” He shakes his head and smiles. He’s right. Risa’s smacking at this woman, and the woman blocks her every move until she grabs Risa’s hand and twists her arm behind her back. “That’ll teach her.” Jiro nods, satisfied.

“Then…” Kentaro points at the screen.

A man joins both women. The camera angle is the same from the café when Helena was poisoned, and I’m sure this is the same man who spiked her coffee. I can tell from the long slant of his forehead and nose, the edge of his jaw. All things I can see from above. He breaks up the two girls and yells at the waitress before she stalks off. Risa turns to him, and they’re yelling at each other too, but he backs her to the wall, pins her there with one hand, and kisses her.

“Ew!” We all say at the same time.

“Disgusting.” Jiro puts down his pancakes.

“Revolting.” Kentaro closes his eyes.

Oyama doesn’t say anything but shakes his head.

As horrified as I am watching Risa and this guy make out, I’m thinking about how I can use this information to our advantage. “I need more pancakes if I’m going to watch any more of this.”

Kentaro turns off the tablet and sighs. “It goes on like that for a little while and then they go their separate ways. The waitress went to an apartment in Ku 6, Risa goes out drinking till the wee hours, and the man… I don’t know where he went. Sakai said he’d track him. I sent Usagi to bed at five and was watching both the waitress’s apartment and Risa’s new place — she has an apartment now in the same building as her parents — until twenty minutes ago. I’m handing off the jobs to you two so I can get some sleep. Still haven’t found the temporary chef who drugged Oyama.” Kentaro nods at Oyama and he nods back. “You all right?”

“I’m fine, thank you. Back on the job.”

“Excellent. Thanks for the pancakes. Come and get me later but not before three. I’m going with Sakai at two to Ku 1, and I’ll be back after. No lunch at his place today. He’ll send a message with more news later.” Kentaro waves and lets himself out.

The sugar and caffeine are not doing enough for me, and my eyes keep drooping.

“Go back to bed. I’ll watch the feeds and catch up on correspondence.” Jiro smiles down at me, and I rest my head against his stomach.

“I don’t want to leave you with all the work, and I bet you’re pretty tired, too.” I’m also happy to have him home and not at meetings. I want to spend every minute I can with him, but I can’t keep my eyes open.

“I can live for days on no sleep. This is nothing. Go. And don’t set an alarm.”

I’m too weak and tired to argue, so I go, but only after I eat another bite of pancakes.

—-

Jiro wakes me at three and waves a cup of coffee under my nose.

“I tried waking you up around noon, and I actually thought you might be dead because you just wouldn’t budge. But you were still breathing, so…”

I sit up in bed and blink the sleep from my eyes. Jiro sits next to me on the bed, his hand on my leg.

“Are you hungry? I have rice in the cooker, and Oyama dropped off teriyaki vegetables.”

“Yes. The pancakes were good, but I need some real food in me,” I say, taking the mug and yawning before sipping.

“I talked to Yoichi while you were sleeping. I know you heard everything he said last night, and I’m sorry. That must have hurt.”

I nod my head and look down into my coffee. More than he’ll ever know.

“He wasn’t kidding when he said he wanted nothing to do with the family business. I haven’t been forthcoming with him regarding your past because you’re so private. I figured you’d tell him when you’re ready.”

I love that Jiro doesn’t go around blabbing to everyone about my broken family and how they won’t associate with me anymore. He understands it’s something I keep held tight to my chest.

I’ve never opened up to Yoichi. We’ve only been friendly to each other. We talk of everyday things, Miko, the business, starting a family, but I don’t reveal my hopes, fears, and secrets like I do to others.

“I can’t go through life with your brother hating me and thinking I brought destruction on your family. Especially if he’s married to one of my best friends in the whole world.”

“He doesn’t hate you…”

“Oh no, I just realized Miko is my only best girl friend in the whole world. Helena is gone, and I’m not sure if I’ll ever see her again.” Damn, I’m crying, right into my coffee, and Jiro squeezes my foot again. “Jiro, you’re my best friend, too. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

Leaning forward, Jiro takes my mug away and holds my left hand, playing with the ring he put there only eight weeks ago.

“I don’t think I realized just how important a person you’d be in my life when I put this ring on your finger. You know how much my family means to me, but I would shun them all if they hated you.”

“You would?” I’m surprised. His family means everything to him, and now I’m doubly afraid to say anything about the way his mother treats me. I still think he has no idea, and if I told him now, their relationship may be ruined for a long time. I can’t be responsible for that, too.

“You’re the most important part of my family. I want to spend the rest of my life with you, have kids, and be together till we’re old. You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me. I found love and a purpose in life all because of you.” He cocks a lopsided grin and looks down at my hand again. “Sorry. I sound terribly sappy and romantic for a twenty-two-year-old boy.”

“Your mother and father were married at our age. I think your mother was pregnant with Yoichi when she was twenty.” He nods. We’re all so young, but our responsibilities make us ancient. “I love that you’re terribly sappy and romantic. And kind and loving. And strong and forceful. And commanding and sexy.” Our eyes meet, and his are eager and excited. It makes me laugh. “They’re all the things that make you you.”

“Don’t worry about Yoichi. He feels horrible. He didn’t understand, and now he does. I’m sure he’ll apologize.” He kisses my hand and stands up from the bed. “I hear from Usagi the dōjō is back to normal temps. Let’s go for a little while. The people we’re watching are sleeping and eating the day away. We’ll come back to them later.”