Released – Chapter 33

I spend the weeks all the way through the middle of October packing, packing, packing. Once we’re all settled on Yūsei, I swear I’m never moving again. Jiro and I don’t have many belongings so he attends meetings all day every day, and I deal with the apartment. I’m definitely not pleased with this job. I’m careful about packing the first five crates then I find myself chucking things in boxes randomly because I’m so sick of being home. Every day, I ask Beni to come and help, but she’s helping Mariko.

Now that I know they’re home, I climb the stairs each morning for a week to help out. Mariko can’t turn me away with Beni around, and I’m sure to smile and be as pleasant as possible while I’m in her apartment. The time I spend there is pleasant for no one, though. Everything reminds her of Koichi, and after about ten different breakdowns, we send her off to visit with her brother and sister-in-law while Beni and I pack instead. I feel awful sending her away, but we were getting nowhere.

Jiro is dealing with more of my imperial duties each day as we get closer to leaving. He has meetings with Minamoto and Maeda often and details still to be worked out concerning Miura’s family and crew. They have stayed silent and respectful since the fight, but we don’t expect the peace to last long once we land. Jiro and I will have our work cut out for us.

The city is cool all of the time, and I’m in the dōjō a few times per week again with Kentaro. This morning, after putting me through the paces for two hours, Kentaro and I sit down for a break and a glass of water on the mats.

Sighing, I lie back on the mats. “I’m disappointed I didn’t learn more this summer. I had such high hopes to learn every thing about being a ninja before we left for Yūsei, but so much of life got in the way.”

“The past few months have been crazy, Sanaa, and ninjutsu is a life-long pursuit. You can’t learn all the skills in one summer despite how hard you try. Don’t forget that the people who hurt Helena and tried to poison us are still out there. You need to stay safe.”

I roll onto my side so I can see Kentaro better. He smiles and nods his head at me, fatherly in a way. Maybe there is something attractive about him when he’s nice. “How’s Kevin? I haven’t heard or seen much of him in the past weeks.”

“We broke up.”

“Oh, no. I’m sorry,” I say, waving my hand at him and sitting up, cross-legged. “I shouldn’t have mentioned it.”

“It’s fine. He’s a nice bloke but can’t make up his mind for shit.” Kentaro shrugs. “One minute he wanted to come on the first wave and be with me. Another he couldn’t deal with leaving. He loves his job as a pediatrician and doesn’t want to leave the kids he’s been treating for years. I get it. Three weeks ago, he decided to stick to his fifth wave slot, and I doubt we would have survived an interstellar, long distance relationship.”

“That sounds like something out of a sci-fi romance novel. Oh well. We’ll find you a cute boy on the other side of this whole ordeal.”

He helps me up off the mats and shrugs his shoulders again. “Or a cute girl. I haven’t given up on either of them yet.”

He walks away from me with a wink and a smile. Hmmm, Kentaro. You’re more complex the more I get to know you.

When we’re done, Kentaro walks me home from the dōjō and straight to my apartment.

“I don’t know what you’re up to now, but I need groceries or I’m going to die of starvation. If you want to come across the street with me, I’m heading out in thirty minutes after I clean up.” Kentaro wants to spend time together before hibernation, and I have trouble not throwing myself at him and thanking him for his constant attention.

“Sure. Meet you downstairs with Oyama in forty-five minutes?” We nod and part ways.

I message Oyama, jump in the shower, and then meet the guys downstairs once I’m ready. I love the little grocer across the street from Sakai building. In fact, I love everything about this block: the ramen place right next door to the grocer, the laundromat, the stoop three doors down where old men sit all day and talk, the tea shop on the corner, and all the people I regularly run into around here. I’ll miss this place so much when we’re gone.

“Sugar snap peas are in season now, Sanaa. How about udon with mushrooms and those tonight?” Oyama is running his hand through the basket of peas, grabbing handfuls and bagging them up.

“Sounds delicious.”

I don’t have much to do here. This is more of an excuse to get out of the house than anything else. I walk along the aisles and browse for things Jiro and I enjoy — eggplants, green peppers — but I’m most drawn to the fruit section. I say hello to the owner on my way over, bow, and wish him good health

An employee stacks oranges into a pyramid, his hair pulled up at the back, streaks of gray following the slope of his head to the knot even though the rest of him is young. My mouth starts to water thinking about orange slices after dinner. I love citrus — can’t get enough of it — but I ate oranges sparingly as a kid because they’re expensive. Now I can have as many as I want.

“Excuse me. Can you grab me three ripe oranges?” I ask the employee. “My arms are full.” I laugh when I look at what I’m carrying. You’d think Jiro and I eat as much as ten people.

“Yes, miss,” he says, and then a deathly silence falls on the place.

All the hair on my body stands straight up as the floor under me vibrates, slowly building to a violent trembling.

Earthquake.

—-

The shaking knocks me to the ground, everything I’m holding flying from my arms and rolling in a dozen different directions. I fall down hard on my hip and knock my head against the floor. Produce plummets off the shelves above me and pelting me on my head over and over. Oranges, grapefruits, apples hit me and bounce off down the aisle.

“Sanaa!” Kentaro shouts from the next aisle over. “Stay down!”

I have no choice, Kentaro. My legs wouldn’t hold me even if I could stand.

Then it stops just before the warning sirens start. The earthquake only lasted about forty-five seconds, but it was strong. The floor is still vibrating.

“Are you okay?” the employee asks, offering his hand to help me up. I take it and pull myself upright.

“I think so.” I rub at my hip and wince. “Gods, that was a big one. I hope everyone around here is okay.”

Oyama stands in the doorway, his hand clutched to the doorjamb. I don’t think he even moved. His basket is still full of food. Kentaro pops up from the floor right next to me, and we examine each other. He looks uninjured.

“Let me help you pick up all your produce. Hopefully none of it is damaged.” The employee squats down in front of me to grab my fruits and vegetables from the floor, and I gasp and nearly pass out.

It’s him! The man who poisoned Helena, the one we saw in the alleyway with Risa. I’m looking at him now from the same angle as the cameras, and it’s definitely the same face, the same jawline and forehead. He glances up at me, having heard my sharp intake of breath, and he looks completely different from this angle. That’s unreal. He’s like a Noh mask, unique from every direction.

The perfect spy. Unrecognizable unless you know him well.

“Hello,” I say, my voice coming out in a breathless whisper. I can barely hear myself over the sirens. “I don’t believe we’ve been introduced.”

A change shifts through his eyes, from shiny to dim. He knows he’s been caught. Straightening up in front of me, he smiles and winks, and my insides grow cold. I’ve seen him not once (the day he knocked into me coming out of Café les pivoines), not twice (in the waiting room in Ku 2 he sat and read on his tablet after I stared him down), but three times previous to this. His smile and wink are disarming, and if he were wearing a suit with a drink in his hand, he’d be the man that tried to hit on me at the casino, too.

How long has he been working here? Has he been following me other places, and I’ve just not noticed? I never thought anyone would have the guts to infiltrate Sakai territory, especially with all the security I usually have. I didn’t even bring Kazenoho because, if I check behind me, my security staff are stationed in the street right outside.

I’m afraid to break eye contact with him, but I glance at Kentaro and the man does too.

Kentaro pales. “Kazuo,” he says.

“Hello, cousin,” Kazuo replies.

What?

Kazuo bolts, pushing me down and running for the back door. I try to get up and run after him, but I trip on a grapefruit and slide into a shelf of produce, costing me precious seconds. Kentaro is in the lead, through the door behind Kazuo, but a loud crash at the back of the store happens before he runs back out.

“Argh!” Kentaro screams. “He blocked the door. Out the front!”

I turn and sprint past Oyama yelling at him to get Jiro and Sakai quickly. Kentaro is right behind me, and I take a chance on direction and head towards the end of the nearest block to the alley that leads behind the grocery store. Kentaro and I round the corner, but the alleyway is deserted.

“Up,” Kentaro says, and when I look up, I realize Kazuo could have climbed any of the nearby buildings’ fire escapes. “Let’s go.”

We sprint to the nearest ladder, and Kentaro boosts me up. I swing my legs up on the platform and bump my hip again, blinking away the stars of pain in my vision. We climb to the roof, but the area is empty, just the dome stretching up above us and off into the distance. Kazuo probably climbed up and then climbed right back down on the side of another building. That’s what I would do.

“Kazuo!” Kentaro screams, his head tilting back and voice echoing across the neighborhood. “Come back here you coward!”

“Cousin?” I bend over and try to catch my breath. This must mean Minamoto is almost certainly involved in Helena’s poisoning and subsequent attacks on my family.

“Cousins,” he corrects me. “Kazuo and Sachi Uchiyama. Twins. My half second-cousins and two of the most skilled assassins in Nishikyō.”