Revealed – Chapter 18

Sakai’s taxi deposits him outside of Section 6 of Ku 2, the Medical Services Ward. He lets the car door close itself, and lengthening his stride, he waves himself past the monitors and down the long hall to room 236.

What if he’s too late? He was just here yesterday morning, and Kenji Yamada, the sick and dying Chief of Colonization, was finally beginning to show improvement. Color had returned to his face, and brain activity was increased. Sakai left the hospital feeling confident Yamada would be out of his coma in only a few days.

Sad faces pass Sakai as he breaks into a run and crosses the last few meters of hallway to Yamada’s room, his shoes squeaking along the polished composite floor.

“Slow down, Sakai.” The head of Internal Medicine blocks Sakai at the doorway, his hand coming to rest on Sakai’s chest. “It’s too late. There was nothing we could do for him. Everything in his system started shutting down two hours ago.” He shakes his head, his eyebrows drawn together with dark circles under his eyes. “We would deal with one thing, and another would shut down. Liver, pancreas, lungs, heart — all gave up. I’m sorry. I know you were close.”

Sakai closes his eyes and sighs. “Shhhh…” He squashes a swear as he turns in the hallway and clutches the back of his head before letting his arms fall to his sides. “We went to school together. He married our teacher’s oldest daughter.” Sakai looks down at his shoes, trying to center his emotions. “I’ll need to call Mira.”

The doctor clasps Sakai on the shoulder. “She’s on her way in right now. You can go in. I need coffee. Want some?”

“No. Thank you.” Sakai bows slightly as the doctor rubs his face, yawns, and turns back towards the staff break room.

Yamada’s room is eerily silent. The machines no longer beep. The mechanical lung no longer breathes, and Yamada lies still, the life absent from his body.

This wasn’t supposed to happen. When Sakai recruited Yamada for the job, he made the position sound easy, a piece of cake. All Yamada had to do was keep the department running and on track for departure to Yūsei in another year.

Sakai stands over Yamada’s body and looks down at his old friend. “I’m so sorry.”

“Talking to the dead now, Sakai? I never thought I’d question your sanity.” Yoshinori Minamoto stands in the doorway, his rounded body eclipsing the light from the hallway. “Is it true? Is he dead?”

Sakai rubs his face and pulls the sheet up to Yamada’s chin. “I think he died an hour ago.”

Minamoto strolls into the room, his eyes trained on Yamada. “This wasn’t how it was supposed to be.” When he stops at the bed, he crosses his arms over his chest. “If only he had stayed in Development, he would still be alive.”

Sakai freezes Minamoto in his glare. “Well, the poison you had Tadao Matsuda slip him didn’t really help matters.”

“Me?” Minamoto brings his hands to heart, mock pain crumpling his face. “How could you accuse me of such a thing?”

Silence falls over the room as the air exchangers click on and off and the light in the bathroom flickers. Minamoto is a liar and a murderer, but he’s also smart enough never to get caught doing either of those things. What Sakai wouldn’t give for his old spying bolt hole in Minamoto’s previous restaurant. He almost lost an arm when Minamoto found him the last time, though. Sakai likes his arm right where it is.

“Well, now that Yamada is gone, the contract states that our next successor is Emiko Matsuda. It’s a good thing she’s in such excellent health and running the Colonization Committee so… expediently in Yamada’s extended absence.”

Sakai closes his eyes and counts to ten, calming the spike of adrenaline that threatens to overwhelm his system with rage. “Of course. Please relay the news to Matsuda. I’m sure she’ll be pleased to know she’s staying onboard.”

“She will. She’s very dedicated to the job.” Minamoto pauses, his head tilting and eyes narrowing at Sakai. “Tell me, have you been employing new staff lately, Sakai?”

“New staff? No. Not as far as I know.” What is this line of questioning? Sakai has about two dozen staff members waiting on instructions, not doing anything right now.

His heart speeds up as Minamoto shakes his head.

“I’ve heard you’re employing a young lady. Perhaps as an assistant to your nephew?”

Minamoto knows about Sanaa.

“No. We have no new personal staff. Perhaps you’re getting a new girlfriend of Jiro’s mixed up with someone else.”

“Does he have a new girlfriend?” Minamoto rubs his hands together, patiently waiting for Sakai to crack.

Not today.

“I honestly have no idea. He’s twenty-two and has a life of his own. Much like Kentaro.”

Sakai leans past Minamoto to see Mira, Kenji Yamada’s wife, in the doorway. Thank the gods.

He glances at Minamoto. “Please, let’s give Mira some private time with her husband.”

Minamoto nods and whispers his condolences to Mira on his way out the door. Mira, her eyes dead and vacant, stares at her husband for a moment before turning to Sakai. She places her hand on Sakai’s chest and curls her fingers around the fabric of his shirt.

“Someday,” she whispers, her chest rising in a deep breath, “you’ll make sure he pays for Kenji’s death.” She jerks her head at the door where Minamoto just left.

“On my honor.” Sakai bows his head and then wraps his arms around her as she sinks into a fit of sobs.

—-

A black car slides up to the curb and picks up Sakai standing on the same stretch of sidewalk only an hour after he arrived in Ku 2.

“What’s the word, Sakai?” Lucy asks, her eyes on him for a brief moment while scanning through notes on her tablet. Her two assistants sit across from them, both talking on headsets.

“Plan E,” he whispers, sinking into his seat. He wishes he could shake off the death and destruction that follow him everywhere. Isn’t it enough that he’ll destroy Sanaa’s world any day now?

Lucy turns off her tablet. “I’m not familiar with Plan E.”

“Plan E is a brand-new plan I’ve been working on for the past fifteen minutes. It will surely blow you away with how intricate and detailed it is.”

Lucy blinks at him, waiting for the unexpected Plan E.

“Sanaa has seen what Matsuda is capable of for herself. She knows how dangerous her opponents are. She barely even talked to me at lunch today, she was so distraught. So now that Yamada has passed and Minamoto is even further entrenched in the colonization, we move faster. We have to move faster. I think Minamoto knows about Sanaa, too. She’ll need guarding soon.”

“I see. What’s next then?” Lucy sips at a bottle of water and dismisses a call on her tablet.

“We begin the move-in procedure. I have people to move out, renovations to do, and security needs to be increased. Once that’s done, we bring her into the fold.”

“How long before she’s in our care?”

“A week. No less.”

Lucy’s eyebrows raise, and the light in the car brightens as they exit the tunnel heading back into Ku 6.

“You can renovate an apartment in less than a week?”

Sakai huffs a laugh, the first laugh he’s had in days. “I’m renovating three apartments in less than a week. It not as glamorous as you think it is. Sanaa’s apartment and two other apartments in another building are getting an overhaul. I’m moving two families off her floor and more security in. Plus, Oyama’s apartment will get bigger with more kitchen space.”

“Don’t you think Jiro is going to notice all the commotion? He lives on the same floor.”

The car slows as it enters Sakai’s territory and glides up to his building.

“He may or he may not. He’s got a date with Sanaa tonight, the okiya is tomorrow, and then it’s long work days until she’s told everything. If he notices, I’ll break the news to him early, but I can’t guarantee he won’t spill the secret to Sanaa.”

“Hmmm,” Lucy whispers, tapping her finger against her chin and looking out the window. “We’ll just have to play it by ear.”

Sakai grasps his knees and tenses up before loosening and letting out his stress. “See? I told you Plan E was full of brilliance.” He pushes the button for the car door to open.

“Hey Mark…” Lucy’s eyes widen and she presses her lips together. Both of her assistants stop talking briefly before picking up their conversations again.

Uh oh. Lucy has never called him by his first name outside of private time. Her cheeks flush for a moment before she clears her throat and pokes her finger at the window, pointing at the ramen shop across the street.

“How’s the ramen there?”

“Best in a five-block radius. I have to stop myself from dining there too often, or I’ll be as big as Minamoto.”

She smiles and sinks back in her seat. “I’ll remember that.”

If everything goes according to plan, Lucy and Sakai will be together in less than a month, out in the open, living together, and possibly eating out together.

Looks like ramen should be their first independent meal together.

He can’t wait.