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Chapter Thirteen
The Calm
—
“Mmmnn.”
The alarm didn’t care.
Groaning, Kohaku slung one hand across the edge of her bed and slammed it on the alarm clock to shut it up. As she eventually rolled off her mattress and dragged herself across the room, she decided to make a detour from her path to the restroom and open the curtain leading to her apartment balcony. Cracking open the sliding door, she groggily breathed the reportedly fresh air.
“Okay, so first off, this was not my idea-”
“GAAAH WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!?!?!”
“Uh,” Rook replied, slowly peering around the open door at the now flung onto the floor in shock Kohaku as her body remained in its defensive position, albeit horizontally. “Ren got spooked that something might happen to you, so he made me sit out here all night. Sorry.”
“Why would he just-?” Kohaku stared in repulsion at the air in front of her before forcing herself to take slow, deep breaths. “Okay. Okay, so he got panicky and decided to send you over to what, watch the stars?”
“Uh, I think I recall kicking a man through part of a train station to protect you.” Rook would’ve raised an eyebrow if he had one to spare. “If those lunatics were willing to do something so drastic in public places, Ren had to assume they’d try something while you were alone.”
“What about the rest of you?” Kohaku grumbled, slowly pulling herself to her feet as she felt her spine. “Shouldn’t you all be watching each other?”
“…You want to maybe talk after you’ve woken up?” Rook tipped his head to the side. “Y’know, freshen up, have some coffee, maybe change out of what passes for pajamas in this apartment building, stuff like that.”
"Oh so now you’re also judging my style?" Kohaku scowled, pressing her knuckles into her hips at the sheer audacity of Rook deciding to question her drab combination of tank top and sweat pants. “And what do you wear when you go to bed and don’t care what people think?”
“Nothing. I have no physical body and am unable to sleep, and even the facsimile I possess holds but a sliver of the senses I used to enjoy. I can barely even feel the ground under my feet, or the cold at night, and am constantly experiencing a dead and empty world which I can no longer truly interact with.”
“Which reminds me,” Rook turned away, having delivered his depressing monologue with the same casual, friendly attitude that he approached the rest of the conversation. “Ren asked me to send this over. No clue what it is, but he said he’d be around to pick it up after the weekend. Told me not to open it, and I hope you won’t either.”
"Uuh… ttthhhhanks." Kohaku apprehensively accepted the package, slowly overcoming her reaction to Rook’s sudden deep and compelling backstory. “It’s kinda big… What exactly does he own that’s the size of a microwave? Unless-” Her face grew a little devious. “If I keep this, will he able to make any food? He doesn’t know how to cook, does he?”
“I think I’m going to leave before I become an accomplice.” Rook drew his shoulders to his neck and stepped off the balcony, floating in midair. “If I could eat I suspect I would be offended, but whether it’s more the food he makes or the shenanigans you’re planning I’m not sure.”
“Take care of yourself, stranger.” Kohaku drew two finger guns, one from underneath the box she held. “Let him know I’ll be saving fish tails for when he gets back to work.”
—
“Yes, he’s doing alright.”
“No, I don’t know if he’s said anything to his classmates.” Tone sighed, leaning on the edge of the rooftop. “I’ve told you before, my mask powers only work one way. And if I can’t see who I’m talking to it doesn’t do much good to send signals, now does it?”
“What do you mean why does that matter?” Tone snarled. “Because maybe I don’t want to pop somebody’s ear drum by mistake, that’s why! Or tell everyone in the area what I’m trying to quietly relay! Did you actually have anything to say or are you just calling to waste my time?”
He covered his entire face with one of his gloved hands. “Yes, I’ll make sure Corey picks up milk on the way back. And some of that disgusting chocolate, sure. You want me to start making a list, or do you plan on running out of credit cards some other way?”
“I think you know exactly why I’m so irritable today.” Tone growled, abruptly hanging up the call and stuffing the phone back into his jacket. “Ren Fukushi. You’d think he’d be able to come up with something more original than THAT.”
“Trouble, friend?” A voice sounded behind him, causing Tone to flinch at his apparent discovery.
“Nah,” Tone shrugged, slowly slipping a pair of binoculars out from the inside of his jacket. He had rehearsed something like this enough times to have it come naturally to him. “Been tracing that stupid bird half a mile. Er, point-eight kilometers, roughly. If it would just head back to its nest…”
“Then it would be so much easier to poach, wouldn’t it?” The voice carried with it a devious smile.
Tone was on his feet in the blink of an eye, trying to decide whether or not to violently rush the figure that now menaced him. He stood several paces away, hands in his pockets, a scowling and pointed wooden mask covering his eyes. “Now, now, no need to be so jumpy, Tone.” His permanent grin flashed. “And there’s no need to blast out my eardrums or anything like that. I’m not here to fight.”
“I’m hardly about to believe that.” Tone growled, his mind racing over what kind of escape options were available to him. “You’re here to kill me, leaving Corey defenseless, and then go after Ren-”
“Nobody knows I’m here.” The stranger replied, gliding forward across the roof, wavering up and down ever so slightly, his feet dragging against the loose stones atop the building. “I’ve been trying to fly about in inconspicuous areas and get that sort of flight pattern your Rook guy has, but I just can’t keep a continuous rate of speed at an exact angle like that. Pretty annoying.”
He stopped at the edge of the building, looking down at the school while Tone eyed him with the utmost suspicion. “I know why you’re hesitating. You doubt you can actually take me on, especially here, with the whole world watching.”
“Whatever helps you sleep at night.” Tone mumbled in reply. “You here to make small talk?”
“The orders were to do nothing, so I’m doing nothing.” The stranger shrugged. “I’m not one of the ones coming up with the two plans, so I’m not exactly involved enough to stay entertained.”
Tone slowly turned his head towards the stranger, but before he could comment the grinning fiend elaborated. “The current idea is to have two plans of retaliation going at the same time, and in that way be much harder to predict.” He looked down at Rook, away from the side of the school. “But honestly, that’s just too boring. It’s much more interesting if you have a way to counteract everything we’re going to do.”
"“But then you’ll lose.” Tone inquired.
“Nobody said anything about that,” the stranger replied, his grin almost seeming sentient. “I’ve seen that mask in action; I know its blind spots. We’ll be able to sneak through unless you can keep up.”
“You’re just selling out your side for a little entertainment?”
The stranger turned back to the window, Tone eventually following his gaze. Inside was Corey, seated backwards in a chair, his chin resting on his folded arms, listening in the most bored fashion to another student yap on and on about something or other.
When Tone finally looked back at the stranger, he was gone.
—
“I’m just saying, it would really help if you actually knew Japanese and could narrate both timeslots of your program…”
Race flatly rotated her eyeballs towards Fumihito as she held a hairpin in her teeth, balling up her hair behind her head to place it in a sloppy bun. “Of course, you’re not about to lose your job because you can’t, but it would be so much more efficient-”
“LIVE IN ONE!!” The camera crew called out.
“I appreciate your concern for my position, but if I can’t keep my job by doing it, then I’m evidently not the best choice for it.” Race sighed, snapping her fingers at the loitering janitor as she walked towards the news set. “It’s only a matter of time until solely English-speaking newscasters are phased out for multilingual ones, anyhow, so I’m not overly concerned by it.”
“It’ll happen when it happens.” She mumbled as she strode off, taking her place in front of the camera. Fumihito sighed, leaning against the wall with a clipboard eternally present in his hand as the live broadcast light turned on.
“Good afternoon. As the topics being discussed on this news bulletin are graphic in nature, we strongly advise viewers not tune in to the next half hour of broadcast if they find the topics of death, mutilation, and beheading to be unpleasant.” Race droned, as Fumihito gripped his forehead in frustration.
“On monday this week police discovered the battered bodies of several members of the criminal yakuza organization Koi Blood recognized by their identifying koi tattoos in various shades of red. While the cause of death is being debated, this station reported the apparent suicide of these individuals on the scene shortly after its estimated occurrence, as the bodies were found inside a minivan which had been violently driven into a tree. Police investigation has found the cause of death to be violent bruising across the body, including the head, neck, and internal organs leading to unconsciousness and death shortly after.”
“However, on monday night police also discovered the as of yet unidentifiable body of a foreigner which they believe to be directly tied to the yakuza deaths. The victim was found on a side street in the suburb area of Gotanda, his head apparently having been ‘exploded from the inside’, reports claim. The only identifiable marks that could be found on the body were some skin sections, which have been identified as having been painted red prior to death, and a few strands of hair.”
“Some apparent obstacles to identifying the victim have presented themselves, including the lack of fingerprints, having been apparently burned to be unrecognizable by exposure to heated metal, several years before the incident. More details at seven.”
Fumihito shook his head, and turning around, caused the loitering janitor to jump and begin cleaning up after Race.
“Don’t hurt yourself, kid.” Fumihito chuckled, sending a backhand slap at the janitor’s shoulder. “Work around here shouldn’t be too hard. You just keep yourself busy for a few days, long as you need really; anything for a friend of a friend, y’know?”
“Yes, sir.” Ren smiled, exhaling deeply as Fumihito wandered off to go micromanage some other aspect of his job. Race’s tired eyes sent the leader of the Wild Masks a weary glance as she departed the set.
—
