Tokyo Demons Book 2: Chapter 1

Jo hadn’t, in his mind, given up the fight for his self-control against all the supernatural insanity…but he also knew when he’d lost a match. He felt flat. Crushed. Like he could hold up his heart and watch it flap in the wind, his feelings dripping to pool in an ugly mess on the floor.

Screw that guy, was all he could think. That Arabic guy, Zayd. Screw him. Sachi’s infuriating power suddenly seemed gentle and harmless in comparison. At least Sachi didn’t physically change what was happening inside Jo.

Shit.

Jo slumped in the chair by Kiyoshi’s bed. He wanted to focus on Kiyoshi, both from a sense of duty and in a half-hearted attempt to distract from the rawness inside him, but so little changed in that bed. Kiyoshi twisted and whined, his fingers clawing at sheets and pillows. The sound of rustling fabric and Kiyoshi’s whimpers became almost hypnotic, kept in time by the tiny beeps of the heart monitor. The exhaustion of the past few days pulled at Jo. He closed his eyes.

Tiny nightmares danced behind his eyelids. He would fall into them for a few minutes, revisiting long-lost chances he would never have. He imagined digging through his second-to-last foster mother’s closet for physical proof of her diagnosis. Calling the government foster contact to report that she was hiding her condition. Begging to be taken out of her care so she would finally go to the doctor.

But his eyes would always pop open, the air rushing out of his lungs as he stiffened in his chair. Fantasies of the past would fade, leaving the stale, sour reality of a creaking hospital bed and beeping monitor. Kiyoshi’s whimpering wouldn’t even change pitch. His sister sat over him, silent as a ghost, and only moved to adjust the sopping towel on his forehead.

Time warped through the night, artificially stretching as Jo relived weeks from his youth. He clawed through his hallucinations but hesitated from escaping. Reality was worse. Reality had gangs and drugs and death. Death of himself and everyone he knew, or things worse than–

His brain dropped him back into his chair. He blinked hard, trying to breathe through the crushing weight on his chest. The heart monitor had stopped beeping. As his blurry vision focused, panic welled up inside him. Something had changed.

Emi was in the bed. She sat against the metal headboard, her long skirt bunched around her legs and Kiyoshi’s trembling body pulled up against her. She whispered to him, rhythmic, creaking the bed as she cradled his head against her chest. The clip of the heart monitor was buried somewhere in the sheets.

Kiyoshi sobbed into Emi’s blouse. His cries cracked with new, sudden tension.

“I…I wanna die,” he cried weakly.

Jo froze. What happened? he wondered in a daze. Terrified of startling either of them, his eyes flicked to the clock.

It was six in the morning. Zayd had subdued Kiyoshi around two. Had it only been a few hours?

Emi squeezed Kiyoshi’s shaggy head. “Please,” she whispered. “Please don’t say that.”

“M-my life is over. Everyone’s gone and…” Tears rolled down Kiyoshi’s face. “They took my body away.”

“They didn’t. It’s still your body.”

“It’s NOT!” he suddenly screamed.

Jo tensed. When Kiyoshi remained in bed, his fists clenched and trembling, Jo swallowed.

Not again, he begged.

Emi shook her head. “We’re getting it back,” she told him. “When this is over, you’ll be you again.”

Kiyoshi clenched his teeth. He choked.

“Everything’s gone,” he whined. “And I’ll never see her again.”

Emi took a breath. She rested her cheek against the top of Kiyoshi’s head. Her voice shifted to release a few soft, gentle notes…it was so sudden that it took Jo a second to realize she was singing.

“You’re my darling, gentle and kind…

Always my love, you’re in my mind.

If you’re frightened, never you fear,

Call me and I’ll be here, dear.”

For some reason, the unfamiliar lullaby reminded Jo of something. Kiyoshi had talked about that when describing his mother at some point. Something about her singing him to sleep?

The creases in Kiyoshi’s sweaty forehead deepened. He curled in Emi’s arms.

“No,” he begged. “Don’t do that.”

Emi opened her eyes. “Why not, Ki-chan?”

Kiyoshi grunted weakly. “M-Mom’s gone. You’re not…”

Emi blinked glassy eyes. “I know she’s gone. I’m your sister.”

“That’s…that’s Mom’s song.”

Emi frowned. “No, Ki-chan.”

“Don’t call me that!” he snapped sharply. “You’re not…shut up!”

Emi swallowed. He had recoiled in her arms, but she gently pulled him back.

“Mom hated singing,” she whispered. “Don’t you remember? Dad bought us a karaoke machine and Mom wouldn’t touch it.”

Kiyoshi stopped. Emi ran a few fingers through his overgrown hair.

“Mom loved music. But she would never sing.” Emi smiled weakly. “She was tone-deaf, actually.”

Kiyoshi’s eyebrows furrowed. “Then…”

Emi sang the song once more. As she reached the final line, fresh tears welled up in Kiyoshi’s eyes.

“No,” he sobbed weakly. “But you…hated me.”

Emi froze. She tilted her wide eyes down at him.

Kiyoshi sobbed again, the anger draining from his body. “You left,” he whimpered. “I had a friend over and we wrecked your room…I ate the last piece of your birthday cake. You yelled at me when I was bad and you were always yelling at Mom and Dad. You…you left because you hated us!”

Pain contorted Emi’s face. “I-I never hated any of you,” she whispered back. “I was just unhappy, Ki-chan. But I still loved them and I still love you.”

“You left…!”

Emi bit her lip as tears rolled down her face. She buried her face in his hair and wrapped her arms around his neck.

“Forgive me,” she pleaded. “Please, Ki-chan. I’m here now and I promise I’ll never leave you again.”

Kiyoshi covered his mouth and choked out a few dry heaves. Then he cracked another sob, his hands shakily trailing up his sister’s clutching arms. He looked up at her.

Kiyoshi mumbled something, but Jo couldn’t make it out. Kiyoshi’s trembling fingers brushed over the darkening bruises on her throat.

“Don’t…hate me,” he pleaded.

Jo couldn’t take it anymore. He shut his eyes against the scene, his stomach twisting into knots.

I shouldn’t be watching this, he thought miserably.

He tried to sleep. But the sounds of sobbing, combined with a weird pain in his chest, kept him awake behind his eyelids. The nightmares from that night dissolved in his consciousness. From somewhere outside the high, blocked window, he heard the tiny chirps of morning birds.

And eventually, the sniffling quieted. Jo didn’t know how much time had passed. He swallowed, suddenly nervous, and cracked open an eye.

Kiyoshi was finally asleep. He breathed deeply, the wheeze beneath it still a stark difference from his hitched gasps of earlier. Emi, still wrapped around him, glanced up from his head.

She caught Jo’s gaze.

Jo jerked upright in his chair, more disoriented than he realized. The chair wobbled beneath him.

Emi pressed a finger to her lips. She gestured to the table beside her.

Jo carefully rose from his chair. His stiff body shot pain down his shoulders right through to his numb thighs.

He hobbled to her side of the bed. To his surprise, the only thing resting on the table was a syringe and an unopened vial of Pitch. He whipped his head to her.

Emi smiled weakly and shook her head. “Put it away,” she whispered. “We won’t need it, after all.”

Jo’s vision swam. He opened the table drawer and crammed the drug inside, grateful to shut it away from view.

Emi smiled. She turned back to the boy in her arms and gently brushed her fingers over his cheek.

Jo sighed and dropped heavily to the floor. He stretched out on the wood, letting the back of his head rest against the hard surface. He closed his eyes.

I need a fucking cigarette, he thought.

***************

As usual, Ayase slept longer than she meant to. When the sense of someone shaking her pulled her to reality, she dragged open her eyelids.

Daniel’s bedroom was flooded with sunlight. Ayase shot up in bed, her head snapping to the clock.

“What happened?!” she exclaimed.

Daniel jumped, his hand jerking back from Ayase’s shoulder. He chuckled nervously.

“Good morning,” he offered.

Ayase swallowed. She pushed the sheets off her, trying not to dwell on the embarrassment of sleeping past 10 a.m.

“How’s Kiyoshi?” she asked as Daniel rested a plate of sandwiches and a mug on a nearby desk. “Is he any better?”

Daniel smiled. “Aisha thinks we’re past the real danger. And since he fell asleep, Emi finally got an I.V. in him.”

“Did she…have to give him any Pitch?”

“Not a drop.” Daniel beamed. “He’s going to be fine.”

Threads of relief snaked through Ayase’s veins. She rubbed her face with both hands.

“Please eat something. Nick has a mission for you today.”

Ayase looked up. “Nick’s here?”

“No. But he wants you to call him as soon as you can.” Daniel glanced around the room. “Where’s your mobile?”

Ayase dug through her pants pocket until she felt the heavy lump inside. She pulled it out.

“Um…can I see Kiyoshi first?” she asked. She wasn’t sure it was a good idea, but she felt compelled.

“We need him to sleep. I’m afraid he’s still going to be sick for a while…these things can’t be fixed overnight, even if he’s gotten through the worst of it.” Daniel shrugged. “The antagonists we gave him are addictive, too. We’ll have to wean him off and give his body time to adjust to a clean state.”

That made Ayase’s decision for her. She brushed aside the small flutter in her heart, glad she wouldn’t have to deal with it just yet.

Daniel left to give her some privacy. Not really having clean clothes to change into, she just downed a sandwich and the mug of tea and flipped open her phone. She scrolled through the pre-programmed numbers until she found Nick’s.

beep

She held the phone to her ear. The fuzzy rings were cut off almost immediately by a click.

“Ayase? Are you alone?”

Ayase frowned. “Yeah,” she answered, a little unnerved by the question. “What’s the matter?”

“Nothing. Daniel told me you agreed to join the Church and Kiyoshi’s out of the woods.” She heard rustling on his end of the phone. “I just wanted to hit the ground running. Nakajima’s following up on some leads to try and find that building Kiyoshi was in, but one place sounds promising. I wanted to check it out myself today and I could use your help.”

Ayase blinked. “You what?” she blurted.

“I obviously can’t get close or I risk being seen. But we could send some of your bugs from a distance, maybe scope it out that way? You’d probably recognize it better than using your human eyes, anyway.”

Ayase licked her lips. “I guess,” she said, her heart speeding up a bit. “When did you want to do this?”

“Now, if you got some food in you.”

Ayase furrowed her eyebrows. “But…you said you can’t come here. And no one’s supposed to leave.”

“Turn into the insects and fly out the windows in small chunks. Not too much at once, okay? A cloud of bugs will draw attention if the church’s being watched.” More rustling. “I’ll be parked a few blocks away, by the little shoe store that closed down. I’ll leave the windows open so you can fly in and reform in the back seat.”

Ayase cleared her throat awkwardly. “I-I don’t have clothes when I reform,” she retorted.

“Oh. Then…I’ll bring some of my girlfriend’s clothes and toss them in the back. That good enough?”

Ayase hesitated. “I guess,” she said at last.

“Good. I’ll be there in fifteen minutes. And I cleared this with Daniel and Zayd, so don’t tell your classmates. I don’t want them causing a stink because they’re worried about you.”

Ayase scowled. “If you’re talking about Sachi, I’m not gonna sneak behind his back all the time. I thought the Church was a team.”

“We are, but we don’t have time to hold your hands through all this–we’re in a war zone now. You’ll all adjust quicker if you just follow orders.”

Hold our hands, she thought sourly. Considering everything they’d been through, Nick wasn’t giving them enough credit.

Unless he was thinking about Jo and Kadoyuki. They’ve been pretty shaken up, she conceded silently.

“Will you come?”

Ayase let out a breath. “Fifteen minutes,” she agreed.

She hung up and looked to the plate of sandwiches. It was first thing in the morning, but Daniel had brought her three. She remembered what he’d said about her energy levels after turning into a swarm.

He was thinking ahead. She grabbed another sandwich and bit into it, suddenly glad she’d slept in.

 

“I can turn on the radio, if you want.”

Ayase shook her head and adjusted her seatbelt. As Nick clicked on his blinker, he leaned over Ayase to open the glove compartment. He used one hand to rummage through papers and what looked like a sheathed knife before grabbing a small plastic pillbox. He crammed the compartment shut.

“How far away is this place?”

“About half an hour.” Nick turned onto a ramp that led to the highway. “You don’t get carsick, do you? Or was that Sachi?”

“Sachi.” Ayase plucked at her shirt and squirmed. She didn’t always wear a bra, but she wished she could have one for her first mission. She might have to run around…and she felt weirdly exposed, alone in a car with a grown man.

She glanced into the back seat. The bra Nick had brought her, made of shimmering aqua fabric and at least two cup sizes too big, lay where she’d left it.

“Is this your girlfriend’s car?” she asked.

Nick popped open the pillbox with his thumb. “Yeah,” he replied as he shook two pills into his mouth. He paused to swallow. “I don’t like using it.”

“Is she part of the Church?”

Nick grimaced. “She helps out. But I don’t like her getting too involved…she’s already in deep enough.”

Ayase paused. “Daniel-san said something about her running experiments with you.”

Nick snorted. “Of course he did. Of course Daniel told you her fucking life story.”

“He didn’t. He just mentioned it.”

Nick sighed angrily. “Yes,” he snapped. “She runs experiments with me, since she’s a grad student and has access to a good lab. Now stop asking about her.”

Ayase scowled. “I wasn’t actually asking,” she retorted.

Nick mumbled something in English. He glanced at her before looking into the rearview mirror.

“You’ve got a real mouth on you,” he muttered as he switched lanes. “I’m twice your age. Show a little respect.”

“I thought…Americans don’t care about things like that.” Ayase winced the minute she said it.

Okay, that was rude.

Nick glanced at her again. The hard edge of his mouth softened, then slanted in half a smile.

“You’re not scared about the drug war, are you?”

Ayase looked out the window. “I haven’t had much time to process it,” she replied, and it wasn’t entirely a lie.

“I don’t blame you. Your power’s ridiculous.” Nick sighed and rolled his shoulders, releasing tiny popping sounds. “As long as Core doesn’t know how you work, what can they do to you? You even heal fast. You’re a monster.” He raised an eyebrow. “And you work for us.”

Ayase swallowed. The way he said the word “monster” sounded like a compliment, in a weird way.

They sat in silence for several minutes. Nick rolled down the window, letting some air into the car. He pulled off his baseball cap to run a hand through his very short hair.

He yawned. Ayase leaned back in her seat.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

“Just tired.”

She rolled her eyes to the pillbox, now resting in the car’s drink holder.

“What did you take earlier?”

“Caffeine. You want one?”

She shook her head. “You, um…” She trailed off, then tried again. “You and the other adults don’t seem to sleep much.”

“Not lately. But we’ve been through worse than this.” He snorted. “I used to take crazy shit to get me through things. When you can’t slow down for more than few hours at a time, you get really good at tricking your body.” His voice lowered. “And abusing it.”

Ayase paused. “Drugs?” she offered. Her eyes trailed to his forearms, dutifully covered with long sleeves.

He seemed to notice her. “Not just Pitch,” he murmured. “I was in two militaries and lived with Zero. Of course I did drugs.”

Ayase pursed her lips and said nothing. Nick pulled his cap back onto his head.

“Maybe we never told you kids directly,” he muttered, “but don’t do drugs.”

Ayase looked out the window. “We know,” she answered sourly.

Nick didn’t belabor the point. Ayase occupied herself by watching the other cars on the highway. She felt weirdly calm…she was enjoying the strange reprieve from her clamoring thoughts.

Nick eventually rolled up the window, muffling the highway noise outside. The faint chak of the turn signal cut through the silence.

“The exit’s coming up,” he said. “You still okay with this?”

Ayase sat up. “So I’m trying to figure out if this is the building Kiyoshi was in.”

“Right. And if it is, we’ll do a little reconnaissance.” He turned onto the ramp. “With the security Kiyoshi went through, there has to be something important in there. And it might be more than just Pitch and money.”

“Maybe people,” Ayase offered. “Like Kiyoshi.”

Nick smiled darkly. “Maybe Zero,” he drawled.

Ayase felt her heart pick up in speed. She clenched and unclenched her hands.

“Just do what you did with Kiyoshi–break off a few bugs and try to spread them out. Use windows, vents…anything that can get you inside.” He unsnapped the glove compartment again. He rummaged until he pulled out a small tape recorder.

“You’ll keep your body in the car with me. If things get hot, we’ll move.”

Ayase nodded. She closed her fingers around the recorder.

Nick drove them into what looked like a small industrial district. Large garages and workshops lined the quiet streets, an eerie contrast to the cluttered bustle of Tokyo. They rumbled to a stop in a wide alley; Nick set the car into reverse to tuck them neatly against a wall. He unbuckled his seatbelt and turned in his seat.

“There,” he said, pointing through the rear windshield. “Do you see it?”

Ayase unbuckled her belt and clambered to her knees. A giant hill stretched past the street behind them, a field of grass at least a half-kilometer to its peak. A building sat atop it, too far away to see properly.

Ayase’s palms began to sweat. “Kiyoshi’s building was on a hill,” she breathed.

Nick nodded with grim satisfaction. He dug a notebook out of his pocket and flipped it open.

“It’s registered to a dot-com company,” he explained. “A Web security firm, which is an easy cover for all the technological defenses they have up. We can’t link it to Zero, but they seem to have a lot of silent partners at the top.”

Ayase swallowed. She glanced down at his notebook.

“Motoi Limited,” she read. She took a long breath and leveled her gaze on the distant building.

“Let’s do this.”

Proceed to Chapter 1, page 3–>