Tokyo Demons Book 2: Chapter 4

Officer Aihara was a talker. As she drove the group of them through Ginza in the crowded patrol car, she filled the space with unsolicited rants about her experience on the streets. Her partner, Terada, sat in the front seat in silence.

“…can get rough in Tokyo, especially lately. We had a nasty gun fight in Kabukichou a few weeks ago.” She looked at Sachi through the rearview mirror. “Did you folks hear about that in Nagoya?”

“Er…we’ve been traveling.”

“There were explosives. It was a disaster.” Aihara shook her head and tapped her fingers on the steering wheel. “And there was another incident out in the outskirts the other day–at a security firm. Almost 30 dead, over a dozen weapons collected at the scene. We’re still sorting that one out.”

Jo checked his watch. It’s half past midnight, he thought. Takeshi had promised Byakko would come through for them, but the lack of details was frustrating. And he’d gotten a cryptic text message from Mitsuko right before leaving:

Takeshi’s stepping back. I’m handling this. ;)

He didn’t know what that meant, but the wink face didn’t bode well.

“A security firm?” Sachi asked as he feigned ignorance. “What happened there?”

“We don’t know. We assumed it was more Yakuza infighting, but a lot of the dead were wearing symbols from a Tokyo youth gang. We apprehended a few injured on the site, but they were critically wounded and can’t be interrogated for a while.” She waved a hand. “Detectives Nakajima and Ochi specialize in narcotics, but they have a lot of experience with the gangs. They’re helping homicide on that one.”

Jo’s attention perked. Seeing an opportunity to shed light on the Church’s unnerving cop allies, he cleared his throat.

“We only met them briefly,” he said. “But isn’t Nakajima-san a senior detective? Dealing with gangs seems beneath her.”

Aihara suddenly stopped talking. She exchanged glances with Terada.

“Well…she’s a senior in experience, but not in rank. She’s actually held the same detective position since the 1980s, even if she’s moved between specialties.”

Jo decided to tread lightly. “Is that unusual?”

Aihara didn’t reply. Terada finally opened her mouth.

“Very,” she murmured. “But Detective Nakajima’s record is…scattered.”

Aihara sighed. “She’s made brilliant arrests,” she offered, “and she’s solved difficult cases. But she’s also mishandled suspects and contaminated evidence. Nothing bad enough to be demoted, mind you, but bad enough that senior management doesn’t fully trust her. She was in homicide for years before they transferred her out.”

Terada looked in the rearview mirror. “Keep that to yourselves. If you shadow under her, you should be aware of what you’re getting into.”

The slight hostility under the woman’s voice intrigued Jo.

From the other end of his seat, Jo saw Kado look up. He swallowed.

“What about Detective Ochi?” he asked, lifting his voice to a more feminine register.

Aihara shrugged. “He suffers from the same record. They’ve been working together at least a decade…and they mostly keep to themselves. They’re not very, ah, popular in the department.”

Jo caught eyes with Kado. Don’t push too hard, he said silently.

Kado scrunched up his forehead and leaned back in his seat. Jo tried to ignore how incredibly creepy it was to know Kado was in his head.

The police scanner in the front seat crackled. “Unit 32,” a fuzzy voice directed. “Break-in at Shinjutori jewelry store. Alarm alerted the neighbors.”

Sachi turned to Jo. Jo gestured for him to turn back around.

Yes, he thought in frustration. Stop being so fucking obvious!

Aihara picked up her communicator. “Unit 32, Aihara and Terada. Any word on the perp?”

“Negative. Private security firm is connected, but no word from them.”

“All right. Proceeding by car.” Aihara turned on her siren and hit the gas.

Sachi reached past Jo and grabbed at the car door. Jo watched, surprised, as the color drained from Sachi’s face.

Sachi frantically shook his head. “Carsick,” he croaked.

Jo rolled his eyes. After a quick check to make sure the cops were focused on the road, he slipped his phone out of his pocket and tapped out a group text message.

Private security firm. We might get there first.

By the time Jo snapped his phone shut, his could hear a blaring alarm fade in. He looked through the windshield to see the car race toward a darkened building. In the light of the streetlamp, he saw the glint of smashed glass.

“That’s it.” Terada glanced over her shoulder. “Stay in the car until we clear the premises. There could be a suspect in there.”

The car screeched to a halt near the building. Aihara detached the radio communicator as Terada pulled a pair of billy clubs from beside her seat. As the two women stepped out of the car, flooding the interior with the alarm, Jo carefully cracked opened his door.

“Fuck!”

That sounded like a girl. Jo heard more smashing glass from within.

“Suspect is on the scene. Proceeding on foot.” Aihara clipped the radio onto her belt and accepted a club from Terada.

The ear-splitting alarm finally snapped off. In the sudden, deafening quiet, the mystery girl started to wail.

“Keiko!” another girl shouted. “Don’t!”

More smashing glass. The cops exchanged glances.

The wailing started again, and this time, Jo began to understand it. She was crying. Or pretending to, anyway–either Keiko cried like a bear, or she was a terrible actress. Jo caught eyes with Kado.

Keiko’s the one from our class, he thought. She was at Motoi. He tried to visualize the tall girl who was usually with Ruka, but then remembered that Kado couldn’t see mental images.

The police officers shouted a warning as they advanced with their batons. The smashing stopped; a second later, a baseball bat clattered in the front window display. Keiko started crying again.

“He told me he was gonna buy my ring here!” she cried unconvincingly. “But now he’s goooooone!”

Jo winced at the performance. But the cops didn’t flinch.

“Step outside of the building,” Aihara ordered.

Another girl dragged the crying Keiko out of the store. Jo vaguely recognized the second girl from the Byakko meeting at Blue Light, but she was dressed in a skirt and blouse–she looked borderline classy. The only evidence of Motoi was a bandage around one knee that peeked out from under her skirt. Even Keiko was dressed in a button-up shirt, and she’d let down her usual ponytail.

While Keiko fake-sobbed, the other girl bowed at the cops excessively.

“I’m so sorry!” she exclaimed. “Her boyfriend dumped her, and she was upset…”

“Upset?” Terada barked. “We’re assuming this is a robbery! Put your hands against the wall!”

The two girls complied, although Keiko rubbed her eyes first. Aihara glanced back at the car and beckoned for the boys to join them.

Jo stepped out of the car as Terada patted down the Riot Girls. “Can I help?” he called.

“Maybe. I’d like to clear the area.” Aihara gestured to the building. “Can you take one of your partners and carefully check the perimeter of the building? Don’t go anywhere you have bad visibility.”

It was perfect. Jo took Sachi while Kado planted near the car. As Jo ran around to the side of the squat building, he lifted his coat flap to reveal Ayase’s insect.

“Tell Kado when it’s time,” he murmured. “I need to check the lock first.”

The little bug buzzed near his chest. Jo pulled the remote panic button Shouri had given him from his pocket and casually tossed it on the concrete. As he turned away, Sachi kicked small rocks to cover it.

“I hope it’s loud enough,” Sachi whispered. “Especially from over here.”

“We’ll find out.” Jo made his way to the back of the building. The back door was there, but so was the security camera. He resisted the urge to look up at the tiny light as he mimicked scanning the area for intruders.

He got close enough to the door to glance at it. It seemed like a simple enough lock–the only bolt was the latch bolt. He beckoned for Sachi to follow him as he made his way to the far end of the building. He glanced around the corner cautiously.

“Now,” he murmured to Ayase.

The hidden panic button screeched from the other side of the building. Sachi clapped his gloved hands over his ears.

“Shit,” Jo blurted as the two of them ran to the front. He’d never expected that kind of noise from something the size of a keychain.

Terada and Aihara had pulled back, their billy clubs ready. Terada scowled at them.

“Did you find somebody?!”

“No!” Sachi called over the alarm. “Did anyone trigger another alarm?!”

“We haven’t moved!”

Keiko started crying again. As Terada ordered her to stop, Jo pushed through the smashed-in front door and ran across the jewelry store. He made an exaggerated effort to try the locked door to the back.

“This place is isolated!” he called. “And we didn’t see anyone nearby!”

“Then what the hell–”

Kado started waving his gloved hands behind Aihara. “I was near the front door,” he wheezed over the noise. “I may have triggered something.”

Aihara cursed. “We already notified private security. Turn that thing off!”

Jo threw open the fuse box in the back of the room. “I can shut off the power to the building,” he offered.

The officers hesitated. As Jo’s heart started to pick up speed, Sachi’s voice carried over the noise.

“We didn’t see anyone! I think these girls came alone!”

Terada growled audibly. “Fine. Cut the power!”

Jo looked over at Kado; sure enough, Kado’s hand was in his skirt pocket, assumedly on the remote control for the panic button. Jo found the all-power switch in the fuse box and jerked it down.

The few small lights in the building blinked out. Half a second later, in response to Kado pushing his own switch, the blaring alarm cut out.

It was smooth enough to be convincing. Terada muttered something and clicked on a flashlight.

“Like it wasn’t dark enough before,” she snarled at Kado. “Get more flashlights from the car.”

Kado obeyed. Terada pulled back from the Riot Girls.

“They’re clean. No weapons or stolen jewelry.”

The unnamed girl shook her head. “We didn’t steal anything! Keiko’s boyfriend took her here a few weeks ago–”

“We were gonna get MARRIED!” Keiko cried.

“Shut up,” Aihara ordered. “We don’t care about your boyfriend.”

“But he left meeeeeee!”

“Is he worth a breaking and entering charge? This amount of property damage?!”

“He was to meeeeeee!”

Jo recoiled at the terrible acting as he picked his way through the smashed jewelry cases. But when he stepped back onto the street, he saw that the cops had lowered their clubs.

“He was everything to Keiko,” the other girl offered. “I tried to calm her down, but she won’t listen to me.”

“Have either of you ever been arrested before? Do you realize this will get you kicked out of school?”

The unnamed girl gasped earnestly. “Not school!”

She was more convincing, but Jo needed confirmation. Thankfully, Sachi tapped Terada on the shoulder to warn her that she was stepping in glass. When she adjusted her footing, he nodded at Jo.

That was good enough. Jo gestured to the back of the building.

“We can do another perimeter search,” he offered. “Just in case we missed something.”

Aihara sighed. “Just be careful.”

Sachi cleared his throat. “Officer Aihara,” he asked, “may I take down the suspects’ information? I’ve always been a little slow at that, and I’m trying to get better…”

Jo beckoned to Kado. Then he bolted for the back door as fast as he could.

The tiny light of the security camera had gone dark. After pulling on a pair of latex gloves, Jo fished his best lockpick and tension wrench out of his pocket and slid them into the lock. When he squinted in the darkness, a small light suddenly appeared near his fingers.

He turned. Kado steadied the flashlight on the lock without looking up.

“I’m glad Byakko taught you this,” he murmured, loud enough for Ayase’s insect to hear.

Jo let out a breath. Right, he thought as he fiddled with the lock. And that’s what you’ll tell anyone who asks. Got it?

Jo was a little out of practice, so it took a minute to pop the lock. Ayase’s bug flew up to his collar as he swung open the door.

“A buzz under the right ear for good idea,” he confirmed aloud. “Left ear for bad idea. Up the back of my neck if someone’s coming.” Jo held out his hand; Kado slapped the flashlight into it. Jo clenched his jaw.

“Keep in touch with her, Kado. Your eyes are better than hers right now.”

Kado nodded, but didn’t say anything. He snapped on his second flashlight.

Jo slipped through the door and quietly closed it behind him; he heard it re-lock automatically. He didn’t see any wiring from the inside, so he cracked the door open again and fished around in his pocket for the scrap paper he’d brought. He wadded a piece up and crammed it into the hole in the doorframe, blocking the automatic latch bolt from expanding and relocking the door. He wasn’t wild with the thought of locking himself inside that place.

Jo paused before closing the door again. “But don’t follow me,” he warned Kado outside. “I mean it.”

“I-I know.”

Jo pushed the door shut behind him. He swung his small light up to the cramped, pitch-black hallway. The stairs to the second floor loomed on top of him.

Jo squeezed past the railing and spun around to face the proper side of the stairwell. He swallowed once before slowly trailing the light up the stairs, down the parallel hallway, and across the single closed, unmarked door.

The logical part of his brain said no one was up there. A neighbor had called the cops–even a Core operative would’ve done something when the alarm went off, or at least fled before the police arrived. And as Jo filtered out the muffled cries of Keiko and Aihara from the front of the building, he didn’t hear anything above him. No scraping sounds, no creaking wood…no signs of life.

But Jo couldn’t shake the mental image of some Pitch-addicted accountant huddled in his office with a gun. The blood pounded in Jo’s ears as he took a first, shaky step.

“This is the police,” he called softly, the words feeling strange in his mouth. “Is anyone up there?”

Ayase’s insect flew off him. Jo cringed in surprise as the bug zoomed to the second floor and disappeared under the doorway. Several seconds later, the bug crawled back out, flew down, and buzzed under Jo’s right ear.

Jo let out a breath. “Thanks,” he murmured as he ran up the stairs.

The door was a deadbolt, under a well-hidden camera in the doorframe. Just in case that one was battery-operated, Jo decided to apply a trick of Miki’s. He popped open a small bottle of hand lotion in his pocket, squeezed a generous amount onto his gloved fingers, then ran his hand up the doorframe like he was inspecting it. He made sure to leave a thick smear blocking the camera lens.

Picking this lock was a little harder, since he had to hold the flashlight between his teeth. The hand lotion made his tools slippery, which he internally cursed himself for. When the door finally swung open, he checked his phone.

He’d sent the text message about private security twelve minutes earlier. He made a beeline for the desk, panic building up in his stomach. He could hear the faint sound of voices from outside the window–it was mostly Sachi, faltering and repeating basic interview questions while Aihara corrected him. Jo wasn’t sure how long that would stall the police.

All the desk drawers were locked. Shit, Jo thought as he jimmied open the simple lock of the top drawer. Luckily, he found a set of keys in there. He briefly debated trying the filing cabinets, but Shouri had suggested he try the desk first. He jiggled the top right drawer.

He heard the shifting of small, heavy objects–like office supplies. He abandoned that one to jiggle the drawer below it. He heard the soft swish of paper files.

Bingo. He tried several keys until he found the right one. He jerked the drawer open so fast that it almost came off his hinges. He scrambled to jam it back in, ordering himself to calm down.

Jo quickly leafed through the files under his flashlight. With labels like Sato Group and Matsuda Corporation, he guessed they were organized by client–and there were only a handful of pages in each. He eventually found a file with no label. He flipped it open on the desk.

It had three pages of printed lists. He saw names and numbered IDs, along with what looked like a little contact information. He ran his finger along the names, not sure what he was looking for.

Furuichi Bank

Sunset Parlor

Kamishita Holdings

Jo froze. His heart began to race as he scanned the pages for one other name.

And he found it. Nijiiro Sakana was printed toward the end of the second page.

This is it! Jo spread the three pages across the desk and dug Shouri’s digital camera from his coat pocket. He checked that the flash was on, then took pictures of each page. He had to redo the shots a few times because his hands were shaking.

He was taking a few close-ups when he heard the screech of tires from outside. The hair rose on the back of his neck.

“What’s going on here?” a muffled male voice growled from beyond the window. “This building is under PRIVATE security!”

Shit! Jo frantically crammed the papers back into the file. As he shoved the file back into the drawer where he’d found it, he heard Aihara’s muffled reply. The man barked something Jo couldn’t make out.

Jo forgot which key locked the drawer and had to cycle through three of them with trembling fingers. By the time he dropped the keys into the top drawer and picked the simple lock closed, he heard the dreaded words from below.

“Who the hell gave you the authority to shut off the power?!”

Jo’s heart leapt to his throat. He bolted out of the office as silently as he could. When the door didn’t have an automatic locking mechanism, he cursed a filthy string of swears in his head and tore the shoelaces out of his shoes. He tied them together, wrapped one end around and around the vertical deadbolt handle, then strung the rest of the string over the top of the door. He closed the door and carefully pulled at the lace until he heard the tiny click of the handle turning perpendicular. He shook and tugged the lace until it pulled free.

Ayase’s bug zoomed up the back of his neck.

Jo’s blood turned to ice when he heard boots stomp from inside the jewelry store. He carried his shoes and ran as softly as he could in his socks. He was halfway down the stairs when a loud hum churned through the building; a small light in the hallway blinked to life.

Jo’s mind went white with panic. Power meant the camera by the back door was on. By the time he reached the bottom hallway and squeezed past the railing, he froze, paralyzed with uncertainty. He looked behind him at the door that led to the jewelry store.

A key turned in it with a chak.

Jo dove behind the back of the stairwell, curling in a ball as he snapped off his flashlight. He heard the door swing open behind him, letting in a flood of sound from the jewelry store.

“Then take those bitches into custody!” the man snarled. “And get off this property.”

Jo gritted his teeth and squeezed shut his eyes. Please, he prayed desperately as his heart pounded in his chest. Please please please. His mind flashed back to Motoi, and to his conversation with Shouri. Jo dropped his walls.

As the private security guard slammed the door shut, Jo prayed to Inari, to Buddha, to whatever Christian God Daniel gave up sex for. Jo prayed to the universe.

Don’t let him find me! Jo begged.

The wood of the stairs creaked over Jo. Heavy boots clomped up the stairs, sending small flakes of dirt to tickle Jo’s scalp.

He heard the man try the office upstairs. A grunt. Then a key scraped into a lock, followed immediately by a creaking door. Feet stomped into the office before the door slammed shut.

Jo let out a gasping breath, but his heart still constricted in fear. He couldn’t think of a way out. He would be seen leaving if he used the door to the jewelry store, and the back alley had that camera. As he stared at the back door, one sweaty glove still clutching his shoes, Ayase’s bug flew off him. It zipped under the door to the outside.

Jo blinked in the dark, suddenly abandoned.

A few painful seconds passed. Then the back door creaked open and a small hand in a white glove poked through.

It beckoned.

Jo’s mouth went dry. Is that Kado? he wondered. What the hell is he doing?!

The hand kept beckoning. Jo took a breath.

KADO?! he silently screamed.

The hand paused. A thumbs-up.

Jo crammed his shoes on and scrambled toward the door. When he hesitated to step outside, the gloved hand closed over his wrist and pulled him through the door.

Jo recoiled as his head jerked up. But the camera, pointed straight at him, had its lens strangely blocked.

With two of Ayase’s clinging insects.

A flood of relief unclenched the muscles in Jo’s neck. Kado pressed a finger to his lips and dropped Jo’s arm. He scraped at the wad of paper Jo had crammed in the doorway’s strike plate.

I got it, Jo thought at Kado as he pushed the boy’s fingers away. Jo scooped out the paper, closed the door very quietly, then tested it. The knob jiggled in the locked position. Jo stripped off his latex gloves and shoved them in his pocket.

Kado gestured for Jo to leave, but Jo was already running to the far end of the building. If the private security firm sent anyone else, Jo didn’t see them around the corner. He waved to Kado.

The bugs from the camera zipped toward Jo. Kado, probably trying not to draw attention by leaving the camera’s range too quickly, walked in Jo’s general direction.

Terada’s voice boomed from the front of the building. “Rookies!” she shouted. “We’re done here!”

Jo swallowed hard. He forced his heart to slow down as he made his way over to the police.

He was just in time to see Aihara and Terada load the Riot Girls into the police car. The girls were cuffed, but they didn’t struggle or complain. Keiko just sniffled loudly…she almost seemed sympathetic at that point. Sachi stood nearby.

He caught eyes with Jo. He raised his eyebrows in a question.

Jo tipped his head.

Aihara leaned against the car doorframe. “If you’re lucky,” she said thinly, “the judge will write this off as vandalism and you’ll only get community service. But the store or its insurance company are going to sue you for the damages.”

Keiko stuck out her lower lip. “If…if I can’t pay for it, can someone pay for me? Like a rich friend?”

Terada snorted. “If you have a friend that rich and stupid.”

Jo let out a breath. His name’s Zayd, he offered silently.

The other Riot Girl looked up from the car. “I’m really sorry about everything. We’ll do whatever we can to fix this.”

The creases in Aihara’s face softened. “Don’t let us catch you in this kind of trouble again,” she warned. “You don’t want to ruin your lives over something stupid, do you?”

“No,” the girls said in unison.

Another squad car rolled up. Terada turned to Sachi.

“We’re taking them into custody in your seats, so we have to cut your shadowing short. Midorikawa will bring you back to the station to wait for your ride.”

“Sure,” Sachi replied quickly before dipping in a bow. “Thank you for the training.”

Jo bowed his own thanks. He heard a mumble from behind him; Kado was following suit.

The women nodded and lowered themselves into the car. Jo squeezed between Sachi and Kado in the back of the new patrol vehicle. As Jo watched Aihara and Terada drive off through the windshield, he wondered how far Mitsuko had planned that mess with Keiko.

But it had worked, in a way. He wasn’t entirely sure how.

Midorikawa and his partner called a greeting into the back seat as they drove into the night. After a few minutes in that car, with Shinjutori well behind them, Jo finally let himself breathe. He ran a hand over the sweat that clung to every crevice in his neck.

He didn’t think about his arm touching Sachi’s until Sachi caught his eyes. Sachi smiled gently.

“Feeling better?” he whispered.

Jo’s jaw clenched. I need a cigarette, he thought.

Kado nodded from Jo’s other side. “You can smoke soon,” he offered.

Jo shuddered and shoved both psychics away. “Stop it,” he muttered.

“Everything okay back there?” Midorikawa glanced into the rearview mirror. “I’m glad Aihara-san and Terada-san could take you out for a few hours, at least. I hope you boys learned something tonight.

Jo fingered the camera in his coat pocket. “We learned plenty,” he murmured.

Proceed to Chapter 4, page 4–>