Tokyo Demons Book 2: Chapter 7, Part 2

Ayase hunched in her chair in the patient waiting room, her eyes burning. She rubbed them again, hoping that would dispel the hot, angry tears from building up in her tear ducts.

It didn’t work; she felt liquid brimming under her eyelids. In the watery darkness, she saw different visions, fuzzy through compound eyes. The four insects she’d left in the corners of Kadoyuki’s room could still see him well enough. The boy was curled up under the covers, his two mobile phones on his bedside table, while he sobbed into his sheets.

“Ayase?”

Ayase’s eyes snapped open. She looked up, blinking away the image.

Sachi ran into the waiting room. He was pale and disheveled, his wrists still slightly chafed. He stopped to catch his breath as an old woman and two squealing kids avoided him on their way out.

Ayase rose to her feet. Before she could say or do anything, he closed the distance between them and wrapped her up in his arms.

Ayase tensed automatically, but the tension melted away when her face pressed up against the heat of his neck. His hands ran up her back before they crossed to cradle her shoulders and tuck her against his warm body.

“Let it out,” he whispered.

Ayase choked down the lump in her throat. The angry tears welled up again to blot little wet spots in his shirt.

“I feel so stupid,” she mumbled.

“I…I know.”

“Should we leave him? Is it insane to even try this?”

Sachi grumbled a weak noise; it vibrated against Ayase’s cheek. Her humiliation ebbed as new sympathy welled up.

“I’m…sorry, Sachi. This has to be ten times worse for you.” She slid her hands up his back. “I’m sorry.”

Sachi mumbled something non-committal. He finally pulled back to hold her at arms-length.

“Zayd-san told me something once,” he murmured. “‘Embrace justice when you’re weak, embrace mercy when you’re strong.’ At the time, I thought he was telling me to stop coddling everyone when I couldn’t actually protect them, but…” He smiled weakly. “Now I can’t get it out of my head. And I keep thinking…is there a just answer to this? Is abandoning Kado the right thing to do? What if Touya finds out and comes to…kill him?”

Ayase swallowed. “I don’t know. I’m not sure what counts as ‘right’ anymore.”

“Neither do I. So if justice isn’t possible, the only option left is…”

…mercy.

Ayase wiped her eyes. “We need to interrogate him first,” she reminded him. “We’ll start with all the stuff he said earlier. He can repeat it while you’re touching him.”

Sachi nodded. He checked his phone.

“Did Jo call you?” he asked.

“Yeah. He’s trying to get everyone out of the church and into a new Byakko hideout. But he can’t tell Daniel-san or anyone the details, in case the church is…y’know, compromised. Detective Nakajima said Touya was definitely hanging around the church earlier, and even went in the front door when the place was still open to the public.”

“Dammit. And with Kado inside since then…” Sachi suddenly lowered his voice. He glanced at the other people in the waiting room; a family chatted amongst themselves. He leaned into Ayase’s ear.

“This place might not be safe from Touya’s spying, either.”

Ayase stood on her toes to reply in Sachi’s ear. “There wasn’t enough time between the hotel and us coming here for Touya to track our future. That is, if Kadoyuki isn’t lying about the limitation of Touya’s powers.”

“That Touya can’t see anything that relates to his own future?”

“Right.”

Sachi sighed. He closed his eyes for a second, clearly grappling with something as the creases around his mouth deepened.

He finally clutched Ayase’s hand. “Then let’s do this,” he murmured.

Ayase squeezed his hand back.

***

The sun was setting by the time Mitsuko finally arrived at the police station. Jo ran out to the idling van, ducking behind the high collar of the jacket Ochi had given him.

She threw open the passenger-side door. “Hop in,” she cooed.

He crawled into the seat and slammed the door shut behind him. He buckled his seatbelt and allowed himself a breath of relief.

He could handle this. He could. Getting everyone out of the church was his first priority, but after they were somewhere secure…well, they’d formulate a plan, obviously. And Jo was going to be there to keep them rational, dammit.

“Did the cops rough you up?” Mitsuko chuckled. “You look pretty beat.”

“It’s been a shit day.” Jo craned his head around the seat to the cavernous storage area. “Just you?”

“I figured your friends are gonna need some space for their stuff. Besides.” She smiled. “Miki was pissed that Takeshi agreed to this. I slipped out before he could start another rant.”

Jo frowned. “I’m sorry,” he murmured. “Dumping eight new people on Byakko at once–”

“Jo. Baby.” She tickled his chin affectionately. “We all saw this coming. I’m surprised the church stayed safe this long, honestly.”

Jo grumbled a non-committal response. Mitsuko shifted the gearstick and stepped on the gas, making the van jump back onto the street. He clutched the door as his body jostled.

“I think he’s just mad that you and I are gonna be under the same roof. You know how touchy he gets about that.”

Jo slid a desperately needed cigarette between his lips. “Actually,” he murmured around it. “I don’t.” He quickly lit the stick and took a long drag. He waited for the edge of his panic to soften.

It didn’t. He dragged again, cursing the nicotine for letting him down.

In the stretch of silence that ensued, Mitsuko pursed her lips. “Okay,” she tried at last. “I can see where this is going. And considering how open you are about your personal life, it’s up to me to start this, huh?”

“I…”

“No, it’s fine. Whatever.” She flipped the turn signal. “Miki’s my best friend and I love him more than anything. But we’re not a couple, because there’s shit there. He knows it, I know it, and we both agreed we’d never interfere in each other’s sex lives because that wouldn’t be fair.” She grunted. “If you and I get serious, he’ll back off. He’s just grumbling while he can.”

Jo wanted nothing less than to discuss this now. But when Mitsuko flicked her gaze to him, her eyebrows rising in a question, he didn’t know how to get out of it.

He puffed out smoke. “If you and I get serious,” he repeated.

“Oh, don’t play coy.” She smiled as she turned back to the road. “You think you’re so cool.”

“You’ve dodged this just as much as I have,” Jo retorted.

“I hadn’t made a decision about you yet. But I think I’m zeroing in on that.”

Jo pulled the cigarette from his mouth. “And?”

“You first.”

“Goddammit.”

Mitsuko laughed as she turned the corner. “Jo Oda,” she drawled, her voice thick. “Do you liiike your senpai? Because if you confess to her, she might accept your feelings.”

Jo rubbed at his temples. The exhaustion of the day was starting to catch up with him, and he felt…raw. Exposed. Like something had cracked in him when that cop had crushed him into the floor.

He took a long breath. “This isn’t the time,” he muttered, “but I don’t know if I care anymore.”

She waited.

“Yes,” he snapped. “I like you. Obviously.”

“Eh, it’s not that obvious.”

“We’ve jerked each other off! And I don’t…do that with girls I’m not serious about.”

“I didn’t ask, but fair enough.” She glanced over at him and beamed. “I like you, too, Jo Oda. And I think we could make a good team.”

Jo hesitated. “Are you…asking me out?”

“Sure. You strike me as a guy who needs the label, and I don’t care either way.” She pursed her lips again. “Hmm…it’s been a while. Should we be exclusive? Is that how the kids are dating these days?”

Jo stared at her, the usual alarm bells ringing in his head.

She seemed to notice the look on his face. “Relax, Jo! This sounds like fun.” She chuckled and adjusted her hands on the steering wheel. “Monogamous little love birds in a gang war. Defending each other in battle! Making out when the dust settles! Like some epic romance.”

Jo took another drag on his cigarette. Her response…bothered him. It was clear that she’d always played pretty fast and loose with him, but now, when they were actually confessing things to each other…

It kinda hurt his pride. And was already feeling jerked around from the whole thing with Kado.

“Y’know,” he muttered. “You said this was about taking things seriously. If you don’t wanna do this, you can just tell me.”

“I just said I wanted to do this.”

“Yeah, but…it sounds like you’re just trying to cheer me up or something. Like you’re humoring me.” Jo ground out his cigarette in the car’s ashtray. “Things are pretty damn dire now, Mitsuko. I’m starting to rethink some of my…”

He trailed off, not sure how to finish that. He coughed in his own smoke; he rolled his window down in the new silence.

She rapped her fingers on the steering wheel. “Jo,” she said, a new edge to her voice. “I know how dire things are, thank you. I’ve been watching the kids in Byakko and the Riot Girls die right in front of my face.” She laughed without humor. “And why are you suddenly complaining now? I’ve been comforting your ass every time you show up with that hangdog look on your face. And you’ve left happier, haven’t you? And I’m not talking about the orgasms.”

Jo sat up in his chair. “You weren’t doing that as a favor, were you?”

“I’m considerate with people I like. Because I want them to be happy.”

“And you didn’t get anything out of that?! Mitsuko!” Jo felt a weird, embarrassed anger well up in his stomach. “If you think I’m some sort of…emotional sponge in this relationship, then tell me to my–”

“Calm the hell down! Damn.” She clicked her tongue. “You’re starting to sound like Miki. Like every relationship is some…constant struggle of how much to give and how much to get. And that everyone gives and gets in the same way.

“Jo, I don’t do something unless I want to–I thought you knew at least that much about me. I want to be here, I want you, and I want a relationship where we can fucking laugh at ourselves a little.” She shook her head. “I don’t know what sad sack convinced everyone that having fun was a sign of being superficial. Oh no, I’m trying to cheer people up! I must be some sort of giggling idiot.”

Jo shrank back slightly. “I don’t…think of you like that,” he retorted. “I’m just…”

“Just what?”

Jo stared at the dashboard, a storm of mixed feelings brewing in his gut. Sachi’s pale face kept surfacing in his mind–frozen in that moment when he realized Kado had betrayed him. Jo sighed and rolled his window back up.

“I guess I just…want something real.” He frowned. “And anything we have should be going both ways.”

Mitsuko’s lips curved into a smile. “I’m good on my end,” she assured him. “Trust me.”

“Really?”

“Really. So are you gonna be my boyfriend or what?”

Finally, mercifully, Jo felt some of the tangles inside him loosen. He took a long breath and rubbed the back of his neck.

“Fine,” he murmured at last. “Let’s do it.”

Mitsuko laughed. When she slowed the van at a light, she tugged on his shoulder.

Jo leaned into the kiss. She hummed in his mouth as her tongue slid past his teeth.

…

Touya’s tongue wormed in.

Jo jerked back abruptly. The memory, the revulsion, hit him like a flashbang. He choked as stars burst in his brain.

Mitsuko blinked at him. “Jo?” she asked, her voice suddenly fuzzy.

Son of a…

Jo rubbed the lights from his eyes and tried to catch his breath. His heart pounded in his chest, demanding and painful against his constricted diaphragm.

Mitsuko frowned and pulled back into her seat. But the light hadn’t turned, and Jo clutched at her. He dragged her back to kiss her in desperation.

The blood stopped pounding behind his eyeballs as he devoured her mouth. She ran her fingers down his chest, and he heard a strange grunt erupt from the base of his throat. She moaned in response.

“Look at you,” she breathed between kisses. “Getting a little hot over there?”

The panic in him faded as lust filled to take its place. When someone honked behind them, she laughed into his mouth before pulling away.

It was the hot breath of her laugh that opened something in his heart. He fell back in his chair, finally feeling a measure of relief.

He didn’t mull over it. He wouldn’t. His heartbeat softened to a comfortable, normal thump as he willed away the blood pooling in his groin.

They weren’t far from the church. Jo flipped open his phone and tried to read the keys in the rapidly falling darkness.

Almost at the church, he texted Ayase. Update? You and Sachi okay?

The long pause worried him, but his phone eventually beeped back. Okay, she replied. Kado’s cooperating. Everything he said before was the truth, so we’re safe here.

His opinion or yours?

We’ve seen him take calls. He’s stalling. Will have to move soon, though.

Jo thought on that a minute. He’d already worked out how to move Ayase and Sachi once they were done, but Kado was a different story. There was no way in hell Jo was sending a traitor to Byakko territory. What was Ayase’s endgame in this? Did she expect anyone to welcome Kado back with open arms? Did she want him back?

“Will have to move soon,” Jo repeated to himself. Thanks for weaseling out of a subject there.

“We’re here.”

Jo looked up. Mitsuko turned into the church’s back parking lot with enough speed to make them jump over the pavement seam. Jo splayed a hand up to keep his head from slamming into the ceiling.

“Easy, Mitsuko!”

She chuckled. “Right, grandma.”

Proceed to Chapter 7, Part 2, page 3–>