Chapter 10

The view from Akemi's high-rise apartment ought to have been spectacular. It was on the fourteenth floor and would look out over the glow of Tokyo lights. The windows in the apartment however were minimal and all that could be seen through them was the side of another high-rise. Sherry found herself staring out of them in habit.

"Dai actually spent a few years in America like you." Akemi was saying. Her natural state was rather cheery, but today her smile stretched a little farther and her words were more manufactured.

"Really? How did you like it?"

"It was as good as anywhere." Dai looked to be thinking back; glancing up at a patch of ceiling. "Very beautiful. I spent as much time as I could outdoors, exploring nature parks. My job was in the city though, so I'm afraid I didn't see as much as I would have liked."

As good as anywhere? Sherry thought that his response was somewhat strange. She'd been expecting the typical answers that he was surprised how diverse the population was and how outspoken and loud the people were in comparison. To take no notice of the obvious cultural differences was unusual.

"I don't think I ever remember leaving the city myself," Sherry said, shifting so the reflection on the window glass caught Dai's face.

"How unfortunate." He said. He did seem genuine, perhaps I'm overthinking.

Sherry's line of inquiry was cut off with an abrupt knock at the door. Any visitors without the code had to be buzzed in at the entrance, and the three people with knowledge of that code were sitting in the apartment already. Akemi slid off her bar stool to check the door.

"What are they doing here?" she muttered stepping back from the peephole to unlatch the chain. Sherry had been feeling something electric in the air, and it ran down her spine as she turned to face the opening door.

"It's been years," Akemi said, tucking her arms in to hold her stomach.

"I'm Brandy," she said as if already short on patience. "In case you may have forgotten in that time."

"I wouldn't have." Akemi was standing in the doorway, blocking entry. "I'm not familiar with him however."

...

Gin was stuck out in the hallway, looking ominous as ever. He was growing tired of the women's exchange. The girl was borderline insolent to her superior and Brandy was not helping their cause.

"It's Gin," He placed a hand on the door's edge. "And the rest cannot be said so out in the open."

There was a moment where it didn't seem like she was going to move aside. "Of course," she said eventually.

He took a scan of the room. There was a bar cutting off the kitchenette from a small unfurnished carpeted area beyond, and very little on the walls. Gin hadn't realized he was looking for Sherry until his gaze rested on her sitting on a barstool by the window. The lights in the adjacent high-rise made the fray of her red hair glow. She was not watching him in return, instead, her eyes were aimed just behind him, at Brandy.

"Sorry to interrupt this gathering," Brandy said, sounding anything but polite. "We need to speak with the both of you, privately."

"The both of us?" Sherry said, taking a moment's glance to check on her sister, before returning to her unyielding watch of Brandy. Something happened between the two of them, between the time we were all together and now. He could read it in the cues they left, and in every line of Sherry's posture. She was more frigid now than professional and the air between her and Brandy was sharp and untrusting.

"I'm sorry," Dai cut in from where he was sitting at the bar. "I'm afraid we haven't met. It's Dai Moroboshi. Is there something going on?"

"It's a rather sensitive matter, we can really only speak with Akemi and Shiho."

"Dai," Akemi wrapped her arms around his shoulders from behind. "Wait for me in the other room would you."

He glanced uncertain up at her but walked out all the same. Gin thought his eyes were unusually intense for someone who had never seen combat; a little too sunken, a little too dark.

The door to a back room snapped shut and Brandy was quick to start explaining the situation with the FBI. Gin took up a listening position behind the counter. He could monitor the entire room from it. Sherry did not seem pleased at Brandy's words, although she looked like she understood the weight of the situation.

"You need Akemi because she is a fresh face," This was the answer Sherry had been looking for throughout the whole explanation. "Someone the FBI doesn't now have on file."

"Yes," Brandy had been reluctant on this point herself; she hated the idea of relying on someone as inexperienced as Akemi. She'd wanted to pull it off with just herself and Gin, though that was unrealistic. The problem was who they could enlist help from. Anyone in the organization was a risk because they couldn't have the boss knowing about it until they'd pulled it off. Sherry offered the unique position of being just as deep as they were, which made her and her sister the only viable option.

They were all forced by circumstance and all bitter about it. Gin didn't like acting intentionally without the boss's knowledge. His initial instinct told him that they should not be attempting a mission they knew that person would not risk.

But to not act was a dead end. There was more merit in fixing the problem while something could still be done than getting the three of them killed as a precaution.

"Why does my little sister have to be involved in this?" Akemi asked. She had been taking in the explanation with an unreadable face, like a skilled poker player or lawyer, and was now set to negotiate terms. "Surely we can manage with three. Besides it would be more risky to have one more recognizable face in play."

"What would be risky would be to have one less person than we need to pull this off." Brandy snapped.

"It would be in our best interest to find someone else," Akemi was careful not to snap back. "It's a big organization with plenty of faces that are not going to be blown up on projectors at this meeting. Unless you can't utilize the Organization's resources for some reason?"

She had them and she knew it; a smile cracked from beneath her poker face. This woman was dangerous, he would have to be more cautious in future dealings with her.

"It is not just our identities at risk here Miss. Akemi. Your sister is at risk herself. She has just as much reason to act as we do."

"I'd bet money the organization had something to do with her identity being compromised in the first place. It's your fault we're here, I won't put my sister in harm's way to fix your mess."

"Watch yourself. You're walking a dangerous line."

There was a sound from the corner of the room, a door snapping shut. Dai Moroboshi had reentered. Gin guessed something like this was going to happen when he'd only been sent to the other room. This did not make his actions any less aggravating.

"I'll take Shiho's place," Dai said, resting a hand on Akemi's shoulder. "You were looking for a solution weren't you?"

Gin had already pulled his gun and had it resting just below the counter. He was sure Brandy had a feel on one of the blades up her sleeves as well. "Your boyfriend seems to be looking to get killed." Gin said.

"I'm offering to help."

"We don't work with outsiders," Brandy said. She was still, though not passively so. Her body was taut like the string of a bow just before an arrow is released.

"So I'll prove my worth on this job and work under the Organization. You knew I'd be eavesdropping and would have to deal with my knowledge of the organization eventually. This way I can protect Akemi, and keep her little sister from harm and you won't have to silence me. Everyone wins."

Gin watched the man with narrow eyes. "And have two wild variables on the mission? No."

Brandy raised a hand to silence Gin. "You will take Akemi's place since you so insist to join. I'll warn you that you've gambling with your life, and theirs."

"But-" Akemi tried to cut in.

"If I change my mind at this point Miss. Akemi I assure you it will not be in your favor." Brandy's words were sharp and quick, silencing the room.

It was clear Brandy intended to take the lead for the mission. She probably hadn't thought twice about it, and Gin had allowed it until that point. But they were by all rights equal within the organization now, and he would not take her more questionable judgments as law.

Gin started for the door and bumped into Brandy, holding the side of her jacket to pull her ear close. "We'll need to talk." She gave a curt nod and let him by.

"We'll contact Shiho, she'll contact you." Brandy addressed Dai on her way out. "We only give orders just before acting, and don't expect to know any more than your piece. And do well, for her sake."

Akemi was still seated at the bar, her hands knotted in the fabric of her skirt. Gin thought that if she'd had something in her hands she would have thrown it at the door once it closed. Though he did not hear a thud as they walked down the hall.

...

Out in the night air Gin found a place with less passing ears in a stretch of a local park where the street lamps were older and cast less light. The dim shapes of bushes were lined with more silver light from the moon than the yellow of the lamps. They walked along the cobblestones, there footsteps filling the evening's quiet.

"Why are you trusting him?" Gin asked, breaking the silence but keeping the same pace.

"I'm not." Brandy said. "Using him? Certainly. But most importantly keeping an eye on him. You had to notice how he held himself. He was forcing his poor posture a little too much, wouldn't you agree? He's obviously had some sort of training that he's consciously trying to mask. For now he's likely to use that to our advantage because our motivations align."

"A strategic move." Gin shook his head, "You're gambling with too high of stakes."

"The stakes are always high," she brushed off. "It was a simple move, simple and ideal. In essence, all I did was switch out one untrained wild card for a trained one."

"Huh. You'd be foolish to believe that is all that will come from this."

"You're overly cautious; it limits your moves, makes you predictable, easy to out play. Kill him if you think it is our best move," Brandy said with a dismissive wave.

"It's not," Gin admitted, "not now at least."