"Ha, ha, ha," Pop laughed, his head still bent forward. He looked up slowly, his eyes bright with excitement. "That was fascinating!"
Zoe smiled dryly. "I'm glad you enjoyed it."
"To see the things I've seen!" Gran shook her head in wonder.
"I'll be home for Christmas," he reminded them, voice calm.
"Yes, yes, its quiet determined. Certainly there's no problem."
Pop looked gladly happy—a feeling he seemed to share with Mrs. Orimoto.
"Pop," Zoe complained as she squeezed her grandparents into a one big happy tight hug.
"Dear Zoe," Pop smiled. "Do not fret. Think of the possibilities! We can always hope for the future. Imagine the joy young Zoe alone would bring to us…Besides, I'm so terribly curious to see how Zoe turns out!"
Gran seemed convinced. A million tiny decisions, Zoe's decisions and so many others', too—Takuya's—could alter her path, and with that, the future.
Terrified as Zoe was, she felt herself sinking down into depression, downing in it…
"Am I free to go now?" Zoe asked in an even voice.
"Yes, yes," Gran said pleasantly. "But please visit soon. It's been absolutely enthralling!"
"And we will visit you as well," Pop promised, his eyes suddenly half-closed like the heavy lidded gaze of a lizard. "To be sure that you follow through on your side. Were you, you would not delay too long. You offer the boy second chances."
Zoe's jaw clenched tight, but he nodded once.
Gran smirked, moving and interested.
Zoe groaned.
Gran smiled, amused.
"Hmm." Zoe's voice had a new edge to it. "In that case, perhaps I'd better leave sooner rather than later if I wanna catch the concert."
"Yes," Gran agreed. "That's a good idea. Accidents do happen. You might bump into him."
"Of course," Zoe agreed, while she cringed at the thought of waiting before she could leave.
"And here," Gran added. Gran came forward at once to Mrs. Orimoto's (Emily) solo picture, and handed it to Zoe. "Take this. A little remembrance here in our house."
Zoe chuckled, but broke off suddenly, putting the picture in her backpack. "Thank you, Gran."
"Goodbye, young Zoe," Gran said, her eyes bright as she stared in the same direction.
Zoe exited swiftly, her face hard. When she had walked outside, she could feel the tears beginning to pool in her eyes.
Zoe slapped herself, waking herself up. "I'm alright, I'm safe, I'm alright," she chanted herself again and again. She wiped her eyes.
A shuttle to the concert was just closing its doors a few feet behind her.
"Wait!" she called, running, waving at the driver. She jumped inside the cattle sliding into the seat behind the driver. "To the concert please."
Zoe sat back against the seat, folding their arms across their lap. The familiar city began to rush around her, but she didn't look out the windows.
The cars continued to edge forward, one car length at a time. The sun beamed down brilliantly, seeming already overhead.
The cars crept one by one toward the city. As Zoe's taxi got closer, she could see cars parked by the side of the road with people getting out walking the rest of the way. At first she thought it was just impatience—something Zoe could easily understand. But then they came around a switchback, and she easily could see the filled parking lot outside the city wall, the crowds of people walking through the gates. No one was being allowed to drive through.
Now that she was looking, and they were crawling slowly enough to see, she could tell that it was very windy. The people crowding toward the gate gripped their hats and tugged their hair out of their faces. The driver was near the front line. A man in a navy blue uniform was directing the flow of traffic, turning the cars away from the full lot. They U-turned and headed back to find a place beside the road. Then it was the driver's turn.
The guard came around the car, and tapped on the window angrily.
The driver rolled the window down half-way, and Zoe watched the guard do a double take when he saw the face behind the dark glass.
"I'm sorry, only tour buses allowed in the city today, sir," he said in English, with a heavy accent. He was apologetic, now, as if he wished he had better news for the strikingly beautiful Zoe.
"It's a private tour," the driver said, flashing in alluring smile. He reached his hand out of the window, into the sunlight. Zoe froze; he took the guard's hand, still rose from tapping her window, and pulled it into the car. He put something into the guard's palm, and folded his fingers around it.
The guard's face was dazed as he retrieved his hand and stared at the thick roll of money he now held.
"Is this a joke?" he mumbled.
The guard's smile was blinding. "Only if you think it's funny."
He looked at the driver, his eyes staring wide.
"My passenger's in a wee bit of a hurry," he hinted, still smiling.
The guard blinked twice, and then shoved the money inside his vest. He took a step away from the window and waved them on. None of the passing people seemed to notice the quiet exchange. The driver drove into the city, and they both sighed in relief.
"Thank you," Zoe whispered.
"Sure kid, no problem," the driver replied.
The street was very narrow. It was crowded, and the foot traffic slowed their progress.
Zoe was gripping the door handle, ready to throw herself into the street.
The driver drove in quick spurts and sudden stops, and the people in the crows shook their fists at them and said angry words that Zoe was glad she could understand. They turned onto a little path that couldn't have been meant for cars; shocked people had to squeeze into doorways as they scraped by. They found another street at the end. The crowd was thicker here than anywhere else. The driver stopped the car. Zoe had the door open before they were at a standstill.
Zoe threw four twenties beside her and pushed herself out of the car. Zoe closed her door behind her. She shoved heavy woman out of her way and ran flat out, head down.
The program and just began.
"Welcome to International Festival of Dance and Music! Are you ready to rock?" Someone sang from the stage from to the crowd.
Everybody cheered. There was no pathway, no crevice between the close pressed bodies. She pushed against them furiously, fighting the hands the shoved back. She heard exclamations of irritation and even pain as she battled her way through the front stage, but everything she heard is in Italian. The faces were a blur of anger and surprise. A blond woman scowled at her, a child down at her.
Zoe couldn't still see the band whose performing. The throng jostled her around her, spinning her the wrong direction to the front. She was fast, or she'd never keep her course straight. Though she shoved viciously against the crowd. She wasn't halfway across. She was going to make it. She was smart and fast human.
Zoe listened, above the angry exclamations, trying to hear the sound of discovery: the gasp, maybe the scream, as Paramore came into the stage.
And they started their performance.
There was no break in the crowd for shouting for joy—Zoe could see the band now. She pushed urgently toward the last step to the front, not realizing she bruised her shins from something she don't know.
The sweat sprayed all around her as she began jumping and shouting I love you's and woohoo's to the Paramore. Even in the sun, the wind was glacial and the wet made the cold actually painful for Zoe. But she can see the band clearly this time.
The crowd cried the band's name again and again. The children, covering their ears. And Zoe started screaming as they sang.
"I love you Hayley!" Zoe screamed, knowing it was useless. The crowd was too loud, and her voice was breathless with exertion. But she couldn't stop screaming.
How can I decide what's right
When you're clouding up my mind?
I can't win
You're losing sight
All the time
Not gonna ever own what's mine
When you're always taking sides
But you won't take away my pride
No, not this time
Not this time
How did we get here?
I used to know you so well
How did we get here?
Well, I think I know
The truth is hiding in your eyes
And it's hanging on your tongue
Just boiling in my blood
But you think that I can't see
What kind of man that you are
If you're a man at all
Well, I will figure this one out
On my own
(I'm screaming, "I love you so")
On my own
(My thoughts you can't decode)How did we get here?
I used to know you so well, yeah
How did we get here?
Well, I think I know
Do you see what we've done?
We've gone and made such fools
Of ourselves
Do you see what we've done?
We've gone and made such fools
Of ourselves
How did we get here?
I used to know you so well, yeah
How did we get here?
Well, I used to know you so well
I think I know
I think I know
There is something I see in you
It might kill me
I want it to be true
Zoe was rasping out the band's name over and over again.
"First of all we wanna thank for all those who came here," the vocalist said. "Seriously, we didn't know more than hundreds of people would watch us, especially Italians," Hayley laughed. "Happy International Festival of Dance and Music people!" She screamed and the drums begin to beat.
After a few songs from the band, a lot of dancing numbers, after the program, Zoe had a hard time breaking through the crowd. She could see a bubble space ahead. She pushed urgently toward it.
She flung her leg over the edge through the knee-deep water. It sprayed all around her as she thrashed her way across the pool. But the fountain was very wide; it let her across the center of the square and them some in mere seconds. She didn't pause when she hit the far edge—she used the low wall as a springboard, throwing herself into the crowd.
They moved more readily for her now, avoiding the icy water that splattered from her dripping clothes a she ran.
A deep booming chime echoed the square.
She ran past a child in his mother's arms—his hair was almost white in the dazzling sunlight. A circle of tall men, called out warnings as she barreled through them.
On the other side of them men, there was a break in the throng, space between the sightseers who milled aimlessly around her. Her eyes searched the way out of the square. She couldn't see the street level—there were still too many people in the way.
She was hard to see now. Without the crowd to break the wind, it whipped at her face and burned her eyes.
A little family of four stood nearest to the alley's mouth. The two girls wore crimson dresses, with matching ribbons tying their dark hair back. The father wasn't all. It seemed like she could see someone she knew in the shadows, just over his shoulder. She hurtled toward them, and the littlest girl clamped her hands over her ears.
The older girl, just waist high on her mother, hugged her mother's leg and stared into the shadows behind them. As she watched, she tugged on her mother's elbow and pointed toward the darkness. She was close now to the exit.
The older girl giggled and said something to her mother, gesturing toward the shadows again impatiently.
She swerved around the father—he clutched the baby out of her way—and sprinted for the gloomy breach behind them.
"Koichi, Shinya?" She screamed, but her voice was lost in the roar of the chime.
She could see the boys in the shadow. And she could see that they could see her.
It was really them, no hallucination this time. And she realized that her delusions were more flawed than she'd realized; they never done her justice.
Koichi and Shinya stood, motionless as a statue, just a few feet from the mouth of alley. The rings underneath them deep purple, their arms relaxed at their sides, their palms turned forward. Their expression shock, like they were dreaming a nightmare.
She'd know they'd follow her—she ran to them, gasping and screaming, she could appreciate that. Koichi and Shinya began to run away.
"No!" She screamed. "Both of you, look at me!"
They weren't listening. Zoe tripped as she jumped out of the crowds. She tripped so hard. It knocked her breath out of her and snapped her head back.
Her emerald green eyes opened slowly. She sat up and looked down at herself with quiet surprise.
"Amazing," she muttered herself, her exquisite voice full of wonder, slightly amused. "I was right after all." She gasped, but her had no sound. "I have to move!"
She seemed bemused. Her hands brushed softly against her cheek. It was very strange, for she knew she was followed.
"I can't believe how quick it was. I felt this just before I took a very first step at the plane—they're very good," she mused herself, closing her eyes again. Her voice was like honey and velvet. "Oh, when I get my hands on those boys, I swear to God they're going to regret following me," she murmured. "I should find a place to check in," she went on. "So maybe this is hell. I don't care. I'll take it."
He rose swiftly and staggered to the window, pulling back the drapes.
It was almost dark outside. Five thirty, then. The room looked out on a deserted section of the freeway. It was slightly comforting to be able to pinpoint time and place.
Takuya's brow furrowed in confusion. Takuya looked down at himself.
"What was that?" Takuya asked politely.
"She's pretty and when she saw us! So we have to get out before she—"
"You lost her," Koji interrupted, his voice was calm and pleasant, on the surface.
"Please, don't be mad," Shinya begged.
"I don't think we'll be mad today. I would appreciate it very much, however, all we need is just luck," Takuya said.
"What are we going to do, now that we don't know where Zoe is?" Koji's smooth voice whispered menacingly.
"I believe all of us are tired." Takuya's voice was harder now. "All we need is to rest, guys. There's still tomorrow." He took a deep breath. "We ordered some food, it must be already in the front room."
Takuya went through the door into the living room of the hotel suite. He could hear a low buzz of voice coming from the TV. Koichi sat motionlessly at the desk in the corner, his eyes watching the news with glimmer of interest.
Shinya sat on the floor next to the coffee table, where a trays of food waited, and they began picking at it without noticing what they were eating.
Takuya perched on the arm of the sofa with the plate on his palm and stared blankly at the TV.
They ate slowly, watching, turning now and then to glance quickly at each other. They looked away from the screen, though commercials were playing now. Koji pushed the tray away, his stomach abruptly uneasy. Koji looked down at himself.
"What's wrong, Koji?" Shinya asked.
"Nothing's wrong." His eyes were wide, honest…and Shinya didn't trust him.
"What do we do now? Koichi questioned.
"We sleep then we'll plan tomorrow," Takuya announced.
Koji flitted to the door.
"Where are you going?" Takuya's voice quavered, and he fought to control it.
"I'll be right back," His voice was too even, and the air was harder to breath.
Shinya was suddenly beside Takuya, closer to him than usual. Then Koji shut the door behind him. Then Koji proceed to the lobby, sitting on the sofa.
"Dad," said a suspiciously soothing voice. "You have nothing to worry about. I am completely safe."
Koji snapped his head and what he heard was Zoe.
"Dad, Dad, stop," she interrupted on the phone, her words pouring out so quickly there were hard to understand. "You're worrying about all the wrong things, Dad. Trust me on this—I'm not in jeopardy. You are under too much strain as it is; don't add to it with whole unnecessary worries. Listen to me!" she ordered. "I'm strong. Dad, I'm not a kid anymore." Zoe touched her cheek with her cold fingers. "Calm down, Dad," she said in her most soothing voice, walking slowly closer to Koji without noticing it was him.
Koji pretended to be reading a magazine. Zoe sat on the sofa beside Koji.
"Everything is fine, okay? I'll be home soon, I promise. Bye." Nathan hung up. Zoe sighed.
Koji sneezed in a soothing tone.
"Bless you," Zoe sniffed.
"Sorry," Koji muttered and stood, shoving the magazine onto his face and run quickly out of the lobby.
"Koji?" Zoe followed him. "Come back here," Zoe ordered. "I'll be right behind you if you keep running," Zoe said dryly. "Koji, why don't you stop and enjoy our incoming conservation?"
"I don't think so." Koji mouthed the words. The pretense of civility disappeared. "I gotta find a way!" he thought loudly.
"Koji," Zoe called over, more reasonable cautioned. "We couldn't run forever." Zoe said. "I would simply like to speak with you, if you have decided not to force my hand after all."
Takuya, Koichi and Shinya stayed in the room. Takuya called down to the front desk and asked them to ignore their maid service for now. The windows stayed open, the TV on, though no one watched it. At regular intervals, food was delivered for them, they left one tray for Koji. The silver phone resting on Takuya's bag seemed to grow bigger as the hours passed.
As Takuya occupied himself with memorizing the room; the striped pattern couches, tan, peach, cream, dull gold, and tan again. Sometimes he stared at the abstract prints, randomly finding pictures in the shapes, like he'd found pictures in the clouds as a child. He traced a blue hand, a woman combing her hair, a cat stretching, he looked away.
"What's taking Koji so long?" Takuya breaking the silence.
The door slammed open and shut just when Koji got in.
"Where have you been?" Koichi asked.
"We thought something had happened to you," Shinya scolded. "
"Something did happen to me," Koji almost shouted. "She's here. She's in this hotel."
"Then why are you gasping for air?" Koichi questioned his twin.
"Because she saw me…she ran after me…we ran for non-stop fifteen minutes!" Koji snapped his finger to Koichi. "Non-stop fifteen minutes!" he repeated. "And boy, Takuya, why didn't you tell me she's a cheetah? She's a road runner!" Koji let himself fell into the sofa.
"This just keeps getting better and better," Takuya muttered.
As the evening wore on, he went back to bed, simply for something to do. He hoped that by himself in the dark, he could five in to the terrible fears that hovered edge of his consciousness.
But the others followed Takuya in bed casually, as if by some coincidence they had grown tired of the front room at the same time. Takuya was beginning to wonder exactly what sort of instructions he will give to his friends. He lay across the bed, followed by his friends. He ignored his friends at first, suddenly tired enough to sleep. But after a few minutes, he gave up on the idea of sleep quickly then.
"Takuya?" Koichi asked.
"What?"
Koichi kept his voice very calm. "What did you do in Zoe's grandparent's house?"
"Oh yeah, you never told us about what happened about that," Shinya noted.
"I wanted to be known by her grandparents, you know, them getting know me, like next time they see me, we're close," Takuya explained.
"Her grandparents were nice, but they're a mind reader," Koji interrupted.
"Huh?" Koichi was confused.
"What I mean was…how could I explain this?" Koji scratched his head.
"Just spill it out!" Shinya snapped.
"They give us advice…which we're not asking for it…which relates to our life, our interests, our likes, dislike, etc!"
"Yikes! That is scary," Koichi commented.
"No it's not…it comes very handy," Shinya fought. "Any comment big brother?" Takuya didn't answer.
"Earth to Takuya!" Koji snapped.
Takuya snapped to reality. "Huh?"
"What's in his head?" Koichi questioned Koji.
"His song," Koji pointed out.
"Song? What song?" Shinya raised an eyebrow.
Koji sighed. "Zoe composed a song that was meant for Takuya. She played it while ago and Igotta admit, it was pretty good. It really pinned my heart," he explained.
"I think Zoe must be going back in Shibuya. I expect she'll stick to her plan," Takuya hoped.
"You know what's I'm afraid?" Koji announced. "Is that she's going to be the one looking for us now!" he emphasized. "And I'm sure it won't be pretty."
"Oh c'mon, she won't be that dangerous to us," Koichi chuckled.
"Don't worry, if she goes crazy, big brother will calm her down, won't you?"
"I don't know. I'm pretty much scared of her." Takuya's voice was earnest.
They deliberated for a moment, and decided Takuya meant it.
"Tell us then…what did her grandparents told you?" Koichi asked.
His question caught Takuya and Koji caught off guard. They were both quiet. Takuya rolled over to look at Koichi and Shinya, and Koji's expression seemed ambivalent.
"We don't want to tell you that," Takuya said firmly, but Koichi and Shinya sense Takuya and Koji didn't agree.
"That's not fair," Koichi pouted.
"I think we have the right to know." Shinya folded his arms across his chest.
"We know," Koji bit his lip.
They looked at each other, waiting.
Takuya sighed. "It's our business. This is between you, and you and you and I." Koichi noted.
"Big brother, as a brother, Koji, as a friend, we're begging you." And they were related.
Takuya looked at them with his splendid, wise eyes…choosing.
"We'll tell you the mechanics of it," Koji said finally, "we can only tell you the theory."
Their brothers waited.
"You go first, Takuya," Koji ordered.