Winds of Destiny: Converging
Give & Take
Ten-year-old Torimodo Misaki opened her eyes in the darkness surrounding her and sat up. She stretched her arms high above her head before pulling back the hood of her light gray sweatshirt and removing her headphones. Her ears quickly adjusted to the subtle, everyday noise of the bustling net café around her. After flipping on the light, she reached into her backpack on the shelf above the computer and pulled out a small toiletry bag before making her way to the shower room.
She'd been living at the Free Bird net café for the past month and a half, ever since she'd run away from being sent to a group home. They offered an overnight package that included all you could eat meals and drinks, as well as access to showers and a huge library of all kinds of books, all for the low price of two thousand five hundred yen per night. She'd found out pretty quickly that getting a job as a "fifteen" year old was not as easy as she'd thought it would be, since she didn't have a graduation certificate from a junior high school, nor a guardian to approve her employment. The junior high diploma she could fake pretty easily, but the guardian approval was another story; they tended to like to verify those kinds of things.
The owner of the net café took pity on her sometimes, giving her odd jobs to do around the place for a discount on her room fee for the night. It wasn't much, but she'd take what she could get. At the rate she was going, she'd burn through all of the money she'd managed to scrounge up from her parents in the next two months or less. She was spending most of her time at the moment trying to find some place to employ her that wasn't super shady and wouldn't ask too many questions. Unless she wanted to end up living on the street for the next eight years, it was imperative to her survival that she find a halfway decent means to earn some money soon.
"Good morning, Yotogi-san," she called out to the older man sitting behind the front counter as she walked toward the meal area of the café after her shower.
"Mornin' Misa-ko," the man grumbled in reply without looking up from the sudoku puzzle he was pouring over.
She stopped in her tracks and asked in concern, "What's wrong?"
The old owner was typically fairly mild mannered, it was rare to see him so disgruntled. He glanced up at her over the top of his glasses before tilting his head toward the lanky looking guy with long hair making a scene at the row of vending machines next to the coffee and fountain drink dispensers. She'd seen the guy around a few times over the past week. As far as she'd heard from eavesdropping around the stacks, he was some sort of researcher from the big university down the street. Why he was hanging out in the net café she didn't know, but from what she'd seen of the guy so far, he was about as prickly as a cactus most of the time.
"If he keeps causin' a scene like that, he's gonna end up bringin' round a buncha unwanted attention, if ya know what I mean," Yotogi grumbled conspiratorially.
The kind of unwanted attention he was referring to was the law. Free Bird was known around the underground to be a haven for those who needed a place to lay low and didn't ask too many questions. That was one of the reasons why she'd ended up choosing the place when she'd been looking for somewhere to stay. She'd seen her fair share of fake IDs from the few times that she'd helped out behind the counter; much like the one she'd used to rent her own room. Yotogi had told her not to worry about it as long as they were paying customers, a policy that she herself often benefitted from.
"Is he violent?" She asked as she turned her concerned stare to the raving lunatic.
Yotogi clicked his tongue and shrugged. "Nah. But somebody's gonna end up killin' him for makin' all that racket one of these days. I get any more complaints about the guy an' it might be me."
Misaki smirked and turned her eyes back toward the old café owner, knowing he would do no such thing. The man wouldn't even swat a bug in his establishment. "Ya know, you could just have the machine fixed."
He waved his hand at her a balked. "Too expensive. The grape's the only thing that doesn't work. S'not worth it."
Along with being a softie when it came to insects, Yotogi was also a prolific cheapskate. He kept a clean and safe environment within the café, but unless enough people complained about an inconvenience, as far as he was concerned, they could just deal with it. Since most people enjoyed the amenities and discretion they received for such a low price, they tended to just keep their mouths shut.
Everyone except the new guy, apparently…
Narrowing her eyes in annoyance, Misaki calmly walked over to the machine that was giving the long-haired lunatic such a hard time. She ducked in front of the guy and pushed a sequence of buttons before slapping the side of the machine a couple of times. The whirring sound of the internal selection device sounded out and a second later, a bottle of grape soda fell down into the retrieval slot.
She removed the drink from the drawer and held it out to him. "Here."
He stared down at the can in her hand as he skeptically asked in a rude tone of voice, "What did you do?"
Misaki shrugged. "This machine's kinda old and stubborn. Just gotta have the right touch."
The lunatic grumbled something unintelligible as he grabbed the drink from her hand and stormed off back to his room. She heard the door slam a few seconds later.
"You're welcome…" She trailed off sarcastically.
The old café owner just shook his head when she turned toward him and shrugged, redirecting his attention back to his sudoku puzzle while Misaki proceeded to make her way toward the meal area to get herself some breakfast.
A heavy banging sound from outside her door drew Misaki's attention away from the manga she was reading, and she reached up to slide her headphones back. The banging sounded out again, a bit more insistently this time, and she realized that it was coming from her own door. Heaving a heavy sigh, she stood and reached out for the handle, sliding it open to find the grumpy, long-haired man she'd come to refer to as "Chika-san" standing there with his arms crossed and his trademark scowl twisting his face.
"I require assistance," he grumbled.
"The drink machine again?" Misaki inquired exasperatedly.
The vein on the right side of his face, next to the eye that tended to appear from behind his thick bangs when he was angry, instantly began to pulse as he clenched his teeth and seethed at her, "What else would I require your meagre assistance for?!"
Misaki stared back at him dryly. "Ya know, you could say "please" every once in a while."
Chika just grumbled under his breath, something about cheeky brats and ornery machines.
Interlocking her fingers behind her head, Misaki sauntered out of her room and followed after the perpetually grumpy part timer down the hall to the small cafeteria section of the net café, taunting him as they walked, "Ya'd save yourself a lot of trouble if you just ordered a cola."
"I do not want a cola. Why should I have to settle for something I don't want just because of this machine's attitude problem? I would turn it into a puppet if it wasn't the only place in a one-hundred-meter radius that serves Ramune Grape without it being it in that ridiculous contraption!"
Said "contraption" being the nifty glass bottle that came with a shiny blue marble and happened to be a commodity amongst most of the Ramune drinking community, Misaki included. She knew better than to inform him about the statistics though. It would just launch him into a tirade about how impractical and gimmicky it was, not to mention the calculations he'd done to prove that they contained less soda than the aluminum cans. She just rolled her eyes and kept walking. His biggest gripe was having to pay for something that he'd already purchased. Since the grape soda was an option in the drink station, he should be able to partake of it as much as he wanted, whenever he wanted.
Too bad he couldn't be obsessed with coffee or tea or something. The drink station was never short on those nasty grown-up drinks.
Misaki bent to retrieve the can from the chute and moved to hold it out to him before thinking better of it and pulling it back just as he reached out to take it.
"What are you—?! Give me that!" Chika exclaimed, swiping at the can of soda that she skillfully kept just out of his grasp.
She hopped up onto the back of one of the chairs in the lounge area and shot him a perturbed grimace as she shook the can at him and griped, "Ya know, I've been helpin' you out like this for almost a week now and I have yet to get so much as a thank you. I think ya owe me somethin', mister."
He let out an exaggerated guffaw in response to the notion. "Me? Owe you? Oh please, don't make me laugh!"
Misaki shrugged and hopped down from her seat, tossing his precious can to him and folding her hands behind her head before turning to walk back to her room. "Fine. Get your own drink from now on for all I care."
She didn't even get three steps down the hall before she heard him call out after her, "Wait!"
Smirking to herself, she crossed her arms across her chest and slowly turned back around.
"What do you want?" The man grumbled in a begrudging tone of voice.
Misaki blinked. "Huh?"
He began audibly grinding his jaw in response. "I'm asking what you want as compensation for your services. Don't make me repeat myself!"
She tilted her head a bit and curiously asked, "Compensation?"
'Does this guy not even know how to say please and thank you?' She thought to herself incredulously.
He stalked over and glared down at her with the one bloodshot eye peeking out from his bangs. "Yes! That is what I said. Do you have trouble hearing? Must I spell everything out for you like an infant? Is your brain so tiny that it can only understand the most basic of languages?"
Misaki cringed and backed away from him. "I'm not really helping ya cause I want something, though. Just a thank you every once in a while'd be nice."
He threw his hands up in the air and exclaimed, "Don't be ridiculous! You live in a net café!"
Taking some offense to his tone, Misaki jabbed her hands down on top of her hips and shot back, "So? Why're you here?"
"Hmph!" Chika scoffed, turning his head to the side and grumbling, "This facility has the best wifi."
Misaki raised an eyebrow at him and asked, "Don't you go to the university? Why don't ya just use theirs?"
He turned his head back toward her and condescendingly sneered, "Because my research colleagues are even more annoying than you are."
Ignoring his contemptuous tone, she clasped her hands back behind her head and asked, "So whad'ya do there?"
The vein that usually popped out on the side of his face when he was angry began to pulse to life as he complained, "This ridiculous line of questioning is utterly pointless. Why am I even wasting my time explaining myself to the likes of you?"
Misaki cocked her head to the side, watching as he turned and began stalking back toward his room. That was probably the longest conversation she'd ever had with the uppity weirdo that didn't consist of him mostly ranting about the drink machine. She thought that was probably the end of their interaction for the day, at least until he decided he was ready for another grape soda, but she was shocked to hear him call out over his shoulder as he walked away, "Hurry up! I don't have all day!"
Jumping slightly at the unexpected order, Misaki quickly composed herself and jogged off down the call after the man. He walked into his deluxe room ahead of her, leaving the door open for her to follow him. She carefully slid it shut behind her and surveyed the array of computer screens above the long desk with wide eyes. The sheer complexity of it amazed her. She had no idea what all the letters and numbers scrolling across the many screens meant, but she was fascinated, nonetheless.
"What is that?" She asked in awe, her voice just slightly above a hushed whisper.
She heard him begin to explain but she was too distracted by the scrolling code to comprehend what he was saying. She couldn't remember having ever been so entranced by anything in her life. As she reached out toward one of the keyboards sitting atop the desk, he swiftly slapped her hand away, and harshly exclaimed, "Don't touch!"
Without missing a beat, Misaki turned her attention to Chika and excitedly asked, "Will you teach me?"
"Teach you?" He scoffed, as if offended. "Me?"
Misaki shrugged. "Sure. You could treat it as compensation for me helpin' ya with your grape soda every day."
Chika stared her down for a moment before skeptically asking, "How old are you?"
Misaki straightened her posture and immediately replied, "Fifteen."
"How old are you really?" Chika drawled in a clearly disbelieving tone.
Her shoulders slumped and she averted her gaze with a grimace, shoving her hands into the pockets of her overalls before reluctantly grumbling, "Ten."
She wasn't really sure what her age had to do with anything as she stood there shuffling her feet. Hearing the sound of a pencil scratching against paper, she curiously glanced out of the corner of her eye at the man who was hunched over his desk and scribbling something in the notebook sitting atop the desk. After a moment, he tossed the pencil down and tore the paper out before holding it out to her.
"What's this?" She asked, staring down at it perplexedly as she took it from him.
Chika sat back in his chair with his arms crossed, an almost smug looking grin on his face as he told her, "Fetch these things from my lab at the university and I'll think about showing you some coding."
Misaki raised an eyebrow at him and incredulously asked, "How am I supposed to get in there?"
The campus itself was pretty much open to the public, but the specialty departments required a student ID badge to access. Not that she'd tried sneaking in there on her own before or anything…
Chika stood suddenly and began stalking toward her. Misaki quickly began to backpedal out of the room, stopping once she'd stepped out into the hall and cringing back a bit as he leaned down to sneer, "figure it out," before slamming the door shut in her face.
Blinking a couple of times at the suddenness of the action, she shook her head to bring herself back to her senses before glancing down at the slip of paper in her hand. Cocking her head to the side with a quizzical expression on her face, she perused the list of items he'd written before questioning aloud to herself, "What is all this stuff?"
Misaki hitched her backpack up over her shoulder and pulled down the bill of her baseball cap to shield her face from the cameras as she slipped into the technology building amidst a group of students. She'd been following them since she'd overheard them talking in the library about heading that way after lunch. After carefully stalking them to the cafeteria where she'd pilfered a melon bread and an apple juice from the unguarded snack station, she'd found a seat at a small table across the room where she could keep an eye on her targets. When they'd finally left their table, she'd quickly discarded her trash and followed after them, staying a ways back so they wouldn't become suspicious, but not far enough that she couldn't catch up to them at a jog.
She carefully extricated herself from their company, slowing her pace as they walked off down the hall to the computer labs while she headed straight down the corridor that led to the technology research center. After Chika had kicked her out of his room, she'd gone back to her own room to look up a blueprint of the building where the technology research center was located online. After she'd figured out where she needed to go, she'd decided to look up some pictures of the stuff he had written on his list, so she'd have some kind of idea what it was she was looking for at least. As far as she could tell, most of the stuff was supposed to be used to make computer chips of some kind. She didn't really understand a lot of what she'd read about the gadgets, but she had a decent enough idea about what they looked like, and that was good enough for now.
Why she was doing this at all could be chalked up to finding a way to escape her current living situation. She really didn't want to spend her time holed up in a net café reading manga until she ran out of money. The code that she'd seen scrolling across Chika's computer screens looked a lot like some of the stuff she'd seen while she'd been looking through job listings for independent contractors. One of the regulars that she checked in on Saturday nights had turned her onto a site which posted wanted adds for part time or as needed workers. Most of what was listed there required some kind of skillset, none of which she possessed, but other than that, there were no other age or education criteria listed. It was definitely one of those underground black marketplaces that a ten-year-old girl like her shouldn't have been snooping around in, but it wasn't like she had any other options at the moment. If she could get Chika to teach her how to write some of that code stuff, maybe she could use it to start making some of her own money soon.
After winding through a couple more hallways, Misaki finally found her way to the technology research and development lab that Chika had indicated on his slip of notebook paper. Reaching out for the handle of the door, she softly cursed under her breath when she found that it was locked. On the bright side, that meant that she wouldn't have to deal with any of Chika's annoying research colleagues, on the other, she was going to have to find a way to unlock the door. Luckily, she just so happened to possess that particular skill. Turning her head to look both ways down the hall, Misaki quickly noted that there was no one around, nor did there happen to be any cameras trained at the door, and she bent down to retrieve her lockpick set from her backpack.
Another of the regulars from her front desk shift at Free Bird had seen her reading a book about lock picking which she'd found amidst the shelves at the net café one night. She'd been a little surprised to find it, as lockpicking itself was illegal in Japan. The regular had offered to give her his spare kit to practice with in exchange for helping him with the grape soda; apparently she must have made a name for herself around the establishment as the grape soda machine whisper or something. It hadn't taken her very long to figure out the basics. A simple pin tumbler like this commercial door lever employed would be a piece of cake for her to handle. She carefully inserted the torsion wrench into the lock and swiftly went to work on the pins with her rake pick. Within seconds, she'd worked the lock open, and she quickly and quietly slipped inside, gently closing and locking it back behind her.
No more than ten minutes later, she'd gathered up all of the items on Chika's list and exited the lab. She managed to make it all the way back to the lobby of the technology building without running into anyone, but as she rounded the corner leading to the exit, a deep voice called out from behind her, "Hey, kid. What are you doing there?"
'Uh oh…' Misaki mentally trailed off, feeling herself become momentarily paralyzed with dread and she turned her head to view the large, burly security guard stalking toward her from across the lobby. His dark face was twisted with a scowl, both beefy ham hocks curled into fists, and she could practically see the steam venting from his nose as he stared her down like a warthog getting ready to charge its prey.
She immediately made a break for the door.
"Hey! Stop right there!" He called out after her.
The tromping of his heavy boots vibrated the ground beneath her. Usually, she was pretty quick on her feet, but with all the heavy equipment weighing her backpack down at the moment, she felt a lot more sluggish than usual. A few paces before the door, she sensed the security guard catching up to her and she quickly ducked and rolled as he reached out to grab her. He stumbled over her, losing his balance and falling to a knee—an opportunity that Misaki didn't hesitate to take advantage of. As he was currently blocking her way to the exit, she backtracked and headed for the toilet that she'd passed just before she'd stepped into the lobby. Once she'd safely made it inside, she locked the door behind her, jumping back when she heard a loud bang sound out a second later and the angry voice of the security guard calling out to her to open the door if she knew what was good for her.
Right. Like that was gonna happen.
Slipping her backpack off, she ran over and tossed it up on the windowsill before struggling to pull herself up onto the narrow ledge. She managed to unlock the window and push it open just as the security guard broke through the door and burst into the room. Not wasting another second, Misaki tossed her bag out the window before jumping out herself. She could still hear him yelling after her as she threw her backpack over her shoulders and ran as fast as she could across the busy campus toward the main gate. She quickly discarded the idea of running out the front entrance in case the guard had radioed to tell the others to look out for her and headed for the bus terminal instead. She still had her IC card, and she'd be able to hide amongst the passengers while she waited for the bus to arrive.
As luck would have it, the bus had just started boarding by the time she got to the station. With her salvation in sight, she completely ignored her surroundings and rushed across the street toward the loading bus, almost getting run over by a car in her haste. She hurriedly bowed apologetically to the driver who had honked and yelled at her to get out of the road before rushing the rest of the way across the street. Heaving a big sigh of relief as her behind hit the hard surface of the bus seat, Misaki clutched onto her backpack and folded her legs up into her chest, breathing deeply and counting backwards from ten as the bus pulled away from the station.
She was finally home free.
"Here," Misaki barked as Chika opened the door to his room, holding out her backpack to him with a sharp glower twisting her young face.
"Hmph," he scoffed, grabbing the bag from her and inspecting the contents before huffing out, "Not bad."
Her irritation quickly gave way to surprise and she dropped her jaw open, blinking a few times in shock at the unexpected praise.
"Now go away," he drawled condescendingly as he slammed the door shut in her face.
"Hey!" Misaki shouted indignantly, throwing herself forward to bang on the outside of the door. "You said you'd teach me!"
"I said I'd think about it!" Chika's voice called out to her from inside.
She beat her fists against the door even harder as she loudly complained, "Do you have any idea what I had to go through to get you that stuff? I almost got caught by security! I had to jump out a window! I almost got hit by a car—!"
The door suddenly slid open, and she stumbled back with a gasp.
"Fine!" Chika shouted, grabbing her by the strap of her overalls and pulling her inside before tossing her into the chair by the door and slamming it shut behind her. He leveled a glare in her direction as he pointed his bony finger down at her and groused, "Sit there and be quiet. And don't even think about asking me to repeat myself."
Misaki promptly sat up straight in the chair and smiled, nodding her head obediently.
"Hmph!" Chika huffed loudly before turning back around, flopping himself down in his own chair and returning to his work.
"Hey there, Yotogi-san," Misaki called out as she wandered into the common area of the net café, yawning as she stretched her arms high above her head. The old owner just grumbled and waved his hand at her.
It had been nearly a month since she'd struck her deal with Chika. Although he had grumbled an exorbitant amount about teaching her, he'd been true to his word about helping her learn how to code, as long as she didn't ask too many questions or interrupt his own work. She'd caught onto the basics pretty quickly; maths and sciences had always been her best subjects in primary school. He'd started instructing her on some of the hardware components to go with the software processes that she'd already learned and mastered just last week, providing her with the necessary tools and components for her to use to build her own computer chips.
Of course, she had been the one to ultimately pilfer them from the university. Playing gofer for Chika had been tacked onto her tab along with the grape sodas as repayment for the coding lessons. She'd actually gotten pretty good at sneaking in and out of the place over the last few weeks without alerting the guards.
Walking up to the counter, Misaki leaned her elbows on the glass surface and dropped her face into her hands as she asked the old owner who was sitting there working on his daily sudoku puzzles, "Have you seen Chika-san?"
"Not since the day before yesterday. Good riddance, if ya ask me," Yotogi flatly replied.
Misaki pressed her lips into a thin line. She hadn't seen him in a few days either. Making her way back to her room, she plopped down in front of her computer and typed Chika's full name into her browser search engine. Her eyes widened and she gasped when an article popped up about the bright new executive who had been recruited by the tech startup, Feel Good, Inc.
"He didn't even say goodbye…" Misaki trailed off somewhat dejectedly as she stared at the picture of him in a suit on her computer screen. A smirk turned up the edge of her mouth and she dropped her face into her hands before remarking exasperatedly, "Just like Chika-san."
Honestly, she was happy for him. He looked like he was in a place now where he could let his abilities flourish. She would miss him, but what he'd taught her she'd already put to good use. Reaching into the drawer beneath her desk, she pulled out the computer chip she had been working on with Chika over the last week and carried it out to the drink machine. She popped open the control panel on the back and pulled out the old, glitchy chip, replacing it with the one she'd built before putting the machine back together again. Walking around to the front, she took a deep breath before reaching out to press the button for the grape soda.
It worked like a charm.
"Ya fixed it?" Yotogi's surprised voice asked from over her shoulder.
Misaki slid her hands into the pockets of her overalls, cocking her head to the side with a sad sort of smile on her face as she sighed, "Yeah."
"Nice goin', Misa-ko!" The old main exclaimed, clapping her on the back in excitement before announcing, "Today's on the house!"
Misaki widened her eyes and tilted her head to glance up at the old owner before inquiring playfully, "Ya got anything else that needs fixed around here, Yotogi-san?"
Yotogi huffed and threw his arms up in the air, turning and heading back to the counter while calling out, "Don't push ya luck, kid!"
She watched him walk away with a smile on her face.
'Thanks, Chika-san…' Misaki thought to herself fondly as she sipped her grape soda. 'I owe ya one.'
Whether he'd meant to or not, Chikazoku Tomoyasu had saved her life, and she sincerely hoped that one day she might have the opportunity to return the favor.
~ Author Note Section ~
I hope you enjoyed the detour into Misaki's backstory! I'm not sure if anyone suspected that it was Skeptic who taught Misaki how to code, but I thought it was a pretty interesting tie in 😜
Thank you so much for reading ❤️
LOLSAT