Chapter 08 - A Really Great Valentine's Day
(You know the disclaimer by now. I don't own JSR, okay? Thanks are due to Disk The GG for his help in this chapter (you'll see why when you read it, Disk). Oh, and please r+r!)

Valentine's Day dawned in a damp, hazy sunrise.
Beat woke up. For a moment he lay there, luxuriating in sleepiness -
then he remembered what had happened the night before.
Gum had been caught. He sat up, and caught sight of the calendar, still
lying on the floor. It was Valentine's Day, and his girlfriend had been captured
by a conglomerate known to have ties to a gang of ruthless Asian killers.
He'd even remembered the damn day this year. He'd got her a card and
a locket. He'd been all prepared to be sappy and slushy, like girls were
supposed to like. And now - and now he didn't even know whether she was
still alive.
Maybe it's all a mistake, part of his brain said hopefully. You know,
she didn't get caught after all. Or she did and she escaped. She's not here, but
maybe she's okay. She's got to be okay.
He got to his feet. All the other GGs were still asleep, but neither
Garam nor Amy were there. Beat remembered how he'd yelled at Amy, and
sighed. He hadn't meant it. He just thought she could have done something.
Should have done something.
But evidently she'd taken it to heart, and decided to sleep alone tonight.
And Garam would be hurting worst of all. Him and Piranha had been
together for ages. Last Valentine's Day, they'd each sent each other large
cards, and kept kissing and cuddling whenever they had a chance between
fighting Assassins. Gum had kept rolling her eyes and then looking at Beat in a
deeply hurt/utterly furious way.
I wish she'd do that this year, Beat thought. I wish she was here now,
and I'd forgotten again, and she was rolling her eyes and acting like she wanted
to kill me.
If only I hadn't sent her out last night.
Suddenly there was a knock on the door, and a letter was shoved under
it. Beat picked it up. It was addressed to him.
The envelope was strong, good quality, but there was no stamp or
postmark. The address was typed.
Puzzled, he opened it.
Typed on a piece of A4 paper was the following:

The female gang member captured at the Rokkaku building is safe at the
moment. Do not attempt to rescue her or this situation may change. If you
want to see her again - and I imagine you do - you and your gang must come
to the Rokkaku building at ten p.m. on 15th February. Stay away from the
building until that time. You saw what happened to the other girl. Don't let it
happen to this one too.

Garam lurked in Shibuya-cho and wondered if leaping under a bus would stop
the pain.
He wasn't thinking of killing himself in a depressed way, like he had
been earlier. Amy was right. If Piranha was up there somewhere, looking
down on them while playing a harp or whatever, then she wouldn't want him to
kill himself because of her. He knew he wouldn't want it to happen if the
positions were reversed.
This was different. It just hurt - physically hurt - not to have her with
him. He couldn't believe she was dead. He kept thinking he could still feel
her, out there, somewhere...
But that was crazy. She was dead, and there was nothing he could do.

"Look at this," Beat said to Tab.
Tab took the letter his friend handed to him, and read it through.
"So, they really have got her," he said. "You think we should go when
they say?"
"I don't see what else we can do." Beat sounded despairing. "They'll
kill her if it suits them, won't they? We gotta go."
"But why do they want us all there? If Koji's gonna unleash something
big and horrible on the world, he doesn't want a bunch of rudies hanging
around ready to mess it up for him."
"Maybe he wants us there so he knows where we all are," Beat said
dully. "Or maybe because we were there when his dad did his party piece. I
don't care, okay? I'm not gonna risk Gum getting hurt - or - or anything.
We've got to go."
"What do we do if he plans to have the assassins rub us all out
afterwards?" Tab said.
"I don't know!" Beat shouted it. "I don't know what to do, okay? I just
got to make sure she's safe..."
"Hey, I'm worried about her too." Tab sighed. He'd been trying not to
think about what could be happening to Gum right now. Really trying not to.
"But we can ask the others when everyone's awake." He glanced round the
garage. "Where's Amy?"
"Not here. I guess she's mad about what I said. She ain't been in all
night."
So where'd she sleep? Tab wondered. Not back at Auntie's house,
surely. Did she just spend the night out in Tokyo-to?
That surprised him. Surely she'd have crept back in later, even if she
didn't want to face the others.
Some Valentine's Day. He'd been kinda nervous about the occasion -
you never knew what girls expected of you. But he'd figured she'd at least
show up.
Unless she realised she'd made a terrible mistake and was deliberately
avoiding him.
Tab considered the thought a few moments, then decided he really
didn't want to think about it any more.

Amy yawned and opened her eyes, then slammed them shut again as the light
collided with the agony in her head.
"Ow," she muttered, feeling the pain throbbing in her eyeballs.
She lay there for a few seconds until the aching died down, then slowly
sat up, keeping her eyes shut. She could feel a lump swelling on the back of
her head, and when she touched it tears sprang behind her eyelids.
Dimly, she began to remember what had happened. She and Gum had
gone to spy - Gum had been caught - she'd gone to tell the other GGs - Beat
had freaked out at her - she'd stormed off - into Benten-cho - and then met up
with her aunt.
Uh-oh.
Amy felt her heart pound faster, and despite herself she began to
tremble.
She opened her eyes.
She was sitting in a room she recognised as the cellar in her aunt's
home. A small window at the top of one wall let in the pale sunlight, which
fell in a square onto her head and shoulders.
She was alone.
Sighing with relief, Amy got rather unsteadily to her feet, climbed up
the steps and tried the door. As she'd expected, it was locked.
Did any of the other GGs know where she was? Heck, did they care?
Beat's words stung her like a whip as she remembered them. You are useless.
Maybe they were just congratulating themselves on having got rid of her at
last...
No, Amy told herself. You think like that and you'll never get out of
here. You mustn't be scared. She wants you to be, but you mustn't be. Just be
calm.
Easier said than done.
She looked at her watch. Nine a.m. She knew from past experience her
aunt never got up till eleven at the earliest. That gave her two hours.
She walked over to the window. It was too high for her to reach. But if
she could get up to it, and if she could open it or break it somehow, she could
get out - it was just above the pavement.
Amy sat down again and considered the problem. But her head still
ached, and gradually she found her thoughts returning to the scenes last night.
Not Beat shouting at her - that was painful - but to her aunt catching her.
What had she said...something about seeing her and Gum go into the Rokkaku
building. And seeing her, Garam and Breaker there earlier.
Well, I sure didn't see you, Amy thought. Where were you? She
pictured the scene. The building stood towering over the city, with a few other
office blocks and skyscrapers next to it. Her aunt could have stood round the
corner of one of those...or lurked in the next street...but why just lurk? Why
not come and attack like she'd done last night?
She was scared of the rudies, maybe. Not only did they have a violent
reputation, they would be witnesses.
But there was something else...something nagging her memory,
something that wasn't right.
She tried to run through the conversation, closing her eyes as her head
throbbed again.
She'd threatened to tell on her aunt, and her aunt had said there'd be no
witnesses - and that she'd tell about Amy breaking into the Rokkaku building -
and that there were many more witnesses for that crime - that she'd seen her
and Garam and Breaker - and her and Gum - and then something else about
Breaker...
Amy sighed. No, she couldn't remember. It hung tantalisingly out of
reach in her mind.
There was a footstep upstairs.
Amy's heart seemed to leap, terrified, up into her throat. Surely her aunt
hadn't broken the habit of a lifetime in order to come and lay into her
disobedient niece...
Put like that it sounded horribly plausible.
Amy forced herself to carry on breathing normally. Think, she told
herself. Think! How to get to the window?
She walked over to it, jumped - her fingers tapped the glass, but the
movement started her head spinning again and she had to sit down. Through
the ringing in her ears, she heard footsteps above her. Someone was walking
down the stairs.

Beat finished reading out the letter he'd received, and then looked round the
garage. "Well? Any thoughts?"
"Sounds like they're setting something up and don't want us around,"
Cube said. "Like a huge turntable of evil."
"And it's also Koji's way of making sure he can set everything off on
the right date," Mew said. "If we turned up earlier we might be able to stop
him."
"But I don't understand why he wants us there," Slate said. "If I were
him I'd want to keep us in the dark as long as possible."
"Basically it comes down to this," Beat said, trying to act like he was
totally in control and not worried at all. "Do we go on the right date, like
we've been told, or do we try and rescue her, or do some more spying, today?"
"If we go tomorrow we might all get picked off as we knock on the
door," Combo said. "He'll be expectin' us."
"I don't think that'll happen," Tab said. "I mean, all through this thing,
Koji's been letting us know the Rhinos are ready. The music - it's caused
trouble, but it's hardly secret. If he wanted, he could've put it in another song,
one that isn't Rhino-related - but no. And the Assassins. They weren't there
to kill us. One of 'em could've got me easy, but he just said something about
how he hadn't been ordered to. They were there to warn us, and Piranha died
to demonstrate that they're serious."
"Is there a point to this?" Mew asked.
"That diary thing we found on Koji's computer. He didn't need to write
that there. He could've written it in a book or something and kept it hidden in
his room, but he didn't, he put it someplace one of us would know how to get
to. Amy said Gum saw something on the roof, something she recognised as
bad."
"So?" Beat snapped.
"Koji wants us to know what's going on," Tab said. "He's trying to
scare us and warn us that the Rhinos are back. So he won't pick us off as we
walk up to the building. He'll show us everything."
"Then he'll pick us off afterwards," Mew said. "I hardly think that's
good."
"Why does he want us to know what's going on?" Cube asked. "How'll
that help him?"
"I don't know," Tab said. "But he mentioned something in his notes
about the Rokkaku conglomerate becoming an ultimate symbol for power. He
wants us to be scared of him. He can't risk letting the general public know..."
"But no one'll listen to rudies," Beat said. "But I still don't see how that
helps us now. What are we going to do?"
"I don't think we should risk disobeying the instructions," Tab said.
"The Rhinos are good at killing, and Koji's got a lot of security. No, I think
it's better to go when he said, but make a plan."
"Like what?"
"That's the bit we gotta work on."
"Do you think we ought to tell Camilla about this?" Mew said. "He is
her brother, after all."
"How? We can't go to the Rokkaku building, and we don't know how
to contact her, do we? And if she tells the cops, and Koji can make himself
look innocent, we'll look like the troublemakers."
"Well, let's start planning, then," Beat said. "And make it good."

Amy listened, her heart rattling in her chest. Her aunt's footsteps had paused
above her. Then she heard the front door open.
Please don't let her remember me, she prayed. Please...
Voices above her.
Amy crept up the steps again, and pressed her ear to the keyhole.
"Can I get you a drink?" her aunt snapped.
"Please, I don't think there's any need for this hostility."
The voice was warm and elegant. Camilla Rokkaku.
Amy blinked and shook her head a little, wincing as her brain jangled in
her skull. What was Camilla doing here?
"You don't think so? Well, that is a surprise."
"Please, Miss Winters, I've come to warn you. Get out of the city."
"Why?"
"Something bad is going to happen."
"A lot of bad things have happened in my life. Why should this one be
any different?"
"Look..." Camilla sounded frustrated. "I know my father was as cruel
to you as he was to me. I know you think our family's nothing to you but I'm
begging you, just believe me this time. It's serious."
"Oh, really?" Her aunt's voice rose. "Well, let me tell you something,
Miss Rokkaku. You think after what my brother-in-law did you can just waltz
in here, playing the fancy career girl, and act like James Bond? I don't think
so. Get out of my sight."
"Please listen!"
"Just go!" Her aunt shouted it.
Amy heard footsteps march across to the door. It opened and then
slammed shut again.
What was all that about? Goji had been cruel to Camilla and her
aunt...Her aunt's brother-in-law had done something...Camilla was warning
her aunt to leave before Koji unleashed...what?
Amy jumped back as the cellar door swung open. Her aunt stood
framed in it, still looking furious.
"So you're awake, are you?" she snapped.
"Why did Camilla Rokkaku come here?" Amy demanded.
"That's none of your business."
"What did Goji Rokkaku do to you?" Amy clenched her fists. "What's
going on?"
"Nothing," her aunt said. "Now, would you like to come and have some
breakfast?"
"Tell me what's going on."
"Be quiet!" Her aunt moved to hit her, but Amy dodged and said, "Tell
me. Just tell me."
Her aunt glared at her. "Be quiet!"
"Are you scared to tell?" Amy said, deliberately making her voice sound
spiteful.
She cried out as her aunt slapped her, and stumbled back down the steps.
Through the dizziness, she heard her aunt spit out, "I am not scared of you,
Amy Winters. My sister stole Goji Rokkaku from me. I thought he loved me
and I was wrong. He married her."
"But - but if you're Goji's sister-in law, that means..." Amy tried to
speak through the pain in her skull.
"Yes. You're Camilla and Koji's cousin, I am their aunt, and we're both
disowned from the family."
Amy's mouth dropped open.
"Don't stand there gawping like a goldfish," her aunt snapped.
"I - I don't understand," Amy said.
"Look, it's perfectly simple, all right? There were three kids. Me, your
father, and my sister, Mari. Your father went abroad to Grind City and married
your mother and later had you. Mari and I went to university together where
we met Goji. We both liked him, but he told me it was me he wanted to go
with."
Her aunt spat the words out bitterly.
"But he always kept putting me off, didn't he? I should have guessed it,
but I didn't. At last we got to our final term, and I pressured him to tell me our
future. He confessed he'd been seeing my sister behind my back, and had
fallen in love with her."
Her aunt clenched her fists. Suddenly she looked much younger.
"They were married, and had twins. I went back to Tokyo-to when they
did. My sister died. Goji felt bad about me, I suppose, for he gave me an
allowance. That's what we've been living on. Then he died." Her voice went
strangely choked.
"And did his children ever help us out? No, they damn well didn't.
Never mind they're the richest people in the city. We weren't good enough for
them, were we?"
"That's silly," Amy said. "Camilla just came and you rejected her. I
know what she's talking about, and she might be right."
"Oh, shut up." Her aunt's face twisted into a sneer.
"Does Camilla know about me?"
"She knows I'm looking after my niece. She's never met you, though,
so I should imagine not. Why? Want to get something out of her? You'll have
a job."
Angrily her aunt came towards her. "Not that I'd mind you leaving.
You're so bloody difficult, you know that, how do you think it feels having you
round the place? You've annoyed me since you got here."
"Why? What did I ever do?" Amy snapped.
"You? You're all the problem of a child without any of the redeeming
features. All the pain and none of the pleasure. My brother and my sister both
got families, didn't they? But no - I just end up with you." She gave Amy a
brutal shove on the shoulder. "I never wanted you."
"Why'd you come and catch me back, then?" Amy was annoyed to feel
tears beading in her eyes. "You could have left me in Benten-cho."
"I don't think so. Next thing I know you're running to the cops and
telling them what a horrible auntie you've got."
"So you took me back here?" Amy felt frustration rise behind her ribs.
"Don't be so stupid! I would have been happy if you'd just left me alone. I
wouldn't have told on you. You know when you knocked me unconscious?"
She deliberately emphasised the words, and saw her aunt's eyes slide away
from her. "I could have told then. But I didn't. I liked being a rudie. It was
cool. People liked me. People actually wanted me around. I haven't had that
before. Not from you, anyway!"
"No, you're right, I never wanted you around! But I'm not letting you
drag me into this vandalism business." Her aunt shoved her again. "Trust you
to end up with a bad crowd."
"They're worth a hundred of you." Amy felt as though the words came
from somewhere deep inside her, dragged up from some dank pool of fury and
resentment.
Her aunt must have caught the rage in Amy's voice. Her eyes narrowed,
and then she pushed Amy for the third time. This push was harder. Amy felt
herself stumble back. Her heels trod on air. She fell down the stairs. As her
head spun, she heard her aunt march out, relocking the cellar door behind her,
and then she closed her eyes and knew nothing more.

Tab skated gloomily round Shibuya-cho, worrying about Gum, worrying about
Amy, worrying about everything.
He kept glancing up at the Rokkaku building. Gum was in there. And
they didn't know what was happening to her. She could be injured. She could
be dead.
She'd been part of his life for so long - arguing, snapping, teasing - that
the thought of her gone forever physically hurt him, as though someone had
punched him in the stomach.
And all they could do was wait. They'd agreed that as they didn't know
what Koji was going to do, all they could do was assume it would be the same
as last time. Which meant lots of spray paint. They'd considered telling the
Keisatsu, but they all knew there was no proof, so doing that would probably
end in a one-way trip to Sing Sing.
Tab sighed. Dashing down Center Street, feeling his skates gather speed
as they rushed down the hill, he turned his thoughts to Amy. Where was she?
He could just about buy her staying out all night, but surely - surely -
Beat's comment hadn't hurt her so much she'd avoid them all the next day.
And it's Valentine's Day, his thoughts muttered.
And if she was avoiding them, how was she doing it? Everyone had
been out today, and he'd asked them all if they'd seen Amy. And no one had.
What about her aunt?
No way, Tab told himself. No way. She'd not have gone back there,
not in a million years.
But did she choose to?
A slow trail of fear slid down his throat. She'd gone out for a walk. She
might easily have ended up near her house. And then her aunt could have
come and grabbed her, dragged her inside, hit her again, knocked her out...
He had to stop skating because the rage and terror was making it too
hard to breathe.
Okay, he told himself. Calm. I'll just head over there. See what's
going on.
Please let her be all right.

He reached Amy's aunt's house. From outside it looked normal. Amy's
bedroom window had been covered by a piece of cardboard, but the smashed
pane in the door had been fixed.
Well, now what?
Tab considered. He could knock and ask to see Amy. Then he could at
least find out if she was there or not. But...
He was annoyed to realise he was scared.
Why? What was so frightening about this lady? She was a bitch to
Amy, but there wasn't much she could do to him.
And he'd escaped from the last abusive situation he'd been in. He'd
escaped. He was not some cowering kid any more. He could handle stuff like
this.
He rang the doorbell before he could talk himself out of it, then waited.
After a few minutes he heard grumpy footsteps, and then the door flew
open and Amy's aunt snapped, "Well, what is it this - oh. Who're you?"
"I'm a friend of Amy's." Tab wished he looked a bit tougher. "Is she
in, please?"
"She's not around at the moment." She didn't offer to take a message or
anything, just watched him. He noticed she looked tired, and her eyes were
red.
"Can I wait for her?"
"No."
The door slammed in his face.
Tab sighed. Okay, onto Plan B. He'd wait until the aunt went out, then
grind up the telephone wire and into Amy's bedroom, like he'd done before.
The cardboard didn't look that hard to bust through.
The only problem was - when would the aunt go out?
Oh, well...
He settled down to lurk.

The day passed slowly for everyone.
Beat tried to go out tagging, but his heart wasn't in it. Whatever he did,
his mind leapt back onto the topic of Gum and what might be happening to her.
He didn't know what to do. Just lying around worrying was depressing, but he
felt too stressed and tired to do anything.
Garam didn't even try and tag. He went to Piranha's grave. None of the
others disturbed him.
Tab waited in the street. It wasn't exactly thrilling, but he was
determined to find out where Amy was. And if that meant he had to wait all
night, then so be it.
It was eight p.m. when his persistence finally paid off.
He had slipped into a light doze, when suddenly he was shaken back to
alertness by the slam of the front door. He quickly peered round the corner and
saw Amy's aunt heading off towards Genkijomae.
He waited until she'd turned the corner, then crept towards the walkway
in front of the house. His footsteps echoed around the street as he walked up
the steps.
Okay. Here goes.
He dashed a few feet, then jumped onto the railing of the walkway. As
he gathered speed, he leapt again, onto the telephone wire. He rushed towards
the cardboard blocking the window, put out his hands, and hoped.
THUNK.
The cardboard flew off the window and it and Tab crashed to the floor.
He picked himself up, checked there were no broken bones, and then looked
round the bedroom.
It was empty.
Okay, Tab reasoned to himself, either she is here, but someplace else, or
she ain't here, and I goofed. Okay. Let's go.

Gum blinked, but her vision remained dark. Her eyes felt as though they'd
been stuck together with sand.
She peeled them open, and looked around, trying to ignore her stinging
throat and aching head. But the darkness was thick, and she could make out
nothing.
Suddenly there was the sound of a door unlocking, and faint light spilled
into the room. Gum sat up a little as a torch beam crept over her.
"So you're awake, are ya?"
Gum's ribcage seemed to tighten, cutting off her breathing. She
recognised that voice. It had ordered her death - all their deaths - in Kogane a
year ago.
"You..." Her voice was so dry it hurt to talk. "You're one of the
Assassins..."
"So sue me." Footsteps crossed the stone floor, and she felt him kneel
next to her. Metal glinted in the torchlight. He grabbed her wrist. Then a
sharp pain bit into it.
Gum yelped, and the Assassin slapped her face. "Quit whining."
She could feel blood running down her skin. He seemed to be wrapping
what felt like paper around the cut. "What are you doing?"
"Just giving your gang a warning. We felt cutting off your finger might
be a little over the top."
Gum swallowed back her terror, and said, "What...what do you want
them to do?"
"You'll find out. I guess." He got to his feet and walked back to the
door. "Sweet dreams, blondie."
The door slammed behind him, and she was alone.
Or was she?
Gum heard what sounded like moaning, coming from the far corner.
"Who - who's there?" she said, hearing her voice quiver.
No reply.
Suddenly she heard the hissing of the gas again. Rats, was her last
conscious thought before the darkness rushed into her brain.

Amy opened her eyes. The sunlight had been replaced by a square of
streetlight, and the shadows had darkened. She sat up, and memories rushed
into her skull.
She was Koji and Camilla's cousin.
It was so crazy she could hardly believe it, but it seemed like it was true.
I wonder what time it is, she thought.
Questions crowded her mind. She lay back and tried to make sense of
them. Did Camilla and Koji know that she existed? Did her aunt hate her just
because she was jealous of her siblings' happiness? Were the GGs okay, and
did they know where she was? What was that thing about Breaker?
She mulled the last question over. What was the answer?
Suddenly it hit her, so hard that she cried out. Her aunt had said
something like, 'that cripple went into the front of Rokkaku building just
before you and the blonde girl.'
He'd gone in through the front.
But why? Breaker shouldn't have been going to spy. He'd known that
she and Gum would do that. And even if he'd decided that he had to go
himself, he would have told them, surely.
And how had he got in through the front? The secret entrance he'd
shown them was definitely at the back, and the building had been closed since
five o'clock. Surely he didn't have a key or something.
Amy groaned. She couldn't make sense of that now. She was starving,
and she felt extremely dizzy. At least her aunt had gone out now -
She froze as she heard footsteps on the stairs.

Tab crept down into the darkened lower half of the house. Geez, it was so
silent. How could Amy have stood being stuck here 24/7?
And where was she? If she was out, then technically he was breaking
and entering. Not cool.
It wasn't just silent here. It was ugly. Not obviously so - but the whole
house seemed to have a sharp, angry air to it. It rang in his ears like a bad note.
He knew why it got to him. His own house had once had exactly the
same sense to it. Sort of like a permanent storm cloud.
But you're not there now, he told himself. You're here. Quit worrying.
There's no way you can go back.
Amy went back, a voice at the back of his brain said.
Shut up, he answered. Just keep looking.
There were only a few more steps to go. He carefully picked his way
down them.
In the darkness, he missed one, and landed painfully on the hall floor.
"Oh, man, that hertz!"
He yelled without thinking, and then froze, listening. If a neighbour had
heard...
There was a loud banging from somewhere in the house.

Amy sat up as the familiar yelp echoed through the building. She knew who
that was.
"Tab!" she yelled. "Tab, where are you?" She got to her feet, ran up to
the cellar door and drummed on it desperately with her fists. "I'm in the cellar!
Help me!"
She heard footsteps. "Amy? Amy, where are you?"
"The cellar! The door's under the stairs!"
She heard the doorhandle rattle, and he said, "Uh...any ideas on the
whereabouts of the key?"
"Look by the front door. There's a key rack there."
She heard the footsteps recede, then return. There was the clinking of
keys, and Tab said, "I got all of them. Hang on..."
She heard clicks and rattles as he began trying keys. Praying her aunt
wouldn't come back, she waited, and at last the door swung open and she
dashed out into Tab's arms.
They stood there, in the dark silent house, embracing, and then at last
Tab said, "Let's get out of here." And they hurried to the front door, and Amy
dragged it open, and then they dashed out into the Tokyo streets.