Whether these events are nothing more than a repeat case of mass
hallucination caused by too much stimulation via television or a real case of
monsters plaguing Tokyo is still in debate.
Several psychologists and scientists have taken differing views on the
subject, with neither side prevailing in evidence or reason.
See
SAILOR, page 3.
Joseph
blinked once before taking a look at the artist's conception sketch
accompanying the article. It showed a
slim girl dressed in what looked like a one-piece swimsuit with an extremely
short skirt and bows all over the place.
The girl's proportions were obviously exaggerated, and she looked like
nothing more than the artist's fantasy woman, battling a mass of what seemed to
be slimy tentacles.
"Probably one of those fucking
pervert artists," he mused, looking away from the drawing.
Still, the concept of a couple of
schoolgirls fighting evil 'monsters' was a laughable concept, at least to
him. All that was needed was a super
villain with a yearning to rule the universe with a seemingly endless supply of
power to help them and a relentless dedication to their task and it would be a
comic book.
*Hell, it could even be a popular
anime show over here,* Joseph thought, chuckling to himself, *Call it a stupid
name, give it a few goofy sidekicks and throw in the girl power factor—you'd
have a fucking franchise on your hands.*
"Joseph!" called a female voice,
"Joseph!!"
He snapped out of his reverie just
in time to hear his mother calling his name.
Shaking his head, he grabbed their luggage and hurried over in her
direction, fighting against the never-ending crowd of people.
========================
After he dropped their things in the
back of the car, he slid into the passenger seat and ran his hand over the
dash. His father's company had gone
above and beyond the huge life insurance policy that had already been paid to
Joseph's mother, snagging them a great house in one of the suburbs of Tokyo and
evening furnishing it for them. As the
CEO of the company had said:
'Stephen Miller was an invaluable
asset to this company. It's the least
we can do.'
Joseph didn't like the huge amounts
of money being thrown around because of his adoptive father's death, but it did
smooth the transition for his mother.
That, along with her company's need for a new head of marketing in their
Japan branch led to the ease of the relocation. The brand new BMW that they were climbing into didn't hurt,
either. All in all, there were very few
rough spots for the two of them and their move to Tokyo.
But it was those rough spots that
they unconsciously fixated on.
He extracted a map of Tokyo and a
small piece of paper with directions on how to get to their new house. After finding the recommended route, he
pointed out the appropriate streets to his mother, allowing her to drive almost
flawlessly in the heavy traffic. They
eventually ended up on a smaller, less crowded road that led them by several
middle-class houses. When they arrived
at their destination, they saw a large moving van pulling out of the driveway
and down the road away from the house.
She parked the car in the driveway
and got out of it, with Joseph not far behind her. Taking the set of keys that was given to her, she unlocked the
front door and stepped inside. The air
was thick with the smell of disinfectant and furniture polish; along with the
'new house' smell that was common to many freshly built domiciles. She looked around at the contents of the
living room and slowly progressed to the master bedroom, then the bathroom, and
finally the kitchen. Kristin looked
around the entire house before returning to the living room and collapsing on
the couch. Joseph descended the stairs
leading to the second floor and joined her in the living room.
"So, what do you think, honey?"
"Does Martha Stewart know you stole
her house?" he replied, looking around the room.
He caught the throw pillow she
chucked at him, barely suppressing a smile.
"Watch it buster," she warned him,
"or you'll be living in the basement."
"I'm surprised about that," he
commented, tossing the pillow back to her, "I didn't think many houses in Japan
had basements."
"I don't know if they do or if they
don't," she sighed, rising up from the couch, "And I don't really care. I'm only interested if you like it."
"It's perfect. I'm happy if you're happy."
"Good. Now, if you have no objections, I'd like to get unpacked and
start making this place a home."
"I'll get the luggage," he offered,
exiting through the front door.
Joseph walked over to the driver's
door and opened it, reaching inside and pulling the trunk release. He moved around to the back of the car and
proceeded to remove their things. After
the bags had been removed, he reached up to close the trunk and paused,
inhaling deeply.
It was then that a yellowish blur
slammed into him, knocking him over.
Joseph rolled backward onto his
feet, rising up quickly and assessing the situation. He looked at the pavement to see what had slammed into him. A pair of orange roller blades were attached
to a set of lightly tanned, slim legs.
The legs led up to what he assumed to be a school uniform, but it had a
sailor's look to it. To top it all off,
a pair of bright blue eyes blinked twice, then stared right back at him.
The girl sat on the ground, looking
at him for a moment, then attempted to get up.
Joseph watched as she tried to stand and failed, falling on her butt and
pulling her own hair by accident.
Chuckling to himself, he walked forward and, grabbing her around the
shoulders, lifted the girl up until she was standing, if shakily. She wobbled over to a nearby streetlight and
grabbed hold of it for dear life, sizing Joseph up much in the same way that he
had done with her.
"Walk much?" he asked, cocking an
eyebrow.
"I'm not that bad!" she replied,
shaking a little more, "This is only my third time on skates."
"It shows," he chuckled, extending a
hand. "Need some help with getting the
hang of those?"
The girl slowly reached out,
grabbing his hand with her left, and then clasping on for extra stability with
her other. He slowly wrestled his arm
away from her deathlike grip until she was just hanging onto his wrist with
both hands. Satisfied, he began to walk
back up the driveway, dragging her along behind him. True to her form, the girl overcorrected her balance problems
time after time and more than once she was hard pressed not to fall. They eventually made it to the front steps
of Joseph's new house, where the girl dropped down and began to frantically
untie the rollerblades.
"You overcompensate a lot," he
mused, "you should work on your balance first."
After removing the skates, the girl
stood up and leveled a finger at him.
"Look, buddy," she snapped, "I can walk and move just fine, thank you
very much. I don't see you being the
master of balance over here!"
Smirking, Joseph flipped backward,
catching himself on one hand, then flipped again, catching himself with the
other. He finished the show by pushing
off the ground and landing squarely on his feet. He brushed his palms together, and then crossed his arms, smiling
the entire time.
"You were saying, miss?"
The girl's jaw dropped. "How did you?"
"I learned a thing or two from the
'master of balance'."
She lowered her gaze, shaking
slightly. Joseph's eyes narrowed as he
watched her, wary of just what she might do next. His concern was unfounded, though, for she suddenly looked
straight at him and broke out into laughter.
"You know, you remind me of one of
my friends," she said, brushing back a strand of her hair, "My name's
Mina. What's yours?"
"Joseph," he replied, "Are you from
this neighborhood?"
"Yeah, I live about a half-block up
the street," she answered, pointing in an easterly direction. She looked at him, then at the house, then
back at him again. "Are you the one who
bought this house?"
"I'm not the buyer, my mother
is. I just got here today," he said,
nonchalantly, "and I have no idea where 'here' is!"
Mina laughed again, making him feel
a bit uncomfortable, and he had a sudden feeling of déjà vu. She was still talking, and he began to nod
in affirmation of what she was saying. When he tried to think of just where he had seen her before, she
suddenly interrupted his thoughts.
"So, would that be ok?" she asked.
"W—what?" he stammered, breaking out
of his trance.
"Would that be ok?" she repeated,
looking at him strangely.
"Uh, sure," he affirmed, hoping it
was the correct answer.
"Great!" she squealed, clapping her
hands together, "How about you meet me at my house tomorrow, in the afternoon?"
"I'll be there with bells on," he
said, winking at her. Mina suddenly
turned a light shade of pink, looking away from him and at her watch. A look of surprise crossed her face as she
faced him again.
"Shoot!" she exclaimed, "I'm going
to be late for the meeting! Well, it
was nice meeting you, Joseph! I'll see
you tomorrow!"
He watched as she grabbed her
blades, then took off down the street, waving back to him. Joseph responded with a similar gesture, and
walked over to where the luggage sat on the driveway. He picked up the bags and made his way over to the door before a thought
suddenly struck him.
*Oh my god,* he thought, *What in
the hell did I just agree to?*