Chapter 3
To say that America's Meifu was big is the biggest understatement of the century. The place is fucking huge!!!
I couldn't help but gape at the very large building in front of us. Tsuzuki seemed as shocked as I was. Well, I wasn't surprised. So many states, including the nation's capital, its no wonder the place is so huge!!
Aaron seemed amused by our shock. "We must be going. Stay close to me, it's easy to get lost here."
His voice broke through our shock. Then again, he hadn't said much since he had explained the circumstances of his death.
"As a warning," he told us. "No one in my division speaks fluent Japanese. I know I taught you both some, but I'll interpret for you if you need it."
We both nodded. I don't know about Tsuzuki, but I was prepared. Like I said before I had prior teaching to English, and Aaron's lessons for us helped to improve on it. As we passed the many people in this JuOhCho, I could faintly understand what some of them were saying. Practically everyone was talking about Tsuzuki and me.
"Wow, who are they?"
"They look Japanese."
"The tall one is so cute!! Do you think he'll take me out if I ask him?"
"Nah, there's that girl next to him."
"Aw, dammit. Wait, that's just a teenager!!"
I felt my face burn and my anger growing. It was bad enough they wanted Tsuzuki, but they thought I was a GIRL!! That's worse than being called a kid!!
Aaron glanced at me. "You can understand them, I take it?"
"I suddenly wish I'd never learned English," I grumbled, rubbing my face.
Tsuzuki looked confused. "What? What's wrong?"
Yep, his English still sucked.
After walking for about ten minutes, Aaron stopped in front of a door. "Here it is. The New York Department."
I breathed out a sigh of relief. Behind us a rather large crowd of women had gathered, every one of them eying Tsuzuki. I muttered a curse as we followed Aaron, resisting the urge to hurt them.
When I got a good look at the New York Department, I was surprised. It was very small!! And it looked much nicer than our department back in Japan. For one thing, the floors were carpeted. And every desk had a computer on it.
Aaron looked around the slightly empty room. Only one person was actually in there. A woman with short blonde hair who sat in the far corner. She looked up when we had entered, and then had gone back to what she had been doing.
Suddenly, one of the doors swung open. "Aaron!! You're back!!"
I yelled in surprise and jumped out of the way as a girl launched herself at Aaron, tackling him to the floor. Immediately this girl reminded me of Yuma and Saya.
That made me feel scared.
Aaron gently pushed her off him. "Bethany, please calm down."
"But I'm on Cloud 9!! You were gone for a week, and my gig has been rough!! All these murders have rattled my cage, and Miss Jackson's frosted!! You dig, right?!"
I had no idea what the hell she was talking about. I knew this as I eyed her current attire. Her light brown hair was short and in a perm, she wore a sleeveless pale blue shirt with a shawl collar, a white swing skirt with rose patterns on it, and little black ballet slippers with tiny white socks.
"Yeah, I dig." Aaron stood up and helped her up. "Bethany, I brought two representatives from Japan with me to give us assistance."
Bethany turned to us, and I'm sure she just realized we were there. She straightened and bowed very low. "Uh, Konnichi-wa, minna-san. I'm-I-I'm mean, Bethany Myers, desu."
I raised an eyebrow. She wasn't fluent, that was for sure.
Aaron stood next to her. "This is my partner, Bethany Myers. Um, don't mind her. She died in the 1950s and hasn't given up on that era."
Oh, THAT explained a lot.
Bethany straightened again. "Okay, I'm on the stick. Introduce me to them, Aaron."
"Okay." He pointed to Tsuzuki. "This is Tsu-I mean, this is Asato Tsuzuki."
Bethany grinned at Tsuzuki. "Well hello there, Big Daddy. You a big tickle kind of guy?"
Tsuzuki seemed as confused by this girl as I was. "Uh, what did she say?"
Aaron translated everything she said. Now he looked even more confused. "I don't know what she's talking about!"
"That's a good thing," I hissed to him.
Aaron then pointed at me. "This is Hisoka Kurosaki."
Bethany looked me over without saying a word. Then she turned to Aaron and whispered something to him. I heard it though.
"He's an ankle-biter, isn't he?"
"I don't know!" Aaron hissed back.
An ankle-biter?! Okay, that definitely didn't sound right.
Aaron must've sensed that I was quickly growing angry. "Daijobu, Hisoka-san?" he asked in Japanese.
"Gee, what do you think?!" I snapped. "I don't appreciate being called an ankle-biter!!"
He nodded before turning to Bethany. "He took it as an insult."
"Oh, I'm sorry!!" said Bethany, grabbing my hands in a vice-like grip.
Suddenly all these flashes entered my mind. They were unpleasant and I didn't like it. I heard overlapping voices in my ears.
Leave me alone!!
Hold her down!!
Stop it!! Let me go!!
I quickly yanked my hands away before I could see more. I didn't know what had been going on, and I didn't want to know.
Okay, focus, I told myself. She called you an ankle-biter.
"I didn't know you didn't like being called a child!!"
What? A child?!
"Ankle-biter is slang for 'child'," Aaron explained to us. "But of course you knew that, right? After all, you took offense to it."
I turned red. Now I felt really stupid. I didn't like being called a child, but that wasn't what I thought an ankle-biter meant.
Tsuzuki stared at me. "Why are you blushing, Hisoka? What did you think it meant?!"
"Can you take us to your boss?!" I asked Aaron, trying to get off the subject.
"Hold on!!" cried Bethany. "You didn't meet Jamie!!"
"Just go," said the blonde hair girl, her voice neutral.
"That's Jamie Calkins," said Aaron in Japanese. "She's a little anti-social."
"Oh, don't worry!!" said Tsuzuki. "Hisoka's like that a lot, so-OOF!!!!"
I elbowed him hard in the stomach. "Please take us to your boss."
***
When we were taken to Aaron's boss's office, a large man whose blonde hair that was in a buzz cut greeted us. Not to mention he looked uncomfortable in the suit he was wearing. Definitely an army type.
"Shane," said Aaron. "This is Asato Tsuzuki and Hisoka Kurosaki of Japan. They have come to help us in this case." Aaron turned to us. "This is Shane Kavanah, Miss Jackson's accountant."
"You mean secretary," said Tsuzuki.
"Don't say that in English around him. Even in this modern age he considers being called a secretary is too feminine."
Shane eyed us. "Were either of you living during the 1960s?"
"I died in 1996," I told him. I motioned to Tsuzuki. "He died in 1926."
Shane shook his head. "Good. Go on in." he motioned to a door.
"Why did he ask that?" I hissed to Aaron.
"I don't usually go into private things, but he seemed adamant about telling us about it," said Aaron. "He worked at a drafting office during the Vietnam War. It wasn't his idea of a great job, but he was assigned there. Needless to say, he was jumped by war protesters on his way out of work and was beaten to death. Not only did no one help him, but also the one of the guys he worked with had been walking out with him bolted for the doors they had come out of, and locked it. The asshole didn't even bother calling the cops until AFTER he was dead, in which he waited 2 hours after the protesters left. Shane's not really friendly with people who look about your age who lived during the 1960s. He was lucky, though."
"How so?" asked Tsuzuki.
"The police caught every single one of those people, and all of them were convicted of first degree murder, though apparently most of them just wanted to beat him up. Since there were nine of them, it's pretty rare to catch the whole group like that."
Inwardly I felt sorry for him. I was pretty pissed by how I died, but I'd be VERY pissed if something like that happened to me and an able-bodied person was too chicken shit to even lift a finger to help me.
Aaron opened the door. "Miss Jackson? I've come back."
"All right, come in," said a woman from within the room.
I knew that the Kachou of the New York division was a woman, but it was still surprising to see her.
The first thing I thought was how tall she was. Then my eyes fell to the thick high heels she wore. As she approached us she towered over me and almost over Tsuzuki.
Her hair was light brown and worn in a pageboy. Glasses framed her face and hung on the tip of her nose. She wore a light gray suit, which clashed with her high heels. She could be considered pretty, if not plain.
"These are the ones from Japan?" she asked Aaron, eying Tsuzuki and me over her glasses.
"Um, yes ma'am," squeaked Aaron and I glanced at him. He seemed intimidated by her.
"Well, tell them to introduce themselves."
"I'm Hisoka Kurosaki," I said in English. "This is Asato Tsuzuki."
She raised an eyebrow. "O-kay. I'm Lea Jackson. I'd ask that you call me Miss Jackson, but I'm not your boss so call me what you want." She went over to her desk and sat down. "I didn't expect you to come back today."
"But Miss Jackson," said Aaron. "We had a fax sent over to you saying when we would be back."
"What? A fax? Oh yes, that one." She shook her head. "Aaron, you should know that I don't comply with nonsense."
"Ma'am?"
"For starters, the fax ended up jamming my fax machine. It was written in red crayon in bad English. I couldn't understand it, so I threw it out. It was signed by some guy...Wat-something."
I sighed heavily. Watari was smart, but red crayon?!
Aaron translated what she said to Tsuzuki. He started laughing, but tried to look stern when he saw my glare.
Lea shrugged. "Well, what matters is that you're here now. So tell me, what are we up against?"
Aaron translated to Tsuzuki. I was about to speak when Tsuzuki spoke.
"Muraki is a psychopath," said Tsuzuki. Aaron translated to Lea.
"I gathered that much. He has managed to kill fourteen people in New York in a short amount of time without being caught."
Aaron translated to Tsuzuki. I wanted to step in so things would be easier, but Tsuzuki seemed intent on explaining. "He can use magic. And because he's a doctor he can cover his tracks very quickly."
While Aaron translated, I remained silent. Somehow I wanted to hear what Tsuzuki thought of Muraki.
"He has no regard for human life. He has a screwed-up idea of quickly killing those he hates and torturing those he has interest in. We both have been witness to such."
I shuddered slightly. I knew all too well what Tsuzuki was talking about. Just thinking about it took me back to that night Muraki captured me when I was thirteen...
"So in other words," said Lea. "He's a fucked-up individual who needs to die very soon?"
"Yes," I said before Aaron could translate.
Lea shrugged again and stood. "There you go. Aaron, since you and Bethany picked up one of Muraki's victims, I want you both to give assistance to Mr. Kurosaki and Mr. Tsuzuki."
Oh goody. Now I have to be around a girl who's stuck in the past and has a personality remotely similar to Yuma and Saya.
"Yes, ma'am," said Aaron. He turned to us. "Let's go."
We filed out of the room. I turned to Tsuzuki. "You okay?"
He quickly nodded. "I feel a bit in the dark here. And I didn't feel comfortable talking about Muraki."
"I could've-"
"I'll be fine, Hisoka." I could tell he wanted to change the subject as he turned to Aaron. "So, um, did they catch that guy that hit you?"
"Yeah," said Aaron. "He was charged with vehicular manslaughter and driving with intoxicated. The only bad thing was the defense managed to get a reduced sentence of five years. When he did the time he was released and he had a party, got drunk again, and drove right into a tree. Now he's mentally disabled."
"You get what you get," I told him.
"Yeah, I guess. But like I said, Shane and I are a few of the lucky ones."
"Why?" asked Tsuzuki.
"Because our killers were caught and brought to justice. Many of the others' killers got away with it or committed suicide. And for someone like us, that's not exactly justice."
"Don't I know it," I muttered, thinking again of the many horrible things I wanted to do to Muraki.
"Well, we have to focus in on what's at hand. Muraki is on some freak rampage and we must stop him. You're help is greatly appreciated, as you know what we're dealing with."
"Thanks," said Tsuzuki. He glanced at his watch. "Oh, we gotta send a fax to Tatsumi to tell him our progress!!"
"I'll show you where it is," said Aaron, leading the way.
I sighed, letting Tsuzuki drag me along.
Tomorrow, we started the manhunt. And this time Muraki was not going to slip away from us
Okay, this was like a filler chapter, but it took me a while to develop on the Shinigami in New York and I wanted to introduce them. Next chapter, the manhunt starts!! Oh, and for those who didn't understand Bethany's slang, here's the translation brought to you by http://www.fiftiesweb.com/fifties.htm
Cloud 9-really happy
Gig-work, job
Rattled your cage-get upset
Frosted-angry
Dig-to understand
On the stick-pulled together, bright, prepared
Big Daddy-an older person
Big tickle-really funny
Ankle-biter-a child
To say that America's Meifu was big is the biggest understatement of the century. The place is fucking huge!!!
I couldn't help but gape at the very large building in front of us. Tsuzuki seemed as shocked as I was. Well, I wasn't surprised. So many states, including the nation's capital, its no wonder the place is so huge!!
Aaron seemed amused by our shock. "We must be going. Stay close to me, it's easy to get lost here."
His voice broke through our shock. Then again, he hadn't said much since he had explained the circumstances of his death.
"As a warning," he told us. "No one in my division speaks fluent Japanese. I know I taught you both some, but I'll interpret for you if you need it."
We both nodded. I don't know about Tsuzuki, but I was prepared. Like I said before I had prior teaching to English, and Aaron's lessons for us helped to improve on it. As we passed the many people in this JuOhCho, I could faintly understand what some of them were saying. Practically everyone was talking about Tsuzuki and me.
"Wow, who are they?"
"They look Japanese."
"The tall one is so cute!! Do you think he'll take me out if I ask him?"
"Nah, there's that girl next to him."
"Aw, dammit. Wait, that's just a teenager!!"
I felt my face burn and my anger growing. It was bad enough they wanted Tsuzuki, but they thought I was a GIRL!! That's worse than being called a kid!!
Aaron glanced at me. "You can understand them, I take it?"
"I suddenly wish I'd never learned English," I grumbled, rubbing my face.
Tsuzuki looked confused. "What? What's wrong?"
Yep, his English still sucked.
After walking for about ten minutes, Aaron stopped in front of a door. "Here it is. The New York Department."
I breathed out a sigh of relief. Behind us a rather large crowd of women had gathered, every one of them eying Tsuzuki. I muttered a curse as we followed Aaron, resisting the urge to hurt them.
When I got a good look at the New York Department, I was surprised. It was very small!! And it looked much nicer than our department back in Japan. For one thing, the floors were carpeted. And every desk had a computer on it.
Aaron looked around the slightly empty room. Only one person was actually in there. A woman with short blonde hair who sat in the far corner. She looked up when we had entered, and then had gone back to what she had been doing.
Suddenly, one of the doors swung open. "Aaron!! You're back!!"
I yelled in surprise and jumped out of the way as a girl launched herself at Aaron, tackling him to the floor. Immediately this girl reminded me of Yuma and Saya.
That made me feel scared.
Aaron gently pushed her off him. "Bethany, please calm down."
"But I'm on Cloud 9!! You were gone for a week, and my gig has been rough!! All these murders have rattled my cage, and Miss Jackson's frosted!! You dig, right?!"
I had no idea what the hell she was talking about. I knew this as I eyed her current attire. Her light brown hair was short and in a perm, she wore a sleeveless pale blue shirt with a shawl collar, a white swing skirt with rose patterns on it, and little black ballet slippers with tiny white socks.
"Yeah, I dig." Aaron stood up and helped her up. "Bethany, I brought two representatives from Japan with me to give us assistance."
Bethany turned to us, and I'm sure she just realized we were there. She straightened and bowed very low. "Uh, Konnichi-wa, minna-san. I'm-I-I'm mean, Bethany Myers, desu."
I raised an eyebrow. She wasn't fluent, that was for sure.
Aaron stood next to her. "This is my partner, Bethany Myers. Um, don't mind her. She died in the 1950s and hasn't given up on that era."
Oh, THAT explained a lot.
Bethany straightened again. "Okay, I'm on the stick. Introduce me to them, Aaron."
"Okay." He pointed to Tsuzuki. "This is Tsu-I mean, this is Asato Tsuzuki."
Bethany grinned at Tsuzuki. "Well hello there, Big Daddy. You a big tickle kind of guy?"
Tsuzuki seemed as confused by this girl as I was. "Uh, what did she say?"
Aaron translated everything she said. Now he looked even more confused. "I don't know what she's talking about!"
"That's a good thing," I hissed to him.
Aaron then pointed at me. "This is Hisoka Kurosaki."
Bethany looked me over without saying a word. Then she turned to Aaron and whispered something to him. I heard it though.
"He's an ankle-biter, isn't he?"
"I don't know!" Aaron hissed back.
An ankle-biter?! Okay, that definitely didn't sound right.
Aaron must've sensed that I was quickly growing angry. "Daijobu, Hisoka-san?" he asked in Japanese.
"Gee, what do you think?!" I snapped. "I don't appreciate being called an ankle-biter!!"
He nodded before turning to Bethany. "He took it as an insult."
"Oh, I'm sorry!!" said Bethany, grabbing my hands in a vice-like grip.
Suddenly all these flashes entered my mind. They were unpleasant and I didn't like it. I heard overlapping voices in my ears.
Leave me alone!!
Hold her down!!
Stop it!! Let me go!!
I quickly yanked my hands away before I could see more. I didn't know what had been going on, and I didn't want to know.
Okay, focus, I told myself. She called you an ankle-biter.
"I didn't know you didn't like being called a child!!"
What? A child?!
"Ankle-biter is slang for 'child'," Aaron explained to us. "But of course you knew that, right? After all, you took offense to it."
I turned red. Now I felt really stupid. I didn't like being called a child, but that wasn't what I thought an ankle-biter meant.
Tsuzuki stared at me. "Why are you blushing, Hisoka? What did you think it meant?!"
"Can you take us to your boss?!" I asked Aaron, trying to get off the subject.
"Hold on!!" cried Bethany. "You didn't meet Jamie!!"
"Just go," said the blonde hair girl, her voice neutral.
"That's Jamie Calkins," said Aaron in Japanese. "She's a little anti-social."
"Oh, don't worry!!" said Tsuzuki. "Hisoka's like that a lot, so-OOF!!!!"
I elbowed him hard in the stomach. "Please take us to your boss."
***
When we were taken to Aaron's boss's office, a large man whose blonde hair that was in a buzz cut greeted us. Not to mention he looked uncomfortable in the suit he was wearing. Definitely an army type.
"Shane," said Aaron. "This is Asato Tsuzuki and Hisoka Kurosaki of Japan. They have come to help us in this case." Aaron turned to us. "This is Shane Kavanah, Miss Jackson's accountant."
"You mean secretary," said Tsuzuki.
"Don't say that in English around him. Even in this modern age he considers being called a secretary is too feminine."
Shane eyed us. "Were either of you living during the 1960s?"
"I died in 1996," I told him. I motioned to Tsuzuki. "He died in 1926."
Shane shook his head. "Good. Go on in." he motioned to a door.
"Why did he ask that?" I hissed to Aaron.
"I don't usually go into private things, but he seemed adamant about telling us about it," said Aaron. "He worked at a drafting office during the Vietnam War. It wasn't his idea of a great job, but he was assigned there. Needless to say, he was jumped by war protesters on his way out of work and was beaten to death. Not only did no one help him, but also the one of the guys he worked with had been walking out with him bolted for the doors they had come out of, and locked it. The asshole didn't even bother calling the cops until AFTER he was dead, in which he waited 2 hours after the protesters left. Shane's not really friendly with people who look about your age who lived during the 1960s. He was lucky, though."
"How so?" asked Tsuzuki.
"The police caught every single one of those people, and all of them were convicted of first degree murder, though apparently most of them just wanted to beat him up. Since there were nine of them, it's pretty rare to catch the whole group like that."
Inwardly I felt sorry for him. I was pretty pissed by how I died, but I'd be VERY pissed if something like that happened to me and an able-bodied person was too chicken shit to even lift a finger to help me.
Aaron opened the door. "Miss Jackson? I've come back."
"All right, come in," said a woman from within the room.
I knew that the Kachou of the New York division was a woman, but it was still surprising to see her.
The first thing I thought was how tall she was. Then my eyes fell to the thick high heels she wore. As she approached us she towered over me and almost over Tsuzuki.
Her hair was light brown and worn in a pageboy. Glasses framed her face and hung on the tip of her nose. She wore a light gray suit, which clashed with her high heels. She could be considered pretty, if not plain.
"These are the ones from Japan?" she asked Aaron, eying Tsuzuki and me over her glasses.
"Um, yes ma'am," squeaked Aaron and I glanced at him. He seemed intimidated by her.
"Well, tell them to introduce themselves."
"I'm Hisoka Kurosaki," I said in English. "This is Asato Tsuzuki."
She raised an eyebrow. "O-kay. I'm Lea Jackson. I'd ask that you call me Miss Jackson, but I'm not your boss so call me what you want." She went over to her desk and sat down. "I didn't expect you to come back today."
"But Miss Jackson," said Aaron. "We had a fax sent over to you saying when we would be back."
"What? A fax? Oh yes, that one." She shook her head. "Aaron, you should know that I don't comply with nonsense."
"Ma'am?"
"For starters, the fax ended up jamming my fax machine. It was written in red crayon in bad English. I couldn't understand it, so I threw it out. It was signed by some guy...Wat-something."
I sighed heavily. Watari was smart, but red crayon?!
Aaron translated what she said to Tsuzuki. He started laughing, but tried to look stern when he saw my glare.
Lea shrugged. "Well, what matters is that you're here now. So tell me, what are we up against?"
Aaron translated to Tsuzuki. I was about to speak when Tsuzuki spoke.
"Muraki is a psychopath," said Tsuzuki. Aaron translated to Lea.
"I gathered that much. He has managed to kill fourteen people in New York in a short amount of time without being caught."
Aaron translated to Tsuzuki. I wanted to step in so things would be easier, but Tsuzuki seemed intent on explaining. "He can use magic. And because he's a doctor he can cover his tracks very quickly."
While Aaron translated, I remained silent. Somehow I wanted to hear what Tsuzuki thought of Muraki.
"He has no regard for human life. He has a screwed-up idea of quickly killing those he hates and torturing those he has interest in. We both have been witness to such."
I shuddered slightly. I knew all too well what Tsuzuki was talking about. Just thinking about it took me back to that night Muraki captured me when I was thirteen...
"So in other words," said Lea. "He's a fucked-up individual who needs to die very soon?"
"Yes," I said before Aaron could translate.
Lea shrugged again and stood. "There you go. Aaron, since you and Bethany picked up one of Muraki's victims, I want you both to give assistance to Mr. Kurosaki and Mr. Tsuzuki."
Oh goody. Now I have to be around a girl who's stuck in the past and has a personality remotely similar to Yuma and Saya.
"Yes, ma'am," said Aaron. He turned to us. "Let's go."
We filed out of the room. I turned to Tsuzuki. "You okay?"
He quickly nodded. "I feel a bit in the dark here. And I didn't feel comfortable talking about Muraki."
"I could've-"
"I'll be fine, Hisoka." I could tell he wanted to change the subject as he turned to Aaron. "So, um, did they catch that guy that hit you?"
"Yeah," said Aaron. "He was charged with vehicular manslaughter and driving with intoxicated. The only bad thing was the defense managed to get a reduced sentence of five years. When he did the time he was released and he had a party, got drunk again, and drove right into a tree. Now he's mentally disabled."
"You get what you get," I told him.
"Yeah, I guess. But like I said, Shane and I are a few of the lucky ones."
"Why?" asked Tsuzuki.
"Because our killers were caught and brought to justice. Many of the others' killers got away with it or committed suicide. And for someone like us, that's not exactly justice."
"Don't I know it," I muttered, thinking again of the many horrible things I wanted to do to Muraki.
"Well, we have to focus in on what's at hand. Muraki is on some freak rampage and we must stop him. You're help is greatly appreciated, as you know what we're dealing with."
"Thanks," said Tsuzuki. He glanced at his watch. "Oh, we gotta send a fax to Tatsumi to tell him our progress!!"
"I'll show you where it is," said Aaron, leading the way.
I sighed, letting Tsuzuki drag me along.
Tomorrow, we started the manhunt. And this time Muraki was not going to slip away from us
Okay, this was like a filler chapter, but it took me a while to develop on the Shinigami in New York and I wanted to introduce them. Next chapter, the manhunt starts!! Oh, and for those who didn't understand Bethany's slang, here's the translation brought to you by http://www.fiftiesweb.com/fifties.htm
Cloud 9-really happy
Gig-work, job
Rattled your cage-get upset
Frosted-angry
Dig-to understand
On the stick-pulled together, bright, prepared
Big Daddy-an older person
Big tickle-really funny
Ankle-biter-a child
