AN – From now on, anything in italics is either thought or being spoken in Japanese.
I tried not to breath to heavily as I collapsed into a comfy seat in the bars corner. Who would have thought beating the crap into someone would be such tiring work. Well, I'm serious now; I'm not going back home 'til I find her. Glancing up through the mist I try to spot how a guy could get served around here. The waitresses or bar staff seemed to approach you so I used this time to light a cheap cigar I bought at the airport.
The scent seemed to attract one waitress, the least suggestively dressed as the others all wore leather (not much leather I'd like to add). She flashed me a slight smile and brushed her bottle blonde hair out of her face.
"Hey hun, you're new here, anything in particular you'd like?" She asked it in a manner that would cause any man to think to one thing they'd like in particular. I returned the smile and asked for the cheapest beer she had.
"Good choice." She turned to walk off but span back round, I looked up in surprise. "Don't worry, hun, those two outside weren't going to last long anyway."
I chuckled and patiently waited for my drink. Looking back around the bar I noticed more looks from the flirting than I did from beating the thugs outside. Some men are so jealous. After a couple of minutes she returned holding a tray with my cool bottle of beer. As she picked up the previous occupants glass from the table next to mine, I asked her name in the smoothest voice I could muster.
"Shellie. And yours?" She stood and waited even though a woman behind the bar screamed her name.
"Shimizu Makoto." Faster than the eye could see, I pulled out the enlarged photo of my sister from my jacket pocket. I pointed out Miho and handed it to Shellie's free hand. "That is Miho, my sister, she is in this town, and I need to find her. Have you see her, have you seen Miho?"
Reluctant would be an understatement. She dropped the photo and hid any hint of surprise.
"No. Never seen her, I'm sorry, Shimizu? You better finish your drink, there are rougher people than those two bozos outside." Unsure whether that was a threat or a warning, I finished off my drink and silently left. Out the corner of my eye, I spotted Shellie looking at me and the other lady still screaming at her.
Everything I saw on my way to the bar looked worse as I left. The streets were darker and every drunken strangers look seemed murderous. A group of twenty-something girls smashed through me as if I was nothing, no respect at all. God bless America. Cursing in Japanese, it took me a minute or two to notice I was stumbling. My vision was getting blurry, what had the waitress put in my drink? I stopped and slowly turned to look behind me, I'm not sure why. The girls who bashed through me were staring right at me, waiting.
"Why are you looking at me?" I slurred like a drunk on his sixth pint. Then, everything went black.
Please say I'm in the hotel…
With last night's events slightly blurry, I just prayed I was in my hotel. My head was knocked to the right as my cheek burned with the force of a punch. I guess I'm not at the hotel then. I opened my right eye, my left too bruised to even squint. Five girls surrounded me; each locked and loaded with as much heat as you'd expect a SWAT team to carry.
The one kindly beating me around the face was the nicest looking. She was dark skinned but had even darker clothing, if you could class it as clothing. She seemed like she had just stumbled out of some porn film, but I doubt that's what she does in this town.
"Could you kindly stop beating me around the face?" She stopped and thought for a second then hit me in the stomach. I managed to tense my muscles, so I didn't feel as much pain. I could also see where I was now my brain wasn't being knocked left and right. I wriggled and realized my arms and legs were both tied. Two girls gripped my shoulders, keeping me on what felt like a wooden chair.
A gap between punches allowed me to look up. If I escaped I could hardly give the police an accurate description as it looked like any other abandoned flat. The windows were blacked out and one lampshade-less light bulb swung slowly above, casting everyone's features in an eerie shadow. She turned to a table and wiped, what must be my blood, off her hands.
"Excuse me." I'm perfect at speaking English, I even have a slight American accent, but I know I must be pretty beat up if I sound like Sylvester Stallone.
"Gail, he's talking to you." One of the girls behind me got the leaders attention; I must have been really quiet. The leader, Gail, walked up to me and squatted so she was at my level.
"Can I please ask why you're hitting me?" I tried to sound calm and clear but God knows what it sounded like. Gail stood; I don't know whether she understood me.
"I'm hitting you," (she understood me then) "because you are searching for a person under my employment. You say you are her brother yet she tells me her brother died many years ago. I trust her with my life and I believe her word. So, who are you?" All the girls' eyes were on me; I could even feel the two holding my shoulders gazing down at the back of my head.
"Me? I'm nobody." I leaped off the chair and my hands sprang out from the rope I untied ages ago. The two girls behind me, though surprised by me speed, soon pulled out their weapons. I flicked the chair into the body of one girl with both of my feet (still tied), she stumbled back, her weapon falling nearby.
I rolled as a spray of bullets from Gail and three other girl's guns came in my direction. After getting up, I flipped past Gail, causing the girls to stop fire in case of hitting her. I landed on the table, knocking it over and providing cover from another spray of automatic and pistol fire. Hurriedly, I tightened the rope and wrapped it around my hand, hoping to use it as a whip. The table was steadily obliterated under the fire from the four girls; I hoped the fifth was still down from being hit by the chair.
Looking for a possible exit, I noticed some more blacked out windows behind me and away from the attack. Grabbing a large bit of broken wood, I cut off the rope binding my feet, giving me hope I can escape alive. I threw the rope and wood over the table in desperation as I planned what I would do. Just as I was about to make my move, the fire stopped and possibly Gail approached.
I kicked the large chunk of wood (that was a table) at the on comer and slid back wards. Turning as fast as I could I saw one of Gail's girls flat on the floor. Running for the window, I didn't have time to see what the rest were doing, but I soon found out. The familiar sound of fire returned as countless bullets burned past me. Inches from the window, one hit my thigh and another skimmed my arm so my dive was more of a stumble.
The already shot to bits glass meant I didn't have any other needless cuts or injuries to cope with when I landed. Instead of falling to the streets below, I hit a slanted roof a mere foot below the window. I released a yelp as I tumbled off the edge and crashed into a skip below. Gail was looking out the window before I even had chance to get out of the rubbish. I climbed out surprised they weren't firing as I escaped; it was only then I felt the unimaginable pain taking up my entire body.
As I limped along, my hand covering my bleeding arm, something cold and metallic touched my neck. It didn't feel like a gun as it was sharp and it radiated a terrible feeling of death. Could it be? She held a sword in the photo I found a lifetime ago.
"Miho?" The cold touch pulled away and I heard the sword clang as it hit the ground.
"Shimizu, you found me." I turned around; all my pain had melted away.