Chapter Twenty-Nine: The Hunt, 亨特

Author's Note

Okay, this is an edited version. I took out a lot of the snow stuff because I was getting mad at people for saying that there probably wouldn't be that much snow in Tokyo. So to save myself from getting any more people ticked at me for biting their heads off, I just took out the snow stuff, as much as I wanted it in here.

Ryou had granted me permission to stay out of school for the rest of the week…okay, it was more of a command to not go to school. I honestly felt one-hundred percent better after Kiyoshi healed me, but I guess Ryou was just being paranoid. Pai, Tart, and Kish had become regular tenants, residing in one of the obscure guest bedrooms on the uppermost floor. And to my delighted surprise, Kiyoshi had taken it upon himself to stay with me as much as he could, spending the nights often (in another room, of course).

November blew by like a whirlwind, and in came December, with its hurricane-like winds, soft creamy snow, and most importantly, Christmas.

Do they even celebrate Christmas in Japan?

It was a particularly frigid second Saturday of December. I was in my room, throwing on layers and layers of thick sweaters and scarves. I topped it all off with a gigantic jacket and a knitted cap on my head. I wanted to pretend that I was going out to do some normal, boring teenager thing, but I couldn't lie to myself: Kiyoshi and I were going out to track down the new entrance to Ronin's lair. On a day of twenty-one degrees Fahrenheit and icy snow covering every inch of the city. Yeah, that's completely normal. Kiyoshi's fist impatiently banged on the door from the hallway.

"Komori, it's not like you're going to a fashion show! Just pick something and put it on, for Christ's sake!"

I shook my head. Boys just don't understand the importance of looking good in public: in my case, it's not so much what other people think, it's how I think of myself; I judge myself too harshly sometimes…….OH MY GOD! NOOOO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! I swore it would never happen, but I'm starting to like all that girly crap! NO!

After strictly admonishing myself for another five minutes, Kiyoshi had mustered up the courage to barge in; thankfully I was fully dressed. Kiyoshi crossed his arms to his chest and shook his head. "Staring at yourself in the mirror, eh?" Kiyoshi said in a haha-I-caught-you tone. I sneered menacingly.

"Shut up." I snarled as I met up with him at the door.

Ryou and Keiichiro waited downstairs to grill us over anything that we could've forgotten. Ryou shoved a backpack into Kiyoshi's arms. "Be careful with all that: it's extremely fragile—expensive--electronic equipment." Ryou cautioned. Kiyoshi grinned sardonically ((that's my word of the day!)) and returned the backpack.

"We won't need any of this junk, it'll just slow us down." He said, waving his hand. Ryou twitched slightly when Kiyoshi said his beloved equipment was 'junk'. He sighed in resignment.

"Fine, have it your way. But at least take a map and mark all the suspicious spots you find." Ryou pouted gruffly, handing us an enormous map and a black marker.

"Will do. Come on, Komori, we'd better get started." Kiyoshi said, unexpectedly grabbing my waist and hauling me out the front door. As we walked into the chilly morning, I could have sworn I heard Ryou say something with the words 'son-in-law' in there. I was tempted to look back at Ryou, but the door had already slammed behind me, leaving me out in the Antarctic winds.

Going outside was like stepping into a cryogenic chamber; the wind came in its most ferocious form and, accompanied with the cold, was enough to stop a three-ton tank in its tracks. Kiyoshi's arm instinctively snared around my waist and pulled me closer to him as shelter from the cold. No doubt that Ryou was watching through the peephole in the front door.

I wonder how he reacted to Kiyoshi grabbing me.

Oh well. There was no time to dwell on Ryou's overreactions: we had a mission.

"I guess we might as well start on this street." Kiyoshi mumbled as he held the map with his one free hand.

"We're going to look absolutely insane to everyone who sees us." I muttered pessimistically.

"Ah, now why do you say that?"

"We're going on a 'stroll' while it's two degrees out here!"

"Most people say that teens in love are crazy. It all works out. If anyone asks, we're a lovelorn couple out on an innocent stroll to admire the snowfall." Kiyoshi replied, not even looking up from the map. Half of what he said was true.

We waded through the mounds of snow that had collected on the sidewalk in silence as Kiyoshi looked for any suspicious areas, marking them on the map if he found anything. I felt like the epitome of uselessness, with nothing to do but admire the 'wonderful weather'. But the only wonderful thing about the weather was the snow. I noticed that it was a lot like the snow we got in New York: it was at its most beautiful when it first touched the ground, then turned to ugly grey slush after someone treaded upon it. We steadily were headed in the direction of the ((excuse me again)) ghetto area. Here the snow's beauty was polluted with the filth that littered the streets and alleyways. It seemed like no one even really lived in this part of town: All the windows were boarded up, ancient graffiti was splattered over the crumbling bricks of the buildings, and a mute hush covered the area. It was like being in one of those old-timey black-and-white shows. Kiyoshi's lips curved into an angry snarl. This was the same alleyway where the last entrance had been. His hold on my waist tightened as we continued down the alley, whose light source decreased the deeper in we went. Kiyoshi started slashing up the map like crazy, still clutching me to him as if I was a prize gem that everyone wanted to steal. Then again, considering where we were, it was a good bet that I would be snatched right from under his nose. The clear, bright, icy morning that I had grown accustomed to morphed into a dark, unforgiving vesper.

"Come on, Komori. We should get out of here now." Kiyoshi said hastily, sniffing the air and detecting something unseen to my eyes.