Ch 64
V 1.0
Kagazawa High School
Hinata City, Kanagawa Prefecture
Metro Tokyo, Japan
early March, early Monday morning
Sarah was not in much of a good mood this fine morning. For one thing, it was still freaking cold; enough that if she had long thermal underwear she would have worn it under her woolen gakuran uniform. As it was she was wearing a heavy coat borrowed from Keitaro to guard against the chill and the occasional snow flurry, while her three dorm-mates were wearing various winter coats and thick tights as well.
She also wasn't happy that the weekend was over so fast (relatively speaking of course). After fainting at the cathedral she did not wake up until early evening that night and then she had to spend the next day being tortured… correction, being trained by Keitaro-sensei. The only good thing about that weekend was that her coffee date with Aoi had been set for the next weekend since the other girl had some family gathering she had to attend on Saturday and had to study for school on Sunday.
Last but not least was all the staring that was going on. Sarah and Nyamo had been the center of attention from the time they had started attending Kanazawa High, but that had faded away in a week or two. The attention had resumed for a short while when Sarah started wearing the male uniform. But now it seemed that almost everyone the group of girls was passing on the stairs and the hallways was staring at them… at her… and her skin was crawling as a result.
Sarah glanced down at her wristwatch and saw that it was a few minutes to the first warning bell of the day. Looking down at her poor battered Casio digital watch reminded her that she now had the money to replace it; the watch was still serviceable but was scuffed and scratched with a small crack on the face crystal. She would not be able to buy a Rolex watch like her Dad had (when asked Seta had said he had won it in a poker game by drawing to an inside straight and getting lucky) but at least she could get something that did not look like she got it out of a quarter vending machine.
Looking up at the doorway to her homeroom Sarah was surprised to see two people standing there apparently waiting for her. Hikari was not much of a surprise even though she would normally be sitting in her seat in the classroom valiantly ignoring the rowdy students around her, but seeing Aki standing there with a smirk on her face was very unusual considering her homeroom was on another floor of the school.
"Good morning Hikari-san, Aki-san." The blonde was the first to speak, glancing from her fellow classmate to the upperclassman. While the taller girl was still smiling, Hikari had a worried look on her face. "What's up? Shouldn't you be at your own classroom by now?"
"It's no big deal, my homeroom teacher and I have an understanding," Aki replied. "I give him a bit of a show when I walk in late and he doesn't say anything about it." Seeing Sarah's eyes narrow the taller girl continued. "I just sway my hips a bit more while he stares at my legs as I walk to my desk and he gets a 'happy' about it."
"I didn't need to hear about your teacher's 'happy'," replied Sarah with a sour look on her face. She knew her friend was not shy about using her body to tease or get favors from people, but she was upfront about the line she would not cross; it boiled down to 'Look but Don't Touch.' "Seriously, is something wrong?"
"Nope, I just wanted to see our little songbird for myself this morning." Aki was speaking in a teasing tone of voice, but she was surprised when Sarah went deadly still at her words, her blue eyes going ice cold.
"What." The flat tone of voice caused a shiver to go down the spines of the three other Hinata girls around her and Hikari while the smile slid off Aki's face.
"There's a video posted yesterday on YouTube that shows a blonde girl singing in a church." Hikari finally spoke up. "You can't see her face, the camera was behind her, but she wore her hair like you do in a braid, and anyone that has heard you sing would remember it."
"What." The single word question was not in a flat tone of voice anymore, it was growled in a way that made the shiver they felt again to intensify.
"Yeah, it was pretty distinctive, makes me want to hear it in person." Aki tried to grin again but the icy stare aimed at her put a stop to that. "The title of the video was 'The Songbird of Yokohama Cathedral', and it already has one hundred thousand hits!"
"Su-chan." The name was growled in a manner so bestial that it would have made almost anyone start running in terror; as it was the blonde islander girl had dropped her habitual grin. "Please look up this video," requested Sarah in a manner that was only polite on the surface.
"Okay-dokey Sarah-chan." Su pulled out her MolMolTech tablet and started tapping at it; thirty seconds later she had the video she was looking for on-screen. Enlarging the picture and hitting 'play' she handed the tablet to the taller blonde and the other girls crowded around behind her to watch as well.
The camera angle was such that the girl could only be seen from behind, with her blonde hair in a French braid and wearing a blue coat and red knee length tartan skirt. The video started in the middle of her singing a wordless lullaby which went on for a couple of minutes before the girl in the video paused for a long moment then began to sing anew. Only this song was different, it was in an unknown language but was so haunting all the watchers could do was stand and listen as the melody reverberated through the church until the song finished and the girl apparently fainted and started to collapse. A dark haired man in a suit rushed into view and caught her before she hit the floor and then the picture sharply moved away before going to black.
"That was very nice singing, Sarah-kun." Hikari was the first to speak, and even though her words were complementary, the look on her face showed that she was still nervous. "I didn't know that you were a church singer."
"I'm not." Sarah was not looking at her classmate, but instead had started to flick through the comment section under the video screen. The text was mostly in hiragana script, which she still had trouble with on occasion, especially if the text size was set small. Squinting at the screen the blonde girl began to read the comments after absently noting that the page now had 150,000 views and 300 comments now.
The other girls were still silently watching before they noticed something strange; Sarah's hands were starting to tremble slightly while tightly gripping the tablet. It was not until they looked up at her face that they realized why. The blonde girl's face was a red color that Nyamo, Shinobu and Aki had seen only once before but was instantly recognizable; it was the furious look on Sarah's face just before she was going to try and put her fist through Junko Himura's face.
Moving quickly, Aki snatched the tablet from Sarah's hands before handing it back to its owner. When the blonde girl looked up from her now empty hands with an angry expression on her face, the taller girl spoke quickly. "I don't think Su-chan would appreciate you breaking her fancy tablet." Sarah glanced from her nervously smiling friend to her dorm mate, who was also smiling but not as genuinely as normal. "What's got you so pissed?"
"The comments." Sarah replied shortly. Seeing her friend did not understand her meaning she spoke again. "They were rather… rude."
"Huh. Let me see that, Su-chan." The blonde islander girl handed the tablet to the upperclassman, who began to scroll through the viewer comments for a few moments before frowning. "Yeah these are kinda raw, but you see this stuff all the time online Sarah-chan, you can't let it get to you."
"I didn't ask for it to go online. This was something special to me, and these fuckers are pissing all over it." Sarah's voice was still a growl, but not as shocking as her vocabulary. Looking over at her classmate she asked, "You said this has been going around the school?"
"Yes, the link to the video has been bouncing around all this morning like when those three bullies got their phones hacked," Hikari replied cautiously. "All of the students in class are talking about it right now and most of the students in the halls as well."
Sarah looked around the hallway they were standing in; most of the students in range were staring and whispering, but as soon as they saw her angry blue eyes on them they would flinch and turn or walk away. Looking back at her classmates she bowed her head and started taking deep breaths, visibly trying to calm down. Sarah had taken only three breaths before the warning bell rang, letting everyone know they had five minutes to get to class and in their seats.
"Fuck this shit." Hikari and Shinobu twitched in shock at Sarah's vulgar language, but not as much as what the blonde said next as she turned away from the classroom. "I'm going home."
"Sarah-kun, you can't just leave school on your own! You need parental permission! You need a medical release! You'll get in trouble!" Hikari was almost frantic; while students cutting classes was not uncommon, having a Class Rep do it was almost unheard of. It could very well result in Sarah losing her position.
"Fine, I'll go to the nurse and tell her I have a headache, then go home. Happy?" Sarah glanced over Hikari and while the look on her face was not a glare, it came close. Seeing her friend nod hesitantly the blonde faced forward again. "See you guys later." With that Sarah walked away and toward the stairs, with the students in front of her making way as though there was a force field pushing them away.
"This is bad, this is bad, this is bad." Hikari was almost wringing her hands in anxiety. "What am I going to tell Sensei Ito?"
"The facts?" The Class Rep turned toward the upperclassman with a look of disbelief on her face. "Sarah-kun said she had a headache and was going home after getting a release note from the nurse," Aki said in a reasonable tone of voice.
"But that's not the truth!" Hikari's voice was rising as she spoke.
"But it's what she said, that's all you have to report. Don't let the truth get you in trouble, Hikari-chan." Aki turned toward Nyamo and continued speaking. "You might want to call Keitaro-san and give him a heads-up, it's better for him to hear it from you than from the school." The dusky islander girl nodded and pulled out her mobile phone. "Su-chan, find out as much as you can about the person that posted that video on-line and do it legally!" The blonde islander girl pouted but nodded as well. "Once you got the info tell Nyamo-chan so she can pass it to Keitaro-san. I have to get going to class, you girls go in and let me know what happens, OK?" Everyone nodded and started moving into the classroom, Nyamo with her phone to her ear, while Aki walked off toward her own homeroom.
Hinata-sou Dormatory
Hinata City, Kanagawa Prefecture
Metro Tokyo, Japan
early March, late Monday morning
Keitaro did not have to go far to find his erstwhile student; the loud cracks of wood against wood were apparent as soon as he got to the top of the hill. Entering the living room of the Inn he dropped his knapsack next to the school bag already on the couch. Headed toward the kitchen and out the back door he turned toward the training area, walking toward the girl holding a bokken and whaling away against a training post.
Coming to a halt a few meters away and to the side Keitaro watched as Sarah repeatedly swung the wooden training sword at the oaken post wrapped in heavy canvas. The blonde girl had taken off her school uniform tunic and was wearing only a sleeveless red and white telnyashka over her uniform slacks and had worked up a decent sweat even in the chilly weather; her bare arms and face were flushed red and she was breathing loudly although she was not panting. After watching her for a few moments Keitaro could see that her swings were starting to get sloppy, but that was more a result of her being tired than bad technique. He had gone through the basics of kendo strikes with his student and she had gotten it down fairly well; given the way the Urashima trained in kendo and battojutsu, bad technique did not last very long, as it tended to be painfully corrected by the sensei with a bokken.
It only took a few more minutes before Sarah came to a halt, breathing heavily. By this point the padded canvas cover on the post was all torn up, and the bokken had started to splinter along the edge, but the girl was not looking at either; her eyes were focused on something in the far distance, the look on her face familiar to him for the wrong reasons.
"Feel better, Sarah-kun?" The girl did not twitch at the sound of his voice, instead she slowly turned to face him.
"Not really. It's not like the post is the one that pissed me off." Sarah glanced at him for a moment before looking down at the bokken and giving a slight wince. "Looks like I'm going to have replace the wrap… and the bokken."
Keitaro's lips twitched slightly. "You want to talk about what has got you so upset?"
"Not really. Don't you already know?" Sarah was running her hand along the battered edge of the wooden sword, her fingers picking at the splinters.
"Yes, but I want to hear it from you," replied Keitaro. "Especially since you then felt compelled to leave school because of it."
The blonde girl stayed silent for a long moment before looking up at her guardian. "Have you ever done something that made you feel good, made you happy, and then some assholes crap all over it?"
"Can't say that I have." Keitaro tilted his head slightly.
"You ever do something that you put your full heart into, and some piece of shit fat otaku fuck is making fun of your ass?" Sarah tilted her head to match his.
"No, I haven't." Keitaro stiffened slightly. Nyamo had called him while he and Mutsumi were on the way to their cram school and given him the bare facts of what had happened that morning. Fifteen minutes later she texted him the information Su had found out about the person that had posted the video, but they had not given any details about what specifically had upset Sarah. After making sure that Mutsumi would be fine alone at the cram school and after giving her Jiro's number in case she needed a cab ride Keitaro returned to the Hinata-sou
"Have you ever missed someone so much that you would give up almost anything to be with them again, you do something that makes you feel the closest you felt since they passed on, and the popular debate is whether you sound like a baby seal being tortured or if you're dubbing some auto-tuned bleached blonde anorexic bitch's voice over your own?" Sarah's voice was steady but her blue eyes were now the same color and intensity as a cutting torch flame.
"No." There really wasn't much he could say about that, especially as it came close to something he really did not want to talk to her about at this point. After Sarah had woken at the Hinata-sou after fainting at the cathedral and asked what had happened, Keitaro had told her that she had inadvertently infused chi into her singing, and she had passed out when she used too much, which was true enough. He had not told her that her mother's spirit had been summoned by her singing for the reason she had mentioned; she would probably do it again deliberately and there was a very good chance that she would exhaust her chi completely and die as a result. Keitaro had asked Sarah to promise him that she would not try to infuse chi in her singing without him being present, and she agreed.
"Plus this is the first time since you got me out of that hellhole that I've sung because I wanted to, and then this shit happens. I had to act like their little songbird," Keitaro could hear the loathing in Sarah's voice for that particular word, "so they wouldn't use me for other things. The only thing that literally saved my ass was my voice, and now these fucking perverts are talking about me again like I'm a piece of meat." Abruptly turning, Sarah swung the bokken full force at the training post, and with a loud crack the wooden sword shattered, the far end flying off while the girl held on to the broken remains.
"They kept me in a cage in the basement. They would have these bright lights focused on me so I couldn't hide, and I could heard them sneaking around in the shadows around me." Sarah dropped the sword fragment and wrapped her arms around herself, her eyes cast down at the ground. "I could feel their eyes on me, I could heard them whispering, hear them breathing. God, I was so fucking scared down there." The girl started to shiver, and not just from the chill in the air. "I was scared of what was going to happen, but I was too scared to do what I had left to get out of there." Keitaro quickly focused his attention on Sarah's face, but she kept her eyes down. "You know, I heard said that there is something all people can do, no matter how strong or brave, or weak and fearful you are. Nothing. Everyone can always do nothing when they have a choice. And that's what I did in that cage, I did nothing until you came and got me out." Sarah finally looked up at Keitaro, her eyes red and watery. "I was such a fucking coward."
Throwing his reserve and cultural conditioning out the window, Keitaro quickly stepped up and wrapped his arms around Sarah. Her face was pressed up against his shoulder and he stroked her hair as her body shook until she calmed down and began to sniffle, her tears finally under control.
"All I can tell you is that everyone gets scared, Sarah-chan. You're not alone anymore, you will always have us to look out for you and support you." Keitaro looked down at her. "That's a promise from a Urashima, and you know how we feel about promises."
Sarah hiccupped and tried to smile. "When you make a promise, you keep it. Even if you have to burn down the world to do it."
"We try not to do that if we can, too many people complain." Keitaro put a smile on his face even though it was not completely authentic.
"On the other hand, there are some places where you get cheered by everyone else when you turn it to ash." Sarah smiled more fully before starting to swipe at her eyes, Keitaro releasing her from the hug and stepping back slightly. "I really need to get a grip on myself. Here I am crying like a little girl."
"Well, you are a girl, even if you're not that little anymore," replied Keitaro with a more genuine smile. Due to her growth spurt Sarah was now about half a head shorter than he was, where before she had barely cleared his shoulder. "Let's go inside, we need to talk some more about this mess, but not out here in the cold."
"Copy that, Keitaro-san." Sarah bent down and picked up the broken piece of the bokken next to her then walked over to the other piece and picked it up as well. "How much is this going to cost to replace?"
"That's a red oakwood suburito bokken, so about 5000 yen." Keitaro watched as Sarah flinched at the figure.
"Crap, that's a lot." Walking toward the trash bin by the kitchen door, Sarah tossed the pieces in, only to hear her stomach grumble. "Great, time to feed the beast again, I have my bento but that won't be enough. I think there are some leftovers in the fridge, I don't want to wait to make something from scratch."
"We'll see, we'll see." Keitaro opened the door and after Sarah walked into the kitchen he followed, closing the door behind him.
Mandarin Oriental Bar
Nihonbashi, Chuo Ward,
Metro Tokyo, Japan
early March, Monday night
(same day)
Keitaro did not know what this was about, but he knew that it was not going to be good.
After helping Sarah make a martial artist's sized luncheon (which would be enough to feed a squad of hungry American Marines) he had sent her off to her room with instructions to change into exercise gear to continue their workout after a half hour rest to let their meal settle. The girl was not about to complain out loud, especially since she had ditched school that day.
While Sarah was off on her own Keitaro had started to make some phone calls, since the data that Nyamo had forwarded him was enough for him to connect the person who had posted the video of Sarah singing to someone who spent time at the cathedral. The problem was that he was not able to get in touch with Sister Agnes; not at the religious dormitory she lived at, nor the medical clinic she worked at, or even her mobile phone. He was starting to get a bad feeling about this so he decided to throw subtlety out the window and called the bishop's office at the cathedral; after identifying himself by name he was speaking to the senior cleric within a minute.
The bishop did not say why Sister Agnes was unavailable, which was not that unusual since he had many people working for him in the diocese. But when Keitaro specifically requested that he speak to the elderly nun the bishop promised to have her contact him as soon as possible; it only took ten minutes for Sister Agnes to call him after that.
Explaining to her the reason why he was calling, it did not take long for the nun to have a good idea as to who the person was that recorded and posted the video, especially when Keitaro told her the person's account name and the types of videos they normally posted. She told him the person would be coming to the cathedral the next morning for singing practice and after he indicated that he wanted to meet the singer Sister Agnes promised that she would be there herself so that they could both talk to her.
Keitaro had disconnected the call and was about to get dressed in his exercise clothing when his mobile phone beeped upon receiving a text message. Opening the message he saw that it was from Katsuo Kobayashi, his former classmate that was now a lieutenant in the local Yakuza group. The message was fairly innocuous, an invitation to go out to for drinks, but he knew it was anything but that, especially when in the next message after he accepted the invitation Katsuo suggested meeting at the bar at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in central Tokyo. The thing that started to set alarms off in his head was the offhand remark that Katsuo was bringing along someone that wanted to meet him and that dress was *not* casual.
After running Sarah through a compressed training regime that left her flat on her back panting for breath Keitaro sent her in to clean up at about the same time as the other girls came home from school. Washing up and dressing in casual clothes, he made some more phone calls before going down to the living room where Sarah was glumly going through the assignments she had missed in school that Hikari had given to Nyamo to pass to her.
While everyone was eating at the dining room table Keitaro informed them that that he had a meeting to attend that night in central Tokyo and that he would be out late. Kitsune made a joke about a hot date, but the glare that Kanako shot her put paid to that quickly.
Going up to his room to get his things ready Kanako followed him and asked what the meeting was for. Keitaro contemplated not telling her the truth but in the end told her that he was meeting Katsuo; she immediately recognized the name and more importantly who he was affiliated with. He cut her off before she said what was on the tip of her tongue and told her he could not bring her with him, that this was a meeting on neutral ground as the Urashima clan heir. Kanako was obviously not happy about it, but she stayed silent on the matter, knowing that unless they had information about an immediate danger to him it was far above her ken.
Before he left the Hinata-sou Keitaro had spent a few moments staring into the top drawer of his dresser where he kept the weapons that were not under heavy lock and key, the ones he actually carried on a day to day basis as needed. The hide-out tanto knife Granny Hina had given him, Gaz's Emerson tactical folding knife, and the balisong butterfly knife he had picked up from a dead pirate on Koh Tao were all sitting innocuously on a folded t-shirt, all of them cleaned, polished, oiled and sharpened to a near molecular edge. Finally making his decision, Keitaro placed another folded t-shirt on top of the knives and closed the drawer without taking any of them; either his meeting was going to be a simple sit-down between semi-honorable people, or he would pick up a freshly discarded weapon from the ground if it turned out he did need one.
Walking to the bottom of the hill he took the trolley to the downtown district of Hinata City, where he walked into a tailor shop that had been in the same family for almost as long as the Urashima had been the feudal lords of the land. After greeting the proprietor of the shop and his son - and spending a few moments keeping them from bowing down almost to the floor - he took the hanger of clothes that had been prepared for him and went into the bathroom to change.
The man that came out a few minutes later looked very little like the one that had gone in. Instead of a young man with messy dark hair, squared off glasses, and a polo shirt over jeans and trainers, he was now wearing a sharply tailored single breasted dark blue suit with a matching thin tie and a crisp white dress shirt and glossy black shoes. His hair was slicked back with gel and he was not wearing glasses making his face look narrower, especially since he was now squinting slightly to see clearly. The only thing that was slightly familiar was the gold crest pin in the lapel of the coat; the three ginkgo leaves of the Urashima mon.
Taking his folded casual clothes Keitaro handed them to the tailor's son and then placed his smart phone with the battery removed on top the pile. Taking a powered down clamshell mobile burner phone he dropped it into one of his coat pockets before taking an alphanumeric pager and clipping it to his belt, the ringer set to vibrate. His own smart phone had been set to forward text messages and voicemail alerts to the pager, and since the pager only received messages and did not broadcast its location like a mobile phone it was more secure for someone who did not want to be electronically tracked.
Checking his wristwatch Keitaro saw that it was five minutes to the top of the hour and then gave a minor wince; he was still wearing his battered Luminox watch, which did not go with the clothes he was wearing. He debated taking it off for a moment before deciding to leave it on; he was not a full blown Yakuza that would drop hundreds of thousands of yen on a gaudy wrist watch just to make his fellow criminals jealous.
Turning to the tailor and his son Keitaro gave a bow of thanks, one that they responded to with a bow that was almost horizontal. The clan heir did not say anything about it this time; given his current attire it was expected of him. He merely murmured his thanks and told them that the payment for the clothes and the electronics would be in their hands within three days. Ignoring their protests, Keitaro turned and looked out of the windows toward the street. He did not have access to a lot of money as the heir and manager of the Hinata-sou, but he did have access to another account of money, even though he was reluctant to use it; the money he had taken from the criminals in Thailand. It had taken only two calls from a fresh burner phone to CreditZurich to arrange for an account to be set up in Japan and have money transferred to it, have a platinum credit card made up for him and couriered to Hinata City along with a million yen in cash (US$10,000). For now he had enough cash on him to cover most expenses, unless they were expecting him to buy multiple rounds at the bar; that would get expensive fast.
Seeing a gleaming black Lincoln Continental sedan pull up to the curb Keitaro stepped out of the shop and walked toward the car; by the time he had gotten to the vehicle the driver was out and already had the rear passenger door open. Slipping in without a word he settled in once the door clunked shut and the luxury car pulled away.
Most of the traffic on the highways was headed out of the city, but it still took almost an hour for Keitaro to arrive at his destination, time that he passed by looking out the side window, thinking about how serious this meeting could turn out to be. The Mandarin Oriental was a five star hotel that catered to the very rich and famous; even as well off as the Urashima were it was not a place they would normally patronize except in circumstances like this where they were invited guests; even the hired car he was riding in had been paid for by his host.
When the car finally pulled up to the door outside the lobby, the driver had barely come to a stop before one of the doormen had already opened Keitaro's door. Stepping out of the car he stood for a moment smoothing his suit as two pairs of bellboys bowed in greeting. Walking toward the main lobby a formally dressed young woman with a subdued Mandarin Oriental nameplate fell in besides him and when Keitaro murmured that he was there to meet an associate at the rooftop bar she guided him to the express elevator, all the while the guests in the foyer glanced at him and quietly speculated as to his identity, with a fifty/fifty split between him being a star in either film or the yakuza.
One swift elevator ride later Keitaro stepped out into the landing to see four men in expensive suits standing there apparently waiting for him. Seeing one of the men gesture to follow him, they turned a corner and when they were out of sight of the bar politely asked him to raise his arms. As one of the men quickly but professionally patted him down for weapons, another brought up a picture on his smart phone and looked from it to Keitaro's face, visibly matching it up. After the pat down was done they then guided him into the bar but surprising him they lead him to a spiral staircase and downwards into a private dining area which had the appearance of a French wine cellar, abet with windows showing the nighttime Tokyo skyline. There were five people waiting; Katsuo Kobayashi and four other men in formal traditional attire, their ages ranging from their sixties to one gentleman who was visibly in his nineties. Keitaro immediately recognized all of them for two reasons; he had met all of them at some point in his life through Granny Hina, although individually, and they were all radiating chi, although in a restrained manner.
Keitaro walked up the table and immediately performed a deep horizontal bow and held it while speaking. "Greetings honored elders, how may this humble person serve you?" It was only that they were not in a traditional Japanese setting that kept him from doing a full kowtow bow.
"Rise Keitaro Urashima, heir of Hina. You honor us with your courtesy." It was the eldest man who spoke, his soft voice crackling like paper but carrying none the less. "You know who we are and what we represent?"
"You are the Roju no Kage, the Council in the Shadows. You protect those who carry the secrets and traditions of our martial arts heritage." Keitaro was now standing straight and looking forward, not quite at attention.
"Yes we are. And relax Keitaro-san, you're making my back ache just looking at you. Take a seat, we have much to discuss." As the young man gingerly slid into the offered seat he glanced around, seeing two young women in traditional attire kneeling off to the side, their gaze on the floor. Seeing where his eyes had landed the elder continued speaking. "Mina-san and Taeko-san are my servants, they are loyal to my family alone. They will serve us during this meal to ensure security. One of the men stands guard at the head of the stairway and another at the door to the kitchen to prevent eavesdropping. Our security personnel electronically swept this location and there are active measures to prevent the use of other devices." Keitaro could hear an unpleasant hum at the edge of his hearing; presumably the active measures alluded to.
"First thing first; we are the five families that protect the nation from those that would do us harm, both external and internal, from the time of the Meiji. You already know this but the Urashima are one of those families, and Hina-san is a member of this council." Keitaro had noticed the empty chair and setting on the elders' side of the table but did not know the reason for it until now. "Hina-san is not with us now because of family business. But there are troubles that are smoldering and we cannot put off dealing with it for much longer before it bursts into a conflagration. Without all five members of the council we cannot make a formal decision or command, but we can react to actions that violate our set laws."
Keitaro was sitting straight in his chair, his lips thinned out. He had a feeling where this line of thought was headed to. "This is about the Yakuza civil war that is going on?"
"Yes. Normally we do not get involved in matters such as those, but they have been pushing the boundaries of what is permitted, and in desperation they have finally broken some of the laws we have set. Those who face defeat and destruction have little left to lose, and they risk bringing us all down with them if the conflict becomes even more public."
"They are forcibly recruiting chi users?" That rule was one of the bright shining lines that no one was supposed to cross, as it would very probably result in open warfare as desperation would mount on both sides. The other manifest rule was the use of ki techniques in public; superhuman strength and speed could be passed off as video tricks and forgery, ki attacks, elemental attacks and the resulting damage could not.
"So far we have not been able to prove it, Keitaro-kun." It was Katsuo who answered the question. "But there is talk all over the place now about it, especially since that Russian group took over the two territories and they brought massive firepower to bear."
"Hotel Moscow is expanding its territory?" Keitaro's voice was noticeably cooling, something that all present noticed.
"You know of this group, Keitaro-san?" The senior elder asked.
"Yes." Keitaro's answer was more brusque than he would normally give, but he did not want to go into any detail about it if he had any choice.
"The Russian group has not expanded yet, but there have been rumblings that they are looking to see who is weakened due to the war." The senior elder stated. "It would take true desperation for someone to ally with them given what happened to the Washimine family and the Kousa Council, but war makes for strange bedfellows as they say. In any case, we need more information before we can make a decision. We have sent messages to Hina-san requesting her presence but she had not yet responded; we have to act soon regardless before it all falls apart and innocents are hurt."
"And what would you have me do, elder?" Keitaro asked, dread rising in his chest. There was only one reason why this august council would summon him.
"As you are probably aware, there are those appointed by this council to investigate and act upon violations of our laws. There are two levels of these inspectors, the metsuke, who are assigned investigations and given authority by this council in specific cases, and the o-metsuke, who can initiate investigations and actions on their own as long as they can justify themselves to this council afterwards. Hina-san was in both positions earlier in her life before she formally became a member of this council, and now it is time for you to follow in her path."
"You believe I am ready for this responsibility? I have barely passed my age of majority, surely are there those more qualified and experienced than I." Keitaro's face was becoming pale.
"This council knows of the major experiences in your life, Keitaro-san." The senor elder's face softened in sympathy. "You rescuing your sister, your experiences in Thailand with your mentor's daughter. You have already shown that you have the honor, dedication and loyalty that this position requires. You have also shown that once you have acted in this manner you were able to do so again even though blood was spilled, and that is no small achievement. Our numbers are growing smaller with each passing decade, and we need you to join our ranks. Will you do so, Keitaro Urashima?"
His pulse was pounding in his ears as thoughts raced through his head. Spilling blood as this position would entail was not something he wanted to do, but his responsibilities and duties as clan heir and martial arts practitioner was pulling him into this. There were innocents in danger, and that left only one response.
"Yes elder, I will accept this position." Keitaro bowed as far as he was able, his forehead almost touching the table in front of him.
"Rise, Keitaro-san." Once he was sitting straight the elder continued talking. "By the power given to me, I hereby appoint you metsuke, inspector for the Roju no Kage. Also, due to the absence of the current holder Hina Urashima, we also hereby appoint you temporarily to the position of Arashikage, the extension of this Council's will." As Keitaro's eyes widened, the elder continued speaking. "So says one," and then the other three elders joined in so they all spoke in unison, "So say we all," with the terrible finality of a coffin lid slamming shut.
A/N – Welcome to the big leagues Keitaro. Don't swing at the hanging curve balls.
I'm sure that some of you are upset that the lemon did not take place in this chapter, but since people are asking for more Keitaro, I decided to add some more talking time/exposition instead. You readers aren't too upset, are you? :) Don't worry, the lemon is coming (heh) eventually; I just wanted Keitaro to have another reason for thinking that his personal life would affect his relationship with and the lives of Miyuki and Natsumi. We also get a deeper look into the demons that haunt Sarah and why she reacts the way that she way she does to public attention. Also hopefully you all are enjoying the new Keitaro/Sarah/mixed character segments chapter format as well.
I went to the Anime Expo in LA at the beginning of July, and I walked more in those five days (preshow and four regular days) than I normally do in two weeks; I had to wear my work shoes instead of my casual shoes and even with the better support my feet felt like battered hamburger by the end of it. I didn't get as much stuff (manga and drawings) or see as many panels as I have previously have, but I enjoyed watching the AMVs and the cosplay girls like I always do.
Speaking of the convention, I commissioned two more drawings for this story by a very nice young lady in the Artist Alley named dscnts. One of the pictures is of Sarah and Nyamo walking along in their school uniforms holding hands, and the other (which I am using as the new cover picture for this story on FFN) is one is of Keitaro and Sarah… with wolf ears titled 'Lone Wolf and Cub'. :) Make of that as you will. I will post both pictures at my Photobucket page, where my account name is GreydonCreed.
Funny story – I have just gotten into Sword Art Online and have been reading a lot of its fan fiction. Asuna has become my new favorite female anime action character (she fights! she cooks! she saves Kirito's life!) to the point where I was repeatedly starting to type her name when I was writing the Sarah segments of this chapter. Too bad her character gets nerfed/made into a damsel in distress in Seasons 2 and 3 of SAO.
Brownie points to the readers who figure out the significance/meaning/origin of the term Arashikage… without googling it. :) More points go to those who caught the sci-fi shout out in this chapter.
The bar at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel is real, as well as the private dining room below it; you can see pictures at the Mandarin Oriental Tokyo website. Don't worry, it would only cost you about a year's pay to actually dine there. (o-o); That segment went further along than I had planned; I was originally going to have Katsuo invite Keitaro to a drink and a courier would have handed him an invite/summons to meet the Roju no Kage. Thoughts on this new development are appreciated.
As of 0100 PST 140Jul17 this story has 398K Words, 858K Views, 1006 Reviews (yay!), 1445 Favorites and 1320 Story Alerts. The award for Most Unusual Place Reading My Story this month is Panana, with Hong Kong as the Runner Up.
My thanks to AZ MII, PCH and WalkerOfDarkness for beta reading this chapter. Congrats go to Officer Hot-Pants for being the 1000th reviewer of this story.
And as always, thanks to all the readers following this story. Today marks the six year anniversary of the start of Contract Labor; we've some a long way since then. *thumbs up*