Chapter Five
"As the train gets underway, friends swap ghost stories and Chinese food"
Near Parkersburg, West Virginia
Wednesday 30th December 1931
17:30
Yuya was not ashamed to say he spent most of Wednesday hiding in his suite. It wasn't cowardly at all, as he told Yuzu and Noburu enough times to burn his tongue on the words. He was supposed to be committing a train heist – he didn't want to be remembered by being out in the open all the time.
Ok, so maybe Yuzu had a point as she argued that hiding in his suite all the time would make him even more memorable, but Yuya was blocking out that little argument and instead focusing his brain on not having a complete panic attack.
Eventually, hunger got the better of him as Yuzu refused to bring him any more food from the dining car, forcing him to actually attend dinner. He was reassured only by the fact they only had about twelve hours to go before they'd be getting off and he'd better actually go and thank the man who had tipped them off and gotten Meiru the temporary job behind the bar of the dining car.
"So it really is there" he tried to confirm that the reason they were all there did indeed exist, and this wasn't some long-drawn prank or something.
"Shh!" the chef, Michio, leant across the bar Yuya was sitting it to whisper to him "I can't talk about 'that' out in the open!"
"It's in the kitchen, or not at all" Meiru informed Yuya, polishing a shot glass with a towel.
"But I can't go in the kitchen!" Yuya pointed out. He lowered his voice and leant forward so only Michio and Meiru could hear him "But it is what we came for, right?"
Michio quickly glanced around the dining car, then decided that they were alone enough that the topic could be discussed in a whisper.
"I haven't seen it myself" he admitted "But the rumour is that it's a new type of bomb, created by the US government."
"Why the heck are they transporting it on a passenger train then?!" Yuya whispered back, eyes wide with worry.
"How best to keep its moving route a secret?" Meiru pointed out, examining the shot glass she had been polishing "If Michio hadn't heard the freight guys talking about it and tipped us off, no one on the train would even know about it."
"And it's not guarded at all?" Yuya frowned "That doesn't sound very safe."
"If they put guards up, everyone would know that something valuable was on board" Meiru reminded him, moving onto another shot glass.
"But what if it goes off?!" Yuya fretted, hair reaching up to yanked at his hair.
"Then it'll be a blast" Yuzu remarked with a grin on her face, walking up to the bar and sitting down on the bar stool to Yuya's left.
Michio seemed taken aback by the joke, but Meiru just laughed. "That's just Yuzu for you, she loves explosions."
"I can tell" Michio remarked, eyes naturally draw to the girl's extensive burn scars.
"Stop worrying" Yuzu clapped Yuya on the shoulder "As long as I'm here, we'll be able to steal it. And if push comes to shove, I could always whip up a little something in a pinch."
"That's what I'm afraid of" Yuya admitted.
Before Yuzu could come up with a retort though, they were interrupted by a pair of laughs from the end of the bar.
Sitting at the L-bend of the mahogany bar top were a couple positioned in front of what looked like every piece of Chinese food in the Eastern United States. Even more unusually, they were dressed up as a saloon girl and a cowboy – lasso and all – respectively. Regardless, they were clearly having the time of their lives.
"What's up with them?" Yuzu asked with a frown "They get lost on the way to the costume party?"
"Oh them" Michio rolled his eyes "Movie stars I think. All they've done is order Chinese food, all evening."
"Really?" Yuya looked at them strangely "I don't think I've seen them before."
"Hey, go introduce yourself" Yuzu patted him on the shoulder.
"WHAT?!" Yuya's voice echoed around the dinning car, getting the attention and ire of everyone present.
"Come on, it'll be good for your self-esteem" Yuzu reassured him.
"I don't think I have any self-esteem" Yuya admitted, head practically down on the bar top.
"Exactly" Yuzu all but pushed him off his seat towards the couple "Go on. I'll be watching."
Shoulders hunched and clearly uncomfortable, Yuya moved to stools down, until her was next to the couple.
"Um…hello there" he all but mumbled.
Apparently the couple heard this, as they both looked over at him.
"My food!" the boy insisted, surging forward to cover some of the plates with his body.
"Yugo" the girl sighed in exasperation, then turned to Yuya with a smile "Hi there! I'm Rin and this is Yugo."
"My name's Yuya" Yuya kept mumbling along, not meeting Rin's eye "Those are…nice costumes."
"Oh these" Rin picked at her saloon dress, seeming a little irritated now "Well, we were supposed to be saving them for New York, but someone" at this she glared at a sheepish Yugo "Split wine all over our perfectly good outfits."
"Oh, sorry" Yuya ducked his head even further, if that was possible.
"Whoa!" Yugo finally sat up and paid attention to who had sat down next to them "He's got a tattoo right down the side of his face!"
"Yugo!" Rin facepalmed.
"No, it's okay!" Yuya tried to reassure her "Everyone says that! It's fine!"
"Are you, like, a movie star or something?" Yugo asked.
Yuzu and Meiru had to hold back laughter at the irony.
"What? No! No I…liquor!" Yuya stuttered out "I sell liquor!" He shrank on his himself even more, if that was possible "I'm just a regular old bootlegger! A regular delinquent! I'm nothing!" With that his head hit the bar top. "I'm sorry!"
Rin and Yugo looked at Yuya in concern, then at each other. Their faces broke into twin smiles.
"Chin up old boy!" Yugo cheered, jumping up from his stool to grab both Rin and Yuya round the shoulders "There's no need to be glum! We're on the most awesome train in the world, with amazing food escaping from a successful train robbery! So come on! Dig in and cheer up!"
"I hope you like Chinese food" Rin smiled, pushing a plate of chicken chao main towards Yuya "It's all you can eat!"
"No it's not!" Michio insisted.
A few cars down the train, the boy in coveralls manoeuvred his way down the corridors, doing his best to dodge conductors. He tried the door handles of several suites, only to find them locked.
Finally, a handle gave way under his hand. One of the second-class suites was empty.
With a happy sigh, he closed the door behind him and pulled out the bed. Lying down on the covered mattress, he pulled a blanket from the cupboard, lay down and drifted off to sleep.
Near Morgantown, West Virginia
Wednesday 30th December 1931
20:00
"Seriously, there are no vegetables on this train, at all?" Yuzu stared at Michio in disbelief, picking at her sweet and sour chicken.
"Only green beans" Michio confirmed.
"That cannot be healthy" Yuzu wrinkled her nose.
"They don't care about being healthy" Michio pointed out to her "They care about fast service and getting from one place to another as quickly as possible."
"Actually, Yuzu, there are plenty of vegetables on this train" Rin chipped into the conversation.
"Don't tell me this train is transporting vegetables too" Yuzu looked at her disbelievingly.
"Well, sort of" Rin explained holding up a piece of beef on her fork "See, cows eat vegetables, right? So every time you eat beef, you're eating vegetables."
Yuzu blinked. "I-I didn't know it worked like that."
"I know, right?!" Yugo cheered, throwing an arm around Rin's shoulder "God, you're so smart, Rin!"
"See, the way I figure it, if you pick up a bag, then everything in it is yours, like all the money and stuff" Rin explained "So food should work the same way, right?"
Yuzu looked at her partner, not sure whether she should be disbelieving this or not. Yuya was sat with his chin leaning on his hand, a relaxed smile on his face. She sat back and just nodded politely – Yuya was enjoying himself with this unusual pair and she wasn't going to do anything to spoil that. She hadn't seen him enjoy himself in a long time.
"There's no way that's right!" Meiru, on the other hand, didn't see it that way "Now all I'm gonna taste when I have beef if yucky grass! Thanks for ruining beef for me, lady!"
Michio seemed taken aback by the blatant lack of manners from someone who was technically supposed to be working, but Rin didn't seem to mind at all.
"Yeah, but now you're grow up to be a big strong man…woman, I guess" Yugo told her "That what Rin says, anyway, and she's really smart."
A little blush crossed Rin's cheeks at the remark.
Yuya let out a laugh, stuffing a large piece of chicken in his mouth in an appalling lack of manners worthy of Yugo.
Just as he was about to chew, a small boy ran past him an accidently ran into him, causing him to choke.
"Sorry mister!" the boy apologised "Are you going to be alright?"
Yuya just made a series of gagging and choking noises, the sound of Yuzu's worried voice fuzzy in his ears. Just as he thought he was going to pass out, he felt a pair of arms wrap around his chest and squeeze. Suddenly he could breathe again as the offending piece of chicken was spat out across the bar, landing near a stunned Michio's feet.
"Yuya, are you ok?!" Yuzu voice, almost rising to a shriek, was now much clearer as the danger had passed.
"Yeah…I think so" Yuya managed to cough out.
The little boy grabbed the end of Yuya's shirt in worry, eyes welling up with tears. "I'm so sorry mister!"
"No tears now, come on, no harm done" an unfamiliar voice from behind Yuya told the little boy.
Yuya turned in his seat to look at his rescuer. The man behind him was dressed in a camouflage jacket and trousers and was outfitted with an army hat. Yuya tried not to choke again as he realised that the man who had saved him was most likely the courier of the very package they were here to steal. Talk about coincidence.
"You always have to be the hero, don't you Zarc?" a young lady with reddish brown hair in long pigtails approached the group, taking a seat at the bar stool next to Yuzu.
The young boy though had started crying.
"Hey! Hey, it's ok!" Yuya rushed to reassure him now he'd recovered "Like the nice man said, no harm done!"
"I'm sorry!" the boy just kept sobbing though.
"Come on now, let's dry those tears" the young woman got off her stool and wrapped her arms around the boy in a hug "You didn't mean any harm. What's your name?"
"R-Reira Akaba" the boy choked out "I'm going to visit my family in the city."
The young woman mouthed the word 'Reira' several times, shared a look with Zarc in disbelieve, and then her face broke into a huge smile. "Well Reira, it looks like you get to may some of your family early. Before I got married, my name was Ray Akaba."
The boy, Reira, stopped crying, glancing between Ray and Zarc in wonder. "You're my…family?"
"Yes!" Ray laughed with joy.
"We ended up on the same train?" Zarc scratched his head "That one hell of a coincidence. Don't supposed we're going to run into your other brother here as well?"
"Reiji should be waiting for us in the city" Ray told him.
"He's going to pick me up from the station" Reira confirmed, suddenly having a revelation "He can pick us all up together! Do you think he knew?"
"If Reiji's anything like I remember, he probably planned it this way" Ray laughed "Come on, let's get something to eat."
Yuya almost felt bad for them and hoped they wouldn't get in trouble for loosing the package they were planning to steal. He hoped even more that the nice man who had rescued him didn't realise it was Yuya who'd carried out the robbery.
As Ray returned to her seat, Reira and Zarc sitting on the stools to her left, everyone turned their heads to the end of the bar where a little squeal of delight was heard. It had apparently come from Rin, who was hugging her clasped hands to her chest, eyes watering a little and a delighted smile on her face.
Yugo was crying happy tears. "I love a family reunion!"
"So you're all going to New York?" Yuzu questioned, looking at Zarc and apparently coming to the same conclusion as Yuya had "Must be hard to get time off from the military during the holidays."
"Well, let's just say my father is very…persuasive" Ray admitted "Since this was the last time we could meet before Reira went back to school. After all, I'm not exactly going to be in a position to be travelling much by summer." Instinctively her hand reached to her stomach.
Now it was Meiru's turn to squeal, all but launching herself over the counter at Ray, as if Michio's departure back to the kitchen had freed her from acting responsibly entirely. "Oh my god really?! Wow! I'm so excited for you!"
"Congratulations" Yuzu added, but in a much calmer tone of voice.
"Thank you" Ray blushed under everyone's delighted cheers.
"Why are you crying now?" Rin questioned, looking at Yugo, who was sobbing even harder now "It's good news."
"I'm just so happy!" Yugo tried frantically to wipe his eyes "I can't help it!"
Everybody began laughing at his expense, exchanging names and introductions until everyone was acquainted.
"Hey, you're going to be an uncle, little guy" Yuya pointed out to Reira, leaning forward in his seat so he could see the young boy "That's great, right?"
Reira nodded, joy sparkling in his eyes. "Yep. Sorry for causing you trouble before, mister."
"There's no trouble!" Yuya reassured him again, trying not to feel guilty for the fact he was reassuring the little brother of a pregnant woman who husband they were planning to blatantly rob. If anyone was causing trouble today, it was him.
"Yeah, you don't want to be causing trouble on this train" Rin added "Or the Rail Tracer will gobble you up."
Yugo nodded, a conspiratorial grin on his face.
This cause them to receive several confused looks.
"The…Rail Tracer?" Yuzu frowned "What's that?"
"Yeah, I've never heard of it before" Yuya admitted.
"You haven't heard of it?" Yugo questioned with a laugh "You'll be getting gobbled up first then!"
Rin cracked her knuckles, a creepy grin spreading across her face, vaguely spooky music starting up in the background, although Yuzu and Yuya couldn't see anyone in the carriage playing it "Allow me to explain."
In the caboose at the back of the train, the two conductors were sat alone, staring out the back of the train at the railway tracks disappearing into the darkness, the only light a lamp clamped to the outside of the cab.
"It's like a huge monster that comes chasing after trains" Dennis told the other conductor, his voice taking on the air of a man telling ghost story to a crowd of scared children "Shrouded in darkness, the entity can change shape into anything, like a man on horseback or even another train. Then little by little, it gets closer to the train, until it finally catches up."
"So what happens when it reaches the train?" the other conductor, Roger, asked, but sounded a little exasperated by the whole thing.
"All the people start to disappear" Dennis told him, leaning further forward in his seat as he got more and more into the story "It starts at the back of the train. One by one, people turn up missing, until every soul on the train is gone. And then as the empty cars are still rolling down the tracks, the train vanishes!"
Roger snorted dismissively. "That's ridiculous."
"But you know what's even more frightening than that?" Dennis went on, seemingly stoked on by Roger's causal dismissal.
"There's something even more frightening than that?!" Yuya was all but squealing, so tense he looked ready to fall of his stool is a strong enough wind blew him over.
"The thing is, whenever you tell this story to somebody else abroad a train, then that's the train that gets taken next" Rin went on, expression becoming more and more sinister as the story went on "Another victim of the Rail Tracer!"
"RAWWW!" Yugo was apparently so into the story he jumped to his feet, arms raised as if they had claws and bellowing like a werewolf or vampire from a film.
Yuzu only just held back a yelp of surprise, but Yuya didn't even try and outright screamed in horror.
"This is it, I'm gonna die!" he cried, head in his hands "We're all gonna die! Oh god! We're all gonna be wiped out!"
"Calm down there, scared-y pants, there is one way to stop the Rail Tracer from swooping down and swallowing our souls" Rin told him, remarkably blasé about the whole thing.
This didn't exactly inspire hope in Yuya. "There's only one way?"
"Yeah" Dennis kept going with his story "But it's a little tricky."
Roger held up a hand to stop his colleague's ramble, checking his pocket watch with the other hand. "Hold up. It's time."
He reached over to the wall and flicked the switch there three times. Outside, the lamp on the outside of the caboose flashed three times, a reassurance to the drivers that all was good at the back of the train. If ever the lamp didn't flash at a designated time, then the drivers were to assume the worst and stop the train, evacuating everybody off. It dated back to the days when men would ride up on horseback and board the train from the back to rob it, but was still in use now as a way of checking there was nothing either mechanically or physically wrong with the train or its occupants.
Further up the train, Allen Kozuki was holding a mirror up to the window, and caught the three flashes of the lamp at the end of the train in it. He immediately stood up and began knocking on the doors of his fellow orchestra members down the corridor of the first-class carriage.
"Ok, so there is one thing you can do it be spared" Dennis tried to continue again once Roger was done with his duty.
"You know, I think I've heard a story a bit like that one before" Roger told him, a small smile on his face
"Then maybe you and I should be swapping survival secrets" Dennis joked.
"My story isn't quite as complicated as your" Roger told him "It's about Lemores, the ghosts in our world."
"It's time to begin" Allen address the group in front of him, consisting of eighteen men in dark suits as well as one woman in a black dress and another in a dark purple one "Don't forget the plan and stay in groups of three."
The various group members glanced at each other, memorising who was in their groups.
"We no longer have blood relatives" he reminded them all "All we have is our allegiance to Mr Shun Kurosaki, who to this day, remains locked away from the world for unjust crimes. As Lemores, it is our sole duty to ensure this horrific act of so called 'justice' is to be abolished, and Mr Kurosaki set free from his chains." He raised in chin in determination. "Consider what it means to call yourselves ghosts. We are no longer afraid of death, nor life. All fears of the flesh are things of the past, for we all became ghosts during our living days."
"So, what do we have to do?" Yuya whimpered, head still half-hiding behind his hands.
Rin looked ready to finish the story, then paused in thought. "I…I don't remember. Yugo?"
"I wasn't listening" Yugo told her "There was food."
"Of course you weren't" Rin sighed.
"What do you mean you don't remember?!" Yuya all but shrieked.
"I forgot, like Yugo said, there was baby sandwiches" Rin shrugged "Guy seemed like a creep anyway."
"Well who told you the story?!" Yuya demanded to know, jumping to his feet, hair on ends.
"The redhead" Rin told him after a pause for thought "The young conductor on the train, when he punched our tickets."
"That's it!" Yuya went running out the dinning cars towards the back of the train "I have to find him and find out how we can all be saved from the monster!"
"Great, now you've set him off" Meiru grumbled, wiping down the bar top where Yuya had split his drink in his hurry.
"I'm sorry about that" Yuzu rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment "Stories like that just get him all jumpy, you know?"
"Of course" Ray laughed "Zarc's no better."
Zarc began squawking with horror, which sent the bar back into laughter again.
"Think of this is as a ritual" Allen told his followers "A ritual designed to bring about the release of Mr Kurosaki. And this train is our alter. The people aboard it, mere sacrifices. Do not forget that."
"There is said to be a great leader among these ghosts, these fighters for true justice" Roger explained, his voice sounds bitter "Then the feds arrested that man on trumped-up charges and now the government is doing its damnedest to stop anyone from talking about him, covering it up."
Yuya, in his mad dash, had cleared one second-class carriage and was crossing to the next when he ran into a wall.
Not a wall of brick or plaster though, but a wall of muscle, that was joined to the head of one Noburu Gongenzaka, who had been about to join them in the dining car.
"Whoa! Yuya!" Noburu grabbed his friend by the shoulders, preventing him from pushing past Noburu and continuing on his mad dash down the train "What's wrong? You look like the devil is chasing you."
"This is terrible!" Yuya just screamed in his face, tears streaming down his face "Everybody on this train is going to die! I have to find the young conductor!"
He finally succeeded in pushing past Noburu, slamming the door to the next second-class carriage behind him.
Inside the suite next to the door, the boy in coveralls awoke with a start at the sound of the screaming and door slamming so near him, automatically reaching for his bag and the door handle, ready to make a break for it when the coast was clear.
Noburu just stood there, fingers clenching and unclenching where Yuya's shoulders had been moments ago. "What?"
"The remaining ghosts came up with a daring plan" Roger continued the story "They would have to take people hostage, including the family of a powerful senator, and use them as bargaining chips to secure their leader's release."
He stood up from his seat now, a big grin on his face. Dennis squirmed a little, half sliding out of his own seat.
"Tomorrow, our great teacher will be questioned by the New York Judiciary" Roger now grinned maniacally "And now all this train amounts to is a sacrifice to our glorious leader."
"You must have faith in your actions!" Allen announced to the Lemores in his cabin "You must believe that your actions will contribute to the release of Mr Shun Kurosaki!"
Yuya was now running down the corridor of the final second-class carriage. As he ran, he didn't notice somebody step out of their room into his path.
"I'll be back!" the man called back to someone in his suite before Yuya barrelled into him, nearly knocking him off his feet.
"Sorry!" Yuya yelled back over his shoulder in apology.
The man grabbed Yuya's arm before he could get far, forcing him to a halt.
"Watch where you're going!" the man growled at him.
"I'm really sorry! I didn't mean too!" Yuya insisted, wrenching his arm out of the man's grasp "You see, everyone here is in grave danger, so I was in a hurry! I need to find the conductor because I think he can help!" He took off running again. "I'm sorry, I've gotta go!"
As Yuya fled the carriage though, he was in such a blind panic that he didn't hear what the man he'd ran into said next.
"Hey, aren't you…?"
"Back to your question" Roger now removed a revolver from the inside pocket on his jacket, where Dennis liked to sneakily hide cigarette sometimes, levelling it with Dennis' forehead "How can you be spared?"
Roger let out a mirthless laugh as Dennis tried to step back away from the gun, become pressed against the cab's wall.
"Thing is, everyone who hears this story dies" Roger admitted, cocking back the hammer as Dennis' eyes went wide with horror "So, my poor boy, there is in fact, no way for you to be spared."
A few moments later, a gunshot ran throughout the caboose, before being lost in the night.