Chapter 8

Problem 2: We Need a Boat

No one in their right might would ever harbor Mugen. This would be true under normal circumstances, let alone when he was the most wanted man in all of Japan. There was no amount of favors that could be called in to cover that debt. So it was decided we would have to sneak him in. But before that, Jin thought it wise to try and lay some groundwork.

"Quite a basket you got there," said a gruff man as we approached the dock as casually as possible.

"Yes," Jin slammed it down. "Fish were biting today."

"I see," said the man. "What didja pull in?"

"Mackerel," Jin said.

"Yeah? Must be a shitload, for that basket to be so heavy."

"I have a bad back," Jin replied. He was talking in quick, staccato bursts.

"Huh. I've heard there was a shortage of mackerel," the fisherman said in a lilting tone. I wondered if that was even true, or if he was just trying to make Jin uncomfortable. If that was his aim, it appeared he was succeeding.

"Really? I hadn't heard. There are plenty of them down by the Hideki Inlet."

"My cousin lives by the Hideki Inlet," replied the fisherman, and I was quite positive at this point that he was making all of this up. "He went yesterday. Nothin' doin'"

"Guess I just have a knack," Jin said, giving a little nervous chuckle so painful to listen to, I grabbed my own temple at the sound. "Well, I'll be going," he said as he hoisted the basket with a labored groan.

"What boat company you with, sailor?" the fisherman thumped the basket down to the ground so suddenly, Jin almost lost his balance.

"Boat company? I work for that one," Jin said. "The one with that...boat."

"Yeah, right" the fisherman grumbled as he flung off the basket lid to reveal...me. Trying my best to produce puppy dog eyes, which wasn't that difficult, as the knocking about had me quite desperate to get out of this thing.

"What the hell?!" the fisherman jumped back.

"Please, sir," Jin said. "She has no where else to go."

"I can't have a stowaway on my ship, kid. That's that."

"Please," he leaned closer to the fisherman, all the while giving me a sideways glance that said, Look cuter!

I scrunched my nose up. Adorable Powers, Activate!

"She's my little sister. Our father has some gambling debts, and he was planning to..." Jin trailed off. Please don't make me say it, his pause seemed to express. This is undignified enough.

The fisherman looked just as uncomfortable. "It's not my problem, kid," he said, rubbing his neck. Cuter still! Said Jin's eyes.

"Please, mister," I said. "Don't make me go to the Bad Touch Place." Too much? I asked Jin with a raised eyebrow. Jin looked as though he was going to vomit, which I took to mean, Probably.

The fisherman turned a deep shade of crimson. "All right! Geeze. Look, just get her on there," he said, slamming the lid back on top of my basket. "Hurry, all right? Stick her in the back by those cargo crates. No one will notice. We're shipping a bunch of souvenir pottery on the side, no one has any reason to go through that crap until we dock. She has to get off before they start unloading, though, and if she gets caught, I know nothin'. You hear?"

"Oh, yes, thank you, sir!" Jin started bowing profusely. "May fortune smile upon you for this good deed!"

"Yeah, yeah. Go!" the fisherman spoke out of the side of his mouth.

Jin picked me up effortlessly this time as he ushered the basket into an out of the way place. He stood in front of it for a second while I climbed out, and then slid some sand bags he was carrying under his kimono to compensate for the weight, in case our friend were to bump into it. If he ever felt compelled to look inside, we were screwed, but we were gambling on his wish not to be implicated. He didn't know who my father was.

Jin then gestured over the side of the boat. I was going to have to jump and swim. I knew this going in. But it still sucked.

"Squeeeee," I tried to muffle my voice as I hit the water. I sputtered and gurgled to a dock about half a mile down the way, trying to be as nondescript as possible. Jin was already there to help me out when I arrived.

"That...was distasteful," he said.

"It wasn't my proudest moment," I agreed. "You think that'll work?"

Jin shrugged. "The basket has one ally on that ship. That's better than none at all. At this point, the best we can do is improve our odds."

I nodded as I wrung out my hair. We stood staring at each other for a moment, then back at the ship where he hoped to hide our fugitive terrorist friend in practically plain sight. "We're out of our minds, right?" I asked.

"Hmm," Jin replied. "No question."