Author's note: Sorry again for the slow update. I finished tons of exams, three end-of-year projects, and two presentations! Hopefully, I can update more now (but I'm also really busy this summer). On with the story!
Austin's POV
"You're still going to pretend you like him?" I ask incredulously.
Ally and I are in the practice room taking a short break from songwriting. She decided to tell me all about what she heard from Gavin last night.
"Well, there's no other way that we can get him to keep telling us stuff! Dez and Trish have already confirmed that this Hiro Takoyaki is super dangerous. Who knows what he wants Gavin, rather, Kenji, to do? And you could be in trouble!" she replies.
"Well, I don't know if it's going to work." I say stubbornly.
She frowns for a moment but then her jaw drops. "Don't tell me you're jealous!"
"No!" I exclaim defensively. "He's, like, 26! And you obviously don't actually like him."
She giggles. "Uh-huh. You're jealous."
I blush, immediately hating myself. There's no reason to be jealous of a 26-year-old insane ninja/martial artist/killer/personal bodyguard, but somehow I just am. Ally makes me feel things I don't understand.
"It's okay," she laughs, "if I were you I'd be jealous too. But seriously, Gavin is creepy. Rather, his past is creepy."
I nod my agreement. "Hey, we should email Sergei!" I remember.
"Great idea!" she exclaims, pulling out her computer.
To: Sergei Nikolayevich Bolkonsky
From: Austin Moon
Hi General Bolkonsky,
Yesterday we did some investigating and we found out a lot of interesting things from Gavin Young, rather, Kenji Young's past. Before he went to Russia, he was a part of the Japanese yakuza, a large criminal organization. He worked for them, and the police, and switched back and forth. We also learned that he served yakuza leader Hiro Takoyaki. He is a very dangerous man, perhaps you have heard of him. Furthermore, Hiro has many criminal plans for Kenji to carry out here in America. We do not know what these plans are, only that they are very dangerous and very illegal. Please, if you have any information for us, we would appreciate knowing.
Sincerely,
Austin Moon's team
We send the email. Hopefully, Sergei will be willing to help us out.
"Ally, do you think we'll be able to get ourselves out of this mess?" I ask worriedly.
"I hope so." she replies grimly. "And if something goes wrong, we just have to hope that Sergei has our backs, even if he's on the other side of the world."
Her computer lights up, as if on cue, to signal that Sergei has replied.
To: Austin Moon
From: Sergei Nikolayevich Bolkonsky
Hi Austin,
Call me Sergei. I am more than happy to help you out, especially with a problem like Gavin. Or should I say Kenji. All of this information is very new to me, but not very surprising. I did not know Gavin for very long, but my instinct told me that he was shadier than he seemed. My instinct has often proved right. I have heard of Hiro Takoyaki. We have been involved in some encounters with his men. Hiro is a dangerous man, and Gavin is just the right person to be his sidekick on the other side of the world. I will do some investigating, as long as you keep me updated.
Sincerely,
Sergei
"What are we going to do?" I say in despair. "Why did we get ourselves into this? We should just fire Gavin!"
Ally shakes her head. "That seems like the easy way out for us, but someone else is going to get in trouble. What are these plans that Hiro has in mind? If we let go of Gavin, he's just out in the open and ready to do whatever Hiro wants him to do. At least as your bodyguard, he can't do anything too suspicious."
"Fine," I sigh, still not completely sure of this plan.
"I know this might seem like we're in a bit of trouble," she tells me, "but if you think about it, Gavin can't hurt any of us. If Hiro finds out, if the police find out, which they would...Gavin wouldn't do something that stupid. He's not reckless, we know that."
"Not true," I counter, "he beat up some fan who got sent to the hospital! That's not reckless?"
"Well, he wouldn't hurt any of us." she replies sadly. "And your poor fan was released from the hospital in a few days. I think Gavin has done, and can do, a lot worse. But he wouldn't dare hurt any of us. Can you imagine? 'Austin Moon beaten up by bodyguard, sent to the hospital with critical injuries.' I don't think Gavin can afford that."
"But what about my fans? He might still injure them!" I exclaim.
"He seems to have stopped that pattern," she reminds me, "I think it's safe to say that with Sergei reprimanding him and Hiro probably threatening him, he wouldn't do it again."
"If only we could get in contact with Hiro..." I murmur.
"Are you crazy?" she exclaims. "He's a bad guy! Worse than Gavin! Kenji! Why would we want to talk to him?"
"What's going on?" Trish yells, barging into the practice room with Dez behind her. "We heard yelling. Austin, what are you yelling about?"
"It wasn't me, it was Ally!" I exclaim.
"We got another email from Sergei!" she interjects, stopping the imminent argument. "He's definitely on our side now, he wants to help us investigate. And he probably has a lot of power to investigate."
"We don't know what Hiro wants Kenji to do, but we have to stop him before it's too late." I add.
"I did a bunch of investigating!" Dez says. "After researching online, hacking into Japanese criminal group chats, talking to Jimmy and his colleagues, and looking through resumes-"
"Hold on," Trish interrupts. "You did all of this?"
"Yes!" he exclaims impatiently. "Now what I was going to say is that one of Jimmy's business friends, this guy named John Kong, is actually a former yakuza member who worked for Hiro and worked with Kenji!"
"John Kong?" I exclaim. "I know that guy! I always thought he had a funny name. I guess it makes sense that he tried to disguise his name."
"Who's John?" Ally asks.
"Oh! John is this guy who's always helping Jimmy out. He does boring business stuff, like organizing files and stuff." I reply.
"Okay, what's he like?" Trish asks.
I shrug. "Just another boring business guy. Doesn't talk much, but if you talk to him, he'll have a conversation with you. He's a nice guy, really. He doesn't seem like the criminal type."
"Well, maybe that's why he quit the yakuza and came to America." Ally suggests. "It wasn't for him."
"Wait!" Trish interrupts. "Dez, how do you know all of this stuff?"
"I told you," he replies, "I just did some research, and hacked into some yakuza group chats online, oh, and I emailed the Japanese police, and I talked to Jimmy and some of his friends, and I looked through a bunch of resumes!"
We all stare at him. In the span of one night, he did all of this? It might seem unrealistic, but I know that although Dez sometimes seems dumb, he's really smart and efficient. He's definitely good at investigating!
"Wait, so why is John important in this situation?" I ask, breaking the silence.
"He has a connection to Kenji," Ally says, "so he might be involved in this whole thing with Hiro."
"But John's such a nice guy!" I exclaim. "I couldn't see him being a criminal."
"Maybe he's not, then." she replies. "He's still important in this investigation, though."
"Guys, why don't we do some investigating today?" Dez suggests. "I mean, it's Saturday, so no school, and offices are still open! We can talk to Jimmy, we can even talk to John, and we can email Sergei."
"Okay," Ally and I say in unison.
"I have to go to work," Trish complains. "Eh, whatever! I'd probably get fired anyways. Might as well skip a day. Just like I skipped yesterday...and the day before."
We all laugh. It's a miracle anyone hires Trish!
"I can go talk to Jimmy and John," I volunteer. "I can just tell Jimmy that we need to talk about concerts and recording and stuff, and I can do some investigating while I'm at it."
"Great idea!" Ally exclaims. "I can stay here and email Sergei, if that's okay."
"That would be great!" Dez replies. "I'll do more investigating online. Trish, you can talk to Gavin! Kenji! Whatever..."
"Wouldn't that be dangerous? Or suspicious?" she exclaims.
"Not really," Dez replies, "as Austin's manager, you should be talking to his bodyguard. Just talk about tours or whatever. And casually ask questions."
"Fine," she huffs, "I hate working!"
Ten minutes later, I'm in Jimmy's office. He wasn't really expecting me, since we didn't plan a meeting, but he was available.
"Austin, what did you want to talk about?" he asks.
"Well, I was just wondering if we should start planning more concerts or even a tour." I say.
"We already have concerts booked for the next five months," Jimmy replies, "but we can start thinking about a tour after that."
"Um, what about songs?" I say, trying to think of something kind of relevant.
"What about songs?" he replies. "I don't know what's going on, Austin. What did you need?"
I pause for a moment and notice John in the corner of the room organizing CDs on a shelf. He's always organizing Jimmy's stuff, now that I think about it.
"Well...um, do you have that file folder of songs?" I finally say.
"Yes," he says, raising an eyebrow skeptically. "Why do you need it?"
"I, um, lost my copy of 'Timeless' and you have the only copy." I improvise. "I was wondering if you could get it for me?"
"It's in another room." he replies. "I can get it. Stay here, and I'll be right back."
"Okay," I say, watching him leave the room.
As soon as he leaves, I start to talk to John.
"Hey, John!" I say, and he turns around. "I didn't know you worked on Saturdays!"
He smiles. "Well, Jimmy needed my help. He's inviting in a lot of musical prospects this afternoon, so he wants me to get everything ready. He's actually really busy today."
"Oh! So you're kind of his assistant?" I ask, realizing that I never knew.
"Kind of!" he laughs. "I'm technically just his finance person, but since he's pretty good at that stuff, too, I just help him out."
"When did Jimmy hire you? I remember when I first signed with him, you weren't around." I say, trying to dig a little deeper.
"I think it was about a year ago," he replies easily. "I needed a job, and I was good with math and stuff, so I applied. And here I am!"
The more I talk to him, the more I realize that he's a really nice guy. There's no way he's a criminal. He must have left Japan because he realized that he was in the wrong place.
"Are you from Miami?" I ask, knowing the answer.
He shakes his head slowly. "I'm from Japan. I moved here a while ago."
I nod. "When you were a kid?"
"No, when I was probably in my early twenties." he replies, more cautiously now. "I was young and wanted to get away from my parents. So I moved here."
His parents? Was that a lie? Or was it true? I'm about to ask something else, but the door opens and Jimmy walks in.
"Here's your music, Austin. I photocopied it for you."
"Thanks," I reply, watching John walk out the door.
There's more to this guy that he lets on, I think. Something's not right.
Author's note: I hope you liked it! Sorry again for the slow update. I'll try to write some more these few days but I won't have much time in the summer either. I'm just all-around really busy. By the way, John Kong is totally fictional. More on him in later chapters:)