disclaimer: I own none of these characters.
ii. She knows him of course—Neji Hyuga. They have spent a large portion of their childhood and young adulthood in each other's vicinity. He went to the same private school that Tenten attended in grade school, as well as the same middle and high school. They were in the same homeroom for high school and were in several of the same after-school clubs. Their acquaintance parted briefly for college—Tenten to Tokyo Tech, Neji to UTokyo—before coming across each other again at orientation day for the Public Security Intelligence Agency. (1) If Neji had recognized her that day, he didn't act like it.
Not that Tenten was bothered by this. If anything, it was a relief—Neji had been a longtime scholastic rival of hers, as well as one of the children who had made fun of her in elementary school (he had not laughed or joked or bullied her like the other kids—Neji's form of humiliation had been distinctly dismissive). Besides, they didn't even work in the same department. He worked upstairs in investigative operations.
She saw him, sometimes. In the elevator, outside eating lunch, leaving the building late at night—but she had never spoken to him, and neither had he.
And now, as Tenten takes the stairs to the next floor up, she wonders what had made Neji Hyuga consider her for this support position on his investigative team. It certainly wasn't their friendship, as they were not friends. Tenten taps her fingers on the railing as she climbs the stairs, wondering what the proper length of time is for not speaking to someone and how it correlates to acquaintanceship.
When she reaches the landing, she walks to the department's reception desk and asks for directions. The receptionist gestures to the first conference room to the right. Tenten checks her watch; she is five minutes early.
As she walks through the door, Tenten breathes a sigh of relief to find it empty. She settles into a chair facing the door. There is a bay of windows to her back, and Tenten gazes outside, studying the view. Her desk view downstairs is not nearly as pretty since she is surrounded by cubicles on all sides.
She has always enjoyed afternoon light. Something about the way light filters down in a slant through the trees—
The door opens and Tenten tenses, standing to her feet. Neji Hyuga sweeps into the room, carrying a laptop and notepad.
"Hyuga-san," Tenten says, bowing slightly in greeting.
Neji returns the bow, but says nothing, closing the door behind him.
Tenten sits back down, her palms slightly clammy. Neji walks over and takes the seat at the head of the conference table. He powers up his laptop, makes a note on his notebook, and then looks at her. Tenten stares back.
"Yesterday at fourteen hundred hours, a freighter from Shanghai left port with an unidentified cargo. It is believed the freighter will land at Hamada in the next day or so, as they are suffering inclement weather. It was rented by a Li Zhao. After refueling at Hamada, it is suspected to head for Chongjin." (2)
Tenten mulls over this information. She has heard of Li Zhao before—he was a Japanese citizen with Chinese roots and dabbled in a variety of criminal behaviors. The last she had heard of him, he had moved to his parents' hometown in south China.
"I believe he may be transporting Japanese citizens to North Korea."
"For what purpose?"
"If I knew that, I would say so," Neji replies in a clipped tone.
Tenten purses her lips, and Neji goes on, "I need you to translate the freighter messages. And I'll need you to come with me to Hamada tomorrow to surveil the cargo ship and its crew."
Tenten's forehead creases. "Why do we have to go to Hamada? This sounds like a foreign investigation, not a domestic one." (3)
Neji eyes her. "I have reason to believe that there is a terrorist group developing in Hamada and Iwami. From what I can gather, they are involved in several things—a prominent one being trafficking." (4)
"Trafficking what?"
"The usual things—arms, drugs. People."
Tenten sighs, mentally churning through this new intel. "They must be a new organization if I haven't received anything across my desk."
Neji looks away from her, studying the screen on his laptop. He glances at his watch as he says, "I've worked with some other analysts on this particular group. But my main specialist recently passed away."
His words are like a slap to the face. Tenten's face flushes crimson and she is embarrassed to hear a breath escape her lips.
Neji ignores the display of emotion—Tenten cannot discern if it is to his credit or detriment.
He begins typing in silence on his laptop as Tenten attempts to slow her erratic heartbeat. A moment later, Neji glances at her.
"I've just emailed you the freighter messages. Please translate them and email them back to me by the end of the day. We'll leave for Hamada in the morning at eight a.m. sharp. Please dress as a citizen. I will email if you need to bring anything additional."
"There's no one else on this team?"
"No. This investigation is strictly confidential. A small team greatly increases the success rate."
Tenten nods once, then stands to leave. She bows her head and walks to the door. She turns back to say something generic to break the uncomfortable tension—like "see you tomorrow" or "I'll get these translations back to you soon"—but pauses when she finds Neji regarding her seriously.
He gestures with his hand, but Tenten doesn't understand what he's referring to. She shoots him a confused look.
"I thought you would have outgrown wearing braids, but I suppose not," he says, his tone a mix of bemusement and disapproval.
Tenten flushes again and bows quickly before slipping out of the conference room.
- o -
The comebacks, of course, come later. The "well, I guess you're just as mature as you were in high school" and "oh, really? Well you look stupid"—Tenten is somewhat grateful that these occur to her later.
The messages from the freighter take a good part of an hour for her to translate. When she is done parsing, she scrolls to the top of the document to read through.
It only takes about five minutes—most of the message is just navigational reporting to the Shanghai port, as well as some back-and-forth about the storm that the freighter was going to sail through. She sees nothing in the transcript about what the cargo might be.
She forwards the document to Neji, and then pulls open her internet browser. Tenten's research focuses on Hamada's port—main travel roads, nearby buildings, who's at port and who's not.
It is just past seven when Tenten rises from her desk to head home. She waves goodbye to the few of her cubicle-mates that remain and walks to the hall to take the elevator down.
The doors slide open, and Tenten looks up to see Neji, his face expressionless. She reluctantly steps into the elevator.
The doors close, and they ride down to the lobby in silence. Tenten spends the entire elevator ride trying to think of something to say. It is only after the elevator doors slide open that she blurts out, "Have you been to Hamada before?"
Neji looks at her, his forehead creased in either confusion or annoyance—Tenten isn't sure which. Instead of answering, he gestures for her to get off the elevator first. Hurriedly, Tenten bustles out, and Neji follows.
Tenten wishes she could take the question back. Why hadn't she just waited another ten seconds for them to part ways? Then they would have been spared this painful conversation.
"I went once with my family. To see Hamada Castle," Neji answers. (5)
"Ah, nice. I'm sure that was a fun trip." Tenten pauses, wondering if there is a way to end their conversation without awkwardness.
Neji bows his head to her and says a crisp, "Good night."
Tenten returns the nod and watches Neji sweep out of the lobby and onto the sidewalk, his pace brisk.
Even though Tenten is grateful that he gave her a way out, she wonders if it was for her benefit or for his. Was he on his way to meet someone?
Tenten thinks hard as she exits the lobby, trying to remember if Neji had been mentioned at their last high school reunion three years ago. She ponders for a moment before shaking her head at her foolishness. Who cares where Neji Hyuga goes after work? It wasn't any of her business.
As is her custom since the incident, Tenten walks down the street to the nearest bar and orders her first round of Asahi and some tsukune. (6)
She scrolls through her phone as she finishes off her snack and orders another beer.
It is around eleven and after five beers that Tenten decides she should go home. She walks out to the sidewalk, intending to head towards the subway. Instead, she jumps on a bus and settles in for the short ride.
Aoyama Cemetery is quiet at night, but it doesn't scare Tenten, mostly because she's too drunk to be scared. (7)
She walks the familiar paths in the dark, listening to the wind sway the trees. It is cherry blossom season, and Tenten feels petals swirl around her face and hands as she walks, disturbing their freefall.
When she reaches the small stone marker, Tenten bows her head deeply and sighs. She reaches into her bag and places an unopened beer on the grave's ledge.
Tenten stands there, peering at the grave and thinking for no more than ten minutes. She turns on her heel, heading back to the road and walks along until she finds a subway entrance.
Back at Aoyama Cemetery, the beer rests next to a simple and modest script.
It reads in kanji:
LEE
1983 – 2017
(1) PSIA is equivalent to the United States' CIA/FBI, Israel's Mossad, or the United Kingdom's MI6.
(2) Hamada is a port city of Japan on the Sea of Japan. Chongjin is a port city in North Korea.
(3) PSIA is divided into divisions. There is a domestic and foreign division. I'm assuming a domestic agent doesn't interfere with foreign issues, though I am not 100% sure.
(4) Iwami is a province in Shimane Prefecture.
(5) Hamada Castle is a ruin now, but gives good views of the coast.
(6) Asahi is a brand of beer. Tsukune are Japanese chicken meatballs. It's common to eat a snack while drinking in Japan.
(7) This cemetery is in Minato, Tokyo. It is known for its cherry blossom trees and its graves for foreigners.