Chapter 16
I opened my eyes and saw Takuto stood over me.
"Oh morning." I said.
"Lunch is ready, hurry up and eat it." He said and left the room.
I looked at my watch, it was already 2pm. I can't believe I slept in. I quickly got changed and joined everyone downstairs.
"Sorry I overslept." I said.
"It's fine, I'm sure you're worn out. Anyway, lunch hours are over now so go ahead and take your time to eat." Boss said.
"Thanks." I said and sat down.
I was starving.
After I had finished eating, I told them about my strange dream.
"Clay huh?" Kenshi said.
"Anything else?" Takuto asked.
"Yeah, I was in a park for soldiers or something like that." I said.
"Soldiers park?"
"Yeah, when I was little there was a park near Gramp's house. A huge park surrounded by a tall fence and there was a room surrounded by a white wall." I said.
"A room? Was there some kind of building inside the park?" Boss asked.
"Yeah but he never let me go inside. I was only ever allowed to play outside. He always said I was never allowed to go inside until I became an adult."
"That might have something to do with the blueprints." Boss said. "Problem is, where is this place? Soliders… soliders…"
"The national guard?" Takuto suggested.
"Most likely." Boss agreed.
"But I've never heard of a national guard park." Kenshi said.
"What about a related facility?" Boss asked.
"In the city, there are garrisons in Ichigaya, Nerima, Jujo, Mishuku."
"Faye, where did your gramps live?" Boss asked.
"On the edge of Roppongi." Takuto said before I could answer.
"The closest garrison would be in Ichigaya." Boss said.
"Ministry of defense." Kenshi said. "The old ministry of defense used to be in Roppongia, right?"
"That's right, over by Nogizaka." Boss said.
"Now it's just a business. That really huge building.."
"Tokyo night town." Everyone said at once.
The blueprints had to be in there but how did we go about obtaining them?
"Takkun. Can you access the database?" Boss asked.
"Piece of cake."
"Kenshi, your friends in the National Guard…"
"We have a class reunion next week. I'll go." Kenshi said.
"I'll call Riki and Hiro. Faye, if you remember anything else let me know."
"Will do." I said.
Kenshi then left the bar but as he left, Hiro walked in.
"Hey Faye, how are you doing?" he asked and sat next to me.
"Hey, I'm fine." I said and smiled at him.
"Boss, Seiko will be here in a minute." Hiro said.
"Who's Seiko?" I asked.
"She works as a hostess in a cabaret club in Roppongi and apparently, she heard something very interesting from a customer." He said.
The door to the bar then opened.
"Hellooooo!" a girl beamed.
She practically burst into the room.
"Seiko, howdy doody!" Hiro beamed.
"Fresh 'n fruity!" she beamed back and they both hugged.
She was really pretty, she had only curly ginger hair that fell just below her shoulders. I looked at her and then at Hiro, they looked very similar. Actually, when Hiro dressed up as a girl he looked almost like her. Were they related?
"It's been forever Atsumu!" she said with a big smile.
"Hey there Seiko, how's it hangin?" Boss said.
"Awesome, my period just ended. Hm? Are you Faye, the girl Hiro's been talking about?"
"Yep, cute isn't she?" Hiro said.
"Nice to meet youuuuu!"
"Likewise… are you two twins?" I asked.
"What took you so long Seiko? Isn't it almost time for you to go to work?" Hiro said.
"Oh my god! I was shopping and totally lost track of time…."
"Are you guys twins?" I asked again but they were ignoring me.
"Oh! Hey, hey what's the word?" Boss asked.
I sighed, it was no use trying to communicate with these people.
"So get this, one of my clients is like a contractor who goes to the ministry of defense all the time. And he said that there's like some secrete door that you can't open somewhere in a ministry of defense building." She said.
"A secrete door?" Hiro asked.
"Yeah, so there's a door and no one can open. Because you like, need someone's fingerprints to open it." She said.
"I bet that's where our blueprints are kept." Hiro said.
"Apparently this rumor has been going on for like ten whole years. But now everyone just thinks it's some urban legend." Seiko continued.
"Ten years, which means that it's most likely in Tokyo Night town and not the current Defense building." Boss said.
"What does Tokyo Night Town have to do with anything?" Hiro asked.
"That's where the old Ministry of Defense building use to be." I said.
"What? For real?"
"Yep." I said.
"Oooh! I gotta go to work. Don't do anything dangerous ok, Hiro?" Seiko said. "Later Atsumu! Faye, we should go out for drinks sometime."
"Uh… sure." I said and smiled at her as she left the bar.
"Seiko's like a hurricane, huh?" Boss said.
"Yeah-"
"Hide Faye!" boss said and pulled me behind the bar and pushed my head down, forcing me into a crouching position.
I heard the door open.
"Hello, are you still serving lunch?"
It was Sean!
"I'm sorry, we stop serving lunch at 2pm." Boss said.
"Oh, don't say that. I will have a fish set, a salmon." Sean said.
"We don't have any. You can't just make up a dish on the menu." Boss said sounding annoyed.
He must really hate Sean, I don't think I had ever heard Boss angry before. He was always so laid back.
"Also, knock off the broken speech. I can tell you're faking it."
"If you say so, Atsumu." Sean said.
"Haha. Long time no see, Sean." Hiro said.
"Oh, long time no see. Nice to see you, Hiro. Have you graduated yet? If you're looking for a job, I'm sure we can find you one at Shisei Corp." Sean said.
"Sorry, I'm still in college." Hiro said.
"What do you want Sean?" Boss said.
"Nothing, I just came to try your lovely salmon lunch."
"Like I said, we don't have one."
"Haha. Well then, I'll have a beautiful girl." Sean said.
What? Did he know I was here?
"Hiro, you're on." Boss said.
"What? You want me, Sean? But I'm not even dressed up yet…" Hiro said.
"If you want to be like that, I'll just take one of her fingers." Sean said.
"Doing dirty work as usual, eh Sean?" Boss said. "Buying up valuable land, searching for your treasure and if things go well, you'll just open the door with a severed finger?"
"If you give her to me in one piece, I won't have to cut off her finger. And if you tell me where the blueprints are I can stop buying up all the land, too." Sean said.
He was such an asshole!
Boss was silent.
"Whatever, when it comes down to it. I'm going to take her by force anyway."
"Why don't you give it a try?"
They both started glaring at each other.
"Whoa, you two are scary." Hiro said and laughed.
"If you don't have any salmon, I'll have to say goodbye for now. Because I have to hurry up and buy all the land around here." Sean said.
"Haha. You do that, be careful not to get attacked in the middle of the night." Boss said.
"You're right. I need to especially careful of your little fireman. I heard the owner of Kikufuji collapsed due to a nervous breakdown."
What?! Oh no!
"What?!" Boss shouted.
"See ya." Sean said and I heard the door slam shut.
"What was that about Kenny's mum collapsing?" Hiro asked.
"First I've heard of it." Boss said.
"We should call Kenshi." I said and got out my phone but he didn't answer.
That night,
"I took down the open sigh, Boss." I said.
"Thanks." Boss said.
Since I had nothing else to do, I decided to help out in the bar.
"I can clean up from here Faye. Go ahead and rest."
"Thanks." I said.
I started to head upstairs when my phone started ringing.
"Hey Kenshi." I said.
"Hey, sorry I just saw that you tried to call me."
"It's ok, how's your mum?" I asked.
He didn't answer.
"Kenshi?"
"So you heard that she collapsed?"
"Yeah, is she ok?"
"Yeah, they're just going to run a few tests tomorrow. She told me she was fine and asked me to leave." He said.
"Good, I'm glad she's ok."
"I was really shocked. Right after I ate lunch I came home and found her on the floor. But don't worry, everything's fine."
"Good and are you ok?" I asked.
"Yeah, but mum's the one who collapsed so…"
"Yeah but-"
"Haha. Don't worry so much, talk to you later." He said and hung up.
"Well?" Boss said.
"He says he's fine. His mum is fine, they're going to run some tests but they think she will be ok." I said.
"Good, I'm glad." He said and smiled.
Kenshi didn't sound ok, his voice was trembling. I bet he was really scared, it's scary seeing someone you love in hospital. But what could I do, other than be there for him when he needed me?
"Anyway, I'm gonna go to bed." I said and went upstairs.
The next evening, there was another mission meeting.
"Kenny and Hiro aren't here yet." Takuto said.
"They'll be here soon. Tell me about the blueprints. Did you really find them?" Riki asked.
"Yeah, this is a map of Tokyo Night Town. And I think the blueprints might be here." Takuto said.
"What is this building?" Riki asked.
"Dunno, but the Ministry of Defense still holds the deed to it. So if we match it to the info Seiko gave us, it seems the most suspicious."
"Why don't you check it out tomorrow Faye?" Riki suggested.
"Ok." I agreed.
The door then opened and Hiro and Kenshi walked in.
"Sorry we're late." Hiro said.
"Sorry." Kenshi said.
"Hurry up and sit down." Riki said.
They both sat down, I turned to Kenshi.
"How's your mum?"
"She's ok." He said but he didn't say anymore.
"We think we found where the blueprints are hidden." Riki said. "So I want someone to check it out with Faye tomorrow."
"I'll go." Kenshi said.
"Faye, any objections?" Riki asked.
"No, it's fine.".
The next day, Kenshi and I set off to investigate Tokyo Night Town.
"I think it's this building." Kenshi said.
"It looks like a regular warehouse to me." I said.
"Yeah but does it look familiar?"
"Hmm… the one I went to was much larger. But this use to be one of the offices for the Ministry of defense right?"
"Yeah."
"So maybe when they moved to a new facility they built this warehouse to hide the location of the blueprints. If that's the case, then it would make sense that I don't remember it." I said.
"You have a point. Let's check out possible ways in." he said.
We walked up to the tall fence that surrounded the building.
"There's only one entrance." I said.
"Yeah, looks like an analog lock."
Could this really be the place?
"Faye?" someone said.
I turned around and saw Tatsuro stood behind us.
"Faye and Mr Inagaki, what a coincidence."
"Tatsuro… what are you doing here?" I asked.
"I had some business nearby. I'm glad I ran into you, how about some lunch? I haven't seen you in ages." He said.
"Um… Sorry but I'm busy right now. So I can't. Maybe another time?" I said.
"Don't be like that. I have something to tell you." He said.
I looked at Kenshi who looked suspscious.
"Fine, Kenshi I'll meet you at home." I said.
"Are you sure?"
I nodded before I walked off with Tatsuro.
"This fish soup is delicious. The chef is really good at what he does." Tatsuro said.
"What do you need to talk to me about?" I asked.
"Can't we talk while we eat?" Tatsuro said.
He kept staring at me and he had a sly look on his face. I hoped that he hadn't figured out who I was.
"Tatsuro, just tell me." I said.
Tatsuro then set down his knife and fork.
"Have you heard of the black foxes robbed the actress Nahomi Sahara's house the other day?"
"Yes, I saw it on TV." I said.
"We found some hairs in our investigation but what really intrigued us is a very long hair we found." He said.
A long hair? Mine?!
"Ms Sahara only invites close friends to her home. And among all of her friends, not a single one of them has hair this long. We're treating the owner of this hair a suspect. But we haven't found this person yet."
He stared at me intently, he knew. But if he knew, why wasn't he just arresting me? Unless he wasn't sure? Was he testing me again.
"I'm sure you're already aware of the information we have on you and your friends and thier actions. For example, your friends Mr Yanase and Ingakai. And the only reason they haven't been arrested is because the top brass put a stop to it. So I'm guessing they must have friends in high places."
He must mean Boss.
"But don't think that's going to stop us forever. Because an 'outsider', let's say, could easily continue the investigation without worrying about pressure from higher ups."
"You mean the FBI?" I said.
"Yes, if they get involved all the rules change. And the first person they're going to arrest will be you. So if it's going to come down to that, I want to be the one to arrest you first." Tatsuro said.
I sat back and tried to remain calm.
"What proof so you have that I'm a Black Fox?" I asked.
"Here."
Tatsuro then showed me a plastic bag containing a hair.
"Is that mine?" I asked. "How did you get it?"
But then I remembered how he hugged me outside my apartment. He practically grabbed me.
"You used me?!"
"Don't get angry Faye, I'm just doing my job." Tatsuro said.
"So, what are you going to do with my hair?" I asked.
"Do a DNA test on it, which I'm sure will match the hair we found in Nahomi Sahara's house. It'll be enough proof for us to bring you in and I know you won't lie to us. You've always been a terrible liar."
He gazed at me steadily.
"What do you want Tatsuro? If you really wanted to just lock me up, you would be arresting me right now." I said.
"I want you to stop getting involved with their activities, before you get hurt. If you get caught, your life will be over. You'll never be able to work in a museum again."
"I don't have a choice, you don't understand." I said.
"Then make me understand." He said.
"They're helping me get Gramps' work back. Some bad men stole gramps' paintings that belong to me and the guys are helping me get them back. And… mafia are after one of gramps' inventions and if we don't stop them, many innocent people will die."
He widened his eyes in shock.
"Faye, tell me everything you know and I can help you." He said and placed his hands over mine.
I pulled them away.
"No, this is something I have to do. If you want to help, stay out of our way. As soon as we stop the mafia and get gramps' work back, I promise I won't go near the Black Foxes ever again."
Tears started to roll down my cheeks.
"These last few weeks have been unbearable, I've missed you and Ranko so much. I just want my life to go back too normal."
"Faye, you don't belong with the Black Foxes. They'll only put you in danger and I can't allow that." He said.
"The only way to stop me is to arrest me." I said.
I held out my wrists ready for handcuffs.
"Faye…"
"Go on, if you really want to stop me then arrest me. Go on!"
He looked away and didn't say anything.
I pulled my wrists back "Tatsuro, just let me finish what I've started. You can arrest me or do whatever you want to me after."
I then stood up.
"And FYI, the Black Foxes are good guys. They steal for the greater good."
"Good guys? They've put you in danger several times. As long as what they're doing is a crime, and as long as I'm a detective I can't possibly let them go."
"And as long as my Gramps' work is being abused and not appreciated, I can't stop till I have everything of it back. They belong to me."
I turned around and stormed out of the restaurant. Tears were still rolling down my cheeks, I wiped them away and started to make my way home. What was I going to do? Tatsuro knew who we were but he hadn't arrested any of us yet. Maybe he wasn't our enemy after all?
"What's wrong Miss? Are you sick?"
"No I'm fine."
I turned around and saw Sean stood next to me.
"You're going to ruin your pretty face if you keep crying like that." He said.
"You! Get away from me." I said and started to step away from him.
"Let's go rest for a while." He said and grabbed my wrist.
"Let go of me!" I shouted and started to struggle.
God he had a grip like iron.
"Here, wipe your face with my handkerchief."
Suddenly, he covered my mouth with a white handkerchief.
"Get off me!" I shouted and punched him in the face.
He released my wrist and I started to run but then my legs started to become heavy, I started to sway as I struggle to keep my balance before I collapsed onto the floor.