Jiao-tu breathed in the fresh air, basking in the orange glow of sunset. The encroaching night was cool, but she didn't care - the memory of Arakawa's hand brushing hers suffused her whole being with a pleasant warmth. Once could be just an accident, but twice?
Professor Iwakara's acerbic comments on her lack of critical reasoning were fading from her memory already. Jiao-tu wished that Arakawa had been the one to grade her assignment; he would have been much more understanding, she was sure.
She wasn't ready to go back to her apartment yet - Mei-li and Liang would know something was up and demand all the details, and then the moment of hand brushing hand wouldn't belong to just her anymore. She wanted to savor it a bit longer.
There was a park just up ahead. Ignoring the sign on the gate, which she could only half read anyway (something about being closed - but only rabbits cared about keep out signs), Jiao-tu hopped the low fence and followed a gravel path deep into the park.
It was peaceful in here, shielded from the lights of the city and the sound of rushing traffic. She found a spot near a ginko tree, and dropped her bag before sitting down with her back against it. The tree reminded her of home.
Not that she was homesick; she'd been in Tokyo over a year now, and she talked with her family every weekend. But the city still felt foreign to her, like she was a stranger who didn't belong.
The sun had sunk below the horizon, and the first stars were starting to come out. Jiao-tu knew they were fake stars. She'd never cared much about the old ones, but now that they were gone, she missed them fiercely.
Tian had known the names of all the old stars; the constellations too. She'd gone out stargazing with him and Xing once, on a weekend trip in the country. But there were mosquitoes by the lake, and bullfrogs that gave you warts, and the wind in the trees sounded like people moaning. She'd run back inside after just a short time, where her aunt had hot tea waiting and Jiang was watching an old kung fu movie. Now she wished she'd stayed out longer, that she'd spent as much time as possible with Tian and Xing while she had the chance.
Still, these new stars weren't all bad. Jiao-tu had heard the rumors, of course, that the false stars were actually the souls of people, taken by the Gate. She wondered idly if Tian and Xing could see the same stars, wherever they were. Or maybe their souls were up there in the night sky now, watching over the family they'd left behind. The idea was comforting.
She scanned the sky for her favorite star. There, just peeking out from behind a tall office building. She didn't know why she liked that particular star so much; maybe because it had been one of the first to appear after the true stars vanished; maybe because it was always there, constant, when so many of the others had fallen in the last decade; maybe because it sometimes seemed to shine brighter than the others.
It was shining brightly now.
I wonder if Arakawa likes to watch the stars. She smiled to herself.
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"He's there." Yin's emotionless voice was soft in Hei's ear. "Alone."
"I see him," Hei whispered into his mic. From his perch in a large tree, he could see his contact waiting near the drinking fountain. Hei was glad the man was on time; he only had half an hour for his break.
Physically, the man didn't look very threatening: overweight, slouched posture. He kept running a hand nervously through his thinning hair. But looks could be deceiving.
Hei slipped silently from the tree and approached his contact. The man was looking down the gravel path towards the entrance to the park, and so was completely unprepared when Hei spoke quietly behind him.
"You have the item?"
"Shi-!" The man bit off his curse as he turned, and Hei saw his eyes go wide with fright when they caught sight of his white mask gleaming in the darkness.
"Who - who are you?"
Hei ignored the question. "The item?"
"Right. I have it." The man fumbled around in his pants pocket, and withdrew a small thumb drive, but didn't hand it over. "My payment?"
"Transferring the money now," came Mao's voice in Hei's ear.
"Check your account," Hei said impassively.
His contact eagerly pulled out his cell phone. After a few taps, a scowl appeared on his face. "This is only half of what I agreed to!"
"You'll get the rest once we verify the item." Hei took two steps closer and held out a black-gloved hand. He was close enough to catch and electrocute the man if he tried anything desperate.
The man started to back away, sweating profusely despite the cool night, but then glanced at his phone again. Fear and greed, the two most powerful human motivators, Hei thought to himself with disgust.
The man dropped the flash drive into Hei's outstretched hand; Hei pocketed it.
"How long -" the man started to ask.
"Hei, roll left." Hei threw himself to the left before his conscious mind had even registered Yin's command; he hit the ground just as a whoosh of air streaked over his head. The drinking fountain shattered in a rain of concrete and water. Somewhere behind him, his contact was screaming.
"Mao, get the contact out of here, we may need him still. I'll take care of the contractor." Hei didn't wait for an answer. He rolled to his feet and sprinted into the trees, weaving left and right. Another blast of air shattered the trunk of a large ginko tree ahead of him.
He could hear the sounds of pursuit. This contractor thought he was running his prey to ground, a frightened rabbit seeking shelter among the trees. He was wrong. The Black Reaper had been born in the darkest reaches of the jungle; this was Hei's hunting ground.