Chapter 8

WELCOME BACK TO DNTOS! This chapter is much shorter and a bit on necessary filler so here ya go. Ps: The other bold is the flight captain.

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"WE ARE NOW CIRCLING THE LANDING STRIP AND WILL BEGIN OUT DECENT SHORTLY. PLEASE TAKE YOUR SEATS, PUT AWAY ANDY CARRY ON ITEMS, AND PUT YOUR SEAT BACK INTO ITS UPRIGHT POSITION."

The loudspeaker startles me out of artist mode and I jump in my seat, sending my sketchbook to the floor.

Shit!

I move the tray back to its original hiding place and bend down to pick up my book, which has made a tent from the way it landed. As my hand grasps the spine I hear a clicking noise and sit up. It seems that L has shut his laptop. He looks up at me with a blank expression. "Did the pilot startle you?" I make eye contact and my heart flip flops. Not this again. I'm not some prepubescent girl, I shouldn't be nervous when he talks to me or when he looks at me with those piercing dark eyes. And I shouldn't shutter at the thought of that lies under that shirt next to those collar bones that are always peeking through. I manage a nod and I see the corner of his mouth twitch into a smile. My heart nearly explodes and I envision a swooning, fainting girl in my head. My face feels warm and before he can see it I break contact and look down at my drawing.

Bad choice…

Those same eyes stare back at me from my paper and I can barely breathe. The plane dips and my stomach flips bringing back nausea. I snap my book shut and keel over with one hand over my mouth. Don't puke, no more vomit, don't puke, don't puke.

"Don't worry; it'll all be over soon." I glance up and look through my bangs at him, he's smiling at me. He puts one up on the chair and uses the other to spin himself back to the original chair position. I hear the chair click into place as the plane drops again. My stomach flips and I grip the arm rest with my available hand. I jolt slightly at some turbulence and then hear a mechanical whine. The wheels must have just come out. We drop again and I shut my eyes. My heart seems to be pounding in fear even though my rational brain is telling me we're perfectly fine.

The plane jolts again as the wheels touch down and I listen as the plane's wings move to make it so we slow down faster. I make the decision to open my eyes and look out onto the tarmac to see the airport. It's dark but I can still see.

The airport is small but if we were going to hide our arrival I can see how this would be a good way to do so. I can feel myself relaxing and I don't feel nauseous anymore. I feel something attach to the plane and I sigh.

"I hope, now that we're on the ground, that you're feeling better." L swivels his chair back to face me.

"I'm peachy, L, just peachy." I let go of the armrest and wring my sore hands.

"From this moment on you should address me as Ryuzaki, and Watari and I will begin to call you Suzuki, so please respond to it. Once we get off the plane we will head to a car that will take us to the hotel. Just so you know when you and Watari are at the meeting I will be communicating through a computer, but you both will have intercoms in your ears." I nod as the plane chimes, signaling that we can take off our seatbelts and exit. I look up at the ceiling half expecting another announcement, but none comes. I unclip myself, grab my sketchbook and things and rise to my feet.

"Don't worry about your luggage Miss Matsui I will have it delivered to our hotel, all you have to do is follow Ryuzaki and act like his assistant. However, before you leave, please put this on." I turn to Watari who is holding my secret agent belt. I reluctantly take my studded one off and hand it to him, then put on the other one. He pulls something out of his pocket and I recognize it as the billfold I had earlier, I check my front pocket for it but it's obviously missing, my phone is still in there though. "It fell out of your pocket earlier, and I remembered that I forgot to put your Japanese license and other credit like cards in there. Now you will be able to act like a normal civilian and have every form of identification and any form of payment, just like they do. Just so you know they are attached to a new account that will continuously get your paycheck and any other money that Ryuzaki and I believe is necessary to the case."

Wow, overboard much?

"You guys thought of everything huh?" I take it and slip it into my back pocket.

"Yes, well, I did forget to ask if you could actually speak Japanese." I watch as Ryuzaki stands and his laptop bag hangs from his shoulder.

Ooops…Ryuzaki never asked me that before and I never thought about it. I was trained in a few languages in my job, but we mostly focused on Spanish, cause of our area. Japan is so far away and we only covered it once I didn't think I'd ever come here so I never really followed through on learning it. I sigh and scratch the back of my head getting ready for Ryuzaki to scold me.

"I may need to pick up a dictionary…" I catch his gaze and he looks displeased. Even without speaking I can tell he's thinking 'are you kidding me'.

"Don't worry about that. I'll translate if need be, but for now just stay quiet and follow me. Pretend you are the product of one Japanese parent and one from America. If you say that you grew up in the states not many people will ask why you don't understand Japanese. Having biracial parents is also a good excuse for having a Japanese name and looking American." My heart pangs and I feel like a scolded child.

"Yeah, okay, keep quiet and follow you." He seems mad, I wonder if it's at me or himself. But it's not like it's totally my fault, if he's the greatest detective in the world then he should have been able to figure out that I don't speak Japanese very well.

Slightly depressed I walk off the plane with Ryuzaki and Watari; I hang back slightly and carry my sketchbook under my arm and my pencil bag in my hand.

To my surprise there are people in the jet way, they seem to be waiting for us, and as we walk through, they fill in the empty space as if the plane was full. A shiver runs down my spine as I catch a glimpse of one of the men. He's wearing a jacket but I can tell he's packin'

Ryuzaki must have hired these people to make it look like our plane was just a normal plane.

The people continue to form around us but are very careful to not cut me off from Watari and Ryuzaki. We'll prolyl look like some weird family to everyone else. An old man, an emo messy guy, and a girl in skinny jeans, docs, and a big black hoodie. If I saw that I'd think Ryuzaki and I were a couple and Watari is like one of our dads or something.

I run up closer to them and follow behind Ryuzaki. Watari has taken the lead and as everyone splits off I follow them through the airport. We go straight through crowds and past the baggage claim right to the car pick up.

It's neither warm nor cold here, and the fact that I'm in Japan hasn't hit me yet, even though I couldn't read any of the signs on the way here. People around us seem to whisper in Japanese and I can't help but wonder what they're saying. I wonder if they think I'm weird or that Ryuzaki is weird. We stop briefly and a Mercedes pulls up in front of us. A man gets out and leaves it running, he looks to Watari and nods, then opens up the back doors to us. Wait a minute. This is a backwards car…that's so weird. I may have a Japanese license, but I don't know if I'm gonna be able to drive here.

Ryuzaki slides in first and I follow, Watari shuts the door and sits in the driver seat. I turn and see Ryuzaki put his belt on. I sigh and do mine as well. Safety first I guess.

I rest my head in my hand with my elbow propped on the door and look out the window. The artificial lights seem to light up the sky creating a galaxy. It's like a man made galaxy out here, this reminds me of New York City, wait a minute, I'm in fucking Tokyo!

My heart begins to race in excitement as my brain catches up with what's going on. I'm like a kid in a candy store as we drive through the city. Everything is bright and cute and I almost can't contain myself. There's a huge smile plastered across my face, I turn to Ryuzaki in excitement but he's looking out his window and not paying attention to the jumping bean next to him.

We drive for a bit more, but I couldn't tell you where we are even if I wanted to. Watari makes a sharp turn pulling into a driveway and I fall slightly into the door. I look out to see a hotel rise up to meet the sky. The car stops and Watari turns it off and looks back at me, he sees my excitement and smiles as well.

"Welcome to Japan Suzuki Matsui, I hope, despite having to work this case, you enjoy all we have to offer." Watari turns back around and steps out of the car. I don't wait for him to open my door, I just jump out and spread my arms and take a big breath of Japans air. Realizing Ryuzaki is trying to get out I move to the side and look up into the sky at the hotel, I hear Watari chuckle and shut the door.

If this is what the outside looks like I can't wait to see our room!

Well that's it for chapter 8 folks. If I ever went to Japan I'd probably be so excited that I'd just poop myself. I do have a friend out there, well I consider us friends. *Waves to Sugimoto-san* I don't know if he'll ever read this. He's actually a really good artist and I met him through a site for a manga that he did the art for. It's called Kasumi, check it out. Anyway I know I keep ending with cliffhangers but it's the only way I can get you to keep reading. I'll try to type up 9 fast so you can see the room, till then see ya.