And so Bitsy, Helen, Shampagne, and Jasmine boarded a private jet from New York City to Las Vegas to meet up with Hibari Eguchi, her husband Kikujiro, and her nephew Masaru (or, as many people preferred to call him, Masa). The flight itself would take at least five hours, so there was plenty of time to be spent before everyone made it to their destination.
Jasmine decided to spend most of that time wondering how she ever got to a point in her life where she was meeting up with members of the yakuza. It didn't even seem like something she would've considered last month, never mind while she was getting the required certification for becoming a senior caregiver. She'd probably have to leave out the part with the yakuza if anyone asked how things were going in her life. Along the way, she looked out the window and reflected on how things had been going for her romantically and whether there was any sort of future for her and her boyfriend Gio. Sure, things were going great for them now, but would that still be true months down the line? She couldn't be sure, but she figured occasional doubts like that were just something to expect when you'd been in a long distance relationship like she had.
Helen had similar thoughts about her own life trajectory, but she hoped that would change soon enough. Hopefully, something would be coming along to kill off the old makhasheyfe, and she'd be getting her inheritance sooner rather than later. After all, she'd been waiting patiently since 2002, which was a pretty long time to wait for that kind of wealth.
As for Bitsy, she couldn't help but fuss over Shampagne through the whole plane ride. That was par for the course for someone who planned to leave her entire fortune to her dog, as Helen knew all too well.
"Slow down!" Jasmine could hear Bitsy yelling at the pilot. "You're flying this plane way too fast! Oh, my poor little Shampagne! He can't handle this much turbulence in the air, can you, sweetie pie?"
Jasmine continued to look out the window while her patient started rambling on increasingly incoherent tangents, presumably at the dog. Eventually, as if in the blink of an eye, everyone had finally arrived at their destination. The pilot landed the plane at the McCarran International Airport, which was located just five miles from downtown Las Vegas. Upon walking into the airport, the passengers couldn't help but observe people just going about their daily lives, talking and walking and sitting down and even ordering some snacks to eat before their flight.
"Alright, we're here," Jasmine said. "Now where did you say we had to go to meet up with Mrs. Eguchi?"
Bitsy was about to berate Jasmine for forgetting when Helen stepped in to help.
"Oh, don't worry about that," Helen assured Jasmine. "Hibari gave us directions to Planet Hollywood."
"Hibari?" Jasmine's face soon lit up in realization. "Oh, you meant Mrs. Eguchi, right?"
"Mm-hmm. Do you want me to show you the directions?"
Jasmine nodded. "Si, that would really help."
"Great, let me show you." Helen pulled out her iPhone, brought up the directions for Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino, and then handed the phone over to Jasmine. "There you go."
Jasmine read over the directions carefully and then nodded again. "Cool. Thanks for the help."
By the time everyone had reached Planet Hollywood, they were borderline exhausted from the Uber ride over. It took them just short of an hour to get there. (It would've taken longer had Bitsy's behavior in the Uber had gotten everyone booted out.) The trio of humans (plus the little dog) couldn't help but feel a little uneasy as they entered Planet Hollywood, but then something came over Jasmine when she had least expected it.
"So... about this plan to get rid of Central Park..." Jasmine began to speak.
Bitsy arched an eyebrow at her. "What about it?"
"Where exactly do Mrs. Eguchi and her family factor into it? I know you recruited Dimitry and his little mafia gang to do demolition work once everything's in the clear, but what about the yakuza?"
"Oh, right, the yakuza. I want them to kill anyone who tries to come in my way."
"Really? You're willing to kill people for a park?"
"I'm willing to do anything to get rid of Central Park, even if it means killing off innocent lives."
Jasmine incredulously shook her head. "Uh, Miss Brandenham? Don't you have enough? I mean, you've got a nice hotel that you've managed to run for forty-seven years, you've got the most loyal dog I've ever seen, and you adopted your niece as a failsafe. At some point, can't you just... fuck off?"
"I want people to know that I'm worth something, that I matter. Don't ever try to question me like that again, got it?"
Jasmine just clammed up after that, not wanting to get into a heated argument with her patient after the day they'd had. Besides, they had a busy day tomorrow, so they were going to need all the rest they could get.
Bitsy woke up the next morning in the queen-sized bed she'd been sharing with Helen, already anxious to get the visit with Hibari and her family out of the way. Almost immediately afterwards, Bitsy started speaking with Hibari on the phone and was told that she and everyone else were to meet up with Hibari and her family at two in the afternoon.
"Where do you want us to meet?" Bitsy asked Hibari.
"Erm, how about The Henry?" Hibari replied with a suggestion. "Kikujiro has been begging me to take him there to eat. Plus, I want Masa to get out of his comfort zone and get a feel for real American cuisine there."
"I think that can be arranged."
"Great. See you then. Bye."
"Bye."
With that, Bitsy hung up the phone.
"So... I take it that went well?" Helen asked.
"Damn right it did," Bitsy replied. "Better than I expected, actually. Anyway, time to go. I don't want Hibari getting on my ass for being late."
Everyone then proceeded to go down to breakfast together, then temporarily part ways in order to get ready for the day ahead. Once they reunited at the hotel lobby, they decided to have one last conversation before they would head off into the casino section of the building and meet up with Hibari and her family at The Henry.
"Ready to get this over with, Jasmine?" Helen asked her. "Oh, who am I kidding? Of course you are."
"Not really, though. I mean why would I when we're meeting up with members of the yakuza?" Jasmine replied with another question. "Also I know this is a weird question, but do you think we should've dressed up? You know, like in fancy clothes or something?"
"No, I don't think so. It's not exactly a black-tie event we're going to here. We'll just be meeting up at a diner... in a casino."
"Oh, okay, just wondering. I don't want to accidentally offend them or anything."
"You'll be fine. It can't be that bad, can it?"
