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I rushed back inside but Hokuto had disappeared and I didn’t blame him. He probably wanted to hide out in the bathroom or somewhere to escape the crazy crow lady. I’m pretty sure he’d never want to kiss me again after that. And his lips had been so soft and sweet.
But, if he did want to kiss me again, I’d make damn sure it’d be indoors, well away from any crows.
That had been one of the more humiliating kisses ever. #FML didn’t even cover it.
The other guy still sang while Mai napped.
I needed to grab my stuff and get out of there. I grabbed some money out of my wallet, hoping it’d cover what we’d spent, and threw it on the table.
“I have to rush,” I said. “Thanks for the fun night.”
I didn’t make eye contact with either of them as I said that. Before I got to the door, Mai called out to me.
“Don’t forget your phone,” she said, handing it to me.
I nodded thanks but she’d curled back in the corner, looking asleep, before I got a chance to ask about meeting up for shopping later.
Outside, the sun shone bright, making me wish I had my sunglasses with me, but the wind whipping my legs froze me to the bone. Where had those damn crows got to? They needed a stern talking to. For once, I couldn’t see a single one anywhere around.
I tried backtracking to the bar where we’d been drinking earlier in the night. From there, I could work out my way home but all these streets looked the same. The bar had been down a small alley but which one?
Everywhere looked different in the daylight, too. These streets had seemed full of excitement and adventure last night but now everything looked a bit dingy.
The bar had a yellow sign out front. I didn’t know the name or anything else about it but I remembered that.
I found a ton of bars but none of them had a yellow sign.
I got out my phone. If I had Wi-Fi, I could check Google Maps instead of wandering around aimlessly looking for a yellow sign. I tried to find a free network I could use but nothing came up.
Where were those damn crows? They could make themselves useful.
How far had we walked to the karaoke place after we left the bar? I’d paid no attention. It hadn’t seemed to take long but then we’d been talking and I’d been all moony-eyed over Hokuto.
Just remembering that kiss made me redden. Attacked by crows while kissing on a fire escape. That could only happen to me. Maybe it’d be a funny story one day but right now, I just wanted to wipe my memory.
After wandering down a few more alleyways, I saw a conbini. That had to be the one near my apartment. Nearly home.
When I got closer though, I wasn’t so sure. That car park opposite, had that always been there? I didn’t think so.
Hell, I could be anywhere in this city and walking in the opposite direction to my apartment. I got out my phone to check again for networks. Maybe I could hack into someone’s phone network.
Wait, the convenience store had Wi-Fi? I tried connecting.
Yes!
I went into Google maps. It took forever to load but eventually I worked out how to get home. It looked pretty simple but it was a ten minute walk and I was already late. I screen dumped the map so I could use it offline then rushed down the street.
That worked. I made it back to the apartment although from a totally different direction than I expected.
“Where the hell have you been?” Yuki yelled when she opened the door to me. Then she took a step back. “You stink.”
Wow, if I’d hoped for any kind of change in Yuki’s attitude, I’d been mistaken.
“I got lost,” I said.
I looked to Shun, hoping he’d back me up. I wasn’t that late and obviously nothing bad had happened while I’d been gone.
“I had to be at an appointment this morning,” he said. “If we can’t rely on you, I’ll have to talk to Yamaguchi about it.”
I bit my lip. Shun should’ve told me he needed to leave early. And I couldn’t have gotten here any earlier, anyway. Not without having some kind of navigation.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “It’s just that I—”
Shun waved his hand. “I’ve rescheduled so go have a shower and change your clothes.”
“Thanks. I really am sorry. It won’t happen again.”
Shun didn’t look at me. I wasn’t sure what I could say to make this better. He’d been my only ally on this team and now I’d alienated him. Not to mention whatever shit Yuki had told him last night.
Before I could say any more, he started talking to Yuki in Japanese. The two of them totally froze me out.
“Get me chocolate,” a voice said before I left.
That damn little kami. I guess I should be grateful at least someone was still speaking to me.
Then the kami laughed. “Wow, that must’ve been embarrassing,” he said. “Crows!”
I rushed upstairs and jumped in the shower. When I got out, I picked up my clothes to throw in the washing machine. Yuki hadn’t been wrong. Those clothes reeked.
My stomach rumbled. It’d been an age since I’d eaten. I opened the fridge. I had a smoothie I’d bought the other day and some sandwiches that looked a bit stale. Still, better than nothing.
One sip of that smoothie and I threw it in the bin. I bolted down the sandwiches and put on my shoes, even though my crappy futon tempted me to crawl under the covers.
Shit. Garbage day. I had no time to sort that garbage though. It could wait for the next collection.
When I got back to Yuki’s, Shun was still there. I tried to apologize again but Shun brushed me off.
“We can’t work with you,” Yuki said. “You are unreliable and stupid.”
Wow, that wasn’t very nice. I hovered in the doorway, not sure if I should sit down or not. Tears prickled in my eyes and my throat felt dry.
“We can talk to Yamaguchi,” Shun said. “You didn’t really want to do this job anyway so it’s an easy way out for you. He might still give you the information you want. We can tell him we’ll do the job alone.”
Fine. If that’s the way they wanted it, I’d leave.
I took one step then stopped. That might be true but I wasn’t entirely to blame here.
“You know, it’s not like I’ve exactly been made to feel welcome.” I glared at Yuki. “You didn’t want me to work on this team from the beginning. You’re nasty and cruel. You try to make me feel stupid when I don’t know things but how am I supposed to know everything when I’ve only been in this country a few days?”
I folded my arms.
“You come to this country and haven’t tried to learn anything. You don’t know one word of Japanese or how to fit in. Why should I make an effort when you don’t?”
“I know some Japanese. Like conbini.”
She scoffed. “That’s not even Japanese. It’s English.”
“Is not. I’ve never heard one person ever use that in English.”
“You complain all the time about not having a phone but you haven’t done one thing to try to get things sorted out yourself. Then you turn up late and we can’t contact you.”
“I’ve tried. It’s not my phone this country has stupid laws.”
But had I really tried that hard? Since I’d been able to use Yuki’s Wi-Fi, I hadn’t even looked online to see where I could buy a SIM.
“And you are crazy. You think you can talk to the kami but only priests can talk to the kami. You’re not even Japanese. Why would the kami talk to you?”
“Maybe because I don’t say mean things. He’s not going to talk to you.”
She glared at me and I glared back. This argument would go nowhere. I knew that but I didn’t want to back down. Even if they wanted to get rid of me, I wanted Yuki to admit that some of this was her fault.
Yuki lit up a cigarette. I didn’t say anything but I tsked loudly. Not that she’d care.
“Is it any wonder I’d rather go out drinking with my new friends instead of being with you?” I asked.
“What new friends?” Shun asked.
Suspicion dripped from his voice, as though I wouldn’t be capable of making friends. His words and betrayal hurt me more than anything Yuki said. I’d thought we’d bonded a little bit at least but he’d obviously only been friendly to me out of obligation not because he liked me.
Before I could answer him, the caw of the crows became so loud, I covered my ears. What the hell was going on that I could hear them so loudly even in here?
I rushed toward the glass doors to see what was wrong. As I did, the doors shattered, showering me with glass. I put my hands up to shield my eyes as an intruder smashed into me.
We were being attacked.