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I got upstairs and threw my things in my suitcase. For a moment, I considered cleaning up but screw that. I’d leave it for Yamaguchi to deal with. He could separate the garbage and put it out. I just wanted to get to the airport and out of here ASAP.
Pity I hadn’t had time to do more shopping or see the city. I hadn’t even eaten sushi. Maybe there was a sushi place at the airport. Because now that I’d decided to leave, staying was no longer an option.
I brushed away a tear as I packed. Stupid. I had nothing to cry about. They were the stupid ones. The whole damn lot of them. This was the right thing to do, the only thing.
My stupid case wouldn’t shut. Not even with me sitting on it and bouncing. I went through it and started chucking stuff out. Shampoo and conditioner, I could replace that once I got home. Magazines, didn’t need them.
Ashley’s frou frou dress, I couldn’t really throw that out.
I took out my dinosaur backpack. I could carry that on the plane. A couple of those t-shirts could go and one of the thick sweaters. I tried again. Finally, I got it all zipped up.
It took a bit of effort to get my case down the stairs, especially since my muscles already ached from trying to carry that box. A long soak in the bath would be the best thing to help that but I had no time for baths.
Now the best thing to do would be get a cab to the airport train. I really should’ve looked up the best way to do this while I still had internet access. But the convenience store had Wi-Fi.
As I started wheeling my case down the street, the crow settled on my shoulder.
“Sorry, dude, but I’m going home. Nice knowing you. You were my only friend in this city.”
He cawed then nipped my earlobe.
“Oi. Not so rough.”
More crows crowded around me. The fluttering of their wings had become familiar now.
“Hey, guys, leave me alone. You can’t stop me from doing this.”
I dropped my suitcase handle and tried to shoo them off, knowing those damn crows wouldn’t be so easily shooed. Their numbers had increased so I could barely see to walk. I squatted down instead, waiting for them to get some sense in their stupid crow heads. Those crows showed no sign of letting up, though.
A crow attack was the last thing I needed right now. If they wanted to help me, they could get me a cab.
My thighs burned. I couldn’t squat much longer. Instead, I jumped up and shook my fist at them.
“Leave me alone, you lousy crows. I’m leaving and you can’t stop me. There’s no place for me here. And I won’t let a bunch of crows decide my future. If I want to go home, I can go. I’ll start throwing rocks at you if you don’t quit it.”
The bit about throwing rocks was a total bluff. I’d never hurt an animal in my life. But those crows cleared.
Good. They’d listened to me.
I swept a feather off my shoulder. Then I looked up.
Shun.
He stood in front of me, arms crossed.
“What do you think you’re doing?” He really didn’t look pleased.
“Going home,” I said. “I’ve had enough. I’ve had enough of being insulted and treated like an idiot and having people use me. This place is not for me.”
“Do you have time for a chat before you leave?” he asked. “When’s your flight?”
“It’s soon. Real soon. I have to rush.”
He raised his eyebrow. “Really? When did you book it?”
Damn. He had me there. He knew I only had Wi-Fi at Yuki’s place.
“Okay, I’ll talk but I’m not staying.”
He grabbed my case from me. I thought we’d go back to Yuki’s apartment but he took me to the cafe. We grabbed a table at the back, well away from other people.
Once we ordered our drinks, Shun leaned on his elbows and really stared at me. I waited for it, the pep talk. The token effort to tell me I should stay. Even though I knew that it would be just talk and he’d be happy to see the back of me. I’d listen to what he had to say then tell him I’d take it on board but use the cafe Wi-Fi to book my flight. No problemo.
“Do you think you can escape Yamaguchi so easily?” he said.
“I’m leaving the country.”
“He’ll find you.”
Our drinks arrived. I didn’t usually have sugar in my coffee but I added one, feeling like I’d need it for this.
“I tried to leave once,” Shun said with a wavering voice. “Do you know what he did? He killed my sister.”
I dropped the sugar packet. “You’re kidding, right? You don’t mean he literally killed her?”
Shun didn’t have the look of someone making a bad joke. His hands trembled and he didn’t look up at me.
“I came from a small town in the mountains to work for Yamaguchi. I’d never mentioned my family to him. I hadn’t wanted him to know about them, figuring that the less he knew, the better. Then one day he asked us to do a particularly gruesome job and I didn’t have the stomach for it. I figured I could run away, far away. Disappear for a long time and he’d forget about me. I was wrong. Before I’d even left town, I got word that my sister had died in a freak accident. Wolves.”
The haunted look in Shun’s eyes chilled me. He obviously blamed himself. But there was no way he could be certain there was any connection to Yamaguchi. If they lived in the mountains, it could’ve just been a coincidence.
I looked up, about to say something but he interrupted me.
“You know there have been no wolves in Japan for centuries. The only wolves I know of work for Yamaguchi.”
I gulped. I wanted to reach out for Shun’s hand. He seemed to need comfort but I wasn’t sure how to offer it. The boundaries of our relationship made me uncertain of even the simplest gesture.
Then I glanced around. Did Yamaguchi have spies? Had they seen me with my suitcase?
I shivered. Should I call my parents and warn them? Maybe they already knew. Had my parents sent me here knowing what Yamaguchi was like? Mum had seemed wary on the phone.
If I failed, they’d be at risk. My throat tightened.
Shun still didn’t look up. Screw it. I put my hand over his. He didn’t push me away so I figured I’d done the right thing.
“So, how did you get involved with Yamaguchi in the first place?” I asked.
Shun took a sip of his coffee. I thought he wouldn’t answer. The noise of the cafe buzzed around us, people talking and laughing, the coffee machine grinding.
“It was a long time ago now,” Shun said. I remembered he’d said that he’d worked for Yamaguchi for about twenty years. “The area around my family home started dying. The river dried up, the trees turned brown and all the birds and animals left. We believed that the spirit of the mountain had left. My parents were guardians of that mountain and we needed to save it. I came to the city to find a solution. And that’s how it happened.”
“You agreed to work for Yamaguchi? But for how long?”
“For as long as the mountain exists. I went into it with my eyes closed but I had no choice really. I saved the mountain but I couldn’t save my sister.”
I swirled the coffee in my cup, trying to think this out. “I only agreed to work on this job. Do you think he’ll let me leave once it’s done?”
“He’ll try to trick you,” Shun said. “He’ll keep to the letter of his words but if there’s any loophole he’ll use it. You have to be constantly on your guard.”
“So, you’re stuck working for him like a slave,” I said.
“It’s not so bad,” Shun said. “It’s my duty to protect the mountain and I have to work somewhere. I don’t fight it any more. I accepted my fate but I don’t think you’ll ever accept it. You should get out while you can, but finish this job or you’ll be looking over your shoulder for the rest of your life.”
I sucked down the rest of my coffee then slammed the cup on the table.
“Looks like I don’t have any choice,” I said.
“And, Molly, don’t take the things Yuki says to heart. She has an abrasive personality.”
“That’s easy for you to say. She’s not abrasive to you.”
Shun laughed. “That’s taken a long time, believe me. Don’t forget, she’s not human. She doesn’t see things like we do. But she is loyal and she does try, sometimes.”
I wanted to ask why he considered himself human but not Yuki but that’d be a discussion for another time.
We both got up and paid the bill then walked back to the apartments. As we walked the crow flew around me, setting on my shoulder.
“He’s adopted you,” Shun said.
“Whether I like it or not.”
Then the crow dropped something from his mouth. A shiny silver button. I knew that button. It came from the jacket Hokuto had worn.
I handed it to Shun.
“Now you can enter his dreams,” I said. “Let’s get those fuckers.”