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As we walked, I started doubting this plan. It’d seemed like a good idea at the time but the more I thought about it, the more I became sure Yamaguchi would know for sure that we were fooling him and he’d heap vengeance on us.
I’d pictured a thousand different scenarios, a few of them with me surviving intact. I didn’t want to mention my fears to the others because I’d been the one who got us into this so I just walked in silence, my nails digging into the palms of my hands.
This pick up needed to go perfectly. I needed to stop feeling so damn nervous. I went through things in my head and instantly came up with a huge issue.
“Won’t he think it strange we’re not in Yuki’s usual apartment?” I asked.
That would require some explaining.
“They fixed my windows while we were out,” Yuki said. “We can go back to my apartment.”
Personally, I wouldn’t have let the tradesmen have access to my apartment while I wasn’t home. But she was Yuki. She’d probably hunt them down and kill them if they did anything to her stuff.
“Yep. We need to move everything back or Yamaguchi questions us,” Shun said.
Exactly. And that box had taken us forever to move. My stomach gurgled. Nerves did that to me.
“Jin,” Yuki ordered.
Jin? Oh yeah, Jin could move the box. It’d take no time if he magically floated it.
“That wasn’t part of our deal,” he said. “We need to renegotiate. What are you offering?”
Yuki got up in his face. “You help us move this box and you live.” she sneered.
I’d have flinched at her tone of voice but Jin just grinned. I got the feeling that he liked Yuki getting all aggressive with him.
A crow cawed in the distance, making me realise I hadn’t seen any today. I took that as a sign this plan was doomed. Even the crows had deserted me. My stomach gurgled louder.
We got to the apartments and Yuki organised Jin to move the box while she put up an illusion so no passersby would see a gold box floating through the air. She gave him a lot of orders in Japanese.
He sighed each time but did what she told him.
While they did that, Shun and I hauled the rest of Yuki’s stuff back. She still had a heap of red beans left. Why didn’t she have the gurgling belly instead of me? Those beans had to be rough on your digestive tract.
The four of us stood around the near empty apartment. With the box back in place, it looked fine but maybe Yamaguchi would know. That crafty old man might see hints we hadn’t even thought about.
“What now?” I said. “We need a plan. A plan is good, right? Shun, you do the talking. I can’t talk.”
I knew I was rambling but I couldn’t help myself. Yamaguchi would be here any minute and I’d have to keep my mouth well and truly shut. And, hell, I still wore that little black dress. Would that look strange? Yuki had her silver dress on too.
“We need to change. Why didn’t we think of that earlier? No one is going to believe Yuki’s been sitting around watching a box in that dress.”
Yuki screwed up her face then nodded.
I didn’t expect her to strip off the dress right in front of us right down to her tiny black underwear. I looked away. So did Shun. Jin, not so much.
When I looked back, she wore a mini skirt and baggy t-shirt. Not the kind of baggy t-shirt I’d have worn, all shapeless and food stained, but a really awesome one.
She threw me an oversized sweater.
“Put this on,” she said. “He won’t notice too much and you’ll look more casual.”
Great. Now on top of everything else, I had the stress of not doing any damage to Yuki’s clothing.
“You, get in the bathroom,” Yuki told Jin. “The old man can’t see you.”
Jin screwed up his face at her.
“What if he needs to pee and goes in there?” Jin asked. “He’ll have questions.”
He had a valid point. As my stomach gurgled again, an equally valid point was what if Molly needed to make an emergency run and Jin was in there. That bathroom was not roomy!
Heckings. The whole apartment wasn’t roomy. If I had an emergency, everyone would know. Maybe I should just go back to my own place. Did I need to be here?
Yuki glared at Jin.
“Yamaguchi will have questions if he sees you in my apartment. Do you want to keep your name out of this or not?”
“Won’t Jin need to be here, though? Isn’t that the whole point of this deal?”
“The priest won’t come with Yamaguchi,” Shun said. “We have to go to the matsuri for that.”
“Huh? We’re going to the matsuri? I’ll definitely need to change.” I moved towards the door. “I’ll go now.”
Yuki grabbed my wrist and pulled me back. Damn it. I thought I could escape.
“Nice try but you have to face the old man with us.” Then she turned back to Jin. “I told you to get in the bathroom.”
“He can wait in my apartment,” Shun said.
That seemed logical but Yuki frowned. I think she just wanted to make Jin stand around in the bathroom for the LOLZ.
I sat down while Shun rushed Jin up to his apartment. Hell. My palms sweated and my stomach got no quieter.
“Sit still,” Yuki said to me, slapping my leg. “He’ll know something’s up if you jiggle like that.”
“I get nervous around Yamaguchi anyway,” I said.
Not that Yuki wasn’t nervous. The more nervous she got, the bitchier she became. I’d noticed that about her.
Someone knocked on the door. Shun? Yuki answered it. It wasn’t Shun but Yamaguchi and his goon. That screwed up the plan. Shun needed to do the talking. Yuki was too aggressive and I couldn’t talk.
“No problems?” Yamaguchi asked, walking into the apartment.
“No problems at all,” Yuki said.
I couldn’t stop myself from looking at that box. He’d know. He’d look at the box and realise there was no kami inside.
But Yamaguchi just stood in the middle of the room, talking to Yuki. I wrapped my arms around myself, hoping I could disappear into a little ball.
He used a completely different tone with Yuki than he did with Shun. I didn’t know much about cultural clues but it seemed to me like he purposely tried to rile her up, and Yuki wasn’t the type to not get riled.
Luckily, Shun returned.
Not being able to speak Japanese came in handy sometimes. Shun looked so in control. He didn’t sweat, he didn’t mumble. He acted all business as usual.
Yamaguchi walked over and inspected the box. He pointed at the torn sides of the carton and Shun said something to him about it.
My stomach gurgled so loud that Yamaguchi glared at me. He asked me something. I had no idea what he said. I struggled to my feet. I’d need to rush to that bathroom any minute now.
If Yamaguchi straight out asked about the kami, I’d have to lie and when I lied, my face went bright red and my nostrils twitched. I was the worst liar ever.
“Your stomach is weak with Japanese food, right, Molly?” Shun said.
I nodded. Yep. That was it. No nerves here. No lying. No major meltdown.
“Too many red beans,” I said with a laugh that was way too loud and way too shrill, but Yamaguchi ignored me.
He ran his finger over the gold top of the box. I held my breath. Would he notice anything untoward?
Then he nodded for the goon to take the box. Even if that guy struggled under the weight, he could lift it. A guy like that could kill you, no issues.
Before Yamaguchi left, I remembered the whole reason for me being here and ran after him.
“The job’s done, right? When do I get my information?”
He gave a wave of his hand and said something to Shun.
“He’ll contact you after the matsuri,” Shun said.
The matsuri. Damn. I’d been so relieved that Yamaguchi had taken the box, I’d forgotten we had all that to get through, too.
But that old man had better not stiff me on the information. If he did, I might not have goons and I might not have powers but I had a whole flock of crows I could set on him.
My stomach gurgles turned to earthquakes and I dashed to the bathroom.