Visual Kei

Rei crushed me in a huge embrace. His smile nearly covered his entire face, like a chibi character. “Alice, it has been so long!” His loud voice attracted the attention of some of the other customers, but there wasn’t much I could do about that.

I had set up a time to meet Rei and discuss Kiiro’s capture. The only time we could meet was at night. The Oni is less vigilant at night, and so it would be easier for me to sneak away, and Ray said he wanted to accompany me. So we met at a 24 hour café, where we could meet without worrying about time constraints. But it meant dealing with strange people, the kind of people who weren’t used to dealing with other people. Still, it was good to see Rei after so long.

“Can’t… breathe…”

“Oh, sorry!” He relinquished me, scratching his head with embarrassment. “You know, we really missed you.” He slid into a booth and I slid into the opposite side with Ray.

“Sorry I haven’t been by to visit, it was part of the contract, but it’s forfeit now. Still, I don’t have anywhere outside of The Oni’s employ to stay.”

“Alice, you know you can always stay with us. We would be happy to be with you again.”

I said nothing, looking down at the cup of hot chocolate in my hands. Ray sat beside me, reclined lazily with his hands in his lap. Rei looked at him curiously, so I decided introductions should be gotten out of the way. “Ray, this is Rei. Rei, meet Ray. This might get confusing.”

“Pleased to meet you,” Rei said in slightly-better English from when I first met him. Ray nodded in greeting, but said nothing. He switched back to Japanese when he spoke to me, however. “Emiko is working out the details, but we know that Kiiro is being kept in this prefecture.” He slid a map onto the table, labeled all in Japanese. I raised an eyebrow.

“Prefecture?” Then I looked at the map. Kiiro was being kept in Japan. Lucky me. “Are you guys living here still? I thought you moved back.”

“We went back to terminate the lease on our apartment, but we’ll be living in Japan from now on.” He pointed at one of the sections of the map. “We think this is the district he’s being held in, but we don’t know for sure yet.”

“What is this a map of, exactly?”

“Okinawa prefecture. Although it has several islands, there are only four major ones. Any of the four could be where he is being detained. These are the eleven cities in Okinawa,” he said, circling each section with a finger. Each was separated by dashed lines. “This is the one we think he’s in—Naha-shi.”

“How did you find that information?”

“We didn’t, actually. It just seems the most logical considering that Okinawa has the most United States military bases and that Naha-shi is the capital city.”

“I see. We should talk strategy with the others present, though, right?”

He rolled up the map, tucking it away. “Yes, you’re right. Still, I had to make sure you knew a bit of the details. Perhaps you can try to find more information within the company.”

“Yes, I will try.” I gulped down the hot chocolate, my eyes watering as it scorched my throat. “You guys got a new place, right? Maybe I could drop by for a visit sometime.”

Rei drank his tea in one gulp. I was surprised that he hadn’t wanted to meet at a bar, but I wasn’t exactly complaining. “That would be great, but I don’t know about tonight. We’re still moving things, so right now we’re staying at a hotel.”

“No worries, I understand.”

We finished our drinks with pleasant conversation. Ray didn’t speak, only looked at Rei’s face from time to time. He rarely returned his gaze, though. Before I wanted to, we had to leave. Rei picked up the tab kindly, and the three of us walked out together. As we were about to part ways, I saw Chino walking toward us, looking directly at Rei.

“Chino, what are you doing here?”

Without looking at me or Ray, Chino said urgently, Alice, I need to speak to you . . . alone. Please come with us for tonight. He smiled at Rei. “Didn’t you think I’d be jealous that you left to meet Alice on your own? You should have invited me too!”

Rei laughed. “Come on, now, what if I don’t want to share?”

“You must! In fact, I think Alice should come back to the hotel with us for a while. Shinji was mortified that you didn’t bring him along to meet up.”

“Can you, Alice?” Rei asked with puppy dog eyes.

I turned to Ray, careful to put a barrier between our thoughts. “They want me to go back to the hotel with them for a while. Would you mind going back alone? I know it’s kind of…” He shook his head and his hand touched mine briefly.

“Go ahead.” I nodded and turned back to my old friends, smiling.

“Be careful, Ray.” Our eyes met for a moment and he nodded solemnly, turning away and walking down the street.

******************************************************************************

“ALICE!!!!” I fell to the ground as Shinji leapt upon me. He held me tight, smiling happily, and rolling around on the floor with me in tow. “I missed you so much! Please tell me you’re coming back for good! Please please please please!”

I looked to Chino for help, but he just chuckled, disappearing from my immediate view. I turned to Rei, but he also left me, with an imitation of Chino’s laugh. I tried to pry Shinji off, but he had an iron grip. I gave up. Eventually, he sat up and beamed, darting into the adjoining room. I was alone for a time, so I sprawled out on the couch. Yes, this hotel had a damn couch in the room.

Shinji, Chino, and Rei returned with Tsurara in tow. Shinji demanded a group hug, but Tsurara objected to it outright. He gave me a strange look, and I felt his mixed emotions. He couldn’t hide a small, rare smile from me, though. I hugged each of them, my heart elated. “Man, I missed you guys so much!”

“We missed you, too!” Shinji exclaimed, jumping on the bed excitedly. “You’re staying with us, right? Right?” The men watched my face expectantly. I looked into Shinji’s eyes with a vague smile.

“You know that I want to, Shinji.”

He stopped jumping on the bed, instead slithering down into a sitting position with one foot under the opposite knee. “Does that mean you won’t stay?”

“I’m not sure what I’ll do,” I replied honestly. “I shouldn’t go back after tonight, but staying with you isn’t much of an option, either.”

“Of course it is!” Shinji said, wounded. “We wouldn’t let anyone hurt you.”

“That’s not the reason, guys…” I said, looking at the floor.

“Then why?” Rei asked, sitting beside me on the couch.

“I have friends who work with me. If The Oni found out that I was disobeying him, he might hurt them. I really don’t want that.”

“Actually, Alice, there was something I wanted to tell you about your ‘friends’. I’m afraid you won’t like what I have to say, though.”

I looked up at him, unsure of how to feel. “What do you mean, Chino?”

“Do you remember a year ago when Umi came with you, Emiko, and Shinji to rescue me from that hospital?” he asked, sitting on my opposite side. I nodded, shivers tingling up my spine just remembering that horrible place. “I was drugged and stuffed into a windowless room, and I couldn’t tell you who had done it or how they’d done it, but I can tell you now. The only type of person who could sneak up on me is someone who can hide their thoughts... someone who can also use telepathy. It seems that you have a friend in the company with that ability, don’t you?”

I opened my mouth, but nothing came out. He couldn’t mean… but I knew that he did. I could put two and two together and not get twenty-two.

Ray.