The Ishiido Fukushin
Airi and her friends meet the shuryo of the Fukushin.
The boys led them downstairs, out the back entrance and to a gray colored van parked further up the street. The guy in the purple shirt got in the driver’s seat as everyone else filed into the back. As the van started to move, Iga unwrapped Takara’s hands, fully revealing blood on her knuckles. As Takara’s hands began to shake again, Airi offered up a handkerchief. Iga accepted the handkerchief and began rubbing Takara’s fingers.
“There you go,” he said calmly as the blood came off. “Deep breaths, in through the nose, out through the mouth. Five seconds in, ten seconds out.” Takara’s face slowly returned to its natural hue.
“So… where did the blood come from?” Airi asked.
“What? Oh, that pervert, Ando, I think,” Takara replied. “I kept taking him down, but he kept getting back up.” This made Iga chuckle.
“Well, between Aikido, Judo and Jujitsu, Aikido is easily the weakest. It’s only good for restraining, which is why so many police study it.”
The boys drove for a short while before turning down an alley street, somewhere in the Ebisu district. Uesugi Daisuke said nothing as he kept an eye on the four of them. Not that they could do anything, they were in the back of a van. Naoko was trembling nervously, pressed against Takara’s side. Takara was still fixated on her own hands, constantly wringing them. Airi looked at Akane, who was staring at that one guy with the hoodie, Wila. The van turned into a parking lot surrounded by buildings.
“Home sweet home,” one of the boys said as they exited the van. Looking toward the building with the only visible entrance, Airi noticed a sign above the door stating:
永遠 会
Family Only Entrance.
“Thank you, again, for helping us,” Takara said with an earnest bow. “We won’t be imposing on you anymore and—”
“Save your thanks,” Iga stopped Takara with a raised hand. “We didn’t drag you across Shibuya out of the goodness of our hearts.”
“What?” she exclaimed, not being there for the earlier conversation. “Then why did you bring us here?” she demanded as Naoko pressed against her back.
“That’s between you and big brother,” Uesugi explained. “Come on, let’s go.”
“Hold on!” Akane spoke up. “We’re not going anywhere until you at least tell us why!”
“You don’t have a choice, shorty,” said Wila, still wearing his hood up.
“Shorty…”
“Now come on, let’s not keep him waiting. He’s been busy all day and, no doubt, wants to go to sleep.” Wila stepped toward the door, with Airi wondering if he is still carrying that gun, when Akane stunned everyone by running up and grabbing Wila’s hood. Wila staggered, crying out as he latched onto Akane’s hands, stopping her from yanking his hood down.
“Says a guy who won’t even look me in the eye!”
“OW! OW! OW! OW!”
“And what do you mean by short?”
“OW! OW! OW! OW!”
“You’re not that much taller than me!”
“OW! OW! OW! OW!”
“Come on! Show your face you cowardly rat!”
“OW! OW! OW! OW!”
“HEY!”
Everyone looked up.
Three stories above their heads, a window was open and a young man was sticking his head out.
“What the hell is going on down there!?”
“Sorry boss!” Hanzo replied upward. “We’re on our way up.”
“Was that Wila?”
“Let-go! Let-go! Let-go!” Wila was basically pleading.
“Thought so. Hey! Kusogaki! Let go of his ears, now!” Akane let go, leaving Wila standing there, holding his still hooded head and seething with rage. “Wila and… you four,” the voice above them commanded, “my office, now!” And the window slid shut with a loud snap.
“Well, you heard him,” Iga said as Wila muttered something in some other language. With nervous glances at Wila, Airi, Takara, Naoko and Akane followed Hanzo through the “Family Only” door.
They filed through a small room with a table, closet and two more teenagers who greeted Hanzo and the other guys. Next was a small hallway with maroon walls and a black carpeted floor. After that, Airi and her friends found themselves awash in a vibrant blue and violet glow.
They were on the upper floor of a club of sorts. More than half the floor was open, bordered by a sleek glass and metallic railing, illuminated by red neon from beneath the handrail. There were seating areas both on that floor and on the floor below. Also on the lower level was a dance floor and a small stage.
“Wait,” Takara started, “where are we?” Airi could barely hear her over the music and vibrant roaming lights.
“The Eien-Kai youth club,” Hanzo answered. “Come on, this way.” They followed the boys along walkway next to the railing. At a set of reflective elevator doors, Hanzo pressed the button and the doors slid open. They filed inside and, as the door closed, Wila reached out and pressed the button for the-
“The fourth floor?” Airi asked. That had to be the first time she had ever seen a button panel of an elevator that actually had a button labeled: 4.
“Well, yeah,” Wila answered back, “that’s where the boss’ office is.” The elevator went up two floors. As they exited into a hallway with white walls and dark blue carpeted floor, Airi remembered something.
They entered the building on the ground floor, didn’t they? They entered that “family only” entrance from the ground floor parking lot. They went from a hallway to the second floor of that club. Then the elevator went up two floors. So they should be on the third floor, not the fourth. Right?
They proceeded down the hallway, past one, two, three- and stopped at the fourth door on the right. Hanzo reached up and knocked four times.
Kon-kon, kon-kon.
“Come in,” ordered a voice beyond the door. Hanzo opened the door and they all entered.
The office was simple and clean. White walls with a black carpet and a set of Momiji furnishings. Two bookshelves along one wall, a sofa and low table opposite, and across from the door, in front of the window, was a desk. On the desk, Airi spotted a stack of three books. Go Rin no Sho, something called The Romantic Manifesto, and Wealth of Nations by Englishman Adam Smith. And seated behind the desk, was another teenager, little older than Airi and her friends with his feet kicked up on the desk, shuffling a deck of hanafuda cards. He actually seemed rather meek, with a scrawny frame, barely hidden by black cargos, gray socks, and a black t-shirt with a red circle and a star of eight-pointed arrows in the middle. His face was somewhat narrow, with the right side obscured by long black bangs. A single, hazel-green eye, looked up at them.
“How’d it go?” he asked, his voice dripping with Kansai-ben.
“Well enough,” Hanzo reported. “They started shooting toward the end, but we made it out.”
“Clearly. And the workshop?”
“Gone,” said Wila, leaning against the bookshelves, still wearing his hood up with his hands in his pockets. “I dealt with Murakami. So, assuming the police don’t turn that place upside-down, they can’t just start back up again.”
“And civilians?”
“Other than these girls,” Nobu indicated, “they all ran.”
“Right,” the guy nodded. “Good work. Hanzo, Nobu, Daisuke, you can go. The rest of you, stay.” Three of the boys left, leaving Iga, Wila, and the guy behind the desk with Airi and her friends.
“Good evening,” he pleasantly greeted, “I am Ishii Itsuki.” He lowered his feet and set down three hanafuda cards on the desk, a silver ring glinting on his ring finger. “So,” Ishii set his eye on them, “who are you and what are you doing here?”
“Um… thank you for having us,” Airi said with an earnest bow. “I am Hisakawa Airi. And… we’re here because your friends brought us here.”
“I know how you came here, Hisakawa-san,” Ishii said, turning over the three hanafuda cards.
The lesser cuckoo bird, the bush warbler, and a flock of geese.
“But my brothers and sisters wouldn’t do this without reason. And so, the rest of you?” He swept up the three cards and reshuffled.
“I am Kaneko Takara,” Takara volunteered with a bow. Ishii laid out three more cards.
A red flower and a pair of butterflies, a curtain before some sakura blossoms, and a red tanzaku.
“Do you practice martial arts?” Ishii asked.
“Yes, Aikido. Why do you ask?”
“No reason.” He reshuffled the cards again as Akane bowed.
“I’m Maekawa Akane.” Three new cards.
Some mountains, a crane under the sun, and a tanzaku with “akayoroshi” inscribed on it. Ishii suddenly smirked.
“The little dog.”
“Excuse me?”
“Well, that’s what the cards are telling me.” Puzzled, they all looked at the hanafuda cards. Naoko, still behind Takara, leaned out enough to discern the cards.
“Oicho-kabu?” she wondered aloud.
“What?”
“I… think he’s using those hanafuda cards for oicho-kabu.”
“Smart girl,” Ishii complemented, causing Naoko to jump and withdraw behind Takara again. Akane frowned at the cards.
“Ichi-ichi-ichi?”
“Yes,” Ishii confirmed. “Or, in English,” he lifted a hand and mimed a mouth yapping, “wan-wan-wan.”
“Hey!” Akane angrily started as Ishii chuckled and reshuffled the cards once more.
“And your name is?” He aimed this question at Naoko behind Takara.
“H-Hasegawa. Hasegawa Naoko.”
“And that explains it,” Ishii said, leaning back in his chair.
“Explains what?” Takara inquired. Ishii raised a finger.
“Before I answer that, tell me this: why did you three,” he pointed out Airi, Takara and Akane, “end up at a Shibuya Kigyo workshop tonight?”
“Because our friend was in trouble,” Airi answered immediately. “She was being forced to work there.”
“We know what Hasegawa-san did,” Takara interjected, shielding Naoko from Ishii’s gaze, “but she only ended up there because of a mistake. Yes, this means she cheated on her exams. But she didn’t mean for all the rest. What kind of friends would we be if we can’t forgive a single mistake?”
“Which one?”
“Pardon?”
“Which mistake are we talking about?” Ishii inquired with a knowing smirk. “Are we talking about Hasegawa-san buying cheat-sheets for exams?” He laid down one card.
A full moon against a deep red sky.
“About how Hasegawa-chan barrowed money from us so she could buy more cheat-sheets?” A second card.
A sake cup amid some chrysanthemum flowers.
“Or… are we talking about Hasegawa realizing she couldn’t buy more guides and pay us back at the same time and so…” he laid down the third card, “she made the mistake of earning cheat-sheets on credit earned producing cheat-sheets for the racket?”
The third card was the curtain in front of the sakura flowers.
The full moon, sake cup, and curtain.
8 9 3
“Credit?” Airi repeated as Takara and Akane turned to look at Naoko.
“I am familiar with the concept of unpaid internships,” Ishii continued, putting aside the cards and briefly reaching behind the desk for a sheet of paper with monetary figures scribbled all over it. “But most of those are secretarial or assistant-type jobs; bring the boss some coffee, sort these papers. But your friend here was actually producing enough of those ‘guides’ to make,” he ran a finger across the figures, “over two weeks, ¥80,000,000 at a unit cost of ¥3,115 per customer. And, by customers, I mean: other students and their allowances.” Airi turned to look at her friend.
“Is… is what he’s saying true?”
“I-I-” Naoko seemed to actually shrink in size, especially when Takara stepped away from her. “I didn’t want my parents to find out. Th-they would’ve noticed if I s-spent any more of m-my allowance—”
“So you volunteered to work in a hangure workshop?!” Takara interjected angrily.
“Hangure,” Ishii repeated with a chuckle. “I’d say they’re more kuro-gure than anything.”
“Why did you even need the exam guides?” Takara continued to interrogate Naoko. “How many times have we studied together? You wouldn’t have had to pay anything to anyone and no one would’ve risked getting hurt- people were hurt! That pervert groped Airi! And Airi was hit in the head with a club!”
“I was almost shot,” Akane added.
“Akane was almost shot! Any of us could’ve died!”
“I’m sorry!” Naoko cried out, doubled-over with arms crossed over her stomach. “I didn’t want to disrupt or disturb you or anyone else—”
“We had to go looking for you!” Takara shouted, causing Naoko to shrink further away in fright. “We risked getting hurt because of you! Not to mention your parents are worried—”
“Kuso!” Akane suddenly swore. “I haven’t told my parents about any of this!”
Neither did Airi. She instinctively reached into her pocket, only to remember how their cell phones were taken. Ishii chuckled again, shaking his head with a wry smile.
“Selfish little sheep,” he said in a low but clear tone. “Why don’t you try some honesty?”
“Wh-what?”
“Be honest. This had nothing to do with your friends’ harmony. You just wanted to be the top of school’s leaderboard. And you didn’t want to do the hard work or pay any money for it.”
“N-no,” Naoko barely managed, “i-it isn’t like that.”
“Other students, your friends, your family; you don’t care. You just see them all as a nuisance, don’t you?”
“No!” Naoko would’ve backed into the wall if Iga and Wila hadn’t stepped in to block her path.
“Sheep like you are… a dime a dozen, as Americans would say,” Ishii continued. “And, honestly, I don’t know which is worse. Idiots in America who try so hard to ignore reality when it fails to abide by their ideals. Or the herds of sheep in our country who bleat ‘nakama nakama’ only to turn on each other when the others become inconvenient.”
“Stop! It isn’t like that!”
“Sure, it isn’t.”
“I just wanted to get back up to 20!”
“What?” Ishii’s surprise was apparent, and he wasn’t the only one who was survived.
“Up to 20?” Airi repeated. “Naoko-san, you’re always among the top 20 when we have exams.”
“Not last time,” Naoko managed weakly.
“Last time?” Akane repeated, scratching her head. “You mean when you scored the 21st spot?”
“Exactly!” Naoko suddenly snapped, turning on Akane with eyes brimming with angry tears. “Twenty-one! That’s less than twenty! Tokyo University only accepts those with the best academic records, not that you care!” Akane actually took a startled step back. “Always carefree, insisting that everything will be fine and dragging everyone to the mall or karaoke; when you should be focusing on your own low grades!”
“Naoko,” Takara spoke up, “this isn’t about—”
“And you don’t need to care!” Naoko turned to look up at Takara’s face. “You’re 1.73 meters tall with flawless flowing hair and a face like a princess. Doesn’t matter what your grades are! Any university would accept you for just being the tallest girl in the school!”
“That’s not true—”
“And you,” Naoko turned on Airi. “You keep complaining your weight! Your weight is just fine! You are just too scatterbrained to notice all the guys ogling your C-cup breasts!”
“Naoko!” Takara interjected as Airi instinctively crossed her arms over the front of her top.
Does she think I want boys to leer at me? Airi thought. I want boys to talk to me, not just stare.
“My grades are *hic* are all I have!” Naoko continued to bellow weakly. “I-I’m not *hic* I’m not pretty or *hic* sociable! I have to *hic* have to get into a high quality *hic* university more than any *hic* any of you!”
Ishii sighed, leaning back in his chair. “I take back what I said. You’re not a selfish little sheep; you’re just another short-sighted idiot.”
“What?” Naoko uttered, face streaked with tears.
“Regardless,” he fixed that hazel-green eye directly on her, “you still have a debt to pay.”
“Wha-wait!” Naoko started. “I thought I had until Thursday?”
“You do,” Ishii confirmed. “But I doubt you can afford it.”
“¥8,000?”
“Iie.” Ishii held up the sheet of paper with the financial figures. “You forget your work for the Kigyo.”
“But they didn’t pay me anything!”
“You made ¥80,000,000 for them. Add that, plus interest.”
“Wait a moment,” Airi interrupted as Naoko’s face began turning pale. “I think I remember something those guys said, back at that printing business. One man thought we were ‘fukushin,’ but the other guy said we weren’t because Naoko-san lived in Nishihara.”
“Ah, let me explain.” Ishii said, raising a finger. “Tokyo is divided among a handful of unorthodox business associations. These divisions are normally decided by the city wards. But there are two exceptions. First is Shinjuku, which is considered an open-business zone, especially Kabukicho. The other is Shibuya. Technically, it should belong to us, as we were established first. But the Shibuya Kigyo popped up about ten years ago and seized most of the territory. The other associations had to step in and sit us down. It was decided, that most of Shibuya will go to the Kigyo, while we keep Ebisu. Now, Hasegawa resides in Nishihara, Kigyo territory. However, two things of note. First,” he raised his right pinky, “the exam cheat sheets that were being made at Chitake Printing were being sold to students all over, not just Shibuya. Minor issue, but the point is that they were stealing customers from under our noses. And second,” he raised the finger with the silver ring on it, showing a ruby red symbol upon the crest, “your school, Heikin High, is in Meguro. And Meguro is ours.”
“Yours?” Airi asked.
“Look around, you see any adults in the Eien-Kai? The majority of our members are students and runaways. Having a student from a school in our territory making money for the Kigyo, that’s just insulting. Especially since, as I pointed out, Hasegawa here barrowed money from us to buy Kigyo cheat sheets. Our money, lent out, and given to our competitors.” He looked directly at Naoko with his hazel-green eye. “You understand what I’m saying?”
Naoko’s tear-streaked face was pale, her hands shaking, knees trembling.
“Hold on!” Takara stepped forward. “How exactly are you going to have her pay off her debt?”
“Not sure yet,” Ishii admitted, leaning back in his chair and shrugging. “A solid bet would be paperwork, but I don’t think that would be wise, all things considered.”
“Paperwork?” Akane repeated. “Not like a tuna boat or shady hostess club?”
“Do we look like a fishing company?” Ishii asked back with a raised eyebrow. “I like fish, but we’re not that kind of business. Besides, can you see your friend actually working on a fishing boat without falling overboard?”
“Well, no.”
“And she said so herself, she’s not that sociable. So she would be a terrible hostess. But that is our concern,” he stated. “We have no business with the three of you, so you can go.”
“We can’t do that!” Airi spoke up, stepping between the desk and the pitiful Naoko.
“Uh… you know that she’s the reason the three of you are here, right?”
“I know, but she’s still a friend of ours.”
“Airi,” Takara breathed. Ishii rolled his visible hazel-green eye.
“This nakama nonsense again?”
“I’m not going to abandon her!” Airi insisted. “If I abandon her now, what kind of person would I be? I refuse to be that kind of person!”
“I agree,” said Akane, moving to stand beside Airi. Itsuki just looked at them.
“They sound serious Itsuki-sama,” Iga spoke up from behind them. “I think their minds are made up.” Ishii frowned, looking over Airi, Akane, Naoko, Takara, back to Naoko, back Akane, then to Wila.
He grinned.
“Okay then, if that’s the way you all want to play it.” He looked at Wila. “Lower your hood.”
“What?!” Wila almost jumped as everyone looked at him. “Itsuki! I can’t!”
“It’s okay, the little dog already got a handful anyway.”
“That doesn’t mean—”
“They saw you using your powers, didn’t they?” This made Wila wince. “I thought so. Go on, put it down.”
After a couple seconds, Wila sighed, then slowly reached up and pulled back the hood of his hooded sweatshirt. Now in full view, the girls could see that Wila’s skin was of a light olive tone, like someone from Fukuoka or the Southern Islands. His face was round, his eyes were a deep blue and his hair was black, ruffled, and extended past his ears. But then everyone’s eyes drifted upward. Above where his ears would be, Wila had a pair of small, round… wait?
“Are those ears?!” Airi asked in astonishment.
They were ears, a pair of mouse or rat ears; fleshy pink insides with a black fur/hair exterior. Wila’s eyebrows perked up at the question, and one of the ears actually, visibly twitched.
“Are… are those real?” Takara asked, gesturing toward Wila’s head.
“Yes,” Wila answered.
“He has a tail too,” Ishii added. “Wila Nik'uta is what we call a grav-rat. He can control the gravitational pull of himself and anything he touches. Of course, because of his ears, he can only really go out at night. And, if any ‘normal’ person were to see him and see what he’s doing, they would call the cops, who would then notify the Koro-sho, who would no doubt call up the military. And the military, at the very least, would lock him up without charge or trial ‘for his own safety.’ And they would probably experiment on him too. So…” Airi and Takara finally looked away from Wila’s ears and back to Ishii, who was now smirking like a kitsune. “Since the four of you are now aware of this information, and you four are more-or-less strangers, it seems we have no choice but to keep you girls here.”
“What!”
“Yes, it would be hazardous for us, and for him, to just let you go back to your families and visit your friend here. So, instead, the four of you stay here, work off Hasegawa’s debt, and keep quiet about Wila. Perfect arrangement, yes?”
“Wait! Wait!” Takara spoke up, raising her hands in front of her. “That isn’t necessary, we won’t say a thing about, ah, Wila-san. If anything, we are actually grateful. We went to that printing place to look for Naoko and had no idea what kind of people were there. Who knows what would’ve happened to us if Wila-san, and you,” gesturing to Iga, “and the others didn’t show up when you did.” Still smirking, Ishii reached down, behind his desk as Takara continued. “You guys helped us, so let us repay you with silence. Just as long as Naoko isn’t forced to do anything too—” She stopped.
Ishii, still smiling and with an air of calm, lifted a gray steel handgun and gently set it on the desk, on top off the hanafuda cards.
“I don’t know what they teach you in school,” said Ishii, “but the world isn’t based on words. You say you will keep silent about us and Wila, but there’s nothing to stop you from changing your mind at later date. If I keep you here, however, then I can ensure your silence and, if one of you decide to run off in a few days when we aren’t paying attention, the police would be less interested in a juvenile gang that controls three city wards, and more interested in why you four weren’t attending school. I’m not joking,” he stressed, raising a finger. “The four of you will stay here. And when you prove we can trust you, then I will allow you to leave. Understand?”
Airi and Takara and Akane all looked at each other, and at Naoko, weakly hanging her head. They didn’t have a choice here. They were in a building, in a part of Tokyo they were unfamiliar with, and the building they were in was full of juvenile delinquents with guns. And besides, Ishii had a point. If they left then and there, nothing could stop them from exposing this juvenile gang. Airi sighed.
“Hai… we understand.”
“Good,” Ishii said, putting the gun back in a desk drawer. “Iga, find a room for them. We have plenty of 2-person rooms.”
“I think we have a spare 4-person room,” said Iga.
“Do we? Alright then. Either way, the four of you will have work tomorrow.
Welcome to the Fukushin.”
And now the New Life begins.
