Nathan Pedde - Tokyo Tempest

“What flavor is that?” Sakiko asked.

“Honey and oats,” Darren replied.

Darren ripped the block into three pieces and handed one to each Yuki and Sakiko.

Sakiko tore into her chunk of food.

“Pace yourself,” Yuki said.

Yuki ate the block slowly.

Soon Darren, Yuki, and Sakiko were all done eating their food.

“That was more filling than I thought it was going to be,” Yuki said.

“The packaging says that a full package contains twenty-four hundred calories.” Darren said looking at the MRI, “That’s an entire day worth.”

Yuki whipped the crumbs from the front of her dirty blouse. Darren noticed that the three of them were all covered in mud and grime. Darren was covered in dirt from his fall, but the girls were dirty from little things like the spray of mud from the tires, and the errant dirty hand touching clothing. Darren hoped that there were changes of clothes at the storage unit.

“The storage unit isn’t too far from here,” Yuki said.

“How long?” Darren asked.

“A half-hour walk.” Yuki said, “Give or take.”

“So not that far from here,” Darren said. “We can rest then.”

“Are you telling us that…”

“No,” Darren said, “I’m giving myself a pep-talk. That food is making me sleepy.”

“He also gave us tea,” Yuki said.

Darren pulled out the thermos and filled the cap full of tea. There was only the one cup. They took turns drinking some tea.

After what turned into a fifteen-minute break, Darren pried himself off the ground. He looked around the area. At one end of the alley was a small group of youths. Boys and girls younger than them stood around in a group. Strips of colored fabric were tied around their right arms.

“Time to go.” Darren said, “We have company.”

“What do you mean company?” Yuki asked not moving from her spot.

“I mean pack up now and get on your bike,” Darren said, the stress rose in him, and it showed in his voice.

Yuki took a peek above the concrete barrier and then swore.

“Pack up.” Yuki said as she threw the thermos in her bag, “It’s a color gang.”

Darren was first on his bike. The youths were walking fast towards Darren. They carried bats and pipes as weapons.

“Time to go,” Darren said.

Yuki and Sakiko were both on their bikes.

“Hey don’t run away.” One of the youths called out, “We just wanna talk.”

“Do we stay and listen?” Sakiko asked.

“Listening won’t hurt. I’ll do the talking.” Yuki said, and turned to the color gang, “Keep your distance.”

“That’s fine.” The leader said, “My name is Michio Asahara. This is my little sister Emiko Asahara. See if we wanted to fight, I wouldn’t have brought my kid sister with me.”

Darren got a good look at the leader, Michio. He noticed that the man looked like he was the same age as Darren, but Darren had no idea which school he went to. The teenager was tall and lanky for his age. He stood over the other kids.

“What do you want?” Yuki asked.

“What’s going on?” Michio asked.

Yuki told him about the tsunami and the shelters.

“I knew that.” Michio said, “Where are you headed?”

“Away from here,” Yuki said.

“Join us.” Michio said, “You three look resourceful.”

“No thank you,” Yuki said.

“That wasn’t a question,” Michio said.

Michio raised a baseball bat in his hand and ran towards them.

“Get them, and take their bikes!” Michio yelled.

Darren, Yuki, and Sakiko sped off down the alley with the color gang close behind. The gang members were on foot and couldn’t keep up. Darren hung back so Yuki and Sakiko road out front. They exploded out the other side of the alley. Darren followed close behind them.

They turned the corner and rode fast down the street when they got out of the alley.

The street was busy with people. Cars packed the road as people left their homes. Darren could see that most people packed their vehicles with all the goods that they could. Some of the people, mainly the people that couldn’t afford to buy a car, stayed behind and watched the other people leave.

Darren looked back and saw that the youths ran out of the alley. He could see the anger on their faces. The other people moved away from the teenagers in shock and fright.

Darren, Yuki, and Sakiko didn’t stop. They kept riding their bikes as fast as they could. Luckily, no one else noticed them.

After ten minutes of riding, the three of them stopped at a large metal gate in front of a vast brick building. The building looked like it was in decent shape after the earthquakes and all of the aftershocks. The windowless square brick building looked like the brick was only a facade in front of a concrete built structure. Parts of the brick facade had broken off and fallen to the ground. The rest of the building looked like it was in one piece.

“This is the storage building,” Yuki said.

“Can we get in if no one’s come to work?” Darren asked.

“Yes.” Yuki said, “As long as you have a key, you’re allowed to enter the building anytime twenty-four hours a day.”

Yuki opened the gate using her key, and they entered with their bikes. Yuki locked the gate behind her.

They found themselves in a loading bay to the building.

Sakiko looked nervous at the building. Darren could tell she was afraid.

“Is it going to survive the aftershocks?” Sakiko asked, “What if another earthquake hits again?”

Yuki leaned into Sakiko and kissed her on the lips.

“Shh.” Yuki said, “This is a very well built building. My father picked it for that very reason.”

“We will follow you,” Darren said to Yuki.

Darren’s pants felt tight from Yuki and Sakiko’s display.

A single set of garage-style overhead doors stretched along one side of the raised loading bay. A couple big metal doors were at either side of the overhead doors. One of the doors had a large sign over it in Japanese characters that Darren thought said office. The other door had no sign over it, but Darren believed it was to the storage units.

Darren and Sakiko followed Yuki up the stairs and to the metal door that led to the storage units.

Yuki used her key on the door, and it opened up. After the three of them walked into the building, Yuki locked the door.

Darren and Yuki pulled out flashlights from his backpack. The light split the darkness but didn’t shine enough to cut it out completely.

Darren and Sakiko followed Yuki through the building. They walked their bikes through the halls past storage lockers.

Yuki walked up to one of the lockers and stopped in front of the door. The door was a gray metal sliding door that came down from the ceiling. The door was locked in the middle of the door by a simple key.

Yuki looked at the door and then looked at the top left of the door.

“My dad hasn’t been here yet,” Yuki said.

“How can you tell?” Darren asked.

“No mark.” Yuki said, “If he were here, he would’ve left a chalk mark in the upper left corner of the door. Then I would know that he’s been here and gone.”

Yuki wiped the back of her hand across a small part of the door. A small piece of glass was underneath a some grease.

“What is that?” Darren asked.

“It’s a peephole.” Yuki said, “So we can see out of it.”

Yuki unlocked the door and slid it up.

The locker was an eight foot wide by twenty-foot long room. For such a large room, it was surprisingly empty of stuff. A pile of supplies were piled in the corner of the locker. Some in cardboard boxes, others in plastic totes. Darren wasn’t sure what all the stuff was, it was all written in Japanese and his Japanese characters weren’t that good yet.