Nathan Pedde - Tokyo Tempest

“And there’s the safety.” Darren said, and flicked it off, “Its loaded, but no round is chambered.” Darren pulled back the slider and let it go. “Now its ready to fire.” Darren released the magazine and put it on top of the filing cabinet. He pulled back the slider and released the chambered round. With a flick of his finger, the safety was back on.

“It seems like you know what you’re doing?” Yuki said, “How do you know how to do that?”

“Video games.” Darren said, “and movies.”

Darren reloaded the handgun using the magazine that he had put on the filing cabinet. He put it in his inside coat pocket. It stayed secure in the big pocket. Darren put the two extra loaded magazines in his other inside coat pocket. The remaining rounds went into his backpack.

“We shouldn’t use that though.” Yuki said, “It could cause us lots of trouble.”

“Only if we have to.” Darren said, “We only have a limited amount of bullets.”

A glass ping echoed in the silent office.

“What was that?” Yuki asked.

Darren crouched down and threw the backpack onto his back. He crept his head out of the office and looked out into the central office area. The big windows had a large crack and an impact point from a large heavy object.

“Someone’s trying to break in.” Darren whispered, “We need to get across the office to the other end and get out of here.”

Yuki nodded.

“How?”

“The street is lower than we are.” Darren said, “If we crouch down, they won’t see us.”

Darren and Yuki both crouched down with their bellies on the floor. Darren kept himself as far away from the window as possible.

He looked out at the window, and he could see the heads of the people who were trying to break into the office.

After another moment of crawling, Darren reached the doorway. They crawled into the storage bay.

Yuki followed quickly behind him. Once she was in, he quietly closed the door behind him, putting the door hinge pins back into place.

“Problem.” Yuki said, “The door locks on the other side.”

Darren turned on his light.

“Stay here.” Darren said, “Listen to them. I’m going to see if I can’t get a locker open. I’ll pile a locker full of heavy boxes in front of this door.”

Yuki nodded.

Darren looked to the side and saw a nice long row of push carts. Darren grabbed a cart and pushed it down the hallway. After he had gone far enough that the gang of thugs couldn’t hear him, Darren got to work.

Using the knowledge of the sliding door to Yuki’s locker, Darren knew that the door locks consisted of two bars that slid horizontally into place when you turned the key.

Darren shoved the crowbar into the wood frame where he thought that the bar was. After a couple minutes of bashing, Darren broke a chunk out of the frame. Darren pushed the gate back into itself and shoved at the now exposed bar to get it and the other one in the door to unlock.

Darren slid the door up. The locker was filled with boxes. Darren picked up a box. It was light.

“Shit,” Darren said.

He tossed the box out into the hallway and grabbed a few more. The third box was cumbersome. After another couple minutes, the cart was full of heavy boxes.

Darren pushed the cart over to the office door. He walked using careful footsteps on the concrete floor. The cart squeaked as he neared Yuki.

Yuki motioned quiet and for him to kill the light.

“They’re on the other side searching the office,” Yuki said when Darren stood next to her.

“Then let’s pile these boxes quickly so I can go back for more,” Darren said.

Darren stacked four trips worth of boxes in front of the door.

“No one’s getting through those doors,” Yuki said.

“Shh,” Darren said.

A voice echoed through the office.

“We got the main register, but it looks like this place was hit before we got here.” A thug said on the other side of the door.

“Why are we hitting a storage unit?” A voice said.

“Cause its an easy hit and we’re here.” The first voice said, “And there could be a storage unit full of gold in here.”

“Or grandpa’s old socks. I think we need to look elsewhere. If someone got the office first, then they might be in the storage unit. Let’s not get into a fight.”

Footsteps echoed away, then the sound of boots on glass echoed. Then there was nothing.

“That was close,” Darren said.

Darren slumped onto a box.

Yuki laughed, and Darren looked at Yuki with a raised eyebrow.

“This box says Grandpa’s socks,” Yuki said.

“That one was way heavier than socks,” Darren said.

Yuki shrugged.

“What time is it?” Yuki asked.

“Nearly five in the evening.” Darren said, “It’ll be dark soon.”

“We should head back to the storage unit,” Yuki said.

“Yeah we should, but I’m worried about securing this place,” Darren said.

“After some food, maybe we can look around for some ideas,” Yuki said.

“Sounds like a plan,” Darren said.

Darren and Yuki banged on the storage unit door.

“What’s the password,” Sakiko yelled from inside the storage unit.

“Open up Sakiko,” Yuki said.

Sakiko opened the door. The door slid up to reveal Sakiko standing in front of them. The oil lamp was lit from the ceiling. Sakiko stood in her bra and panties.

“Took you long enough.” Sakiko said, “Did you find anything out there?”

Darren turned beet red and turned around, away from Sakiko.

“Sakiko.” Yuki said, “Can you please put some clothes on?”

“Do you know how hot it is in here?” Sakiko said, “Especially when you’ve been cleaning?”

Darren peeked behind himself. A bunch of rags were piled in a corner by the door. A bucket of some type of cleaner beside them.

“Put a shirt on at least,” Yuki said.

“Darren can look.” Sakiko said, “If it’s okay with you Yuki.”

Yuki was silent for a moment.

“It’s not like we’re dating or anything.” Yuki said, “I suppose that a bra and panties are no worse than you walking around in a bikini.”

Darren turned around. Sakiko had rubber gloves on, in addition to her red bra and panties.

“Where did you find that underwear?” Darren asked.

“Why?” Sakiko asked.

“Cause when we pulled you out of your house, you had nothing but a pair of pink panties on,” Darren said.

“They’re Yuki’s.” Sakiko said, “We’ve been trading clothes since we were young, so they fit me.”

The boxes were all stacked to the back of the storage unit. It left the entire front of the storage unit clear and empty of boxes. On the floor of the unit was a blanket with their bags on top of it.

Sakiko placed her hand on Darren’s chest.

“Stop right there.” Sakiko said, “I spent all afternoon cleaning this unit to make it livable. Take your shoes and your dirty clothes off right here.”

“But my pants are filthy…” Darren said.

“And I’m in my underwear.” Sakiko said, “Strip.”

Yuki laughed and smiled. She took her shoes off as she closed the sliding door behind them.

“You too.” Sakiko said, “You’re just as dirty.”

Darren’s face turned red again as he took off his shoes, pants, and shirt. He felt nervous and uncomfortable wearing nothing but his boxers. But then Yuki and Sakiko were in their underwear too.

“Happy,” Yuki said.

“Very.” Sakiko said as she looked at Darren with a grin, “I didn’t actually think you’d listen to me.”

Darren walked onto the blanket and sat down. Yuki followed him and sat beside him.

Sakiko took the rubber cleaning gloves off and threw them into the rag pile. She sat down in front of them. Her legs crossed.