Nathan Pedde - Tokyo Tempest

“It’ll be a beacon to the area,” Yuki said.

“I think that it’s worth the risk,” Darren said.

“So do I.” Yuki said, “I just wanted to make sure we knew the consequences of burning this thing.”

Darren poured gas from one of the jugs on the hood and on the inside of the truck. Darren took a lighter that he had pulled from the pocket of one of the soldiers. The lighter was one of the refillable kind that stayed lit real easily.

Darren and Yuki backed away from the truck and threw the lighter into the front seat of the truck. The truck lit up and burned brightly in the dark night.

The two of them hopped on their bikes and rode down the road away from the burning truck. Darren couldn’t see much as he lit the truck up. His night vision was gone, and it was taking its time to fix itself.

After they had gotten about a kilometer away, Yuki pulled up and stopped.

Four people stood in the darkness in front of them. They held flashlights and held them at Darren, and Yuki. The light blinded Darren again and he covered his eyes.

“Dear lord, you two look a mess.” An older man said.

Darren couldn’t make out who was talking to them due to the bright flashlights.

“What happened?” The older man said.

Yuki blubbered a few words.

“Wait.” The older man said, “Yuki Tanamoro? Is that you?”

“Mr. Sugihara?” Yuki said.

“Oh my god girl.” Mr. Sugihara said, “What happened? It sounded like there was a war going on?”

“Three army soldiers,” Yuki began, “tried to rape me. My friend here managed to save us.”

“A Gaijin.” Mr. Sugihara said, he looked at Darren and then went back to Yuki, “Yuki, where’s your dad?”

“I don’t know.” Yuki said, “He was at work when the earthquake hit. I don’t know if he got out. He didn’t show at the first rendezvous, so we’re heading to the secondary rendezvous.”

“At night? It’s past curfew” Mr. Sugihara said, “Wait. Let’s get back inside before those soldiers investigate that car fire.”

Darren and Yuki followed Mr. Sugihara along the road to where they came to a small cluster of houses. They were all built close together with their backyards facing together in an irregular circle. The front of the homes had an attached garage to them.

Mr. Sugihara looked at a younger-looking man, “Go un-bar the garage door so that they can put the bikes in there to lock up.”

Darren and Yuki put the bikes in the garage, and they quickly found their way to the living room. Mr. Sugihara used a flashlight to see his way around the townhouse. Darren noticed that all of the windows were covered up with small dark blankets.

The living room was minimalist in design. A simple TV rested on a stand against one wall, a couch along the other wall. No posters or pictures adorned the walls. The floor was covered with air mattresses and makeshift beds.

The beds were covered with a young woman and some small children.

“That’s my daughter-in-law.” Mr. Sugihara said, “My son died in the tsunami. They fled and came here.”

“The three other young men?” Darren asked, “Who are they?”

“Two are neighbors and they went back to bed,” Mr. Sugihara said, “The last lad is my other son. He has gone back upstairs to crawl back in bed with his girlfriend.”

Darren took off his boots at the door. Yuki followed suit.

“Hanso.” An older woman said quietly from upstairs, “Who are you talking to?”

Mr. Sugihara winced.

“Crap. That woman has the ears of a fox.” Mr. Sugihara said, “You better come down.”

Mr. Sugihara turned to Darren and Yuki.

“We better step into the den.” Mr. Sugihara said, “We shouldn’t wake the children.”

Darren and Yuki followed Mr. Sugihara into a small room off to the side of the living room. The room had a small desk with a computer on it.

Mr. Sugihara lit a small oil lamp.

“My wife is a nurse.” Mr. Sugihara said, “She’ll get you cleaned up.”

“You are too kind.” Yuki said, “But we don’t wish to impose on you. We can stay in the garage until tomorrow night and then we can be on our way.”

“Shut up.” Mrs. Sugihara said from behind them, “You, little missy, aren’t going anywhere.”

Mrs. Sugihara was an older lady who stooped when she walked. She did carry an air of superiority around with her. She was dressed in simple street clothes. Darren noticed that she probably wasn’t wearing a bra, but pretended not to notice. Her speech came out as a hoarse whisper, her attempts to quiet her voice were hampered by the need to chastise youngsters.

“I’m sorry…” Darren began.

“You can shut up too.” Mrs. Sugihara snapped, “It’s four in the morning. What in the world are you two teenagers doing riding around at this hour at night.”

Anger seethed up through his teeth.

Yuki put her hand on Darren’s arm.

“Oh, the Gaijin wants to speak angry words to his betters. Lets hear the American try and defend himself in proper Japanese, not that dirty foul English. Let’s hear it. Why were you criminals riding around at night after the curfew? The army could arrest you for being out after dark.”

Darren breathed deeply and calmed his fried nerves.

“I see that the Gaijin can’t speak.” Mrs. Sugihara said, “If these two criminals can’t defend themselves, then they can leave.”

“Woman.” Mr. Sugihara said, “You’re being unreasonable and rude. Calling this man a Gaijin. Not seeing these youngsters for who they are and not for…”

Darren put his hand on Mr. Sugihara’s shoulder.

“We are sorry to bother you.” Darren said in Japanese, “We will leave.”

“No.” Mr. Sugihara said, “You two are too injured to go back out.”

“And we aren’t going to receive any help from a judgmental harpy.” Darren said, “I’ll leave and trust my injuries to Yuki.”

A cold hush sprang around the room as Darren walked towards the door.

“What did you call me?” Mrs. Sugihara said.

“A judgmentally harpy,” Darren said.

“I am not…” Mrs. Sugihara said, before being interrupted by Darren.

“Shut up.” Darren said, “I don’t care about you or your feelings. I don’t care about your customs or your etiquette. I am not Japanese, and I don’t care. Your customs and etiquette almost got Yuki raped and killed not two kilometers from your house. You want to know why we ride out in the dark? Cause the fucking Yellowstone volcano erupted and blew up. Tsunamis and earthquakes ravage the globe and don’t seem to be getting better. And now the people have gone mad. If you walk down the street in most parts of what’s left of Tokyo, you’ll be killed just in case you have a granola bar in your pocket. Some people are eating people. Think about that. Let that roll around in your tiny little judgmental brain. You want to know why we ride at night? So we will live another day. Riding in the day might get us killed. Now if we’re done, and we aren’t going to receive any help, then I withdraw my acceptance to receiving help from you and will excuse myself from your presence. I’ll go bleed on the streets where my criminal ass belongs.”

“No.” Mrs. Sugihara said, “I’m sorry. I forgot that there’re others that need help too.”

“What was that all about Mr. Sugihara.” Yuki turned to her old teacher.

“My wife gets cranky when she gets woken up at four in the morning by a war.” Mr. Sugihara said, “Especially when I run out into the night and bring back people who need our help.”

Mrs. Sugihara turned to her husband.

“Go to bed. I’ll patch these two up the best I can.” She said and then she turned to Darren, “I’ll need you to step outside and wait until I have looked at this girl.”