Nathan Pedde - Tokyo Tempest

Darren was slightly shocked by Yuki’s photo storage area.

“What? I don’t have any pockets in this,” Yuki said.

“Then where do you keep your money?” Darren asked.

Yuki looked at Darren with a you-got-to-be-kidding-me look.

“Right.” Darren said, “Too much information.”

“Come. Let’s go check out the manga shop.” Yuki said.

Her phone buzzed suddenly.

Yuki pulled out her phone.

“Sweet.” She said, “My dad says that we are meeting up at the restaurant. He wants you to call your brother and have him ready to go.”

“Where are we going for food?”

“An all you can eat sushi place,” Yuki said.

“Sounds good,” Darren said, “I better text Anthony and make sure that he is okay anyway.”

Darren pulled out his phone and opened it up.

A news article flashed on the screen.

The article said, ‘Yellowstone swells as multiple micro-shakes rocks the area. Scientists urge calm, but have issued an evacuation alert to anyone within five hundred miles of the epicenter.’

Darren swiped at the screen and opened his messaging application.

Darren looked at it. There was a couple from Anthony.

“It looks like Anthony had sent a couple of messages.”

“Oh, what did he say?” Yuki asked.

“He got hungry. Didn’t want to order anything. He ate some leftovers in dad’s fridge and is now feeling sick.”

“That idiot.”

Darren typed, “Are you sure? All you can eat sushi?”

“Yes.” Anthony texted, “Not throwing up yet. Just massive stomach cramps. I am going to go to sleep. Tell dad to not to worry. See you later.”

“He is not that sick.” Darren said, “He probably cleaned dad’s out of junk food and is now feeling it.”

“Having siblings must make things fun,” Yuki said.

“Yes.” Darren said, “I keep forgetting that you have none.”

“Not a one.”

Darren followed Yuki down the street back to the mall. It was still full of people shopping. They browsed through the store. Yuki wanted him to buy stuff, but he had no interest in it at the moment.

“I’ll bring my brother here tomorrow.” Darren said, “You can come with.”

“Sounds good.” Yuki said, “We should get to the sushi place.”

The trip from downtown to the restaurant was shorter than the trip to the mall.

Darren thought that Yuki had led them onto a different train route than before, but he wasn’t sure as he had gotten turned around in all of the tunnels.

The train had gone from traveling below ground to above ground at one point.

After a few moments, Darren and Yuki got off the train. The station that they arrived at was farther away from downtown than Darren’s dads were. It was almost double the distance away and in the entirely different direction than his dad’s apartment.

The neighborhood around the station was larger warehouse-style buildings. Darren saw that there was a small strip of shops to one side of the street. The other side of the road was filled with warehouses.

“This is a little out of the way,” Darren said.

“This is their favorite place,” Yuki said.

“I know.” Darren said, “And it is close to work, so they go there all the time for lunches and dinners.”

Darren followed Yuki down the road to the small strip of shops. The shops looked like they were selling car parts and paint. Except in the middle of the rows of stores was a little sushi restaurant. The sign to the restaurant was hand painted with a red background and black lettering. It was called Sushi Sushi. Darren smiled to himself as he read the sign.

Darren and Yuki walked into the sushi restaurant. The restaurant was decorated with an assortment of different types of cats. Cat pictures, figurines, and stuffed animals were all over the restaurant. There were small Chinese style cats next to kitty hello cats. There were cats everywhere.

The hostess, a teenage girl, stood by the front entrance. She wore a set low cut white blouse and a short red skirt. A pair of cat ears sat on her head.

“Hello.” The Hostess said, “Party of two?”

Yuki looked at her. “Is my dad here?”

“Oh. Yuki.” The hostess said, “He’s over in the back booth.”

“Their regular booth?”

“Yes.”

Darren followed Yuki through the store to the back of the mostly empty restaurant. Only a couple people sat at the tables. To Darren, they looked like warehouse workers.

Off to one side was a large sushi bar. The bar was long enough for three sushi chefs to work at the same time. Behind the bar was a single sushi chef, who worked at a breakneck pace.

At the back of the restaurant was a half dozen booths. The booths were semi-enclosed tables that you sat on the floor at. Each had a small shoe rack by the entrance and a coat rack. The booth was enclosed by decorative half walls and curtains over the opening.

Yuki peeked her head into the booth.

“Boo,” Yuki said.

“Yuki!” A deep male Japanese voice said, “Come in. Come in.”

Yuki took off her shoes and opened up the curtain.

Darren took off his shoes, as well as his jacket and his fedora.

Darren’s dad, or Freddi, was in his mid-forties. He had long dark brown hair and a very hawkish nose. The same nose that Anthony had. Darren was lucky in that regard. Freddi was wearing a business suit, a white button-up shirt, and a tie.

Freddi sat on the floor to one side of the table and across the table was Yuki’s dad.

Yuki’s dad or Masaki Tanamoro was also in his mid-forties. He was completely bald, and Darren could see that he shaved his head regularly as he could see the shadow of hair around the edges of his round head. He was also dressed in business attire.

Both men wore happy smiles on their faces. They also had slightly red cheeks from the empty bottle of sake on the table.

“We started without you.” Mr. Tanamoro said to Yuki.

Darren bowed to Mr. Tanamoro.

“Hello, Mr. Tanamoro,” Darren said as he sat next to his dad.

Darren looked down at the closed menu that sat at the end of the table. Darren pointed at it.

“Have you thought of anything for Anthony? I was thinking of ordering something and having it delivered to your apartment, but I ran out of time.”

“No worries.” Freddi said, “I got that covered. We got here twenty minutes ago, and I had them deliver a bunch of sushi to him. We also ordered a large tray of food for us. It should be here soon. I hope you are hungry.”

The food arrived a couple of moments later. Trays and trays of sushi were placed before them.

“Now this is a generous meal.” Darren said, “Thank you, dad.”

“Don’t thank me.” Freddi said, “It is all Masaki’s doing.”

“Thank you Mr. Tanamoro for the meal,” Darren said.

“No worries.” Mr. Tanamoro said, “I would do anything to help my star engineer out.”

Darren loaded his plate up with sushi. He was unsure what some of the different types were, but he didn’t care. After Darren picked up a particular piece, Freddie shift in his chair.

“Um. Son…” Freddie said.

“Don’t tell me what anything is.” Darren said, “If its something that I’ll find repulsive, tell me tomorrow. Tonight I plan on eating a bit of everything.”

Darren ate his fill in silence. He noticed that Yuki ate without saying much either. Freddi and Mr. Tanamoro did most of the talking. And laughing. They told each other stories about each of their kids growing up.

During the dinner, Darren learned some things about Yuki. She hates spiders, and that her mom died when she was young.

Yuki learned stuff about him too. His first words, the name of his favorite stuffed animal, and other equally embarrassing things that he would sooner not have anyone know about.