Chapter 5: "Forward," he cried, from the rearAika flopped backwards on her bed, feeling drained from her unproductive day. After lunch, they had come back to the hotel and assigned rooms and pairs. The two cops decided to stay together, which Aika didn’t think was very conductive to doing their jobs, but they hadn’t wanted to share a room with any of the criminals.
Takahashi and Niigaki had roomed together, much to Risa’s chagrin it looked like. At the same time, Aika didn’t think she protested as much as she could have; she decided to watch those two since there was obviously something going on between them. Lin had absolutely not wanted to room with Jun so the last rooms had been decided through a game of rock, paper, scissors.
Lin and Sayu had won the room with a balcony, while Aika and Jun had gotten stuck with the single window whose view was a close up of the brick building across from them. Speaking of her roommate, Aika looked at the door to see Jun leaning against the wall giving her a strange look. Unable to read the expression, Aika instead settled for the direct approach.
“What are you looking at?” she asked neutrally, watching the older girl tilt her head, it seemed as if she were weighing her next words carefully so as to not offend Aika.
“I was just wondering how you became a thief.” The older girl made her way over to the bed and hoisted her suitcase onto it, opening it to rifle through her things. She began to neatly set everything out on the bed, apparently intending to put them in the drawers.
“Well, how did you become good at hitting people?” Aika countered, a little ruffled at the question. She knew she was young, but still, did people think she was incapable?
“It was the only way to survive.” Jun replied easily, not pausing in her actions, “I didn’t mean to offend you, it’s just that…” Aika interrupted her heatedly.
“Just what, that I’m just a girl? That I’m too young?” Finally looking up, Jun gave her a hard stare.
“Just that you don’t look as if you have to resort to criminal activity to make a living. You look like a smart girl, you could have gone to school and gotten a part time job, like a normal teenager. Instead you chose this. It’s not exactly a common career choice for someone.” Aika deflated a little, rolling onto her side to face the wall. Why was she trying to pick a fight?
“I like it.” she said to the wall, “And it was the only job I could get that would support me. I tried the normal life, and so did my sister, but it was just the two of us. The opportunity just kind of fell into our laps. At first, my sis didn’t want me anywhere near it, but she’s just not a natural the way I am. Well, she wasn’t, my sister’s dead now and I had bills to pay so I became a thief full time.”
It was quiet behind her for a long time and then she heard a soft sigh. Aika was about to turn back over when a small yellow object bounced in front of her face. She felt her eyes cross as she focused on the object; a banana. Furrowing her brows, Aika picked up the fruit and sat up, turning to glance curiously at her roommate, who was already eating her own yellow treat.
Jun gave her an encouraging nod and Aika slowly peeled the banana, “Uh, thanks.” The two ate in silence.
After she was finished, Jun discarded her peel and returned to organizing her clothes, now beginning to put them in the large wardrobe that was set up in the middle of the room, Aika guessed that inside the top cabinet was the television.
“My brother was killed while I still lived in China when I was 13.” Jun started surprisingly, “He took the rap for a rookie hacker that he was friends with and ended up getting shot by the police in order to protect her. He was the smart one and I was the screw up, but he took care of me. When he died, I ran to Japan and lived on the streets for a while, doing what I had to to get by. When I was 15 I got noticed by this man and he took me in, using me as a bodyguard for his daughter.” She finally paused in putting away the last bit of her clothes, back facing her roommate, and Aika noticed her shoulders tense.
After a long, silent moment, Jun shook her head and turned back around, “But I like being able to flatten people who think they’re superior with one hit. I like my job, so I know what you mean. I’m not going to look down on you because you’re young and a criminal, and I don’t think the others will either. We’ve all been there to, you know?” Aika had to look away from her intense gaze, but nodded in response.
“Thanks.” She heard Jun make a noise in reply then begin to put away her suitcase. Aika figured she should probably put her clothes up as well, since it looked like they were going to be here a while, but at the moment, she just didn’t feel like it, “Hey do you mind if I shower first?”
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Sayumi pouted, she was very bored; having already put away her clothes and showered, she was now flipping through the channels on TV. She could hear the water running in the bathroom, indicating that her roommate was still enjoying the relaxing hot water. With a cute huff, Sayu flung herself to her feet and headed out onto the balcony.
“Oh!” She was surprised to see that she wasn’t the only one with the balcony idea, Risa returned her wide eyed look from the balcony to Sayu’s left, “Good evening Niigaki-san.”
“Good evening Michishige-san.” Was it Sayu’s imagination, or did she seem a little nervous?
Sayu watched her facial expression turn a little sour when she sat down on one of the reclining lawn chairs that were on the balcony. Seriously, lawn chairs? That was so cheap.
“So what are you up to?” Sayumi asked innocently, watching the curious expressions on the older girl’s face. Finally, she seemed to settle on exasperation.
“Well, I’m leaving for a while.” Risa finally said, lifting her hands up in plain sight. She was holding what appeared to be a very long, very thick, black rope.
Sayumi laughed, “What for? And where did you get that?” She watched in amusement as Risa tied the end securely around one of the decorative openings in the concrete balcony and threw the rest towards her.
“To get some things we need. Wrap that through one of those holes, yeah, like that.” Sayu did as she was instructed and tossed the rest back, “I’m mad that the cops won’t provide us with the info we need, so I’m going to go get it myself. As for where I got it, well, I have my ways.” Sayumi laughed again at the mischievous smirk that formed on those full lips.
The meeting tonight had been nothing but them running in verbal circles all night. Risa had clearly stated what they needed to go on with her plan, but was shot down at every angle.
‘We need files.’
‘No.’
‘The hacker needs a computer.’
‘Too risky at this point.’
‘Well, then one of us needs to go out there on her own and get the information, I suggest the so called actress.’
‘Haha, yeah right.’
‘Well, then why don’t you do it?’
‘Hell no.’And so on. It continued like this for way longer than it should have, before Risa had stormed off to her room in frustration and everyone else figured that meant that the meeting was adjourned.
“So what are you going to get?” Sayu asked as Risa dropped the rope off the side of the balcony. She stood and leaned over the side to get a better look, the rope slapped gently against the sides of the balconies below them down five stories and disappeared into a tree. It was so dark that it was almost invisible and Sayu applauded the older girl’s ingenuity.
“I’m going to go get those files. And possibly some computers.” Risa followed her gaze downwards and gulped, apparently afraid of heights.
“Computers?” Both girls turned at the sound of the voice behind Sayu and looked surprised at Lin, hair still wet from her shower and dressed in pajamas; neither had heard the door open.
“Yeah, you need computers to hack, right?” Risa confirmed, titling her head cutely.
“Well, yeah, but not just any computer will do. To hack, you need hacking programs, which only my computers have. My computers, that are sitting down at the precincts 23’s lock up.” Sayu perked up when she heard that.
“Precinct 23? That’s where my laptops and credit card readers were taken.” Risa tilted her head to the other side.
“Well, that’s where Tanaka and Kamei are from, that’s probably where all our stuff was taken.” The three looked at each other for a long moment.
“Well, that’s an odd coincidence.” Sayumi finally said, “But hey! Let’s make a night of this, I bet Jun Jun and Mitsui-chan have stuff there as well.”
“Okay.” Risa nodded amicably, “Let’s all go, we could probably use Mitsui-chan’s expertise.” Sayu could see the wheels turning in her head and she grinned and scampered back inside, heading towards Aika and Jun’s room.
“Okay, if we’re going to get my stuff back here, though, we’re going to need a big car.” Lin warned, going to get changed.
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“It looks pretty busy.” Lin stared at the precinct across the street from them in apprehension. The five lawless girls were sitting comfortably in a huge van that they had, ahem, borrowed from a parking garage near the hotel. Risa had made one stop at a sketchy little store on the way and then they had come straight here.
“Well, police stations are open 24/7.” Aika replied, leaning over the other girl to get a better look through the window.
“What’s the plan, boss?” Jun asked Risa, looking at her in the driver’s seat.
“This is the plan.” Risa held up what looked like a huge can with lettering painted on the side. “It’s an odorless, colorless sleeping gas and we’re going to put it into the air conditioning system. It should knock everyone out long enough for us to slip in and slip out without being noticed. It’s fast acting and dissipates quickly, so we won’t even need masks or anything to go in.” She noticed everyone’s awed stares.
“Where do you get this stuff? You’re like some kind of international spy freak.” Sayumi shook her head in amazement, sitting shotgun. Risa just laughed and ruffled her dark colored hair, in the right light it still appeared to have some blonde streaks even though she’d dyed it twice since being persuaded to join this merry little band.
“Ah, I just had to call in a few favors and I have been keeping up with gang news since I’ve been out of the game. After all, you’re never really out.” A couple of the girls nodded in understanding but Sayu just looked confused.
“Gang?” she asked curiously and she noticed the others shift around uncomfortably.
“I can see by everyone’s reactions that I’m not the only one?” Risa confirmed, turning her head to take in the others nods.
“All of you?” Sayu looked shocked. Risa nodded, pushing down the full length arm covering, in dark blue today, that Sayu had just realized she always wore.
Holding up her arm as though she were aiming a gun, Risa heard a slight gasp when her tattoo became visible in the dim light. It was of a rotting dragon corpse with snakes being glimpsed between where his flesh was rotting off. The tattoo was designed in such a way that it looked as if her arm was the dragon and her hand was protruding from his mouth. Everyone in the car gathered around to get a better look.
“I got it when I was 18. My mentor decided it was time for me to make my alliance official.” Risa explained a little wistfully, seeming to become lost in her memories for a second. She slowly put the covering back into place.
“I have one too.” Jun put her booted foot on the center console, lifting the bottom of one of her pant legs. The girl could just glimpse the tail end of a snake crawling up her shin and twisting around behind her knee. “There’s more but I’d need to take off my pants to show you the rest.” She chuckled quietly, apparently imagining this.
“I’m clean, only a few scars.” Lin admitted, “Though the guys I worked for always bugged me to get one, I’m afraid of needles.”
“I don’t have any tats but I was branded when I was younger, on my back.” Aika said quietly and again everyone nodded understandingly, except for Sayumi, who was confused again. “Anyway, enough of that, are we going to do this?”
“That’s depends, are you ready to fly?” Risa responded with a raised eyebrow.
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Aika had to bite her tongue to not scream as she was literally thrown onto to roof of the one story building. When Risa said fly, she didn’t think she meant Jun Jun would toss her through the air. She landed hard on her knees, having completely cleared the top of the building, and paused to catch her breath and push her heart back down into her chest.
When she was sure she wasn’t going to puke or something equally embarrassing, Aika poked her head over the side of the roof and gave her companions a thumbs up. She finally stood and continued with her simple mission, spying the large AC unit smack in the middle of the roof.
She reminisced about the last time she was on a roof and remembered that she certainly hadn’t been this confident before. But this was easy and she wasn’t being chased by a helicopter this time. Aika quickly scanned the skies, freezing in place for a second.
Nope, no helicopters. She hadn’t jinxed herself.
Anyway, Aika shook her head and searched the unit for a suitable place to toss the sleeping gas. Finally she found an opening the looked like it led straight down the vents and activated the little canister. She counted to three, then nonchalantly chucked it into the AC unit, just about the time that she heard the AC click on.
Mission accomplished, Aika grinned to herself and made her way back over to the edge of the roof. Looking down at the faces of her companions, Aika suddenly had a thought, how was she going to get down?
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Much, much later, the lawless girls were driving back to the hotel, feeling a little high on their successful criminal activities. All five chattered with each other like they had been friends forever and the van was packed full of computers, guns, and various thieving tools.
After Aika had been secured from the rooftop, basically she had hung down as far as she could and dropped into Jun’s strong arms, the girls had waltzed right in the front door and down to evidence lock up. Well, all but Lin had gone to lock up, which wasn’t even locked! Lin instead went to the security room to erase the footage of them in the building and then she decided to have some fun with intercom system.
“This is God.” She said in a deep voice, startling her companions in the evidence room “What you’re doing is wrong! My computers are over in the corner.” she added quietly.
After that they moved everything quickly outside to the van and loaded it up. When the last of their stuff was taken out of the buildings, the group couldn’t help but start laughing. They were going to get away with this, robbing a police station!
“I can’t believe we did that!” Sayumi repeated for the third time, eliciting more laughter from the others. She had never outright robbed a place before and she found it the most exhilarating of them all.
“Now we just have to hoist all this stuff back up onto the balcony.” Risa said with an ironic tone, laughing harder when she got groans.
They pulled the van in backwards where they had left the rope, quickly camouflaging it to blend in with the trees and beginning the tedious task of bringing their equipment back into the hotel. For a long moment, the five stared up into the darkness at the underside of Risa’s balcony, five stories up.
“You know, I don’t think I thought this part out well.” Risa admitted with a frown.
“I can get up there, no problem.” Aika boasted, raising a haughty eyebrow.
“Well, so can I.” Not to be outdone by the younger, Risa replied in the same tone, “Can you guys?” she turned to the other girls.
Jun nodded hesitantly, but Sayu and Lin gave negative responses. “Well, Jun, you up first. I’ll follow you, while you three secure the stuff and we’ll hoist it up, then we’ll pull you guys up. Aika will be last.” Risa delegated easily.
At first, Jun had a little trouble getting started up the rope, but then she began a steady ascent. Risa was after her, only a little faster as she knew what she was doing but didn’t have the pure muscle that Jun did.
Aika quickly rigged up a big box to be able to carry things up like a basket, starting with her lighter thieving tools and then Risa’s various weapons and even Jun’s few brass knuckles and small knives. Then they started carrying up Sayu’s laptops and Lin’s heavier desktops.
The first few loads were light in comparison to Lin’s loaded down computers. Risa and Jun really had to struggle to bring them up and when they finally got the box up onto the balcony, they worried that the commotion had awakened some of the hotel guests below them.
“We should wait a second.” Risa suggested, sharing a concerned look with Jun and glancing apprehensively over the balcony. They didn’t expect the door to open behind them and Ai to stick her head out.
“Risa!” she called loudly, nearly sending the addressed girl leaping over the side of the building in fright. Luckily, before Ai could continue and possibly wake the authorities across the hall, Jun jumped at her and covered her mouth.
“Oh my god! Ai-chan.” Risa held a hand over her heart, convinced she’d just had her life span lessened by a few years, “You scared me.” She finished lamely, noticing the death glare on the older girl’s face. She motioned Jun to let her go.
“Where have you been?! I’ve been worried sick about you!” Risa felt a sense of déjà vu; hadn’t she said the same thing to the other girl once? How odd to hear her own words being used against her so many years later. She felt something cold grip her heart, the last time she’d said that to Ai was just before the older girl broke her heart.
“You don’t have the right to say that to me Ai.” Risa said evenly, startling the girl into silence. Jun shifted uncomfortably, looking as if she wanted to be anywhere but there at the moment.
“We need to talk.” Ai stated softly, trying to hide the hurt in her eyes.
“Yes.” Risa agreed, “But not right this second, go inside, I’ll be there soon.” Ai sullenly complied.
There was a moment of silence as Risa stared at the door Ai had disappeared through. Finally she turned to Jun and gestured for her to lower the box again.
The two quickly finished hauling up the inanimate loads and then it was time for Sayu and Lin to be lifted. Sayu went up, squealing at first, but managing to quiet herself down after a few seconds. Then Lin strapped herself in and held on for dear life, half afraid that Jun would drop her.
When she finally made it to the top, surprisingly, it was Jun’s hand that pulled her onto the balcony and helped her out of the makeshift harness. Lin felt a flare of hope, Jun’s brother wouldn’t have wanted his two favorite girls to be mad at each other like this. He’d always said Lin was like another sister to him and that she was sure to get along with Jun, whom he adored. Unfortunately, he had died before the girls had properly met.
Once Aika was securely on the balcony, the girls all said their good nights and split up, planning to retire for the night. They could sort through their things in the morning.
Risa sighed, watching Sayu shut the curtain on her window. She turned to her own room, time to face the music, Ai was waiting.
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Topic: Black and Blue (Ch 34 6/4 The End!) (Read 153167 times)