The Runaways In Tokyo

Chapter 9

The Shadow Operation

Around an hour later…

'Beep, Beep, Beep'

The laundry is now done.

"Finally! Now I just have to get dressed."

"Pants, shirt, socks, tie, and boom!"

"Alright, Mei! I'm ready to go! What about you?"

"Yeah, let's get going," Mei responds.

"Aaaah." Kyo sighs as he is about to open the door.

'Ding'

"Okay, let's go, Mei; how much is a ticket to Yamaguchi?"

"How am I supposed to know? We'll, we have to look at the board when we get there."

"Right, also, how much money do you have on you because I have none."

"I also have like none."

"Seriously, then we must figure out how to make money."

"You must be dumb; there is already an easy way to make money."

"The Shopping District"

"Wait, seriously, does that mean I have to stay in the dead space even longer…" Kyo lets out a groan.

"The dead space?" Mei asks.

"Oh yeah, that's just what I call this part of Tokyo. The dead space."

"The most gruesome, most poverty, most drugs, and just everything that you would not expect is about here."

"Fair enough," Mei responds.

"Well, we better get going to the shopping district," Mei says.

"Yeah, let's go."

FUck… we're here. Kyo thinks.

Animals' brains for 15000 yen!

Medicine! All-natural medicine! For 1,000,000 yen!

…

"Fuck, this place sucks, anyway, what should we do to get money here?"

"I don't know. I guess we will have to look around and see if there is anything easy enough to do."

"Tchhh," Kyo makes noises with his mouth.

"Huug! Godam, the smell never gets any better in the dead space and only worsens in the shopping district."

We've been walking for around five minutes through the nasty shopping district; I stepped through waters that I thought could kill me, smelled so bad you could vomit, and, worst of all, we found nothing easy to do. We had only seen people fighting each other over who gets what and the terrible things the shopping district has to offer.

"It sure is tough to find anything easy to do," Mei says

"The easiest thing I've seen is…"

"Try this medicine and get paid 1000 yen today!"

"Which is obviously a scam; the medicine is just a drug that knocks you out or, at worst, kills you, then they rob you of your stuff."

"Pathetic."

'Yeah…" Kyo says.

"Hey you kids! Over there!" A strange guy from a booth tries to get Kyo's and Mei's attention.

"Hmm? Us," Kyo points to himself.

"Yes, you! Come here!"

Kyo and Mei walk up to the booth.

What does this person want? I mean, hell, the booth looks terrible, and that's surprising, considering all the booths in the shopping district are in horrible shape. This booth doesn't even have a name, and it doesn't tell you what they are selling, either. It's already giving off bad vibes, and to make it worse, it has a curtain, so you can't even see the guy's face.

"Okay, what do you want with us?" Kyo asks.

The person behind the curtain moves the curtain to the side and reveals themselves.

"Woah, are you on your last legs, you old fart?"

"Who you calling old fart?" The man replies.

"I asked you guys over here because you guys looked like you needed something."

"Yeah, so what if we do?" Kyo responds.

"Well, depending on what you need, I might be of help."

"Really now? Well, we need money."

"Money, huh? l see now, that is something I can help you and your quiet friend over there."

"I have a job you guys can do if you are willing to do it."

"Why would we trust you? We don't even know your name yet," Kyo says in a slightly pitched voice.

"Fair enough, the old man says. Let's start with introductions, then. My name is Ralph."

"Hmmm, like I'll tell you my name."

"Isn't that right, Mei."

"Ahhh," Mei puts her hand to her hand in disappointment.

"Oh shit, I just said your name my bad."

"Yes, we need money, and this dumbasses name over here is Kyo," Mei says.

"Ahhh, Kyo and Mei are fine names." The old man says.

"Tchhh," why should we trust this old fart? This guy looks to be in his 70s, and he has four strips of hair on his head, a serious balding issue, his clothes are all ripped apart, and he's missing teeth.

"Alright, if you guys would come inside." Ralph opens the front of the booth like a gate.

"What the hell?" Kyo says under his breath.

Kyo whispers in Mei's ear.

"Hey, are we seriously going to trust this old fart?"

"Yes, for now."

"Fuck." 

Kyo and Mei walk into a tiny space.

"Take a seat," says Ralph.

When they enter, they see two wooden chairs sitting in front of Ralph and Ralph sitting in another wooden chair across from them.

"Did we seriously have to do it in here?" Asks Kyo.

"Just take a seat; we can't have the competition here on my plan."

Yep, this old fart is crazy. Kyo thought.

"Okay, we have taken a seat, so what is this plan of yours," Kyo says sarcastically.

"If you guys want an easy way to win money, I have it."

"A fighting ring."

"Huh? Are you saying that we will have to fight?"

"No, just you, Kyo. I don't make women fight."

"Isn't that sexist?" Kyo asks.

Mei elbows Kyo in the side. "Shut up."

"Aaahh." Kyo sighs.

"Okay, so the plan is to have you fight three times."

"Hmm three times?" Kyo questions Ralph.

"Yes, only three, and you will lose three of three times."

"What! Lose all three!"

"Yes, all three, and I will tell you why."

"You see, this fighting ring is much different from others. It has a multiplier. The more you lose, the higher your multiplier will go up."

"Of course, the winners will also get a multiplier, but it will be much lower; this is how the betting system works."

"Betting system?" Kyo asks.

"And of course, if you can guess, people will always bet on the person they think will win, which will be the person with the better win record of the night."

"So, how does this make us money?" Kyo asks.

"It's simple: you lose your first three fights to build up your multiplier, and then we will have you win against your fourth fight, so you will actually be fighting four fights tonight."

"And if it isn't obvious already, we will need another faction to help us with this."

"During your fourth fight, the person you are fighting will be someone we hand-picked, and the second faction will bet a ton of money on the loser, which would be you, and the person you are fighting will simply let themselves get knocked out."

"That simple, and I would get a cut, which, in return, I would also pay a small sum to you guys."

"It better be a lot, considering I would be the one fighting."

"Trust me, you will have plenty."

"Okay, time for questions."

"Yeah, I have one," Kyo says.

"How does the fight work? And what are the rules?"

"Great question!"

"Okay, so let me explain: a fight will consist of one round, no timer, and the winner is essentially the first to tap out or get knocked out."

"And the one rule we have is that if someone taps you three times, no matter what, the fight is over."

"Mmm, okay. And we fight however we want?"

"Yes, and I should mention another thing: no weapons. That is another rule."

"Just martial arts."

"Ahhh, got it. But what if you don't know how to fight?"

"That's your problem."

"Anyhow, what we call this operation is the Shadow Operation."

"Cool."

"Okay, so when do I fight?"

"Your first fight is at 5:00 pm."

"Dam, that's far off." Kyo starts biting his thumb, trying to decide what to do.

"We'll do it." Mei steps in.

"Okay, great, see you at 5:00 then," Ralph says.

"WaIt wHaT," Kyo says.

"Come on, let's go!" Mei says.

Kyo and Mei leave the booth, and Raplh waves them goodbye as they do.

"Fuck are you dumb? I can't fight. I'll die in there!" Kyo says in a panic.

"Look, let's look for something else until the time comes, okay? Maybe we find something better; does that sound like a better idea?"

"Aaahh, okay." Kyo says.

"Alright, well, we better get going Mei says if you don't want to have to step in the ring."

"Yeah, Yeah, Let's go."

Hmm fuck, what are we going to do? No matter how I look at it seems I'm fucked either way.

"Hey, calm down. We will just have to keep looking around; if you hear someone shouting anything interesting, please speak up."

"Come play with me and my dolls for 5000 yen!

Man, that one just sounds weird.

"Come take drugs for 6500 yen!

It sounds like the scam Mei was talking about.

"Card game! Play cards! If you win, you get the ultimate Jackpot of 1,500,00 yen!"

"Hey, that one sounds easy!" Kyo points at the booth in excitement.

"So you were thinking the same thing, huh? Well, let's go check it out."

"Howdy! How are you guys doing? " the man at the front of the booth greets them.

What the hell is wrong with this guy? He's very tall and has a country boy's accent.

"This is the booth with the card game, right?" Kyo asks.

"While, yes, it is!"

"Great, my friend and I would like to have a go at it."

"Great, but there is an entrance fee!"

"What, seriously!"

"Yepi do!"

"Aaaahhh!"

'Cough, Cough'

"Hey, just let them in!" A person speaks.

"wHaT! We can't just let them in!"

"I said what I said, let them in!"

"Tccchh, fine, you can come in." The guy holds the purple cloth guarding the entrance to welcome them in.

"Hah!" Kyo laughs.

"Why hello there, please take a seat."

Hmm she's an old lady? She's wearing purple clothes all around her and has a purple thing on her head.

"Hey, if I may ask a question, what's that on your head? Is it some type of scarf?"

"Ah, this is called a hijab."

"Woah, where did you get that?"

"I got it before the war while traveling the world."

"Woah, someone that has actually traveled the world insane!"

"Yes, It was definitely something…" The old lady says.

"Okay, before we start this game, we should introduce ourselves. My name is Annabelle."

"Okay my name is Kyo Ito."

"My name is Mei."

"Lovely names."

"Now, shall we get started with the game?"

"Yes, please, let's get started," Kyo says.

"Hey, let me play this game," Mei says.

"Huh, you sure? I mean, if you want that."

"Yes, these are my type of games."

Kyo and Mei are seated just across from Annabelle with a wooden table and a piece of golden purple cloth separating them.

"Okay, here's the cards." Annebelle throws them down on the table.

"Huh?"

"Cards with clown faces on them?" Kyo says.

Chapter 9 End