18
As night fell over the facades of the Yakuza penthouse, towering high over the city, Chong's chefs paraded from the kitchen with platters of sushi, accompanied by bottles of the finest liquors. The sheer volume of food and drink took up nearly all the space on the large dining room table.
Chong toasted Arthur and everyone raised their glasses to the man of the moment, and Arthur had to admit; it felt good, he liked the praise and attention, but he also felt guilty for taking the credit when he knew it was Pierre who deserved the glory for his achievement. Arthur looked around the table and noticed Pierre hadn't returned from his outing.
The twins sat next to one another and ate with lady-like modesty; the Panda on the other hand, wasted no time stuffing his wide face (using his good hand) and washing it down with gulps of beer. Even Jack was much more relaxed after indulging in a bit of alcohol.
With everyone's meals coming to a satisfying end the servants started bustling around in the background, going to work on clearing the table. Chong belched loudly then clapped his hands, summoning half a dozen Japanese escorts, patiently waiting in the wings, wearing only thongs and high heels. Abby shifted her chair close to Arthur's and put her hand on his knee, sending a clear signal to the girls that he was off limits.
The party went into full swing when two of the escorts climbed onto the table and started dancing seductively to the beat of the electronic music. Chong had two girls on his lap, whispering in his ears while their hands wandered below his belt. The twins stood up and politely excused themselves from the table. The sumo took his pick of the girls and promptly disappeared into a back room, with a bottle of scotch tucked under his good arm.
"I'm gonna go to bed," Arthur said, leaning in close to Jack's ear and raising his voice over the music.
Jack nodded and took another swig from his glass. One of the escorts sauntered by and sat down on Jack's knee, draping her arm around his neck.
"What can I say," Jack said, a little embarrassed. "I'm a single man, unlike you. See ya tomorrow, kid."
Arthur and Abby got up from the table and thanked Chong for his hospitality. His face was half-buried in a pair of breasts at that point. Then they made their way to Arthur's room and shut the door behind them.
"Crazy party, huh?" Arthur said.
"A bit too crazy for my taste," Abby said.
There was a knock at the door.
"I swear, if it's one of those hookers I'm gonna-" Abby said, opening the door to find Hiroko and Mei in the doorway.
"If you would still like to see Tokyo after dark, our offer still stands," Mei said with a mischievous smile. "Don't worry, Jack has retired to his room for the night. We will be back before dawn."
Arthur glanced at Abby.
"Well," Abby shrugged, "when are we ever going to be in Japan again?"
Arthur and Abby snuck out down the hall, following the twins. Chong was the only one left in the dining hall with the prostitutes, but he seemed to be enjoying himself. Arthur spotted three girls now dancing on the table; one of them was taking off her thong, while another pulled out a plastic tube of ping-pong balls from her handbag.
The twins ushered Arthur and Abby past the dining area, keeping hidden in the broad shadows cast by the pillars. Further down the hallway they entered through a wide, wooden door into a dark loft that overlooked the city skyline.
Hiroko flicked on the lights, illuminating floor-to-ceiling windows which offered a breathtaking, panoramic view of Tokyo at night. The open-plan room was basically a large apartment on its own, separate from the rest of the penthouse. It had equally high ceilings, housing a two-floor living space and a kitchen area.
Despite the twins being of the fairer sex the place had a care free, man-cave feel to it. There were shelves lining the wall in the sitting room with rows of outrageously curvy manga figurines. And a motley collection of gaming consoles crowded a coffee table under the television.
"Nice place," Arthur said, walking over to an old PAC-Man arcade machine near the kitchen and twiddling one of the joysticks.
"Thank you," Mei said. "We are gamers at heart, with a love of the older, nostalgic varieties."
"I think eccentric is the word," Abby said, eyeing an eight foot Godzilla statue outside on the balcony.
"I can borrow you a dress if you like?" Mei said, glancing at Abby's figure and concluding they were roughly the same body size.
"Sure," Abby said. "That'd be nice of you."
"I'll wait here," Arthur said, slumping down into a Hello Kitty beanbag in the TV room.
The three girls went upstairs, leaving Arthur by himself. Outside the door Arthur heard a glass breaking, followed by laughter from the hookers outside in the hall. Then someone turned up the music, it sounded like Chong's party was only getting started.
Arthur admired the room full of colorful action figures, all staring back at him in heroic, paused-action-poses. He could hear the murmurs of Abby and the twins talking upstairs. Arthur hadn't felt completely alone in his own head since he became a bearer, and he probably never would again. There was a constant sense of crowded thoughts in his mind. He thought he ought to use the time to meditate; he didn't want the spirits to get restless. Arthur curled up his legs beneath him on the cushy stuffing of the beanbag and closed his eyes. He could hear the twins' voices from upstairs: "Here, try this one," he heard Mei say.
A hint of perfume came from upstairs, probably carried in by a breeze from an open window, and registered in Arthur's nostrils. He breathed in and out steadily, trying to focus on the task at hand, but his mind inevitably began to wonder.
They were prettying themselves up, he thought. Arthur just couldn't help but be curious about seeing them getting dressed.
Maybe I should drop in and see what they're up to, he thought. Nothing creepy, just a quick peek.
Arthur's eyes glinted to black and a single raven hopped out from his collar and onto his shoulder. The bird checked out the sitting room with its beady black eyes, then looked towards the steps leading upstairs. It fluttered up into the air and landed on the second floor hand-rail, then hopped down onto the floor and hobbled in through the half-open doorway.
Arthur was delighted when he saw what the bird was looking at; Abby was pulling on a pretty satin cocktail dress over her hips, and to Arthur's astonishment the twins were also in various stages of undress; their bare skin heavily-tattooed.
The raven crept over to the edge of the bed and hid behind the corner of the mattress, peeking out only ever so slightly. The girls hadn't spotted the spy, waddling into the room with its clunky talons muted by the carpet.
The raven (and Arthur) watched as Hiroko secured the straps of her bra while chatting with Abby about the nightlife back home in Los Angeles. At the other end of the room Mei, who was stark-naked except for her body-art, flicked through the outfits in her closet indecisively.
Arthur noticed that both the twins had full-body tattoos that covered most of their skin. There were large phoenix designs at the center of their backs in brilliant orange and turquoise ink. The artwork also included other embellishments, like pink cherry-blossom petals and white lotus flowers, decorating the further reaches of their arms and legs. The body art neatly faded out after the bends of their elbows and knees, as if they were wearing three-quarter wet suits. The colorful ink made the twins appear to be clothed even while completely naked, only sensitive areas like their breasts and genitals were left unmarked.
Mei walked over to the bed where she had left a black dress draped over the covers. The raven, sensing it was about to be discovered, backed away clumsily, ruffling its feathers against the side of the mattress. Mei was surprised when she spotted the bird at her feet, but made no sound to alert the others. She glanced at Hiroko and Abby who were both unaware of the feathered spy in their midst. Mei stood over the raven while it stared up at her exposed crotch. The raven's keen eyesight left nothing to Arthur's imagination; from the way she groomed her pubic hair to the gentle slope of her breasts, everything was on display in the soft light of the bedside lamp.
"Holy fucking shit," Arthur whispered, sitting downstairs on the beanbag. He felt his pants tighten slightly.
Mei knelt down, almost on top of the raven, and cupped one hand over her breast, while trailing her fingers over her crotch with the other. "Is this what you were hoping to see, Arthur?" she teased in a whisper, while grinning at the bird. She reached out to pet the raven but it collapsed into a pile of feathers before her fingertips could touch it.
Downstairs Arthur's eyes faded back to blue. He pretended to stare out the window while checking the stairway from the corner of his eye. After about fifteen minutes he heard the bedroom door open.
"We're ready," Mei announced, flashing Arthur a naughty smile as she came down the stairs, followed by Abby and Hiroko, all of them now wearing stylish cocktail dresses. Arthur felt himself blushing. He unfolded from the beanbag while trying to hide his erection.
"You look really nice," he said to Abby.
Down in the garage Arthur and Abby followed the twins past rows of parked cars to the very end of the lot. Two dark shapes lurked up ahead: instruments of speed, lying in wait, and covered beneath fabric tarps. Hiroko bent over and whipped off one of the tarps dramatically, like a table-cloth-trick, revealing a shiny, black Nissan GT-R.
"Nice," Arthur said, taking a walk around the car. "I've heard car fanatics call it 'Godzilla'".
"That's right," Hiroko said patriotically, "it's Japan's answer to Ferrari."
Mei unmasked the second car: a Honda NSX from the nineties. It looked menacing, low to the ground and wide; except for the pink paint job and Hello Kitty decals on the doors.
Arthur laughed, "That's like a lion dressed up in a ballerina outfit."
"My sister is obsessed with Hello Kitty," Hiroko said, rolling her eyes.
Mei plucked two sets of keys from her handbag and tossed one over to Arthur. "You take the GT-R," she said. "I'm sure you would prefer it over the pink kitten, here?"
"My kind of gals," Arthur said. "Looks like we're gonna get along just fine."
Abby gave him a sideways glance, hiding a streak of jealousy.
"Shall we?" Mei said.
"Lead the way," Arthur said, swinging the key-ring around his finger.
The twins got into the Honda and the engine fired up with a high pitched yelp. Arthur opened the GT-R's door for Abby, then got in behind the wheel and started it up. He blipped the throttle and the exhausts barked loudly in the barren parking lot.
Outside on the street the twins pulled out slowly over the curb, to avoid scraping the NSX's low front end. Arthur and Abby followed in the Nissan, turning onto a narrow side-street next to the apartment building; there was hardly any traffic at that time of night.
The two cars pulled away, slowly at first; Mei was waiting to see if Arthur would pass her. He took the chance and sped up in the GT-R then she floored the NSX, not about to be outpaced by a foreigner. The two cars rocketed down the nearly deserted street, with snarling engine notes echoing against the skyscrapers. Hiroko skipped a red light and Arthur sped up in the GT-R to keep up. Abby shot him a look of disapproval, which he happily ignored. They flew down the road with Japanese sign-boards blurring by their windows in a haze of neon gibberish. Hiroko turned in sharply at an intersection, making the Honda's rear tires slip and squeal, leaving a whirl of tire smoke in her wake.
"Hold on," Arthur said, speeding into the corner. He was determined not to lose the twins and look like a pussy in front of Abby. But the GT-R had much more power than Arthur was ready for, the car slid out sideways and spun out of control.
"Oh shit!" Abby screamed, shutting her eyes and grasping onto the edges of her seat as her hair flew over her face. The Nissan spun around twice, making the entire Tokyo street-scape revolve around them like a glittering merry-go-round. The car skidded to a halt with the engine idling anxiously, as if asking for another shot at the corner. Arthur opened his eyes, relieved to see they were still in one piece. The car had stopped short only a few yards from a row of vending machines on the sidewalk; a light inside one of the machines flickered briefly then went out. Arthur looked at Abby, expecting an earful. She lowered her shaking hands slowly from her face and, to Arthur's surprise, started giggling.
"What's wrong with you?" Arthur said.
"What's wrong with you?" She said, still giggling. "We just scared the light right out of that poor candy machine!"
Arthur hadn't seen Abby laugh like that in a while, and he missed it. He glanced in the side mirror and saw the red brake-lights of the NSX glowing from down the street. The twins had stopped and were waiting for them to catch up. He fiddled with the gear selector and got the car into reverse, then made a U-turn as Abby swept her hair out her eyes. The GT-R rumbled down the street and stopped next to the twins.
"She bites if you're not careful," Mei said, rolling down her window with an amused look on her face.
"Tell me about it," Arthur said, despite the huge smile plastered over his face.
The two cars revved wildly then sped off into the night.
The hours leading up to dawn went by in a haze of what could only be described as 'Japanese quirkiness'.
First they stopped at a bathhouse, where everyone was required to take a shower before getting into the pools. They kept their underwear on, while watching old men with towels on their heads hang around the baths, having conversations in the nude; Abby did her best to avoid eye contact with their genitals, much to Arthur's amusement.
Next they had some drinks at a club, watching people dressed in animatronic robot suits dance on stage, with strobe lights flickering to the point of inducing epilepsy.
After stumbling out of the club they went to see a giant, sixty-five foot, art installation of a Gundam robot, on display at Tokyo Bay. Arthur and Abby posed at the chunky, metallic feet of the giant while Hiroko made a video with Abby's phone; Abby was doing her impression of the robot dance, while Arthur took on the role of her poorly-trained backup dancer, moving to the untimely rhythm of Mei's beat-boxing.
Later, while cruising on the highway, they happened across an unruly bunch of street racers who challenged them to a race, then the police crashed the party and everyone had to make a speedy getaway.
They wound up in a karaoke bar on the twenty-seventh floor of some hotel that Mei had dragged them to. They sang falsely to old classics with a bunch of drunken salary-men, most of whom wore their ties around their heads while dancing on the tables.
The sun was almost up when they pulled into the parking lot of a 7-eleven to grab some machine-dispensed ramen noodles. The twins introduced them to a special kind of vending machine that sold used panties - for sniffing purposes. Abby lost her appetite shortly thereafter, again, much to Arthur's amusement.
"Man," Arthur said, "what a night."
"Yeah," Abby said, leaning against the GT-R and sipping a take-away coffee. "We should get back before Jack wakes up."
Behind them a Caucasian man, wearing a jacket and a baseball cap, come out of the 7-eleven and walked up to a motorbike parked at the edge of the sidewalk. Abby took notice of him purely because she hadn't seen many westerners out on the town that late. The man got onto the bike and sat there for a while, glancing over at them while he slowly put on his riding gloves.
"That's weird," Abby said.
"What's weird?" Arthur said, looking bemused at the twins, still inside the 7-eleven; they were trying on sunglasses from the rack next to the cashier.
"That guy over there on the bike," Abby motioned with her head. "He keeps looking over at us."
Arthur glanced over at the man.
"Don't look now," Abby said, jabbing him in the shoulder. "He'll know we're talking about him."
"Don't be so paranoid, Abby," Arthur said, leaning in to kiss her. He was a little drunk - they all were after the onslaught of drinks at the karaoke bar. "It's probably just a guy out on a bike ride, stopping for a pack of smokes or something."
Arthur pulled her in and put his arms around her. She put her head against his shoulder and saw the bike pull out into the street, cruising down the road until its tail light disappeared around a corner.
"It's time to go home," Mei said, squinting at them through a pink pair of cheap, oversized glasses she had scavenged from the sunglass rack.
"Yeah," Arthur said, opening the car door for Abby, "It's getting early."
When they got back to Yakuza HQ the twins disappeared into their loft. Arthur and Abby snuck across the hall, carrying their shoes in their hands in an effort to make their entrance more stealthy.
"And where the fuck have you been?" Jack said from the couch in the sitting room. He was in his pajamas.
"Um, sightseeing?" Arthur said.
"Both your phones are off!" Jack said, switching on a lamp next to the sofa. "Do you know how many times I tried calling you? I told you not to go out. There is a goddam bounty hunter stalking us, and you two go and have a night out on the town!"
"Nothing happened, dad. We're fine."
"That's not the point, Arthur! You think Kurtis isn't already here in Japan, already watching us? Of-fucking-course he is!"
"It was my fault, Jack," Abby said, stepping out from behind Arthur. "I should've-"
"Shut it. Could've, should've - fuck it!" Jack spat as he got up and stormed back to his room. "You two put your lives at risk tonight, I hope you realize that."
"Isn't pulling off Chong's heist tomorrow already putting our lives at risk?" Arthur said.
"Firstly," Jack said, turning around and counting the points on his fingers, "Pierre and I will be doing all the heavy lifting. Secondly, you are gonna help us scout the target from a safe distance. And thirdly, look at your watch - it's already fuckin' tomorrow. You don't even have time catch up on some sleep."
Jack stormed off and slammed his door shut.