Changing Masks

by Nicholas Metelsky

  I was sitting in one of the local cafes, waiting for Nakata Akemi, who wasn't in a hurry to meet me. She was already ten minutes late. I was going to give her another five and then leave. Hmm, she made it. Long-legged witch.

  Entering the cafe and surveying the hall with a quick glance, Akemi headed to my table. Interestingly, I did not spot any of her hulks. That didn’t mean that they were not around, but at least, they weren’t anywhere in view. In the meantime, Akemi, elegantly crouched at my table, staring at me with her green eyes.

  'Well, hello, kid! Interesting choice of place for a meeting.'

  'No cameras here, and many wear masks, unlike the place you chose.' Yeah, I know, it was a bit rude. Who is she to me though? No one, almost an enemy.

  'Hey, hey, show some respect for your elders.' Oh, if only you knew my psychological age, woman. 'You're not big enough to speak to me in that tone.'

  'Tell my bruises that. My shoulder is still sore,' I lied, without batting an eyelid.

  'You should thank me for sparing your life, kid,' she said, becoming serious all of a sudden.

  'I have.'

  'Have what?'

  'Thanked you. I even showed some appreciation by buying my fast legs some new awesome kicks.'

  'You bastard! Know your limits; you know, I could take offense. The number one question is what I could do to you. You don't want to make a new enemy just because of stupidity.'

  'I agree. The only problem is that I wanted to steal from you, and you wanted to torture me. That hardly makes us friends.'

  'We could be though, potentially.'

  'Friends with a lady who tortures children? Don't crack me up.' She grimaced at my words. Yes, I knew that she wouldn't have done it; she probably would have thought of something else although she might well have ideas on how to threaten a child but that's exactly why I reminded her of the episode. She should be ashamed and remember that she had an 11-year-old boy in front of her. I was wondering whether she would hit the brakes and apologize for the incident or continue to hold to her position.

  'Well, what can you do? It's not me, it's life.' My second guess was right.

  At that time, a young waitress of sixteen came up to us and set my order on the table—ice cream in a bowl, vanilla, with chocolate crumbs, yum-yum. Oops, excuse my rant. In my previous life, I wasn’t fond of ice cream, and I don’t really like it in this one either. I ordered it just because, and it was hitting the spot. I ordered another one; it was still hitting the spot. I hoped the explanation for this was that they had such good dessert here, and not because my underage body demanded treats.

  'For Heaven's sake! Kid, I'm trying to have a serious talk with you, and all you care about is ice cream.' I raised my head. Akemi looked at me with a smile, her chin resting on her crossed palms. 'What's your name, boy?' What an obvious con game! She didn't take me seriously at all.

  'Are you kidding me? Yes, you are. Call me Dwarf like all the rest.'

  'Well... Dwarf, let's talk seriously then. You stole something from me. I suspect you’ve already got rid of the documents, but the money will have to be returned.'

  I froze with the spoon at my mouth. Ballsy accusations. Should I also tell her where I live? Dang! I was speechless. Fish talk.

  'That's a cool joke, but let's get down to business.' Now it was her turn to look stunned. I, in turn, lost interest in the conversation. If someone tries to manipulate you from the outset, then they have no regard for you. Being the age I am, it'll be hard to change that attitude towards me. It was possible, but was it necessary? She had not yet hinted at my cut. Should I make a fuss? No, I was still eating my ice cream.

  'Right now, this story doesn't sound like a joke to me.' That's it. She didn't hit the brakes and didn't make a joke in return. I’d finish my ice cream and go home. Her rant lasted another five minutes, five minutes and twelve seconds, to be exact, right up to the moment when I finished my ice cream, pushed the bowl away, and stood up. I didn't listen to her that closely, but from what I understood, she had said nothing about business.

  'Bye.' I took my mask off the table and headed for the exit. I was suddenly stopped by the woman's hand grabbing my arm. Fighting my will, I tried not to pull away, and just looked at her. I could have gouged her eyes out. I'm not sure how that would have turned out, but the desire was great. I could even have managed it—she definitely was not expecting anything like that from me.

  'Let go of me!'

  'Sit down.' There was a pause. 'Let's talk about business.'

  'Go away, lady. I have my own business without you.'

  'Sit down,' she said more softly than before. 'I didn't come here to demand money from you. I do have some business for you.'

  I stood there, staring at her. I stared at her, then her hand, and back at her again.

  'Okay, let's assume that I goofed up big time with the money,' she said, slowly letting go of my hand. 'There's no money. Forget about it.' So easily after a five-minute lecture? That's a really sloppy job, Akemi-san.

  To sit or not to sit, that was the question. I decided to sit down. I could always leave, but what if she really had something interesting to say?

  'Let's talk business.'

  'Just a moment.' I raised my hand, attracting the waitress's attention. 'I hope this time the conversation will get to the point.'

  'Do you know who ordered the documents?' Akemi began after the waitress accepted my order and walked away from our table.

  'No, I don't. I worked through the intermediary's guild, which you are certainly aware of, and did not go into such details.'

  'Who knows. Do you know what kind of documents you stole?'

  'No idea.' That was a provocative question. I could very well have looked in the folder, and no one would have known. It was unlikely that she would believe me, no matter what I said. 'After you... discovered me, I couldn't care less, what was inside.' In any case, they would come looking for me. The less you know, the better you sleep.

  'I understand your position, even though I disagree. What if it contained some dirt on someone? Admit it, looking for a witness is not the same as looking for a thief.'

  Dang, she's right. I had not thought of that. I was too arrogant.

  'Yeah, you're right, I admit it,' I leaned back in my chair. 'What else is there to say though?'

  'You lucked out. The folder contained nothing secretive. Only a title for the ownership of the Three Sakura Childcare Center and, more importantly, the land on which it's located. Of course, full private ownership is not possible, which is not surprising in regards to the land, but even that is not bad. In addition, the daycare center is located in a very desirable spot for any guild. However, this is not important now.' Guilds. In my world, they would be called 'criminal clans'. However, there is something reverential about the word 'clan' here. I'd never heard of 'yakuz' though, all the time I'd lived here. By the way, the word 'guild' is my free translation. In Japanese, 'guild' sounds like 'girudo'. They rarely use this name to refer to themselves; the word 'sege-kumiai' is more common. Here's something else I found interesting: factions continually fought among themselves, or at least did mean things to each other, but they have common rules and laws, thus forming a structure that was called Garagarahjebi. It could be translated as 'rattlesnake.'

  A pretty waitress, this one about eighteen years old set a serving of ice cream before me with a smile. Strawberry. Mm...

  'Orange juice,' ordered Akemi and, once the girl had walked away from our table, asked me, 'Do you like ice cream that much?'

  'No, I just rarely get to eat it.'

  'How come? Ah, never mind. Let's get back to business.'

  'I'm sorry, I do apologize for interrupting. I don't want to appear rude, but let's just discuss what you need from me. I don't quite understand why I should need to know what kind of documents I stole from you. I have a pretty simple, specific job: come, take, leave. What I take, I’m not supposed to know. Anyway, the documents are no longer relevant to our business
.'

  'Oh yes, they are. I want you to steal them back. This time for me.' I suspected something like that was coming. Although after Akemi's short prelude, I thought I would need to steal something else from my former client. So why not the exact same documents?

  'Based on what you say, unless he’s a complete fool, he'll immediately secure the documents at the State Bank, to be on the safe side. In that case, I'm out of the game. It's above my level.'

  'If you had finished listening, you'd know why you're wrong. For now, you’ll have to take my word for it. For the next two weeks, the documents will be at his house.'

  Eh, I had been too hasty. She had brought me down for a reason. I didn't need this information for business execution purposes, but I was overwhelmed with curiosity. Okay, I decided to clarify and accept the job.

  'Is there any other information about the case I need to know?'

  'In general, you are sufficiently informed. You have the target, you have the target location, the approximate time of finding the target there, and, of course, the fact that the target will be heavily guarded. The rest is mere trivia, which you'll learn in good time, if you agree.'

  Concise and straight to the point. This was going to be difficult and more complicated than the previous one, not taking into account the meeting with Akemi and her giants.

  'You have to promise that after completing the job, you will no longer hold any complaint against me.'

  'I promise.'

  'In that case, let's talk about payment.' What can I say? The price she stated was twice as much as for the previous job. Although without prior inspection of the place, there was too much risk involved, so I had to propose my own terms: upon inspection, I had the right to refuse the job, without incurring any consequences. Well, at least beyond what had already happened.

  I'll skip the part about how it went. Nothing to tell there. A blowpipe and soporific gas into the air duct. That was it. After that, the whole story becomes much more interesting. My first client found me, the one who had started the whole saga with the childcare center documents. The criminal authority, nicknamed Robo, was a clever guy. He was also more stringent than Nakata Akemi. So, the conversation with him was much harder, but, surprisingly, we came to an agreement. I learned from him why he hadn't secured the documents in the bank. It turned out that Akemi managed to obtain the deeds to the land, and he needed the documents for the trial. He didn't want to go running to the bank every day. Nakata, on the other hand, had no such problem, and the folder was probably already in a safe-deposit box. I almost refused, but Robo told me that he wasn't going to trial. The probability of his winning the case was next to none, but Akemi would need to get the documents from the bank sooner or later, which meant there'd be a chance of stealing them.

  There you have it. Ultimately, I had to steal the stupid documents nine times. Just imagine: nine times, from the same people! Yes, the criminal community started making bets on me. Also, a lot of people were anticipating who would replace me.

  The two turned high-minded and each time, stealing the documents became more and more difficult, but they always hired me, not anyone else. They must have had their reasons. Akemi, by the way, made money on me. The lousy woman placed a bet that I'd steal from her, through dummies, of course. The ninth time made me realize that it'd be the last. Robo was on edge, and I clearly saw that after receiving the documents, he would try to get rid of me. I did not know why it had to be me. After all, I wasn't the most skilled thief among the Garagarahjebi, Tokyo's community of criminal guilds. My death wouldn’t change anything. His reputation, however, would have been significantly compromised. The whole story had become very well known, so he wouldn't be able to cover up or hide the fact of my removal. Who would work for him after that? However, the last conversation with Robo gave me a very clear idea. Why didn’t I take up the same job once again? It was pretty obvious; I had to put an end to the story. Whereas there were witnesses who might want to get rid of me after the job was complete, nothing was going to happen to me if I removed the client myself, even if I did it with somebody else's help. Therefore, my path led straight to Madame Nakata.

  No one stopped me at the entrance to that same, ever-memorable building. I walked past the guards with no problem and headed deeper into the building passing the offices and warehouses. I was remarkably wearing my mask. I don't know what the guards must have been thinking, but they didn't even call my name. Akemi might have had a monitor with external cameras, who spotted me at the entrance and gave the guard the message to let me through. Let's see.

  While I was walking to the memorable office, I could sense the curious glares of others. I didn't realize right away what was off. When I finally understood, I almost tripped. I literally sensed the looks with my spine, without even knowing who was watching me. I could feel more than one pair of eyes observing me. Some really advanced people can sense others staring at them from behind; it's a well-known fact. However, what was happening to me now was the last step before mastering the 'distraction maneuver.' It's not invisibility, it's specifically distraction. Of course, I wouldn't be able to disappear instantly in a crowd. I had to start small. Incidentally, not everyone discovers this ability. Veterans might discover it, but only Specialists master it. Well, that's based on the system of ranks in my world. They perfect this ability. For example, when I reached the rank of the Absolute, I really would be able to disappear in a crowd. I could even slip away from other sorcerers, up to the Knights. It would be more problematic with a Master, and completely impossible with Absolutes. Well, other abilities can be incorporated.

  Finally, sorcerers, in my world, also have ranks in addition to a specialization like Destroyer. However, they referred to it differently in different countries. A novice sorcerer in Russia is assigned the rank of junior apprentice. It further increases to Warrior, Veteran, Specialist, Knight, Master, and Absolute. The names of the local ranks are the same across the planet and differ only in pronunciation, which makes sense since the countries are different. The lowest rank is Beginner, followed by Student, and to obtain these ranks, Bahir is not needed. After that, it is required. Beginning with Apprentice, the ability to control Bahir is also tested in the exam. After the Apprentice comes Warrior, then Veteran, Teacher, Master and Virtuoso.

  Now, standing in the middle of the office and getting all kinds of looks, I realized that one more step, just a little bit more, and one of the most useful capacities of the human mind would submit itself to me. However, even this 'discretion' —the ability was noted in official, though secret, documents— could not deceive cameras and electronic detection gadgets. Only people could be affected by the ability, but that didn't ruin my mood. Okay, calm down, pull yourself together. Think about the job in this moment.

  I knocked at the door of Akemi's office and waited. Silence. No one is there, perhaps? I knocked again and waited. Bad luck! Where am I going to look for her now? Three is a lucky number, so I knocked again.

  'Dang it! Come in!' she called adding a few curses. Mm, with me, she did not swear; that was a fact. She sat, ruffled up like a bird. Her eyes switched between the computer screen and a pile of documents on the desk. Funny, she looks even cuter like this, twenty years younger.

  Walking up to her desk, where she was beavering away, I wrote in my notebook 'Hello!' and shoved it under Akemi's nose. It was indescribable: confusion, stupor. She very slowly raised her eyebrows.

  'I'm gonna kill you, kid!' Hmm, she definitely wasn’t expecting me. In this case, the guards were worthless. 'If you were an adult, you would say that you were a fool, and at the same time, I'd break your arms and legs, but you're a kid and, like most kids, too bratty.' In some ways, she was right, probably in many ways. One thing though — according to her, I was a foolish child — that wasn't exactly right. I definitely hoped it wasn’t.

  'I have something we need to talk about. It concerns both of us.'

  'You could have said that without your stupid notebook,' Akemi grumbl
ed. 'Here, in the office, there are no recording devices. I have to warn you right away: don't even think you will walk away freely if we do not agree. How did you even get here?' To believe her or not to believe her? Actually, my voice on a recording would not be that valuable anyway. Also, my sixth sense told me that she wasn't lying.

  'Super advanced masking system.'

  'Are you being serious?'

  'Ask your guards. Later though. Let's talk business now.' We came to an agreement. First, Akemi wanted to take me as a debtor, but I talked my way out of it. We were not only trying to solve my problems.

  The idea was pretty simple. I meet Robo and give him the documents. He checks them and tries to kill me; in response, Akemi's people kill him. Typically, he offers the location for our meetings, and if I'm right, then the place this time will be deserted. It'll be some dead end or an abandoned building, or ... well, it does not matter. It's self-explanatory. A different outcome was also possible, but then I would change the venue.

  At the same time, we'd arrange for a mediator we knew to be a witness. I got hold of a hidden camera from Funtik. The agreement on Akemi's protection included all forms, seals and the date of the contract, which was the main thing. I've done so many things, and I talked to so many people that I already regretted starting such mayhem. If I made a mistake with Robo, then I'd have it pretty bad. But if everything went as it should, then no questions would arise from my client's people.