Cherry Blossom Girls International

by Harmon Cooper

  With food in our tummies, or at least in two of our tummies, we set off toward the Ueno shopping district. The sun was almost down, and the Japanese people who had already gotten off work were gathered around outdoor tables, beers in their hands, greasy appetizers strewn about the tables.

  I was envious of them in that moment.

  I would have traded anything to be able to relax and enjoy a beer after a long day of work, rather than going shopping for disguises so we could stop the general public from recognizing us as we searched for two of our friends.

  And where would we even begin?

  Even as I ate my sandwich back at the cafe, this was the number one thought on my mind.

  Where would we possibly begin?

  I knew it was stupid to think that Father would know something, and in that moment, I was a little bit angry at him, wondering why he couldn’t have seen this coming. He had the ability to manipulate reality, to stretch time in a strange way, yet he couldn’t prevent two of our own from being kidnapped? Maybe Father wasn’t really on our team after all…

  Maybe he had other, sinister plans.

  Chloe interrupted my thoughts when she squeezed my arm, pointing at a three-story building, notable for the high-end mannequins inside, which looked out onto the street.

  “For us,” she said, pointing between Veronique and her.

  “Yep, get whatever we need to disguise ourselves. Definitely get some scarves,” I said as I saw a men’s store across the street. “Maybe I will step in there and get a hat. Although, my beret is pretty fashionable, and Michelle’s Denver hat isn’t half bad either.”

  “No, you are sticking with us,” said Veronique. “We can’t lose you. And that beret is mine; you look stupid in it.”

  Even though she said this in a stilted way, I could hear the true conviction behind it. Rather than protest, or tell her to take the hat comment back, I simply nodded, following the two in.

  Luckily for me, there was a space for the husbands and boyfriends to sit, another guy already sitting there, his face buried in his phone as his gal shopped. He didn’t make eye contact with me as I sat down across from him, a glossy coffee table between the two of us.

  With him on his phone, I figured I would get on my phone as well, just to fit in even more. I went to my inbox and ignored all the messages, including one from Jake Archibald that read URGENT.

  I knew it wasn’t urgent.

  I mean, not as urgent as losing someone close to you, so I simply changed profiles to the shared email account Father and I used to communicate. I started to begrudgingly type him a message and stopped.

  If he really was working for them, would telling him what was going on help Damon Lord find us?

  “Get it together,” I said under my breath. “They are not working together.”

  The Japanese man looked up at me, cleared his throat and glanced back down at his phone. He was a handsome guy, with a perfect haircut, his hair gelled in a way that made a point in the middle. It wasn’t quite a faux hawk, but it wasn’t far off.

  He was well-dressed too, a black dress shirt, gray slacks, interesting argyle socks and shiny black shoes.

  I returned my focus to the message and typed it out.

  Father was not working for them.

  Or if he was, then he already knew that Grace and Stella were taken, so as long as I didn’t reveal my actual location, I was probably good to ask him for anything he had on Damon Lord that could help us.

  And I meant anything.

  Preferences, things he liked to do, places he had visited in the past, conversations they had had.

  Anything.

  As usual, I didn’t send the message, I simply saved it as a draft.

  I saw that Luke was online and started to type something to him, but stopped as I scrolled through our last messages. Just talking about covers. My fuck did I miss the days of my life that were that simple.

  I never ended up sending a message, not wanting to tell him of the calamity that I found myself in. Besides, I didn’t want to update him every time the CBGs and I ran into a sticky situation.

  I knew he would worry.

  After another ten minutes or so, Chloe and Veronique returned with three big bags of clothing, Veronique still wearing my glasses without the lenses. Chloe now had a beanie on, and she had it sitting on the top of her head, not covering her ears, which was apparently a style over here.

  “Your turn,” Chloe told me as we crossed over to the men’s clothing store. As soon as I walked in, I saw that the sales clerk, a thin female, was watching television on her smartphone. She looked up at me, instantly recognizing my face.

  Her eyes went wide, her jaw starting to drop open just as… Chloe took over, the woman’s mouth popping shut as she offered us a warm smile and a bow.

  “Thanks,” I told Chloe.

  “Just get what you need; we will make sure that no one else comes in,” Veronique said as she stepped over to the door, her hands coming across her chest. “And I am feeding later. I’m hungry, Gideon.”

  “Your wish is my command.”

  I picked out a couple of shirts, new jeans, and found that they even carried men’s products, including razors and shaving cream. I grabbed some of those as well, and nodded to Chloe.

  The sales clerk took everything from me and packed it up, handing it over with another bow.

  “Thanks,” I told her.

  “Than-keh you,” she said, her head still bowed in my direction.

  All shopped out and ready to get incognito, the three of us quickly made our way back to the hotel. We passed a convenience store as we did, and I stepped inside to buy a beer, definitely feeling like I could use one. Veronique stopped me, reminding me that she would drain me later and it would make me tired anyway.

  “Fine, but I’m drinking a beer at some point. Maybe tonight’s not the right night though.”

  “We can all get drunk once we get Grace and Stella,” she said.

  “I’m game,” Chloe added. “I can also just make you feel drunk, if you want, no hangover either.”

  I considered this for a moment.

  “After we get them back,” I finally said.

  Up to our room we went, where we found Michelle and Ingrid sitting in the front area hanging out with Dorian. Ingrid put her book down as soon as the elevator door opened up and Michelle hopped off the couch, racing over to us.

  Dorian came forward immediately, giving me a hug.

  “I’m glad you’re back,” she said.

  “I told you we would come back,” I told her. “We have clothing for everyone now. It’s going to be a bit difficult for some of us,” I said, looking at Michelle, with her black hair and the pink streak in it. “But I think we’ll manage. We’ll have to go out when it’s a bit darker though, broad daylight is a bad idea.”

  “What are you going to do now?” Michelle asked me.

  “Now, Gideon is going to let me feed,” said Veronique. “Then he’s going to take a long rest. We will figure this out in the morning. There is no sense in stressing over it tonight. Grace and Stella will be able to make it through the night, I’m certain of this.”

  Ingrid shook her head. “You don’t know that. You don’t know what they’re capable of,” she said, clenching her teeth.

  Veronique turned to Ingrid, a red glow braiding around her hand. “Or I can feed on her,” she told me.

  “Easy…” I put my hand on Veronique’s shoulder, and from there, brought it down to her open palm, taking it, our fingers wrapping together.

  Sure, I felt a tug of energy as she zapped a little bit from me, but I definitely wasn’t trying to see her and Ingrid go at it.

  “Why don’t you two just head into your room,” Chloe said with a knowing smile on her face. “I’ll make sure everyone gets to bed at a good time.”

  “Who said I was going to sleep?” I asked.

  Veronique squeezed my hand. “I did.”

  Veronique drained the hell out of
me, and even though I healed myself up after, I was out almost immediately.

  Dead to the world.

  It wasn’t long before I found myself falling, teleporting to a higher point in the sky, landing on the rooftop somewhere in Setagaya.

  The portal had just opened up, and the albino shifter was coming out, and suddenly I was standing down there in front of her, activating Jules’ power instantly, delivering a fist to her stomach, opening a palm in Bae’s direction as well as that sneaky portal fucker tried to get away.

  I blasted him down with a telekinetic spike, the fucker out cold. And as the albino came at me with a charged fist, I offered up a knee augmented with telekinesis, which sent her flying up and back down onto the pavement.

  She was out cold just as the door to the police station swung open, the invisible person stepping out, dragging Grace and Stella.

  I could see this person’s outline now, and as soon as I saw it, I blasted forward, the invisible person dodging just in time. Bringing Grace into my arms, I ran to the side and deposited her on the ground. A fist came at me out of nowhere, connecting with my cheek. But as soon as it did, I activated Jules’ power negation ability, the man no longer invisible.

  He looked sort of like a mix between Bruce Willis and the Rock, which was when I knew I was dreaming.

  And for some reason, I suddenly had Dorian’s power, which I utilized by swiping my finger across my tongue, and painting up a giant spear made of purple energy. I charged forward with the spear, and stabbed it into his chest, bringing the man to the ground.

  The spear started to fizzle away, and I put my foot on his neck, holding the once invisible man in place.

  I pulled my smartphone out of my pocket and looked over to Stella, who was just starting to get to her feet.

  She was battered and bruised, but still alive, thank God. I immediately pressed my finger on her Telekinetic Regeneration, dialing it up to the number ten.

  She healed almost instantly after boosting her power, the vector user hobbling for a moment, and then walking upright. As she reached me, I lowered her Telekinetic Regeneration power.

  From there, I used the digital dial on my phone to turn up her Quantum Manipulation ability, a red, black hole-like energy forming around her fist.

  “Do it,” I said, or at least I thought I said it.

  As the man struggled in front of me, Stella brought her fist back and dropped to one knee, delivering a punch to his face that shattered his skull into a million tiny particles.

  “Good,” I said, waving my hand in the direction of the albino shifter. She slid to us immediately, her body scraping against the concrete even as she tried to scramble away.

  “Do it again,” I told Stella.

  Her fists charged for a moment and she delivered a final punch that shattered the woman’s skull.

  Maybe “shattered” isn’t the right verb for what happened.

  It was more of an implosion that turned into a pixelated explosion, breaking it into pieces so small that no part of it existed after the powerful act.

  Regardless, it was brutal and beautiful all at once.

  “Do you understand now?” Grace asked me. She was standing off to my right, in her actual form, her dark hair partially in her face. “Do you understand, Gideon?”

  I woke up with a gasp, Veronique asleep next to me, the room dark aside from lights peeking in through the window. I fumbled for my glasses and found them, putting them on my face as I sat up.

  “I understand, Grace, I understand,” I mumbled. “I fucking get it.”

  “Gideon?” Veronique asked, her voice just above a whisper. “Are you okay?”

  “I understand.”

  “You were dreaming,” she said, her hand coming to my cheek. “You’re okay now.”

  I exhaled audibly. “I know how we are going to do this now.”

  Chapter Twenty-Three: Rescue Mission

  “Everyone get ready,” I said as I stepped down the hallway, loud enough for my voice to pass through the paper-thin walls.

  I was already half in my superhero uniform, getting into the top. Michelle appeared next to me just about the time I saw her door open.

  She was that fast.

  In fact, she may have been next to me before my mind actually registered that her door had slid open.

  “What is it?” she asked.

  “Like I said, get ready; get Ingrid and get dressed. We will have a quick snack, and then we are going.”

  I slid Dorian and Chloe’s door opened, and called into the room, “Morning, get ready. I know where they are.”

  “Got it,” I heard Chloe’s voice whisper from the dark.

  I didn’t look at the time, not just yet, but I was guessing it was around five. After I got my uniform zipped up, I went back for my cell phone to confirm this.

  Yep, definitely the ass crack of dawn.

  Veronique stepped out of the room we had been sharing, already in her uniform. She was geared up, ready to go, and as she came to me, she told me that she would head to the small breakfast nook and put on a pot of coffee.

  “Good,” I told her, seeing that my phone was about seventy-five percent charged.

  I ignored the messages from Luke, but I did check my inbox to see if there had been anything from Father. Nope, nothing. Hoping to charge the phone as quickly as possible, I switched it into airplane mode.

  I plugged it in, well aware that it would only take a few minutes for it to charge up fully, especially if it wasn’t using any data.

  “I’m ready,” Michelle said, reappearing at my side. I hadn’t even noticed that she’d left.

  “Good. And Ingrid?”

  “I can hear you, Gideon,” Ingrid called out. “I’m getting ready.”

  “Chloe?”

  “If you peek in here you will see that I’m changing,” she said from her room.

  “And Dorian? She usually likes to sleep in.”

  “It’s not true,” Dorian said from behind me. I turned to find that she was already in her uniform, looking like she had got into it even faster than Michelle, if that was even possible. “How do you know where they are?”

  “It came to me in a dream. Trust me, I’ll explain everything in a moment. Just get what you need before we go. This may be a fight. But if we go now, we will have the element of surprise.”

  “I’m ready,” she said, conviction flashing across her dark eyes.

  “Eat something, some fruit, or nuts, just get something in your system. All of you.” I ran my hand through my hair. “This is it; this is what it has come to.”

  “Okay,” Dorian said as she headed to the breakfast area. Ingrid stepped out in her dark blue uniform with pink highlights.

  “Is Tulip ready?” I asked her.

  “Always.”

  “I’m going to need someone else’s power as well. I probably shouldn’t use Dorian’s teleportation power. Then again…”

  I recalled how her power had seriously saved my life less than twenty-four hours ago.

  I started to get indecisive, going over the powers I had on deck—Grace’s, Jules’, Dorian’s and Father’s—not quite sure of how I should go about doing this.

  But if I let Grace’s power go, I might never…

  I bit my lip and shook my head. I couldn’t think like that.

  I would see Grace again, soon.

  Besides, I was getting better with her telekinesis.

  I didn’t dare drop Father’s power this time around, being able to heal might come in handy. And of course, Jules’ power negation was my go-to in practically every fight we’d been in since I got it. It gave me just a little bit of an edge.

  But I wasn’t coordinated enough to really use teleportation to my advantage. Sure, I could use it to get away, but I wasn’t planning to run from this fight, and I didn’t have the skill, at least not to my knowledge, to use it in a combative way.

  In the end, I decided on Dorian’s energy power, or Ergokinesis, as it was listed on
her stat sheet. As I came into the breakfast nook, I placed my hand on her arm, the channels opening up, allowing me to replace her teleportation power.

  Veronique finished her cup of coffee. She moved to the silverware, using her power to melt the cutlery into sharp pellets, which she deposited in the pouches on the front of her uniform.

  “Good call,” I told her as I went for a banana and a handful of almonds. I wasn’t that hungry, but I knew I needed some type of fuel, and something like this would give me a boost of energy without weighing me down.

  Dorian sat to my left, also going for a banana after a long, drawn-out yawn.

  Chloe stepped into the breakfast nook, pulling her brown hair into a tight ponytail. “You still haven’t told us how you know where they are.”

  “Look, I’ve said it before, and I will probably say it again: I’m an idiot.”

  Michelle and Ingrid snickered.

  “You woke us up to tell us that?” Veronique asked with a smirk, even though her voice remained flat.

  “Yes, and, just… duh, Gideon, duh,” I said, slapping myself on the back of the head.

  “Harder,” Veronique said, her eyes narrowing on me.

  “Look, a month ago, Father came up with a way for me to adjust your abilities remotely, right?”

  “Right…” Chloe said as she sat down. The sound manipulator went for a handful of almonds too, and started tossing them back one at a time.

  “So I had this dream, a sort of recap of the fight I experienced yesterday. Except things went differently. This time we won, and one of the ways we won was by me using my phone to adjust Stella’s power at the last moment. I have been intending to do this in a live setting, or whatever, but it really hasn’t come up yet, you know? So this got me thinking: What if I adjusted one of your powers to the highest level, and we used this power to find them?”

  “Which power?” Chloe asked. “I don’t think my Echolocation would go that far, there’s really no telling where they are…”

  “Not yours, yours,” I told Dorian, whose cheeks were puffed out as she chewed her banana. “One of the things we haven’t really played around with yet is your Empathetic Teleportation ability, which allows you to teleport to someone that you are emotionally linked to. My suggestion is this: we put as much as we can into the power to bring it up to ten—I can’t remember what it’s normally set to off the top of my head—we then go directly to Grace and Stella, and open up the biggest can of whoop ass the CBGs has ever opened before.”