Page 4 of Secrets & Sake

I sidestep them, growling low in my throat before I can stop myself. When I look up, I lock eyes with the very man I’ve come to see. Jiro Suzuki, manager of the arcade, laughs as he plays a zombie shooter with two of his kids. The kids turn their fake guns on him and pretend to shoot him, squealing with delight as he cries, “Oh, ouch! You’ve got me!”

Looks like he forgot all about our little meeting tonight. “Hey,” I bark, my voice making Suzuki jump.

At the sight of me, Suzuki’s round face blanches, and his smile falls right off. “Kids, go find Aunty. Daddy’s going to take a break.” The kids run off, and Suzuki swallows hard as I approach.

“It’s Wednesday, Suzuki.”

He chokes out a laugh. “O-oh. Is it? I’d completely lost track!”

This asshole really thinks I’m stupid. “You were late last week, and I let it go. Didn’t I? It’s time to pay up.”

“Y-yes, of course.” The stink of his sweat makes my lip curl. “Right this way, Noboru.”

Smelling like fear and cigarettes, Suzuki leads the way toward the employee’s only door where I know his office is. His shaking hands fumble with his ring of keys and sweat beads on his temple. “Just a moment…”

With an impatient click of my tongue, I lean back against an arcade machine by the door. If this asshole still doesn’t have the money, my boss is going to give me shit. After several painful seconds that grind on my nerves, Suzuki gets the door open. “All right. J-just let me get your payment…”

I push off from the machine and approach the door as Suzuki steps inside—then he whips around and slams the door in my face. “Hey!” I bark, shock turning to fury as the lock clicks.

“Go away!” Suzuki hollers through the door. “I’ll call the police!”

Idiot. The cops in Taito Ward get paid extra by Namikawa to turn the other way and ignore our dealings. Growling, I slam my foot into the door. One more kick, and the door gives, flying open and crashing against the wall. I smirk at the sight of Suzuki’s petrified face, but my satisfaction plummets as Suzuki grabs a framed picture and hurls it at me.

With lightning-quick reflexes, I smack the picture out of the air before it hits my face. But that distraction gave Suzuki the seconds he needed to throw open the window behind his desk.

“Don’t run!” I warn him.

“Stay the hell away from me,” he hollers, and jumps over the windowsill. As he runs, the drive to chase, to hunt, possesses me. It’s a pull no wolf alive can resist.

“Told you not to run,” I snarl as my fingernails sprout claws and my canine teeth sharpen into fangs. The chase is on! I leap out the window and pelt after him. Suzuki tears through the crowd ahead, throwing a fearful look over his shoulder. Tourists shriek as I plow through anyone not quick enough to get out of my way.

Suzuki shoves past people and hurtles toward the street where the light is about to turn red. The bastard runs fast, making it across the street just before the cars start to move. In my half-shifted state, my reflexes are faster than a normal human’s.

As the cars rush by, time seems to slow. I bunch my muscles and leap. A woman screams in her car as I come down hard on the hood. Before she can brake, I jump onto a taxi, then onto some rusty truck. Cars honk, tires screech, and people shout in alarm as I hit the pavement on the other side of the street. Not exactly subtle, but I’ve seen stranger things, and that’s coming from a yakuza werewolf.

I catch Suzuki’s scent and pursue it. His scent gets stronger as I near a narrow alleyway. There he is, cursing as he’s halted by a dead end. Suzuki spins around and gasps. Slowly, he raises both hands. “Please. Let’s talk about this, okay?”

I flash him my claws. “Sure. Let’s talk.” I scrape them along the wall, and he winces at the sound. “Let’s talk about how you told me you’d have the money by this week, after I let you off the hook the week before. This is the second time this month you’ve tried to play me like a fool. If I don’t come back with your payment tonight, Namikawa’s going to have my balls in a vise. And if you don’t pay up, someone’s going to visit that arcade of yours and smash it to pieces.”

I corner him against the wall. Lifting my claws, I tap them over his plump cheek. I should bloody him up a bit. That usually works.

“Please, I… the boys’ mother ran off on us.”

My fingers are still against his cheek.

Suzuki hangs his head and laughs bitterly, shame coloring his cheeks. “Just packed her bags last night and bailed. Didn’t leave anything to cover her portion of the rent, so… that’s where your fee went. B-but I can have your money by this weekend! I swear!”

I think about those two little kids in the shop. They were even younger than I was when I last saw my mother.

The breath gets stuck in my throat. Before I can stop myself, I reach down and touch my chest. Beneath my shirt, the five-yen coin rests cold against my skin, the same coin my own mother dropped into my hand on a cold winter’s morning. Right before she left. I still don’t know why. My mother was many things. Kind and warm, at first. Angry and drunk. Miserable. Sentimental? Not really, so I don’t know why she decided I needed some parting gift.

Did she want me to have a fortunate life? Was this her way of trying to make amends for betraying me like she did?

Well, joke’s on you, Mom.

I’m a damn yakuza thug, and it’s all I’ll ever be.

Growling low in my chest, I step back. “Fine. I’ll be back Sunday evening, same time. Have the money ready. This is your last chance, Suzuki.”

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