Page 22 of Pragma
“In your dreams,” Yuna replies, tightening her arm around her girlfriend.
“My dreams are so vivid, sometimes it is you, others Karin—” Yuna interrupts him by spearing the shoji board with her hunting knife.
“You pervy fucker, I’ll show you vivid.”
I enter the room, and they immediately stop to incline their heads my way. Masa’s big body looks even bigger on the flimsy plastic chair. He’s almost as muscular as Soma. But nobody is as massive as River.
“Making friends, aren’t we?” I taunt Masa.
He stands up and bows once again. “That’s whyKumichochose me to work for you, Mr. Boss. My remarkable social skills.”
He doesn’t look upset about yesterday’saccidentallyincorrect directions.
“You’ll be lying in a casket rather than your mattress at this rate,” Yuna states, as I walk to the throne.
“She’ll cut your dick if you get any closer,” I hear Karin tell him with a cheerful tone and a smile before kissing her girlfriend on the cheek.
“That would be a gift for all humanity,” Yuna grumbles, yanking her blade off the table.
“What can I say? I’m a giving person. Please, take these.” Masa flips both his middle fingers. “They are all yours.”
“Really?” Karin beams at him, taking the knife from Yuna’s hand. “Lay them both on the table, our kitty needs a new chew toy.”
Karin’s cute ways are the creepiest. I still remember the day I met her and Yuna in high school. They were fighting against some boys after one of them hit Karin with a ball while playing soccer. I sat on the bench and enjoyed the show. You don’t see two girls kicking four idiotic boys’ asses very often. They were fearless and very angry, kicking and scratching and punching. When they were done, River got some energy drinks from a vending machine, and we started talking. They knew who I was and weren’t afraid, nor looking for anything from me. That sealed the deal.
My hands wrap around the throne’s armrests, digging my nails into the little holes I’ve made throughout the wood while pondering poisonous, brutal, virulent schemes. The chair was shipped directly from LA, where now, the fortress of doom there is missing a throne.
I still can’t believe my aunt. I’m too young to be married. I’m fucking twenty-three for fuck’s sake. What is she thinking? What is she plotting?
“Boss is pissed,” Soma whispers too loud for me not to hear.
“How do you know?” Masa asks, as I keep looking at the sweeping view of the city.
“He’s in the throne of doom, duh!” Yuna replies. I can imagine Masa’s confused face, but I don’t fucking care enough to look or explain further.
“Who is the boss mentally ripping in half today?” Soma asks.
“Who do we need to fuck up?” Karin, too, addresses River because they know nobody is allowed to talk to me when I’m sitting on the throne.
After a few seconds of silence, Masa says, “Mr. Boss got a bone with you, River?”
“Did you find the rat?” I ask, stopping the conversation. My eyes fall on the little ant-sized people walking on the streets between the skyscrapers.
“No, we ran out of…gutters,” Soma growls. “I put a man outside his mother’s, wife’s, and girlfriend’s houses.”
“The rat?” Masa asks.
I wave at River standing near the glass wall, and he starts explaining, “Two days ago, we found out that someone working in project management had taken home a file which wasn’t supposed to leave this building.”
Masa leans with his elbow on the table. “What file?”
I sigh with evil satisfaction. River hates to give explanations. He finds talking more than necessary quite pointless, not to say lame.
“Nothing related to the family. They were company documents, ideas for the construction of a large strip mall in Chelsea. The master plans with architectural drawings, blueprints, designs, and schematics. We are still in the run for the project, and if that file gets out, this company can say bye-bye to months of work, plus it would be impossible to prepare new ones. We would lose the contract.”
“The rat stole them with the intention to sell,” I add, knowing this is the only explanation for taking them.
“Or he was forced to do it,” Karin offers another option. She always sees the good in people—until she doesn’t.
