In the Alleys of Tokyo

In the Kabukicho district of Tokyo, where the smells of cheap whiskey and yakitori smoke filled the lungs, under a dark sky which threatened more rain than it was currently letting fall, three men walked the narrow alleys. One was an American, tall, easily clearing six feet, with a dark leather jacket which was cracked and worn, smelling of fire and alcohol. One was a Japanese man dressed in a suit and tie, glasses sensible and stylish, a goatee his only allowed bit of style. He held the umbrella for them, while the third man joked in far too loud a voice. He was Japanese as well, dressed in a green pinstripe suit and black shoes which shone like miniature suns under the neon of the alley. He too wore glasses, though they were large and flashy and dark, and a hat adorned his head which was too wide and bulky for his frame. He thought it all made him look stylish. But as he stopped to admire himself in a window reflection again, the American sighed, shaking his head.

“What?” Gaku asked.

“Your clothes,” Harry said.

“Cool, right?” Gaku said, posing like he was the sexiest man in the world, an opinion shared exclusively by Gaku.

“You look like a clown inseminated a pimp. Or vice versa,” Harry said. Reo suppressed a laugh.

“Wow! Thanks!” Gaku said, his face beaming.

“Does he know what those words mean?” Harry asked Reo, begging for help in dealing with the eccentric exorcist.

“I’ve never wanted to know what words Gaku knows,” Reo stated.

Harry belted out a brief laugh which seemed to loud for the narrow alley. “Welcome back to Japan. Home of eccentric drunken assholes,” he said, his voice traveling the thin line between amused and bitter. Harry began to up his pace, traveling slightly ahead and leaving the relative safety of the umbrella, rain lightly pelting his skin.

Reo sighed deeply, rubbing the bridge of his nose, willing away a headache. He caught Gaku glancing at him over his ridiculous glasses.

“Harry’s still upset?” Gaku asked.

“You mean over Hinata?” Reo responded.

“No, I mean your goatee. Why would he care about Hinata?” Gaku split his face with his usual grin which made Reo want to smack him and laugh with him all at once.

“They barely talked last night. They both went straight to bed,” Reo said, the awkward car ride from the airport playing out in his mind once more.

“What did you expect, Reo?” Gaku asked, clapping him on the shoulder.

“I don’t know…” Reo said, his thoughts lost in the night rain. He replayed the day before, Hinata quickly escaping the living room and heading to her bedroom as the two men stood silently, trying to bridge the chasm which life had dug. Harry had looked around the room, more anime and tokusatsu merch having been added to the collection over the years, as well as Hinata’s beloved landscape paintings finally fighting back for space in their shared home. Harry looked like he had wanted to say something about them. Instead he stated the obvious.

“You could have told me.”

Reo let the statement hang momentarily.

“Told you what?”

Harry held Reo’s eyes. An excellent question. Before Harry could answer it, Reo expanded upon it.

“It was Hinata’s choice.”

Harry blinked first, looking away from Reo. His eyes wandered to the stairs. “Yeah, well…honestly…” Harry said, his voice growing quiet, unconfident, cracked. “Was it?”

Reo didn’t know what Harry was referring to. Did he doubt her choice in taking the demon contract, or her insistence in not telling him?

Did it matter, Reo thought as Harry went upstairs.

“This the place?” Harry asked. The three stopped and looked upon the grimy curtain and neon sign lighting up the alley. “Dragon’s Roar? Sounds pretty yakuza.”

“Yup. Guy we’re looking for is Smiler,” Gaku said, cracking his neck as he readied himself to go into the bar. The air seemed to grow colder as they drew nearer.

“Smiler,” Harry said, memorizing the feel of the name. Another criminal whack job with a nickname trying to make himself sound tough in a world full of monsters.

“Always happy. Especially when killing people,” Reo said.

“Creepy little psychopathic shit,” Gaku said, not bothering to hide the disdain in his voice.

“One of Gouki’s Seven,” Reo added. “Humanist, too. Strictly bullets and blades.”

Harry had been informed of Gouki’s little pack of whack jobs. In the years since he had last been to Japan, Gouki God damn Kageyama had been busy cementing his place in his grandfather’s organization. Lots of blood had been spilled from a lot of violent bodies, and the cream of the criminal crop had risen to become Gouki’s Seven. They existed to be the limbs of Gouki’s criminal will, untainted by the stench of demon possession. Gouki knew how to use demons to maintain power. The Seven, however, showed he would trust human hands over demon when things truly mattered. If anyone knew where Gouki was hiding himself, it was one of the Seven.

“Well, it makes things easy. No chance of him having a hidden demon contract,” Harry said. He squared his shoulders, eager to get into the bar and show this new flunkie of Gouki’s what Harry Vickers could do.

“This stupid dick here called Smiler easy,” Gaku said, throwing an arm around Harry’s shoulder, his Cheshire grin wide and toothy.

“Harry, listen closely. The Seven are human by choice. They don’t need demons,” Reo said, slowly and carefully, each word meant to leave an impact on him.

“Four words,” Gaku said, holding up four fingers and counting off the words one by one. “Whole club killed alone.”

“You’re shitting me,” Harry said. Reo maintained his stern gaze while Gaku sighed and shook his head.

“We won civilization back. Nobody ever guaranteed humanity being in the deal,” Reo said.

“Demons give the crazies permission to be worse,” Gaku said.

Harry nodded grimly. He knew personally, from Gouki God damn Kageyama and so many others from the past decade, of the sad fact of humanity not all banding together and holding hands when the world nearly ended. He rarely saw it in his current work, as exorcists dealt with demons and New York’s organized crime wasn’t as demon tied as Tokyo’s, but there was enough crossover in New York to make him realize some people thought D Day gave them permission to bring their worst impulses to screaming life.

“True. Alright. Here’s the plan,” Harry said, cracking his knuckles. “We go in, sit Smiler down and calmly ask him where Gouki is.”

“He’ll simply refuse,” Reo said, folding up his umbrella and tucking it calmly along his side.

“Then we’ll use our U.N. given rights to beat his ass silly,” Harry said, raising a meaty fist up to eye level. He looked eager, like a little boy about to go on his favorite ride after a long year stuck in school.

Gaku grabbed Harry by the side of his head and kissed him on the cheek. “Missed you,” he said before slapping his ass and striding into the Dragon’s Roar.

“Blech,” Harry moaned, wiping his cheek with the back of his hand. Reo gave him a little shrug as he passed, his eyes asking what he expected. It was Gaku, after all.

The rain began to pick up as Harry pushed the curtain back and entered the bar. Perfect, he thought as the dense bar air hit him. It’ll make it easier to wash out the inevitable blood stains after.