An Inconspicuous American in Japan

Natto.

Sticky beans and rice. An egg had been mixed with it. It made little difference.

It was still natto.

“Reo doesn’t order again,” Harry said, staring down at the bowl with his dark sunglasses obscuring the pungent and putrid breakfast as much as possible. He looked absolutely loud and ridiculous in his red Hawaiian shirt and bucket hat. Reo and Hinata sat slightly apart from him in the tiny restaurant, hoping his fashion wouldn’t rub off on them.

“Agreed,” Hinata said, poking her own natto bowl.

“You like natto,” Reo said, finishing his. Hinata sighed with a slight little huffed, poking at the beans and rice.

“I tolerate it,” Hinata said.

“I’m a good influence,” Harry said, proud of his long term influence on Hinata’s taste buds. He could easily foresee a day when natto would be banished from the Kurosawa household.

“A man who dresses like you cannot speak to taste,” Reo said, his eyes rolling so hard they threatened to break his neck.

“Bite me,” Harry grumbled.

They were two days into their stakeout around the small town on the outskirts of Kasumigaura Bay. The house which Harry believed belonged to Gouki Kageyama was only a few miles down the road. If Billy Williamson was in the area, he would pass through this place. It was a town full of restaurants and bars. All they had to do was wait. Until then, they had to look like average Japanese citizens and their normal American tourist friend.

At least, it was Harry’s reasoning for his attire.

Hinata had been harder to disguise. Her tails could vanish, but other parts of her became more fox like in appearance. She had to constantly wear long clothes and gloves in the hot summer sun to hide her torso and hands. It was no wonder she was less tolerant of natto. She was less tolerant of everything.

With their meal completed, Harry pulled out a map, excitedly shouting like an oblivious tourist. “Since we’re done eating natto, let’s go visit a shrine or something!” he said, sounding as excited and over eager as he could.

“If you love me, kill me,” Reo groaned as Harry started leading them through town as they secretly kept watching for an even more annoying American.

They walked the town for a few hours, hitting up all the places a man like Billy Williamson would go, traveling past restaurants and convenience stores and hotels. Their ears were also open, hoping to hear someone else mention an obnoxious American in town.

“Harry?” Hinata asked as they walked past the 7/11 for the fifth time.

“Yeah?” he asked, beginning to feel worn out.

“When we find Gouki, do you plan on getting help?” Hinata asked. He grew suddenly quiet, knowing the correct thing to do would be waiting for backup to storm Gouki’s house.

But backup would mean more people.

Harry thought of the claws plunging through his chest.

Harry thought of the bullet tearing through Gaku.

Harry thought of Hinata being stomped near to death.

“No,” Harry said, looking down at the map he was pretending to read.

“Harry…” Hinata said softly, seeing even from behind how hesitant he was to engage with the thought. His shoulders slumped slightly, his bucket hat covered head tipped forward a bit.

Reo appeared before Harry, grabing his shoulders and staring him down, his eyes firm behind his glasses.

“Knock it off. We don’t have time for lone wolf crap. You aren’t going solo. Even if you don’t want backup, we’re going with you,” Reo said sternly, his face telling Harry he refused to accept no for an answer. If Harry didn’t want human police backup, he wasn’t going to be able to ditch the Kurosawas.

“Damn,” Harry said, unable to suppress a smile. A brief, loud laugh burst from his mouth as he clapped Reo on the shoulder. “Thanks for yanking me out of my head, partner!”

“Any time, dumb American,” Reo said. Hinata had to suppress her tails from manifesting again so she could wag them. Seeing her brother and the man who was practically her brother coming together like they did nearly made her forget they were tracking down the mad head of a crime family.

The peace was shattered when they finally heard the sound they had been waiting for. All three heads snapped to the rather large, rather loud American being violently expelled from a hot spring.

“Whoa! I thought I could touch them! My bad, Jackie Chan!” the American in the cheap suit said, holding his hands up and allowing the overly ornate rings on them to glint in the sunlight. His tone and smarmy grin told everyone watching exactly who “them” was and what kind of touching he was doing in the hot springs. Reo and Hinata eyed Harry, who had a grim look on his face. He loathed men like the loud and handsy asshole, especially after his world tour years prior and seeing how welcoming much of the world was.

“Bingo,” Harry said, screwing his face into a fake grin and approaching Billy Williamson. He walked over with as much raw, fake confidence he could muster, embodying the dick tourist and full of himself sleaze he had encountered both as a resident of the tri state area and a world traveler.

“Heyyy! Finally, a fellow American! I swear, these rice eating weirdos don’t know nothing! These two guides can’t find any good places to drink!” Harry said, gesturing towards Reo and Hinata, adding the right amount of drunken swagger to hopefully make Billy lower his guard.

“Screw you, Harry!” Reo shouted back at him. The confused look on Billy’s face confirmed the man didn’t speak a word of Japanese. Hinata’s face nearly broke from her efforts to keep from laughing.

“See?” Harry said, throwing his arm around Billy like they were old friends. He pulled Billy away from the still highly pissed hot springs worker, headings towards Reo and Hinata. “Say! You should come with me! Double team these foreign weirdos!”

Billy walked with Harry, beginning to succumb to his loud and boorish charm, looking Reo up and down with a suspicious glance. His stern look and serious demeanor definitely did not scream party animal. Hinata, though, caught his eye. Despite the coverings of her clothes, Billy could still see the feminine shape of her body. A lecherous grin crawled over his face as his eyes roamed over Hinata.

“Have you…sampled the foreign flavors, buddy?” Billy asked, elbowing Harry in the side.

Hinata did not understand English. The ability to speak and understand foreign languages was a gift unique among exorcists. She could not have understood why Harry and Reo both had various intrusive thoughts right then about all the unique, lengthy and painful ways they could tell Billy exactly why they did not want Hinata described as a “foreign flavor.”

“My friend,” Harry said, grabbing his arms and squeezing as hard as he possibly could without making him think he was actually trying to hurt him, “You’ll get a night with our little fox you’ll never forget!”

Billy Williamson's eyes went wide at the thought of the foreign and unique pleasures the Japanese woman would provide him. As Harry led him down the road to the nearest alcohol dispensing establishment, he knew without a shadow of a doubt Hinata would help provide for Billy and experience he was absolutely unprepared for.