I Became Worth Killing Over A Card

Rei left most of his things under the tree.

He tied the plastic sheet down as tightly as he could, shoved the boxes against the trunk, then covered them with whatever clothes he could spare. It wouldn't stop someone determined to steal from him, but there wasn't much worth taking anyway.

Anyone desperate enough to steal a damp school uniform could have it.

The black card went into his pocket.

He headed for the nearest bank.

It had to be some kind of prestigious bank card.

Masato had hidden it inside a small cloth bag with the rest of his things. There was no name on it, no number, no logo, but his father had never been good at explaining anything.

Maybe there was an account attached to it.

Emergency money.

At this point, enough for dinner would already count as a miracle.

By the time Rei reached the station district, dinner had turned into plans.

A room first. Nothing fancy. A weekly rental would do if he found one. Somewhere with a shower and a lock. If the walls were paper-thin or the air conditioner sounded like it was dying, he could live with that.

Then food.

After that, work.

He could find a part-time job after school. If it wasn't enough, he'd take more shifts, save whatever he could, and maybe start something of his own eventually.

His thoughts drifted back to the old man and the food caravan.

Saionji.

Those white vans didn't unload themselves. Somebody had to carry boxes, hand out meals, clean up afterward. Rei could ask if they needed help. Even if they weren't hiring, they might know someone who was.

He stepped into an ATM lobby near the station, leaving wet footprints across the tile. He looked around and saw nobody loitering at this time of the night.

Rei took out the black card.

"All right, Dad."

He held it toward the machine.

"Let's see how guilty you felt."

The card hit both sides of the slot.

Rei frowned.

He tried again.

Still too wide.

"No."

He turned it sideways.

That was worse.

Rei stared at the ATM, then moved to the machine beside it.

Same slot.

Same problem.

"You've got to be kidding me."

He pressed one corner against the opening.

Nothing.

"Come on."

The card refused to bend.

Rei stopped and flexed it between his fingers.

A normal plastic card should have given a little. This one barely moved.

He looked down at the smooth black surface.

"Please. I need you to work."

Nothing happened.

Of course it didn't.

Rei leaned forward until his forehead touched the ATM.

Ten minutes ago, he'd had an apartment.

Not a real one. Just something he'd already started building in his head.

Cheap, small, probably ugly. Hopefully without mold.

He'd had dinner too. Maybe ramen. Something with meat if Masato had left enough behind.

Instead, his inheritance couldn't even fit inside an ATM.

He stayed there until the fluorescent lights started getting on his nerves.

If this were daytime, somebody probably would've called security already.

Wet teenager standing inside a bank with no money, trying to jam unidentified plastic into a machine.

Great.

Rei lifted his head.

Someone was standing across the street.

Yellow raincoat.

The man waited beneath the awning of a closed shop. He wasn't checking his phone. He wasn't smoking. There wasn't enough traffic left to watch.

His face was turned toward the bank.

Rei looked away.

Then back.

Still there.

He slipped the card into his pocket.

The man's gaze followed the movement.

Rei left the lobby.

He headed toward the station without hurrying.

Footsteps started behind him.

At the next convenience store, Rei glanced at the dark reflection in the front windows.

Yellow.

Maybe twenty meters back.

He kept walking.

At the intersection, Rei crossed.

The man crossed too.

Rei took the next narrow street.

So did the yellow raincoat.

"This sucks big time."

People did this around ATMs. Wait for someone alone, watch them withdraw cash, then follow them somewhere quiet.

If that was the plan, the guy had chosen badly.

Rei didn't have any money.

His fingers brushed his pocket.

Rei picked up his pace.

The footsteps behind him did the same.

He turned sharply beside a closed pharmacy and slipped behind a large trash bin near the service entrance.

Rei crouched.

Running footsteps slapped across the wet pavement.

The yellow raincoat guy rushed past.

Rei stayed still.

The footsteps slowed farther down the street.

"Shit."

Rei leaned out just enough to see.

The man had stopped in the middle of the road. He turned slowly, checking the storefronts and narrow gaps between buildings.

"Where'd he go?"

He came back a few steps.

Then, quieter,

"That card..."

Rei pulled back behind the bin.

The man crossed toward the opposite side of the road.

Rei waited until the yellow coat disappeared behind a parked delivery truck, then slipped out and headed the other way.

He didn't slow until the park came into view.

His shoes squelched with every step.

Rei ducked beneath the plastic shelter and checked the path behind him.

Nobody.

He took out the black card.

"What are you?"

The surface stayed blank.

"You don't work in an ATM, but apparently you're worth chasing someone through the rain for."

Nothing.

Rei shoved it back into his pocket and sat down.

"Great. Getting mugged over something worth absolutely nothing."

"HEY, KID!"

Rei shot upright.

The old man was marching through the park with a plastic bowl in one hand.

"I got your damn soup!"

He raised the plastic bowl.

"So it's really a fair trade then."

"Oh, shut up and eat."

Rei started crawling out from beneath the shelter.

Then stopped.

Someone was walking several paces behind the old man.

Yellow raincoat.

Rei got to his feet.

The old man noticed his expression.

"What?"

"You brought him here?"

The old man frowned.

"Said he knew your father."

Rei kept his eyes on the stranger.

"He was asking around for you. Said he was a friend of the family." The old man glanced back at him. "Paid me to show him where you were camping too."

"I don't know him."

The old man looked over his shoulder again.

His face changed.

"Oh."

He stepped away from the stranger.

The man in yellow kept coming.

Rei left his hands where they could be seen.

"What do you want?"

"The card."

"What card?"

"Don't."

His eyes dropped toward Rei's pocket.

"I saw it."

Rei said nothing.

The stranger stopped several meters away.

"The Miracle Card."

The old man looked between them.

"The hell's a Miracle Card?"

Rei had the same question.

"Why do you want it?" Rei asked.

The man stared at him.

Then he gave a short laugh.

"Masato really left one with a kid who doesn't know what he's carrying."

Rei straightened. Dad?

"You knew him?"

The man's smile disappeared.

"You haven't used it."

Rei frowned.

The stranger looked almost relieved.

"Good."

"What does that mean?"

"Means you can still walk away from this."

"Do you know Kuzunoha Masato?"

The man's mouth tightened.

"Pah, Masato."

He spat the name.

"That traitor."

Rei took a small step back.

"So you did know him."

"Give me the card."

"How did he die?"

The man held out his hand.

"I don't have time for this."

"Make time."

"The card."

"And if I don't?"

The man's hand disappeared inside his raincoat.

Rei shifted his weight.

A knife came out.

The old man swore.

Before he could move away, the stranger caught him around the chest and dragged him backward.

The blade pressed against the side of his neck.

Soup sloshed inside the bowl.

"Hey."

Rei stopped.

"Stay there."

The old man's face hardened.

"You lying piece of shit."

"Quiet."

The knife moved closer.

Rei could see the skin beneath it press inward.

The stranger looked at him.

"Card."

Rei's hand hovered near his pocket.

"And if I don't?"

"I'm killing him."

The old man glared at the arm around his chest.

The stranger looked back at Rei.

"Then I'll deal with you."

Rei looked at the knife.

The black card hadn't given him money. So far, it hadn't given him anything.

The old man had.

Soup, apparently.

He'd also been the only person in three days who'd bothered checking whether Rei had eaten.

Rei reached into his pocket.

The old man's eyes followed his hand.

Rei pulled out the card.

The stranger's attention snapped to it.

"Yeah."

His grip tightened around the knife.

"That's it."

Rei looked at the card, then at the blade.

He stepped forward.

The old man's eyes flicked down.

Rei followed the glance.

The lid was gone from the soup bowl.

Steam rose from it.

Rei looked back at the stranger.

"Fine."

"Bring it here."

Rei took another step.

"Slow."

Rei raised the card.

"Then take it."

He snapped his hand toward the grass.

The stranger's head turned.

The card never left Rei's fingers.

The old man twisted hard and threw the soup straight into the man's face.

He screamed.

The knife jerked away.

Hot soup splashed across the yellow hood and one side of his face. He staggered back, clawing at his eyes.

"You old bastard!"

The old man tore himself free.

"RUN!"

Rei didn't need telling twice.

The old man was already moving across the path.

Something metallic clattered onto the pavement behind them.

Rei had taken two steps when a flash of black caught the edge of his vision.

He looked back.

The man in yellow had reached inside his coat again.

Another card.

Black.

Blank.

Exactly like Rei's.

The soup had left one side of his face raw red. A cut above his eyebrow was bleeding.

He raised the card.

"You really had to make me do this."

Rain ran across the burn on his cheek.

"Cinnabar."

The card glowed red.

Rei stopped.

Blood from the cut above the man's eye caught fire.

A thin red flame crawled down his temple, following the trail across his cheek. More flickered around the fingertips he'd used to wipe the blood away.

"Kid!"

Rei stared.

"What are you looking at? RUN!"

The old man was already farther down the path.

The man in yellow lowered his burning hand.

"Give me the card."

Red flame curled around his fingers.

"NOW!"