The Best Part-time Job in Japan

I remember when I finally trusted Takeda enough to tell him the full story about my part-time work. It was right after I’d finished a particularly exciting job. Uncle had told me not to talk to anyone about it, but if you can’t trust your best friend with your secrets, who can you trust?

I hadn't gone more than two minutes into my explanation, and I could already see disbelief all over his face. “Your uncle was a thief?”

I scowled at him. “Wow, you don’t have any tact at all, do you? No, he was a burglar. He only took stuff from places like corporate offices that had plenty of insurance. No one was ever hurt and there were no victims except for the insurance companies. And all they did was bump their rates up a little after things went missing.”

So yes, he was a thief, I admitted, if only to myself.

“Besides, he took me in after my parents divorced and brought me up. He swore off his life of crime, became a security consultant, and made more money than he ever did as a burglar.”

“Oh?” Takeda paused the game we were playing and turned toward me. His knight character stopped mid-swing as it was about to cleave a lizard man in half. “What does he do as a consultant?”

“He helps businesses improve their security and shows them where the weak points in their surveillance systems are.” I couldn’t resist the urge to brag a little. “One of his clients is the National Police Agency.”

“What?” His jaw hit the floor. “They’re the top law enforcement agency in Japan!”

“Yeah, but they don’t have that much manpower and people like my uncle are in demand anyway. But, let me tell you what happened this evening!”

We leaned closer, like two conspirators…

It was “go” time.

Even though it wasn’t necessary, I was wearing an all-black ninja outfit for the occasion. I even wore split-toe tabi. All I lacked was a ninjato sword, but uncle refused to let me carry one for this job.

I couldn’t help but sulk a little. I’d thought the elderly in this country had more respect for ancient traditions.

After the corporate guard drove past, I ran across the paved road inside the chain-link security fencing I’d cut through and into the main compound of Yoshida Heavy Industries.

I stopped by a sculpted rose bush and waited for a security camera to pan in my direction. The camera stopped when it turned my way, it’s little red light pulsing with a deceptive calm, then moved past.

Impatiently, I waited for someone to notice me. Oh come on! I thought. I don’t have all night!

Just then, all the lights in the compound came on. Hooting alarm klaxons went off, along with every blinking red emergency light YHI’s security could send power to. It was an impressive display.

I resisted the urge to take a bow, then shot off around the corner of a building as shouts and the sound of running feet came closer.

Too slow and too late, boys, I chortled to myself. I was gone when the guards arrived.

No one had thought to secure the grate covering the storm drain I’d slipped into. There’s advantages to being short and nimble.

I replaced the grate and squirmed down the concrete drain, listening to the guards shouting overhead and grateful that there hadn’t been any rain for the past week.

After crawling about 10 meters I popped back out from under a manhole cover. The cover had been locked, but you know what? Nobody stops to think about securing a manhole cover from below.

The hardest part was lifting the thing. It must’ve weighed at least thirty kilos.

I was up and out in seconds, and found myself inside the security perimeter in the corporate waste disposal area. All according to plan.

Avoiding the cameras and even a tracked security robot, I made it to my target: Yoshida Heavy Industries’ ridiculously over-secured interior vault, where their deepest industrial secrets were held.

Actually, the vault wasn’t my target. It was what was in the vault that I wanted.

Or to be even more precise -- I was after what should have been in the vault.

I passed through several dimly lit corridors and made my way into the CEO’s office. It was secured with, of all things, an old-fashioned tumbler lock. It was ridiculously easy to pick.

I made my stealthy way inside the office, then across what felt like a square acre of plush carpeting, past the two leather sofas facing each other across a coffee table, behind the huge semi-circular executive desk in front of the wrap-around corner window and a desk chair that was big enough to swallow me whole. Hidden under the carpeting was a floor safe.

Security was still so busy looking for an external intruder they didn’t realize someone was on the inside until it was too late.

With the equipment uncle had given me, it only took a few minutes to punch the safe. Thumb drives, cash, and papers went into my sling pouch. I was feeling a little sorry for the security guys, so I activated the room alarm on my way out.

It didn’t help them any.

I made it back to my little apartment after stopping to grab some Chinese takeout, then, feeling pretty full of myself, called Takeda over for some dinner and a computer game.

When I finished my story I could tell Takeda was impressed, something that I could rarely achieve with my friend.

“The whole time I was robbing YHI, uncle was standing in their control center, one of the big ones with monitors on every wall, pointing out how easily I was getting past their guards. And it was my job to make it look like their security was easy to penetrate.”

Of course, he’d told me in advance where to go and what to do, but it made for a better story if I left that part out.

“Did they ever find out it was you?” he asked.

“Nope. Everyone there was smart enough to realize the 'robbery' had been staged for their benefit, so they weren’t really concerned. Of course, uncle returned the money and documents that had been taken. He left them inside another locked safe he’d broken into, at a YHI branch office.”

“Yeah? Hey, look out.” I heard and felt a thump in my controller as the lizard man dodged him and hit me with one of their nasty jagged swords.

“Ow!” I rolled to the side and counter-attacked while my health bar red-zoned. I tended to make my worst mistakes when I was feeling too self-confident.

“So, how did you know all that stuff about locks, security, and things like that?”

“If I’m being honest, my uncle spent weeks training me for tonight’s job. What do you think I was spending all my time on after school? I also learned a thing or two from my uncle growing up. It’s amazing what kids will pick up from their caregivers, you know?”

“Are you still going to keep working with him?”

“Yeah. Up until tonight I mostly did cybersecurity and computer work for him, but he’s getting older and needs an assistant.”

Takeda stopped the game and dropped the controller on the carpet to give me his full attention. “So, you can pick locks and open safes? Escape from handcuffs, that kind of thing?”

“Huh? Oh yeah, if I’ve been given enough time and the right equipment.”

“That’s fantastic!” It looked like he was going to tell me something, but his phone buzzed.

As he pulled it out, I said “Hey! Don’t tell anyone I told you that! About myself, I mean. Okay?”

“Sure, no problem,” he replied. But his attention was on the phone, not me, as he jumped to his feet.

“Hi, Hayami,” I heard him say as he turned away. “Yeah, I’m at a friend’s house. Sure, I can be right over.” He hung up.

“Headed over to your girlfriend’s house?”

“She’s not my girlfriend yet, Keisuke, but,” he grabbed his jacket and grinned at me, “one of these days, I’ll make her mine. See you at school tomorrow!” With that, he pulled his shoes on and rushed out the door.

I watched his exit a little sadly, then picked my controller back up. Takeda, my friend, it’s more likely she’ll just use you up, then kick you to the curb.

The bell rang, signaling the end of the school day.

“Keisuke, you don’t have to work after school today, right?” Erika stood in front of my desk as I scooped my books into my satchel.

“That’s right.” I couldn’t keep from grinning as I remembered that, yes, I didn’t have work today.

My heart beat faster as I looked at her eager face. Did she want to go somewhere?

“Can you come with me?” she asked. Yes!

“Sure! Uh, where do you want to go?” I was thinking of a crepe cafe’ I’d seen downtown, or maybe she was in the mood for a game arcade --

“I need to talk to Hayami and I want you to come along.”

She laughed at the disappointed look on my face. “Keisuke, it won’t take long! I just wanted to talk to her about --” She took a look around the classroom and waited until the last few stragglers left before turning back to me.

“It’s about the trap door. I’ve already told her about our encounter in the shed. But I didn't tell her where it happened.”

“Oh? Uh, okay.” I couldn’t help but sag like a deflating balloon as I followed her out of the classroom. I knew that Erika was always trying to get me involved with her friends, and never missed a chance to invite me along whenever a group activity came up.

But I’d really been looking forward to something with just her.

Yoshida Hayami sat on the concrete lip circling the stone fountain like a shogun of old. She’d finished her kendo training for the day and was still in her split-skirt hakama that went down to her ankles. Her long, shiny black hair spilled down elegantly over slim shoulders. Although she was a pretty girl, her face might have been carved out of granite for all the emotion it displayed now.

Hayami held the bamboo practice sword vertically between her knees. Both her hands rested on the hilt, ready at a moment’s notice to seize the shinai and dispense justice to any who provoked her.

Her retainers, Takeda and Endo, stood on either side of her.

Erika and I walked up together, which seemed to offend Hayami. I could see her eyes narrow as she looked at me.

As if sensing her friend’s annoyance, Erika stepped away from me to talk to her. She didn’t waste time, but cut right to the chase.

“Endo said that he’s discovered something strange beneath the academy grounds. Has he told you yet, Hayami?” she asked.

Endo was even less pleased than Hayami was at my presence and gave me a sour look. “What did you bring him along for, Erika? Four of us should be plenty.”

Hayami ignored him. “Yes, Endo told me,” she said to Erika.

I was tired of being excluded from the conversation. “Told you what, Hayami?”

Endo’s nostrils flared. “None of your business!” Hayami didn’t say a word but just glanced sideways at Endo, who shut up immediately.

Erika took it upon herself to explain. “Endo’s father runs a construction company. They’re the ones putting in the new drainage system next to the academy. And guess what they discovered!” She couldn’t keep the excitement out of her voice.

Takeda spoke up. “Keisuke, they discovered the ruins of a tunnel system that dates back to before the war. It looks like the hallways of a, oh, I don’t know. A temple or palace or something.”

“I see,” I said. “So you all want to go explore an old, dangerous, underground ruin, huh? Why? Curiosity?”

“No!” Erika almost shouted in her enthusiasm. “There’s something in there. And we need you to help us get it.”

“We” need you? I thought. Why couldn't you say “I” need you?

Instead, I asked, “Why do you need me?”

Erika replied to me, but it felt like she was trying to convince Hayami also. “There could be locks, sealed doors, hidden rooms --”

“And we need a thief to defeat the locks and open closed doors,” Hayami finished for her. She was still giving me a stony look. Takeda groaned and put his face in his hands.

I started to get angry. “Takeda…”

“I know, I know, and I’m sorry, you didn’t want anyone to know. But Keisuke, there’s nothing wrong with being a security consultant. And we could really use your help.”

There was that “we” again, as if I was some kind of outsider. Although, looking at it logically, I guess I was.

There was Takeda and Endo, trim and handsome in their elite school uniforms; Hayami, slim but powerful, with her aristocratic air and sense of entitlement; and Erika, who exuded beauty and class at the same time. Nobility, in a sense.

And then there was me. Short and wiry. Common as dirt and just as poor, relying on part-time work and a scholarship just to make it past the front gate of the academy. And totally uninteresting to Endo and Hayami, until they needed to use me for something.

I was about to tell them to find someone else until I saw the look on Erika’s face. It was full of hope and confidence. “Please, Keisuke?”

If I was being honest with myself, I wanted to know what was down there, too. 

“Oh, okay.” It was worth giving in just to see Erika’s smile.

A sudden, nasty suspicion jolted me. Is Erika just using me, too?

Endo interrupted my depressing train of thought. “Not so fast, Keisuke. I have the map of the ruins --”

“Taken from his father’s desk,” Takeda said, hiding a smile behind his hand. Endo glared at him.

“Anyway, I have the map. And you and Erika know a way in.”

Erika turned and whispered in my ear. “Remember that trap door in the shed, Keisuke?”

“As if I could forget,” I whispered back. I guess Erika hadn’t told Hayami everything. “That’s the way in?"

She gave a small laugh. “Let’s hope our exit doesn’t involve gymnastics this time, though.”

Hayami rose to her feet and everyone became quiet. The shogun was about to address us.

“But before we let anyone gain access to the map,” she said, clearly meaning me, “there is a small task you need to perform. Think of it as a test of your abilities.” A small, almost invisible smile formed on her lips.

I felt a feeling of dread, deep in my heart.