Red Coins

Xion’s heart still continued to rattle his body, even after Kazue stood directly in front of him and shouted. He was dizzy, and his friend’s voice came across as muffled echoes nearly impossible to focus on. Steam started to pour out one of the many vents littered throughout the alleyway.

“Man, snap out of it!” finally got to Xion along with a hand atop his shoulder. “Let's get the nanos and leave before anyone shows up and thinks we killed him. We can figure our work situation out later” to which Xion nodded his head slightly.
However when they had both approached the chest, the girl from earlier had already been digging through frantically.
“Hey hey, get your money and leave” Kazue spoke nervously, coming up next to the girl, but she paid no attention to him. Instead she was tossing out leather bags left and right until finally she spotted what she was looking for, reaching for a small black and purple box, but a hand caught her arm first around the wrist.

“Let go” she demanded with a glare that initially startled Kazue. That glare soon faded with a frown taking over, “Please, my mom…she needs them-”

“So do ours, and we paid for them” Kazue attempted to explain calmly. “We can split the money here though, should be plenty to buy some more nanos for you” he then smiled.
“You don’t understand, she needs them now” the girl shook off Kazue’s relaxed grip with haste, recovered the box of medical nanomachines, and then stood inside the doorway of her supposed home. The expression on her face said “I’m sorry” as Kazue and Xion both looked on as they could soon hear hazardous coughs coming from the open door.

“Don’t-”
“It’s fine,” Xion cut his friend off, “do you know how to administer it properly?”
“No,” she simply said.
“We’ll help you then.”

“Like hell I will. I almost got shot over this entire thing!” Kazue kicked Jenki’s lifeless body.
“I’ll give you something afterwards” the girl then quickly said.

Kazue sighed. “What could you possibly have that I’d want? There’s plenty of yen here already.”
As soon as he’d said this, the girl began to reach down her shirt, prompting both Kazue and Xion to irrationally react.

“W-what a-are you-”
Sirens just a block away could then be heard. Kansai’s police regiment would arrive soon, and being caught next to a body would only bring more issues.
“Let us hide inside your house. If the police ask, and they probably will, tell them the Daimyo killed that man for trying to sell to you, since they won’t argue with that.” Xion had quickly hatched the plan as the sirens sounded. “Then we’ll help you. Okay?”

“Okay.” she said quietly.
“Fine,” Kazue groaned. “We were just getting to the good part too..”

The three quickly moved into the ransacked building just as flashing lights arrived around the corner. After having carried the heavy chest of yen together, both Kazue and Xion dropped it and hid inside a wardrobe by the corner just in case the police wanted to check inside, but oddly enough the police never even knocked.

The sound of two motorcycles blared down the alleyway and off the walls. The engines shut off.
“Looks like one body, badly cut isn't even the proper term. Whirlwind assault, surrounded by katana marks on the walls. Think it’s her?”
“Course it is. 138. There have been 138 similar occurrences this month, and that’s not even counting bodies that aren’t shredded cheese. Wait a minute, is that Jenki? Damn, we just drank together last week!” There was a thud against the wall.
“Must’ve done something really bad, can’t say I pity him.”
“Nah, Jenki never hurt anybody. If it’s between you and me this heir of Kitsune has gone off the rails.”
“Are you really saying that? What if she’s still here listening.”
“Then I’ll give her some honest free advice. Give up and retire.”
“Aw jeez, cut her some slack. She’s saving us the trouble of catching some baddies.”
“Let us enact the law. She should stick to her master’s side running the city instead of being some masked hero jumping off rooftops and marking buildings with her sword.”
“Maybe you should send Kitsune a Red Coin. Tell him what you really think about his protege.”
“Believe me if I had one I would. Anyways, you bag up old Jenki here and I’ll let his wife know on our way back to the station.”
The talking faded as first the sound of a zipper closing up the assumed body bag purred, followed by both engines roaring and rolling off.

Both Xion and Kazue exited the wardrobe, hoping not to break the creaking door. Now having a better look at the home, they noticed there really wasn’t much to see, with the large wardrobe being the most exciting thing actually.

A blue carpeted floor with scattered stains lined the single room. There in the middle was a single round wooden table that held up a lava lamp, along with a few books, pill bottles, and two plates, forks, and drinking glasses. There was a dresser sat up against the wall that contained all sorts of knick knacks in the open drawers such as stuffed animals and a small handheld mirror, along with essential clothes. In the far corner opposite of them was a vintage divider dressing screen that hid away the bed containing the girl’s sick mother, and what seemed like thousands of tubes connected to her that allowed for bladder and digestive relief. There the girl sat next to it.
“They should be gone now” Xion whispered, approaching her with his unusually quiet friend.

“She can’t hear anything so don’t worry about your voices,” the girl said as she held out the box for Xion. 

“Oh… I’m sorry about that” Xion awkwardly glanced down, taking the box and looking it over. Considering all the noise from earlier it should be no surprise she wasn’t awake.

“I got used to it pretty quickly honestly.”
“You need a hug?” Kazue added, arms already outstretched.
“No.”

Xion slightly smiled to himself knowing his friend was trying his best to lighten the mood.

They promptly gathered around the bed where Xion opened the box. The girl’s mother looked far worse than either of their own. Her skin was nearly gray, her fingernails were yellow, and aside from the tubes throughout her body, she was a total mess.
Now in the palm of Xion’s hand was a small grasshopper-like robot no bigger than the width and length of his thumb. Its structure was slimy like jello, but transparent enough so that the wires inside were able to be seen. Upon pressing it, the mold would just morph around Xion’s finger, along with the wires inside.

After fidgeting with the mechanisms, and double-checking the back of the box at least 7 times, he handed it to the girl next to him, who was standing near her mother’s shoulder.
“So..she’s going to need to swallow this. It’s now programmed to crawl around a designated area and find the problem causing the issue, possibly repairing it within a few days. She also needs to remain still-” he recalled the effects of paralysis, “right- and that’s pretty much it.”
“That’s it?” she echoed. “I don’t understand how it works, but I believe you. Could you hand me a glass?” she said to Kazue, who returned quickly with one. She then placed the gooey nanomachine into the glass, and presented it to her mom while nudging her.
“You still don’t have to do this if you think it’s dangerous. I mean, it is dangerous, and I’m not trying to persuade you to return it. I just want you to know we could maybe pool some money together or something to get a real doctor.”

“I don’t even know your names” she smiled as her mother woke. “Hey mom, time for your drink.”
“Saeko,” her mother said with difficulty, “who are these boys? Friends from school?”
The girl nodded, watching as they both awkwardly smiled. “Now drink” she motioned an invisible cup to herself to mimic the act.

As told, her mother drank from the glass. The gooey substance slid easily down her throat without complaint, though it gave both Kazue and Xion shivers.
Saeko returned the glass to Kazue, leaned across her mother’s bed, and allowed her to kiss her daughter’s forehead. A few moments passed as her mother’s eyes shut. They stepped away to the table in the center of the room and sat cross-legged around it.
“So, your names?”
“Xion Mizuno,” Xion said with a subtle wave.

“Kazue,” he said, smirking. “Just Kazue till I know your full name. Got anything to drink?”
“Seako Oda,” she smirked back, "great descendant of Nobunaga himself," she continued reaching into a locked compartment in the floor beneath the table. A small section of the carpet had been cut out, and when opened, it revealed a small insulated fridge. There were only a few bottles and canned drinks inside, three of which she grabbed out before shutting it tight.

“The Oda family?” Xion stared in awe.

“She’s lying. It can’t be…” Kazue pondered to himself silently until Saeko slid a can to Xion. 

“Hey-”

“Kazue…who?” she opened her can and sipped.

“Kinoskue…” he groaned.

“Good boy” she giggled, tossing him a cold wild strawberry flavored canned drink. Her’s was blissful blueberry flavored, while Xion’s was excotic orange. “My family name is actually just Nagata. Welcome to my great stronghold.”

“To the Nagata household then” Xion held his drink out, and was eventually met by both remaining drinks, they clinked and sipped.

“Your mother said you went to school?” Xion asked after a sigh of relief from his drink.
“That’s just what I tell her. What I actually do are small deliveries for people between Kansai and Chūbu, but the off the record kind of deliveries, cause laws and stuff.”

“So you’re a smuggler? Kazue mumbled.

“Guess you could call it that. If the regions weren’t so stingy, well…I’m not sure what I’d be doing. Smuggling at the age of 16 though, what a life huh?”

“How’s that going? Is it safe? What’s Chūbu even like?” Xion was bustling with questions.
“It pays. It is safe, sometimes, because regions aren’t fighting, but there are laws here asking us not to trade between regions. So occasionally a drunkard there or a prestigious nosey person here will catch you, cause a scene, and you just run and hope nobody grabs you. As for Chūbu, well, everything just seems bigger there, like the buildings are taller, vehicles are wider, and the people are goliaths. Everyone is way more vulgar and brash, and whenever I visit there are always people fighting on the streets, sometimes for fun, and other times disputes. They kinda just handle things themselves.”
“So about this compensation then,” Kazue finally spoke up after listening and changing topics. “I hope these drinks and knowledge aren't your way of repaying us.”
“Whaaat? You seem to like them, right Xion?” she looked at him, still smiling. This sudden spotlight caught him off guard. When he’d first seen Saeko she only frowned, but since then she had seemed a different person. Her smile alone was mesmerizing enough.

“Y-yeah. Culture is cool.”
Kazue attempted to knock the drink out of his hands, though to no avail.

“You guys are familiar with Red Coins, right?” 

Each of the 5 Daimyos had special ways of communication with their population’s denizens, and in Kansai’s case, Red Coins were the preferred method. These large Red Coins are a part of a special currency in which a person could personally use them to submit a message to the Daimyo at specially guarded shrines throughout the region. What the message contained didn’t matter, whether it was a request, comment, or complaint given. Additionally, at the beginning of every month the deposited coins were scattered so that there would always be Red Coins available. 

“Of course, although I’ve never liked them. I wish we used similar methods to Chūbu region’s known contest where the Daimyo named Tsunami arm wrestles people everyday. If you defeat him, you get to boss him around for a day!” Kazue flexed an arm.
Xion frowned at his overly excited friend. “Nobody ever beats him at that though, otherwise we’d hear about it. What’s the point?”
“I’m saying at least he actually shows his face and gives people a chance to interact with him sometimes, unlike our Daimyo, Kitsune.”

“Didn’t Kitsune’s heir show up tonight though?” Saeko tilted her head. “At least from what we overheard and saw ourselves. I mean she didn’t have the keychain, but she was really fast.”

“So?” Kazue sneered, “I just want to see our Daimyo do stuff, not his heir. There’s hardly any pictures of him out there aside from that news conference that he attended and didn’t even say anything at. All we know is he has white hair, wears a bandit mask that doesn't even cover his white eyes, but he also had on a suit too and carried his katana with the keychain like a cane. Ever since then we’ve never seen him or his weird fashion again.”
“But we literally call him Kitsune, I guess because of his katana’s keychain much like Tsunami’s, but he operates like a fox in general. Quietly, which is something I don’t think you appreciate enough considering we were just saved by his heir tonight.”
“I do appreciate it,” Kazue said while trying to look down into his opened can. “I think I just like Tsunami as a Daimyo more than Kitsune, alright?”
After this, a few moments passed by without a word.

“Anyways, the reason I had brought up Red Coins is I also have a coin..” she paused as both of them raised eyebrows at her, "one that guy wanted, and you will both have to play rock paper scissors for it.” She then reached beneath her shirt and pulled out the coin, along with the string that hung it around her necklace to avoid it getting caught up in her hair. “So?”

“That’s our reward for helping you?” Kazue stuck out his overturned hand in displeasure. "Why would he want that?"
“Do you want the coin or not?”
Still seated, Xion and Kazue both lazely stuck an arm out to meet each other without so much as looking. Together both hands moved slowly…
“Rock… paper…scissors…” they unenthusiastically recited together.
Xion held out rock, while Kazue held paper. Kazue had won the Red Coin.
“Congrats to the winner. Couldn’t happen to a better guy,” her sarcasm seeped as she tossed him the coin.
“Great, a stupid coin” Kazue exclaimed, catching it and observing the details on its structure, the coin being about as large as his palm. “What should I ask for, or even say? Hey, thank your heir for saving our ass, could she show up sooner next time!?” he growled silently.
While Kazue gloomingly fantasized over possibilities, Xion turned back to Saeko. He was silently disappointed he didn’t win.
“How’d you get it?”
“Oh, it was just a gift from my father before he left us. Simple as that.”

“Maybe he was crushed beneath a falling building,” he said out loud to himself, which caused a sudden uproar of laughter from Saeko. He decided not to pursue further though, instead changing the subject.
“You got a phone? Holovisor? Anything to keep in contact with?”
“Yes..” she said after a moment, “I’m poor, so it’s not much,” she continued with the retrieval of a phone about 7 issues older than Xion’s, (his also was 5 years behind the newest product, while Kazue’s was about 3 years behind). “Just put your information on my list and I’ll message you sometime, probably if my mom gets better.”
She reached across the table and placed it into his waiting hand. Xion placed the other hand atop her’s.
“She’ll get better,” he said as she studied his comforting pale green eyes.

“You’re right,” Saeko smiled brightly.
“Can I ask why you two are holding hands now? Did I miss something, did you forget I was here? Hello?”

“Think you’re just jealous,” she snickered after pulling her hands back. “You can enter your stuff too if you want, I don’t mind.”
“Cool.”
Kazue leaned over his friend’s shoulder as the two examined the contacts menu. Beneath it was listed:
“DAD”
“WORK”
“K. KAZUE”
“M. XION”
“???”
Curiosity normally would have propelled them to examine the context of the “???” contact, though with her sitting directly in front of them it felt unwise. Instead, Xion handed it back.
“If you’re wondering why I still have my father’s information, it’s because I’m still waiting for him to apologize.”

Finally after enough banter, Xion and Kazue decided it was time to leave. After a few hand waves, and some non-serious conflicted faces between Kazue and Saeko, they set off promising to return at least once more for drinks someday.

Outside the door Jenki’s body was gone, an odd feeling that enveloped both friends as they carried on down the alleyway, each mentally recounting what had occurred earlier.

“You know there’s something still bothering me,” Kazue suddenly spoke up, “about why she knew your name. Any clues?”
“The Daimyo's heir? Beats me” was the most honest answer Xion could give. “Maybe she overheard my name while jumping across Kyoto tonight. That mask does have pointy ears after all” he said while patting the invisible ears above his head.
Kazue threw his arms back around his own neck. “How does she even do that? I mean she jumped off the walls so fast I couldn’t even keep up with her, and she fights with a katana.”
“It’s a little hard to believe it still even after witnessing it first hand, but I think it has to be something with the swords right?" Xion punted a nearby small broken phone down the street, “she never dropped it,” he then exclaimed. “Does Tsunami fight with a sword too?”
“From what I’ve read online, yeah.”
“What if you just asked Kitsune?”
“How-oh,” Kazue was dumbfounded. “Eh, I don’t know man. Thinking of just using the coin to ask for doctors. Pretty simple, but it’s foolproof right? Can’t say no to that” he laughed.

“Yeah” Xion’s words drifted off in thought. If the woman that saved him tonight was the Daimyo's heir, how much stronger was the Daimyo himself?

Both friends eventually split off and went to their own homes, capsule complexes that were actually across the street from each other.

Xion fell into bed and dazed off quickly. He dreamt of sirens that night.

The next morning he woke up to a text message on his phone that wasn’t sent by Saeko, but instead Kazue. It read:
“Hey Xion, last night when I arrived home, it turned out my mother had passed away in her sleep. If the sirens didn’t wake you, I wasn’t going to, so I decided to let this message be my information. I’m leaving Kansai and heading for Chūbu, where I will arm wrestle Tsunami the Daimyo, and ask him to accept me as his heir. I’m not expecting him to say yes, but I idolize him if last night wasn’t any hint, so it’s the only thing going through my head right now. I’ll probably let you know how that goes. Be sure to get your mother the help she needs, don’t waste a second. See you soon man, and enjoy the coin. It’s only brought Saeko and I bad luck, but maybe it’ll be good for you.”

Having already been slid beneath the door to his capsule, a Red Coin presented itself on the floor. Suddenly Xion didn’t want it anymore.