Party Crasher

Ok, several pairs was an underestimate. There were a whole horde of them, one in the doorway, then rows of blue-eyed heads behind, like heads of corn in a bumper harvest. The humming was now in unison, a chorus of synthetic crickets, rising and falling. Rinako’s eye was caught for a moment by something on the open power board.

From the middle of the group, as though wading through that corn field, Lady Takahara emerged, a holo-comm hanging in her hand.

‘The game’s up.’ She put her hands on her hips. The black glared at them from her arms.

Rinako saw an upside down face on the moving on the holo-comm. It was the bearded concierge from Intraderma.

‘There you are!’ Kurama stepped in front of her, his hands in the air. He turned to the lead servant-guard and there was a clanging sound as he patted it on the head. ‘Good job, men. Really, excellent work. You can uh go now. Dismissed.’

He turned back to Lady Takahara and before she could speak, put his arm around her shoulder and steered them back through the crowd of guards. ‘We have been looking for you everywhere. Honestly, thank Stack you’re ok.’

‘What on earth are you—‘ she looked at the hand resting on her shoulder, seemingly unbalanced by this turn of events. The guards’ heads rotated and looked at each other, the humming noise wavering between several uncertain pitches.

Rinako quickly followed them into the corridor.

‘You really had us worried there for a while—‘

Lady Takahara opened her mouth to speak but Kurama held up a hand. ‘No, really, there’s no need to apologise.’

When they reached the carvernous corridor adjoining the main lobby, the marching of the servants accompanying their discussion, people’s heads were starting to turn. Lady Takahara looked around, bowing and smiling at guests as they passed, urging them to continue their drinks, ‘really its nothing, please enjoy your aperitifs—theres a chamber quartet on the third floor if you’d like—ah, Lady Inoue—‘

She turned back and scurried after Kurama and Rinako, her long thin dress restricting her to a flurry of little steps.

‘Officer Kurama—what—‘

Kurama turned as they reached the main lobby and she skidded to a halt, teetering in her heels. ‘What are you talking about?’

‘The intruder?’ He said. ‘We were looking for the safe room.’

‘Intruder… ?’ she looked confused now, her expression like waters into which a stone had been cast. ‘Safe room… what safe room?!’

‘Well, yes.’ He said, pointing a finger. ‘Exactly. I have to say I was shocked to see that with all this,’ he looked around the central lobby, ‘you don’t have a secure safe room. It’s not my place to scold you but really, with all that’s been going on… now, if you’d like me to advise you on construction, I can recommend a very good—‘

She put the fingertips of one hand to her temple, wincing. ‘Officer Kurama! What intruder?’

‘Well… ‘ Kurama’s voice dropped. ‘That’s the thing. Turns out it was a false alarm. These security sensors can be a little sensitive, probably a bird or something, but better to be safe than sorry. There’s been a spate of break ins, especially in wealthy areas like this…’

‘Bird..? We dont have ‘birds’…’

A few heads among the groups scattered around the lobby had started to look over.

‘—or a fox.’ he looked around the corners of the room distractedly. ‘Do you know that ninety percent of false alarms are triggered by foxes and other wild creatures. I saw a whole pile of rubbish left out by the rear entrance—they go for that like crazy…’

‘—fox…’ Lady Takahara’s voice was drifting.

‘So many of them about this time of year… right?’ He turned to Rinako.

‘It could have been a lemur.’ She said.

‘Right, a lemur!’ Shouted Kurama, then closed his eyes. ‘But uh probably… probably go with the fox possibility.’ He paused a moment, before stepping into the lobby. ‘Now, what we can do,’ he looked up around the vaulted ceiling pointing, ‘is install security cams here, all across there, cover the corners, of course, and then the second—did you say third floor? We’ll have to—‘

‘OFFICER KURAMA!!’ Lady Takahara’s voice echoed around the lobby. She had both hands against her temples now. The hubbub faded and guests turned from their drinks to look at them. The sound of running water was now audible and Rinako saw that the shiny surface of the huge central monolith was actually the sheen of flowing liquid. Lights from the chandelier above it wavered in its surface.

‘—hmm?’ Kurama turned.

Lady Takahara exhaled slowly. ‘Officer Kurama.’ Her voice was now steady. A small smile appeared on her face. ‘I would like it very much if you would leave the premises. You can be certain that Chief Goda will hear of this. The Takahara’s are very close with the commissioner.‘

Kurama pointed. ‘I certainly hope so. Very wise.’

Lady Takahara winced.

‘It doesn’t do to let these things go unreported.’ As he spoke, the blue eyed guards formed a row behind Lady Takahara, their dark slate armour blocking off the corridor.

Rinako was standing beside the great stone monolith. 

There was a flicker, like a momentary dimming of the lights. She looked up. The chandelier seemed to be glowing more intensely, its lights swollen like overripe fruit. She narrowed her eyes. In the background she could hear Kurama still talking. The pockets of people in the lobby were reflected in the stone’s surface. She saw herself in it, standing, looking.

‘Rinako.. ?’ Kurama’s voice was very distant, as though he were calling up at her from the depths of a well.

She heard Lady Takahara’s voice. ‘What is she doing?’

Kurama turned away from her, and started walking over. ‘Rinako?’

The lights flickered again, then everything fell into darkness. In the stone’s reflection she could just see the groups of guests. The looked the same except for their faces, which were hideous, deathly pale, and their eyes glowed cold blue. 

Many chattering voices seemed to converge into one.

‘Rin-a-ko.’

She clutched her head. No…

A hand was reaching toward her arm.

Kurama… no, it was someone someone else…

Then high above her, the chandelier exploded.

For a moment everything seemed to happen in slow motion, shards of lights spinning beautifully through the air like doves breaking at the sound of the hunter’s rifle, then she heard whistling noises all around her as pieces of crystal shot past her and lodged in the ground, sticking up from the marble like tiny arrowheads. She felt a sharp pain in her cheek, followed by a warm sensation.

All around her the lobby was replaced by wide open fields. Green grass and an arching blue sky.

Flames were falling around her.

They were fragments of letters, curling, their edges black as they fluttered in the air. A woman stood with her back to her.

Mom. Why are you burning them?

She reached out, and the image flickered. 

Now she was looking out from a tiny space between a pair of stone slabs. There was part of a face looking in at her between them. Her hand reached out.

There was loud bang and the lobby reappeared around her. The noise of the people again filled her ears. In the middle of the chamber, a broken chandelier was leaning at an angle on the ground like a weighed anchor.

In front of it stood a figure composed entirely of white light. Its arms wavered either side of it, its head turning to examine them. Then it looked up, directly at her.

‘Rin-a-ko.’