Firecracker: The 99th Games Book One

Train Rides, District 3 Follow-Up

Two in the morning seemed like as good a time as any to try and meet Asahi in his room.

It did occur to Fuyuko to be wary of meeting an adult man in his bedroom at night. Just in case, she took a knife from the food car before heading to his car, hiding it in her sweater pocket with her phone. Would Asahi even still be awake now? Normal people didn't stay up until the wee hours of the morning with insomnia.

She tried knocking when she found the door labeled with his name. Pressing her ear to the door, she listened for a response. Someone coughed, then called, "Come on in."

So he was awake. Fuyuko slipped one hand into her sweater pocket just in case and opened the door, easing her way inside. The lights were still on, and Asahi stood by a slightly open window, a cigarette pinched between his fingers. He waved a greeting to Fuyuko, who stayed by the door partially to give herself an easy exit, partially to keep a good distance between the two, and partially to avoid smelling the smoke.

Asahi seemed to accept it when she didn't come any further in. He flicked ash out of the window, yawning. "Guess I'm not the only one with insomnia on this thing. Fine by me. Sorry for smokin', it helps keep me from losin' it."

Fuyuko shifted. "I'd rather you were coughin' than high as sh*t."

Asahi chuckled, nodding. "Yeah, that's fair. I try not to get high until after our tributes are already dead. Which I'm hopin' ain't gonna happen this time."

"What do I have to do with the 75th Games?" Fuyuko asked.

Asahi blinked at her. For a second, Fuyuko wondered if she'd misinterpreted the pretzel sticks he left her.

But then he smiled, nodding to himself. "You got that. Good. How much do you already know about that Game?"

"I know it was supposed to mark the start of a rebellion, but it failed," Fuyuko said. "I've done a bit of diggin' online, but nothin' huge."

"You remember how six people left that arena?" Asahi asked, taking another drag of his cigarette. He turned to blow the smoke directly out the window, seemingly sensing Fuyuko didn't want to deal with secondhand smoke.

Fuyuko frowned. "I...don't think I fully processed that part."

"S'true," Asahi said. "Sure, a few of 'em got captured by the Capitol, but point is for a split second, Katniss Everdeen shut down the Hunger Games arena and there were six Victors. She had help from a tech wiz from our district."

Fuyuko nodded again, admittedly not totally sure what this had to do with her. "And you think I can be that tech wiz."

"...I think you can be Katniss," Asahi corrected after a moment. He stamped out his cigarette on the metal bench by the window, then placed it aside and turned to face Fuyuko more fully, pulling up his left sleeve to show her a small tattoo of a flame etched onto the underside of his wrist. "Listen, Fuyu. That rebellion may have failed, but it sure as h*ll didn't die. For years, people in various positions have been waitin' for just the right moment to try again. And none of us can explain it--maybe it's 'cause this year is the twenty-fifth anniversary of when the first revolution got started--but we feel like this might be the year things are gonna change."

Fuyuko frowned, inching forwards just enough to clearly see the tattoo on Asahi's wrist. "...That supposed to be important?"

"Startin' now, it's the most important symbol you'll ever see," Asahi said lowly. "Those of us interested in tryin' this thing again have it somewhere on our person. Hidden on our clothes, tattooed on our skin, in jewelry, wherever. We're the ones you can trust. I don't know all of 'em, but I can tell you Serena Hasegawa from District 6 and both Mentors from District 5 are on our side."