Thanatos

Chapter 30

When Kei mentioned the word "friend", Megan wasn't quite sure what to expect. She definitely wasn't expecting it to end up with them at a karaoke bar.

Yaeyama – that was the name above the entrance next to the logo of a giant blue scorpion – was located within the city. In spite of that though, the dark vibe Megan felt the moment they parked was no different from Tanaka's alleyway home on the outskirts. Whatever Yaeyama was all about, it wasn't a place a person wanted to stay for too long; and she wondered, as she seemed to have been doing ever since they got to Tokyo, how in the world Kei had gotten herself mixed with it.

The sliding doors opened to the reception; a small space leading to two corridors at the sides where numbered doors opened and closed at intervals to passing clients and servers from the entering edge of the walls to a barricaded end far down the walk.

Muffled music sounds traveled through the ground as Megan and Kei came in, no one occupying the reception but a girl at the front desk. She wore heavy makeup, a light pink wig, and some sort of brightly coloured cosplay clothes that made her look like a teenager fresh out of high school - the exaggerated poses the girl assumed though as she played with her phone's selfie camera seemed almost too deliberate alongside her outfit to Megan and she suspected she was actually older than she was portraying.

"Meg, is the entourage really necessary?" Kei remarked at the trio of Ricardo, Jay, and Adolf who came in after them.

Megan had insisted they come along the moment the teenage speedster alluded to her connection – an unpleasant one for that matter - to a person who was a mastermind to a migrant smuggling ring, and possibly Thanatos. That aside, Kei's overall connection to Tokyo was one that filled her with apprehension, especially as the others had decided to leave her feeling like someone joining a book club after the others had gone a half and quarter way through the read.

Better safe than sorry, she said to herself.

"Backup is never too much on a mission, Kei," she replied, "especially as your friend had decided he wouldn't be joining us for this one." She could still remember the way Tanaka fled with his tail between his legs at the last meeting when Kei informed them of the new development.

"Tanaka's just being safe," the teenage speedster said. "While he may be cool with everyone, not everyone's cool with him."

And all the more reason why we need to bring our own backup, Megan reiterated in her head.

Kei took the lead as they reached the front desk. "Good evening," she said. "I'd like to book a room."

"Our prices are in front of you," the girl returned in a child-like high pitched tone which sounded almost as deliberate as the rest of her appearance, tapping on an open book in front of her without shifting her eyes off the device in her hand.

"I'm thinking about something premium," Kei said.

"Premium prices are also included." The girl still didn't take her eyes off the phone.

"I mean, very premium." Kei removed a shuriken from her pocket and raised it in front of the phone's screen.

Now, the girl stopped. One glance at the shuriken had had her frozen in place, but it wasn't out of fear.

"Kami!" she gasped. Deity!

Kei smiled, a very soft, very matured expression that Megan wasn't quite used to seeing on her face; and didn't know how to respond to either. She stood there awestruck just like the girl across the desk.

"Please pass my message along," the teenage speedster said, adding a wink to her smile now.

"Of course," the girl fumbled over the words a little. "Right away."

Pressing a button underneath the desk, the wall behind the desk slid open to reveal a secret passage downstairs and she rushed in just as it began to close. A few minutes later, she emerged from the passage again.

"He says come," she said.

Kei led the group down a narrow staircase to what turned out to be an underground bar. It was everything unlike the space above: the music was loud, the surface open to sight, and the floor packed to every dark corner with people engaged in all shades of affairs, speakable and unspeakable. It was almost like a religious Renaissance artist had painted a scene of sin to life.

Megan quickly looked away from rave side of the bar below to a demarcated spot at the far corner on the left. A walkway had been erected with glass barricade to connect the staircase to the demarcation without having to go through the bar. Both sides of the walk were filled with guards armed to the teeth.

A short, stout elderly man in a brown suit occupied a lone brown chair that matched the suit in the demarcated spot. He looked seemly removed from the happenings around him, just relaxed with a cigar in one hand and a drink – Megan couldn't tell what kind it was from the distance – in the other hand like the king of the underworld; and he probably was.

A guard at the bottom of the staircase stopped them as they reached. "No weapons allowed," he said.

Kei smirked. "You really think this policy of yours has any effect on me?" she said, daring the man to refute with her eyes.

He didn't respond.

"Fine," she said after a while, rolling her eyes. "Whatever keeps you from wetting your pants before the night is done." She handed him her two katanas, but that still didn't get her a pass through. She handed him four daggers and a box full of shurikens for good measure.

The others were searched too but nothing was found so they were allowed through straightaway.

Guess they don't know about the Olympus side of Kei, Megan thought. They definitely wouldn't have even allowed any of them entrance into the passage if they did.

She took a quick glance back at the trio still behind them, hoping to catch at least a glimpse of their reaction to the events that had taken place since their arrival. Their gaze was stoic though, as it had been ever since they were informed of the matter for the tagalong. If they had any opinion, they didn't want it shown.

Or perhaps they're already aware well enough beforehand not to be surprised, Megan added in her head, reminding herself that she was the only one still playing catchup; and maybe Ricardo too. Adolf and Jay definitely seemed well informed of Kei's previous travel to Tokyo.

The stout man took a look at the group as they came in and scoffed. "Look what the scorpion dragged in," he said, his voice so deep that it was almost like it reverberated through the floor when he spoke. "I never thought I'd see you again after last time, Kei-kami."