There are Many Flowers in Tokyo

Chapter One

The flight attendants dithered with the passengers in coach, where they pointed out their seats and patiently explained the need to put bags in the overheads and not in the aisles.

'No, I can't make an exception,' one said politely to a frustrated, balding businessman.

'Yes, it is a trip hazard,' said another to an older woman fussing with the oversized handbag she insisted would remain at her side throughout the flight.

'I'm sure no one will take your Benefit lipstick if it isn't in your line of sight for the next few hours,' a saintly young man reassured a panicking beauty vlogger who hadn't put down her go-pro since she'd boarded.

'Miss. Porter?' a pretty red-headed attendant paused beside Lily's first-class seat and smiled politely. There were very few passengers at this early stage of boarding, and Lily had enjoyed the solitude until that moment. 'Is there anything I can bring you?'

'My bed?' Lily requested groggily. She squinted through the fly-away brown hairs which had found their way into her green eyes and asked. 'How long until we leave?'

'Not long,' the attendant assured her. 'You have time to change if you'd like...?'

The morning had been something of a rush, which was understandable when one considered Lily hadn't known she would be boarding a flight at all until her great-aunt had announced it at five-am, when she'd still been curled up in bed feeling sorry for herself. Hungover, exhausted, and clad in a fashionable set of Disney Princess pyjamas - complete with fluffy socks beneath her boots - Lily had only enough time to throw on a coat before she was bundled into a waiting cab, her bags packed on her behalf by her aunt's long-suffering butler, Samuel.

After she'd stumbled through the airport in a daze with nary a thought to the duty-free booze and make-up, she'd dropped into her roomy, personal cubicle seat in first-class. Lily had automatically curled up in her plush leather chair like a child in the hope of catching another few minutes' sleep before the reality of this new nightmare sunk in.

Tokyo.

Lily was on a plane to Tokyo.

Alert at long last, Lily jumped up from her chair and demanded, 'Where's Grace?'

'Darling!' Grace Sugiyama appeared behind the attendant. She was as fresh as a spring flower, her face glowing with the exuberant youth of a twenty-year-old rather than that of a seventy-year-old. It was her Eastern Blessing, or so Grace often professed, which prevented lines from marring her delicate features. 'Awake at last.'

Lily had a vague recollection of Grace dragging her through security and reassuring them that, no, she was not drunk, just very tired. It was a difficult lie to spin when Lily could still taste bile and beer in her mouth from the previous night. Fortunately, Grace's charm knew no bounds, and she was able to sweet-talk the security guards into letting her through on the promise that she would accept full responsibility for Lily's behaviour.

'Please tell me you have a spare set of clothes for me?' the woman whined pitifully.

Lily's hope was a vain one. A quick glance about the cabin told her the answer was a resounding no, and that her first steps onto foreign soil would be taken in Disney-Nightwear-Chic. Lily had never been one to give too much thought to her personal appearance, but it would have been nice to retain a little dignity. She had so little left, it seemed a shame to tarnish it.

Grace waved her hand dismissively. 'No need.'

'Seriously?' her niece retorted. 'No need? Look at you, you're -' Lily gestured up and down at Grace's elegant ensemble, '- and I'm... Just, look!'