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***
Seconds after I stepped foot inside the meat shop, two people came to my side.
I was startled to say the least. But, Master Lin explained the silent pair was here to guarantee my unperturbed transit. Whatever that means.
After that, no one spoke as they guided me to the back of the store.
I widen my eyes when they stopped in front of a large metal door. The giant latch was pulled open and the door was unsealed.
A hand behind my shoulder blade tells me to move forward into the cold room. A freezer.
I try not to think about the various dead animal bodies around me, but take careful steps.
"How did you know to come here?" Master Lin pauses to ask in a soft, collected tone.
The thick door slams shut behind us.
"My sister left me a letter before leaving Tokyo. It said I should come to this address if I needed to find her." I try to put as much sincerity into my eyes as I can.
"Do you bring the letter with you?"
I quickly nod my head, showing him what is left of the paper. He observes the crumpled material I fought so hard to keep safe from the rain.
He seems satisfied.
"Did she disclose to you the details of this... Venue?" He still examines the letter, but this question sounds pressing.
"No, she did not." I watch a discrete smirk form on his face.
"Then," He sends some kind of signal to the cloaked men, then returns to me. "Jun Kuroki, I introduce to you, Kings Dominion, Atelier of Deadly Arts."
My jaw dropped when I discovered the freezer was no freezer at all, it was a passageway.
Another door on the very back, behind layers and layers of meat, took us to the real venue.
Hard-wood floors, hundreds of rectangular-shaped cabinets lining the walls. A smile manages to find a way into my expression. It's a school.
Master Lin and I enter an office, that I gather it's his.
Anyone else, noticing the odd furniture and decoration, would be shocked. Several deadly instruments are displayed across the room. I, however, am used to them.
His office is nothing more than ordinary to me.
"Sit." He commands. "I would like us to have a conversation."
I settle on the chair across from him and his wide desk.
"What is your age?" It felt like a discreet one, but an interrogation nonetheless.
"Seventeen."
"Seventeen." He repeats. "You are the young one."
"Only slightly." I mumble under my breath.
"As you can imagine, this is not an ordinary school. Here at King's Dominion, we teach young minds how to defy opinions, authorities and institutions in power when required or desired." He motions to our surroundings. "We supply them the ability to cleanse when impure, break if corrupt and fix when salvageable. Your sister is one of those minds."
He grabs a picture frame and turns it towards me. A class photo where Saya stood dead-center. "She came to me with great determination. Many things are in need of fixing, she said. Many things that are but shouldn't."
Sounds like her.
"Are you and Saya close?"
"Yes." I swallow my hesitance. We were.
Master Lin utters the most suspicious 'huh' in history.
"When is Saya getting here?" I ask, a certain anxiety about the question.
"Soon." A single word. A non answer at best. "I was under the impression you resided in Tokyo, even after your sister left."
I nod.
The absence of windows in the room feels suddenly purposeful.
"You remained loyal to your uncle, loyal to the Yakuza, am I incorrect?"
For the first time, all those weapons at arm's reach didn't seem so harmless.
"You are a long way from Tokyo, wouldn't you say?" His stare doesn't deviate from mine. I think he hasn't blinked since he closed the office door.
I hold my breath for a moment, but it does nothing to slow down the rhythm inside my chest.
"I apologize for interrupting, Master Lin." I force a polite smile on my lips, but it doesn't reach my eyes. "If it's not too much trouble, may I have a change of clothes? The weather caught me in improper attire."
A pause.
"Of course. We wouldn't want you to get a cold." He says. "I will provide you some dry clothes."
I thank him, and watch as he calls on his men to get them.
He stared at me, not saying a word, until his men came back.
He says something about a bathroom to the left of his office, but I barely understand him. I grab the clothes and my body is out the door.
It's surprising that I can still run after doing so the whole night. But I run with renewed energy. Renewed anxiety.
I breathe so rapidly that I feel light-headed. The happenings of this week fight against my ribs, trying to free themselves into the world.
The mixture of nausea and hysteria turns my vision into chaos and my rationality into a long lost thought.
Unsure of how I got there, the next time I can see what is in front of me, I am surrounded by four walls of white tile.
I only notice there is a mirror inside when I see myself reflected on it. Disastrous is a good adjective to describe me. "Fuck." I breathe.
I had started crying somewhere between Lin's office and wherever here is.
Wavering fingers grab hold of the hem of my dress. I lift it over my head and a soundless gasp flees from my lips.
Bruises paint purple all over my body. The red is from the cuts and stabs.
Throwing the dress to the ground, I touch one of the bruises. The sting of it grounds me.
They are real.
Abruptly, the door swings open. In a hurry, I use the clothes I was given to cover myself. This is evidence of what I did. For no eyes other than mine.
For now.
Someone rushes in so fast, a whoosh of wind hits my face.
Without acknowledging me, the boy goes straight to one of the stalls and kneals on the ground. He sticks his head on the toilet and pukes.
The back of his green Mohawk is all I see, but the sounds are enough to tell me he is very sick.
My head snaps to the door and I consider leaving him to his misery.
He doesn't need to know I was ever here.
Quietly, I grab my dress from the floor, put it back on and move to the exit.
If only I succeeded.
Before I could even touch the knob, another boy pushes it open.
