Shining Sky, A Novel

Zerak thought about it for a second, then made a mental note, “Slackthorn really is filthy, if he eats that much candy then he has to have artificial teeth.” He listened but did not offer any body language that he cared, to Zerak, Slackthorn was just another money-hungry politician with his own interests at heart, Zerak was just a tool to the merciless Governor. Once a pause occurred in Slackthorn’s boring monologue, Zerak said, simply, “So recorder and confirm scientists status? I’ll be back in 2 days.” as he rose to leave. “Not so fast, Zerak. I’m interested how many guns you had the nerve to bring with you.” said Slackthorn, a cunning grin on his face. Zerak unholstered his three guns, but keep the bodyguards in his sight, using his sharp eyes to detect any movements suggesting attack. He placed them on the table. “Ah, the famous “White Storm” twins. They have an infamous past but why use them when the design is over 160 years old?? And this, this is a relic, derived from a ‘Webley’ from reports we’ve had on you. It auto-cocks its own hammer? Again, why use a relic?” said Slackthorn.


 Zerak replaced his guns in the holster, and replied, “Besides the fact they’re reliable actions that were in use for over 100 years each by militaries, the other reason is because they’re immune to your OPID system. The TT33 and Webley actions themselves are 100-plus year old designs so they’re exempt from your mandate.” Zerak grabbed the envelope with his commission, turned and left without another sound, walking out of the building and to his motorbike. He relished the smoothness of his motorbike over the petrol versions still seen on the road. He drove to the local sushi shop on what the locals in the Japanese sector called “Little Dobuita Street”. A sign in Japanese reading “Sushi” in faded Kanji awaited him. He went inside, an older sushi chef waved his knife at Zerak. “Masuji-kun! You never fail to stop by unless on a mission. Ryō-sama would always do the same. Damned bastard told me to always accept your money when you came by.”

 Zerak smiled wryly, then placed his money on the counter, “ The usual, and a week’s supply of bentō, Yamanara-san.”

Zerak smiled wryly, then placed his money on the counter, “ The usual, and a week’s supply of bentō, Yamanara-san.” “Another mission, Masuji-kun? You’ll never find a woman for as much as you work!” Mr. Yamanara said with a smile. “Don’t worry about it Ojii-san, I will. It’s not like I’m ugly or anything, I’ve not found any women that are ‘my type.’” Zerak said. Mrs. Yamanara, a woman who looked surprisingly young for her older age, called from the back to Zerak, “How many bentō you need today Masuji-kun?” in a loud voice. “Just seven bentō today Oba-san!” he said cheerfully. Mr. Yamanara served Zerak his sushi soon after, a combination of octopus, yellow-fin tuna and freshwater eel nigiri served with pickled vegetables and umeboshi. Zerak gratefully took the meal, and, several minutes later, left his sake money for Mr. Yamanara to buy himself a bottle of Ginjō sake.

Zerak left the sushi bar and drove his motorbike north, until he arrived in front of “Korean Bank of New D.C.”. He smiled in mild disgust at the dirty building. The incentive for him to have his money here is nobody would suspect him to, and the dividend rates they paid him were very competitive. Walking inside, he handed his envelope to a teller, who spoke broken English: “Deposit sir? I get your bank account number?” Zerak handed over his card with his account number printed on it. While the teller worked to get his commission deposited, he looked around. Just as the teller gave him his receipt, two men entered the bank, masked and with a bag. “Alright, this a bank robbery. Everyone put your hands on your head where we can see them.” said one of the men, with what Zerak realized was a voice scrambler. Zerak put his hands up slowly, as the thieves went to his teller booth he stepped aside. He noted how the one who had spoken was shaking as he threw the bag over to the teller and pointed a gun at her. He also noticed the larger thug was whispering to the one who had spoken, and he caught a snatch of the larger one’s speech.

“You better not screw this up… else…” he said. Zerak stamped his foot to get the man’s attention. He looked over and touched the muzzle of the gun upon Zerak’s forehead. “What you want tough guy? You wanna die-” Just as the man spoke “die” Zerak grabbed the gun and held it at the ceiling while he used his other elbow to break the man’s arm. He pushed the mag release on the gun and threw it away, then pulled out Hayate and Raiden on the two men. He pulled the trigger on Raiden twice, firing a bullet into each of the larger man’s leg. The smaller man looked at him for a minute, dropped the bag and ran for the door, shooting at the ceiling to make the patrons scatter. The man fled into an alley nearby, and Zerak thought to himself. “This man looks like he was being held hostage by the larger man. Its a good thing he ran down this alley, I can corner him.” thought Zerak. The man was soon face to face with a wall. He pointed his gun at Zerak, “Stay back! I’ll shoot.” Zerak fired at the gun, knocking it out of his hand. He approached cautiously, the man was trembling uncontrollably. “Don’t kill me… please, the other guy made me do it."

Zerak said, “Why would I kill you if you were coerced. But do me a favor, please take off your mask. I have a suspicion I need to confirm.” The mask was pulled off and Zerak smiled a wry smile. Before him was not a man, but a woman. She had clear blue eyes, long red hair that was pinned up for the mask and and she was crying uncontrollably. Zerak stowed his guns, and said, calmly, “My name is Zerak, and I am not going to turn you over; In fact, I’m going to help you escape. I’ll get my motorbike, so stay here and keep quiet in case the police arrive. I’ll tell them you got away, and if they see you I’ll say you’re a recruit of mine: I’m a mercenary you see.” Zerak ran out of the alley and went to retrieve his motorbike. Upon retrieving his bike, he was confronted by the bank manager, an elderly Korean man. “Sir, did you catch the robber? I call the police but they take long time.” he said in a thick Korean accent. Zerak looked at him, a blank look on his face, “No, I did not.” Zerak turned on the motorbike and drove into the alley, where the woman was standing, waiting. “Get on, leave your disguise here. Before getting on the bike, she un pinned her red hair, then proceeded to tie it in a ponytail. She embraced him tightly as he sped out of the alley. He drove in the opposite direction of the police station, so that he would have less of a chance of being sighted with her. Eventually, they arrived back at the tower, where Zerak replaced his bike behind the alcove.

“You live here? Its a half-constructed building!” the woman said. The initial shock seemed to have worn off during the ride. They entered the lobby, went to the elevator and proceeded to his apartment. Upon the woman going inside, she attempted to step up with her shoes still on. “Please remove your shoes before stepping on the tatami, its not exactly easy to clean.” Zerak said. He pointed to the left of the door. He set his bentō packages on the table and turned to the woman, “Before you begin discussing with me the circumstances of yourself, do you want a drink?” The woman nodded, and he poured her a glass of water. “Tell me your name.” “Sari. I’ve no family so therefore no surname.” she said quietly. “Well Sari, I will let you stay here, if you tell me your story in full and you agree to not resume your thievery.” said Zerak. “I’m actually not a thief by trade, but a mercenary like you. Except, in this case, Jack, the man you shot in the legs and is probably in custody of the police now, was a target who captured me. Once captured, he made me do his dirty work. “ she said, wincing. “What is it Sari,” Zerak asked, “if you’re injured I have medical supplies.” Sari shook her head, “No, I have a compression chest plate on in order to make me look like a man. Jack’s idea, no less. You mind if I take it off?” she said. Zerak shook his head, so she removed it. Once it was removed her feminine figure was much more visible. Zerak, in a rare moment of gaze, scanned her body. She had a curvy figure, and Zerak was immediately amazed. 
 Zerak regained his composure before she noticed, then asked, “Mind if I be frank for a moment?”

Sari responded, “I don’t mind.” “Sari, how could that compression plate possibly hide your boobs?” Zerak felt the sting of her hand hit him across the face, he noted how much harder the slap was than he expected. He looked at her, she was blushing but clearly displeased. “I’m sorry, Sari, I should have kept that to myself. “ Sari’s expression softened slightly, then she said, “It’s OK, I guess. You’re not the first man to say that sort of thing. And, to answer, it certainly isn’t comfortable, I have a hard time breathing. I only ever used it because of Jack.” she said. “So, to continue, I have no memory of my childhood, at all. I survived because I worked as a cleaning girl and such, but there came a time where I was tired of that so I put my talents to mercenary work. You caught me at a bad time, I was held captive for about 3 months and during that time my fear kicked in and made me weak.” Sari’s stomach interrupted her. “Sari, would you care for some food?” Zerak said with a smile. “What do you have to eat?” she asked. “Well I picked up fresh bentō today at the sushi bar I go to.” he replied “Whats a bentō? And sushi? Never had it, I don't eat raw fish.” “Well its what I have, and bentō I have has some sushi, some rice, a japanese pickled plum called umeboshi and some pickled vegetables. You can eat a bentō or wait until dinner, where I will fix japanese pork cutlet, tonkatsu.” Zerak said firmly.

“Okay, I’m hungry now so I have no choice I guess. I do know how to use chopsticks.” Sari said. Zerak put a bentō in front of her and sat back, drinking from a small bottle of sake, watching Sari attempting to eat sushi and such. He watched her take a fair amount of wasabi, thinking it was avocado. He could not help but laugh, but handed her some more water, and advised her on the umeboshi’s sour taste. Once she was finished, Zerak then asked her, “I am going on a mission tomorrow. You seem capable of fighting, so you can come with. Just be sure to not get in over your head.” “...I’ll come, I mean you saved me so I should be returning the favor by watching your back.” Sari said. Zerak went into his kitchen to begin making the tonkatsu, frying the panko breaded pork and making rice in his rice cooker. They soon ate, but Zerak noticed her lack of Japanese etiquette, which he figured was because she wasn’t raised by a Japanese couple. “Tomorrow, we’ll leave at noon, no reason to rush.” Zerak said. “I’m going to go lay out the futons, but finish eating.” Sari finished her food and placed the dishes in the kitchen, then asked Zerak, “Do you have clothes I can wear to bed and a washer for these I have on.” “Well, I have clothes you can wear to bed, and I can put those in my all in one dryer/washer so they’ll be good for tomorrow. Go over in my wardrobe and pick something out and then go shower and put your dirty clothes outside the door.” He said. “I’m going to put your futon on the opposite side of the tatami so you have your space.” Sari nodded. A few hours later they turned out the lights and got into the shiki futons, but Sari had a hard time sleeping. She felt safe with Zerak, but she was interested in him now. Never before had someone helped her like he did.