Heroes and Villains

12 - What's to come

Michelle

I was about to go rob a pharmacy uptown when I realized I have a rich friend now with easy access to the Hamato Industries famous drugs, so I went there instead.

Of course, sneaking into the Hamato Industries is not an easy task, but she did say she would cover for me, so I head out into the large mansion next to the facilities where I know she now lives.

This is where Jack and his brothers live too, along with his dad, Itsuki. I never really came here. Whenever I wanted to hang out with Jack, we would end up meeting downtown. I don’t think he knows I come uptown often.

Sneaking my way through the beautiful gardens surrounding the mansion, I try to make myself invisible as I know there are alarm sensors everywhere.

I am about to jump my way into another bush when suddenly I bump into someone who gets in my way just as I am about to jump.

I quickly get up, ready to knock out whichever guard that has managed to catch up to me but am surprised to see Yumi instead.

She lays on the ground as I knocked her down when I bumped into her. She is no longer wearing her ridiculous wig and suit, nor her mask. Right now, she is just Yumi Hamato, taking a stroll on her gardens.

“What are you doing?” I ask her, helping stand up.

“I should be the one asking that question” She says, her white eyes looking ahead, unable to see me. “This is my home, after all”

“I came here to see you” I say. “Honestly, I thought it was going to be a lot harder”

She chuckles. “I know”

“You know?” I ask, looking perplexed at her.

“I can see the future, remember?” She says. “Even if yours is a bit harder to determine, once you get your mind set on something, it becomes pretty clear”

“Why did you let me bump into you if you knew I was right here?” I ask.

“That, I couldn’t predict” She says. “You need medicine for measles, right?”

I don’t even ask how she knows this. “Yeah”

“I have it inside, but first, I want to show you something” She tells me and starts leading the way with her cane in front of her.

I follow her silently, noticing now that the alarms have been disabled and the usual guards are nowhere around this place. I had all that trouble for nothing.

“Why do you use that cane?” I ask. “We both know you don’t need it”

“For the familiarity of it, I suppose” She tells me. “It took me a long time to be able to walk around without it. I like the comfort it gives me”

“You’re pretty weird if you get comfortable with a cane” I retort. She frowns but doesn’t say anything in response.

We walk silently as she leads the way into the house, going in through the back door and then surprises me when she presses a tile on one of the corridors. Gears turn and a secret door opens in front of us.

“Follow me” She says, entering the hidden dark corridor. As I enter, the secret door closes behind me.

“I had this place built while I was still living in Japan. I had to pay the workers a great deal of money so they would not tell a word to Obaasan” She says while we start descending a few stairs and I am about to ask what is this place that she is leading me to when she turns on the lights and I can see clearly around me again.

“This is where I train” She says as I look around, completely wondered.

She has everything here. A shooting range to practice her bow and arrows, punching bags, trainee dummies, all sorts of weapons and armory… And… Is that a car? A white Batcar? That is so cool!

But I do have to say: Metal overload. I mean, everything here is covered in metal, it’s like a bunker. I bet if a bomb got dropped in here, the outside world wouldn’t feel a thing.

 “Wow… So, this is your bat cave” I comment, still looking around.

“There are no bats here” She retorts, confused at my remark.

“No, not like that” I say. “Like where Batman lives”

“Who’s Batman?” She asks, still very confused.

“He’s a very famous superhero!” I say, outraged that she doesn’t know who Batman is. “Ya know, from the comic books”

“Oh” She mumbles. “So, he’s a fictional character”

“Yeah…” I say. “But so are we…”

She ignores this last part and I continue. “Say, Yumi” I start. “Do you have those strong visions very often?”

She takes a long while to answer my question as I continue looking around and touching stuff I probably shouldn’t touch.

“Not very often” She finally says. “But when I do, I know it is going to happen, no matter how hard I try to change it”

“What do you mean?” I ask, turning my attention back to her.

“I have only had these types of visions 3 times in my life” She explains, looking desolated. “The first one was months before my father died”

“Oh no…” I mumble, seeing where she’s getting at. She saw her own father’s death before it even happened.

“I was just a girl then, but even so, I told my father what I had seen and he believed me” She continues. “We tried everything. We moved around, we tried to find out who was going to kill him but the image of the killer was always blurred. To this day, I still don’t know who it was”

“Oh, Yumi…” I say, placing a hand on her shoulder wanting to comfort her.

She doesn’t look any better at my touch as she shakes her head.

“I know how I am going to die, Mia” She says and looks directly at me. For a moment, I wonder if she can actually see me with her white eyes. “I will die in the arms of the man I love. The man I met yesterday”

“Wait, you met the man from your vision yesterday?” I ask.

She nods, looking desolated. “Which tells me my time is coming to a close”

“That can’t be it” I say. “You can’t just give up because you couldn’t change fate once before”

“There is no changing the Future, Mia” She tells me seriously and a little angrily, as if she knew I would have this reaction. “Your immediate future is one thing because it’s only little things that you change, but the farther future is set. You may change the details, but what is meant to happen will happen, no matter what”

“What are you saying?” I say. “You’re saying you’re going to die soon and the lair is going destroyed no matter what we do?”

She doesn’t respond, but I am not having it. I am not going to give up so easily.

“No” I say, determined. “I am not going to let that happen. If Gideon says I have the power to change the future somehow, then that’s exactly what I’m gonna do”

“You’re awfully optimistic, you know?” She comments, smiling softly at my determination. I guess deep down she too hopes the future can be changed.

“It’s one of my best qualities” I say, looking proud. “Right after the dancing and the singing, of course”

“Really?” She says. “Perhaps you can show it to me”

“You have to pay for that” I say.

“Alright” She says. “Then, maybe you can show me your point pressure technique and tell me how you learned it”

“Now, that’s just pushing it too far” I say.

“That technique is unique to the Yoshiro family” She says, getting closer to me. “I know, because when I begged them to teach it to me, they refused”

“Well, maybe I tricked one of them to teach it to me” I retort.

“That’s the thing” She says. “Ninjas aren’t so easily tricked. I tried, trust me”

“Did you try asking them nicely?” I ask.

“Yes” She bluntly answers.

I throw my hands in the air. “Well, then I don’t know what to tell you. One of them was really nice to me”

I don’t want to admit to her that it was Jack who taught it to me. He isn’t exactly a Yoshiro, but getting adopted into the family when he was younger got him and his brothers into a whole lot of training.

A few years after I started working on the bar, Jack offered to teach me this technique so I could knock out whoever tried to molest me. It has proven itself useful more than once.

“How do you even know a Yoshiro?” She asks me.

“I happen to work at the bar of one of them” I tell her. I guess there’s no harm in her knowing where I work.

“You work at Cain’s Sins?” She asks me.

“Yeah” I confirm. “I’m surprised you know the name of the place”

“I am a Hamato, after all” She says. “Cain is… famous back in Japan. Yoshiros talk about him a lot”

“Not for the best reasons, I assume” I say.

“No” She says. “They say he is a disgrace to the family. Along with all of Itsuki’s adopted sons”

“Now, that’s just stupid of them” I say angrily. “They don’t even know them”

“You seem very protective of them” Yumi points out.

“I am one of Cain’s strippers, remember?” I say. “I just don’t find it fair that they would judge them without even knowing them”

“Maybe I’ll tell them that when I return” She says, not looking so sure she is going to return at all.

Wanting to change the subject, I place an arm around her shoulders, provocatively.

“So, are you gonna tell me about this mysterious man you supposedly love but only just met?” I ask, with a smirk.

She blushes, a cute contrast against her white eyes.

“I don’t love him” She tells me, embarrassed.

“C’mon, you just said it” I say, still smirking. “What’s his name?”

She blushes even more and holds her hands together in front of her chest.

“D-Daniel…” She mumbles out.

“Daniel?” I ask. “You mean Daniel Yoshiro?”

She nods, still quite embarrassed. I ponder on this for a moment. Dear little Yumi is in love with Jack’s older brother. What a strange coincidence.

“Don’t tell anyone, alright?” She begs me.

“Hey, who am I going to tell?” I ask, letting go of her. “I really should get going. Those kids need their medicine”

“Right” She says, walking towards a nearby table and grabbing a box. “This should be enough for all of them”

I get the box from her hands. It’s quite heavy. “Thanks”

“I’ll make sure the guards are busy for you to head out” She tells me and I nod to thank her.

Then, I climb up the stairs and go all the way back to the outside gardens. I sigh in relief when Yumi’s word proves to be true and there are still no guards around and the alarms are disabled.

I guess I can walk out of here with no issues.

I guessed wrong.

As soon as I am about to sneak out through the main gate, I spot someone I didn’t expect to see right now, especially not in that state.

Jack.