Chapter Eight
Beneath the Mask Part 1
The lights of the leBlanc hotel and event center radiated across Shuchifuko street as the four young adults approached the building. The image reminded Akira strongly of the previous night… God, had it really only been one day since he had been whisked away? So much had happened, and it seemed to only be getting more complicated. Now Akira was even helping to look after two endangered young women, and this meant an increase in stress and complication for him. He was surprised to find that the hotel which he felt as if was some kind of prison only an hour earlier, now seemed to be a safe haven for himself and his new friends. The realization unsettled him to the core.
"Hey," Ann said beside him, "is this the place?"
"Yeah, we're here," Akira replied almost solemnly. Ann noticed this and looked at him with a confused expression, but Akira was fixated on the lit-up sign above them to the point that he did not register her at all. "C'mon guys, let's get off these streets."
Awkwardly following Akira's uncharacteristically stoic instructions, the four made their way inside leBlanc. Greeted by a young man bellhop bowing to them at the door, the group walked quickly through the foyer, with Ann and Shiho taking in what little they could about their surroundings while being led quickly on by Akira and Ryuji. While they both were curious about this strange hotel, they did not object to being led to safety so quickly.
Walking up to the elevator, Akira pressed the button to summon it. The doors opened a moment later with a ding, and the four made their way inside. Akira pressed the button for the penthouse to the girls' obvious surprise.
"Wait," Ann said, "you live in the penthouse, Akira?"
"Yeah, I do," he responded plainly. "Long story, I'll fill you in later." The doors slid closed, and the elevator lurched as it began to rise.
"Oh, okay," Ann awkwardly replied. "Oh, and don't forget dinner, alright? Nothing calms my nerves like a nice meal," she forced a smile to her face.
Even though it was obviously forced, Akira could not help but smile back. Even when she was faking, her smile was cute to him. "Once we get settled, we'll get right on it, promise," he nodded. Ann nodded back, her fake smile turning a little more genuine.
"God," Ryuji muttered, "have they updated the elevator music at all in the last ten years?" he glared up to the speaker in the ceiling. "Every time I come here it's just disco music!" Akira only now payed attention to the muffled sounding music playing through what must be quite an old speaker. The Bee Gees' Stayin' Alive was playing through it, or at least attempting to do so.
"What," Akira smirked at his friend, "you don't like classic disco?"
"That makes you, like, the only person in Tokyo who doesn't," added Shiho with a girlish chuckle, something they had not seen of her in some time.
"Nah, I never liked disco," replied Ryuji. "Gimme some rock or metal music, for cryin' out loud! Maybe I should ask customer service if I can get some Guns n' Roses in the mix."
Ann chuckled to herself this time. "Isn't elevator music supposed to be relaxing though, Sakamoto?"
"My Michelle doesn't relax you?" At that, all four young adults had a small laugh, but a genuine one nonetheless.
The elevator slowed to a stop and the door slid open, revealing the swanky stylish penthouse Akira now reluctantly called "home". Ann and Shiho gasped as they saw the dimly lit foyer, and Ryuji offered some highly approving if uncharismatic comments. Akira flicked on the light switch to his left, turning on the lights in the kitchenette to illuminate the room better. And, he admitted to himself, to reduce the romantic ambiance the low lights and cityscape backdrop gave off. He may be a fledgling yakuza, but he was not about to do anything that could remotely be considered sleezy.
At least it looks like Sakura-san isn't home, he thought.
"Ho-o-oly shit!" Ryuji exclaimed as the lights came on. "So this is the Boss' pad, huh? Damn, Akira, you're living the high life!"
"No kidding!" added Ann enthusiastically. "These coffee makers look like they cost as much together as a car! And I've never even heard of this brand of sake!"
"Wait, you got expensive sake, man?" Ryuji suddenly whirled around, scanning the kitchen for the aforementioned bottle.
"No!" Akira said sternly. "No, no, no, and no! We will not be touching anything, tasting anything, and especially not getting into Sojiro's drinks… Ryuji!"
"What!?" Ryuji was holding in his hands a bottle of sake that Akira suspected would have a price tag as long as the bottle was tall.
"Put it down," Akira said as quickly as if he were rapping. "And let's just forget we saw it, okay?"
Ryuji looked to Akira, and then the girls, and then the bottle. All three others were glaring at him, and with an awkward smile and laugh, he placed it back on the rack he found it on. "I was just gonna look at the label," he said. "You know, to memorize the brand."
"Uh huh, sure," Akira nodded disingenuously.
Shiho then awkwardly took a seat at the kitchen table, folding her hands in her lap and sitting perfectly straight. "It is a lovely apartment though, Kurusu-kun," she said. "Are you perhaps related to this 'Boss'?"
Akira was completely lacking in a way to respond to that. He looked to Ryuji for guidance, but the blond young man only shrugged. Akira in turn sighed. Time for some bullshitting? Maybe? Should I just tell her? Yeah, real fucking good idea, genius. Tell the thoroughly rattled rape survivors that you're a yakuza. Let's not go with that. "Well, I'm not related to him," Akira said, "he's a family friend on my mom's side, and I'm staying with him for the time being."
"Oh, really?" asked Shiho. "Why are you not with your parents? Or in college?"
"Hey!" Ann interjected out of nowhere. "Guys, I am starving and I'm sure you three are too. Why don't we take a look at the room service menu, yeah? Since your host seems to hold an important position in the hotel, you think we can get a discount?"
"That's a great idea!" Ryuji quickly added. "Let's order a butt-ton of steaming hot ramen! Akira, why don't you call down and order us some, yeah? We're wastin' away over here already!"
"I don't even know if we're allowed to, Ryuji!"
"Won't they know if you're calling from the penthouse though, man?"
"Maybe, but I don't know for sure. I haven't met anyone in the hotel yet, so it's not like they'd trust me off the bat or something. Why don't we all just pitch in and pay for something of reasonable price?"
Ryuji grumbled under his breath. "Fiiine," he groaned. "Yeesh, and I was hoping to not take anything else out of my paycheck then I already have," he muttered under his breath.
"As long as we get some food," Ann added, "I'll be happier."
Shiho then said, "We didn't get to pay for food at the club. Let's just use the money we would have paid there."
"Alright," Akira sighed with relief. "I'll give them a call, you guys just hang tight in my room for now," he pointed to the guest room behind him. "I don't want Sojiro to get miffed if he comes back and sees anything out of place, so could you guys just hunker down in there for now? It's got plenty of room for us to sit and eat comfortably."
Shiho stood to her feet and bowed respectfully to Akira. "Thank you very much, Kurusu-kun," she said. "We really appreciate all you're doing for us."
"Yeah, she's right," Ann added, bowing in the same fashion. "We only just met but you've already done so much for us, Kurusu-kun. Thank you so much."
Akira felt both taken aback and awkward at the sudden praise, though he did not deny that it felt relieving to be recognized pleasantly for a good deed, unlike more recent experiences. "Don't worry about it at all, guys," he bowed his head with a smile. "I'm happy to help, and so is Ryuji. Don't leave him out of this."
"You're a godsend, man," Ryuji gave him a smirk and a thumbs up. "And he's right, ladies. We're happy to help. Now let's let the guy get us some grub, huh?" With more genuine smiles, the three young adults walked on into Akira's room, leaving him alone in the kitchen. With a slight sense of satisfaction welling inside him like he had already downed a perfectly prepared bowl of soup, he picked up the phone and called the hotel's restaurant using the directory conveniently placed next to the phone. He ordered four large servings of beef ramen with small dishes of tempura and other assortments of sushi on the side from the very gentlemanly sounding receptionist he spoke to, and then went to his room to join the others.
Walking into the room, Akira found his acquaintances sitting in a circle trying to make small talk with each other. The girls were sitting on the bed and Ryuji was on the floor, having taken off his jacket and laying it on the other side of the bed to now be wearing his maroon button-up. While they were obviously attempting to keep their minds and conversations on any subject that did not involve Kamoshida, it was apparent that it was not working as well as they had hoped.
Akira found them in stunted conversation regarding what Ann and Shiho had been up to since Ryuji left Shujin. And as was expected by then, Ann was holding up the majority of the conversation. "Remember that I was a part time model back then, Ryuji?" she asked the young man.
"Yeah, I remember. You were hardly ever around school after classes 'cuz you were always off doing a shoot."
"Yeah, I was," she nodded. "Right around the time you, uh, left, my career was really starting to pick up, so I was busy almost every week. And now it's finally become a real thing for me!" she said excitedly. "I'm even going to be on the cover of a magazine next month!"
"Wait," Akira interjected, "you're a model, Ann?"
"Yessir! A fashion model; I've been doing it seriously since high school. Up until recently, I've only really been doing stuff for magazines local to the Shibuya area, but my agency is getting me connected to larger labels as we speak. They say if I keep up the good work, they may be able to get me hooked up with Vague in under a year!"
"For real!?" Ryuji exclaimed. "Man, you really climbed the ladder, huh, Takamaki?"
"Congratulations," Akira added. "You must be very proud of yourself."
"Yeah, I am! But I'm sure I wouldn't have gotten nearly this far if it hadn't been for Shiho here."
"Oh, shut up, Ann," Shiho smiled. "I was barely present when you were gaining all that popularity, remember? You don't give yourself enough credit."
"Wait, 'not present'?" Ryuji asked. "What do ya mean, Suzui?"
Shiho covered her mouth with her hands, obviously having said something she did not intend to. Akira raised an eyebrow at her reaction. "Uh, something wrong, Shiho?"
In a very similar fashion to how she had acted back at the club, Shiho looked to her friend nervously, while Ann gave her a reassuring glance and nod. "Well," Shiho started slowly, "we did say we would tell you what happened when we got here, didn't we?"
"If you feel comfortable with it," said Akira.
"I think I'll only become more comfortable with it if I try to be more open about it," Shiho replied. "If we have time before food arrives, I mean. I don't want to get into a conversation like that while everyone is enjoying dinner."
Akira answered with, "We've got quite a bit of time before the food arrives. It's okay, Shiho, don't be ashamed of what you've got to say."
"Yeah, it totally is, both of you," said Ryuji. "We'll listen to ya, no matter what it is."
Shiho smiled again. She still appeared more than apprehensive, but she was definitely calmed regarding the situation. "Thank you, guys." Ann rubbed her shoulder and smiled at her, then brought her in to lean on her shoulder like she had in the club.
Akira walked past the bed to his backpack sitting against the wall. He reached inside and pulled out a small plastic container with two circular ends. "Don't mind me, guys. You can start talking, just taking out my contacts."
"Wait, you wear contacts?" asked Ryuji.
"Yup. My eyesight is crap, I get it from my dad." Akira placed the container down and took hold of his left eyelid, pulling it open with one hand and using the other to remove the lens. Ryuji made a quiet "Bleh" sound as he watched him. After Akira removed both lenses and placed them in the container, he reached into his backpack again and took out another, larger cylindrical container. Unfolding it revealed a pair of normal looking glasses which he put on. "I don't normally wear these out," he said, turning around and sitting on the floor next to Ryuji. "Honestly, I thought they always made me look like a nerd or something, so I started wearing contacts early in high school."
Ann raised an eyebrow. "You think you look like a nerd?"
"Uh, yeah. Got made fun of a lot in middle school. I know, it was probably just kids being kids, but I still got contacts and, well, never was made fun of again."
"I'm sure it was just kids being dumb," Ann replied, "because you look good in them, Akira."
Akira was taken back by the compliment, and Ryuji looked to his friend with a knowing glance and nod. "Oh, uh, thanks, Ann," Akira said, starting to play with his glasses on impulse.
"No problem. Oh, Shiho, sorry! You wanted to talk and we stole the floor from you."
"No, it's okay, Ann. Just gave me another minute to gather my thoughts." Shiho rung her hands together for a moment, but then took a deep breath and relaxed them in her lap. Her tense shoulders dropped and her jaw unclenched. "Kamoshida was a menace at Shujin," she began, "and no one did anything about it, especially the adults. Everyone turned a blind eye to those he abused, be it the sport teams or the girls, like Ann and I." Akira leaned forward, listening intently while Ryuji maintained a more relaxed posture, save for the glower that creeped onto his face. "I was actually on the girls' volleyball team, and was set up to be a starter at the national tournament during our second year. But Kamoshida only saw it as another opportunity to abuse his position.
"While both the guys' and girl's teams were being pushed well beyond anything remotely reasonable, Kamoshida was also preying on some of the members of the girls' team and the cheerleading squad, offering advancement in their respective program in exchange for… relations," Shiho grimaced. "When he tried to get me to go home with him after a particularly brutal practice, I refused and threatened to tell everyone about his perversions if he continued to harass me… which turned out to be a mistake," her voice caught in her throat suddenly.
"That's wrong and you know it, Shiho!" Ann interjected. "There was no way you could have known what would happen just for standing up for yourself and your team."
"But it still put you in danger!" Shiho shot back.
"Whoa, hey, guys!" Akira raised his hands. "It's okay, we can stop talking about this if you want."
Shiho shook her head and rubbed a couple stray tears from her eyes. "No, it's okay, I'm sorry," she said. "These are just painful memories."
"None of it was your fault," Ann reassured her. "You want me to tell this part of the story?" Shiho paused for a moment, staring into space, and then nodded before leaning on her friend's shoulder. "Okay, I'll take over for a sec." Ann put her hand around Shiho's shoulder and rubbed it gently as the girl closed her eyes, calming herself. "After Shiho stood up to Kamoshida, he came to me and told me how he would get Shiho removed from the volleyball team if I didn't… well, get in bed with the bastard."
"Holy shit," said Akira.
"We all knew that the faculty were aware of how much of a creep he was with the girls and how he was abusing the boys, but they were all covering for him because having an Olympic athlete as an instructor was getting the school a lot of extra funding and publicity. If the news broke that the school was harboring an abuser, who knows what would have happened. Anyway, I kept Kamoshida at arm's length as much as I could without telling anyone, even Shiho here. When he'd call me, I'd say I have to study or go to a shoot or something, but I still had to have phone sex with the creep at least three times a week for a month." Ann sighed and shook her head, as if dispelling a bad dream. "God, he had some fucked up tastes. The things he made me say… Ugh, no. When Kamoshida started getting more and more pushy, I also found out that he was getting harder and harder on Shiho in practice, and the only way he would let up was if I actually fucked him.
Finally, I told Shiho what was going on when I found out about another injury she got at his hands. And then—"
"Wait," Shiho shot up from Ann's shoulder. "Please, let me, Ann. I need to get better at talking about these things."
"Oh. Uh, okay. If you feel up to it."
"I don't but I have to do this."
"Shiho," Ann said in a quieter, almost foreboding tone, "are you sure you don't want me to tackle this one?"
"I am, Ann. It's okay," Shiho nodded, and Ann did in return. "This all happened only a couple weeks after your run in with him, Ryuji. The whole school was in an uproar about it, but you might not know that most of us took your side in the whole thing."
"Wait, for real?" Ryuji sat forward immediately.
"Yeah, we did," Shiho nodded. "Most of us in sports, at least. When we found out that Mishima was the one that ratted on you, well, both the track and volleyball teams started to gang up on him, calling him a traitor and other, more crass words. Not all of them were on your side, but most were; more than enough to turn Mishima's life into a living hell."
"Oh god," Ryuji muttered. "I-I had no idea."
"That part isn't your fault, Ryuji. We all were confused and angry, and since we couldn't do anything to Kamoshida, some of us turned to Mishima instead."
"Still," Ryuji said, "he may have made me take the fall for Kamoshida, and he might be a coward, but he was just a kid. I didn't wanna do anything like that to him."
Ann then replied sympathetically, "You weren't in control of them, Ryuji. There was nothing you could do."
"I know, you're both right," he nodded. "It just makes the whole thing sting even more. But don't stop on my account, Shiho. I'm guessing the sports programs took a dive with that shitstorm."
"You'd be right. For the next couple weeks, everyone was constantly arguing or fighting, or at the very least refusing to cooperate. All our practices were a complete mess, and our games were even worse, meaning Kamoshida was acting more and more abusive towards all of us, especially me. That's when he called me to his office."
"Oh god," Akira sighed.
Shiho's head fell as she continued, talking more directly to the floor than anyone present. "Mishima came over to me one day after practice and told me that Kamoshida summoned me. I knew exactly what it meant, and he seemed to as well in spite of not telling me. When I got to the office, Kamoshida immediately started railing on me, calling mine and my team's performance disgraceful, worthless, which was all pretty normal at that point, but he was a lot angrier about it. He told me that if I wanted to stay on the team, that I'd have to sleep with him." Shiho paused, another stray tear falling from her eye. "Then he grabbed me… he groped my chest so hard it bruised. I tried to get away but he instead pushed me to the floor, and I landed right on my bruised knee he had given me a couple days before. He told me I had two days to decide and kicked me out of the office." Her voice trailed off at that, and Ann immediately continued.
"I found Shiho crying on a bench outside after school and she tried to tell me the bruises were just from practice, but I knew better. I told her all about how Kamoshida was hitting on me; it had even gotten to the point where he was trying to do it in public, probably as some kind of power play. Shiho still didn't tell me about Kamoshida, but I decided I was going to do something about it. I wasn't sure what, but I had to try. That night, he called me again multiple times on my private phone, eventually demanding that I meet him the next night, threatening both me and Shiho if I didn't. I didn't ultimately have to, but it wasn't for a good reason."
"It's the—" Ryuji interjected but cut himself off. "I mean, I think I know what happened next."
"So you heard?" Shiho asked?
Ryuji paused and hanged his head low before answering. "Yeah, I heard."
"Heard what?" asked Akira. "What the hell could that guy have done now?"
"It wasn't what he did," Shiho replied quickly, frantically. "It was what I did."
"Shiho," Ann started, but her friend turned and glared at her, silencing her immediately.
"After everything Ann told me," she continued in the same frantic tone, "I spent that whole night in on/off anxiety attacks. If I didn't give into Kamoshida, there was no telling what he'd do. He'd probably slander both me and Ann, have me taken off the team, expelled or something else or all of it! But if I did give in, I'd have to sleep with that scum, and so would Ann. I couldn't handle that responsibility, the abuse, the possibility of either side of it. The next day, I was sleep deprived, dreading that day's practice and my next interaction with Kamoshida, and so I…" Akira leaned in intently while Ryuji could barely look at her as she explained it, "…I jumped from the school roof."
"You did what!?" Akira exclaimed, standing to his feet. "That jackoff actually caused you to jump!?"
Shiho nodded. "It was my choice, so I'm at least mostly responsible, but it was because of his abuse and my fear of what he'd do if I tried to go against him. I couldn't h-h-handle it," she started to choke up but forced her way through it. "It was selfish and stupid but I wasn't in my right state of mind, so I thought it was the best."
"Exactly, Shiho," Ann said, "you weren't in your right mindset. You were beyond stressed and exhausted, it's not your fault."
"I know, thank you, Ann. I'm just still working on the guilt I feel sometimes, guys," she turned to the boys. "I often have to remind myself that it wasn't all my fault, that it was his."
"You're damn right it wasn't your fault," said Akira as he sat back down. "You were manipulated and abused and given an ultimatum no teen – no, no person should have to deal with ever!"
Ryuji made a drawn out guttural grunting noise to begin his addition to the subject. "I heard about it in the news after they kicked me out," he said wrathfully. "I know you and I didn't know each other well, Shiho, but it still pissed me the hell off like you wouldn't believe! It's one thing picking on us guys, but driving a girl to attempt suicide!? God, how fucked in the head do you have to be to sink that low?"
"More than you know, Sakamoto," Ann glared. "The guy was a goddamn sadist. He took pleasure in causing people pain, especially younger women. He told me on the phone many times while he was… self-attending about how much he wanted to hurt me. He made me cry in fear every fucking time and it only pleased him more!" Ann stood to her feet and grunted in a similar way to Ryuji, glowering icy daggers at a memory only visible to her. "The main reason I didn't do anything to stop him for so long was because I was so afraid of what he could do to me." Ann wrapped her arms around herself and sat back on the bed, her fiery demeanor becoming cold, distant, and utterly afraid.
Shiho then brought her friend's head to her shoulder before continuing. "I was in a coma for a week," she said solemnly. "When I woke up, I could barely move. I was in rehab for months, but at least I had Ann at my side the whole time. She'd visit every day she was allowed, bring me gifts, tell me about my life… consoled me when I felt even more depressed than when I had jumped. This blondie was always there for me, and I'm more than thankful for that."
"Well, that's good," Akira said, "but what about Kamoshida? What happened to that guy? Did you end up doing anything to get back at him, Ann?"
"I did… as much as I could," she replied. "In order to get him the hell out of the school while calling as little attention to the sports teams as I could, I filed a restraining order entirely on my own. I didn't bring Shiho into it, I didn't even get him arrested. Just went to court, got the most secretive restraining order I could and it forced him to resign. The story the principal fed the school was total bullshit, saying that Kamoshida 'was pursuing other athletic and business endeavors'. Anyway, it got him out of the school and allowed Shiho and I to graduate free of any more trauma." Ann then locked gazes with Ryuji. "The athletics programs floundered even after we left without Kamoshida. They went through coaches like water, and the students were all at each other's throats due to the drama. We didn't win another tournament while Shiho and I were there, and I've heard Shujin still hasn't since."
"Christ," said Ryuji. "I can't imagine what it must have been like for the guys. I had it bad, but at least I got to seriously compete for a little bit," Ryuji sighed. "They must have been crushed."
"We all were," Shiho said. "Everything tanked after that, even though I wasn't able to play again consistently until my last year. God, it was all a mess." Shiho sat up straight again, looking exhausted but calm as a koi pond. "Thank you, all of you, for listening," she said. "I honestly feel better getting to talk through it."
"Thank you for talking," Akira smiled at her. "Both of you."
Ann met his smile in turn. "We appreciate it, really, but we've talked your guys' ears off enough, I think. Why don't you guys tell us what you've been up to this whole time? Especially how you got to live in a place like this, Akira."
"Oh, uh," Akira stammered, trying to find a suitable answer. "It's, uh, a very long story."
Shiho held her hand to her mouth and giggled. "And ours wasn't?"
"Got me there," Akira conceded.
"C'mon, man," Ryuji nudged him, "I think we can trust 'em. They trust us well enough already, I think they've earned it."
"I wasn't against it, dude. Just trying to find a good starting point—"
The elevator in the entryway dinged, cutting Akira off. He and Ryuji knew exactly what that meant, and they felt a sudden surge of apprehension. "Hey," said the gruff voice of a familiar older man, "who ordered the feast in here?"
"Oh, is that the room service?" Ann perked up with a wide smile, and an unladylike grumble coming from her stomach. She clutched her midsection immediately and her cheeks went beet red.
"Is that a girl's voice I hear, Akira?" Sojiro asked from the next room. The foursome heard two sets of footsteps make their way to the kitchen, and then a heavy platter being placed on the table. "Thank you," Sojiro said to the other person.
"My pleasure," said a younger man's voice. "Enjoy your meal, Sakura-san."
"Oh, I don't think I'll be the one eating it," Sojiro chuckled. Akira and company walked out into the entryway tentatively, coming to see Sojiro handing a check to a well-dressed hotel employee. The employee bowed to Sojiro and walked back into the elevator. Sojiro turned around to inspect the group, his expression unreadable. "Two young ladies for you boys," he commented nonchalantly. "Seems you're having a good night."
"They are only friends, sir," Ryuji bowed. "Please, allow us to pay for the food."
"Oh, quiet, Sakamoto," Sojiro waved dismissively. "Consider it an advance on your check, both of you. Now, sit down and eat before it gets cold," he took a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket and put on in his mouth. "We have business to discuss, boys, but it can wait a bit. For now, just eat."
Ann and Shiho both bowed in unison. "Thank you very much, sir," Shiho said.
"We hope we are not intruding," said Ann.
"Not at all," Sojiro shook his head. "Just don't get too loud, okay? I'm going to go clean up a bit. Don't start any fires, Akira," he said as he walked away.
"Yeah, gotcha." The group then sat at the table and started dishing out the food, all four taking very large portions to sate their exponential appetites.
"What's his deal?" Ann asked. "He seems nice, if a bit aloof."
"Like I said," Akira replied, "long story."
Amidst placing two more sushi roles on her plate, Shiho said, "Well, we are all ears, just like you were for us."
"Yeah, fill us in, Akira," said Ann with a smile.
"Don't leave us hangin', dude," Ryuji smirked before taking a monstrous bite of his ramen.
"Alright, fine," Akira said. "Once we're done eating, I'll tell you guys my story." Just hope you don't run away when you hear it, girls.