“I’ll say.” Raiden’s eyes dropped to my chest, and they darkened with the same hungry look he’d given me the first time he’d seen me in my ball gown. I glanced down, wondering what he was looking at, and gasped at the sight of my nipples poking out through myshirt.
“Hey!” Mortified, I crossed my arms over my chest.Bothmen were staring at me now, looking as though they wanted to devour me. “My eyes are uphere!”
Raiden instantly jerked his gaze back up to my face. “You can’t blame me for looking,” he saiddryly.
“They were…really out there,” Shota added unhelpfully. A grin twitched at hislips.
“No kidding.” Fuming, I stalked past them, ignoring the dockworkers who were staring curiously at us. Some of them looked like they wanted to approach, but I leveled my best death glare at them, and they quickly backedoff.
We’d left Ryujin’s palace several hours ago, with the weapons, theofuda, and the jewels in hand. TheUmigamehad brought us to the docks, and we’d instructed him to swim a few miles out this time before going back beneath the water. The last thing I needed was for us to be slammed against a concrete building—myfurimight be able to protect me, but there was no way Raiden or Shota wouldsurvive.
“Hey.” Raiden caught up with me. He shoved his hands into his pockets and glanced sidelong at me, a faintly amused look on his face. “Where are you takingus?”
“I’m not taking us anywhere,” I said crossly as my shoes squelched on the pavement. We walked through a maze of stalls selling produce, candies, and street food, drawing stares from the shopkeepers and customers. “I just want to get away from all thesepeople.”
“We should grab some clothes, then head to a hotel to shower and change,” Shota said, looking around. “We need a quiet spot so I can teach Aika the basics of papermagic.”
We made it out to the street and ducked into a 7/11 so Raiden could grab some cash out of the ATM. As he slid his ATM card into the machine, I glanced nervously at the sword strapped to hisback.
“What exactly are we going to do about these weapons?” I whispered to Shota, noticing that the clerk behind the counter was staring at us. “The second a policeman sees them, we’re going to getstopped.”
“We’ll just grab a bag to hide it in for now,” Shota said, sounding unconcerned. “I can use anofudalater on to make itinvisible.”
I blinked. “You can dothat?”
Shota laughed as Raiden pulled a huge stack of yen out of the machine. “Sometimes I forget how little you know about shamanism. I can’t wait to teachyou.”
My annoyance at the world evaporated at the smile on his face, leaving me confused. I couldn’t tell whether or not Shota was flirting with me. Every time I thought he was trying to be romantic, he turned away and gave me the cold shoulder, so it was probably best to assume he wasn’t. And yet, I wanted to smile back at him, to respond with some kind of wisecrack that would make him laughagain.
Dammit, why was everything socomplicated?
With our huge wad of cash in hand, we hit the streets of Tokyo to do some serious shopping. The first place we stopped at was a luggage store, or rather Raiden did, while I waited outside with the weapons. He found a duffel bag big enough to carry the weapons in, and then we hit up a department store and a Family Mart for some clothing, food, andsupplies.
I was a little embarrassed to be walking around Tokyo for the first time looking and smelling like a bum, and I half expected the employees at the places we walked into to turn up their noses. But everybody was very friendly and courteous, and if they were repulsed by our limp hair and salty clothing, they didn’t say anything about it. Before I knew it, we were back out on the street, our arms loaded down with bags as Raiden hailed a cab. One pulled up almost immediately—a boxy little Toyota that looked like it was fresh out of the 90s, albeit new. To my surprise, the door swung open automatically before I could reach forit.
“Get in,” Raiden said, nudging me gently. “I’ll put our bags in thetrunk.”
I did as he said, gingerly sliding along the seats, which were covered with a lacy, doily-like fabric. The driver gave us dirty looks, no doubt because we were ruining his upholstery and stinking up his car with the smell of sea water, but Raiden handed him a twenty-thousand yen bill, which seemed to mollify him some. The two men crowded in on either side of me, their bodies brushing up against me as there was little extra space in the cabin. My nerves buzzed from their close proximity, and I quickly grew very warm, far warmer than the extra body heat could accountfor.
There is something wrong with me,I told myself firmly as the driver pulled into traffic. Something very wrong. It wasn’t like me to crush hard on a guy, but here I was, having intense feelings fortwopeople at thesametime. They both seemed to know it, too—the tension in the space was thick enough to slice and serve on aplatter.
Talk about the pink elephant in theroom.
On the drive to our hotel, Raiden and Shota pointed out various districts and landmarks. We passed by Tokyo Tower—a huge, red version of the Eiffel Tower that Raiden said boasted a One Piece exhibition and an amazing aquarium. A few blocks north, we drove through the Ginza district, where buildings sporting every brand name known to man, plus a bunch I’d never heard of, towered around us. Dazzled by the concrete jungle, I quickly became lost as Raiden pointed out the various districts and what they had to offer. I’d heard that Tokyo was New York City on steroids, and so far, I considered that anunderstatement.
Despite the towering skyscrapers and the buzz and hum of technology everywhere, there was still evidence of traditional Japanese culture—signs that pointed to Zen gardens secreted between buildings, tiny shrines perched precariously on pipes running along the backs of apartment buildings, sumo wrestlers dressed in yukatas coming out of the stable after a hard morning training session. It was a strange mixture of old and new, and I wished I could take a few days toexplore.
But we weren’t here for a vacation. We were here to defeat an evil shaman and rescue my mother. So I buried the excitement in my chest, knowing it was only going to lead to disappointment. Even if we succeeded with our mission—which we would—my mother was likely going to be in no condition to go sightseeing in Tokyo. I’d probably be spending every waking minute at her side in ahospital.
“Do you think your parents are already here?” I askedRaiden.
“Probably. I imagine they’re either at the site or at the shaman headquartershere.”
I frowned. “Is there a reason we’re not going tothem?”
“If they find out we’re here, they’ll lock us both up. They’d never let an untrained shaman like you near the site, and as for me…” Raiden blew out a breath. “Well, you already know. My parents won’t riskme.”
I nodded. “I’m sure my mom would feel the same way.” In fact, she was probably praying I wouldn’t come for her—that I’d leave her to die in that awful tomb. But even if I could bring myself to do that, this was bigger than us. If Kai got out of that tomb, Amatsu would be free to wreak havoc on the world. I couldn’t allow that tohappen.
