A YOUNG SUCCUBUS NAMED DELICIA by Michel Poulin - HTML preview

CHAPTER 33 – A TRIP TO JAPAN

08:18 (California Time)

Saturday, December 15, 1973

Pan Am departure lounge, Satellite Building 2

Los Angeles International Airport

California, U.S.A.

‘’MAY I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION, PLEASE! THE FIRST-CLASS

PASSENGERS FOR FLIGHT PAN AM 845 TO SAN FRANCISCO AND TOKYO ARE NOW WELCOME TO BOARD THEIR PLANE.’’

‘’Aah, here we go!’’ said John Hideyoshi while getting up from his chair in the Pan Am departure lounge. ‘’I am really anxious to see Japan again. And you, Patricia? Did you ever go to Japan before?’’

‘’Never! By the way, I can speak Japanese thanks to my special abilities, but I cannot read or write Japanese.’’

‘’Then, you better pretend that you don’t speak Japanese.’’ replied John in a low, cautious voice. ‘’Being illiterate would appear bizarre in a foreigner who can speak Japanese fluently.’’

‘’Okay then! I will play the dumb girlfriend for you.’’

John gave her a serious look then as he replied in a near whisper.

‘’Patricia, you are anything but dumb. In fact, you actually have the intelligence level of a Human genius. There is no need to sell yourself short.’’

‘’Well, from what I read about Japan, I will be considered by Japanese men to

have two strikes against me there: first, I am a woman; second, I am a Gaijin52. You must know yourself about Japanese social attitudes, John: you lived in Japan long enough for that.’’

‘’Hmm! I must say that you are right about many Japanese being xenophobic.’’

‘’Then, I should warn you that I won’t take insults lying down, John. You should know that, while Demons are mostly evil, they are also very proud beings, and I am no

 

52 Gaijin: Derogatory term used by Japanese to describe foreigners.

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exception. But be reassured: I won’t disintegrate on the spot every Japanese man who will lack respect towards me.’’

John rolled his eyes at those words.

‘’That should really reassure me.’’

The disparate couple joined the short lineup of first-class passengers forming at the gate to their plane, where a Pan Am employee checked their boarding passes before letting them walk down the jetway. Two pretty and young Pan Am stewardesses greeted them just inside the access door of their plane, a Boeing 747-121 jumbo jet.

‘’Welcome aboard Pan Am 845, lady and gentleman.’’ Said with a big smile one of the stewardesses. ‘’May I see your boarding passes, please… Thank you! You have the seats 3A and 3B, in the nose compartment, to your left. Champagne will be served soon after we take off.’’

‘’You can’t fault Pan Am’s service to its passengers.’’ said John while entering the first-class cabin. ‘’Even their regular class is quite nice.’’

‘’But we might get the best anyway, when we have the money for it.’’ replied Patricia, smiling. They soon sat down in their ‘sleeperette seats’, wide, well padded and fully reclining seats which were the trademark of Pan Am first-class seating. Sitting down and buckling their safety belts after placing their respective hand luggage in their overhead bin, they then waited patiently as the plane filled up with passengers. One minute after nine o’clock, the jumbo jet was towed away from its ramp, then started rolling on its own power down a taxiway. Another ten minutes and the four-engine B-747-121 was lifting off the runway, on its way to Tokyo, with a scheduled short stop in San Francisco.

15:50 (Japan Time)

Sunday, December 16, 1973

Arrival terminal, Haneda Airport

Tokyo, Japan

Having waited in line behind John in front of one of the Japanese Customs wickets at the arrival terminal of Haneda Airport, Patricia stepped forward on a signal from the customs officer, a mature man with some gray in his hair. She then gave him a

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warm smile while presenting her passport to the Japanese official and spoke to him in English.

‘’Good afternoon, sir! Here is my passport.’’

The man’s glance, which he meant to be cursory, actually turned into a near stare as he was struck by her incredible beauty and sexy body. Finally shaking himself back into a cold, official attitude, the customs officer examined for a moment her passport and asked her a short question in a fair but accented English.

‘’What is the purpose of your visit to Japan, Miss Love?’’

‘’Tourism! I am on vacation.’’

The man nodded his head once and stamped her passport before giving it back to Patricia.

‘’Welcome to Japan, Miss Love. NEXT!’’

Putting back her passport inside her purse, Patricia joined John, who had been waiting past the customs wicket.

‘’Not exactly an overwhelmingly warm welcome, I must say.’’

‘’All a façade, Patricia. The Japanese are on average a warm, nice people. They just hate to show their emotions in public. Well, let’s get our luggage. Once done with that, we will take the monorail line which links this airport with downtown Tokyo.’’

Getting their luggage from one of the luggage carrousels of the arrival terminal and clearing the customs checks, the duo went to the monorail terminus station linked to the airport and bought seats on the next train to the Hammamatsucho Station, in the Minato Ward of downtown Tokyo. As their train rolled along its elevated line at speeds of up to eighty kilometers per hour, Patricia admired the lights of the metropolis in the growing darkness. Since the line had been built along the coast, she was also able to admire the panorama of Tokyo Bay.

‘’This monorail truly gives a good look of Tokyo to the incoming visitors, don’t you think, John?’’

‘’Maybe,’’ replied her friend with apparently little enthusiasm, ‘’but, in order to build this monorail line along the shores of this bay, they destroyed a number of ancient and popular fish farms. I believe that Japan lost in that exchange.’’

‘’How long ago was your last visit to Japan, John?’’

‘’Three years ago. Then, I had found that the Tokyo I knew had changed quite a bit in only a few years. I wonder if I will get the same experience this time.’’

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As their train approached downtown Tokyo, John was able to see that things had effectively changed again.

‘’Well, I see that they completed the World Trade Center Building in Minato Ward. I can see its lights now. It was supposed to count forty levels and was due to become Japan’s tallest skyscraper.’’

‘’They sure seem to love neon signs around in Tokyo: I can see them everywhere.’’

‘’Downtown Tokyo is effectively quite colorful, Patricia. You will most probably find pleasure in doing some shopping in this city.’’

‘’Is there any place you would recommend to me where I could find new and original underwear and outfits for my strip shows?’’

John smiled, amused by her question.

‘’For that, you definitely have to visit the Shinjuku Ward, a bit to the north of the Minato Ward: it is the city’s center for sexual amusement and entertainment. You will find plenty of sex shops there with a large collection of often outrageous, sexy outfits.’’

‘’Really? Then I must go visit it soon. I hope that you will come with me then.’’

‘’Of course, my dear!’’

Twenty minutes later, they came out of their train at the Hamamatsucho Station, which was partially under and directly connected to the World Trade Center Building. Taking a taxi at one of the station’s exits, John had the driver bring him and Patricia to a small, discreet hotel in Minato Ward, the Hotel Ibis Roppongi. John smiled to Patricia as he opened his cab door.

‘’The Ibis Roppongi may not be the biggest nor the most luxurious hotel in Tokyo, but it is a quiet one and it is also well situated near two subway lines and within walking distance of the bars and clubs of the Roppongi District. It will do fine for us.’’ Going out of the taxi as well, Patricia took her two suitcases, travel bag and purse and, carrying the lot without apparent effort, followed John inside the entrance lobby of the Ibis Roppongi Hotel. She let John talk to the receptionist but kept her ears open in order to familiarize herself with the tones of spoken Japanese, which she could understand thanks to her magical ability to speak any tongue from sentient beings. The Japanese inscriptions around the lobby were however opaque to her, as she could not read or write Japanese…yet. ‘Well, I already know how to read and write in eight languages. I

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can hardly be faulted for being illiterate in Japanese.’ She thought to herself as she entered an elevator cabin with John to go to their room on the fourth floor. Unfortunately, those Humans who actually believed in angels and demons too often thought of demons as being only cruel, hideous beasts with typically low intellectual abilities. In that they were sorely mistaken. In fact, far from being mostly monstrous beasts, demons were generally humanoid in shape and often possessed physical and intellectual abilities superior to common mortals. Most importantly, demons had access to magic, something very few Humans had. She cut her mental introspection when their cabin stopped on the fourth floor. Walking out of the cabin, the couple went down a carpeted hallway, with John stopping in front of a door and unlocking it with one of the two keys provided by the receptionist.

‘’Room 422: our nest in Tokyo for this vacation. Sorry that I couldn’t get Room 666, Patricia.’’

Patricia smirked at John’s attempt at a joke but didn’t say a word in reply. Walking in the room, she found it rather small but comfortable enough, with a large bed occupying most of the space. The bathroom to the right of the entrance was also small but had all the amenities. Patricia could in fact favorably compare that bathroom with many hotel ‘bathrooms’ she had seen in Paris until her departure from France in 1972. Taking five minutes to unpack her bags, she then stripped off her clothes.

‘’I’m going to take a quick shower to refresh myself after this thirteen-hour flight. Feel free to join me under the shower, John.’’

John Hideyoshi admired for a moment her young, sexy body and fabulous chest before starting to remove his own clothes.

‘’How could I say no to such an invitation? I’ll soap you up if you soap me up.’’

‘’Deal!’’

Two minutes later, they were standing together under the water spray of the shower head, with their hands roaming freely, rubbing soap all over the other’s body and concentrating on strategic places. John shivered with pleasure as Patricia started expertly massaging and licking his penis after she had rinsed away the soap. She kept at it until he came with a groan of intense pleasure. Taking over the sexual stimulating, John fondled and licked Patricia’s breasts while rubbing her clitoris, then impaled her with his rock-hard penis when she appeared close to orgasm. Ramming her in and out at an infernal rate like a jackhammer, he soon had her scream with ecstasy.

‘’OOOH! KEEP IT UP! KEEP IT UP...AAARG!’’

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She let out a final sigh of contentment as he exploded inside her. Hugging John and offering her breasts to the much smaller man, she grinned to him.

‘’You did a hell of a job as usual, John. We should take vacations together more often.’’

‘’I wouldn’t mind that, my beautiful Patricia, but I do have a few businesses to take care of. Talking of business, I will want to go visit after supper a refuge that I support in Shinjuku.’’

‘’Sounds like a good plan.’’

19:32 (Japan Time)

Kabukicho District, Shinjuku Ward

Tokyo

Patricia had to say that she was a bit confused by the time their taxi driver stopped his cab in front of a small building somewhere in Shinjuku. While the main streets and boulevards had names, many small streets did not. Worse, the door numbering seemed to follow no logic, at least in her mind, with numbers apparently placed at random. However, she could see the front of a small bar sandwiched between two shops, with a painted sign above the entrance door saying in both Japanese and English ‘The Lost Souls Bar’. Her sharp eyes also saw the magical runes discreetly etched around the frame of the bar’s entrance. There were few passersby on the sidewalk, the street they were in being both narrow and poorly lit. Strangely enough, she saw four young Japanese men dressed in leather coats and jeans, sitting on their motorcycles or standing beside them, and this right in front of the entrance of the bar. As Patricia and John were stepping out of the taxi after paying their fare, they saw the four bikers suddenly converge on a graying Japanese man who was about to enter the bar, blocking his path. An altercation in Japanese ensued, making John approach Patricia and speak to her in Draconic, concern in his tone.

‘’Those bikers are trying to stop that man from entering the magical refuge I am supporting in Tokyo. I know the man, by the way: he is an old regular of ‘The Lost Souls Bar’. Follow me closely but don’t intervene yet: I will try to find out what is going on.’’

‘’Got it!’’

Staying three steps behind John, Patricia walked with him to the entrance of the bar, where one of the bikers turned around to face them and spoke harshly in Japanese.

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‘’Go away! Nobody is allowed inside this bar.’’

‘’And may I ask why?’’ said John while looking the biker directly into his eyes.

‘’Because that bar lacked respect towards Yamagushi-san, who controls this area of Shinjuku. Now, go, you and your gaijin friend!’’

John understood at once what was going on and turned his head to speak with Patricia in English.

‘’Apparently, the local Yakuza boss took badly to the fact that my refuge is refusing to pay protection money. Those bikers are so-called ‘bosozoku’, street toughs

on motorcycles who often work for Yakuza53 families in Tokyo. I will now take care of these bikers…quietly.’’

Looking back at the four bikers, John waved his left hand and said one word in Draconic.

‘’SLEEP!’’

The four bikers crumpled at once to the ground, deeply asleep, where they started snoring. John smiled to the few passersby who hesitated and stopped on seeing that.

‘’They had too much sake tonight. Just let them sleep it off.’’ he said, while mentally radiating a ‘suggestion’ spell to reinforce his words. The Japanese around him then went on with their business, walking past the sleeping bikers. Patricia joined up with John as the latter bowed politely to the man who had been trying to enter the bar.

‘’I am sorry if those bosozoku tried to stop you, Junko. Have they been causing trouble here for a while?’’

The man returned his bow, bending lower than him, before answering him.

‘’It started last week, Hideyoshi-sama. Until then, your bar was seemingly too low key to attract the greed of the local Yakuza boss. Now, they want your bar manager to give fifteen percent of her revenues to Shinzo Yamagushi as a ‘protection fee’. Yoko refused to pay, so those bikers were sent by Yamagushi to harass the customers and would-be patrons of the bar.’’

‘’And, this Shinzo Yamagushi, is he easy to find?’’

Junko smirked at that question.

‘’Everybody around here knows where to find him, Hideyoshi-sama: he owns the local police, so he doesn’t even need to hide. He runs his business from the ‘Peeping Tom’ strip club, which is situated less than four blocks from here on Kuyakusho Dori.’’

 

53 Yakuza: Japanese organized crime families. Very powerful and influential in Japan.

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‘’I see! Please come into the bar and have a drink on me. I will go speak with Yoko.’’

Walking in the bar behind John and Junko, Patricia found it to be quite small by American standards, with only a few tables and a bar with a few stools. The place was also quite unimpressive in terms of decoration and finish, but was very clean. She could understand now why that bar had not attracted the greed of the local crime boss earlier on. There was actually only one customer present, a big and powerful Japanese man, who was sitting at the bar’s counter, while a Japanese woman in her forties was rounding the counter and coming towards the newcomers, a happy smile on her face.

‘’John! It is so nice to see you again! Welcome back to Tokyo!’’

‘’Thank you, Yoko.’’ replied John before hugging with affection the petite woman dressed in a traditional kimono. ‘’I just saw that you are having some trouble with the local crime boss.’’

The barmaid made a pinched smile as she stepped back from John.

‘’Indeed! They have been chasing away most of my customers and protégés for a week now and I was getting really worried about keeping the bar solvent. The local Yakuza boss, Shinzo Yamagushi, is asking for fifteen percent of my revenues as protection money. When I refused, he sent bosozoku gang members in is employ to block the access to the bar. Only a few customers, like Miramoto here, have been able to enter the bar thanks to their strength and size.’’

John bowed down in response to the big man sitting at the counter.

‘’Thank you for your loyal patronage of the bar, Miramoto-san.’’

‘’Well, I couldn’t let those little thugs intimidate me, Hideyoshi-sama.’’ replied the customer, bowing deeply to John. ‘’May I ask who is your nice friend?’’ John smiled and partly turned around to pat Patricia’s shoulder.

‘’This is a very good friend who lives like me in Los Angeles, Patricia Love. She

is a female Oni54.’’

The barmaid couldn’t help instinctively take a step back then.

‘’An Oni? But her aura is a neutral one!’’

 

54 Oni: Demon in Japanese.

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‘’I know! She is actually a very special, nice Oni, Yoko.’’ said John before looking

at Patricia. ‘’Yoko Minegami, the barmaid and manager of the bar, is an Aasimar55 and has reasons to fear any Oni.’’

Patricia smiled benevolently at those words and bowed deeply to the barmaid.

‘’Have no fear of me, Yoko-san: I myself have some Celestial blood in me and was actually run out of the Abyss by other Demons because I was considered an abomination there.’’

‘’Then, you are most welcome in my modest bar, Patricia-san. So, what shall we do about this protection racket business, John? If I pay that protection money, then I will quickly have to declare bankruptcy, as my profit margin is very thin most of the time.’’ John nodded his head once, his expression sober.

‘’I know! However, too many people in difficult situations need the services of your bar, which must stay open. We could pay the protection fee asked by that Yamagushi bastard, but then there would be no guarantees that he would not progressively increase his protection fee to the point when this bar would have to close, save for extensive financial support from me. There is also a question of principle involved: if we bend to one bastard, where will it stop? I also refuse to pay that protection money, Yoko, so we will have to find another solution to this problem.’’

‘’We could kill that Yamagushi bastard, Hideyoshi-sama.’’ Then proposed Miramoto while making his big knuckles crack. John was about to reply to that when Patricia jumped in.

‘’I agree with Miramoto, John, but we will need to get rid of his whole gang…in a way that would not point to this bar or to us. I say, let’s go kill silently those leeches, then put fire to their den to eliminate any incriminating links to this bar.’’

‘’I like that!’’ said Miramoto at once, a big grin on his face, making Patricia smile in turn.

‘’Hey, I may be a nice Oni, but I am also a very bad girl. So, what do you say, John?’’

John thought over those words for a moment before speaking.

‘’This is what we will do: we go to that strip club run by Yamagushi and ask to speak with him. If he proves inflexible, then we will get rid of him and of his goons in a

55 Aasimar: A mixed-blood child of a Human and of a Celestial. An Aasimar is always of ‘Good’ alignment and often possesses some minor magical powers. Aasimars are normally killed on sight by Demons.

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way that won’t allow the police or other Yakuza bosses to trace their deaths to here or to us. Patricia, I suggest that we modify a bit our aspects before going to this ‘Peeping Tom’ club, so that no witness could point to us afterwards.’’

‘’A good idea, John. First, though, I need to know if this bar has some secure basement rooms similar to those you have at your ‘Friends’ Corner Bar’.’’

‘’We do have such rooms, Patricia-san.’’ said Yoko Minegami. ‘’We have a few lycanthropes among our customers, including Miramoto-san here, and periodically need to have them securely locked up during full moon periods.’’

‘’Do you also have vampires among your customers?’’

‘’We have three of them, Patricia-San. Why do you ask?’’

‘’Because I intend to add the useful to the satisfying stuff tonight. If we are to spill blood, then we might as well put that blood to good use. For that, I need a safe and discrete place to bring in a few still breathing bastards. Then, Miramoto-san, you will be free to extract and store away that blood…the way you will like the most.’’ While Yoko Minegami winced at those words, Miramoto rubbed his hands together, a wide grin on his face.

‘’Aah, that sounds like a very satisfying way of doing things, Patricia-san. You can count on me for that.’’

‘’Good! Now, I only need to visit the bar’s basement before going, so that I can mentally picture where I will be teleporting to.’’

‘’You can teleport?’’ said Yoko, shocked. ‘’But that involves superior magic!’’ John nodded his head once at those words.

‘’Indeed, Yoko. Patricia is actually an Oni of very high lineage, with magical powers which exceed even my own powers in certain domains.’’ Yoko looked at Patricia with renewed respect, as she knew how powerful John was.

‘’Very well! I will show you my basement rooms, then will get the things needed to collect and store blood. It would only be poetic justice for that Yamagushi bastard to end up helping me sustain my vampire customers.’’

20:29 (Japan Time)

‘Peeping Tom’ strip club

Kuyakusho Dori, Kabukicho District

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John Hideyoshi, now looking like a much older man than his normal human appearance and accompanied by a Patricia who had adopted the form of Sylvia Thorn, stopped in front of one of the two Yakuza men flanking the entrance to the ‘Peeping Tom’ strip club and spoke to him in an authoritative tone.

‘’I need to speak with Yamagushi-san, right away!’’

Unsure of who John was and unwilling to possibly insult someone who could be another Yakuza boss, the gangster chose to reply in a polite tone while bowing.

‘’May I ask who to announce to Yamagushi-san?’’

‘’Tell him that Ojizo-sama, from Los Angeles, wants to speak with him.’’ The gangster bowed again quickly, then signaled to John and Sylvia/Delicia to follow him before entering the club. They crossed the inside of a large, semi-darkened room where dozens of male customers were watching a young woman strip on an illuminated stage, then went up a large staircase, to finally arrive on the top floor, on the third level. There, the gangster led the couple to a large double-door guarded by two more gangsters, who eyed John and Sylvia with professional curiosity and suspicion. The man who had guided the couple faced John after stopping in front of the guarded door.

‘’Please wait here while I announce you to Yamagushi-san.’’ The gangster then went in, closing the door behind him. He was back after maybe a minute and bowed to John.

‘’You may come in with your companion, Ojizo-sama.’’

As the couple walked in, the gangster made a sign to one of the men guarding the door, who then entered behind Sylvia. The visitors found themselves in a big, luxurious lounge furnished in the Western style with sofas, low tables and shelves. One side of the room was lined with large windows which were presently obscured by drawn curtains. In one corner of the room, a man with gray hair sitting in a sofa was watching a pair of naked girls performing sex acts on each other on top of a carpet. John couldn’t help feel indignation on seeing that the two girls were actually mere children barely past puberty. Controlling his anger, John walked to the man in the sofa, who was sipping on a glass of scotch, and stopped maybe six paces in front of him, leaving the two naked girls between him and the man. As for Sylvia, she stayed three paces behind John, watching and listening but staying silent as John spoke in Japanese.

‘’My name is John Ojizo, from Los Angeles. I came here to speak with you about the ‘Lost Souls Bar’.’’

From deferential at first, the man in the sofa then showed some confusion.

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‘’The ‘Lost Souls Bar’? But that is a nothing place! Why are you interested in it and who are you exactly, Ojizo-sama?’’

‘’I am a sponsor of the ‘Lost Souls Bar’, along with a few other establishments around the United States and the World. I am my own master and owe allegiance to no one, not even to the American Mafia. I came to tell you that I will not pay protection money to you for my bar.’’

From confused, the Yakuza boss became nearly adversarial, although he kept his tone polite.

‘’I am sorry, Ojizo-sama, but here in Tokyo you will have to toe the line drawn by me and other Yakuza bosses if you wish to operate a business here. In Kabukicho, everybody follows my rules and your little bar will have to do the same, or suffer the consequences. By the way, your bar already owes me two weeks of insurance money.’’

‘’And I am sorry to hear that you are unwilling to be reasonable, Yamagushi-san.’’ As the two men in the back of John and Sylvia tensed up and approached their right hand to the weapons hidden inside their vests, Yamagushi abruptly put down his glass and shot a murderous glare at John.

‘’And what are you planning to do then? Have your gaijin female friend attack me?’’

That brought a mean smile on John’s lips.

‘’Oh, she certainly could take care of you and your goons all by herself, Yamagushi-san, but I am still quite able to do the job by myself.’’ Half turning around, John spoke a few words in Draconic to Sylvia.

‘’You take care of him and the girls, while I take care of the others.’’

‘’Got it!’’ Simply said Sylvia, who then moved with lightning speed, jumping over the two naked young girls and landing in front of Yamagushi, then grabbing the Yakuza boss by his collar with a single hand and lifting him high off his feet with no apparent effort, choking him and making his face turn red. With the Yakuza wiggling helplessly in her grip, she looked down at the two naked girls and made a ‘Charm’ spell to calm them down and keep them quiet. As for John, he had already put the bodyguards to sleep, including the one left outside the door of the suite.

‘’I am your friend. Please stay quietly where you are and let me and my friend handle these bastards.’’

With the two girls nodding in acquiescence and sitting on the carpet, Sylvia looked up at the half-strangled Yamagushi.

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‘’You must have a safe here for your valuables and illegal things: show it to me and open it, or I will break your neck.’’

The terrorized Yakuza boss could only point at a door on one wall of the lounge.

‘’My…study…’’

Roughly putting the man down, Sylvia then dragged him forcefully towards the door, holding the Yakuza boss by the neck, then entered a luxurious work office with him in tow.

‘’Show me your safe and then open it, quickly!’’

Instead of obeying her, Yamagushi’s right hand flew to his belt, obviously trying to grab a weapon there. Sylvia was however even faster and intercepted his hand, crushing it with inhuman strength and making the half-choked Yakuza shout with pain.

‘’Feel like playing smart ass, hey?’’

Using her free hand, Sylvia extracted a revolver which had been held in a belt holster and examined it briefly: it was a low-quality .32 caliber snub-nosed revolver that made her sneer in disdain.

‘’You call yourself a crime boss and you can’t get anything better than this? They would laugh at you in Los Angeles. Now, open your safe!’’ Still held solidly by his neck and being barely able to breathe, Yamagushi staggered towards a large painting hooked to a wall behind a work desk. Watched closely by Sylvia, he made the painting pivot on hidden hinges, revealing the door of a fair-sized safe behind it.

‘’The safe behind the painting: an old trick indeed! Open it!’’ For even better measure, she pressed the muzzle of the revolver taken on him against the head of Yamagushi.

‘’Remember: no games!’’

Overwhelmed, the Yakuza boss turned the knob on the safe’s door, with Sylvia watching and memorizing the combination he made, then pulled down on the safe’s handle, opening it with a ‘clic’. The moment the safe was open, Sylvia violently struck Yamagushi on the temple with the butt of her revolver, knocking him out. Letting him crumple to the floor, Sylvia first put on the gloves held inside the pockets of her long coat, so that she wouldn’t leave fingerprints behind, then started emptying the safe, spreading its content on top of the big work desk nearby.

‘’Hum, lots of Japanese cash money, as expected. Also, lots of American dollars: no surprises there either. One .45 caliber Colt pistol, loaded and ready to use: at least

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that guy took some precautions. Quite a few documents and ledgers which should prove worthy of John’s attention. Whoa! What are all these passports?’’ Sifting through the more than twenty passports from various countries which were stored inside the safe, Sylvia saw that they belonged to as many young women, mostly of Asian origin, all of them very pretty. She quickly understood what those passports were.

‘’This bastard must be holding against their will many girls he employs as either strippers or prostitutes, keeping their passports to ensure that they don’t flee back to their country. They are probably locked up in some part of this club when not performing.’’

Two Japanese school identity cards which had been with the passports in the safe proved to belong to the two naked girls who had been entertaining the Yakuza boss tonight. A glance at their dates of birth made Sylvia frown.

‘’Eleven and twelve years old. A fucking pedophile bastard on top of everything else.’’

The last items she took out of the safe were six book-sized packages wrapped in brown paper. Opening one of the packages, she found it full of fine white powder.

‘’Heroin! Over seven pounds of it and probably uncut yet.’’ Next, she searched Yamagushi himself, finding a set of keys in one vest pocket, a good-sized pack of Japanese banknotes and some spare bullets for a .32 caliber revolver. Looking around quickly, she found a large travel bag in a closet and used it to collect all the cash money, the pistol and the passports taken from the safe, while she pocketed the set of keys found on Yamagushi. As for the packs of heroine, she put them inside a steel garbage can, which she brought to the adjacent bathroom, then approached one hand to it. A long flame burst out of her hand, igniting the wrapped drug packs. As the flames consumed the heroin in the garbage can, Sylvia left the bathroom and closed its door, then grabbed again the unconscious Yamagushi and pulled him up against her body, then concentrated and teleported out of the office.

She reappeared with her captive in a basement room of the ‘Lost Souls Bar’ that was used to safely keep lycanthropes who were being affected in periods of full moon, a room that had originally been built as a bomb shelter during World War 2. She found Miramoto and Junko waiting there, with ropes, knives, steel basins, empty glass bottles and a funnel at the ready.

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‘’Here is your first customer, guys: Shinzo Yamagushi in person. Have fun with him while I go get his goons.’’

‘’Oh, he will have plenty of time to feel it before bleeding out.’’ promised Miramoto, a big grin on his face and a large butcher knife in one hand. As for Junko, he was already thirsty for all that blood that was going to flow.

‘’Death by a thousand cuts?’’ asked Sylvia/Delicia.

‘’Nah: too wasteful of blood. A hundred cuts will do.’’

Feeling no remorse or pity about the fate awaiting the gangster, Sylvia jumped back to Yamagushi’s office, where she grabbed the travel bag full of money and documents before joining up with John and showing him the passports and identity cards she had found.

‘’I believe that this bastard is holding a number of foreign girls in this club as sex slaves, plus those two girls, who are Japanese. By the way, they are eleven and twelve. I found plenty of cash money that we could then give to those unfortunate girls, so that they could return to their respective countries. There are also quite a few documents in Japanese that you may be interested to read and translate later on.’’ John’s face hardened on hearing that.

‘’I will take care of finding these girls and free them. In the meantime, transport out those slime bags to the bar’s basement: they amply deserve death for their crimes.’’

‘’With pleasure, John!’’

As Sylvia disappeared with two of the Yakuza bodyguards, John went to see the two naked young Japanese girls still sitting on the carpet, who had watched with bulging eyes Sylvia teleport out. Kneeling beside them, he gave them a reassuring smile.

‘’You will soon be able to return safely to your real home, girls. I will ask you now to dress quietly but quickly.’’

The oldest girl couldn’t help ask a question then, her face reflecting both awe and disbelief.

‘’How could that woman disappear like that? Who are you?’’

‘’My friend holds quite a few magical powers, like me, little one. I have been known in Japan for centuries as Ojizo-sama, patron deity and guardian of children, both living and dead ones. Buddhists in India also know me as Ksitigarbha. Now, please dress, quickly.’’

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Nodding their heads, the two girls then ran into a bathroom adjacent to the lounge, returning fully dressed a few minutes later. John used that time to start sifting through the papers and documents found by Delicia in Yamagushi’s safe. He smiled to himself when he saw that he now had enough information and documentary evidence to destroy the man’s network of businesses and dirty connections in Tokyo…if he did things the right way. He already could see that a number of police officers and judges were on Yamagushi’s payroll, which meant that he would need to operate cautiously when he was going to get Yamagushi’s sex slaves out of Tokyo, lest some corrupt official creates legal or bureaucratic problems for him and the girls. John however had already an idea about how to best use those documents.

Waiting first for the return of Sylvia, so that she could watch over the two little girls, John then put an ‘Invisibility’ spell on himself and left the suite to effectuate a detailed search of the building, the keys found on Yamagushi in his coat pocket. He didn’t have to search for long, as he found six of Yamagushi’s goons relaxing and playing cards in a room on the next floor down from Yamagushi’s suite. A steel door with heavy locking bolts was visible on one wall of that room.

‘Hum! It would make sense to place a detention area next to the guardroom. I will however need to get rid of those gangsters before I could go check that locked room.’

John actually solved that problem easily and quickly enough: he simply uttered a ‘Sleep’ spell which made the six Yakuza men drop or crumple into a deep slumber. That however did not fully satisfy him: a sudden strong noise or accidental touch, possibly by one of the girls held in this club, could still awaken one or more of those men. Seeing a pistol equipped with a silencer that was lying on top of a table, near one of the sleeping men, John grabbed it, then turned visible again. He was normally a kind, considerate and compassionate being, but his centuries of existence on Earth had taught him that violence was sometimes necessary for the greater good. He hesitated only slightly before shooting the sleeping gangsters one by one in the head, killing all six men in seconds. Then slipping the pistol inside his belt, John went to the steel door and opened it. Beyond it was a large room whose windows had been boarded shut, with over twenty beds dispersed along the walls and with a table, chairs and sofas in the center of the room. A television set and a radio were visible in one corner. What attracted John’s attention at once, though, was the eight young women in various states of dress present

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in the room. The women stopped whatever they were doing at once and eyed John with caution and fear as he walked in the room.

‘’Please don’t be afraid, ladies: I am a friend who came to free you. I was led to believe that there would be more of you. Where are the others?’’ An Oriental woman took on her to answer him in passable Japanese after a moment of hesitation.

‘’They must be performing in the main hall of the club or in the private showrooms on the ground floor, mister. Can you really free us?’’ John answered by stepping aside, making visible to the girls the dead Yakuza men around their card table. The women gasped nearly in unison on seeing the bloodied corpses. John then went to the table in the center of the room and put down on it the travel bag that he had been carrying by its shoulder strap. Signaling to the eight women to gather around him, he opened the bag and started distributing some of the passports inside it to their legitimate owners, making them swoon with joy.

‘’Ladies, I will now ask you to get dressed in order to leave this club. If you have coats with you, take them as well. I will watch the door while you dress. And please do it quietly!’’

Fortunately, he did not have to repeat himself, the women being too well aware of what would happen if some of Yamagushi’s men showed up. Less than ten minutes later, all the women were back around the table, some carrying small bags full of spare clothes or holding a coat. Counting quickly the bundles of cash inside his travel bag, John gave to each woman a bundle of 100,000 yen, equivalent to a thousand dollars, plus another bundle totaling a thousand American dollars, which they gratefully took.

‘’This money is meant to allow you to leave Japan as soon as possible and return to your respective countries once I will lead you out of this club. Do not, and I say again, do not contact the Japanese police in order to file a complaint: many local cops are in the pay of Yamagushi and would probably find an excuse to arrest and detain you. For those of you who have been detained here long enough to have your Japanese visas expire, I will try to arrange support from your respective embassies, so that you can board a flight out without being bothered by the Japanese authorities, who are frankly a bit too complicit with the Yakuza in this criminal scheme. Now, follow me upstairs to Yamagushi’s suite, where a friend of mine is waiting while protecting two more girls. This place here is way too risky for you now. Remember: be quiet and stay with me.’’

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Cautiously checking first if anybody was in the external hallway and staircase, John then led his eight charges up to Yamagushi’s suite, where he found Sylvia standing inside the partially opened door of the suite and watching the stairs.

‘’Here are more girls to watch over, Sylvia. There are more still inside the club but they are said to be presently performing downstairs. However, they will eventually be led back to their detention room on the next floor down, so I will wait for them there and will also at the same time eliminate any goon escorting them.’’

‘’Sounds like a plan, John. By the way, if you are to do more silent killing, then take this with you.’’

John smiled with glee when Sylvia handed him an exquisitely decorated Katana long sword in its lacquered wood scabbard.

‘’I believe that this was Yamagushi’s family sword. Make good use of it.’’

‘’I sure will! Thanks, Sylvia! Alright girls, get inside and make yourselves comfortable: it may be a while before we could lead you safely out of the club.’’

22:36 (Japan Time)

Main showroom, ‘Peeping Tom’ strip club

The stage manager for the club looked again in frustration at his watch: the second act strippers should have come down by now, while the first act girls were about due to leave their posts on the stage and in private showrooms. Grabbing the nearest muscle man, he gave him an order on a tone that didn’t leave room for discussion.

‘’Jiro, go upstairs and tell that Toramon idiot that he was supposed to escort down the second shift of girls over twenty minutes ago.’’

‘’Hay!’’ replied with a quick bow the Yakuza man before nearly running to the main staircase outside the showroom. The young man soon stepped on the second floor and pushed open the door of the guardroom.

‘’TORAMON, KAGAMOTSU-SAN WANTS…’’

Jiro then stopped cold on the spot and his eyes bulged at the sight of the six dead bodies littering the guardroom. His right hand was flying to his hidden knife when a slight noise behind him made him pivot around. He just had time to have a glimpse of an old Japanese man swinging a saber before the blade cleanly cut his head off, plunging him into darkness. John Hideyoshi looked down at the decapitated body with regret.

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‘’You could have done so much better with your life, young man. Now, you will spend the rest of eternity in Hell.’’

Taking back his hidden ambush position, John waited patiently for either more Yakuza thugs to show up or for more girls to return to their living lounge. After over twenty minutes and with nobody else showing up, he opened a telepathic conversation with Sylvia.

‘’Sylvia, things are not moving here and I don’t want for these girls to stay longer than necessary in this club. Yamagushi’s lieutenants could decide to call in outside reinforcement in order to investigate what is happening above the main show room, something that could put the girls at risk. How about accelerating the process by ourselves?’’

‘’I agree! Here is what I suggest: you go down to the girls’ changing rooms on the ground floor and collect them, then I will create a distraction and force the evacuation of the club by starting a fire on the top floors.’’

‘’Sounds like a plan! I will now come up to collect the girls we already have, along with the remaining passports and money taken from Yamagushi, then will get the girls downstairs. Wait for my signal before putting the place on fire.’’

‘’Got it!’’

John was soon on his way down to the ground level under the cover of an ‘Invisibility’ spell, his pockets full of passports and money and with the katana sword still in his right hand. The few Yakuza men and club employees he encountered were put asleep via spells or killed with his sword. The one Yakuza thug guarding the changing room used by the strippers ended up being eviscerated by a powerful slash of the katana that opened his belly wide, spilling his intestines all over the floor. As the dying man convulsed in a pool of blood, John calmly walked inside the changing room, where he found five young women in various states of undress. As the girls stared with fear and horror at his blood-stained sword, John spoke to them in a calm voice, intent on reassuring them.

‘’Do not fear, ladies: I am here to save you from this life of slavery. We will soon be able to leave this club, but I will need first that you get dressed. In the meantime, I will be giving you back your passports, which Yamagushi took away from you.’’

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‘’But, Yamagushi-san will hunt us down if we leave.’’ said one terrified girl. John shook his head at that.

‘’No, he won’t: he is dead and so are nearly all of his men by now. Now, take your passports and identity papers and get dressed, quickly!’’ Still not sure what exactly was going on, the girls however obeyed him, taking their documents and dressing up with what clothes they had in the changing room. Thankfully, the wardrobe in the changing room was filled with numerous outfits of all kinds, meant to provide a wide choice of things to wear at the start of stripping acts. When his group was ready after another ten minutes or so, and with four stripper girls still performing on stage or in private boots, John decided that they could wait no longer. Making the girls with him fill four bags with clothes meant for the girls still in the show room, he then sent a telepathic message to Sylvia.

‘’Sylvia, you can start putting the place on fire. Escort down your girls at the same time. We will meet outside of the main entrance.’’

‘’Understood!’’ replied Sylvia, still hiding in Yamagushi’s suite on the top floor. She then looked at the eight young women and two teenagers sitting quietly around the lounge and looking nervously at her.

‘’Alright girls: time to move out! Be quiet, don’t panic and stay with me. I will now start a few fires on the top floors as we go down, in order to create confusion and facilitate your escape. Again, stay together with me and don’t panic. Now, start going out of this suite and wait for me in the hallway.’’

The ten girls obeyed her at once, too happy to finally escape this place. Once they were all in the hallway, by the main staircase, Sylvia approached the drapes covering the windows of the suite’s lounge and joined her spread hands by their thumbs.

‘’BURNING HANDS!’’

A sheet of flames shot out of her hands in a wide cone, enveloping the drapes and putting them on fire. For good measure, she went into Yamagushi’s bedroom and private office and started fires there as well before joining the girls in the hallway as a smoke detector finally reacted to the fires she had initiated and triggered a loud alarm bell.

‘’Well, you heard the alarm, girls: let’s evacuate this building!’’

The Bronze Citadel

Avernus, First Layer of the Abyss

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Abyssal Realm (Hell)

When Jiro regained some of his sight, he was shocked to find himself completely naked while standing on a metallic floor in semi-darkness. Raising his left hand and touching his neck, he was somewhat reassured to find that his head still seemed firmly attached to his body: he must have just had a bad dream. A thunderous voice then shook him up.

‘’THAT WAS REALITY, NOT A BAD DREAM, JIRO!’’

Jiro then saw with a mix of fear and horror the huge, terrifying humanoid beast sitting on a bronze throne in front of him, ten paces away. It looked like a red-skinned medieval gargoyle with a pair of large leathery wings. It also had a pair of big horns on his forehead, a pair of large fangs in his mouth and claws on its fingers. The beast’s eyes glowed a fierce red.

‘’Where…where am I?’’ Jiro barely managed to ask. The crack of a whip and a searing wave of pain from his back immediately followed his words, with the beast bending forward to speak to him in a dangerous tone.

‘’I ASK THE QUESTIONS HERE, JIRO. YOU WILL SPEAK ONLY WHEN ASKED TO, UNLESS YOU WANT TO TASTE THE WHIP SOME MORE. YOU ARE NOW IN MY PALACE ON AVERNUS, THE FIRST LAYER OF THE ABYSS, AND MY NAME IS BEL, LORD OF THE FIRST. YOU WILL HOWEVER CALL ME SIMPLY ‘MASTER’. YOU ARE IN HELL FOR ETERNITY AND YOU NOW BELONG TO ME, JIRO.’’

‘’But…but…OUCH!’’

As Jiro was grimacing in pain from the second lash of whip, the beast gave him a malevolent grin.

‘’AS I SAID BEFORE, YOU WILL TALK ONLY WHEN ASKED TO. SO, YOU WERE A MINION FOR A SO-CALLED CRIMINAL LORD?’’

‘’I was a soldier of Yamagushi-san, from the Inagawa-kai family.’’ objected Jiro, attracting a third lash on his back. Bel then corrected him.

‘’ALWAYS FINISH YOUR SENTENCES WITH ‘MASTER’ WHEN YOU SPEAK TO ME. SO, YOU THINK OF YOURSELF AS A SOLDIER, HEY? I HAVE TO SAY THAT I DO LIKE THE DISCIPLINE AND RESPECT TO SUPERIORS SHOWN BY YOUR YAKUZA BRETHREN. MAYBE YOU COULD ACTUALLY BE USEFUL TO ME…A BIT. YOU WILL HOWEVER HAVE TO PROVE YOUR LOYALTY TO ME,

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YOUR LORD, FIRST. IF YOU DO WELL, YOUR STAY HERE WILL BE TOLERABLE. IF YOU DON’T, THEN YOU WILL SPEND ETERNITY BEING TORTURED. IF YOU REALLY FUCK UP, THEN YOU WILL END IN THE SOUL SHREDDER AND YOU WILL DISAPPEAR FOR GOOD FROM THIS UNIVERSE.’’

Not wanting another lash on his back, Jiro didn’t interrupt Bel and waited for him to continue, something that seemingly pleased the demon lord.

‘’WELL, YOU SEEM TO LEARN FAST ENOUGH: A GOOD POINT IN YOUR FAVOR. I WILL THUS NOW GIVE YOU YOUR FIRST TASK IN THE ABYSS.’’ A naked man suddenly appeared in front of Jiro, between him and Bel. He was covered with blood and had dozens of cuts on his body. Jiro’s eyes opened wide when he recognized the haggard man.

‘’YAMAGUSHI-SAN?!’’

He nearly bowed to Yamagushi but restrained himself at the last second, remembering who he was now supposed to serve. Bel smiled on seeing Jiro keep straight and not showing deference to one of the latest subjects to arrive for eternal punishment on the First Level. With a snap of his fingers, he made a whip appear in Jiro’s right hand.

‘’UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE, JIRO, YOUR TASK WILL BE TO PUNISH THIS DARK SOUL AS HE DESERVES. ANOTHER DEMON WILL GUIDE YOU AND THIS PIECE OF SHIT TO THE PUNISHMENT STATION I ASSIGNED TO HIM. SHOW NO MERCY OR RESPECT TO HIM AND BE ZEALOUS IN WHIPPING HIM. PROVE ME YOUR LOYALTY!’’

‘’Yes, Master!’’ said Jiro, bowing deeply to Bel before swinging his whip and lashing his old Yakuza boss on his back, making him shout in pain.

‘’START WALKING, YOU PIECE OF SHIT!’’

A sort of dark red portal then appeared to one side, with Jiro directing Yamagushi towards it with liberal use of his whip. Both souls then disappeared through the portal. Bel straightened up on his bronze throne, satisfied.

‘’Those Japanese Yakuza men do really understand the meaning of the words ‘discipline’ and ‘obedience’. Maybe I should get more of them for my armies.’’

00:18 (Japan Time)

Monday, December 17, 1973

Third floor, apartment building in Asakusa Ward, Tokyo

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‘’Who could this be at such an hour?’’ Grumbled the man as he went to the door of his family’s tiny apartment. Actually, ‘family’ was not a proper word to use anymore, as he and his wife had lost their only child over a year ago, when she had disappeared one morning on the way to school. Unlocking and opening the door, the man instantly froze at the sight of the young teenage girl standing in front of a man with graying hair.

‘’Kimi? KIMI!’’

‘’FATHER!’’ cried out the girl while throwing herself in the arms of her father. Both exchanged a long, frantic hug while the man covered with kisses the forehead and cheeks of his young daughter, both having tears now flowing from their eyes. The man finally looked into the eyes of Kimi while holding her by her shoulders.

‘’My poor Kimi! What happened to you? Where have you been?’’

‘’Bad men from the Yakuza kidnapped me while I was walking to school, Father. They then used me as their slave, along with other girls.’’ She didn’t have time to continue before a piercing shriek came from inside the apartment.

‘’KIMI!’’

Kimi’s mother then ran across the small lounge of the apartment and was met in the middle by her daughter. They savored a long, tearful hug together before Kimi could repeat to her what she had just said to her father. Her mother kissed her again on both cheeks before looking suspiciously at the man still waiting quietly in the hallway.

‘’Who is this man, Kimi? Is he from the police?’’

Kimi grinned in answer while pointing excitedly at the old man.

‘’He is the one who freed me from the Yakuza, along with other girls. He is a Kami, Mother!’’

‘’A Kami? Come on, Kimi, you’re not making any sense.’’ The old man then calmly entered the apartment, stopping just past the door, a benevolent smile on his face.

‘’Allow me to present myself, madam.’’

To the couple’s stupor, the man then became progressively luminous from the inside, while his shape and appearance changed slowly. From a graying man in a suit, he turned into seconds into a Buddhist monk wearing a rough robe and holding a staff. His head was now shaved and a halo surrounded it.

‘’I am Ojizo-sama, guardian of children and patron of deceased children. I am deeply sorry that I failed for so long to help your poor daughter.’’

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Both parents knelt and bowed deeply in reverence to the monk, as Ojizo-sama was one of the most loved divinities of the Japanese pantheon.

‘’Great Ojizo-sama, we could never thank you enough for having saved our little daughter. How could we ever repay you properly?’’ said the father, still bowing on his knees. The monk smiled gently in response.

‘’Simple: raise your daughter with love and attention, my good man. Talking of repaying, here is something that I confiscated from the Yakuza men who kidnapped Kimi and held her into slavery. I know that getting your daughter back is more valuable than anything else, but this could at least help her readjust to a normal life. As for the Yakuza men who took her, they are now dead and paying for their sins for eternity in Hell.’’ The father hesitantly took the impressive bundle of yen banknotes handed over by the monk, then bowed again.

‘’Thank you, great Ojizo-sama! Thank you!’’

The monk smiled again, then changed shape, returning to the one of the graying man in a business suit.

‘’I still have more freed girls to take care of, good people, so I must go now. Goodbye, little Kimi! May you have a happy life from now on.’’ The old man then disappeared in the blink of an eye, watched by the mesmerized family. Shaking off his stupor, the father then joined his wife and daughter in the middle of the lounge, where they shared a long group hug.

‘’This morning, we will go together to the local shrine and give offerings and prayers to Ojizo-sama.’’ decreed the father, getting nods from his wife and daughter.

Outside, down in the street, John Hideyoshi, still in the shape of an old man, sat back in the taxi that had brought him, Kimi, Sylvia and another girl to this district. When they had been able to scour the strip club and recuperate all the girls and women held in it, they had been shocked and angered to find out that no less than five teenage girls, all under the age of fourteen and one as young as eight, had been held in the club to satisfy the lust of pedophile customers. Now, they had one girl left to return home, but this one was going to take more finesse to handle, as she was a Canadian citizen of Japanese descent. Giving a handful of Yen banknotes to the taxi driver, John spoke to him in a polite tone.

‘’Thank you for waiting, good man. Could you now drive us to the Canadian embassy?’’

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‘’Right away, sir!’’

As the driver engaged gears, John looked down at the nine-year old girl sandwiched between him and Sylvia and spoke softly to her in English.

‘’Jennifer, we will now bring you to the Canadian embassy, where we will drop you. You still have your passport with you, along with the money I gave you so that you could buy a plane ticket to Vancouver?’’

‘’I do, Ojizo-sama! Aren’t you going to come inside the embassy with me, so that the people there could believe my story?’’

John hesitated for a moment then: he had planned at first to simply drop off the little girl, in order to avoid too many embarrassing questions from the embassy staff, but he now realized that the situation was way too delicate for such a young child to handle by herself.

‘’I will, my sweet Jennifer. You can count on me until the end.’’

The trio then fell mostly silent as the taxi made its way back from the Asakusa Ward to the Akasuka Ward, a good eighty-kilometer ride which took them two hours in the still fairly dense Tokyo night traffic. When the taxi stopped in front of the building housing the Canadian embassy, John stepped out and took the hand of little Jennifer, walking with her to the entrance of the building. Inside, they found a lone security guard sitting behind a desk in the entrance lobby. The man got up from his chair and politely bowed to John when he approached his desk with Jennifer.

‘’May I help you, sir?’’

‘’You may, mister. I need to bring this little girl to the Canadian embassy. She was separated from her parents and needs consular help.’’

‘’Oh, I see! Unfortunately, the Canadian embassy is closed at this late hour and will open again at nine o’clock only. Right now, there are only a couple of Canadian guards inside the embassy.’’

‘’Then, I will ask them to contact the consul or ambassador right away: this is an emergency.’’

‘’I am not sure that they will be willing to help you, sir, but you may still proceed up to the second floor, where the embassy entrance is. The elevators are to your left.’’

‘’Thank you, good man!’’

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Going to the bank of elevators with young Jennifer, John called a cabin, entering it as soon as the doors slid open. The ride to the second floor was short and he and Jennifer stepped out in a hallway covered with linoleum tiles. Seeing at the end of the short corridor a large panel saying ‘Canadian embassy’ in both Japanese and English, plus a Canadian flag, John went in that direction and pressed the button located beside a thick glass door. While waiting for a reaction, he smiled gently in front of the one-way tainted window near the door, behind which probably stood a guard. A voice was heard from a speaker nearly at once, speaking English.

‘’I am sorry, sir, but the embassy is closed.’’

‘’This is a consular emergency, mister. This little girl lost her parents during their trip to Tokyo and needs official Canadian assistance. I believe that there may in fact be a ‘Missing’ notice in her name.’’

‘’And what is her name, sir?’’

‘’Jennifer Nomura. I will now open her passport and put it against your window.’’ Gently taking the girl’s passport from Jennifer and opening it at the page showing her photo and name, John then laid it flat against the bullet-proof glass of the mirror window. Long seconds followed before the man’s voice was heard again.

‘’There is in fact a ‘Missing’ notice in the name of Jennifer Nomura, but it was published over nine months ago. Where did you find this girl, sir?’’ Starting to become impatient with the guard, John closed the passport and gave it back to Jennifer before giving his reply.

‘’In a strip club, where she had been held as a sex slave by a Yakuza boss. I believe that you should call your Canadian Police Attaché in, as well as your Consul, and quickly! I would however advise against contacting the Tokyo Police Department: some of its officers are in the Yakuza’s pay.’’

There was a second long pause before another man’s voice was heard.

‘’We will call the Canadian Police Attaché right away, sir. In the meantime, you may come in with the girl. Pull the door open at the noise of the buzzer.’’

‘’Thank you!’’

Opening the door and entering with Jennifer, John found himself inside a small security airlock with a second armored glass door at the other end and with a bullet-proof wicket to one side. A big Caucasian man dressed in a suit stood behind the wicket and spoke once the first door had closed and locked.

‘’Could you take off your suit’s jacket and slowly turn around, please.’’

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Understanding that such a nightly unannounced visit called for some basic security measures, John obeyed the guard, removing his jacket and pivoting around with both arms up. That seemed to satisfy the guard, who pressed a button and made another buzz be heard.

‘’You can now pull the second door open and enter with the girl, sir.’’

‘’Thank you again!’’

Coming out of the security airlock, John was met at once by another man, who was holding a metal detector stick.

‘’Please hold still for a moment with your arms up, sir.’’

After a few seconds of scanning with his stick, John was declared free of weapons and was then invited to go sit with Jennifer in one of the sofas lining the visitors’ waiting lounge. There, the man with the scanner started asking him questions in a polite tone, a notepad and pen in hand.

‘’May I have your name and nationality, sir?’’

‘’I am John Jizo and I am an American.’’

‘’May I see your passport, sir?’’

‘’Of course!’’ replied John, who then fished out his passport and handed it to the Canadian guard. It was actually his true passport, in the name of John Hideyoshi, but he cast a ‘Magic I.D.’ spell on it before passing it on. The guard opened the passport to the identification page, but his brain ‘saw’ the picture of a man with graying hair and the name ‘John Jizo’, along with a different date of birth and passport number, instead of what his eyes actually saw. He thus noted down the fake information before giving back the passport to John.

‘’Sergeant Nichols, from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, should be here in about half an hour, sir. He will be the one who will interview you and the girl.’’

‘’That is fine with me, mister, but I must insist again that you do not contact the Tokyo Police. This child is a direct witness and victim of serious crimes committed by the Yakuza in Tokyo and could be targeted for assassination by the Yakuza in order to eliminate her as a witness. With many local cops in the pay of the Yakuza, this girl’s life would be put at risk if you informed the Tokyo Police about her case.’’ Even if he showed some skepticism about John’s story, the guard seemed to accept his logic and nodded his head.

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‘’Sergeant Nichols will be the one to decide about the next steps to take, sir. In the meantime, would you like a cup of tea or coffee, or maybe the girl would like something?’’

‘’Thank you, but I am alright.’’ said John before looking down at Jennifer, who was sitting beside him. ‘’And you, Jennifer, do you want something?’’

‘’I just want to call my parents at home.’’ said the girl in her tiny voice. The guard was about to voice an objection to that but a ‘Suggestion’ spell from John made him backtrack.

‘’Very well! Do you have the telephone number of your parents?’’

‘’I believe that you may find it on the ‘Missing’ notice posted when she disappeared, mister.’’ offered John, making the guard smile meekly.

‘’Of course! Follow me, girl!’’

‘’Speak only in Japanese with your parents, Jennifer.’’ said softly John in Japanese to the girl as she was about to follow the guard. ‘’This guard could react negatively if he could hear and understand your story.’’

Little Jennifer, who now held John in near sainthood, nodded her head once silently before going.

She was back with the guard twenty minutes later, a happy smile on her face.

‘’I was able to speak with my mother at home in Vancouver, Ojizo-sama. My father was at work, but my mother told me that she was going to call him right away. In return, I promised to call again later in the day.’’

‘’Good! At least they now know that you are alive and well.’’ John nearly corrected himself then: Jennifer may be physically well, but her psyche had to have been hurt by all the horrible experiences she had lived through during the last nine months. Just at that moment a tall, wide-shouldered man in his late thirties and with his hair cut very short in military style came in through the security airlock. After briefly talking in whispers with the senior guard, the newcomer came to John, who got up from his sofa with Jennifer.

‘’Mister Jizo? I am Sergeant James Nichols, from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.’’

Shaking the hand offered by Nichols, John bowed as well in a typical Japanese salute.

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‘’And I am happy to see you, Sergeant Nichols. This poor girl has gone through much and desperately needs the help of your government, as I am afraid that the Japanese police may be part of the problem here.’’

‘’One of the embassy guards did tell me on the telephone about your allegations of police collusion with the Yakuza, Mister Jizo.’’

‘’They are a lot more than just allegations, Sergeant Nichols. I have written evidence that a number of local police officers and judges were on the pay of the Yakuza boss who was holding Jennifer as a sex slave, along with many other girls.’’ Nichols stiffened on hearing the words ‘many other girls’.

‘’And those other girls, where are they now? Are they still captive of the Yakuza?’’

‘’Thankfully, no! I freed them at the same time as Jennifer. They are now on their way back home.’’

‘’Uh, this is most irregular, Mister Jizo: you could get into trouble with the Japanese Police, for interfering in a major criminal case.’’

‘’I don’t care what the local authorities will think of my acts, Sergeant.’’ replied John firmly while staring in the eyes of the big, tall Canadian police officer. ‘’The important thing is that those poor girls are now safe and on their way home.’’

‘’Are you an American federal agent or private investigator, Mister Jizo?’’

‘’No! I am simply someone who cares deeply about children.’’

‘’He is the great Ojizo-sama, the patron deity of children, sir.’’ Volunteered enthusiastically little Jennifer, making Nichols frown before he looked at John with some irritation.

‘’What kind of crazy story did you tell this girl, mister? You also need to tell me how you manage to free all these girls from the Yakuza.’’ John stared back calmly at the Canadian as his shape morphed to that of Jizo the monk, making Nichols take two steps back while his hand went to his service revolver at his belt.

‘’She is telling the truth, Sergeant. As for these Yakuza men, they are now in Hell, paying for their crimes. I will now leave you with Jennifer. Please heed my words and do not contact the local police about her. Make sure that she is escorted back to her home in Canada.’’

John looked next at Jennifer with fondness.

‘’I wish you a happy life from now on, little angel. Goodbye!’’

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John then disappeared from the spot he stood on, leaving a deeply shaken Nichols with a now crying Jennifer.

‘’Goodbye, great Ojizo-sama! I will always revere and remember you.’’

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