Sign of the Dragon (Tatsu Yamada Book 1) Niall Teasdale (novel24 .txt) 📖

‘Sleep well, Sergeant.’

‘That’s not especially likely. If you had gone in there with me, you wouldn’t be sleeping that well either.’

29th August.

‘Did you see Yong Pan’s appeal?’ Yamauchi asked as Tatsu stepped into the van.

‘Of course,’ Tatsu replied. ‘I’m not sure how much effect it’ll have, but he’s keeping up the pressure. It seems like the tongs are listening. They have to at least look like they’re playing nice when a community elder says they should.’

‘And the mafia groups?’

‘Funabashi is on war footing and Shiroi hasn’t much choice but to react.’

‘The truth, Sergeant, are we looking at a gang war?’

Tatsu raised an eyebrow. It was such an interviewer question. Put the subject on the spot. Suzuki even had his camera aimed at Tatsu. ‘Ask Izanami,’ Tatsu replied. ‘She’s the one able to predict the future.’

‘Strangely, she doesn’t answer my calls.’

‘Really? Have you tried calling her?’

That put Yamauchi on the back foot. ‘Oh, well, no. You don’t just call the world’s most advanced artificial intelligence.’

No, she turns up unasked to complain about your social life. Tatsu was not going to mention that, however. ‘I suppose you don’t. A war is a possibility, but the TYMPD will do its utmost to contain it, if it happens.’

‘A very political answer.’

‘It was a very political question. Shall we go see what’s happening in the east?’

~~~

The answer was not much. It was too hot for anyone to be really enthusiastic about anything. The lethargy seemed to be affecting the TNM crew too, though it might have been that they were seeing refugees sitting around behaving rather than fighting. Fights made for better video.

It was approaching five p.m. and Tatsu was looking forward to being rid of the reporter and her team when Yamauchi spoke up. ‘Uh, could I ask you a favour, Sergeant Yamada?’

‘You can ask,’ Tatsu replied after a second.

‘I was wondering whether, well, whether you could take me clubbing tonight.’

Tatsu blinked a couple of times. ‘Huh?’

‘I’d like to see the nightlife here. I mean, I’ve been before. A… couple of times. But I figure that a “native guide,” if you like, would let me see it with new eyes.’

‘No cameras.’

‘Just me.’

‘Okay,’ Tatsu said after another couple of seconds. ‘I’ll meet you at the station at seven thirty. We’ll take a conveyor from there.’

Yamauchi smiled. It looked like a genuine smile, not a reporter’s smile. ‘Great. Where are we going?’

‘The Hole in the Wall. It’s about as quintessentially Chiba as it gets. Plenty of gangsters hang out there on a Saturday night, so it even has validity to both our jobs.’

‘Sounds great.’

‘Say that after you’ve spent a few hours there.’

~~~

‘There’s a lot of smoke,’ Yamauchi commented as they walked through the ground floor area of The Hole.

Tatsu gave a small shrug. ‘Legal stuff. The illegal drugs are hidden better. Try not to breathe in around the clouds, you never know what might happen.’

‘Huh. I use bright sometimes when I have to meet a deadline.’

‘Unsurprising. I, obviously, don’t use any of them.’

Yamauchi giggled. ‘No, I’d imagine it would be difficult.’

‘It’s possible to build a cyborg body that can use drugs, but this one was built for war. Being affected by gases and chemicals would have been a problem.’

‘I guess so. Why did they let you keep it after leaving the SDF? I’d have thought something more civilian would have been substituted.’

Tatsu was silent for a second. ‘I had a sponsor who persuaded them that it would be useful when I transitioned to the police.’

‘A sponsor? Mysterious. I suppose it’s classified.’

‘Something like that.’ Tatsu pointed. ‘That lot are from the Shiroi gang.’

Yamauchi looked in the direction of the table Tatsu was indicating. It was surrounded by Caucasians. Most of them looked like thugs. ‘Is that safe? I mean, if there are Funabashi–’

‘There’s a kind of truce in The Hole. They know they’ll be kicked out if they cause trouble and this is where they come to relax. The tourists think it’s oh so dangerous here. Part of the charm. The truth is that you’re probably safer here than any other part of Chiba.’

‘Tourists. Like me.’

Tatsu grinned. ‘Just like you.’

Yamauchi’s nose wrinkled. ‘Do you think this outfit fits in?’ The outfit in question was a one-piece bodysuit in white with pale-blue trim. It was made of semi-translucent bioplastic and more or less shrink-wrapped to her body, except for the right arm and left leg which were missing. A two-way zip ran from the collar at the back to about fifteen centimetres above her crotch at the front. She was also wearing high-heeled Mary Janes with a couple of centimetres of platform, the left in blue to match the trim of the suit, the right in white. She was actually quite covered up and the white plastic did not show much through it, but it was a bit more explicitly erotic than her usual choice of dress.

‘It works,’ Tatsu replied. ‘To think those suits were originally designed for disease prevention.’

‘That was years ago. People freaked out about social distancing back then. Full-body condoms were the way to go. Then we got PIN and now it’s just a kinky line of fashion.’

‘Hm. People rely too much on PIN, but I suppose you’re right. We’ll get some drinks and head upstairs. The further up you go, the more “authentic” the experience.’

‘Why did you quite obviously put “authentic” in quotation marks?’

‘Because there’s no such thing as an authentic Chiba experience. Chiba is what it is, like anywhere else. Are you saying Tokyo is based entirely around karaoke bars and sushi?’

‘Of course not!’

‘Well, that’s what most refugees think it is. That and people who think they’re spongers. Most Japanese