Sign of the Dragon (Tatsu Yamada Book 1) by Niall Teasdale (e reader TXT) 📕

think Chiba is a den of depravity, crime, and violence. Upstairs is where you get the first two of those.’

~~~

‘That table’s Funabashi,’ Tatsu said. ‘Over there is the Císhàn tong. I think the group between them is up from Kasaoka. They’re from a kkangpae, a Korean street gang.’

‘So, they’re tourists too?’ Yamauchi asked. Pursing her lips, she sucked some sort of pink cocktail through a straw. Tatsu had no idea what it was and did not really want to know.

‘Depends who you ask. They tend to act like tourists, so I suppose they are. Then again, so do the mafia and tong groups. They all tend to let themselves go more than the other refugees while they’re here.’

‘Work hard, play hard?’

‘Something like that. Something they picked up from pre-war Japanese culture, I think.’

Yamauchi nodded. ‘There was something of a cultural imperative to work until you couldn’t, and then go out and drink to recover.’

‘I think it was to foster the delusion that you actually had a social life. Large-scale adoption of Kannon has kind of put an end to that kind of thing.’

Yamauchi rolled her eyes. ‘Tell me about it. Don’t get me wrong, Kannon is a great implant operating system, but it nags. Exercise more, drink less. Don’t take drugs. Get more sleep. Get more sleep! I swear Izanami developed the thing to replace everyone’s mother. Uh, you don’t use Kannon, do you?’

‘Not much use to a cyborg. The health monitoring functions are useless without a human body. I run a Kannon-compliant cyborg OS, so I do get nagged about lack of sleep. Fairly often, actually.’

‘Don’t we all. Um, does that dancer know you?’

‘She should do. We’ve been sleeping together since last month.’

‘Oh.’

Sachiko was dancing in a cage on the table with the Koreans around it. She was, as usual, naked aside from some heels. She would occasionally look their way and smile, though exactly what the smile meant, Tatsu was not sure. It did not seem to be simply being happy to see her sometime lover in the club. It also seemed like the dancer was unconcerned about Tatsu being with another woman.

‘She’s good,’ Yamauchi said. ‘I mean, I’m not sure what she’s doing is really dancing, but what she’s doing is… good.’

‘I’m not sure that what anyone, staff or customer, does in a place like this is dancing,’ Tatsu replied.

‘That may be a fair point. How did she end up in Chiba?’

‘Her story to tell. It’s not an entirely uncommon one. Japanese usually have one of two reasons for ending up here. Either they don’t like Japanese society, or Japanese society doesn’t like them.’

‘I’m going to guess she falls into the latter category. I don’t think I could make it here if I had to live here.’

‘That’s what most people say, until they don’t have a choice.’ Tatsu frowned, though Yamauchi was looking at Sachiko and missed it. ‘What’s she doing here?’

‘Sorry?’

‘Nothing. I just recognised someone I didn’t expect to see here.’ The facial comparison was coming back as a ninety-seven percent hit, though the hair was markedly different from Kaede Shiratori’s usual look and the outfit was not what Tatsu expected to see on the girl. Kaede was dressed for the club in a lot of red. The dress was extremely short and largely transparent; irregular patches of more solid colour meant it was teasing rather than exposing. It had a collar connected to the bodice by a metal ring, which meant there was almost no back to it. The hair had to be a wig: her short, black hair was replaced by long, voluminous twin pigtails with long bangs, all in scarlet. She looked a little older than usual, but it was clearly still Kaede. She seemed to be paying a lot of attention to the Funabashi gang from far enough away that none of them had noticed her. Did her mother have her spying? It seemed unlikely, but there she was, spying.

‘Anyone interesting?’ Yamauchi asked.

‘Not to you. Just another tourist.’

~~~

‘If you don’t mind me asking,’ Yamauchi asked, ‘how old are you?’

‘Eighteen,’ Sachiko replied. She had joined them after being replaced in the cage by a blonde Russian girl when her shift ended. ‘Almost nineteen.’

‘And you’re dating a woman almost twenty years older?’

‘First, I don’t date men anymore. Second, I don’t think age really matters. Third, we aren’t dating. We fuck, plain and simple. Fourth… Actually, age does matter. People my age don’t have the kind of experience older people have. And it’s not like Tatsu ages. Fifth, I can pick anyone to be my girlfriend and I picked her. Sixth… Can’t think of a sixth. How old are you?’

‘She’s twenty-nine,’ Tatsu said before Yamauchi could hedge.

‘A decade older than me. Might be old enough.’

Yamauchi blushed. ‘I’ve learned a few things over the years.’

‘I should hope so.’ Sachiko gave the reporter a somewhat lascivious smile and the blush deepened.

‘Here’s something that I’ve been wondering all week,’ Tatsu said. Both women looked at her, waiting for the revelation. ‘Why does Haruka Yamauchi wear contact lenses?’

‘She does?!’ Sachiko squeaked, immediately leaning forward to examine Yamauchi’s eyes.

Yamauchi looked away, frowning. ‘I’m near-sighted. I hate it when people find out.’

‘Then get your eyes fixed,’ Tatsu suggested.

‘I… don’t want to.’

‘That makes no sense,’ Sachiko stated flatly.

‘There’s a small chance that it could go wrong. My eyes are part of my looks. My looks are part of my job. I can wear contacts or risk my entire reason for existing.’

‘The chances of anything bad happening aren’t small,’ Tatsu said, ‘they’re basically zero.’

‘Basically zero isn’t zero.’

‘Haruka Yamauchi is paranoid,’ Sachiko said. ‘Wow.’

Yamauchi flashed her a scowl. ‘I sort of get the feeling that you watch my show.’

‘Occasionally. If I hear there’s a subject