“…there’s no way this is the place, right? Are you sure this is it?”
Maple scratched her head, her eyebrows furrowed in confusion as she adjusted the lens of her binoculars with her free hand. She blinked a few times as if trying to clear her eyes of dirt before returning her attention to the building in her sight. Even from her perch, it was clear that the building was old and decrepit. The windows were boarded up, the front door had been blocked off with a thick plank of half-rotten wood, and the concrete pathway leading up to the entrance was littered with frayed clothing and broken bottles.
“What do you mean?” a voice replied in her ear. “The coordinates point to this location. Why? What do you see?”
Maple clicked her tongue and stood, pocketing her binoculars. “It’s an old, abandoned building. There’s no way there’s anything worth swiping from this place. Who the hell tipped you off, Dtto?!”
“An abandoned building? Are you sure?” the voice sounded confused. “Are you sure you just didn’t get lost on the way there?”
“Dtto, I swear to God, it was one time.”
“Doki, I gave you a map and you still got lost in the middle of New York!”
“I know, Rpr won’t let me forget it! That’s not relevant right now! I’m right where you told me to go, I swear!”
Dtto’s giggle on the other end of the line did nothing other than make Maple’s eyebrow twitch. “Well, the tip said that someone brought an artifact to those coordinates and that it’s worth a lot.”
"If it’s worth so much, what’s it doing in an abandoned building in Tokyo? Isn’t that kind of weird?”
A long pause preceded Dtto’s next words. “…now that you put it that way…”
Maple rolled her eyes before breaking into a brisk jog, vaulting onto the adjacent rooftop. From one building to the next, the veteran thief dug her fingers into improvised handholds, hopping across meter-wide gaps twenty meters above the sidewalk, and sidling along narrow windowsills. Though it was past midnight and there were very few people in this corner of the city, Maple preferred to go through the motions of staying out of sight. The long shadows cast by the rectangular air-conditioning units scattered about the rooftops made it easy to slip from one shadow to the next. “Never mind. I’ll check it out, anyway. Do we know what this thing looks like and why it would be here in Akiba?”
“We don’t really know why it’s here. But based on what we know, it’s a card binder.”
“A…a what?”
“A card binder? It looks like a book but-”
“No, I know what a card binder is, Dtto. Are you serious? I know Pokémon cards sell for a lot, but…”
“They’re not Pokémon cards, Doki. Either way, we know the item is worth a lot.”
“If it is, why isn’t it being guarded by someone?”
“Um…the request came from a client who described himself as a collector.”
“Why does that sound so shady? Collector of what?”
“I didn’t ask.”
“…yeah, never mind. Good idea.”
“Anyway, the item should be inside a wooden box.”
“Wooden box. Got it.”
As she neared the building, Maple could see the finer details without the need for binoculars. The structure seemed old and worn out, a feature it shared with many of the surrounding buildings. With all the windows on the ground floor closed and the front door sealed as it was, there were no entrances in sight. It was a one-story building with no fences to block access to the roof so reaching the rooftop of the was quick work for the experienced thief. To Maple’s relief, the sole door that led into the building from the roof gave her no trouble when she tried the doorknob. She nudged the door with the tip of her foot, grimacing at the way its rusted joints creaked. The sight of a shadow-cloaked staircase earned a whisper of a swear out of the blonde as she peered into the black, a quick shiver racing down her spine.
“Something wrong, Doki?” Dtto’s voice punched through the receiver in her ear once more, concern-tinging her words. “Is there trouble?”
Maple eyed the stairs with contempt. “…nothing. I just don’t like the vibe this place gives me?”
“Vibe? What sort of vibe?”
“I dunno…what is this place? Don’t we have any more info about it?”
“Not really. I’ll check and get back to you.”
“Thanks.”
After taking a deep breath to steady her mind, she closed the door behind her and took one tender step after another down the staircase.
Thank God the moon’s so bright tonight. I can still kind of see in the dark.
Maple descended the flight of stairs as silently as she could, turning the corner to see the stairs leading her into a narrow hallway with doorways to either side. Broken glass and discarded plastics were scattered about the floor, much to her chagrin. She stopped to peek past the corner into one of the adjacent rooms in the hall, spying on an empty locker room. On the far wall, she could see dusty clothes dangling from clothes hangers. “…maids’ clothes?” she mumbled to herself, confused. She recognized the frilly uniform. She peered inside, spying several racks of maid uniforms. “What is this place, a cosplay rental service or something?”
Deciding not to think too hard about what she just saw, she turned to peek into the other adjacent room. Seeing that it was just a musty restroom, Maple decided to proceed through the hallway. Every step was accompanied by the crunchy scrape of her shoe soles against piles of dust and dirt. There were a few more rooms to her left and right, each one duller than the last.
An office…a broom closet…and a break room. Maple’s questions only multiplied with every room she uncovered, sheets of dust covering the neglected furniture and appliances. What’s all this furniture doing here? Was it abandoned in a hurry?
The hallway eventually led her to a room significantly more spacious than the previous ones. Stacked neatly against one of the far walls was a series of pastel pink, blue, and yellow tables. Maple didn’t care much for numbers and measurements but even she could tell at a glance that the room was meant to accommodate over a dozen people. She didn’t need to ask Dtto to know this was a place for serving customers like a café or a diner.
What’s up with this place? Gives me the creeps…
Such a thought normally didn’t occur to her. But Maple disliked the feeling in her chest; despite the bright floral wallpaper that was still visible despite the dark of the night, she sensed an inexplicable gloominess in her chest; a weight as though something were trying to pull her heart into the floor. A shiver lingered on her skin, goosebumps shivering from her shoulders to her fingertips whilst the hairs on the back of her neck tingled. There was an eerie notion clawing at her thoughts from the back of her mind, nagging at her relentlessly with every second longer she spent here.
It was a slimy, unsettling thought that kept her stride to a quiet tiptoe. She continued to walk throughout the room, surveying it for signs of the card binder.
It’s like something’s here.
Like something’s here, or…no, it’s…
It’s more like someone’s watching m-
“Doki?” The sound of Dtto’s voice abruptly breaking the silence of the room made Doki nearly yelp, her heart punching against her chest with the force of a bullet. She caught her voice with her hands, covering her mouth before she could make any noise. “What’s the situation?”
“Shut the f*ck up, Dtto, you’re gonna give me a heart attack I swear to-”
“Huh? What’s wrong, Doki?”
“N-nothing, it’s whatever. I’m inside.”
“Good. Any sign of the item yet?”
“Nope,” Maple swept the room with her gaze, fighting down the temptation to pull out a flashlight. “All I see are chairs and tables. This place looks like a diner or a café or something. It’s probably gonna take me a while to check everything.”
She reached for the black-and-white hair ties in her hair and undid them, smiling as they quickly morphed into the familiar bunny-eared shapes of her two partners-in-crime: Bao Bao and Mei Mei. The two tiny rabbits stared up at Maple, excitedly hopping on the balls of their feet in anticipation of their orders. The blonde knelt, pressing a finger to her lips to discourage them from being loud. Seeing this, the two rabbits nodded obediently. “Bao Bao. Mei Mei. We’re looking for a box with a card binder inside, okay? The first one to find it gets an extra pancake for breakfast~”
Hearing that, the two rabbits nodded excitedly and saluted her before racing into the shadows and disappearing from sight. With them gone, Maple breathed a deep sigh and shook her head vigorously, lightly pressing her palms to her cheeks. It didn’t sit right with her that she could hear a faint hum of static through her earpiece, a sign her connection to Dtto was shaky. It didn’t help that the ambient temperature was icy and that she couldn’t shake the feeling she was being watched. Maple knew to trust her gut more than she trusted her head and the fact she couldn’t sense anyone else only served to unnerve her more.
She knew she was alone here.
She heard no signs of life and saw no indications of anyone hiding here.
And yet she felt like there was a gaze fixed on her.
Spying a staircase at the side that led to the ground floor, Maple descended gingerly with her fingers tense and her heart racing. Upon noticing the static in her ear growing louder and messier, she paused just before she turned the corner. “Dtto?” Maple muttered, readjusting the placement of her earpiece. But no voice broke through the distorted noise, not even garbled speech.
“Hey, Dtto. You there?” she called for Dtto again, this time daring to speak a little louder.
Again, there was no response. If there was any, she couldn’t make it out.
“Great. Need to get Tenjin to help me replace these damn things,” Maple frowned, removing the earpiece and glaring at it before stowing it in her pocket. Poking her head past the wall, she could see the ground floor was like the second floor with tables and chairs strewn about haphazardly as if a mini cyclone had stormed by. Spokes of light shone through the broken windows, brightening the room with the post-midnight moonbeams. She approached the cabinets behind the front counter and began rummaging through them. “The f*ck? It wasn’t this cold earlier…” she whispered under her breath as the chills in her fingers began to deepen.
The minutes passed and the search continued, every empty cabinet and drawer feeding Maple a few more pints of frustration. From the counter, she made her way into the kitchen and continued her search there. She checked every nook and cranny she could think to check: the refrigerators, the microwaves, and the leftover trash bins. Being left empty-handed, Maple clicked her tongue audibly. “All I know is that it’s a wooden box, I don’t even know what it f*ckin’ looks like or how big it is.”
As her irritated whisper faded into silence that was broken by the muffled sound of heavy objects, presumably furniture, being dragged along the floor upstairs and the rusty hinges of doors being tugged open from upstairs; they were accompanied by the familiar shuffling noises that Bao Bao and Mei Mei made wherever they walked in a hurry, so Maple knew they hadn’t been fortunate enough to find the box either.
Pretty sure it’s not here. Maple thought to herself as she dusted off her hands. She exited the kitchen, her expression crossed. What the heck are we supposed to do now? There’s no way it’s underground, right? I’m a thief, not an excavator.
The sound of an unexpectedly loud thump from above her head startled Maple, triggering her fight-or-flight. She immediately took two steps backward and assumed a defensive stance, her eyes trained on the ceiling and her fingers hovering over the pistol strapped to the chest holster beneath her coat. The silence that followed was deafening to the blonde thief, the roar of blood in her ears and the rumble of her beating heart threatening to drown her senses. She desperately began a slow inhale through her pursed lips, trying to slow her heart rate and calm her nerves. The seconds crawled along like hours as Maple held still. She quieted her breathing and lowered her center of gravity. Before she could lift her foot to take a step, she heard tiny feet scurrying against floorboards from the direction of the staircase. Bao Bao emerged a second later, waving his hands at her.
“You gave me a heart attack, man,” she grumbled, returning to a neutral standing position and folding her arms over her chest. Noticing the small white rabbit was alone, Maple raised an eyebrow. “Did you drop a table on Mei Mei or something? Is that what the noise was?”
Bao Bao shook his head adamantly, beckoned for Maple to follow, and darted up the stairs. Maple, her nerves assuaged somewhat, followed the rabbit closely up the stairs. Her ears picked up on a noise that made the hairs on the back of her neck crawl: the sound of a heavy wooden object being dragged along the floor.
“What the-?”
A wooden box was crawling along the floor at a speed just fast enough to evade Mei Mei’s reach. The white rabbit was fuming, high-pitched squeaks leaving its tiny mouth as it tried in vain to get its little paws on the box. Maple’s eyes went wide as the small box slid along the floor with the speed and agility of a cat, dodging every attempt Mei Mei made to trap or catch it with ease. With a war cry, Bao Bao leaped at the box to intercept it only to plant his face into the wall when it chose to fly upward.
“A flying box,” Maple mumbled in disbelief, staring at the crate hovering five feet in the air like a miniature UFO. “Bro, why can’t a job be simple and easy?”
She continued to observe the chaos as the two rabbits continued to play a game of cat and mouse with the box brought to life. She dug into her satchel, retrieving her trusty grapple, and coiling the thick cable around her arm like a boa constrictor until more than half had been wound around her arm. Maple kept her grip on the hook tight as she waited for a golden opportunity. It didn’t take long for one to present itself as Bao Bao and Mei Mei managed to barely graze the box with their paws. It seemed to wobble mid-air, as though the invisible force tugging it through the air had nearly lost its grip, and Maple didn’t let that chance slip by.
Got it!
With a decisive throw and yank, Maple managed to sink one of the hook’s blades into a corner of the wooden crate. She pulled on the cable with all her might, her triumphant grin turning to one of dismay as the box shattered into dozens of smaller pieces. The wooden fragments clattered onto the floor noisily and the contents went flying.
“Or maybe I don’t got it…” Maple sagged her shoulders and approached the site of destruction, getting on one knee to inspect the goods. Among the remains of the crate were two objects: a black leather card binder and a ring. “So much for making it clean. Oh well. Guess this is the thing, huh? Then what is this?” Maple took the ring between her fingers and held it closer to her face to inspect it.
A ring?
Maple knew the color of jade anywhere; the band of the ring was a milky green, embossed with a design of vines and leaves that wrapped around the band. Engraved along the ring’s length were words that she couldn’t quite make out. The gemstone nestled in the cradle was a bright turquoise, the light blue jewel somehow shimmering in the scantly lit room.
“Is it…glowing?”
The gem seemed to pulse rhythmically like a heartbeat with a light so faint it was barely perceptible to the naked eye. “… guess this would probably sell for a lot. If the client was a jewel collector, why didn’t he just say so?” Maple grumbled, turning the ring from side to side to appreciate it from different angles. “Wonder why it was stored with a card binder, of all things.”
Well, anyway, I should let Dtto I found it.
Maple attempted to slip the ring onto her finger, deciding that it was the easiest way to keep it on her person without accidentally dropping it on the way out. Realizing that the ring was too small for her ring finger, she relocated it to her pinky finger before fishing her earpiece out of her satchel. “Hey, Dtto?” she called out as she turned on the device, hoping to hear a response. Instead, she winced as the piercing howl of static exploded into her ear once again. She was quick to pull it out, scowling at the small gadget before returning it to its place in her satchel. “Never mind, then. I’ll tell her after I get out of here.”
“Guess you’re gonna go now, huh?”
“Yeah, guess I wi-”
An unfamiliar voice had broken the silence, and the fact that the voice came from right behind her didn’t occur to Maple at that moment. The thief turned around, ready to begin the walk back to the staircase that led to the rooftop, and felt her heart stop beating in her chest when she realized another girl’s face was hovering mere millimeters from hers with the tips of their noses barely touching; Two gleaming blue eyes stared back into hers, draped on either side by short, wavy white hair. Her body froze for all of two seconds before Maple fully processed that she was no longer alone in the room. Panic overtook her in the next few seconds; Maple took three steps back, her hands raised defensively as she eyed the new arrival warily. “Who-wha-when did you-?!”
“Oh, so now you can hear me?” the young woman remarked, folding her arms over her chest. Now that Maple had backed away, it was easier to see that the new face was wearing a light green maid uniform. She floated a few inches above the floor like she was a puppet dangling from strings, the annoyance coloring her features more clearly visible as she drifted closer to Maple. “Or have you and your little bunny rabbit friends been ignoring me this entire time? I said to be careful, or you might damage the stuff inside! This is one-of-a-kind merch!”
“D-don’t move,” Maple sized the girl up, her gaze lingering on the stranger’s translucent legs when she realized that she could see the floor tiles through them. A thousand unanswered questions sprinted through her mind all at once. She reached for the pistol concealed in her vest and drew it, aiming the barrel squarely at the other girl’s chest. “Who are you? And how did you get in here?”
There’s no way I let someone get that close to me. Am I getting sloppy? Maple bit her lip. No body heat, no sound, nothing! How did she sneak up on me like that?!
The sight of the firearm didn’t seem to deter the white-haired girl at all, much to Maple’s surprise. Instead, she continued to drift even closer, a nonchalant smile tugging the corners of her lips upward. “You can call me Mint,” she said. “As for getting in here, I honestly have no idea. I kinda woke up in here, so…it’s more like I’ve been here the whole time, I guess.”
Maple’s brow furrowed, her grip on the gun tightening as her thumb gently undid the safety. “You’re lying. There was no one here when I got here.”
“Are you kidding?” Mint grinned wider, tilting her head inquisitively. “I’ve been here the whole time! Heard some noise upstairs before I saw you walking down the stairs to the roof. I thought you were just another one of those people who couldn’t hear or see me.”
“What? Couldn’t see or hear you? That doesn’t make any sense.”
Mint rolled her eyes and dropped to the floor. Her shoes were soundless as she walked up to Maple. She pulled back her long sleeves to expose her hands, reaching out to take the barrel of Maple’s pistol in her hand. But her fingers passed through the metal as though it didn’t exist. “It does when you consider I’m a ghost, silly.”
“You’re…a ghost?” Maple stared, struggling to process what had just happened. “But that’s-”
“Impossible?” Mint giggled, taking another step forward until the tip of the pistol’s barrel met her body – or it tried to, at least. The metal did not budge, and the weighted sensation in the hands that typically came with pressing the weapon into a surface was absent. Instead, Mint’s body continued to move through Maple’s arm as if there was nothing to obstruct her path until her face was only a few inches from Maple’s. “See?” she said matter-of-factly, gesturing with her hands towards her chest which was a few thumbs shy of Maple’s elbow. “It’s like I’m not even here. Not so impossible now, huh?”
Maple stared at the ghost, baffled beyond belief. Bao Bao and Mei Mei were similarly amazed, waddling up to Mint and attempting to put their paws on her legs only to watch their tiny digits pass through the ghost’s shins. Seeing that her weapon was useless, Maple decided to flick the safety back on and lower it until it pointed at the floor. Her gaze lingered on the areas of Mint’s uniform that exposed the ghost’s skin; it was these areas where her translucency was most apparent. She squinted, realizing she could see all the way through her body and make out the details of the wallpaper on the far end of the room. Maple reached out with one hand, her eyes widening as her forearm passed through Mint’s body unhindered. “What the hell? I really can’t touch you.”
“Yep,” Mint smirked, reaching out and poking her finger into Maple’s cheek. The blonde blinked when she felt something cold pressing into her skin. She whipped her head away and took a step back, her mystified stare fixed on Mint’s hand. The ghost giggled mischievously at seeing Maple’s confused expression. She reached down and patted the two rabbits on their heads, startled when Mint had suddenly made contact with their fur like a normal living person would. “Nothing can touch me unless I want it to! If you try, you’ll just pass right through me! I’m usually…uh…what’s the word? Interchangeable? Ineligible?”
“I think the word is intangible.”
“Yeah, that’s the one.”
“Uh huh…” Maple stowed the gun back in its holster, the tension in her fingers finally beginning to subside. “If you’re a ghost and you’ve been watching me all this time, how come I can only see and hear you now?”
Mint shrugged, clueless. “How should I know? You’re the one who surprised me when you finally reacted. Maybe your sixth sense finally activated?”
Guess that explains why I felt like I was being watched. People are one thing. Ghosts are another. Maple beckoned for Bao Bao and Mei Mei to return to her. The two rabbits recognized the command and climbed onto Maple’s shoulders, their bodies contorting and shrinking like Play-Doh; within seconds, they had reverted into ribbons and neatly tied themselves around bundles of Maple’s blonde hair to form her signature twin ponytails.
Mint let out an impressed whistle, drawing closer to the thief. “I don’t know why you’re acting so surprised about ghosts when you have two transforming rabbit pals that live in your hair,” she remarked, pointing at Maple’s ribbons. “If you ask me, you’re the weird one here.”
“There’s no way I’m being called weird by a weird ghost in a weird maid uniform that mysteriously appeared out of nowhere inside a weird, abandoned building.”
“Hey, I take offense to that!” the ghost retorted, putting her hands on her hips.
“Which part?”
“At least say the maid uniform’s cute!”
“Why is that the thing you care about?”
“Hey, I pulled a few all-nighters designing this uniform! I take no critics!”
Maple ignored her, returning her gaze to the card binder on the floor, breathing a big sigh of relief. She knelt to pick it up, ignoring that Mint had drawn closer and was now hovering just above her shoulder. At least I got what I came for.
“Oh, so that’s why you’re here for?" Mint grinned, nodding her head approvingly. “Why didn’t you say so? Yeah, I totally get you. It’s totally a collector’s item, through and through. I’m not surprised you’re breaking and entering to get your hands on it; after all, it’d be a waste if it was just stuck here for no one to appreciate.”
Maple raised an eyebrow. “Stuck? How? You can literally fly in the air and go through walls.”
“I’ve tried,” Mint replied, shaking her head. “But I can’t leave. Every time I try, I just can’t. It feels like there’s some…invisible force that stops me from going any further.” Her legs disappeared, replaced by a streak of light-green energy that resembled a tail. Mint began ascending until her body touched the ceiling and slowly disappeared into the concrete, disappearing until less than half of her torso was still visible. The ghost let out a strained whine, her tail flailing around in the air in the same way a person might kick their legs for propulsion. After a few seconds of effort, she retreated from the ceiling and let out a tired sigh. “See?” she said, rapping her knuckle against the ceiling with an irked look on her face. “That’s as far as I can go, for some reason. Any further and I can feel something pulling me back down.”
Maple put her finger to her chin, her head tilted. “Hmm. Well, they do say ghosts haunt specific places for a reason. Y’know, like how they say it happens in the movies. What are you even doing here in the first place? Is this where you died?”
“Beats me.”
The blonde shot Mint a doubtful look. “Huh? You don’t remember?”
“Nope. It’s kind of a blur, to be honest,” Mint shrugged her shoulders, laughing sheepishly. “Ever since I woke up here, I’ve been trying to figure that out. But I can’t remember a thing. I even tried looking around this place for any hints. But nope, nothing.”
“No clues, huh? What, should I call a priest in to exorcise you or something? Is that your ticket outta here?”
Mint grimaced at hearing Maple’s words. “Uh, can we not do that? It sounds painful.”
“Got any other ideas, then?”
“Hmm…what if you just go to the roof right now, and I’ll stick my arms out so you can try to pull me through the floor, like, really hard?”
“I know you don’t have a brain as a ghost but c’mon…”
“Hey! Don’t knock it if you haven’t tried it yet, uh…” Mint trailed off, realization dawning on her features mid-sentence. “…oh, now that I think about it, I don’t know your name yet.”
Maple laughed. “Just call me Doki. That’s what my friends call me.”
“You mean the guys upstairs?”
“Guys…upstairs?” Maple parroted, puzzled. “What are you talking about?”
“Those people on the roof. I saw a bunch of them when I poked my head through the ceiling just a minute ago. They’re coming from the same place you did so I thought they’re with you…uh, are they not?”
Someone on the roof? Did Tenjin and Dtto follow me because the communicator stopped working? Maple strained her ears, her senses now on alert. No, they wouldn’t do that unless I signaled there was an emergency…I don’t have a good feeling about this…
As if on cue, Maple heard several sets of footsteps approaching; from the sound of them, Maple could tell there were at least four people. They were most certainly not her friends. “You couldn’t have told me earlier?!” she hissed at Mint in a whisper.
“Hey, I thought they were with you!” the ghost retorted, her hands up in the air.
A rush of adrenaline spurred Maple into action; as quietly as she could, the thief dashed in the direction of the staircase where the footsteps were coming from and made a sharp turn into the locker room. Seeing one of the empty lockers, Maple threw herself inside and shut the door, wincing at the rusty whine that creaked from its hinges.
“Hey! What’s that noise?!” a gruff voice barked from further down the hallway. “Go check it out!”
“Y-yes, sir!” replied another, more timid voice.
Two men entered the room moments later. One was a broad-shouldered man with a squared jaw and a thick black pompadour so tall it would make even Elvis Presley envious. The other was a short, scrawny man with thick glasses and frizzy hair that Maple couldn’t help but see as a used mop. Both men were wearing dark grey, white collared shirts, and black leather shoes. The glare of a bright flashlight roared from the shorter man’s shaky hands. “Well? What are you waiting for? Check the room,” the pompadour-man spat, pushing the shorter frizzy-haired man into the room with so much force, the flashlight almost slipped from his fingers. “Hey, don’t drop that! If you break it, I’m taking it out of your cut!”
“Y-yes, sir!” he replied before approaching the lockers. He started at the far end opposite of where Maple was and began to open them one by one. With every locker he opened, the man shone the flashlight inside and poked his head in.
“Did you find it?!”
“No, sir! Just a bunch of uniforms!”
“Ugh, look faster! We need to get that card binder before the young master blows a fit! And if he does, our heads will be the next to roll. You got that?!”
“Understood, sir!
Card binder? Maple glanced down at the object she was clutching to her chest. Great, so we’re not the only ones looking for this thing. That would have been nice to know fifteen minutes ago. Maple felt sweat running past her brow and beginning to trickle down the back of her neck as she saw the shorter man slowly making his way to her locker. Okay, think, think, think, think, think, think. How do I get out of this? I can probably take care of this short guy on my own but then I’ll have to handle the big guy before he calls for backup too. That’s probably not happening, but if I can distract him somehow and slip past him…the front door downstairs is blocked off, so I’ll have to go back the way I came. Which means going back to the roof. But Mint said there were a few guys, so there’s probably more-
The sight of Mint poking her head from behind the larger man’s pompadour interrupted Maple’s train of thought. The ghost darted through the air, phasing through the big man’s body before braking to a stop in front of her locker. “Doki? Uh, what’s going on with these guys? They look like they’re with the yakuza or something. Like, this big guy has a huge tiger tattoo on his back.” When Maple only nodded and did not reply further, Mint glanced at the shorter man who was digging through the lockers and realized the seriousness of the situation that Maple was in. “…oh this isn’t good. Uh, um…want me to distract ‘em so you can get away?”
Seeing Maple nod furiously, Mint drifted over to the glasses-clad man. She began waving her hands and making silly motions in front of the flashlight. As her hands drew closer to the device, the beam of light began to flicker and lose strength. “Th-the batteries!” the man exclaimed in a panic, looking down at the flashlight in his hands. He shook it vigorously to try to get it to work, hoping that the batteries were just loose. When that did nothing, he struck the rear end with his palm. When that didn’t help either, he glanced back at the bigger man with a fearful expression. “…s-sir, the flashlight is-”
“I can see that! Where are the spare batteries?!”
“In the glovebox of your car, sir!”
The bigger man’s eye twitched. “There’s stupid, and then there’s you. f*ck it, go out and get the batteries. I’ll stay here and keep looking.”
“Y-yes, sir! Sorry, sir!”
The panicked shorter man nearly tripped over his feet as he scampered out of the room. The bigger man, still grumbling to himself, approached the lockers and resumed opening lockers where the frizzy-haired man had left off. Maple held her breath as she watched Mint knock over one of the benches. “The f*ck?” the man turned his back to Maple’s locker, scratching his head as he stared at the fallen bench. “What the…?”
Now! Maple gingerly pushed the locker door open, thanking her lucky stars the hinges were silent this time around. When it had been opened wide enough, she began to tiptoe in the direction of the doorway. She locked eyes with Mint and flickered her gaze between the ghost and the far wall of the room. The ghost understood immediately; she picked up one of the coat hangers and tossed it with enough force for the wood to make a loud banging noise. “Huh?” the pompadour-man swiveled on his heels in the direction of the noise, his back turned to the exit. Maple quickly darted out of the room and into the hallway.
“Hey! Who are you?!”
Maple cursed, realizing there was a third man in the hallway to her left holding a crowbar that was standing between her and the staircase that led to the roof. “Mint! Boost me!” Maple called out without giving it a second thought, charging at the man who co*cked his arm in preparation to swing the crowbar at her like a baseball bat. Maple leaped as high as she could, tucking her legs into her chest. She barely evaded the man’s swing with an inch to spare before planting her feet into his face. Using it as a platform of sorts, she kicked herself into the air with another jump and stretched her arm out toward the staircase.
With perfect timing, Mint burst out from behind the wall and grabbed Maple with both of her hands. “Ngh!” The ghost pulled as hard as she could and did her best to ascend, gritting her teeth as she managed to keep Maple suspended in the air long enough to grab the handrail and pull herself over it. Once she felt her feet touch the steps, Maple sprinted toward the door to the rooftop and threw it open with a loud bang. Relief coursed through Maple’s veins upon seeing that the space before her was empty. She dug into her satchel and donned her earpiece hastily, her eyes to the sky.
“Dtto!” she called out, glancing behind her to check if any pursuers had made it to the roof yet. “No time to explain! We need to get out of here!”
From below, the sound of a familiar car horn pierced the night air. “Look down, Doki! We’re here!” Dtto’s garbled voice abruptly broke through the veil of static. Maple ran to the edge of the building and peered down to see Dtto waving her hands frantically through the window of a black SUV. “Come on! Quick!”
“How are you gonna get down there?!” Mint saw the vehicle and then glanced worriedly back at the staircase. The rumble of an oncoming stampede was audible from below, growing louder by the second. “Those guys are gonna be here any minute now!”
But Maple didn’t seem worried. She removed her coat and slung it over her forearm, a confident smirk on her face. “It’s okay! You’re not the only one who can fly!”
To the ghost’s shock, Maple leaped off the edge of the building while cheering like she was on a rollercoaster. Two large golden yellow wings sprouted from her shoulder blades, spreading out to catch the air and slow her descent to a gentle fall. With her arms tucked into her chest and her legs tucked into each other, Maple slid through the sunroof of the SUV and into the backseat. The wings immediately retracted into her body upon landing. Maple slammed her fist into the headrest of the driver’s seat, still laughing. “Drive!”
Without missing a beat, the car went from zero to fifty miles per hour in a matter of seconds. It swerved, barely missing the curb before righting itself before barreling down the road.
“What the heck happened in there?!” Dtto shifted in the passenger seat to face Maple, her expression teetering between bewilderment and anger. “What did you do, Doki?!”
“I didn’t do anything!” Maple cried out defensively, holding up the card binder for Dtto to see. “I got the package, that’s all! You didn’t tell me the yakuza wanted it too!”
“Huh?!” Tenjin’s familiar voice boomed from the driver’s seat. “Are those guys the yakuza?! I thought you said this was a quick job, Dtto?!”
“It was supposed to be a quick job! I don’t know why there’s Yakuza chasing us! Drive faster, Tenjin!”
“I’m trying! Call the client and tell them we can’t give the package to them tonight!”
“Got it!”
As Maple was about to open her mouth, Mint suddenly popped into existence in front of her without warning. “Doki, what the heck is going on?! How did you drag me in here?! And why are the yakuza tailing you?! And how do you have wings?!”
“What are you doing here?!” Maple shot back, bewildered.
“What do you mean?! I got dragged into this car!” the maid retorted.
“Doki? What’s going on? Is everything okay back there?!” Dtto called out, turning back to look at the backseat.
“I-I’m fine, just checking the package to see if it was damaged!” Maple’s voice turned into a quiet hiss of a whisper as she directed her words at Mint. “I thought you were stuck back there.”
“You and me both,” Mint shrugged. “But when you took off in the car, I felt some force drag me along until it pulled me in here with you. How did you do that?”
“I didn’t do anything, alright?”
“Fine. What the heck else is going on, though? Can you explain to me why we’re re-enacting Need for Speed?”
“I’ll tell you later, so can you save your questions for later? Y’know, when we’re not trying to escape an organized criminal gang?”
“Fine, fair enough.”
With that settled, Maple settled into the backrest of her seat, taking the card binder and examining it from front to back for signs of any damage. “Now, whatever’s in this thing, it’s gotta be worth something if the yakuza are trying to get their hands on it. What the heck’s in here…?” Satisfied to see it was free of wear and tear, she turned the cover and was greeted with the first page. “…what the…?”
“Surprised?” Mint grinned, her torso poking out of the headrest of the other passenger seat while her lower half was invisible. She drifted closer, excitement in her eyes. “I told you it was a collector’s item!”
“What are these things, Mint? Pictures of…women?”
“Yeah? They’re idols!”
“Idols?”
“Yeah, see? They’re all autographed too. See this one? This is a bromide card of a really popular idol from, like, the 80s. I forgot her name, though…. oh, this one’s really neat, too!” Mint pointed from one card to the next, excitement bright in her eyes. “This one’s an exclusive edition released from the Yoshimoto Kogyo collaboration limited time run in, uh, I think it was 1995? And this one-”
“Doki,” Dtto suddenly spoke up. “Change of plans. We need to stay in the safe house for now. We gotta hold off on exchanging the package with the client.”
“We need to lay low for now until the heat dies down,” Tenjin muttered. “Picking a fight with yakuza in the middle of Tokyo is bad news. Dtto, when do we make the drop?”
“He said we have to do it tomorrow at the latest or he’ll cancel the contract.”
“sh*t…that means Doki can’t go.”
“What?” Maple blinked, confused. “What do you mean? I should also be there for the exchange.”
“Those guys probably saw your face, Doki,” Tenjin replied, his eyes on the road. “If they have a mole in the city somewhere close and they spot you while we’re out, they might try to catch us. It’s too big of a risk.”
“I agree with Tenjin,” Dtto nodded, looking back at Maple with a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry about us. What, you think Tenjin and I can’t handle it? Leave it to us. It’ll be fine.”
Maple wanted to argue the point further, but she knew better and decided against it. She could sense the tension in her chest and the fatigue sagging her shoulders. A familiar haziness clouded her mind, the beginnings of exhaustion that would eventually cloud her thinking if she didn’t rest. She let out a deep sigh and dug her earpiece out of her pocket, handing it to Dtto before crumpling into the backrest of her seat. “Fine. Just, uh, take this. I heard nothing but static for the whole op. I think an upgrade is overdue. Either that or you fix it up somehow.”
“Static? Weird. I could contact Dtto just fine earlier,” Tenjin remarked as Dtto took it from Maple. “But sure, whatever. I know a guy who can probably help us out.”
Maple nodded, closing her eyes. “Hey, uh…I’m kinda beat. Mind if I…uh, take a quick power nap?”
“Sure, no problem,” Tenjin flashed a brief thumbs up her way before putting both hands on the wheel again. “We should reach the safe house in a few minutes.”
“They can’t see me or hear me, I guess,” Mint remarked, puzzled. She hovered right behind the driver’s seat and waved her hand at Tenjin through the rearview mirror. Seeing that it elicited no reaction out of him, she turned to face Maple with a curious glint in her eyes. “It’s just like everyone else. Other than you, anyway. Wonder why that is.”
“I dunno, Mint,” Maple let loose a tired whisper. “Give me…five minutes…to think about it…”
I wonder what’s different. Mint thought to herself as Maple’s breathing quickly turned into quiet snoring. The ghost looked her up and down, her mind jumping to one conclusion only to abandon it for the next. I was trapped in there for days until she came along. Is it something about her? Or…?
A soft gleam of green light caught Mint’s eye. She traced its path with her eyes until it landed squarely on her own pinky finger. “Did I have a ring like this?” she wondered out loud to herself as she held her hand up to her face to see it more closely. The ring was milky green with a bright blue gemstone buried into its prong.
This…looks an awful lot like the one on Doki’s finger.
