The Gate of Sorrows (32 page)

“You’re not a student here,” Kotaro said. She was clearly still in high school, probably on the cusp of her first and second years.

“Yep,” the girl said crisply. “Universities have such big campuses!”

She was wearing jeans and a parka under an oversize fake leather jacket, topped by a crossover body bag. Her thick-soled boots were leather and must have been fake as well. The classic style was long out of date and the material had a fetching patina of age.
They can’t be real,
Kotaro guessed. Otherwise they’d be unbelievably expensive.

“What are you doing here? It’s not orientation season.”

“I’m here to meet you.”

“You? You personally?”

The girl looked away for a moment, as though trying to hide how hilarious this was. “Yes, me
personally
. I thought bringing my associates along might be a little much.”

Before Kotaro could ask what this meant, she added, “Not playmates. And not, you know, bad people. Not friends either. Collaborators might be the best way to put it.”

That didn’t explain anything.

As he was struggling to figure out what she meant, Kotaro noticed the girl’s pendant. It was a strange, curved object on a heavy silver chain. The end was sharp.

A fang. It had to be. An animal fang.

Knew it. She’s some kind of delinquent. She’s in a gang or something.

The girl must’ve followed his gaze, because she touched the pendant lightly with a fingertip. “This is my amulet.”

“Not many girls have something like that.”

“I’m not like many girls,” she said casually. Kotaro’s heart-pounding mode shifted to something more like anxious arrhythmic mode.

“Listen, um, I’ve got to—”

He was about to beat a hasty retreat when she touched his arm lightly—or at least that’s how it seemed at first, until he felt her grip. She was strong!

“I came here because I had to see for myself what kind of person you are. I’m glad I came. I can see you’ve had contact with a being from another region.”

Kotaro was paralyzed. The girl suddenly leaned in close and stared into his eyes, almost the way Kotaro had peered at Mana, but without the gentleness. Instead, her eyes communicated intense curiosity and wary urgency.

“I know what the Circle is, and what regions are. That’s how I know they’re not something to mess around with casually. But you want to know, too. That means you might be a threat. Or something terrible might end up threatening you.”

The words came in a rush, clear and dancing, in the same cute, high school-girl tone.

“Maybe I can help you, or maybe I’ll have to eliminate you. I’m asking so I can decide which one it is. Why are you looking for information about the Circle? What kind of creature from another region did you contact?”

To his utter embarrassment, Kotaro was trembling. “Before that …”

“Before what?”

“Before that, let’s go someplace we can sit down.”

Conveniently, the cafeteria wasn’t crowded this time of day.

“This is really nice.”

One side of the room was floor-to-ceiling glass. The big sun blinds were halfway up. Kotaro and the girl sat facing each other across a round table. She had a chocolate cappuccino in front of her—so sweet, it made Kotaro sick just thinking about it—and looked as if she couldn’t be more satisfied.

“University students get to hang out in places like this between classes? I can’t wait.” She looked and talked like any high school student.

Once they were seated, she reached into her pack and pulled out her student ID. She was a tenth grader after all, at a first-rate private high school. She’d be about two rungs up the ladder from Kotaro in terms of smarts if she was going to that kind of school. Her name was Yuriko Morisaki.

“So you’re Kotaro Mishima.” She perused his ID. Her tone was slightly patronizing.

“And you would be Yuri-chan.” Kotaro countered with the Big Brother card. “Do your friends call you Yuri-chan?”

“The call me Morisaki-san, actually.” She didn’t smile. “But my associates call me U-ri. That’s the name I usually use. It’s who I really am.”

Kotaro was beginning to suspect he was in the presence of a classic head case.
This is what I get for posting all those questions on the web. If I’m not careful, she might turn out to be a real pain in the butt.

“Kotaro.” She peered at him intently. “Before you start worrying that I might be some kind of oddball, there’s something else you need to worry about first.”

“Um … What?”

“I said I did a web search and found your questions.”

“That’s what you said.”

“Doesn’t that seem a bit odd to you?”

She had the looks, the style, the aura. Yuriko Morisaki was a head turner. There were only a few people in the cafeteria, but she was getting looks from everybody. Kotaro could feel it. The student who’d just walked past their table made no effort to conceal his interest.

“How do you mean, ‘odd’?”

“How did I just up and find you? How did I go from reading your posts to sitting here talking to you?” She looked at him steadily. Her eyes were not large, but her pupils seemed dilated. “I’m not a hacker. I’m not even good at web searches. Finding you here just with your handle and mail address would be way over my head.”

Kotaro had to work hard to generate a carefree smile. “So maybe your brother or father’s the hacker. Or your boyfriend.”

Her expression didn’t change, except for a slight smile at the corners of her mouth. “You’re logical. I like that.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence.”

The student who had passed by earlier was back. He was holding his smartphone to his ear and talking in a loud voice. The performance wasn’t convincing. He had bleached blond hair and pierced ears, and a large backpack with a camouflage pattern.

“Sorry to tell you this, but my brother and father aren’t hackers. My brother—” She glanced away and paused. “I had a brother, but he’s not here anymore.”

Kotaro was startled. “Hey, I’m sorry to hear that.”

“No, it’s all right. He’s not dead or anything. He’s just not in this world.”

Sorry Yuri-chan, but in my book, you are a stone head case.

As Kotaro took a sip of water, he heard the faint but unmistakable sound of a shutter. He turned quickly to see Blondie grinning and pointing his smartphone at Yuriko. He had a sidekick with the same smile and taste in clothes, and a big bag under one arm with the strap slung over the opposite shoulder.

“Hey, knock it off!” Kotaro’s voice was sharp as he stood up.

“It’s okay.” Yuriko’s fingers brushed his wrist. “Don’t get upset. They can’t take my picture.”

She smiled when she saw Kotaro’s eyes start from his head. “Don’t be scared. I’m not a ghost. I cast a barrier spell. No pictures.”

Kotaro eyes wouldn’t bulge any further, and since there didn’t seem to be anything he could do, he sat down.

“You don’t like rule breakers, do you?” Yuriko’s voice was gentle. “You hate it when people cheat, even when it doesn’t matter. My brother was like you.”

Maybe Blondie and his sidekick thought Kotaro had bowed out. They walked up to Yuriko, bold as brass.

“Hey, babe. ’Sup?”

“Wanna join our club? It’s dope.” Blondie’s sidekick used too much men’s cologne. “The Computer Communication Club. You’ll love it.”

Blondie’s grin turned upside down as he paged through his photos. “What the hell?” he muttered and turned to his friend. “She’s not there.”

He showed the phone to Sidekick, who peered at the screen and frowned too. “Can’t you even take a picture?”

“I’m telling you, I nailed it!”

Yuriko watched this exchange with a smile. She turned away and moved her lips quickly, murmuring. She wasn’t talking to Kotaro, or to anyone, in fact.

“Hey, quit yanking!”

Sidekick was bewildered and angry. His bag had twisted itself behind his back and was expanding like a balloon, straining against the straps as though it were trying to escape upward. Blondie shouted with fright. Kotaro almost had the same reaction.

Sidekick’s bag hung in midair, tugging hard and pulling its owner backward, like a headstrong dog tugging at its leash and yanking its owner off-balance.

Scattered gasps of surprise rose from the room. Outside, people stopped to watch through the windows.

Blondie’s scream prompted Sidekick to throw up his arms. His bag slipped up and away, but instead of falling to the floor, it flew across the room as if thrown by an invisible hand. It thudded onto the floor near the entrance.

“What the hell are you doing?” Sidekick’s eyes flashed with anger as he stepped quickly toward Kotaro, but Blondie body checked him and they fell to the floor in a heap.

“Ow!”

“It’s not me! I’m not doing anything!” Blondie yelled.

“Quit acting like an idiot and get off me!”

“I told you, it’s not me. Something’s holding me down!”

Blondie’s camouflage backpack was expanding crazily. It kept rising and slamming down on its owner. Then it rose violently, bending Blondie’s spine backward. Over by the door, Sidekick’s bag started to move again, as though something alive were inside it, and righted itself so abruptly that the straps flew up in the air. Before they could fall again, it hurtled out the door.

Seemingly determined not to be left behind, Blondie’s backpack began dragging its howling owner toward the door. Sidekick brought up the rear, close to tears and wailing just as loud.

Almost everyone was on their feet now, along with Kotaro. Everyone except Yuriko Morisaki. She put her chocolate cappuccino on its saucer and shrugged her shoulders. “I guess they had to go.”

“How far?”

“Until they run into something.” She stood up, looking as if nothing special had happened. “Let’s get out of here while everyone’s distracted. Come on.”

Kotaro had no objections. They left quickly by the opposite door.

“Is there somewhere quiet around here where we can talk?” Yuriko said.

They crossed the street at the edge of campus to the municipal library and a large park that doubled as a disaster evacuation area. Kotaro reflexively broke into a trot and headed into the park.

“You don’t have to hurry, you know.”

“What did you do back there?”

“Just a little parlor trick.” Yuriko was diminutive, but she had no trouble keeping up with him.

“You mumbled something right before it happened. It looked like—I don’t know what it looked like. Were you casting a spell or something?”

She raised a shapely eyebrow. “You’re a good observer.”

So I was right. But how could I be?

Kotaro didn’t slow down until he reached the first bench along the path. He was out of breath.

“If a little run like that is enough to make you huff and puff, you must be spending too much time in front of your PC. You ought to get some exercise,” Yuriko said.

“I’m huffing and puffing from emotional shock.”

“Oh, well. Better sit down, then.”

She planted herself on the bench and crossed her legs as though she were quite used to sitting there. “You’ve never seen that kind of thing before, have you? The being you encountered didn’t use spells.”

Kotaro still hadn’t caught his breath. He stood looking at her. “I still don’t understand what you did.”

She shrugged her shoulders lightly under the baggy jacket. “I borrowed the power of the books they were carrying.”

He gaped at her.

“Both those guys’ve been ignoring their textbooks for too long. The books were pretty ticked off about it.”

Come on. What is this?

“Books have power, you know. They all have a basic power that’s the same. They each have their own individual powers too, depending on what they’re about.”

Kotaro just shook his head.

“They had natural science textbooks. Probably introductory texts, maybe study guides. All I did was borrow the books’ power to move on their own. You saw the rest.”

The books ran away?

“Books like the ones those guys carry are very young, or babies. It’s a sure bet.”

“Time out. Hold it a second.”

Yuriko wouldn’t wait. She glanced through the trees at the glass-enclosed main floor of the library. “There are a lot of young books over there, but one of the Elders is there too. Maybe I should pay my respects on the way home.”

Kotaro’s head was spinning. He put a hand on the back of the bench for support and sat down unsteadily.

“ ‘I come from the birthplace of the souls of words.’ ” Yuriko was abruptly solemn. “That’s what the warrior told you. Am I right?”

Kotaro put a hand to his head to steady it. “Did I put that on the web too?”

“Yeah, you did. Was it human?”

Kotaro jerked his hand away from his forehead and stared at her. “Why are you asking that?”

“Because a being that would’ve used those words wouldn’t really look human at all.”

Kotaro gulped, loudly.

“Its true form is a terrible monster. You would’ve been so scared, I doubt you could’ve exchanged words with it. Still, I guess you must have.”

He nodded once, twice. He felt like someone was moving his head. “It was … It had wings.”