When classes ended, Sakamo put the books in his bag, and when he looked up, Hangaku was right next to him, with a big smile. “All done and ready to go?”
“Yes, but why are you smiling like that? You have a weird plan or what?”
Hangaku giggled, “Hihihi! Something like that. I thought we could go have a drink somewhere, all alone or with Tomiko and Takechi-sama, if they want to join us.”
“I am sorry, but today I can’t. I told you before, I have to go to my part-time job, but we will meet again in the evening to see Tomoe-chan’s concert.”
Hangaku pouted. “Oh, I was hoping you forgot about your work. We will meet in the Stadium at ten, right?”
“Yes. Perhaps it’s better if I give you my number, just in case I can’t find you.”
Hangaku quickly gave him her phone and waited patiently while he put his number in. He gave her the phone and put the bag on his shoulders. “Here you go. I won’t be able to pick up any calls until nine because I will be working, but I will have a quick dinner and meet you and everyone else at the back door of the Stadium. I suppose Tomoe-chan meant a door that is going to be used by her people, so I think it will be easy to find among all the doors in the Stadium.”
Hangaku held his arm, and they both went to the corridor, remembering everyone to be at the Stadium on time. Tomiko and Takechi joined Sakamo, and they went to the lockers to change shoes, laughing and fooling around with each other.
When they exited the School, Takechi saw the same man dressed in a dark blue suit waiting for Sakamo. He nodded and pointed with his open palm to a dark car parked near him.
Sakamo went to him and pointed with his right thumb to his curious friend behind. “Can you do me a favour and escort my friend Takechi-sama to his home? Just in case someone from that group tries to mess with him. You can ask for a car to come and get you, correct?”
“Yes, Sakamo-san, leave him to me. My people are still after the ones that went missing, but I believe they will all be caught eventually.”
“I hope so, or it will force me to deal with them, and leave you with the task of cleaning up everything.”
The man quickly nodded, with a nervous look plastered on his face. “I understand! I am sure you won’t need to bother with that. I will make sure you don’t need to intervene!”
Sakamo waved at his friends and entered the car, sitting on the back seat. As the car drove by, Hangaku tilted her head at the strangely serious man and asked, “And what is your relationship with Sakamo-kun? Because you look awfully suspicious to me.”
“I am afraid I am not allowed to say. Should we go? Because I need to go meet Sakamo-san after escorting his friend.”
As they walked along the main street, the mood became somewhat awkward. No one said a word until Hangaku interrupted the silence, “After leaving Takechi-sama, are you going to escort us to the train station? I still don’t trust you, but it seems Sakamo-kun trusts you a lot, to ask you to escort Takechi-sama.”
“I suppose I can do that. I can also take a train instead of calling for a car.”
Hangaku nodded and went silent again, glancing at Tomiko, who realised she was devising some sort of strange plan.
After waiting for Takechi Hito to enter his family restaurant, the strangely serious man escorted Hangaku and Tomiko to the train station. While they sat on a bench, Hangaku told him he could go. The man nodded and walked away, going in the opposite direction.
Hangaku waited for him to be at some distance and signalled for Tomiko to follow her.
Tomiko raised one eyebrow and asked, “What are you planning, Hangaku-chan?”
“Nothing, but he said he was going to meet with Sakamo-kun, right? I want to know where.”
“Maybe we shouldn’t do this… Sakamo-kun might have his reasons for the secrecy.”
Hangaku bit her lower lip as they mingled among the crowd, following the serious man. “Perhaps, but it’s messing with my nerves, not knowing! I just want to know where he is going. I won’t go after Sakamo-kun, don’t worry.”
Tomiko slowly nodded, a little worried. She knew why Hangaku was acting like that, considering what her previous boyfriend did to her. Sakamo had a lot of secrets and mysteries, and despite making him look even cooler, it was probably making Hangaku insecure.
Finally, the train arrived, and as the man entered one carriage, they went to the next one and glanced at him through the windows. When the train departed, Hangaku kept on making sure the man didn’t spot them by hiding behind the passengers.
After some stations, Hangaku saw the man approaching the door, and when the train stopped, he walked out to the station and took a quick look around and behind him. When he walked again, Hangaku pulled Tomiko out of the train, just when the doors were about to close. They followed the man along the street and onto the grounds of the University of Tokyo.
Hangaku frowned as he continued on walking, straight to an extensive building on the east side of the campus.
As he entered the building, Hangaku looked at the sign near the door. “Strange… Earthquake Research Institute… Why did he come here? Do you think Sakamo-kun is inside?”
Tomiko rubbed her left ear. “I don’t know… Probably, but it’s kind of weird, right? It is better if we go home before Sakamo-kun suddenly appears. It will be a little hard to explain why we followed that man, right? I also want to have a bath and do my homework before dinner. I don’t want to be late for the concert.”
Tomiko pulled Hangaku’s arm while she kept on looking back to the building, wondering why Sakamo would be inside, considering that he said he was going to his part-time job.
While Tomiko and Hangaku were following Sakamo’s bodyguard, he arrived at the Earthquake Research Institute at the University of Tokyo. After exiting the elevator on the second floor, he went along the main corridor, smiling at everyone that greeted him as he walked.
When he opened the door to a big room filled with desks and people working, they all raised their heads to look at who was entering at that hour. As soon as they recognised him, they all got up and made a deep bow. Sakamo returned the bow and signalled with his hand for them to continue their work. He walked along the open space to an office at the back. He then entered and went straight to his desk to turn on his computer.
As he was looking at the papers on the table waiting for his signature, a knock on the door took him out of his thoughts. “Come in! Oh, Doctor Teruko-san, I was just looking at your papers. Please have a seat. It seems everything went well with your simulation.”
Teruko Akai entered, a beautiful woman with tiny round yellow glasses that contrasted with her long dark hair. She sat on the empty chair in front of Sakamo’s desk and answered with a big smile, “It sure did, after changing my algorithm with your calculations! Well, perhaps I shouldn’t be so happy about it, because it means I made a mistake right in the beginning, and my simulation predicts an increase in the death toll by two percent. It is a huge number of casualties that we must reduce at all costs.”
Sakamo nodded and looked at the paper she was giving him. He skimmed it and made a few instant calculations. He frowned and looked at his computer screen after quickly logging into the simulator that Doctor Teruko Akai used, and stared at the ongoing simulation. “Two percent in the first hours, increasing by one point two every day. It is indeed too many. How is the fieldwork?”
“Doctor Sadakichi Syu is still checking the sensors, but he sent you and me an email with his updated logs. I already looked at it, and he is almost finished. Perhaps tomorrow he will send the last data he collected. That, together with the test we did with the communication network, makes me believe we won’t have any problems in our simulacrum.”
“I hope not, because I will be the one taking the responsibility if anything goes wrong!”
Doctor Teruko Akai crossed her legs and fixed her short skirt and lab coat while making a slight smile. “But if everything goes well, you will have all the credit for making our automatic programmes to take care of any situation that could arise in the event of a major catastrophe. Not a terrible game, in my eyes.”
“That part I don’t see happening soon. I think I will only get recognition among the staff and a few chosen people in the government because, you know…”
Teruko Akai nodded at Sakamo’s rolling eyes. “Yes, I know very well that the Prime Minister and the Emperor want to keep you as our hidden trump card. Try not to show that annoyed face near the staff, because they might think you are being serious. Only a few of them know of your good relationship with the Imperial family. By the way, how is everything between you and the Empress? She is still angry?”
“Very much. She assigned a bodyguard to me, and he keeps on following me around. I am using him as an errand boy. Maybe he gets fed up and asks to be excused. It was probably not a good idea to always escape the agents the Public Security Intelligence Agency put on my tail…”
“Yes, or to knock them out when they tried to put you in a car to drive you to your hotel!”
Sakamo shrugged while picking up another paper. It was not my fault if those dumbasses were so full of themselves. Who told them they could grab me and put me inside a car? Anyone would flip in that kind of situation!”
“And with that, the Prime Minister went berserk, the Emperor made a sudden inspection just to tell everyone we should keep an eye on you, and the Empress got so mad at you… I never saw or heard anything about our always calm Empress losing her temper like that! Now that I think about it, it was kind of funny.”
“Yeah, you wouldn’t think it was funny if you were condemned to weekly visits to tell her what you did during the week. I have to meet her tomorrow morning and give a full report of my week, and hear another of her lengthy scoldings! At least, in the end, I always have a cup of tea and a cake with the Princess.”
Doctor Teruko Akai asked while grabbing the signed papers that Sakamo gave her. “Be careful not to make the Princess fall for you. Not that it would be bad! I am sorry for the way it sounded! It’s just… She is still young, and you are way too dazzling for a young girl’s eyes. I would fall for you in a heartbeat if I was younger!”
Sakamo winked one eye. “My, my, did you really confess your love for me, Doctor Teruko-san? Or are you just trying to make me blush? Because I don’t know if I will be able to resist you if you are indeed in love with me!”
“Sakamo-san, I… Oh, you are joking… For a moment, you got me worried!”
“No need to be worried. I know perfectly well that I am no match for your husband. As for the Princess, I am being careful enough not to elude her or make her sad. I know she has a crush on me, and I already told her I was unworthy of being with her like that. I guess she likes the idea of going against all odds, or she likes to defy the Empress. Either way, I am always kind to her and I make sure that we are never alone in a room. I don’t want anyone to have the wrong idea about my friendship with the Princess.”
“By the way, how was School? Have you made any friends? Did you find a girlfriend? And your new home? I chose that house carefully!”
“The house is perfect, thanks a lot. I have a bunch of nice classmates, and there is one particular girl that is messing with me, one that knows very well what she wants, and it seems she likes me. She wants to make me fall for her, and she is succeeding. She has the most amazing smile, it’s almost hypnotic.”
Doctor Teruko Akai got up and made a slight bow. “I hope my baby girl meets a boy like you when she grows up. I will see if everyone is ready for your usual meeting, boss.”
Sakamo wrinkled one eyebrow. “Stop calling me that, it makes me feel old!”
Teruko Akai left with a big smile, and Sakamo turned to his computer again to check the latest results of the several projects that his team was doing.
…