Page 26

AJ

I rolled into the driveway of her place the next day, and I didn’t know what I’d expected, but it wasn’t this. The buildings here were a mix of traditional and modern Japanese style.

She was waiting outside her front door, sitting on a bench by a small pond, when I parked. I got out and walked over as she tossed the rest of her handful of fish food into the pond, watching large-looking goldfish devour it on the water’s surface.

“I was wondering if you’d gotten lost,” she said as she turned toward me.

“Nah.”

She barely stared at me before sighing.

“My sister is home, but she’s been in her room all day. Please, keep your voice down. I don’t want to wake her up if she’s sleeping.” She walked over to the door and pushed it open.

I followed her inside. It was a damn big house. All open from the kitchen to the living room. She took a seat on the couch, and I chose a chair across from her.

“I’d offer you tea, but I don’t think you’re going to be here long enough to enjoy it. This is just a quick chat. I need to know we’re on the same page and that we’re going to work together to make sure Kaito gets what he deserves,” she said.

Getting right to the point. I can appreciate that.

“What’s your plan then?” I asked as I kicked my feet out in front of me, crossing my arms and my ankles.

“First, I want to know how far you’re willing to go,” she said, her eyes dark and serious.

I shrugged. “Almost anything that won’t land me with a life sentence.”

She contemplated for a minute before speaking again.

“All right then, I’m thinking we need to get Kaito’s attention for a fight, make enough noise where he will bet the deed of our estate on. I’m assuming you know the reason Raven was engaged to him in the first place?”

“Yeah, she told me a bit about it,” I said.

“Then that’s my first goal—get him to agree to new terms with a new match.

You fight his fighter and win. He will get humiliated by losing to you.

Then I’ll figure out how to have the police raid the place and arrest Kaito after you give him a good beating.

They have been trying to track him down, but can never raid his home.

He will lose the title of my home and be behind bars for a long time.

It will be perfect,” she said each word with care.

I wasn’t sure if I believed it would go down exactly like she was telling me, but it wasn’t a bad plan, and I’d get to beat the shit out of him before he was arrested too.

“Works for me. You just tell me when to show up to the fight, and I’ll be there,” I said as I went to stand up, figuring this conversation was over.

“Oh, no, you don’t. I’m not going to hope that you show up. I also have no idea if you are really as good as you think you are or not. I expect you to come over and train with me,” she said as she stood up as well.

“Train with you?” I chuckled as I looked over her body.

She was fit—I’d give her that. But I still saw the curves of a woman who would be easy to pin on the mats repeatedly with little challenge.

She smiled back. “Don’t worry; I’ll be much more focused than I was yesterday. And I’ve trained every student at the dojo the past couple of years. If you think I’ll be an easy sparring partner, you’ll be in for a rude awakening when your ass ends up on the mat. We start in a week. See you then.”

She gestured over toward the door, and I chuckled and nodded.

“Just tell me when to show up.”

A week passed.

During that time, they’d buried Raven in their family cemetery.

I went to the service, lurking in the background.

Maybe I felt like I was keeping an eye out on her sisters.

Maybe I wanted to pay my respects to her after everyone else left.

There were more people here than I’d thought there would be.

Fighters, trainers, people from the shops she’d gone to her whole life. Raven was someone people would miss.

I’ll miss you too, baby.

I stood, leaning under the shade of a tree, too far to hear any of the words being said. The man she’d been engaged to never showed. Piece of shit couldn’t even pretend to care. Eventually, as the service ended, people left, leaving only her sisters standing next to her grave.

A few more minutes passed before they turned and started walking down to the entrance. I waited for them to be out of sight before I walked over to her grave. There were flowers and something burning that smelled decent, as well as a photo of her. She looked so happy in it.

They must have taken it before things went south for her.

I placed my hand on her gravestone.

“Guess you’re finally free, like you wished you could be, baby girl.” I rubbed my hand gently over the smooth stone. “Won’t forget the things you said.”

I heard footsteps behind me, and I dropped my hand from the grave and tucked it into my hoodie pocket, sliding my fingers through my brass knuckles. I loosened my grip on them once I saw it was her sister, Sydney, coming to a stop next to me.

“Thought that was you hiding in the shadows,” she said as she folded her arms in front of her chest.

“I wasn’t hiding. Just didn’t think it was my place to be here since she was the only person who knew me.” I jerked my head toward the tombstone.

Her eyes softened. “That was probably for the best. We don’t need people asking about you. Not yet anyway.”

She sighed, then turned, beckoning me toward the exit.

“Do you have free time today?” she asked as we walked side by side down the stairs.

“Yeah,” I said.

“Great. Then come to my place. I want to talk to you some more, and we need to get a few things to prepare for stage one of my plan.”

I nodded as she walked over to her car and got in. Her sister peered over at me from the passenger seat as they left.

I went to my car and followed them. It was an easy drive to their place. The cemetery was only a few minutes away from where they lived.

We pulled in, and her sister did one more glance back at me before she made her way to their house. Meanwhile, Sydney walked over to my car, and I rolled the window down.

“Come inside my dojo for a minute,” she said as she leaned down to the open window.

I put the car in park and turned it off, not bothering to roll up the window since it was sunny out, and followed her to a large building near us.

Inside was straight out of a karate movie. Wood floor, screen doors, samurai armor along one wall with wooden swords hanging above them.

“Nice place,” I said with a chuckle as I looked around.

“Thanks. But we’re not here for you to admire the architecture,” she said.

She slipped off her shoes and walked over to a seating area in the corner of the room. I did the same and sat down across from her.

“Okay, so here’s the deal. I have a little more than a month before Kaito comes here, taking whatever he wants.

So, we need to get him out of the picture before then.

He expects that my sister and I are going to use all of this time to mourn Raven.

He’s dead wrong. We’re going to be training.

I’m going to make sure you are ready for this new fighter he has that I’ve been hearing whispers about.

Apparently, he makes his last guy look like a kitten,” she said as she pulled her hair up into a bun.

“Won’t be a problem. His last fighter was a cheat. If we’re using him as a scale of skill, then his new one won’t last much longer in a ring against me,” I said.

“Don’t get cocky. I bet Kaito won’t let himself be embarrassed so easily again. That’s his domain. We should expect dirty tricks and a fighter who is strong enough and skilled enough to use them this time,” she said as she glared at me.

I smirked at her. “Baby, I’m cocky for a good reason.

I’m undefeated. I’ve fought men who did some of the lowest tricks in the book to get me to lose a fight.

Only one was successful, but he lost the second time we fought.

You don’t gotta worry about the fight. Worry about getting the cops there without getting us arrested too. ”

She said nothing for a moment, then slowly nodded.

“Don’t worry about Kaito; he won’t get away.

But we need to do a couple of things to prepare for that.

First of all, we need to get Kaito’s attention to even get a match with his fighter.

I can’t just storm in and challenge him.

He has to make the offer. And getting him to do that will take some noise in the fight circles outside of his personal ring … ” She stood up and looked at me.

“So, you down to be my driver for the afternoon?” she asked.

“Sure. Just toss me some cash for gas, or you can pay me in ass, before I drive you all over the city, baby,” I said with a smirk as I stood up, holding out my hand.

She rolled her eyes but still reached into her pocket and took out her wallet, grabbing a few bills and placing them roughly in my hand. “Unbelievable. Let’s go.”

She stomped through the dojo and pulled on her shoes, leaving me behind to lace up my Air Force 1s.

When I got to my car, she was already sitting inside, phone on my dash with the first address to drive to in the shopping district.

I started up my car, and we drove, the radio quietly playing in the background.

She looked at the buildings as we drove by, not saying a word.

We parked alongside a building that looked more like a costume store than a clothing shop. We got out and walked in.

She browsed through the rows of items as I found a chair to chill in, next to a large mirror in the back.

She rounded the corner, going through the shelves of clothing near me.

She spoke slowly as she approached. “You can’t fight, looking like you do right now.

This will never work if he knows you were the same fighter who stood in for Touma.

If he finds out we’re working together? I don’t see this turning out the way I need it to,” she said as she sorted through the stack of clothes on the shelf in front of her.