Chapter 4
Genji
Jesse dropped me off outside Angela’s place on the way to Winston’s bar
“You sure you don’t wanna get a lift? Its gon’ be mighty cold.”
“Yes I’m fine thank you,” I replied “It won’t take long to walk there.”
He nodded and put his helmet back on and lifting up the kick stand
“Whatever you say big guy, see ya’ there!”
Assuming the whole neighbourhood wasn’t already woken by the sound we made on the way in, they definitely were now, as the engine spat out a large whirr.
“I need me one of those.” I mumbled to myself as I shoved my hands into my pockets and grab my phone to tell Angela that I was waiting outside waiting for her. I waited a moment for her to respond, but she quickly told me she was just getting changed and she’ll be out in 5 minutes.
Sure enough, exactly 5 minutes later she walked out the door with her mother waving her off.
“Good evening Mrs Ziegler!” I called out, waving.
She smiled at me and waved back. I never really spoke to Angela’s mother, but she seemed like a nice woman. She lived in a standard two story, semi-detached house with her father, mother and herself. However, the few times I have been over to her place two things where very obvious. 1) They have absolutely no idea who I am, which is always useful with my name. And 2) Angela is the one teaching them English. Every time they stutter I catch them giving a quick glance to their daughter for reassurance.
“Genji?” said Angela, snapping me out of my thoughts “Are you okay?”
I took her hand in mine “Yes, sorry. Got caught in a daydream.”
I looked up at where her mother one more time. She tapped her watch, which was her way of telling me to get her home on time, before smiling again and closing the door.
Suddenly Angela leaned on me and let out a sigh. “Finally!” she exclaimed.
“What’s up, something wrong at home?”
She shook her head. “Homework is horrible! Don’t ever try and be a doctor.”
“Funnily enough, I wasn’t planning on it. I’m too clumsy to even hold a pencil still, let along cut someone open. We both know you’re the brains of this operation.”
Angela playfully jabbed me in the stomach. “And don’t you forget it!”
We started to walk down to Winston’s bar together holding hands. One of the many things I loved about Angela is she understood that silence wasn’t a bad thing. Once two people get to know each other enough, silence just isn’t awkward anymore.
This does, however, give me more time to think than I usually appreciate. It gives me time to think about things like my father, Hazno, and the Shimada Clan. There have been a lot of strangers around the house recently and that only ever happens when the clan is working on something big. Something about a biker gang? It makes me nervous just thinking about it!
“Genji, are you alright? Your hand got really tense, is somethings bothering you?”
“What? Oh sorry, I’m fine. I was thinking about the Shimadas.”
She stopped me walking to stand in front of me and held both of my hands. She looked me dead in the eyes as she spoke. “Genji, you’re so much more than your father’s son. The things you do make who you are, not the things your family do.”
“You’re right, but they’re still family. But I think they might be afraid.”
“What could possibly scare the Shimada clan?”
I leaned in and kissed her forehead “We’re not the only gang out there you know; When push comes to shove, I’ll be expected to fight with them.”
“And will you do it?”
“I… I don’t know.”
“Then don’t worry about it for now.” she stood to my side again and held my hand tight. “We’re here to have fun, so don’t worry about anything else for now.”
“You’re right…” I said “…as always.”
She laughed as she walked ahead of me, confidently swaying her hips as she walked. “Do I detect sarcasm there Mr Shimada?” she asked me in a playful tone.
“Of course not, Miss Ziegler.”
We walked for a while longer before we saw the bar. Well, more accurately, till we heard the bar. Lena has her favourite songs playing so loud that we could hear them before we saw the place. That along with the occasional cheer made it obvious we were in the right place.
We were about to walk in together when a call behind us made us turn around.
“Angela! Genji! Wait for me please!”
Angela turned around and greeted our friend as she smiled. “Oh hi Amélie, you look good tonight!”
Amélie was Lena’s girlfriend, and a close friend of mine and Angela’s. She was the quiet-but-menacing type, so I never really understood what Lena saw in her, but those two couldn’t be separated if you tried. However, because of her attitude, very few people aren’t afraid of her, and even fewer would consider her a friend. Despite this Angie and I got along well with her; she was one of our closest friends. She says she likes Angela so much because she respects powerful women (fair enough) but her reasoning for liking me are still a mystery. Regardless, she and Lena have been on regular double dates with me and Angie for a few years now.
Amélie was also a very quiet girl, so asking her anything was difficult, but over time you come to respect her company. Occasionally she would start talking, but then she would go back to her normal quiet self where the most you’d get out of her was a violent response. From what I understand (which wasn’t much), she’d been though some sort of traumatic experience before she moved to Overview. I also know she avoids talking about her childhood or her father, so I think I can make a pretty good guess towards what happened.
On top of all that, she was also one of the few people here in Overview who speaks Japanese who aren’t also employed by my father.
“Kondanwa.” I said to her.
“Kondanwa Genji-san.” she replied.
“Shall we go inside?” Angela asked “It’s getting chilly out here.”
“Oh, pardon me, I didn’t notice.” said Amélie in apology.
“Oh, really?” Angie laughed in response. “You’re wearing that outfit and you’re not cold?”
Amélie had a thing with very tight clothes that didn’t leave much to the imagination. She’d probably have guys all over her if they weren’t so busy being afraid of her.
Angela’s remark did get a laugh though, which wasn’t easy.
“Well I don’t see Lena complaining! Now let’s go have some fun, shall we?”
Inside the building was a loud mess of laughter and colour. The whole building was full of people drinking and enjoying themselves. Some people had food and were enjoying a meal with some drinks while others were in huddles playing games or making jokes. Overall, the room felt like it was frozen in time, like all our individual worries as people just didn’t matter and we could escape and be ourselves among friends.
“Where’s Lena?” Angie asked.
“Something tells me she’s over there.” I said, pointing towards a large crowd of people all stood together, cheering someone in the middle. Every couple of seconds the cheering would rise and fall like a crowd and they’d raise their beers in exclamation.
Angie chucked “Of course she is, she’s always been a crowd pleaser.”
We approached the group of people and began pushing our way into the centre of the crowd to find out friend. Sure enough, as we reached the centre we were greeted with a scream and a bear hug from our friend.
“GENJI! ANGIE! It’s great to see you guys! You’ve gotta meet everyone! There’s this one guy over here who works for a group call Lo-!”
Suddenly she paused, only to begin launching herself behind us.
“Love!” she called out, launching herself into a long kiss with Amélie.
The two held each other for a moment before Amélie broke off and smiled.
“Chéri, you taste like beer.”
“Oh bugger off! Don’t act like you didn’t enjoy it!”
Amélie though for a moment before responding with another kiss, this time quicker, before saying “I think I like you drunk.”
They held each other for a moment more before Lena suggested we find a table and we all sat down. Angie sat to my left and put my arm over her shoulder as she leaned on mine, while Lena sat across from us and Amélie sat to her left hiding in the corner looking at her phone. Like I said, she gets shy sometimes.
“You want to sit with us Amélie?” Angie laughed.
“Sorry.” she said “I guess I need a few drink first, it’s been a… difficult day.”
“Don’t worry about it, love!” Lena told her, slowly holding onto Amélie’s hand before calling out to her uncle. “WINSTON! Let’s have some beers for these guys!”
Winston was a big guy; you wouldn’t guess he was related to Lena if you didn’t see the two together. Being a big guy also made running a bar a lot easier though; everyone stayed in their place and followed the rules because they know what would happen if they didn’t. He brought us our drinks and greeted us all.
“It’s good to see you again children, how are you all?” he asked.
“We’re good thanks!” Angela replied.
“Good to here! Oh and Genji, if anyone here gives your trouble again just give me a shout, I’ll have them put on the blacklist for you.”
“Thank you, Winston. I will be sure to let you know.”
A few weeks ago I was here with Lena and Jesse, and someone recognised me by my name. Long story short, it didn’t end well. It came down to a fight and while Jesse had my back Lena ran into the back to get her uncle. The fight ended pretty quickly after that and that guy and his friends haven’t stepped into this side of town since.
“Jesse left ahead of me, has he not arrived yet?” I asked Lena as I realised that our friend was not with us at the table.
“Oh Jesse? He’s at the bar, love” she told me, I turned around to see my best friend down 3 shots in quick succession sitting next to a stranger “Looks like some girls trying to take a shot at him!”
We both laughed. “Like that’s going happen! So which one of us is going to have to go tell the poor girl she’s in the wrong neck of the woods?”
Lena took a drink from her bottle before looking back up from me. “I did it last time! It’s your turn!”
“Alright, alright! Im going.” I said, standing up from the table.
“Don’t be too long, okay?” Angie asked as she leaned up to kiss me before I left.
“I won’t, don’t worry.” I kissed her back and walked over to Jesse and his new friend.
As I approached them, I got my first good look at this girl. I quickly put together that this must be the Mexican girl who just bought Jack’s house last week because of her traditional skull tattoos along her left arm. She wore a short purple dress and had her hair pushed over to the right with the left half shaved down. Dare I say it, she actually looked pretty good. She smiled whenever he smiled and laughed whenever he did, as if she was trying to be likeable. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but she’s flirting with the wrong guy.
“Hey, Jesse!” I called out, walking up behind him and putting my hand on his shoulder in between them. “Who’s your new friend?”
“Hey Genji, have you two not met yet? This is… wait… I don’ think I got your name darlin’.”He slurred his words more than usual; those definitely weren’t his first shots of the night.
“Am I really that forgettable?” she said teasingly.
“Sorry about Jesse; He has a hard time remembering things after a few drinks” I interrupted rubbing my hand on his shoulder and used this opportunity to whisper into his ear.
“…She’s flirting with you; thank her for the drinks and walk over to our table behind me.”
He tapped me with his elbow to show me he understood.
“Sorry darlin’ I think I had a few too many shots. Ima’ go check on Lena and wish her a good day, nice meetin’ you, m’lady.” he stood and pushed me into the stool he was sitting in before walking over to find the others. I could hear them all cheer when he eventually got to them.
I turned to face the girl next to me and I smiled. “Sorry about him, he loses himself when he’s drunk.”
She took the stool next to me and crossed her legs.
“Don’t we all?” she asked, almost accusingly.
“Excuse me?”
“Cock-blocking your friend? Low blow, hermano.”
“Oh that?” I laughed. “You weren’t going get very far anyway.”
“And whys that?
“Because you don’t have a penis.”
“What?... oh… OH okay I get it now.”
“Yeah, I know, he gets this a lot.”
“Ah well.” she smiled, moving closer to me as she spoke. “One door closes, another door opens.”
I finished off a shot Jesse left on the table. “Taken, sorry.” I said, slamming the glass back into the table and pointing over to where Angela and my friends were sitting.
“Oh don’t worry; I know who you are, Mr Shimada.”
Winston heard my name and looked up from the other side of the bar. He started to stand up before I raised my hand, telling him to wait for a moment.
“Be careful how loud you say that name.” I whispered; I could feel people’s heads starting to turn.
“I will. I’m not looking to be thrown out like those boys from before.” she said, smiling.
“You’re new here, right? How do you know about them?”
“I like to do my digging about people before I meet them, information is power after all. I like to know everything.”
Her phone started ringing on the table but she didn’t answer it. I tried to get a sideways glance at the name without being caught. Who the hell is Blue Widow?
She rejected the call and put her phone at her sides to I couldn’t see it.
“Well miss, it’s been nice meeting you but I think I should get back to my friends.” I started to stand up but she held my hand back.
“Why not stay? It’s nice to be in company that knows what it’s like to be a criminal.”
“So that’s how you do it. That’s how you know everything.” I asked “Who do you work with then? My father? The Junkers? The Deadlock gang?”
“As… creative as the Junkers can be, they lack the talent to become really powerful, and if I worked for your father I think I’d have to turn you in for being so close with the enemy.”
“The enemy? What are you talking about?”
“Wait… you really don’t know what I’m talking about, do you? Oh, you poor thing.” she chuckled to herself.
“What don’t I know?” I asked, more curious than intimidated.
“There’s more to your little friends than you know; I could tell you if you want?”
I thought for a moment about what she could be saying. Jesse and Angela would tell me anything, right? Lena too! Was she talking about Amélie? I know my friends would never hurt me, but what she was saying made it sound like they were keeping secrets from me. I decided on an answer.
“No.” I said “If my friends want to tell me something, they’ll do it in their own time. I trust them to be honest with me.”
“I thought you’d say that Mr Shimada. Be careful, blind trust in people can be dangerous. I find everything out about a person before I make a new friend.”
“Is that what you want us to be? Friends?” I asked, confused.
“You could say that, yes.” She said leaning back and typing something into her phone. “You should go; your girlfriend has been eyeballing me for the last 4 minutes. I’ll be in touch, amigo.”
I swivelled around in my chair and saw Angela looking back at me with concern in her eyes. I raised my hand to say I’d just be a moment, but as I turned around to say goodbye the girl was gone.
“Huh.” I said to myself. “Didn’t even get her name.”