Rhapsody in Red

Chapter 13

When she woke up the following morning Aiko still had a bitter taste in her mouth and a feeling of anger in her chest from the scenes seen the previous night. She reflected that with her new work in the Mount Fuji Association, these experiences and the associated sensations would become routine so she had to develop an emotional shield to prevent these experiences from affecting her so deeply, a kind of callus in her psyche. For the moment she would try to avoid as far as possible being exposed to them before going to sleep. Aiko was still a sensitive girl raised in a loving family, with an artistic vocation that appealed to the finest fibers of her sensibility and with an attentive boyfriend. The passage from the soft bed in Buenos Aires to the reality of New York had not affected her as she had feared, but the girl reasoned that this was also due to having landed at the house of her uncle and aunt who were acting as true substitute parents, and to the fact that Leandro had made himself present in this new environment as well. Her life was still between balls of soft wool.

As she connected the cell phone the woman received a message from Leandro's what's app, letting her know that he would return to New York that Friday night and requesting her to think of a program for the weekend. Aiko had already realized that despite being a young man full of initiative in other respects the strength of his friend was not to build programs for two and that was why he rested in her.

The rest of the day was divided between piano lessons at the Academy and her work at the restaurant, which involved moving to New Jersey.

On Wednesday, Aiko showed up again at the Association's headquarters. As she passed by to say hello to Mrs. Yamaguchi found that the lady was talking on the phone and waved her hand to wait.

When the woman cut the conversation she got up and approached the just arrived girl.

"Mr. Yoshida is waiting for me." Said the girl.

"Wait, before the training class there is another thing we should do. Come on, follow me!"

"We must?" thought Aiko.

Mrs. Yamaguchi opened the door of a room Aiko did not know yet, entered it and told the girl to follow her. The place had very little furniture and both women walked up to the center, there Harumi Yamaguchi turned and said to her companion.

"Today you will take the mandatory oath  to become a full agent of the Mount Fuji Association. I suppose Mr. Yoshida has told you something about it."

"Yes, but he had not advanced the date."

"It happens that things are rushing and this oath is a prerequisite to put you fully in place."

Aiko was surprised by the role Mrs. Yamaguchi was playing; she had always suspected that the lady was more than a secretary but did not think she could speak with such authority. The girl was beginning to discover that in this new game she had undertaken nothing was what it seemed.

"In his capacity as president of the Association Mr. Katsuo Matsumoto will take the obligatory oath. You will be introduced by Mr. Fumihiro Yoshida who is your sensei and will act as your presenter and guarantor, a kind of sponsor. I will be the witness of the ceremony and therefore I will sign the record of your incorporation. You understand?"

"Yes, of course." The young woman answered although she still did not come out of her surprise as her mind was blocked by the excitement.

At that moment the door opened and Matsumoto and Yoshida entered, both dressed in military uniforms, although Aiko did not know to what Force they belonged.

The ceremony was brief and consisted of a quick reading by the president of the commitments that the new agent acquired and a brief guided questionnaire where Aiko was accepting the commitments one by one. Everyone made a few minutes of silence to highlight the acquired responsibility. Then Yoshida took a few steps and approached a bronze gong that was in the shadows and had not been noticed by the girl until then; the deep sound was designed to reach into the psyche of the oath taker, enhancing the commitment assumed in the ceremony.

Matsumoto shook the girl's hand while Mrs. Yamaguchi gave her an unexpected and very western like kiss on the cheek. Yoshida, who was visibly moved, touched her arm just to make physical contact and told her.

"Well, you're now formally of ours. Now we will go to our room and continue with the training."

Upon re-entry into the training room, Yoshida was again dressed in civilian clothes; Aiko did not dare to ask him what was the Force he belonged to and what his degree was.

" Mrs. Yamaguchi told you that there are new events that are developing and that they have hastened your incorporation?"

"Yes, indeed." The young woman realized that no phrase was said at random but that there was a strict distribution of roles. Everything that had happened since she had arrived that morning at the Association building had created a degree of anxiety in her.

"Well." Yoshida started. "Could you see the CD that I gave you?"

"Yes."The girl answered as she extracted it from her backpack and returned it to the sensei. " Shocking."

" It´s a bit disturbing indeed, but it was necessary that I gave it to you so that you could see whom we are facing. This is not a simple confessional dispute against a dissident group. They are extremely misguided and dangerous people."

Yoshida made a silence without a doubt to organize his speech.

"Now I'll tell you what the current state of affairs is."

The trainer leaned back in his chair and began his presentation.

"As you know there is a large Japanese community in New York and throughout eastern United States. Logically in the states bordering the Pacific Ocean it is even more numerous but there is another branch of our association that is responsible for monitoring it and the same happens in Canada, although we synchronize our activities and exchange information, as there are "people of interest", that is say suspicious characters that move from one place to another."

The instructor stopped and looked at Aiko, confirming that she was fully connected to his narrative.

"Our San Francisco agents warned us that they had detected the arrival in their city of a character from Japan, where he is singled out as one of the top managers of one of the detached branches of Aum Shinrikyo, of which I spoke to you on Monday. It seems that the functions of this character are to organize the activities of the sect in different parts of the planet."

At that moment Matsumoto made his entrance, warning his colleagues with a gesture to continue forward without paying attention to his presence.

"The most disturbing thing about this news is ..." whether that was the desired effect or not, Yoshida's interruption surrounded his next words with a special drama. "...that the arrival and presence of that person is usually linked to attacks and acts of sabotage against people and institutions linked to Japan in different parts of the world."

A thick silence filled the air of the room. The girl looked instinctively at Matsumoto, who nodded in agreement as if confirming what was said by his colleague.

"This character who we will call Harada -although  we do not know his first name and we do not even know if that is his real surname- disappeared later of the radars of our colleagues in San Francisco."

As Aiko frowned, Matsumoto took part in the conversation for the first time.

" That is, our colleagues in California lost track of him."

"For some uncertain data that could not be corroborated Harada would have moved to the East Coast of the United States, possibly to New York." Continued Yoshida at the same time he looked questioningly at his boss.

"The information could not be confirmed because the San Francisco agent who was on Harada´s trail was savagely murdered." Added Matsumoto." Aiko, I'm telling you this so that you are aware of who we are dealing with. I do not want to hide anything from you."

"Murdered ... in what way?" The girl asked with an anguished voice.

"Beheaded." The president answered reluctantly." We believe that his head was severed in a ritual way, maybe with a Katana."

A chill ran through Aiko´s body. The two men waited for the girl to process the news. Then Yoshida went on.

" Now we are approaching your role in this whole matter."

"What do you mean? " The girl's voice showed a touch of anguish.

"We believe that one of the owners of the chain of restaurants where you work is a member of this sect, of which we do not even know the name.

" What? " The ability to receive news from Aiko seemed overwhelmed.

Matsumoto came over and poured her a glass of water.

"Aiko, I think we'd better leave this conversation for another time. What's more, we can disaffect you from this entire mission."

The young woman drank the glass until the end. Her face seemed to change expression acquiring a gesture of determination.

"No way. Go ahead with the explanation, please." She said, addressing Yoshida." Can I know the name of that presumed member of the sect?"

The two men looked at each other, the president nodded.

"It's Hisao Nakajima. Do you know him?"

" Yes, although they have never introduced him to me. He shows up sometimes in the Midtown Manhattan location, surrounded by other people, all men, some of them non-Japanese."

"Nakajima represents part of the capital owners of the chain of restaurants where you work." Yoshida continued. " Moreover, we think that this capital really belongs to the sect."

A new shudder ran through the girl's body.

"Aiko, I think we should ..." Expressed Matsumoto.

"No," the woman answered with a certain infrequent brusqueness. "Just tell me what to do!"