Chapter Text
Chapter One
Tokyo glittered in the sunlight. The wind whistled through the closely packed skyscrapers, making each street into a tunnel of fast-moving air.
In the neighbourhoods closest to the bay, people hurried out of their offices. Tidy coats and jackets snapped in the wind. Cars and buses inched along the roads, framing the scurrying crowds with rows of red brake lights.
Below the howl of the wind was a low sound: the rumble of heavy footsteps, coming closer.
***
Bansu Peni drummed her fingers on the private car that carried her through the city. Traffic was slow and she had too much time to think. Throw her into a crisis and she was calm and ready for action. But this? Waiting? Meetings? Negotiation? Not one of her core competencies.
Yet, here she was, going anyway, because today held… possibilities.
For years there’d been a rift in Japan’s K-Force (a deceptively simple name for the military arm of the United Nations Kaiju Countermeasures Centre). Precious time and resources were being wasted while the two sides argued about how best to handle kaiju, the giant monsters that seemed determined to demolish all human civilisation. Today’s meeting was going to bring both factions together, in the same room, to discuss a new breakthrough. Peni adjusted her glasses and frowned. If it went well, everyone could finally get over this stupid conflict and go back to work.
But unfortunately for her, at the last moment the Majutsu-shi had decided it was a better tactic to send Peni alone.
Why? Who knows. The Majutsu-shi hadn’t given her much information. She was supposed to present an outward appearance of meek femininity, while simultaneously wielding authority like a katana sword. Ridiculous. Why had she been thrust into this stupid role? She was going to step on too many toes.
Her car crawled forward another couple of metres, then stopped again.
Peni scowled deeper.
***
Clouds were moving quickly across the sky, hiding, then revealing the sun. A shaft of sunlight lit up the Shinjuku Sumitomo Building. The skylights of its atrium flashed like the facets of a gem. A massive, scaly finger reached out to touch one delicate panel and it shattered into an explosion of glass shards.
The people who had been marching down the sidewalk looked back and panicked. Suddenly, they pushed, shoved, and tried to run. Cars honked as pedestrians swelled outwards into the streets. Voices raised in fear and hysteria.
In the reptilian head, one large eye rolled as it tried to focus on the chaos of these little figures.
Coming down from a pedestrian walkway, a woman in high heels tottered and fell down the remaining stairs. Other feet stepped around her, over her and on her as they moved in mindless haste. Every time she tried to rise back to her feet, she was buffeted back to the ground. Her voice called out piteously for help.
***
“Bansu-san,” said a young man politely, extending his hand to help Peni from the backseat of the car.
“Yes, that’s right,” she replied, looking him over dubiously. He had dark skin, even darker than her own, and wore a horrible jean jacket over his pressed shirt and trousers.
“Nice to meet you. I’m Shepard Love. I’ll give you a tour before our meeting.”
Peni narrowed her eyes. Upon arrival, she'd expected to be met by someone important. She glanced up at the formal facade of the Grimm factory. Was this meant to be a subtle insult? Grimm Marukomo was known to be a clever man. She straightened her shoulders and tried to look taller. She was clever too, and the youngest director at the K-Force. She was not going to be put off by this young man with tall hair and…. what was all over his jacket? Cryptid buttons?
“I’m not interested in a tour. Take me straight to Grimm-san.”
***
A gigantic red tail lashed.
The rest of the glass atrium shattered, causing the evacuating people to scream and hold their arms over their heads. Pebbles of glass fell like hail. One large reptilian foot stepped forward, but seemed to reconsider, as it tried to avoid the humans who swarmed underneath like ants.
Distracted from their mindless flight, three people closest to the fallen woman noticed her on the ground. They reached down and helped her up. One glanced back and saw the black tip of a pointy tail sliding towards them. He abandoned the woman and fled, but the other two grabbed her frantically and carried her away.
Snowzilla lowered their foot, crushing three abandoned cars and knocking another into a pole. They reared back in frustration. Immediately, their shoulders were pinned between two more tall, gleaming buildings. They threw back their head and roared, breaking every window in the immediate radius with the sound.
***
“If you haven’t guessed, I’m an American,” Shepard Love said, winningly. “But I love Japan. It’s always been my dream to come here.”
Peni didn’t need to be told. There was something so American about him. He smiled too broadly. He gestured too much. His accent was terrible. And most of all, he didn’t seem to be bothered that she was ignoring him, so that he was left holding a conversation alone. (He was probably in love with himself. Most handsome men were.)
“I’m from Omaha, Nebraska. You probably don’t know where that is. No one does,” he added wistfully, pushing his round glasses higher on his nose.
She didn’t reply. She didn’t actually know much about the geography of the United States, other than New York City, where she had attended one of the UNKCC meetings, but she wasn’t going to admit that now. Instead, she pulled out her cell phone to check her email.
“Oh, sorry. Today’s presentation is classified. The building has a signal jammer installed to ensure that no one will be releasing unauthorised footage.”
She gave him a withering look. “No phone connection? Are we going to be frisked as well? I might be carrying a spy camera.”
He looked a little embarrassed, which caused him to shut up for a precious minute. She took advantage of the silence to focus on the hallway that he was leading her through. Each secured doorway hid a tantalising glimpse of workshops, offices and laboratories. She was calculating how to ditch her guide and take an unsupervised look around when Love’s babble started again, and then veered off into the startlingly personal.
“So, that’s me,” he said. “And where are you from? …Because you look a little unusual.”
“Excuse me! My mother’s family was from India, but she was born in Tokyo, and so was I. I’m Japanese.”
“Sorry,” he said, holding up his hands. “No offence meant. I like the way you look!”
She snapped her eyes at him.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean… I mean, I did… but not if you—” he stammered, then quickly changed the topic. “Where is the ah, Majutsu-shi today? I would’ve thought he’d be very interested in this demonstration.”
“He’s busy.” Peni bit out the words, then stepped away from him, and said no more. She’d expected this question. She’d probably hear it a dozen times today. Shepard-from-Omaha could hear her prepared answer when they met with his boss. She didn’t need to repeat it twice.
***
“Daphne,” Grimm Marukomo said crisply, turning away from the window and towards his assistant.
She left her desk and hurried up to him.
“Yes, Grimm-san?”
“Are we ready?” he asked, already knowing the answer.
She nodded nervously and pulled out her tablet, taking a half-step closer so that her soft hair was just touching his shoulder. This presentation had taken months of preparation and she had kept them organised using a project management spreadsheet. As she went through it now, listing off each task and confirming it complete, her voice became firmer and her hands stopped shaking. When she finished, she looked up through her lashes and smiled at him, proud of herself. He found himself smiling in return.
“Excellent. Your work is satisfactory.” He paused, then added, “I’m glad to have you by my side.”
Her cheeks flushed prettily.
Marukomo clenched his jaw. So much was riding on today. He would unveil his greatest achievement, this passion project: a collaboration between him and his first wife, Natasha. She had been an incredible woman, a genius; and if he achieved this, completed her vision, then he could feel a sense of peace. He would know that he’d properly honoured her memory.
And afterwards, he could move onto a new stage of his life. He could retire from the Force perhaps. Try taking up golf. And most importantly, he could find out if Daphne had more than just a love for her job. Could these little blushes mean that perhaps she had an affection for him too?
Soon, he would ask. He just had to wait.
Today would go perfectly, even if that horrible, vain man didn’t bother to come. What could you expect from someone who called himself The Mage? (Like he was some kind of wizard, instead of just an ordinary man who was treated like a general, despite the lack of military title.)
It was of no consequence. Marukomo would proceed without him. It might even be better this way. They would show the K-Force that decisive action could happen without their puppet figurehead.
There was a knock at the door of his office.
Marukomo nodded to Daphne and she went to open it.
Shepard Love had apparently not managed to keep the Majutsu-shi’s pawn entertained and out of their hair. Marukomo scowled as the two entered the room. The American, uncharacteristically silent for once, didn’t notice. He wore a faintly dazzled expression as he followed their guest. The Majutsu-shi’s emissary was just as young as he’d heard, but her bow offered only the minimum deference. She was short, round and thoroughly unimpressive-looking… yet her eyes behind their heavy cat’s-eye glasses were keen. They sized him up, then flicked around the room, like a soldier scanning the corners for threats.
“Bansu-san,” he said blandly to her. “Come into the conference room. You’re early, so the others haven’t arrived yet.”
***
Peni took a seat at a large semi-circular table. The conference room had windows across one wall, diffused by automatic blinds. The other walls were covered in soundproofing tiles stacked in geometric patterns. Everything in here, the walls, carpet and chairs were dark blue. It was pretty sombre, but at least the chairs were cushy.
She kept her voice firm as she explained why her boss was too busy to attend in person.
No one looked convinced. Especially Grimm Marukomo. The man had dark, expressive eyebrows and a full head of silver hair, slicked back. He dressed to intimidate, as if wearing a suit that cost as much as half a year’s rent meant anything important.
He sneered at her speech.
“If your boss is so interested in reconciliation, then why couldn’t he bother to be here in person?”
Peni sat up straighter. She was prepared for this, although she’d expected more tea and small talk. That was fine. She liked it better this way.
“Why would he? You haven’t told us anything about what’s happening today,” she argued.
“It was in the invitation. You’d know the answer, if you’d bothered to read it. The future of human defence against kaiju is about to be unveiled,” he said grandly. His assistant clasped her hands in excitement.
“I doubt it,” Peni replied. “Snowzilla is all the defence that Japan needs against any type of invasion.” She didn’t give him a chance to object, but raised her voice and continued. “It’s proven that time and time again against the worst kaiju. Look at Anguirus, and Gezora!”
“Snowzilla levelled half of Kyoto facing down Anguirus! It’s a menace.”
“It’s not a menace—”
“It is. This experiment has failed.”
“Some failure! Snowzilla’s the symbol of Japan! Our whole country is grateful to the Majutsu-shi, who summoned and controls it. The government gave him another medal last month.”
“Yes,” Grimm said, triumphantly. “The Majutsu-shi collects medals and listens to sycophants while the real protectors of Japan work tirelessly to find a scalable and sustainable solution.”
“I’m not a sycophant,” Peni corrected automatically, but her mind focused more on his last words. (What could a sustainable solution to kaiju even be? How does a country tackle attacks by 50-metre tall monsters in a scalable way?) She dismissed it as empty posturing and pointed at herself in emphasis. “He should listen to me. I am the director of the new psychic division of the K-Force.”
This had a satisfying response.
“Psychic?”
“That’s right.”
Grimm was studying her guardedly, but the American was delighted. He said some English exclamation, then caught himself and spoke in Japanese.
“You don’t mean it? Really? True psychic ability? That’s amazing!” He looked almost painfully excited as he leaned closer to her. “Can you tell me what I’m thinking?”
“No. It doesn’t work that way. I’ve been training to work with Snowzilla specifically—to sense its thoughts and predict its behaviour. But some of my students can read people. The best I can do is tell if a person is lying.”
Peni watched as Marukomo exchanged a glance with his assistant. The woman was pretty and delicate, dressed in a girlish blouse and pencil skirt. She was much easier to read than her cold, unsmiling boss. She wasn’t looking guilty, or worried. Instead, she seemed almost hopeful, as if Peni had offered a solution to one of their own problems.
Interesting.
Perhaps the Majutsu-shi had been wrong. Perhaps this meeting wasn’t going to be a waste of time.