Log:Finding Rei, Scene 2

Finding Rei 2015/05/06 	 Rei Yutaka Kami Monk

2

The Search
There's only one establishment in Yokohama that fits the viewpoint of the sixth image. A Temple on a hill overlooking the city that is a combined Temple and school and boarding home for children

Yutaka walks up the hill at an easy pace. Its sakura season, and he sees a lot of families sitting below the sakura, singing and playing, drinking, and having great time. The cherry blossoms fall gracefully like snow slowly on the light springtime wind that blows from the shore of yokohama bay. As he gets to the top of the hill, he enters the temple, bowing at the threshold as he does, and looks around for a monk or an adminitrator.

There's several children in the courtyard studying under the supervision of a monk teacher.

Yutaka approaches quietly, showing great respect for the monk and his endeavors, having spend extensive time in a very traditional environment himself, he simply stands to the side and waits for the monk to acknoledge him.

It's the distraction of the children that finally clues the monk in that someone is there. Giving the class a passage to read to keep them busy he turns and walks over to Yutaka. "May I help you?" he asks serenely.

Yutaka bows deeply to the Monk, "Sensei, I apologize for my distraction to your teachings. I, on the behalf of another am seeking a student that may have studied here. I wonder if you would indulge me a moment of your wisdom, and allow me to show you a picture, if you do not recognize her, perhaps you could direct me to the person in charge of admissions?"

The monk smiles, "I will look at the picture, but before I speak of what I may or may not know of the student I will need to know why you seek them."

Yutaka nods, "A more than fair request, I seek this child out because her father has passed, and her sister seeks her out."

The monk looks into Yutaka's eyes for a long moment and then nods, "Show me the picture." he says, seemingly satisfied that he has been told the truth.

Yutaka nods and pulls out his handiholo and brings up the picture of the girl.

The monk takes one look at the picture. "Rei. She was my best student. Very intelligent. Her father passed? That would have been... ten years ago? He visited her every year until she was six and then stopped coming." The monk sighs, "Her stay here was paid for until her fourteenth birthday. I tried to get the administrator to allow her to remain but he asked her to leave. That was two years ago." He looks at the children studying and calls one over, "This is Kami, Rei's friend." Speaking to the girl he asks, "Kami, have you seen Rei since she left?"

The girl nods, "Yes, teacher. Rei joined a gang of street children who hang out near the docks."

Yutaka steps back and allows Kami space to be comfortable. "I am sorry to hear that...Are you able to contact her Kami-chan?"

The girl shakes her head sadly, "No, Sama. Rei said it was too dangerous for me to go to see her."

Yutaka nods, "I will find her. Thank you. She has a very bright future, I will help her find her way." he says with a bow to both Kami and the Monk. "Sensei, Doomo Arigato Gozaimasu."

The monk and the girl bow back.

Yutaka shuts down the holo and leaves quietly, bowing as he departs the temple, before heading back down the hill. "The docks.. she is running with a tough crowd. I better change things up." and he steps behind a building and ducks into a side shop where he changes from his normal upscale clothing into beat up jeans, a white t-shirt and work boots. He dons a work jacket and messes his hair up. Once done, he heads for the docks, catching a taxi there..

The docks are, indeed, a rough area. An experienced eye soon spots a number of children in the mid to late teens age group keeping watch over the area. There's a lot of noise coming from a ring of tall crates stacked up on the dockside. Cheers, yells, boos, and the sound of metal striking metal.

Yutaka walks over effecting a swagger, In japanese he says to one of the kids, "What the action today?" he continues right towards the sound..

The kid says with a hint of pride, "Scrapyard is fighting Claw." As Yutaka moves on he gets to a position where he can see inside the ring of crates. There's a crowd in there surrounding a pair of combatants. One is a tall girl in a crude exoskeleton suit. The other is a boy wolverine type with long metal claws extending from the backs of his hands. Again, the experienced eye can spot a couple of people with more of a professional interest in the fight than just fans. There's a lot of quite heavy betting going on.

Yutaka nods back to the kid and enters the crated area. ((Not what I expected, and I'm sure this is not what Yushio wants to see.))

Yutaka looks around the circle to see if there are any girls that match the description of what Rei would look like at 16, but more than anything else, he carefully watches the fight.

The fight is fairly evenly matched. The boy wolverine is faster but the exoskeleton protects against his claws although there are starting to be rents and tears in the metal. The suit looks like it was build from scrap and junk. It's powered with servos that boost the girl's natural strength and the blows she lands shake the boy. Most of the betting seems to be on the girl winning. Probably because the shouts of the spectators suggest the girl is the local favourite.

Yutaka continues to watch, ((If robotic genius runs in the family, then I have a feeling I know who's under the helm.)) He steps forward to one of the bet takers and flashes a paystick "I'm betting 10K on the boy." he says loud enough for people to hear.

There does seem to be some rules. A bell indicates the end of a round and the combatants back away from each other. The girl in the scrapyard suit happens to draw back close to Yukata. Which means he overhears the short conversation when one of the professionally interested men quietly tells the girl to take a fall and lose the fight.

Yutaka gets booed as he bets on the boy. It's clear who the local favourite is, and that's how most of the crowd are betting.

Yutaka claps the man on the shoulder and grins, "I'll take those odds!" and quickly goes back to the bookie, "double my bet..." looking at the group, he thinks he has to have the highest bet on the table here, outweighing most of this rabble's total pool he thinks.

The fight starts again, and there's no sign that the girl is paying any attention to the whisperd instructions to throw the fight. Meanwhile the bookie who took Yutaka's doubled bet pushes through the crowd to talk urgently to the professional who is probably his boss.

Yutaka watches the fight, but pays attention to the bookie and the pro..

Both the bookie and the professional are watching the fight with frowns. Until Claw lunges at the girl and rips free a section of the patched together suit. For a moment he gloats in his success, and in that moment when he is distracted the girl catches him with a wild uppercut that lifts him right off his feet and deposits him on his back. He is clearly stunned and groggy and unable to respond as the girl races over to him and lifts her fist for a head shot. She delays to give the boy a chance to yield, and the boy hurriedly pats out, "I'm done. You win." he says. The girl stands and reaches down to help the boy to his feet. Then she removes her helm and shakes free her long red hair.

The crowd erupt in cheering. And the bookie and professional look relieved.

Yutaka puts on an act of anger, walking right at the pro, he hisses under his breath, "You told her to take a fall..I just lost 20K, I want my money back!"

The professional smiles coldly, "You bet. You lost." he whispers back.

Yutaka sneers back, "I want my money back. Unless you want to bet something else.."

The professional is always ready to help fools part with their money. "What else?"

Yutaka looks at the Girl, "I beat her, you pay me double."

The crowd is dispersing, and the girl is taking off her exoskeleton suit and storing it in a couple of large sports bags. There are three of the children you saw helping her to remove the suit. The professional doesn't know you. He's not going to make a bet unless he knows he has a better than even chance of winning, and you might be a ringer. He shakes his head. "No bet."

Yutaka smiles..an evil smile, "Then bet your life..because I'm about to take it from you." he drops down into a fighting stance, not a great one, but enough of a threat to be taken seriously...

The professional drops back a step and draws a knife from inside his jacket. The other professional moves up to support him, and the bookie and crowd back off hurriedly. The wolverine boy looks back and forth worriedly but uncertain what to do, while the girl and her helpers start hurrying away.

Yutaka needs to follow Rei, so he make short work of these low level thugs, a spinning sweep takes out the first pro, followed in the same motion with a second spinning back kick, using the momentum of the sweep to connect with the sternum of the second man, lifting him off his feet to land heavily in the pile of crates, he then springs backwards and begins to run after the kids...

The girl and her three helpers take off at a flat run on seeing Yutaka coming after them after you deal with the low level Yukuza scum with supreme ease. They have no idea who you are and don't intend to wait to find out.

Yutaka runs past the kids and says "Rei, I want to talk to you.." his body language, unlike what was just displayed shows an open, almost altrusitic look, arms up in the universal sign of parley. "I have something important to tell you. Something that will change your life." he looks at her two friends, and says, "Scram." to the others.

Rei stops when she realises you can outrun her and her friends. What she knows about you is you bet on the boy and lost a lot of money when she won. Despite your altruistic appearence and words she wouldn't be surprised if you tried to take it out on her. There's a quick glance at the bags containing her exoskeleton suit but obviously no time to put it on. "Split up and hide." she tells her friends and turns to face Yutaka, lifting her arms ready to fight, although it's clear she has no martial arts training at all.

When the two others leave he continues with hands up, and allows his clothes to change in front of her, "Tech." is all he says at first as his clothes return to the designer style he normally wears. "I'm rich, 20K is nothing to me. I just wanted your attention. If you let me buy you lunch, we can talk about what I have to tell you, and it's definitely not what you think."

Rei watches the clothing change in front of her. "How did you do that?" she asks, her curiosity coming to the fore.

Yutaka grins, "Tech. Want to talk? Its just lunch, if you don't like what I have to say, I'll leave you alone."

Rei makes her mind up quickly enough. She saw what you can do when you took out the Yukuza scum in a couple of seconds. Lunch is better than trying to fight you, and she can't run away. You're faster. "Okay, lunch. I pick where we go."

Yutaka shrugs, "Make it good, I'm buying." he says he picks up 2 of the bags, and says, "lead on.."

Rei takes you at your word. In fact she wants to see if you really mean it. So she names the most expensive diner in the city.

Yutaka chuckles, "Great choice, I have standing reservations there. Lets go." he says, as he leads them in the general direction of the streets before getting them a taxi. "Tokimeki at the Bay Tower please." he says to the autotaxi. He allows Rei in the taxi first before entering next to her.

When you get to the restaurant the doorman refuses Rei entrance. Not that surprising given her clothing is what she's been living in on the streets.

Yutaka raises an eyebrow..."Really?" he leans into the doorman, "She's a Takaga. Do you really want to refuse her?"

The doorman's eyes open wide. "I... You have to admit, Sir, her clothing is... eccentric. I did not know." Suddenly he's all smiles and welcomes, "Please, go straight in. The manager will be with you immediately."

Rei didn't hear the comment you made to the doorman. She probably wasn't meant to. She's just impressed. Who are you to have that much influence?

Yutaka nods, "Thank you, I knew you would understand." he leads her in, "Watch her things please." he says putting her bags of junk on the floor next to the entrance.

The doorman nods, "Of course, Sir. Ma'am."

Rei whispers, "How did you do that? I was sure I'd be turned away, dressed like this."

Yutaka smiles at her, "Don't worry about it..it really wasn't me.." he says "Come on, I think the manager is going to meet us, and seat us."

And Yutaka is right. A smiling eager to please manager is waiting inside the restaurant to lead Youtaka and Rei to the best table in the place, where a waiter is putting a vase of flowers on the table and another is bringing a tea service on a trolley.

Yutaka follows the Manager, a man he's known for a while, "You need to train the Doorman to recognize who he's dealing with. this could have ended poorly for the restaurant. Instead, this could be a coup for you yet."

The manager nods, although his eyes are curious as he looks at Rei. As far as he knows there is only one Takaga and Rei is clearly not the face that's been on a hundred magazine covers.

Yutaka looks at the manager directly, "Trust me. Now service the lady, my treat, her choice."

Rei looks at the menu and doesn't recognise most of the items. She looks over to Yutaka, "Can you order for me?"

Yutaka nods, "Just tell me what you like.."

Rei nods, "Seafood mostly." It's what she's able to get on the docks.

Yutaka nods and points to a number of items, from the lobster and King crab legs, to the sea urchin delicasy, to the monkfish liver, and a host of sushi and sashimi plates.

Rei forgets about talking when the dishes are served and the aroma reaches her nostrils. She waits a little impatiently for Yutaka to start eating before she begins. And with the very first mouthful there's a delighted sigh of pleasure.

Yutaka smiles, "I'm glad you like it." he says picking up a piece of the monkfish liver, "I know you haven't always lived on the streets..how long have you been there?"

Rei says, "Two years. Since I was asked to leave by the Temple School administrator. I didn't know what to do. Temple life doesn't prepare for living on the streets. But I met some kids my age and they helped me get used to it."

Yutaka nods, "I see...why did you have to leave?"

Yushio looks sad. "My father paid for me to be at the school. But only until I was fourteen. I remember him saying when I was that age he would have a surprise for me. But... well, he stopped coming to see me when I was six. I guess he stopped caring about me."

Yutaka smiles at Rei, "I highly doubt that Rei, you should never think that. That is simply not true. I would dare say, he loved you a great deal."

Rei sighs, "Then why did he abandon me. Why did he stop coming on my birthdays to see me?"

Yutaka passes over a lobster tail to her, "I'll help you understand a little of it, there is somoene else who will want to meet you. We can talk about that later though, right now enjoy the meal." he pauses taking a slice of yellow tail fatty stomach sashimi, after eating it delicately, he asks her, "Rei..what's your full name?"

Rei picks up a crab claw and cracks it open. "Rei. That's the only name I have."

Yutaka frowns "Is that what the Monks said?"

Rei nods, munching on the meat from the crab claw.

Yutaka nods, "Well Rei, then today will really be a chance for you to change your life. My name is Yutaka Yamaoka, I used to live here in Japan," he points towards Tokyo, "I used to work for Shin-Sony, in Shinjuku, but now I live in the United States, East Coast. Have you ever traveled?"

Rei shakes her head, listening wisfully to your words to living in the United States. "I've never been out of Yokohama. What's it like living in the United States?"

Yutaka chuckles, "Its different, but the same. I know that sounds strange, but at the end of the day, people are people, and regardless of the language or the culture, love is still love, pain is still pain, family is still family."

Rei takes in what you said and nods slowly. "Still, it must be wonderful to be able to travel. I'd like to visit the United States." She switches to accentuated English, "I taught myself English in case I ever had the chance."

Yutaka smiles and answers in perfect english, "Very nice. You speak very well. I'm impressed." he pauses, "Travel is full of adventure, I've done my fair share of it. Still, to come home to a familiar face, and a familiar place, that's the best reward after a trip, long or short. I'm sure you will travel some day. Maybe even some day soon."

Rei smiles wryly. She doesn't see that happening for a long time. But talk of familar faces reminds her that her friends will be worried. And she still doesn't know why you are treating her to a meal. However she can ask. "Yutaka-sama. I'm enjoying this meal very much and I don't wish to be ungrateful but why are you treating me? I'm just a girl living on the streets and not even the prettiest one either."

Yutaka shakes his head, "You are far more than that. I am not here to hit on you, or have any ulterior motives, I was asked to find you I have, but." he pauses, "this has suddenly become more than just a job for me. Its obvious you're more than meets the eye. I will answer all of your questions as soon as we finish our meal. Deal?"

Rei eyes all the delicacies on the table and grins, "Deal." she says and reaches for a slice of sushi.

Yutaka nods and sits back, "eat up, and we'll get dessert, then we'll talk." he says again with a smile.