Junior Year Box Set

This was just crazy. I was so glad I didn’t live here, or I would end up punching someone. When Haru joined me, there was a surge, and our path shrunk. I heard a child scream in fear and saw a little boy who looked to be four or five sprawled out on the ground. I walked over and looked as menacing as I could. The crowd took a step back as I leaned over and picked up the little boy. He had a terrified sister, so I picked her up too. I wasn’t happy their mother had brought them to something like this.

“Follow me,” I told her in Japanese.

Paul had waded in with me and led me out, with the mother bringing up the rear. When I came out of the crowd, I handed the little girl to Haru. The flashes about blinded us as we carried the two kids inside.

The little boy had scraped-up his hands. I took him to the bathroom to get them clean while the doorman found a first aid kit. The doorman said he had kids of his own and was good with the little boy.

While I dealt with that, Haru was on the phone with her publicist.

Hana was in the lobby and helped me talk to the doorman and the mother. They decided it would be best to take the kids out the back. The mother thanked me profusely for helping her. She had been in a near panic when she heard her boy scream in fear.

“It was amazing. He just walked into the crowd, and the next thing I see, he is carrying two little kids out to safety. He’s a hero,” Haru rattled on.

We said our goodbyes and took the elevator up to Haru’s condominium. I met her boyfriend, Ricky Nagai. He was a thirty-one-year-old actor who’d met Haru on set for a movie. Haru abandoned us because someone called to interview her. I could tell Ricky was irritated.

“She promised us dinner. I would bet we should order out,” I suggested.

“You’re probably right. What did you want?”

I turned him over to Hana. All I cared about was that it had to be filling. While Hana and Ricky talked, Paul and I relaxed in the living room. What jumped out at me was how small the place was. I would guess it was only 400 square feet, or about the size of a one-car garage. My apartment back home was twice this size.

“That wasn’t good,” I said.

“Crowds can be dangerous. I’m sure Fritz is going to kill me. Never, ever, ever go into a crowd like that again. Let me rescue someone if the need arises. If anyone had meant you harm, you were completely exposed to it,” Paul lectured me.

“We don’t need to tell him,” I suggested.

That’s when I received a Twitter alert: #DavidADawson, #SavesChildren. I showed it to Paul.

“You better call your mom, and I need to call my boss,” Paul urged.

He was starting to become a valuable member of the team. Calling my mom was the right choice. She’d also gotten the Twitter messages and seen the videos; it seemed everyone had a camera on their phone. I got the ‘we will talk when you get home’ line. She told me that Little David had started to crawl, and I suddenly felt homesick.

I was glad when the food came, but shocked when it was Indian food. Then I realized I was being silly. Why wouldn’t they have an Indian restaurant in Tokyo? We started with vegetable samosas, then butter chicken was the main course, with garlic naan and saffron rice. I also snagged some tandoori chicken. Ricky took Haru some chicken curry.

Haru kept busy on the phone, so we told Ricky we’d be going. On the way home, Hana warned me about him.

“He doesn’t like you one bit because Haru talks about you nonstop. I have a creepy feeling about him.”

“Do you think he would hurt David?” Paul asked.

“I honestly don’t know.”

I did learn that Ricky was his stage name. His manager thought he needed an Americanized name to possibly get into movies in the states.

◊◊◊

I was finishing making calls back home when my three dead-to-me friends showed up.

“Did you see the pictures?” Brook asked.

I gave them a dirty look.

“He’s just mad that he didn’t know who to ask. He asked a pilot; I asked the base commander,” Cassidy informed me.

“Did you have fun?” I asked.

“OMG! It was the most fun ever,” Brook said with a huge smile. “We need you to get your pilot’s license and then get qualified for jets. Maybe you could do a photo shoot, and they would give you one.”

“I think that’s a little different from clothes.”

“Whatev. Once you try one, you’ll be hooked. I loved how it slammed me into the seat when it accelerated. The only thing that might be more fun is to have them strap a rocket on your butt and launch you into space,” Brook said.

I realized what something like this did to Brook’s libido. I waggled my eyebrows at her.

“C’mon, Megan, I think that’s our signal to leave,” Cassidy said.

“Perhaps Master would want to play with all of us,” Megan said and giggled.

“As much as I would like to play Master of the Universe, Cassidy’s dad would kill me. Plus, you’re an employee. I already showed you my wiener yesterday and traumatized you. I expect Caryn would have some serious misgivings about me taking it any further.”