It had been a quiet two weeks in the Brooks household, with only two events deviating from the norm. One, they hadn’t seen Lucy on her usual Tuesday visits, which Tara had declined to comment on. Two, Lucy’s absence had been taken by Vinnie Sonetti, who had still been combing the surrounding countryside for the two ‘jacuzzi bitches’, as well as discussing some work with Zach’s father. After a week however, Sonetti stopped cming, much to the relief of Tara, who no longer had to hide in her room every time the man even came close to the house.

In these peaceful two weeks, Zach had spent most of his time either going out with Yuki or studying from the books he’d borrowed from Mister O’Donnel, to many different reactions from his family. Sawyer called him a geek every time he saw it, whereas Tara had attempted to motivate him by studying along. Mister Brooks had quietly commented that a, Zach should put that much work in his schoolwork and b, if he was going to learn a language, he’d be better off learning Russian in case the commies took over. Mrs Brooks simply left him to it, muttering that she thought it was sweet he was putting in the effort for Yuki.

This day, Zach had been home alone for most of the day and had installed himself at the kitchen table for a change of view. He was flipping through Japanese: The Spoken Language, trying to remember, and more importantly understnad, what he’d learned in the first chapter and sighed as he went over the new grammar.

“We now introduce another set of so-called ko-so-a-do words,’ he read to himself, sighing at the paper, cocking is head with every line until his head would go no further. He realigned the book so he kept reading, tried to cock his head even further and… fell from his chair.

“The fuck am I doing…” he said to himself, watching his pen roll off the table after him.

“Language,” Mrs Brooks chided, entering the kitchen from the scullery. She was holding a small bag of bread, then frowned at her son.

“Why are you on the floor? Is that a Japan thing?”

“I fell, mom,”

“Well, when you remember how to stand, get the groceries from the car.”

Even though Zach didn’t mind the excuse to drop his studies for a few minutes, he complained out of habit.

“It’s Tara’s turn!” he called, throwing his pen onto the table.

“Tara isn’t here, so it’s yours instead.”

“You left her in the city?”

“I left her in the library.”

“I thought she read everything there already,” Zach grinned, pulling himself to his feet.

“Not the big one…And be careful with the eggs!”

Zach went to get the bags from the car, glad to find only two and returned to the kitchen where he continued his conversation.

“How is Tara supposed to come home? Do I have to pick her up?”

“She’s sleeping over at Lucy’s.”

Zach put the groceries on the kitchen table and frowned, “They made up?”

“Well, you know they’ve been together since kindergarten. A boy won’t stand between a friendship like that… Not till college anyway.”

“Why college…”

Mrs Brooks was about to answer when the phone rang.

“Nevermind,” she said to her son and picked up, “Brooks residence. Tara? You want to go home? Your brother? Sure… Zach, it’s for you. Your sister.”

Zach, who had been peeking into the shopping bags to see if his mother had brought anything good to snack on frowned and took over the phone from her.

“Tara?”

“Hey, Zach. What do you call the Japanese mafia?”

“...Is this a pun?”

“No, a question.”

“Something starting with Ya,” he said out loud, thinking for a moment, “Yuki told me the other day.”

“Oooo, Yukiiii.”

“Shush, Tara. Ya… Ya…Yakuza!”

“How do you spell that?”

“You use letters.”

“Oh ha ha. Thanks, Zach, I’ll figure it out.”

Tara ended the call.

“Yakuza?” Mrs Brooks asaked, “What’s that?”

“The Japanese maffia…”

“A...ha? Why did Tara want to know that?”

“Beats me,” Zach said, an idea of why she wanted to know forming, “Maybe she wants to use it for one of her weird stories.”

“Don’t call your sister weird,” Mrs Brooks said, opening a jar of pickles to fish one out.

“I’m just calling her stories weird.”

“Don’t do that either…”

The phone rang again.

“You think that’s your sister?”

Zach sat down and shrugged, “No idea.”

Mrs Brooks answered the phone, then sighed when she hung up.

“What?”

“Work. Daisy and Alice both called in sick, which means you’re alone tonight. Order a pizza or something.”

“What about dad?”

“Working late. I’ll bring him dinner at the office.”

“Sawyer?”

“Swimming with Sophie again.”

“Pizza it is,” Zach agreed, “Good luck at work.”

“Thanks, son. Have a nice evening.”

“How couldn’t I? I have studying to do…”

Mrs Brooks chuckled, then left the kitchen.

As soon as Zach heard her car leave, he rushed to the phone and dialed the phone.

It rang a few times, then a bored voice answered, “Lucy speaking.”

“Lucy, it’s Zach.”

“What do you want, Brooks?”

“Is Tara staying with you tonight?” he demanded to know.

“Your straight to video sister is not here no,” was the reply, “Ask your mommy if you must know where she is.”

Lucy slammed the phone down.

“Crap,” Zach said to himself, “Crap crap crap crap crap…”

Unsure what else to do, he dialed Yuki, glad to find her home.

“Yuki?” he tried.

“Zach?”

“He sighed deep before talking, “… I think Tara’s about to be in trouble.”

“So, tell your parents.”

“Good call,” Zach said, didn’t bother to say bye before hanging up and tried his father’s work number. He got the answering machine.

He hung up and immediately called Yuki again.

“Zach?” she teased, “Are your parents dealing with it.”

“No. I can’t get them on the phone.”

“Why do you think she is in trouble anyway.”

“She said she’s staying with Lucy…”

“So?”

“Lucy and Tara aren’t talking. And she called me to ask about the yakuza.”

“So?”

“So, I think she’s looking for the girls that saved her.”

“That is not a problem. She will not find aynone.”

“Yuki, I don’t want my little sisters wandering the streets at night. She’s thirteen for god’s sake.”

“So, you want to find your sister to tell her that you are the girl that saved her.”

It was quiet on the line, save for the sound of Yuki giggling into her hand, “She will never believe you.”

“Shit, you’re right…”

“Calm down, Zach. I know how to convince her.”

“How?”

“Do not laught, but do you still have the Seifuku?”

“...yes?”

“Grab it and come over.”

Zach didn’t bother to argue. He slammed the horn down and rushed upstairs to collect his things, left a note for his parents stating he’d spend the night with Yuki, which was technically true, then ran for his bike.