Chapter 1
Jasmine Moore had stood face-to-face with murderers, but she had never been more scared than in this moment.
She knew, on a logical level, that airplanes were perfectly safe. She had done a lot of reading and research to prove that very fact to herself, and she knew that she didn't have any reason to be scared. That still didn't make her feel any better as the airplane accelerated down the runway, picking up speed as it tilted towards the sky.
"I don't think I can do this," she said out loud. She reached forward and put a hand on the golden retriever seated at her feet for assurance. He seemed to be more settled than her, and though it was his first rodeo too, he’d seen enough television to know the mode of transport they were in was perfectly safe.
"You don't really have much of a choice at this point," the dog said, looking up at her. "Just take a deep breath. In a couple of seconds, we'll be in the air, and you won't even be able to feel it anymore."
Jasmine nodded, then realized she probably looked crazy to everyone else on the plane. No one else shared her special bond with Luffy that allowed them to talk to each other, and to a stranger she would just look as if she was talking and nodding to herself. Luckily, everyone else in the cabin seemed too busy with their own activities to notice their interaction at all.
In the time it took her to look around, the plane had finished its takeoff sequence. They were still gaining altitude, but there was no longer the same push on her body to remind her they were climbing skyward. She still felt uncomfortable, but the visceral terror had faded. A few more deep breaths and it was nearly gone.
"Okay," she said, this time keeping her voice low so no one else could hear. "Maybe I can get through this."
"I knew you could," Luffy said. He tried to wag his tail a bit, but had to stop when it hit the seat in front of him.
"Careful," Jasmine warned, scooting back in her seat so that Luffy would have a little more space.
"This is the real problem with airplanes," Luffy whined. "Why couldn't they just let me ride in a seat?"
Jasmine sighed and didn't answer. Luffy knew perfectly well that it was safer for him on the ground, and that he was lucky he hadn't been confined to the cargo hold. It had taken the intervention of an FBI agent for him to be allowed in the cabin at all, and Jasmine wasn't keen on asking Marlon Gale for any more favors. He had already saved her hometown's best bookshop and paid for her trip. If he did anything more, she'd have to start writing personal IOUs.
Even if Luffy wasn't perfectly happy with his space, Jasmine couldn't complain about hers. First class was not a bad way to spend her very first flight, and she made a note to thank Marlon when she saw him next. She had seen the seats in the main cabin and there wasn’t much space for the passengers, let alone an additional dog.
The longer she spent in the air, the more at ease she became. She played with the screen embedded in the seat in front of her and talked quietly to Luffy. Every time the flight attendants walked by they would offer her a drink, even though they would also glare at Luffy for being there. Jasmine was used to a small town and a small college, so she wasn't very used to being waited on. It made the entire experience feel a little more exciting and acted as a reminder they were headed towards unknown territory.
"Maybe you should get some sleep," Luffy suggested. "The time difference is crazy."
It was a valid point, but Jasmine didn't feel capable of sleeping just then. She was too excited — this was her first time to leave her comfort zone, and she couldn't stop watching the clock to see how much longer it was until they got to Japan. She had been dreaming of this since winter break, and now that she was finally on her way, it was thrilling.
"I know I should. I just don't know if I can."
"Well, I can," Luffy yawned, turning onto his side and laying down. His feet stuck out a little in front of the seat beside Jasmine, but no one was sitting there. "I'll see you when the plane lands."
Jasmine shifted in her seat and settled in. The in-flight entertainment included a short video to advertise their destination, and she allowed herself to get lost in it. It would have been easy to spend the rest of the flight watching it over again had someone not slid into the seat next to her.
"Sorry," the boy said. He looked to be about Jasmine's age, and his features suggested an Asian origin. "But are you Jasmine Moore?"
Jasmine took off her headphones. "I am. Who are you?"
"My name's Seisaku, but everyone calls me Saku. I'm not famous like you though, so it doesn't really matter. What are you doing on a plane to Japan?"
"Oh..." Jasmine didn't know what to say. She didn't really consider herself famous, though the last few months had definitely pushed her into the public eye. Helping to put a reality TV star behind bars got you on the news, especially if you were a young amateur and not a trained detective. "It's nice to meet you, even if you aren't famous. I'm actually on vacation. What about you?"
"I am going to see my dad. My mom lives in the states and I've been going to school there, but since it's Spring Break, I thought I'd go see some family."
Jasmine could not help but feel guilty, although it was the chance of a lifetime. She could have been visiting her own family, but she had chosen Japan for Spring Break instead.
"That's cool."
"I guess," Saku shrugged. "It's hard to think of anything in my life as particularly cool when I'm sitting next to you. How many murders have you solved at this point?"
“Uh... a few, I guess? It consisted mostly of interviews anyway, not that exciting.” Jasmine felt her privacy was being invaded with the awkward questions and wondered if she should ask the boy to leave.
As if he was reading her mind, Saku pulled back with a bit of a laugh. "Sorry, I'm probably freaking you out. I've just been following your adventures since the thing with Jack Torres, and it's crazy to see you in person. I can go now if you're busy or something."
He looked disappointed enough by the prospect of leaving to make Jasmine feel bad. "You can stay, I guess. I'd love to hear about Japan from someone who's been there."
His face seemed to light up at the prospect of being useful. "Yes, of course. I spent about half my time there as a kid, so I know the place really well. What do you want to know?"
"Is it as amazing as all the videos make it out to be?" she asked, nodding at the screen that was still playing the same video without sound.
"Tokyo has its charms. But if you really want to see the best of what Japan has to offer, you should go out to the countryside. The landscape is just beautiful, and that's where all the best architecture is. I must have been to Hakone a hundred times, but it still takes my breath away."
They chatted for a while longer, and Jasmine felt bad for judging the boy so quickly. He was sweet, and it made her feel more at ease to see she wasn't the only thing that he was enthusiastic about. His eyes seemed to light up as he talked about his favorite places in Japan, and Jasmine was sold in an instant. She knew she only had a week, but she wrote down all the places Saku suggested she visit. In between suggestions, he sprinkled in stories about his life and questions about hers. Luffy was still asleep, so Jasmine was happy to have someone to talk to.
It was a really long flight, but it seemed to pass quickly while they spoke. It felt all too soon when the flight attendants started their announcements and preparations for landings.
"I should probably get back to my seat," Saku said, looking up at the flight attendants who were making their way down the aisle to pick up their trash. "It was really cool to meet you though — you're even cooler than you seemed in all those newspaper articles."
"You're pretty cool too," Jasmine said. Part of her wished she could see him again, but she didn't really see how it was possible.
The Fasten Seatbelt sign clicked on just as Saku was about to get up, and he glanced at Jasmine. "Do you want to exchange numbers? That way, you can text me if you have more questions about Japan."
"Yeah," Jasmine blurted. "Here, let me just write it down for you."
She scribbled her phone number on the next page of her notebook and quickly tore it out for him. He leaned over to write his number and was just finishing up when a flight attendant reached them.
"Could you please fasten your seat-belt for landing?"
The question caught Saku off guard, and he quickly explained that it wasn't his seat. The flight attendant must have faced some belligerent passengers in the past because she didn't seem interested in his excuses.
"I'm sorry, sir, but it's a matter of safety that everyone keeps their seat-belts buckled for both takeoff and landing."
Saku opened his mouth helplessly and glanced at Jasmine. She shrugged in return. She had seen no one else in the seat for the entire flight, plus she didn't mind the company. He took the shrug as permission and buckled his seat belt.
"Thank you," the flight attendant said. She glanced at Luffy with disgust, then moved on to check the rest of the plane.
"She wasn't very nice. Not complaining though, I just got a free upgrade."
"She's been glaring at me ever since I first brought Luffy on the plane," Jasmine nodded at her dog, who was still fast asleep. "She probably wanted an excuse to lecture."
"I don't see how she couldn't love Luffy," Saku said, leaning down to pet Luffy's head. "He's such a cute little dog."
"Thanks," Jasmine said, looking down at Luffy. "I think she's just mad about him being on the plane — I had to pull some strings to get him up in the cabin with me."
“My guess is with all the murders you've solved, you've got a lot of strings you can pull. Getting the dog up here seems like a good time to use up some favors.”
Jasmine smiled. She was really starting to get along with Saku.
Unfortunately, before she could dwell on that warm feeling for long, the nose of the plane tipped downwards. Her first thought was that they were going down, but the initial panic dissipated when she quickly reminded herself that they had already been preparing for descent. Nothing was out of the ordinary; this was just their planned landing.
Still, it was terrifying. Even more so than taking off. She gripped the armrests of her seat as tightly as she could and tried to put on a brave face for the boy sitting next to her.
It didn't work.
"Are you okay?" he asked, tilting his head around to look at her. "You went kind of pale."
"This is my first time on an airplane," she said, trying to take deep breaths without being too obvious. "Is this what the descent always feels like?"
"This is exactly what descending feels like," he said, placing his hand over hers on the armrest. "You're going to be fine, I promise."
His hand was warm, and if she hadn't been so worried they were both going to die, she might have blushed.
"How can you be so calm?" she asked. The plane was tilted towards the ground, and if something went wrong, they would have very little time to fix it. All Jasmine's books had said that takeoff and landing were the most dangerous parts of a flight, which only left her more on edge.
"You get used to it. I've been back and forth between my parents enough times that the plane flight feels like a second home — well, a third home, I guess."
Jasmine couldn't help but smile, and she turned her hand over so she was holding his, rather than the armrest of the seat. He squeezed her hand once and smiled. It all made her feel a little better — at least if the plane went down, she wouldn't be dying alone.
At long last, the wheels touched down. The jolt startled a squeak out of Jasmine, but the relief of being on the ground quickly followed it. At that moment, Luffy woke up and gave his entire body a good shake. He looked up at Jasmine, then over at the boy next to her.
"Who's that?" Luffy asked. He looked again, and this time saw their hands clasped together on the armrest. "Why are you holding hands?"
Right. Jasmine had completely forgotten she was holding hands with Saku. Probably too quickly. She pulled her hand back to her own side. If Saku was offended or relieved at the gesture, he gave nothing away.
Now that they were on the ground, Jasmine's eyes were glued to the window. She was looking forward to her first glimpse of Tokyo, but she couldn't see much further than the edge of the airport. The city was the same smudge of light and color that she would have seen from the sky if she had been brave enough to look.
The plane taxied up to its gate, and Jasmine grew more excited by the second. After not sleeping a wink on the plane, she was tired, but she didn't let that pull her mood down. Seeing Tokyo, even for just a few moments at night, would be a dream come true.
As soon as the fasten seatbelt light was off, Jasmine was out of her seat. Saku politely got out of the way, and she waved a quick goodbye to him as she joined the rush of people headed towards the front doors of the plane. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him duck back a few rows and grab his carry-on bags from the main cabin.
That was quickly forgotten as Jasmine and the others were rushed into the airport. At first, it didn't feel that different from the airport she had left from. It felt big and commercial and disorienting. Visually, that remained true, but as she tuned in her hearing, she noticed the difference more acutely. All around her, people were talking in Japanese rather than English. It wasn't much, but it was a splendid start to the vacation.
"Let's see if we can get a better view of the city," Jasmine said to Luffy as they set out.
There were enough people in the airport to make navigating with Luffy an issue, and Jasmine was glad to feel the fresh air on her face when they made it out. After all that time in an airplane, it was good to be outside, and the weather was nearly perfect. She joined a line of people waiting to hail a cab and before long was on the road. The elderly man in the front seat glanced back at her in silence every few seconds. He hadn't said a word when Luffy got in the cab with her, but Jasmine was getting the idea he was not a big fan of the arrangement.
Any concern about the cab driver melted away as they neared the city. Cities were foreign to Jasmine after spending her life in a small town and having Tokyo as her introduction was stunning. Lights were everywhere, but it was the colors that really caught her attention. Every sign seemed to glow a different shade, as if they thought their color would be the one to stand out from the masses. Each one declared its name with bold Kanji characters. Even though Jasmine couldn't read them, she felt herself being drawn in all the same.
"It's amazing," Luffy remarked.
Jasmine could not have agreed more. As the cab wove through the city, her eyes were glued on the window, trying to take in every building and every bit of light she saw. It was almost a disappointment when the cab driver dropped her off at her hostel and her brief tour came to an end. She paid the cab driver, and walking up to the front door of the hostel was enough to get her excited again.
There was an old woman behind the desk of the hostel, and she smiled when Jasmine came in. She was a petite woman, and she greeted Jasmine with a tiny bow that the latter was not sure how to return. When she tried, she felt clumsy and almost insensitive.
"Welcome to Hosuteru Hostel. I'm Sato Aiko. Can I help you get checked in?"
The check-in process was quick and easy, and it wasn't long before both Jasmine and Luffy were being led to the back of the building. Beds were stacked neatly along the walls, some with curtains partially or completely blocking the view. Aiko led Jasmine to the very back corner, where a group of three teenagers were already talking to each other.
"I have another American," Aiko said, interrupting their conversation. "She will have bed 28."
Aiko then turned to Jasmine. "I do not mind the dog, but he must sleep on your bed with you. I cannot have others tripping on him in the middle of the night."
"Understood," Jasmine promised. "I'll keep him on the bed."
Aiko walked away then and left Jasmine with the other three teens. Two of them — a boy and girl — looked as if they could be from the same family. They had olive skin and green eyes, along with the same shade of brown hair. The girl wore hers in a ponytail, but a few strands had escaped and now curled lazily along her cheeks. The third teen was a black girl with tightly curled hair pulled into two pigtails. She was sitting on a top bunk and already seemed to be in her pajamas. All three of them were staring at Jasmine and Luffy.
"Hi!" she said nervously as she moved towards bed 28. "I'm Jasmine, and this is my dog, Luffy."
The sister was the first to speak to her. Her smile was warm and inviting. "I like your dog. I would have brought my cat, but he would have hated every second."
"I still think we should have brought him," the boy said. "Once we got Tubs through the plane ride, he would have loved it."
“You can't travel with a cat,” said the second girl, shaking her head. She looked down at Jasmine. “I'm Tasha, by the way, and these two idiots are Leo and Layla.”
"It's nice to meet you," Jasmine said, sitting down on her bed. Luffy hopped up with no problem, and Jasmine counted herself lucky that they had ended up with a bottom bunk. "Aiko said you're all American."
"I'm sure she told you that, but Leo and I are actually from Canada," Layla said. Now that Jasmine knew to listen for it, she thought she could hear a bit of an accent. Jasmine was from far enough North that it was barely different from her own.
"We kept trying to tell her," Leo said, shaking his head. "She just didn't seem to get that America can be a continent or a country."
"I am from the US," Tasha said. Her bunk was right above Jasmine's, so Jasmine could barely see her when she talked. "New York City, actually."
New York wasn't all that far from where Jasmine lived, but it was a completely different world all the same. The divide between cities big and small was often just as big as the geographical difference, and it would be hard to find a bigger gap in population size than that between New York City and Blackwood Cove.
“That's cool. I'm from this tiny little town called Blackwood Cove, up on the eastern seaboard. It's not super far from New York City.”
"Blackwood Cove," Leo repeated, looking thoughtful. "I swear that town name seems familiar."
"I doubt it. It's like, really small."
All at once, his face lit up. "Blackwood Cove! That Barry Brock guy was from around there."
"Who?" Tasha asked.
Layla sighed. "He was this weird reality TV dog trainer that had a massive dog fighting scandal last winter. Leo was obsessed with the whole thing."
"It was a great story! This girl and her dog bested him and…" Leo trailed off, staring at Jasmine. "Oh my goodness, was it you?"
"Me?" Jasmine asked, playing dumb. She didn't want to be the weird detective girl around these kids. She had come to Tokyo to get away from the whole thing, but it seemed like it had been all she had heard about so far.
"Yeah, you," Leo said, already pulling a picture up on his phone. "You're like an amateur detective or something. You were on all the talk shows."
Now Layla and Tasha were staring at her too. Jasmine didn't really see any choice other than admitting to it.
"Yeah. I guess I kind of helped."
Leo started freaking out, and Layla shook her head. "Never should have told him. He will not let you rest for the entire trip."
"I will too. See! Watch this!"
He tucked his feet in so he could conceal himself completely behind the curtain. Layla rolled her eyes.
"On that note," Tasha said. "I'd better get some sleep."
Jasmine couldn't see Tasha, but she heard a curtain closing and could only assume she had disappeared for the night. Layla smiled and started the climb to her own bunk.
"Leo and I probably won't head out until the afternoon, and Tasha always leaves early, so you'll have free run of the showers for most of the morning. Oh, and also Aiko and her husband serve dinner every night around six. It's only a couple of bucks — or like a few hundred yen, I'm still struggling with the conversion. Anyway it's always amazing, and you should totally come."
"Thanks," Jasmine said, and she watched Layla close her curtain and disappear into her pod. Jasmine did the same, so it was just her and Luffy inside the pod.
"They seem nice," Luffy said.
"Yeah," Jasmine mumbled. So far she had met nothing but nice people, but almost all of them had been from around North America. She was looking forward to getting to see more of Tokyo and meeting some locals. Maybe she could escape her reputation as an amateur detective.
Her expectations of the great city filled her head and seemed to lure her to sleep. Hours of exhaustion from the plane hit her all at once, and it wasn't long until Jasmine blacked out entirely.
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