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She wasn't sure why she went inside. Perhaps it was because the neon green lights bit through the dreary haze of the afternoon. Or maybe it had to do with the fact that the green light seemed to cling to the fine mist in the air, creating an almost jungle atmosphere in the dim of the tight side street.
No other people seemed to be walking down this way. Water dripped from a rusted awning, creating a rhythmic pattering sound as it landed against the pile of full garbage bags beside her. This space felt very much like a secret, something she wasn’t meant to find.
Shiho quite liked it.
Her hair was damp from the clinging not-quite-rain, sticking to her face and rendering her scarf a sodden mess. The chill of the winter afternoon sank fingers beneath her warm clothes, and her breath plumed icily in front of her.
Untouchable.
The word resonated through her entire body, a beacon through the haze that sent a fresh shiver down her spine as if a shock of wind had just blown through the alley. It didn’t. The sign buzzed quietly in the silence, most of the noise from the street over muffled here.
She was meant to be having lunch with Ann, but her friend was running late thanks to a shoot. Shiho didn’t mind. Not really. She’d gotten quite good at being alone after moving. It had been a nice change of pace to move in with her grandparents and help them around the house and on their farm once her ability to walk had gotten good enough to do so.
Shiho had been afraid that being back in Tokyo might stir up too many old memories, overwhelm the calm she had earned over the past few years. A part of her had been so certain that she would see Kamoshida around every corner and in the smile of every convenience store cashier.
Yet here she was, and this was the first time she’d felt anything about him.
With numb fingers, Shiho rubbed at her face. She expected it to feel hot with shame or embarrassment or anger, but it was ice cold beneath her fingertips. She turned to look over her shoulder, but no one stood there, loitering or watching her. She was alone in this strange side street.
Her phone buzzed in her pocket, and she pried it out to see a text from Ann.
I’m on the train! I’ll be there in fifteen minutes!
Shiho sniffled, the cold starting to make her nose run. Her eyes slipped back up to the green sign, still buzzing softly. It should be annoying, but it was, instead, oddly comforting. Hm. Nothing for it. Her curiosity was piqued and it was too cold to stay out for another quarter hour.
Shoulders squared, Shiho began to walk up to the building, deeply curious what a place with a name like Untouchable would sell.
As it turned out, the name was apt. Military gear was on display in the windows, camouflage and helmets and a gleaming gun of some sort. This definitely didn’t seem like the sort of place for her, but she was already here.
Turning back and avoiding hard things was something from her past. Shiho nodded to herself and pushed open the door to head inside.
If she had hoped to warm up inside of this shop, she was immediately disappointed. The interior was only barely warmer than the bitter weather outside. Sharp scents greeted her along with the cool air, things that made her think of metal polish and craft glue as well as an undercurrent of bright citrus that was incredible.
The shop was small and tightly packed, not unlike most stores on these side streets. An arcade game flashed mutely beside her, and to her left were worn wood and metal shelves displaying military hats and small cardboard boxes with gun imagery on them.
What wasn’t shelves was a brightly lit glass case displaying a million different things from metal lighters to keychains to collections of different painting supplies. It was eclectic and interesting.
Behind the lit up cases was a man clad in a grey jacket over a black turtleneck. The grey cap he wore hid his face from view while he read a book in his lap, and he wore what she immediately assumed were headphones up around his head like a crown. From this angle, she could make out the top half of a gecko tattoo on his neck as well as see two brushed silver hoops in his ear.
Shiho told herself that it was the small temperature change that had her face feeling hot.
It was the sound of the door closing that broke his attention. The man looked up, pinning her with a stare.
She was used to dark eyes or even Ann’s very special shade of blue-green. But this man’s eyes were a warm shade of grey that made her think of snow clouds or the smooth river stones that she loved to collect as a girl when she visited her grandparents.
Those eyes narrowed and then relaxed before flitting away altogether while he busied himself with sliding a bookmark between the pages. Shiho was able to spy the cover, oddly charmed to see a cowboy on a horse in front of a yellow and orange canyon background. It looked well loved, the edges soft from fingers and white, wrinkled crease marks across the paper cover from continued bending.
“You lookin’ for somethin’?”
Shiho barely avoided startling as she was spoken to. She’d almost been in a trance looking at him, at his book, and at his shop. Everything about this place felt just as strange and weirdly welcoming as the street outside.
With a quick cursory glance around the shop, she was able to ascertain that she was the only customer inside, meaning he was definitely talking to her. Why was she so flustered? This was entirely unlike her!
His voice was deep and full of gravel, and his accent was cute. The voice of a cowboy really.
Shiho mashed her lips together to avoid smiling like a besotted idiot, looking away and clearing her throat delicately.
“Oh, er, nothing in particular, but thank you. I was mostly curious. I really like it here.”
It was all true at least. She was sure this poor man had gawkers often enough that her admission was likely annoying though. She reached out to pluck a small box from the shelf, looking it over. Despite the worn laminate wood of the shelf, the box and everything else on display was pristine. It wasn’t dusty, and the price tag on it was handwritten.
The sound of soft scratching filled the silence, and Shiho looked up to see the man dragging his nails through the stubble lining his jaw before he walked slowly around the long counter. His footfalls were heavy on the tile floor, the rubber of his boots squeaking a bit on the surface as he made his way over.
He was taller than he had seemed sitting down, but not intimidatingly so, and with his presence came a fresh burst of that bright citrus and a masculine musk that let her know immediately that the intoxicating scent she’d smelled before had been his cologne.
“Right. Well, feel free to look around. Pre-made model blades are on sale. This is all model kits. Behind the counter is airsoft. Back of the shop are swords, armor, and some cosplay pieces. And er, you break somethin’ you buy it.”
Fair enough. Shiho offered him a polite but small smile as if to reassure him that she wasn’t looking to break anything before she slowly began to wander and look around. She’d been a little nervous he might follow her around. Instead, he walked in the opposite direction, straightening a shelf before heading back behind the counter again.
It took him a long moment, but eventually the man picked up his book again, opening it up where he had slipped a receipt in as a bookmark. Despite that, however, Shiho could feel his eyes on her.
It was something she’d gotten good at sensing after the incident. That first year, she’d been so on edge. Every man’s gaze on her had felt like Kamoshida’s, prickling and heavy with narcissistic false importance like he owned everything his gaze touched.
Even when that feeling began to fade, the stares at her due to her mobility were almost as bad. She’d used a cane for a while, painfully trying to keep her head held high as she picked up prescriptions for her grandparents or met up with a visiting Ann for pancakes at her favorite diner.
For all that this man was overly masculine and rather intimidating, his secret and not-so-subtle watching didn’t feel uncomfortable. She felt no threat from him. Just as she had been curious about his shop, he seemed curious about her. Maybe he didn’t get many women in his store.
Shiho reached the back in short order. A wall of chain link created a rack to hang things from, and there on display were swords. There were many katanas in different designs as well as a large and interesting curved sword that she couldn’t remember the name of, but it reminded her of something a pirate would wield.
But there in the middle, as if meant to catch her eye, was an absolutely gorgeous longsword. The guard was shaped like a pair of wings, and the grip was beautifully decorative. The pommel was a simplistic diamond sort of shape that ended on a blunt point. It shined under the fluorescent lights, and when she reached up to touch it, it was chillingly cold like it was fashioned from ice.
Her own reflection bounced back at her from the shine of the blade, hair frizzy from the rain and cheeks and nose bright pink. Her eyes seemed larger and darker than usual, no doubt warped by the metal and making her look about as alien as she was feeling.
Her pocket buzzed again. Ann’s text this time read ‘Almost there!’
Shiho smiled and glanced towards the shop owner again before texting back.
I’m in a shop called Untouchable. Need me to meet you?
No I know it! I’m omw <3
Hm. She put her phone away, catching the man staring again out of the corner of his eye before he rushed to look at his book. Interesting. It looked like he had a lollipop in his mouth. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d seen an older man like him enjoy one.
With one last longing look towards the sword she began to walk in the direction of the door. The man looked up, obviously pretending like it was the first time and feigning a vaguely surprised look.
“Not see anything you were interested in?”
Shiho smiled and shrugged a shoulder. “I liked one of your swords back there, but it’s kind of out of my price range.” A ripple of laughter left her, and Shiho wondered to herself when the last time she had laughed was. It felt good, and some of the tension she had been carrying seemed to gently bleed out of her.
He smirked in answer to her laugh and nodded. “They’re all real nice. When you walked in I wouldn’t’ve pegged you for a sword girl.”
“Oh? What did you peg me as?” she asked, feeling her voice go a little catty and playful despite everything. Her arms crossed defiantly against her chest and she cocked a brow in his direction. She felt…she felt like before Kamoshida. It felt good.
The man snorted and tossed his paperback onto the counter nearby before he gave her his full attention. He seemed to squint at her, look her up and down in consideration before poking a finger down onto the display case.
“Knife girl.”
The absurdity of the answer made her laugh again, and Shiho tucked some of her messy, damp hair behind her ear. “No. I’d rather you see me coming.”
“Girl after my own heart,” he murmured, his voice a little softer this time around. He scratched through his stubble again, obviously not sure what to say at that point, but Shiho didn’t mind. She kind of liked the sound of that. A girl after his heart. Someone who read romantic cowboy novels while dressing like a mix of punk activist and straight laced military man. She had no idea what to think of him.
Shiho looked away as well, her gaze falling down to the case he had gestured to. Her eyes zeroed in immediately on a small display of different keychains, several of them personal alarms. Some were made to look particularly cute like cats, but others looked obvious in their function. The searing green of the sign flashed through her memory before Shiho was reaching for her wallet.
“Can I get one of those actually?”
The man perked up, already opening the back and crouching a bit, looking up at her from his lower position. “Which one? You want the hot pink?”
A frown blossomed on her face at his question, and she cocked her head. “Because I’m a girl?”
Hilariously, he frowned right back at her, falling into something close to a glare that somehow made him look younger instead of older.
“What? Nah. You’re wearin’ a hot pink hair tie and it doesn’t match anything else on you. Figured it was your favorite color.”
Oh. Shiho felt incredibly on the spot, her cheeks going yet pinker to match the alarm keychain that he plucked out and handed over to her with his boyishly grumpy expression. “I ain’t the sort to think all women are the same. Lots of ladies come in here lookin’ for tactical gear,” he explained, once again scratching through his stubble. Was it a nervous tic?
His words were logical, but despite herself, she felt the old impulsiveness of her youth that she had thought long buried shoot through her. Her mouth was open before she could stop it.
“They’re probably coming in here because of you.”
Oh no. Embarrassment rushed through her like a heat ray. Did she really just say that? Before she could correct herself or apologize, the man was suddenly giving a small, breathy laugh and shaking his head.
“I mean, it can be both. You won’t hear me complainin’.”
He took her outstretched money and went to make her change, sliding it over and then hunkering down over the counter. Shiho was shocked and charmed to see him handwriting her receipt. His penmanship was kind of girly, absurdly making her insides squirm at the sight.
Shiho licked her lips, glancing towards the back of the store and then back to him. “Do you think there’s any way I can have that sword on hold? I really like it.”
His brows knit as he absently handed off the receipt with a slow nod. “Yeah. I can do that. Which one did you have your eye on?”
“The longsword with the winged guard.”
Just like that, his eyes seemed to light up. They definitely reminded her of snow clouds, and something similar to that joy of first snow bubbled up in her chest at the sight of a proper smile gracing his lips.
“Oh yeah. The Valkyrie. She’s a real pretty little number. Let’s see here.”
He gave a tired sort of exhale as he leaned down and pulled out a small ledger. He flipped through it to the next empty page and began writing down the name of the sword, the date, and the price before he looked up at her, jabbing his thumb against the brim of his hat to knock it backwards enough their eyes could meet even in his hunched position.
“What’s your name?”
For a second she forgot. “...Suzui Shiho.”
The man smirked while writing. “Cute.”
Did he just say her name was cute? Shiho felt so out of her depth. Her phone vibrated in her pocket again. Rather than reach for it this time around, she found herself mirroring his pose, leaning down a bit to look at the book where he had written her name.
He made it look way cuter than she had ever managed. Her damp ponytail, longer these days, brushed against the glass case, and this close his cologne was like a delightful cloud. She watched him write out ‘20% discount’.
She was about to argue that wasn’t necessary when he looked up to her again, his eyes pinning her. They were a little more intense this time around. She was sure of it. Warmer and more inviting, like well worn grey velvet soaking up the heat of the sun pouring in from a window.
“Now the fun part,” he said, voice teasing and deep, but Shiho could feel an undercurrent of something else just beneath the politeness that made her just as curious as she had felt in the street outside. “Can I get your number?”
Her breath felt knocked out of her. It was a harmless question. He needed it for the reservation. But that didn’t change the fact that she knew what he meant when he asked. She also couldn’t tell if he was teasing or not.
Was she really considering this? After everything? Her insides were a squirming and tangled mess of wants and fears, but more than anything, something more powerful in her chest was roaring that it didn’t matter.
The past was the past. It had hurt her and she had struggled, but she had also recovered. She walked normally again and returned to Tokyo to start over, to reclaim it. She was going to buy a sword because looking at it had stirred something inside of her that felt strong and capable and worthy.
Slowly, a smile crawled across her lips, and Shiho eased back just a bit. Just to feel a little taller, a little more in control.
“I don’t know. I don’t even know your name. Kind of presumptuous,” she said, proud at the level of flirtation she had managed. She hasn’t flirted with anyone in ages! This was exciting.
The man laughed, confident and unruffled as he looked up at her. Something about the fact that he had no issue staying in that lower position looking up at her made her feel even better about her decision. Something about him felt comfortable in a way she could never hope to describe.
“You got me there. I’m Iwai. Good to meet you,” he greeted with a sharp little smile, reaching up to awkwardly and cutely shake her hand before he cocked a brow and once again poised to write on the pad. “So how about that number?”
Shiho smiled and rattled it off, watching him write it. To her surprise, he wrote down a second number in the bottom corner before tearing it off and offering it to her.
“Now we’re even.”
The door opened noisily beside them. Their heavy eye contact was broken in a second, and Shiho looked over to see Ann there, a little out of breath but all smiles, her hair just as much of a frizzy mess as her own. It felt like a magic trick just how fast she pocketed the little strip of paper before turning to Ann.
She smiled and happily accepted the very cold and very damp hug from her best friend. She smelled of flowery perfume and cough drops, and Shiho couldn’t remember the last time she felt this good.
As Ann leaned away, her eyes went wide at the bright keychain in her hand. Something like concern flashed across her face, but it was gone before it had truly settled in, because they soon landed on the others still in the case.
“Oh my gosh, look at that one! Can I get this one? We can match,” she explained on a rush, her face blindingly beautiful and happy as always. Shiho was amused to see Iwai hand it over without comment, watching them interact with a subtle smirk. Ann paid for it and put it into her purse, looking quite pleased with herself.
“Ann, this is Iwai. He’s been very nice,” she said, wanting to somehow bring him into this instead of leave him out, but it felt silly even as she said it.
Iwai seemed unbothered, reaching out to shake her hand too. Ann, however, had a bit of a sly look to her that she didn’t often have.
“We never formally met, but Akira says hi.”
Iwai’s eyes went a little wide from surprise and recognition before he fell into a relaxed sort of smile. “Oh yeah? How’s he doin’?”
Ann and Iwai chatted for a moment, and Shiho took the opportunity to admire him with his attention focused away from her. Well, somewhat. He still glanced at her throughout the conversation, and she couldn’t deny the heat that pooled low in her belly each time he did.
His gaze didn’t cage or pin, it slid and grazed and appreciated before giving her space once again. For all that his eyes were sharp and clear, they never made her feel naked. She kind of wanted him to look at her more. She never thought she’d feel that way.
“Anyway, Shiho and I were heading to lunch! Akira’s going to be excited when I tell him we ran into you. And…I hope you know how grateful I am to you.”
Iwai scratched at his cheek and gave a short, boyish nod. “Just doin’ my job. He helped me out a lot. You’re not…startin’ that up again are you?” he asked, his eyes going to Shiho immediately.
Ann was the one who jumped in though. “Oh, no! That’s in the past and we’re all scattered. Though it is funny that so many of us are coming back to Tokyo. Shiho just moved back about a month ago!”
Shiho smiled when Ann gave her a tight squeeze of a side hug. She knew what she was referring to, grateful Ann had opened up about her exploits as a Phantom Thief after everything was over. It was easier to connect the dots now, knowing that Iwai must have been Akira’s connection for their weapons.
Her eyes strayed towards the back again where the sword was before looking back at Iwai. She couldn’t help her playful smile coming back.
“Who knows. Might be fun.”
Iwai’s brows knit before he shook his head with a suggestive smile. “What? Stealin’ hearts? Maybe. Think you’d be good at it.”
Maybe.
Shiho huffed a laugh, looking away and gently nudging Ann. “I’m starving. You ready to go?”
Ann agreed, loudly and enthusiastically waving at Iwai in goodbye. As they slipped out the door, Shiho looked back to see Iwai with a phone in his hand, squinting down at the screen and tapping in numbers while his other hand was holding the ledger with her phone number on it.
The sign buzzed overhead, blazing to the darkened street, and Shiho felt absolutely untouchable for the first time in a long, long time.