Zero Sum Game (11 page)

He came around and stood in front of her, still biting his thumbnail and eyeing her. "Make a muscle," he said.

Hina looked at him in confusion. When she didn't move, he flexed his own bicep. "Like this. Come on."

She brought her right arm up and flexed. Her bicep swelled, large and smooth and round. An expression of disgust came over the boy's face. "Ugh. I like girls with less meat on them." He chuckled and spoke to the purse snatcher but didn't take his eyes off Hina. "
She's
what had you running like a bat out of hell?"

Everyone laughed except the snatcher. Before he could respond, the boy in front of Hina yelled, "Boo!" and poked her in the ribs with a finger. She yelped in surprise and stumbled a couple of steps backwards. She heard the boy mutter "ow" and look at his finger, shaking it as if he had stubbed it against a hard surface.

Her purse, no matter how much she loved it, wasn't worth this. Hina's heart beat fast. If she ran now, and they caught up with her, she didn't know what they would do to her. They'd beat her, might even kill her. She thought it unlikely, but she had seen the stolen wallets and purses and she could identify them to the police.

The boy at the table stood up. "Cool it."

Their laughter died away, but the grins on their faces didn't. The nail biter stepped aside as the boy from the table, whom Hina thought of as their leader, walked up to her, hands deep in his pockets. She wanted to get out of here as soon as possible. The leader bent down a little bit to catch her eyes when she turned her head away.

"I…I…" The words wouldn't come out and she stuttered like a line of Morse code. "I want my purse back." She saw it laying in the abandoned planter.

The leader thrust out his lower lip and said in a high-pitched voice "I, I, I, I." Everyone laughed again, even the purse snatcher. Hina thought he must feel safer now that he was among friends. The tables were reversed, she was the prey now.

"Give it back. Give it back. Or I'll cry," the leader continued in his high-pitched voice. She did cry, the tears filled her eyes then ran down her cheeks. Somehow, being teased by the leader was the worst part. She didn't matter to him, only a little kid to be bullied, or a puppy to be played with and kicked around when it did something he didn't like.

"Stop the waterworks," he said in his normal voice. "Which one is it?" Hina pointed at the planter. "You're going to have to be more specific than that."

"The pink one," she said in a soft voice.

The boy in the high school uniform retrieved it from the planter. He dropped it to the ground and kicked it. It slid across the patio, making a scratching noise and stopping against the leader's foot. The uniformed boy threw both arms high into the air. "Goal!" he yelled, stretching out the word like a soccer announcer. He saw Hina's tear-streaked face and laughed.

The leader picked up the purse. She could hear the contents rattling around inside.
Maybe they left everything,
she thought. She felt a bit of hope. Her tears stopped and she wiped her face. But the leader hadn't given it to her, and she was afraid to reach for it. He took out an industrial sized box cutter and pushed out the blade. He cut one end of the strap, and the purse swung loose, making small arcs, and the boy slashed at the side of the purse. The large cut went all the way through. He held it out and Hina took it. The boy tapped the box cutter in an open palm and chuckled as he walked back to the table.

Hina's face grew hot and her heartbeat rose. She clenched the ruined purse in one hand as fresh tears spilled down her cheeks. "Why?"

Everyone stared at her.

"Why? What did I ever do to you? You're being…you're…" She couldn't think of what to say.

The boy in the baseball cap moved forward. "Shut up," he ordered. "You have what you wanted, now get the hell out of here." He raised his arms to push her away.

When his hands touched her shoulders, she screamed, "Let me go," and dropped her purse. She hit the boy in the chest with both hands, pushing him away. He flew off his feet and sailed backwards, slamming into the retaining wall separating the cafe from the next building, and slid to the ground, groaning in pain. One hand grabbed his back where he hit the wall, and the other rubbed his chest where Hina had pushed him. Her anger turned to shock. She had never seen anyone go through the air like that except in movies. She stared at her hands.

"What the hell, man!" the boy in the uniform said. They all stared at her in amazement, and that gave her courage. She took a few tentative steps forward.

The uniform boy's face changed into an expression of anger as he let out a growl and rushed her. That strange feeling of something inside moving her body of its own will returned, and she let it guide her. The boy rushed, and Hina braced herself, tensing her muscles. Before he reached her, she sidestepped and swung out her right arm, keeping it as stiff as a board. She clotheslined him in the chest, and he went to the concrete like a sack of books. He rolled onto his side and curled into a ball. She kicked him in the stomach. He flew off the ground by more than a meter and sailed across the street. He hit the wall of a building and dropped to the ground.

She turned back to the other two and something silver rushed at her. She opened her hand and caught the metal baseball bat aimed for her midsection. She ripped it out of the grip of the boy in the toboggan and held it at both ends. She raised her left leg and brought the bat down across the top of her thigh. The metal let out a brief protest as it bended in a horseshoe shape. She dropped the useless piece of metal, and the boy backed away until he hit the table. He bolted, but Hina didn't care.

The leader remained, the one who had ruined her purse for no reason, who had been cruel to her because he could be. He extended the blade of the box cutter out farther, but that didn't scare her. He took an awkward swipe, and she dodged it, not even having to move her feet. He tried again, and she dodged it with as much ease as before. He went for a straightforward thrust, and she held up her hand, palm out like she was signaling a car to stop. The blade impacted against her palm and snapped in two; she felt the impact but no pain. Not a scratch marred her hand.

Her assailant dropped the box cutter and looked around for backup. One boy had run out on him and the other two were still lying on the ground. He swung at her, a roundhouse that she blocked with her forearm. He let out a grunt of pain when his arm connected with hers; she suspected it had been like hitting a steel pole. Before he could do anything else, she pushed him like she had pushed the other boy. His feet left the ground and he flew into the metal shutter that protected the cafe's entrance. The bang of metal echoed in the alley. He slid down the corrugated surface. He wasn't unconscious, but he wouldn't be getting back to his feet in the next few minutes either.

Hina picked up the remains of her purse and put it in her schoolbag. She picked the bag up, noticing it seemed weightless even though it was filled with books and school supplies. She slipped it onto her shoulders and walked away.

— — —

Hina didn't freak out until she stepped on the staircase leading up to her apartment. She had walked home in a blank state, her body knowing where to go, her mind shutting itself down. A few blocks from her apartment, the adrenaline wore off and conscious thought returned. She remembered what she had done to those boys and the more she thought about it, the more it scared her. She had beaten up four high school boys. It had happened but it didn't seem possible, more like a memory of a movie she had seen, not something that had taken place. The thought frightened her, and when she stepped onto the first stair, so close to home and safety, she couldn't contain herself. She ran upstairs, unlocked and threw open the door, slammed it shut behind her, took off her shoes, and bolted into her room. She slid the door closed with a loud crack of wood against wood.

She dropped her bag, sat on the edge of her bed, then stood and paced her room. After a few more back-and-forth circuits of her room, she felt like a yo-yo and sat back down on the bed, curling her toes into the comforting softness of her pink rug. She stared at her hands. They had beaten up four high school boys, they had blocked the sharp edge of a box cutter with nothing to show for it. She looked at her thigh, with which she had bent a metal bat. She was strong, definitely the strongest girl in school, maybe even the strongest
person
in the whole school. But what she had done today was impossible. Nobody could have done that, at least not without fake props and a movie camera to capture it. But the props hadn't been fake. Those had been a real box cutter and a real bat.

Her full-length mirror leaned in a corner. She stood before it and examined herself. She looked the same as she always had, her uniform looked the same, everything seemed normal. She glanced over her shoulder, trying to see as much of her backside as possible. She still looked the same. She sat back down on her bed, then slid onto the pink rug, feeling its softness underneath her. She took a deep breath to calm herself and closed her eyes.

"Good evening, Hina."

Her eyes snapped open, and she said, "Hi, Dad."

Her room was empty. She opened her door, but no one stood in the foyer. She heard the TV in the living room and walked in, finding her father sitting on the couch. "Did you say something?" she asked him.

He shook his head. "Welcome back. I heard you come in but you went straight to your room. Is everything okay?" Her father looked at her in concern but Hina shook her head. He said, "You're getting home kind of late tonight."

"I stopped at the cat cafe after school."

Mitsuo smiled. "Did you have a good time?"

"Yeah. You should see Zeus, he's getting so fat."

"Dinner will be ready pretty soon."

"Okay. I'll be in my room. Sorry for rushing in."

"Be careful. Don't slam your door like that."

"I won't. Sorry."

Her father nodded and went back to watching TV. Hina retreated to her room and closed the door, much gentler this time.

"It wasn't your father, Hina."

It was the same voice as before, and now that she was alert, it didn't sound like her father at all. No one was in her room. She looked out on the empty balcony; it held only her clothes, hanging out to dry. She wondered if the boys she had beaten up were trying to scare her, hiding in her room somewhere. But she put the thought out of her mind. They couldn't have gotten in without her father knowing. Also, she lived on the fourth floor; it wasn't like they could scale the building and hide on a ledge, taunting her from outside. The voice had sounded close by, almost like it was all around her.

She started for her bedroom door when the voice ordered, "Hina, stop."

She stood still. She faced the corner of her door and closet, unable to see the room behind her. She was quiet for a few moments, then whispered, "Can you hear me?"

"Yes," the voice replied. It seemed to come from everywhere, like music did when she wore headphones.

Hina tensed. "Can you see me?"

"In a manner of speaking, yes." The voice didn't sound menacing or cruel, it answered her questions in a flat and straightforward manner. But she needed to test whoever was watching her. If they weren't in her room, they could be watching her through binoculars from across the street.

She opened and closed her right hand several times although she stood rooted in place. "What am I doing now?"

"You're repeatedly making a fist with your right hand."

They could see her. But how? The clothes hanging outside blocked most of the balcony.

"And now?"

"You are tapping your chest. You're tugging on your bangs with your left hand. Touching your nose."

Maybe the stalker wasn't watching with binoculars, he could have set up a secret camera somewhere. Those kind of cameras were tiny. In fact, it wouldn't even have to be a high-tech spy device. Most cell phones had cameras, and someone could have hidden one right here in her bedroom. How long had it been here? Had they been watching her for several days, seeing her get undressed, watching her sleep? She turned around, addressing the room in general, searching for possible hiding places to stash a phone.

"Where are you?"

The reply chilled her blood. "I'm inhabiting every cell of your body." Before Hina could finish contemplating that thought, the voice continued in its same matter-of-fact tone. "I am also on you. I am your school uniform."

Hina pulled off her clothes and tossed them in the corner as if they were covered in hazardous waste. She even took off her socks, losing her balance somewhat and hitting her elbow on the closet door, rattling it in its tracks. She took a few steps back from the pile of clothes, wondering if it would start moving like some sort of monster in a science fiction movie. She tried to calm herself. Her breathing rung in her ears. She needed to listen for the voice again. She waited several moments, standing in the middle of her bedroom in her bra and panties, holding onto herself. She heard nothing and repeated the movements she had made earlier, but no voice spoke out. It seemed it
had
been in her uniform. But it had also said it was in her body. If so, why wasn't it talking to her now? She wondered if it was some sort of parasite, but she was sure her science teacher hadn't said anything about parasites talking to their hosts.

She edged towards her school uniform. It lay in the corner like a pile of ordinary everyday clothes in need of a wash. She gave it a small kick. The door behind her banged, and she screamed and spun around.

"Is everything all right?" Concern filled her father's voice. "Can I come in?" The door slid open a few millimeters.

Without thinking, she reached down and grabbed her uniform, covering herself up. "No. I'm changing clothes, Dad. Get out!"

The door slid back shut. "I'm sorry. I thought I heard you scream or something."

"I'm fine, Dad. Geez, leave me alone!" She yelled louder and angrier than she had ever yelled at him since she had been a little child. She stood in silence for a bit, listening to her rapid breathing and feeling her heart pounding. She heard nothing from the other side of the door.