Ten

A hand tapping my shoulder awakened me from a sleep I never knew I took. Opening my eyes, I yawned and stretched, arching my back like a fat cat sun bathing.

"Had a nice nap, princess?" I looked up at Harrison, who tossed my duffel bag onto my lap while chuckling with amusement. Erik stood a little ways back near his Awomri bags, arms crossed and trying o make it seem like he didn't care. However, his glances my way gave away the truth.

"Only when I dream about my prince." I replied, standing up and greeting everyone from the train. Yumi threw her arms around me and squeezed tightly. I hugged her back before she backed away to let Mr. Pratt greet me. He put his hand on my shoulder and patted it a bit roughly.

"You are the type of student everyone should look up to." He stated with a proud smile. I chuckled and shook my head.

"Not really," I told him while reaching into my pocket and pulling out his stress ball that he threw at Conner, who was already conked out in the seat I had recently occupied. "I'm sure once I tell you, no one would have wanted to be in my situation."

For the next minute or two, I explained the event that happened before, during and after I had caught the cab. Yumi's eyes were wide as saucers, Harrison was grinning like an idiot and Mr. Pratt was listening intently with a concentrated look on his face. Once I finished, Yumi stepped forward and hugged me again.

"Dude, that's so cool," Harrison commented. "But in all honesty, that would have scared the s**t out of me."

"Watch your language!" Mr. Pratt snapped. Just like before, some bystanders nearby turned their heads, but otherwise continued on with their business. Mr. Pratt cleared his throat and looked around before speaking again, more calmly. "Kaito, what you're telling me is very serious. If there will be people after you, then it would be best to either stay by the staff or catch a flight back to New York."

"No way!" Erik exclaimed. Everyone turned to him in astonishment at his outburst, even he seemed surprised as he felt his face turn red. "I mean," He stuttered, "It wouldn't be fair to anyone else if he got to do nothing with the staff or just go home. If we have to participate in this trip, so does he." He whipped his head to the side and turned his face in a scowl. I smiled and looked back to Mr. Pratt.

"It's fine," I reassured him. "I'm sure that guy was just trying to scare me. It almost worked, but I'm sure I'll be okay." Actually, I wasn't sure. The creepy driver had said those thugs had gotten a good look at my face and I'm positive they heard me shout the next location to him. I felt my heart sink at the possibility of those guys showing up here with their weapons and I had to resist the urge to look around for them. Mr. Pratt observed my face before nodding with a sigh.

"Alright Kaito, if you're positive about this, then you can continue the trip as any other student." A smile stretched across my face before it disappeared. "But, the first suspicious thing you notice will be reported to me, is that understood?" I nodded in reply and relaxed.

He gave me a reluctant look before turning to Imai and Hayashi sensei to explain the incident. Their faces shifted into many different emotions before setting on shock.

"It sounds like he had a run in with the Hounds." Imai sensei said to Mr. Pratt. "They walk around with terrifying weapons and don't care about killing in public."

"There was a time when they took over every television in Tokyo and performed an execution for everyone to see." Hayashi sensei shook his head in pity. "That poor man they killed apparently fired a member of the gang from a job that was paying him sufficiently. They kidnapped the guy, took him to some secluded warehouse, made it live and put a bullet right in the middle of his head." He gestured everything he was saying and the ones who didn't speak Japanese very well caught snippets of words here and there, eventually putting together everything he was saying.

"Hayashi!" Imai sensei scolded in horror. Hayashi sensei looked at her and shrugged in defense.

"Well, it's true." He said.

"You're scaring the kids!" She said while waving a hand at us to emphasis. He looked around and noticed how we were all staring at him in mixed shock, horror and fear. He scrunched his face up and softly apologized to Mr. Pratt, who looked equally disturbed.

"Let's not talk about this now." Mr. Pratt said while messing with his tie that was perfectly fixed. "We should head to the Sakura House." Imai and Hayashi sensei both nodded in agreement. After a quick headcount clarified that everyone was there, Mr. Pratt, our school staff members and Imai and Hayashi sensei led us out of the same entrance I entered.

The statue of Hachiko stood proudly in front of the station, the fluorescent lights on the building illuminating it and showing the dog off with plenty of pride and giving off a feeling of hope. When I was little and still lived here, my mother told me the story of Hachiko.

A dog who would meet its owner at this very train station every day. However, his owner died and 

Hachiko, not knowing that his owner was gone, visited the station every day for over a decade to greet him. The story was very sad and I remembering crying when I had heard that Hachiko had died waiting on his owner. Now walking passed the statue towards the huge crowd of people at the shibuya crossing, I felt a sense of dread.

Especially since I saw a man dressed in nothing but black leaning on the statue with a cigarette dangling from his mouth.

And he was staring right at me.