Xianying Chang was a former staff sergeant in the people's liberation army. While she would almost certainly be carted off by the PRC if their agents ever got their hands on her, she took a deep pride in her training and discipline. So at least once a day she’d go jogging. Today she’d taken a fairly typical route down the river to loop back around the high school. She was about a block or so from the club when she spotted Mrs. Konishi walking her dog Pepper. The monochrome shiba yipped and arched its back in a playful stance as Xianying pulled out her headphones. She gave the pup a good rub behind the ears which rewarded her with one of those breathy puppy growls that come when they get really excited.

“Good Morning.” Mrs. Konishi smiled, trading pepper’s leash into her other hand.

“Good Morning.” Xianying yawned, surprising herself with how relaxed she was.

From across the street a muffled clatter sounded, followed by hushed admonishment Xiangying found to be quite odd. She took out her phone and pulled up her contacts list. her finger hovered over an entry marked ‘Mom’ as she stepped slowly to the side to eyeball a black van awkwardly parked in an alley. Between the wall and the truck, she had a narrow view of the alley. Her stomach hit the floor as the unmistakable silhouette of police riot gear appeared through the gap.

The ritual was not simply to keep in form, it was also an effective method of scouting the neighborhood without drawing undue attention. So when Xianying’s number flashed up on Aoi’s burner cell, she was on her feet before she answered.

My mouth made an involuntary gagging motion as Blast took a deep sip from a can of black coffee. I had no freakin idea how she could sip that bitter swill let alone chug it the way she did. “That’s disgusting.” I was well past the point of mincing words around the arrogant tomboy. She smiled at me wildly and let loose a fiery belch just to screw with me. “You’re an asshole.” Her satisfied grin told me she took that as a compliment and I hated it. This rebel without a clue shtick was fine on paper but she over sold it.

Back in the day, girls rebelled against society's expectations by abandoning the innocent demure persona and obsessing about over designed chibi creatures. Now instead of Hello Kitty Blast was emulating freakin’ Aggretsuko on caffeine and testosterone. It was like she deliberately amped up her disgusting qualities when I was around because she knew it bugged me. What an asshole.

She leaned in close to my cheek so I could smell her coffee breath. “Such a tsundere.” My temper flared and I may have spun to try and slug her. She stepped back giggling as my fist caught air. What was more frustrating is her giggle was kinda cute and it only made me wanna hit her more.

It was then that the club door burst open. Aoi was haggard and gasping for air. We’d barely spun around to spy the rukus when the cry of “Scramble!” echoed through the parking lot. The door slammed shut behind Aoi and Blast leaped onto her bike. I barely caught the helmet she tossed at me. “Get on! Now!” She demanded, securing her helmet and starting the engine. I sat behind her and she wasted no time peeling out of the parking lot and racing out onto the road.

Given how fast we were going, I tried very hard not to move. I had barely been on Blast’s bike at all since the day she drove me home but I’d never seen her drive like this. The route we were taking looked totally unfamiliar and I had no idea where we were going. After what felt like an hour, Blast let up and started driving more casually. I was still totally lost. Finally, mercifully, we pulled over and Blast parked the bike in a space not easily seen from the street. We were outside a sloppy looking building. A worn hotel sign hung over a small entryway.

“If anyone asks, you’re 20.” Blast warned. Having to lie about my age was not an encouraging development.

Blast stepped inside the entryway and walked up to the reception counter. The receptionist looked at her oddly as she approached and her eyebrows visibly raised as she saw me walk up beside her. “Two hours” Blast said. The receptionist looked at her… and then back to me. She shrugged and turned to a rack of keys while Blast pulled some bills out of her wallet. I covered my face. I knew it, this place is a freaking love hotel. I held back and embarrassed groan. Blast took our key and lead me upstairs. The room looked surprisingly clean at first glance, but things were sloppy around the edges. I guess they figured their usual clientele would be too preoccupied to notice and they were probably right. Blast took a seat on the bed without hesitation and whipped out her phone.

I wrapped a sleeve around my hand and pulled up a chair. I did not want to think about it too much but I also did not want my bare skin coming into contact with anything in the room.

“Blast, What the hell is going on?”

She looked up from her phone.

“Police Raid. Xianying spotted it before they reached us. Nothing we can do about it.” She shook her head. “We should keep training.”

My jaw almost dropped.

“How can you think about training at a time like this?” Blast stretched her legs.

“We’ve nothing else to do until the boss decides to rendezvous.” She looked around.

“Where? in here?”

Blast grinned.

“Definitely.”

I couldn’t believe this.

“I think they’d notice!” These walls were not exactly soundproof as the hallway proved.

“Exactly, Any noise we make would be dismissed. If anything it helps maintain our cover.”

I wanted to argue but that actually made a certain degree of sense.

“Well that is unless you wann-”

“TRAINING PLEASE.”

I cut her off before she could finish that thought. She chuckled heartily.

“Only teasing.” It may shock you to learn I did not entirely believe her.

To my suprise focusing on training actually did help pass the time. The move-countermove back and forth was becoming easy to zone out to. I was getting the muscle memory down. Twisting my arm into a punch seemed counterintuitive at first but It made more sense when I had to combine it with blocks.

I just started to lose the rhythm when a heavy knock landed on the door. Blast cursed under her breath and stripped off her top in a sweeping motion.

I took an interest in an oddly shaped stain on the wall before I remembered the implications of it. I covered my face in embarrassment as Blast poked her head out the door. She had a quiet breathy conversation with someone behind the door and I tried very hard not to think about it. The door snapped shut and Blast snickered. I could hear her walking up to me but I was committed to staring at this wall dammit.

“I got us an extension, honey.”

“THANKS” I said through my teeth. “Now, can you please go put a shirt on?”

She made a pouting noise.

“You’re very cute with your shyness and all.”

“You know damn well I’m a minor.” I grumbled.

She smirked at me.

“For like a couple weeks tops. Your birthday is in late October right?”

She was correct, my 18th birthday was in just under 3 weeks actually.

“October 22nd. How the hell would you know?”

She shrugged.

“I remember my mom dragging me to one of your birthday parties when you were just starting middle school.”

Ah yeah I’d nearly forgotten she was Nana. She was so different now.

Regardless, it wasn’t like I’d be in any hurry to get into a relationship just because I’d be technically old enough to have one. The notion of marrying your childhood friend or highschool sweetheart sounded cute and romantic and all that, but the cold reality was that it almost always ended in disaster. My mom and Ms. Kim were both perfect examples of this. Both rushed into marriage just out of college and they both fell apart within a year or two. I actually found it a bit sad. The two of them must be really lonely with us as freakin daughters. I felt a twinge of guilt at the way I’d been with my mom lately.

Blast sat down on the side of the bed and stretched keeping one eye on me to catch my reaction. I did my best not to look interested.

“Could you put your top back on, please?” I tried not to sound too distressed. Thankfully, I heard her shuffle over and I let out a breath I wasn’t aware I’d been holding. I peeked over just as she finished pulling it down. I snapped my eyes back away quickly before she could turn around.

“I’m decent” she groaned. I barely managed to thank her before she jabbed me square in the gut.