5. Nanpa Girls
Roku landed in the alley on her ass.
The whores hadn't given her a chance to dress. She stumbled, dirty and naked, across the blacktop and collapsed into heap in the center of the alley, the door to Mai's Brothel slamming shut behind her. Her head was still spinning from the truncheon crack across the mouth. She coughed and spit out a mouthful of blood. She could feel the swelling starting, locking up her left jaw. Roku felt around inside her mouth and checked the settings of her teeth. Lucky, nothing seemed loose.
As the whores had physically evicted Roku from the Sento Room -- each grabbing and arm and each grabbing a leg -- she had had the presence of mind to hang on to her apron and her dress. Now she was alone, she pulled the dress over her head and down over her body. Her underwear was long lost, along with her shoes, and a ladder ran the full length of her left black stocking. She dug frantically through the pockets of the apron and was rewarded with the solid heft of her burner still tucked away in the main pocket. It was little comfort, but at least Roku was armed. It was something, at least.
The Old Matron and the whores had made there point: Roku was not wanted. Bringing down the wrath of the Ober Security Personnel... It was trouble a place like Mai's didn't need. The jack booted guards had spirited away Lady Le-En, taking the white town car with them. Roku was laying in the gutter of a stinking back alley, half naked, with the shit beaten out of her. She'd had better days, Roku thought. She'd come down to the brothel with Lady Le-En in hopes she could insinuate herself, somehow, into the Ober household, but she had only manged to get herself mistaken for a common whore. The guards hadn't looked at her twice -- Lady Le-En hadn't bothered to speak up. With the amount of force that Guard Commander had used to smash in Roku's head... Well, she wouldn't habe cared if she'd killed Roku. What was one more whore to her? And now Roku was left in the darkness, in her bare feet, to make her own way back to school... And who knows what lurks around these parts of town at night, praying on whatever happens to stumble by? The Old Matron had mentioned 'Nanpa Girls', but Roku had no idea what they were... But something in the evil glee with which the Old Matron had mentioned them... It made something inside Roku stomach sink.
There was nothing to do but walk.
Roku started off in her stockinged feet down the alley. She adjusted her uniform, hoping for some semblance of modesty, but it was a lost cause. The dress was ripped. Unless she held it up, it fell away from her left breast... And she felt sore where Steely Dan had penetrated her -- a cold breeze blew between her legs. Altogether, she felt seriously hard done by, and she cursed Lady Le-En, and all the Ober Wives, for their fucking self-righteous superiority. Roku might be a trained agent -- a genetically engineered killer, but for all Lady Le-En knew, she was a innocent, honest girl of eighteen. To abandon such a creature to the terrors of the south-side at night... Simply because Lady Aru had shown Roku some kindness...
Fuck them all, Roku thought.
Roku stepped back out onto the main street off the alley. She looked down its length, left and right. All was quiet. All the building looked abandoned -- their cold, neoclassical facades showing now signs of life. The river was to the left and Roku started in that direction. She kept her hand firmly wrapped around the grip of her burner hidden in her apron pocket. She methodically scanned the street as she walked, pausing to glance back over her shoulder. The whole street was nothing but a world of dancing shadows -- dark nooks that could easily hide a thousand adversaries. Roku told herself to get a grip. It wasn't more than a mile to the river and she'd be back on the north side of town -- the new town, built by, and for, the Great Society. That was the safe part of the city where girls could walk at night without fear of assault. Roku had to smile. What could she possibly look like? How would people react when they saw Roku wander across the river, in her torn maid's uniform, with a swelling, bruised face. How long before the police were called? But Roku didn't fear the police, the police would mean a ride back to school. Perhaps Roku would have to sit through a dressing down by the Head Matron, but-
-What was that? Back, probably a quarter of a mile, Roku had heard a car cross across the main street. There was the sound of breaks. Roku stopped in her tracks and looked back through the dingy light of the meager streetlights. Slowly, she saw the car backing up, out of an alley, back onto the main street. Someone wanted a second look at Roku. There was nothing to do but keep walking. Roku turned away and started off again in her bare feet. Behind her, Roku could hear the car's engine revving to life. She shot a quick glance back and could see the car approaching. Roku quickened her pace, keeping her burner firmly hidden in her apron -- her off hand holding up the neckline of her dress. The car was closing, the powerful engine roaring away behind her. A gas burner, one of those old petroleum fueled engines. Big and powerful and dirty. Roku looked back one last time and the car was almost on top of her. The driver suddenly hit the breaks and slowed the car to match Roku's walking speed -- rolling behind her no more than twenty feet back.
Roku kept walking. She dared not look around again. She could feel every inch of her body tightening. If an attack came, she was ready. She would hear the slightest noise, turn and fire her burner. But the car just kept rolling behind her, keeping pace, its old, angry engine muttering slowly. Roku didn't alter her step -- it'd do no good to run. She kept walking toward the river, letting the car follow. She must have been quite the sight -- whoever was in the car was trying to figure out what exactly Roku was... Perhaps they were a good Samaritan, Roku laughed to herself, about to offer aid. No, Roku knew, that was a lie -- she was easy pray. Too easy, perhaps. The car was sizing her up, looking for some hidden danger. In a few moments they'd realize that there was nothing else to Roku -- she was nothing more than exactly what she looked like: A scared, lone girl lost in a bad part of town. When the car came to that conclusion, then they'd act, Roku thought, but for now car was following her slowly, licking its lips in anticipation.
"Hey, sweetie..." A voice came from behind Roku, she turned. It was a big car, a massive car, like nothing they'd built for a hundred years. There were four girls in it, dressed for the night clubs, their faces made up and their hair in wild styles. The girl in the front passenger seat was leaning out of the open window, calling to Roku. She was wearing a small, glittering mini dress and she drummed on the door of the car with her long, painted nails.
Roku kept walking.
"Hey, sweetie, come here," the girl, hanging through the open car window, said. Roku looked back again. The girl was smiling, waving to Roku. "You need a lift, hon?" she asked.
"I"m fine," Roku lied. There were two girls in the backseat who giggled. The driver was watching Roku closely from behind the car's massive steering wheel.
