Destination Okinawa

Author's Note: With time and distance, I realize the entire premise of this short story makes no sense. A secret agent infiltrating a group of high schoolers? Making moves on an underage girl? As we say in 2024, it's a bit problematic. It made more sense when I was younger, less than ten years removed from the events that inspired this story. And that's not even considering the rest of the language, events, etc. The 90s were wild, man. Anyway, pour a good heaping of salt into your hand, and let's get on with it.

Alex had been to Narita before, twice in fact, but never had he seen it so crowded. It was as if every tourist in the world had suddenly descended on Tokyo, streaming off the plane into the city, completely unaware that it would eat them alive if they weren't careful. In those days, the Yen was trading at 150, which gave them an edge, but not much of one. Tokyo was all bright lights and big city to the wide-eyed gaijin, standing around hypnotized by the dancing colors and neon arcs, until someone pulled them off the street into a dark alley. Suddenly they weren't in Tokyo anymore. Now it was Dangerville, population two. And while anarchy might have been the preference of the angst-ridden teenagers of the day, it never quite worked out in practical applications. Yet, the caravan rolled on, unaware of the potholes awaiting them.

He was on his first assignment since the botched job in Hachinohe, a waterpark clusterfuck that nearly ruined his good name. The bosses are all praise when he's doing his job well, but kill one innocent civie and suddenly he's a common criminal. Not that they suspended him, just a bunch of lip service, a slap on the wrist. The evening of that debrief, Alex had gone to blow off some steam with Jackknife at the basketball court. After only a few minutes and before the sweat could really start to flow, he came down wrong on his ankle. As the pain shot through his leg, he couldn't help but think that at least now he could take a little vacation. He refused Jackknife's offer to carry him and instead, chose to limp home, happy in spite of the pain. It took a month to heal properly, but in the winter of 1994, he was back in the office, getting the prelim on a new assignment.