The ten-hour flight from JFK to Narita had been a blur of airplane food and restless sleep. Jay stepped off the plane into Tokyo's controlled chaos, stretching muscles that had been cramped for too long. The enhancement made him immune to jet lag, but it couldn't cure the bone-deep fatigue of being stuck in a metal tube for half a day.
'I really need to get a flight or teleportation power,' Jay thought, rolling his shoulders.
Bright morning sunlight streamed through Narita's massive windows, casting everything in golden hues. Jay smiled despite himself. It felt fitting that his first real vacation would start in the Land of the Rising Sun. New beginning in the most literal sense.
His mental checklist was embarrassingly simple for someone who'd just orchestrated political upheavals across two continents: Meet the connect, visit different cafes, explore Akihabara for anime merchandise, and see the life-sized Gundam statue in Odaiba. After all, every true man's first love was always giant mechs.
Within minutes, he was walking toward the taxi stand, duffle bag slung over his shoulder and Bobby's jacket keeping off the morning chill.
That's when the Rolls-Royce Phantom appeared.
The sleek black vehicle glided to the curb like it owned the road. Given its probable cost, it basically did. Jay's danger sense remained completely calm, which immediately raised his curiosity. The timing was interesting, though. He'd reached out to the Yashida clan two weeks ago through carefully vetted intermediaries, trading information about a specific blade. They'd been cagey in their responses, noncommittal. Now they were rolling out the literal red carpet, right on schedule.
The rear door opened, and out stepped a young Japanese woman, maybe early twenties, with bright pink hair styled in the cutting-edge fashion that made Tokyo famous.
"Doctor," she said in flawless, accent-free English, bowing deeply from the waist, hands pressed formally at her sides. "We of the Yashida clan would request the honour of your presence. Please, allow us to extend our hospitality during your visit to Japan."
Jay's comic book nerd perk kicked in like a mental alarm bell. Pink hair, perfect English, formal speech patterns, and a Rolls-Royce that screamed old money. This was Yukio, though which version of her abilities she possessed remained unclear. Death-sensing psychic or electricity manipulator? Different adaptations had never agreed on that particular detail.
What really caught his attention was the deviation from what he remembered. In the movie version of the story, the Yashida family's patriarch wouldn't be on his deathbed for another three years. Yet here they were, desperate enough to send Yukio herself to fetch him.
Instead of asking more questions, Jay surprised himself. "Alright," he said, shouldering his bag. "Let's see what this is about."
Yukio blinked, clearly stunned by his immediate agreement.
"Come on, Yukio," Jay said, walking toward the car. "I want to visit Akihabara later, and we don't have all day."
Now she looked genuinely shocked. "You... know my name?"
Jay slid into the Phantom's leather interior, which was exactly as ridiculously luxurious as expected. "Lucky guess."
The drive through Tokyo was like watching controlled chaos find its rhythm. Neon signs flickered to life even in daylight, advertisements stacked ten stories high on buildings that seemed to lean into each other. Salarymen in identical dark suits flooded crosswalks in perfect synchronized waves.
Vending machines lined every corner, their bright displays promising everything from hot coffee to cold beer, and a group of schoolgirls in sailor uniforms giggled as they passed.
Yukio sat across from him in the spacious rear compartment, her initial composure gradually returning as she launched into what sounded like a prepared presentation.
"The Yashida family has been a cornerstone of Japanese industry for over seventy years," she explained, her tone shifting to something more formal and practiced. "We've built our reputation on honor, tradition, and innovation. My master, Shingen Yashida, has guided the company through decades of prosperity, but recently..."
"I can guess what you need?" Jay interrupted, cutting through the corporate pitch. "But why call me here?"
Yukio's prepared speech faltered. "The Doctor is... too famous, too busy. When our sources informed us you were planning to travel to Japan to acquire the Muramasa blade, we had to seize the opportunity."
Jay chuckled, shaking his head. Of course, the uber-rich elite would have tracking systems in place. They'd probably known about his flight before he'd even boarded the plane. The desperate always found a way to reach those who could heal them, regardless of cost.
"Your sources," Jay said dryly. "Let me guess. Money talks in every language."
Yukio had the grace to look slightly embarrassed. "We prefer to think of it as... being prepared for opportunities."
The Yashida compound was everything Jay expected and more. Traditional Japanese architecture mixed seamlessly with modern security systems. Gardens that probably cost more to maintain than most people's annual salaries. Ancient trees that had witnessed generations of family secrets. The kind of old money that bought history itself.
Stone lanterns lined the pathways, their placement following principles that were probably older than America. A koi pond stretched across the courtyard, the fish moving in lazy circles beneath lily pads. The sound of water trickling over bamboo created a rhythmic tock-tock-tock that seemed to mark time differently here.
Inside, the wealth was displayed with subtle precision. No gaudy golden fixtures or obvious displays of excess. Instead, everything whispered expense: aged wood floors that gleamed without a single scratch, art pieces that belonged in museums, silk tapestries that had probably been handwoven by masters. The smell of tatami mats mixed with incense, something sandalwood and subtle. Calligraphy scrolls hung in alcoves, the brushwork so perfect it looked effortless.
They were led to a private wing where Shingen Yashida waited.
The man was old, probably in his late eighties, but still carried himself with the rigid posture of someone accustomed to absolute authority. He lay in a hospital-style bed surrounded by more medical equipment than some emergency rooms, yet his eyes burned with the intensity of someone who refused to accept defeat.
Beside the bed stood a woman in her thirties, beautiful in that understated way that suggested both breeding and intelligence. Her dark hair was pulled back severely, and her business suit was perfectly tailored. This had to be Mariko Yashida, the daughter who'd inherited her father's steel spine along with his business acumen.
"Jay-san," Mariko said, bowing respectfully. "Thank you for agreeing to see my father. We've heard of your... remarkable abilities."
Jay studied the old man, his enhanced senses picking up details that normal perception would miss. Shingen was sick, certainly, but not as deteriorated as he should have been according to the movie timeline. His breathing was labored but not desperate. His color was poor but not deathly. After using his healing aura to passively scan him he saw his cellular degradation suggested aggressive cancer, but not the natural decline of extreme age. Someone or something had poisoned him. Recently.
But there was something else. Deeper. Older Radiation damage at the cellular level, the kind that took decades to manifest. The poison was recent, opportunistic, but the radiation had been killing him slowly.
"Have any doctors named Green approached your family recently?" Jay asked without preamble.
Mariko and Yukio exchanged glances. "We've had many physicians attempt to gain our favor," Mariko replied carefully. "But none by that particular name. Why do you ask?"
Jay filed that information away. 'So Viper, our very own Madame Hydra, hadn't made her move yet. But someone else had. The Hand, maybe? They'd want control of Yashida's resources, and poisoning the patriarch would create the chaos they needed.'
"I can heal him," Jay said bluntly. "But that would just delay the inevitable. In a few years, maybe a decade, you'd be looking for me again. Age isn't a disease I can cure permanently."
Mariko's composure cracked slightly. "We're prepared to pay any price on top of the blade. Please name your terms."
Jay shook his head. "As you may know, I can absorb and utilize others' powers. Material wealth doesn't hold much appeal when you can reshape the world with your bare hands."
Mariko gestured to Yukio, who showed him a tablet displaying a video of a silver samurai suit in action. "This entire suit is made of pseudo-adamantium, nearly the same durability as the real material, and this is all we were able to produce."
Jay studied the footage briefly before responding. "You were a month too late. Now I do not need an inferior copy."
Shingen's face darkened, and he struggled to sit up straighter. His mouth opened, anger building in his eyes as he prepared to speak. Whatever he was about to say, Jay sensed it wouldn't be diplomatic.
That's when Yukio moved.
She didn't just step forward. She physically restrained the old man, one hand on his chest, the other gripping his wrist with surprising strength. Her face had gone pale, eyes wide and distant like she was watching something happening in a place only she could see.
"Yashida-sama!" she said urgently, her voice trembling, dropping into rapid Japanese. "Tsugi no kotoba o yoku kangaete kudasai..."
She was still gripping his wrist, her knuckles white. Jay noticed her other hand shaking against Shingen's chest. Whatever she'd seen had rattled her badly.
The change in Shingen was immediate and dramatic. The anger drained from his face, replaced by something Jay rarely saw in men of his generation and power: fear. Deep, bone-chilling terror that made his hands shake and his breathing quicken.
Jay understood immediately. This Yukio's power; it wasn't electricity manipulation. It was death-sight. She could see how people would die, and whatever Shingen had been about to say would have resulted in his death. Probably at Jay's hands.
The old man's reaction confirmed it. He'd been about to make some kind of threat, and Yukio had seen the consequences play out in her mind's eye.
"What were you going to say?" Jay asked, genuinely curious now.
[A/N]: I write across multiple fandoms. Support my writing and get early access to 45+ chapters, exclusive content, and bonus material at my P@treon - Max_Striker.