Alternate Start: Hundred Line Crossover!

His name was Takumi Sumino, and he was from out of town. That much was probably obvious from the way he looked, with his messy red-and-blue hair, the hoodie with the ironic t-shirt underneath that made him look fresh out of high school, and the unsure expression on his face that was similar to a dog being let outside for the first time.

He hadn’t arrived in town just yet, though. At the moment, he was sitting in the fancy white seat of an airplane in first class, sitting next to another man roughly the same age who wore bookish glasses and an unseasonably thick white coat that matched his pale, shoulder-length hair quite nicely. The two had been seated together for the past 3 hours or so, but they had yet to introduce each other - the man in white seemed too nervous for the first leg of the journey, and Takumi was far too busy examining maps and guides for the town that he had downloaded on his phone. But, now that he was all but certain that the plane was not going to crash, and that his heart palpitations weren’t coming back anytime soon, the white-haired man felt the urge to strike up a conversation growing by the second.

“So, I take it you’re here on vacation?” the pale man asked Takumi.

“Huh?” Takumi looked up and blushed. He had been so focused on his phone that he had almost forgotten that he wasn’t sitting alone. “Er, sorta… I’m definitely here to see the sights around town, but I’m not sure if what I’m doing would qualify as a ‘vacation’.”

“Ooooh, I get it. You’re here for ‘that’, aren’t you? The thing this town is known for?” asked the man beside Takumi.

“What?” Takumi paused for a moment and then blushed wildly. “Er, no, I’m not here for that, honestly. My goals are a bit more business-related.”

“Business-related, eh? If that’s true, then does anyone know you’re coming to this city?” The flustered reaction on Takumi’s face told the man the answer before Takumi could even open his mouth. “It’s okay, I’m not going to judge you or anything.”

“W-well, if you’re going to get nosy into my business, why don’t you tell me what you’re going here to do,” Takumi countered.

“Gene therapy,” he replied. “They’ve got a clinic that specializes in it, and will hopefully get my red blood cell count back up again.”

“Oh… uh, I see,” Takumi said awkwardly.

“Eh!? Oh, I’m sorry, did I ruin the mood or something?” asked the white-haired man.

“What? No, no, you have nothing to apologize for,” Takumi said hastily. “If anything, I’m the one who should be saying ‘sorry’ here. You were just trying to be friendly, and I wound up saying something really insensitive. Er, how about we start over? My name is Takumi Tsumino. What’s yours?”

“Eito. Eito Aotsuki.” He reached down and shook Takumi’s hand. “It’s nice to meet you!”

The two shook hands gingerly as the plane’s intercom system suddenly turned on.

“Attention, passengers; this is your captain speaking,” a feminine voice said. “Please fasten your seatbelts for the landing, and prepare yourself for arrival. And please, enjoy your stay in our lovely city!”

“Ah, it looks like we started getting to know each other a bit late,” Eito said bashfully.

“I guess so… but if we run into each other again while in town, don’t be afraid to say hi, okay?” Takumi replied.

“Of course!” Eito said with a sweet smile as the airplane touched down at the airport, sunbaked desert sands stretching out almost endlessly in every direction except south. There, the glittering glass skyscrapers of their destination awaited them a few short miles away.

Then, once all their things were gathered, everyone departed in a single file line off the plane and into the airport proper, where they collected the rest of their luggage.

“So, I guess this is where we part ways then?” Eito said as he grabbed his rolling suitcase.

“Yeah, I guess so,” Takumi said, grabbing his backpack. “One quick question before that, though. If someone were, theoretically, looking for sex workers here… where would you go?”

Eito looked surprised for a moment, but ultimately smiled again. “Don’t worry, you won’t have to look hard,” he answered. “The best place to go is always going to be the Red Light District, but to be honest, you can find them just about everywhere in this town. Heck, you could probably even find one or two in the bathrooms here.”

“Oh…” To Eito’s surprise, Takumi looked disappointed by that answer. “Alright, thanks for the advice. Good luck with your therapy, okay?”

“Thank you,” said Eito, turning towards the exit. “I hope we meet again!”

With that, Eito left the airport to hail a taxi. Takumi, on the other hand, headed towards the nearest restroom - not to follow Eito’s advice or anything, but because he had been holding it in for about an hour and half now since he really didn’t want to use the airplane bathroom.

As he finished up in his stall, though, he couldn’t help but notice that there seemed to be some sort of indentation in the wall behind the toilet paper holder.

“Hmm? What’s this?” he wondered out loud to himself as he examined this. “Wait, this is the wall separating the men’s room from the women’s room. That means that this has got to be… a glory hole!?”

Takumi considered fleeing the stall immediately in embarrassment, but something seemed to keep him rooted in place. Swallowing his fear, Takumi knelt down and slowly reached out towards the dispenser.

“I wonder… could you really be here… Karua?” Takumi moved the dispenser and found… nothing. If there was a glory hole there, it seemed that it had been plastered over long ago. “Heh… of course not. That would be far too easy.”

Leaving his stall, Takumi washed his hands and then walked back outside - where he immediately found himself face-to-face with a woman with long purple hair, a black jacket with a matching ankle-length black skirt that was open on one side, and sharp, minimalist glasses that sat before a pair of piercing black eyes.

“Hello there - I’d been waiting for you,” she said matter-of-factly.

“Gyah!?” The woman’s piercing gaze combined with her unexpected appearance and strange introduction shocked Takumi enough to make him jump. “What the hell? Who are you?”

“My real name is mine, and mine alone,” she answered, adjusting her glasses coolly. “But you may call me Scarlett. I’m a sex worker who specializes in helping sex tourists like yourself enjoy their vacations.”

“And what makes you so certain I’m a sex tourist?” Takumi asked, a bit offended.

“I saw you get off the plane; you were in first class. Locals almost all fly coach or business, and those that do fly first class are almost all old men. You being as young as you are means you are almost undoubtedly just visiting. Plus, I managed to overhear what you said to that friend of yours, so it wasn’t hard to put two and two together,” Scarlett explained. She too seemed a bit offended, apparently insulted that Takumi would dare question her intelligence. “If I’m wrong, though, feel free to correct me - but I think we both know that won’t be the case.”

“Er, well… you’re sort of right, I guess,” Takumi replied. “I am here looking for sex workers, but… not necessarily to have sex.”

“Hmm? You’re not looking to hire them for some business venture, like a movie or a strip club, are you?” Scarlett asked, raising a suspicious eyebrow.

“N-no, no, that’s not it at all.” Takumi reached into his pocket and pulled out a photograph of a woman with long white hair. “This is a friend of mine, Karua Kashimiya. We were close, but I lost contact with her about a year ago when my family and I moved to another city. I have reason to believe she’s a sex worker in town now, and I’m hoping to find her.”

“Karua, eh?” Scarlett crossed her arms. “Do you have reason to believe that she’s being trafficked or something? If that’s the case, I suggest you go to the local police - they’re actually fairly competent in dealing with such cases.”

“No, as far as I’m aware she’s here of her own volition,” Takumi admitted.

“And do you have any idea where she might be? Or what you might do if you find her?” Scarlett asked.

“No, I don’t,” Takumi admitted. “And if I find her… well, I’d like to convince her to come back to Tokyo with me, but even just being able to see her again would be enough, to be honest. So… do you happen to know where she is?”

“Hmph…” Scarlett stared at the photo, and yet it seemed more like she was looking past it somehow. “I’m afraid you’ve given yourself a fool’s errand. There’s thousands of sex workers who live here, and many of them came to this city to disappear for one reason or another. Even if I did know who this woman was, it could take weeks to find her.”

“Ah… well, I was expecting an answer like that.” Takumi sighed and put the photo away. “Maybe you could give me some advice on where to start looking, or where I could find someone who knows where she is?”

“And why should I do that?” Scarlett asked. “For all I know, you could be some sort of ex-lover looking for ****. Or maybe she owed you money, and she came here to avoid you collecting on her-”

“No, that’s wrong!” Takumi shouted with more **** than either of them was expecting, attracting the attention of several people around them. “Er, I mean… it’s not like that. I’m looking for Karua because I made a promise to her. A promise that I’d be there for her, and that I’d protect her no matter what. And I intend on keeping that promise.”

“A very sweet story… but I’m afraid I’m not a nun, nor a social worker,” said Scarlett. “It’s going to cost you for every condolence.”

“Augh… nevermind then.” Takumi turned towards the exit. “I’ll just look on my own.”

“You must be joking,” Scarlett scoffed. “I told you already, finding her out there is going to be impossible!”

“No, you just said that it would take weeks,” Takumi pointed out. “Fortunately, I plan on staying here for a while, and I’ll talk to every sex worker in town if I have to.”

“Every sex worker in town?” Scarlett felt genuine curiosity starting to rise within her. “Just how much time did you budget for this little trip of yours?”

“Quite a bit, actually,” he replied. “My parents think I’m off at college, and they gave me a very large loan for it. I know I can’t stay here forever, but I’m willing to look for 100 days if I have to.”

“A hundred… days?” Scarlett repeated what he had said, and yet she still couldn’t believe her own ears. The cost of a 100 day long vacation in this city would be extraordinary, even in the most conservative scenario. It was simply unthinkable… but then, she heard it be said yet again. But it wasn’t from Takumi…

“Did that guy really just say he’s staying for 100 days?” one of Scarlett’s rivals in a blue dress asked one of her friends.

“Yeah, I think so!” her redheaded friend replied. “He must be positively loaded!”

“Loaded doesn’t even begin to cover it!” another sex tourist specialist interjected as she walked over, holding a semi-erotic sign advertising a local love hotel. “Hey, guy! You want someone with some real talent to show you around town? If you do, your first time with me will be free!”

“First time? I’ll let you fuck me for a whole week for free if you let me be your tour guide!” said another as a crowd began to form around Takumi and Scarlette.

“Don’t you dare touch that dirty ho-bag!” another shouted from somewhere back in the crowd. “I’ve got a list of all the best Ultimates on my speed dial! Come with me, and they’ll blow your mind every night!”

“H-hey, back off! It’s not like that, really!” Takumi tried to insist, but the women seemed to refuse to listen to him. But then, a clack of a heel against the hard tiled ground of the airport terminal rang out like a gunshot, and that seemed to finally make them go quiet.

“Back. Off!” Scarlette ordered, her red irises burning red as coals as she stared the crowd down. “This man is mine - I saw him first!” Her perfectly manicured nails looked like the claws of a lioness as she took a threatening step forward, the sex workers backing off on reflex. “So you better set your sights on lesser prey unless you plan on putting your valuable faces at risk.”

“...”

For a moment, they seemed too scared to breathe. But then, a woman with short, dyed pink hair scoffed as she stepped forward.

“Yeah, right! We’re not scared of you!” she said. “We’ve got just as much right to compete for his money as y-”

Scarlett interrupted the woman by walking up to her, swiping out her legs, and sending her knee directly into the surprised sex-worker’s face. It collided with her nose with a loud crunch, and a moment later she was on the floor, clutching her face in pure agony.

“Oh no - she tripped,” Scarlett said with a satisfied smile on her face as she straightened her clothes. “Come on; let’s go already. Time is money.”

She grabbed Takumi’s hand and led him out the door before he could even process what he had just witnessed.

“W-what the hell was that?” he finally managed to ask as they came to a stop at the airport pickup/dropoff area.

“Just defending my stake, that’s all,” Scarlett said calmly as she took out her cell phone. “Don’t worry, this sort of thing happens all the time. No one is going to waste any time pressing charges.”

“You’re sure about that?” Takumi looked around and, sure enough, airport security wasn’t descending on them yet. “Still, I’d rather not stick around for any of those girls to catch up with us.”

“Relax, I’ve got it covered.” Scarlett dialed a number and lifted her phone to her face. “Sue, babe? I need a pickup, airport, stat. I expect you here, now.”

“On it, chief!” a woman replied before the call disconnected.

“You can’t be serious…” Takumi looked around at the crowded traffic jam in front of them and groaned. “If we wait to get picked up here, we’ll be here for hou-”

“And she’s here,” Scarlett interrupted just as a bright pink Hummer jeep appeared in an open spot right in front of them the nanosecond the gap appeared. “Go on, get in.” Scarlett opened one of the doors for Takumi. “You’ll be riding with me in the back.”

“What?” Takumi once again found himself at a loss for words. “How did…?”

“Hey, they don’t call me the Ultimate Driver for nothing!” the driver answered with a wink. Sue was around Scarlett’s age, with dark brown skin that contrasted hard with her bleached blonde hair. She was dressed very casually, with loose grey sweatpants and a black t-shirt that seemed to only barely contain what might have been the largest bust Takumi had ever seen in his short life - and it was pretty obvious it didn’t come with a bra. “Now, get in - before the guy I cut off to get here gets within road rage distance!”

“I… I’m sorry, but I’m not sure this is the best idea,” Takumi said nervously. “One moment, you didn’t want anything to do with me, and then all that changes the moment you realize I have money? That doesn’t exactly paint a trustworthy picture of you.”

“No, it doesn’t,” she admitted. “But everyone in town already knows you’ve got cash now, thanks to those loose lips of yours, so you’ll find no shortage of people trying to make you part with it. But the difference between me and the women back inside the airport is… when I want something, there’s nothing on heaven or earth that can stop me from getting it. And I can guarantee you, that if you make me want to find Karua, she will be found.”

She stepped into the jeep and gently patted the open seat next to her.

“So… what will it be? Will you stay with the brainless bimbos behind you, or… come with me? It’s your future.”