Janus
an excerpt

The door of the elevator opened, and Yu found himself staring into a lavish office. He took a step out of the elevator, and gazed around himself in utter amazement.

“You’re not used to living on the streets,” the voice of the stranger said, from a desk in the corner of the room. “I can tell from the way you carry yourself.” There was a pause and then, “I can also guess that you’re very well-educated. Am I right?”

“I… I’m a scientist,” for some reason, Yu suddenly felt inferior.

The stranger nodded, staring at Yu, almost as if he could read the Chinese man’s mind. “You can fight too…” he muttered, talking more to himself than to Yu. He took his eyes off of Yu and nodded again, deep in thought.

There was a moment of silence in the room. And then, “what’s your name?”

Yu peered curiously at the other man, having never actually met a Japanese before. From the stories he’d been told about them, he had expected a more evil looking man. “Zhou Yu,” he answered, curious to learn more about the other man, but too afraid to actually speak out.

“I am Harada Katsura,” the other man stood up and walked over to Yu, smiling. “I own a small corporation named Kuchren, and you’re exactly the kind of man I’ve been looking for.”