Fukusha Model Eight – Chapter 21

“If we want to prevent a war, this is how we do it,” Saki says, sitting across from Rin with Shun and her team. I sit away from them next to the window with Ninjin. The air through the open glass is thick with moisture, a storm front rolling in at this late hour. Halting a yawn, I close my eyes and lean my head against the wall. I don’t think I could brave another migraine this soon after the last two.

“No. This is starting a war,” Rin insists.

He sighs, and Saki’s nose flares. I suppress a laugh. I’m already used to his sighs, but Saki can’t read him like I can.

“Before the Model Six, we had no real problems with Aoi Uma’s androids. Now, at least eighty percent of Kiiroi Yama’s workforce is tied to android management. So much so that human needs take a back seat. Just look at the latest numbers from home.” Rin reaches for his tablet but stops when he remembers he can’t access anything here. “Numbers are up across the board in assaults. Androids are sabotaging trains and other public transportation. And every day, Aoi Uma are pressing citizens to switch or buy their new Model Eights. They had an unveiling the other day in Kadoma Ward. Thousands of people showed up.”

“And they’re expecting to roll out the new models in five to seven days.” Saki drums her fingers on the table as she sifts through piles of paper. Being off the grid means old tech. The paper here is rough and handmade. She twirls one piece of paper around and shows it to Rin. “Here. This is their main manufacturing facility, but it’s heavily guarded and would be impossible to infiltrate.”

Impossible to infiltrate and we have five to seven days to stop the Fukusha Model Eight? I close my eyes and realize that the end of the Fukusha Model Eight, no matter how much I want it, is not going to happen. Their introduction into society is inevitable. And since I don’t trust Atsumi and Okamoto, I’m without help.

What are my options?

Option one is to throw caution to the wind, strap on the explosives, and go in with no plan. Just do a guerrilla-style, no-fucks-given assault. That plan? It’s madness and will get us all killed. I would like to live despite how painful it is.

Option two is to let myself be kidnapped by Gen and the yakuza and work out something from the inside once they capture me. But this could also get me tortured and killed, and I would lose any kind of control I have over my life and the trajectory of it.

“Hmmm, I don’t see how we can do any of this,” Rin says to Saki, and I silently agree with him.

Option three is to find Shiroi Nami and beg for their help. They wanted to help me before in exchange for data from home, but now they’re as silent as space. I spent three months waiting for them to show their face while people braver and smarter than me rooted them out to no avail. What makes me think I’ll have more success now?

I won’t.

It’s time to fight fire with fire.

“Wait.” My voice is a lot louder than I intended it to be. Everyone stops to look at me, and Ninjin lifts his head. “These ideas are not going to work.” I scoot forward to the table and wave my hand at the pile of paper while Saki frowns at me. “You won’t get rid of the Fukusha Model Eight this way.”

“Well, it’s worth a shot, right?” Saki asks and a few nod their heads.

“No. No.” I want to take the papers and rip them, but instead, I push them towards her. “You can’t destroy them as long as Aoi Uma and Narumi Ogawa are in power.”

Shun huffs, exasperated. “Then what the fuck are we going to do? What are you even here for?”

I really can’t stand Saki’s brother, and I shoot him a deathly look across the table.

“I’m here because I have something the rest of you don’t have.” I lift my chin and square up my shoulders like I’m about to go into the biggest interview of my life. “I’m going to start my own corporation.”

Saki pauses and then bursts into a huge laugh. Shun rolls his eyes.

“This is the – the —” Shun shakes his head.

“The most brilliant idea I’ve ever heard.” Rin turns to me, his eyes wide. “There’s no way to kill the Model Eight unless you dethrone Aoi Uma and seize their assets.”

“With Aka Matsuba gone, only Kiiroi Yama and Shiroi Nami are left to challenge them. And Kiiroi Yama isn’t able to perform a hostile takeover because the populace doesn’t want to be run by the military.” During my three months in Kitakyushu, I read all the forum postings I could, and this was the overall sentiment from the majority of people.

“That leaves no other competing corporation unless a new one rises to the occasion.” Rin presses his lips together and nods slowly. “None of the artisan corporations are up for this sort of thing. So that leaves you.”

Saki and Shun blink at each other.

“But you” — Saki’s lips bumble before she rights herself — “you have no employees, no real status here on Hikari. You have no assets.”

I pat my tablet. “I have plenty of assets, valued in the say… Hmmm…”

Rin pauses, looking at the ceiling, doing the math in his head. “I’d guess around three billion credits.”

“Guys, can we get back to business now? This is all fun and everything, but we have a seriously tight deadline on this mission.” Saki taps the pile of papers in front of her.

I don’t blame her for not believing me. This idea came out of nowhere.

“I’m not joking.” I lean forward and look her straight in the eyes. It’s amazing how real they are. “This is what will work here, not some suicide bombing or whatever other crazy idea you have. Narumi Ogawa fights with the pen, not the sword. She throws money around and uses her androids to do her dirty work. I can do better than her.”

It’s a lie so convincing that even I believe it. I’m afraid to look at Rin and have him deny me.

“Okay then,” Saki says, tossing her pen on the table and crossing her arms. “Let’s hear this master plan.”

It’s not a master plan.

It’s like three dumb ideas stitched together with string, and my gut tells me this is a terrible idea.

Wasn’t I going to listen to my gut from now on?

I clear my throat and take a sip of the cold tea at the table.

“I’ve read up on how corporations here work, how they’re formed. I had a lot of, ahem, free time when I first arrived here. All I have to do is go before a judge, declare my intentions to start the corporation, and have my assets valued by the main bank. Once I do that, I can form a board of directors and start hiring employees. Anyone in any caste and at any level of society here can form a corporation. It’s in the Hikari charter documents.”

No one interrupts me, so I plow on.

“So, I go to the bank and ask for a loan. I use everything I have as an asset. Then I go before a judge, get my incorporation papers, and I can start a hostile takeover of Aoi Uma.”

It all sounds so simple, yet I know it’s not.

“And just who is going to enforce your hostile takeover?” Shun asks, leaning forward, his voice rough with disbelief.

Hmmm, that’s a good question. Narumi had her own androids enforce her takeover. I have… well, nothing.

Rin leans over to whisper in my ear. “Are you sure you want to do this? You don’t really seem like the business type.”

I huff a laugh.

“I’m serious. A move like this will tie you to Hikari longer than you want to be… longer than we want to be.”

I turn my lips to his ear. “I have to accept that it may be many years before I go home. I’m sorry.” I squeeze his hand, knowing he wants to leave Hikari as much as I do. “We need to make plans for the future. This is the only way. If I find Shiroi Nami, I may change my mind. This is the best backup plan I can come up with.”

“I’ll work on enforcement,” Rin says, returning to the conversation at hand. “I have friends who are unhappy in their jobs, and they’ve been looking for a way out. Yumi will start her corporation, and you guys will work on getting her in front of Narumi Ogawa during her big unveiling. We’ll do it in front of a live audience where plenty can see it happening for real.”

Saki leans back to confer with the people behind her, so I turn to Rin.

“What are you going to do?” I whisper.

A sly smile graces his lips. “I’m going to work some magic. You’re not the only one who can put a spell on people.”

Saki halts her whispering and cocks her head. “Someone’s coming.”

The clock on the wall shows it’s way past my bedtime, and a yawn overtakes me, my body ready to shut down though it’s had enough excitement to stay awake for another decade.

Grandma Endo answers a soft knock on the door, and a young man enters the house.

“I have good news and bad news. What would you like first?” he asks, and my body sinks in dismay.

“Good news, please,” Saki answers, gathering up her pile of papers. She files them away into a leather messenger bag.

“Okay, the good news is that we have a contingent of people ready to help you in your travels back to Susami.”

“The bad news?”

“I’m sorry to say that the man who fell while carrying the shrine passed away at the hospital an hour ago.”

Saki’s face falls as she gets to her feet.

“I will go to his wife immediately to express my condolences.” She bows, and he returns the bow and leaves.

She sighs, and as she walks past me, she stops to squeeze my arm.

“I thought corporations would only lead to more strife, more pain and suffering, but maybe some new blood in the mix is a good thing.”

“I hope so,” I say, shrugging. “I’ll do my best.”

Though I think I’ve just gotten myself into a world of trouble.