Fukusha Model Eight – Chapter 3

Getting through the crowds is difficult with an overexcited dog in tow. Ninjin jumps and barks at everyone but keeps pace at my side. He must know something big is happening by the way people are streaming towards the burning building.

Because, come on. If Aoi Uma tells us to stay away from things, we go straight to them. We’re like kids whose parents told us not to touch the electrical sockets, and we still put our fingers in them, anyway.

Stupid, but how else do we really learn?

Saki, Ninjin, and I round the corner of the 300 block of Mitsui Avenue to chaos and blinding heat. The fire in the building roars, and my heart skips several beats. It’s hard to forget all the burning buildings I’ve escaped since crash landing on Kurai. At least this time, I’m not stuck inside.

An automated fire suppression system rises from the street close to the building, turns with exacted speed and precision, and empties huge cannons of foam into the fire. With the buildings so close, several businesses and apartment buildings have been evacuated to the opposite side of the street, and the people huddle together, their faces pale and eyes wide with fear.

“I haven’t seen a building burn like this in years,” Saki says, shielding her face from the blaze with her hand. She leans close to me. “This was deliberate. Aoi Uma? Someone has an ax to grind with their androids, I bet.”

“I think they’re getting the message loud and clear.”

I grasp Ninjin’s leash tighter and circle him around, so he’s behind my legs. I don’t want him to be stepped on.

Smoke curls across the street, and we retreat farther up the block to get away from it. The crowd of people we’re with flow around us. Some people keep their heads down while others either look over their shoulder at the burning building or call their loved ones via their tablets. One older woman is helped along by a younger man, and two young kids hold their mother’s hands. I didn’t realize how much I missed seeing kids around until I walked the streets of Kitakyushu. They don’t seem to have a birth rate problem here.

Another Kiiroi Yama police car flies up the street, its lights flashing and siren wailing, and settles down right in our path. Uh oh. Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to get involved in this mess. It’s been ages since I met with someone from Rin’s corporation directly. Though I receive orders from Atsumi in the forums, I haven’t spoken to her, Kengo, or Yori Okamoto since they put me on the boat from the Northern Continent. I thought Saki and I would come down the hill, watch the building burn from afar, and then leave to proceed with our day. But we were on the scene too quickly, and the arsonist might be among us.

The cop car’s doors slide open and out come two police officers, both women dressed in black and wearing swords. I’d know their powerful stance and self-confidence anywhere. They’re both kenryōshi.

“All right! Everyone form two lines and wait to be identified,” one officer shouts at us.

“Shit,” Saki and I say at the same time. I pull back in surprise. What does Saki have to hide? I mean, sure, she’s here in Kitakyushu which is a no man’s land, a place where people go to get away from families, their lives, or their corporations. Many people here are ex-cons or yakuza. There are no CEOs, no major corporations, no microchips. Everyone can be identified by their sujō-kazu (their family identity number) and by facial recognition. Thankfully all of my records have been expertly falsified by Kiiroi Yama.

I never asked Saki about why she lives here or where she’s from. There was always something about her that kept me from prying. Maybe I just didn’t want to know. Maybe I wanted a friend, didn’t want the drama. Yeah, that’s it. For once, I wanted someone to talk to, another woman who would care about my troubles and listen to me talk about my brother and Kazuo, my passions, and my heartache over being separated from Rin.

Why did I ignore my journalistic instincts when it came to her? I always make poor decisions when I’m trying to protect my heart.

A man in the crowd behind us panics and bolts. Ninjin barks at him as he runs away, and I hold his leash a little tighter. Both women kenryōshi don’t move. Instead, another officer up the block captures the running man, tackles and brings him down to the ground. They struggle before the officer shocks him into submission.

“If you run, someone will catch you, so please make this easy on us,” the woman on the right says, raising her arm into the air and waving us into lines. “If you come forward now slowly, we’ll get this over with.”

I lean over to Saki while the people ahead queue up and prepare to be identified.

“Are you going to have a problem with this?” I whisper to her.

“Not if my boss is as influential as he says he is,” she whispers back.

“Your boss? I think they’re only looking for androids.”

“Shhh,” she hushes me.

I know she’s not talking about that idiot Toshiro who runs our noodle shop. The man has the IQ of a houseplant, but he makes great noodles, and his family is connected in ways I don’t ask about. Those are the only things keeping him in business. That and he doesn’t sexually harass his staff. He’s a fool but not a lecherous fool.

My turn comes after three people are identified and sent on their way. I try my best to look bored and annoyed.

“Name and sujō-kazu?” The officer asks me. I wonder if she knows Rin, or knows of Rin. Probably. The desire to ask her stirs in my chest, but I push it away.

“Yumi Oda. 58742-4b.” I stand still while she raises her tablet and scans me. I’ve been scanned before when I got off the boat in Kitakyushu, when I rented the apartment from Haku, when I was hired for the job at Fourth Avenue Noodles. This won’t be any different, but my stomach is in knots all the same. I have no idea when Atsumi is going to be done with me, and then my time will be up.

The officer stares at her tablet and then locks her eyes on my face. “Do I know you?”

I shrug my shoulders, sweat dripping down my back. “No, I don’t think so.”

“You look familiar,” she says, concentrating on me. I swallow, and my throat is like sandpaper. “I’m sure we’ve met before.”

Grasp for anything, Yumi. The weight of my ‘disguise’ presses down on me. My brown hair isn’t fooling anyone, right? I’m too distinctively plain around these people and pretty much everyone has seen my online diaries now.

I’m toast.

“Do you ever eat at Fourth Avenue Noodles? I work in the kitchen there, but on occasion, I wait tables when people call in sick.”

“Huh. No. That’s not it.”

The trickle of sweat down my back turns into a river. I give her an exaggerated shrug and looked down at Ninjin. “My dog is awfully thirsty. Can I go?”

She sighs, pinching the bridge of her nose. “Sure. Go ahead.”

I’m sure to smile at her as I leave. But I walk away slowly so I can hear Saki’s interrogation.

“Name and sujō-kazu.”

“Saki Hashimoto. 62115-7m.”

I’m impressed with Saki’s cool demeanor as she’s scanned and the officer looks over the data on her tablet.

“What were you doing in the area?”

“My friend and I were out walking her dog.” Saki gestures to me, and I nod at the officer again. “We work together and like to go on hikes in the mornings.”

The officer pauses, thinking over this statement, but doesn’t take too long.

“Okay. You can go.”

Saki walks away, her face relaxing into a grin.

“Wait!” The officer calls out, and Saki freezes in mid-stride. I see her swear under her breath. “Wait,” she shouts again, running up to Saki.

My heart rate speeds up, a race car flying through my veins.

“If you were walking around here prior to the fire, did you notice anything unusual?”

“Uh-unusual?” Saki stutters out. I take a few steps closer to her, hoping my presence is enough to make her feel more secure. “Like what?”

The officer sighs, and I recognize the patterns of fatigue I saw in the Kiiroi Yama staff back in Shin-Osaka. Her hair is frizzy, and the makeup she applied to cover her darkened under-eye area is melting away.

“There was an incident at the wharf early this morning. One of the Aoi Uma transport vessels was sabotaged, and a new terrorist group is claiming responsibility for it. Did anyone here shout at the crowd? Or leave anything?”

“We arrived after the fire started,” I say, grasping Saki’s arm. “Everyone we saw was with us.” I gesture to the group waiting to be identified.

A terrorist group? Of course, we won’t see anything on the news about it because Aoi Uma would rather collapse into a million pieces than admit some people want them out of office and off this planet altogether.

The officer nods and returns to her duties, and I pull Saki along, up the block and out of sight of the scene of the fire.

“Terrorist group?” I ask her as we increase our speed in the direction of her apartment building. Ninjin trots alongside us. “Since when does Hikari have terrorist groups?”

She cracks a small smile, and it chills me. “They used to call Shiroi Nami a terrorist group, back in the day. During our parents’ time…” She nods at me, and I return it. She has no idea that my parents are light years away.

“Do you think this is Shiroi Nami now?”

If it is, I need to get on this soon. They’ve been in hiding since returning to the continent, and Rin’s mission has been to seek them out.

“Nope.” She laughs, skipping and jumping. “I’m pretty sure it’s not.”

She throws her arms into the air and twirls around before running back to me and threading her arm through mine. Her whole demeanor has shifted from scared to elated. I’ve never seen her this happy before.

“Yumi, my dear, Judgment Day is coming, and we will have front row seats to the end times. I hope you have enough money for popcorn.”

Aw shit. I don’t have time for this. I have information to sell, people to protect, and a life to lead.

Another revolution?

Where do I fit that into my busy schedule?