Fukusha Model Eight – Chapter 31

The back entrance to the hospital is quiet as we slip away from the nursing staff who got us out without difficulty. But around the corner is a different story.

The streets of Susami are filled with people. Parents drag kids along the avenue, their faces creased with worry. Others walk animals or cart suitcases of belongings towards the nearest butsu loop. Thankfully, no one is paying attention to the tiny, no-haired girl, with an eye patch. I look nothing like my wanted poster.

“Which way?” I ask Mara, sticking close to her.

“Ummmm,” she stammers as she walks around to the front edge of the hospital. “I memorized the route from the front door. Didn’t realize we’d be sneaking out the back. This way.”

I follow her through back alleys and side streets. We’re proceeding against the flow of traffic for most of the way, and sticking to the outer edge of buildings is slowing us down. I keep losing my balance and needing the walls for guidance, so I’m not complaining. Yet. Having only one functioning eye makes gauging distance and depth difficult. Eventually, Mara sweeps her arm out and clears the space in front of us to keep us moving. No one pays attention to us. The instinct is to flee and never look back. I don’t blame them.

We turn a corner and up the block, I spy Rin on the front porch of a townhouse. I’m too tired to run up the stairs to him. Huffing and puffing away, I land in his arms as soon as I’m close enough.

“Thank the gods you made it.” He envelops me in a hug, bringing his hands to my head. “The whole neighborhood erupted in chaos only ten minutes ago.” He runs the tips of his fingers over the stubble on my head as Mara averts her eyes and lets herself inside. “When you said you were going to get rid of the brown hair, this is not what I thought you’d do.”

I sigh, pressing my cheek against his chest. “It was my only option.”

He squeezes once before letting me go. “Come inside where it’s safe.”

The townhouse is quieter than the streets. Once the door closes behind me, I relax for a moment and notice my hands are shaking. Considering I was just in the hospital, I’m glad I’m vertical at all. From the back of the house, the sharp clacks of nails on hardwood floors accelerates, and Ninjin rounds the corner heading straight for me.

I had smiles for Rin; I swear I did. But something about seeing my dog come running for me makes me insanely happy. Sinking to my knees, I open my arms to him, and he crashes into me, licking my face and happily whining away.

“Easy, boy. I’m happy to see you too. Sit,” I command, wrapping my arms around him and squeezing. He plants his wiggly dog-butt down, tail swishing a million times per minute.

“Well, well. I see I’m a nobody compared to furry four-legged friends,” Rin drawls but ends in a laugh.

I scratch Ninjin’s hind legs and squeeze him again before getting up. “Ninjin sleeps on the floor, and you sleep next to me in bed. I think we all know you’re not a ‘nobody.’”

I lift my face to Rin. “Don’t I get kisses now?”

“You’re covered in dog slobber.”

I make kissing noises at him, and he laughs again before sighing.

“You’re pale. You should sit down and rest before we leave. Want something to eat?” Rin leads me over to a couch in the front living room. I sink into it, grateful to be off my feet. Ninjin jumps up next to me and, as usual, places his head in my lap. If he could, he would sit right on me.

“Where’s Kazuo?”

“Upstairs napping. I’m sure he’ll be down soon.”

“Okay.” The need to count my flock and account for them at all times has grown strong over the past day. “Eating sounds good —”

“They’re going to burn you in your beds. The whole city will go up in flames until I’m returned, and Yumi is dead.”

I close my good eye against the voice coming from the kitchen. I was hoping someone had gagged Gen, and I wouldn’t have to listen to him at all.

Gathering my strength, I lever myself up from the couch. Rin jumps forward with his hands out.

“No. No. Please. Don’t get up. Don’t give him a gram of attention.” His eyes glisten, and my heart breaks.

“Rin Hara,” I say, wrapping my shaky arms around his waist and looking him in the eyes. Really looking, making the connection, and feeling the love I’ve always thought I was undeserving of. “I’m totally and completely in love with you. And I promise, when all of this is over, and we’re living a peaceful life, I’m going to slip my hand into yours, and I’m going to love every moment we spend together.”

He smiles as he touches his forehead to mine.

“And I know that right now, I am horrifying to look at. But I’m growing my hair back, and if my eye never heals, I’ll get a pirate patch, and I’ll rock this look with everything I have in me.”

He laughs as he sinks his head to my shoulder, and his lips make contact with the skin there.

“You wanted your declaration. That’s the best I can do right now.”

“I’m glad you remembered,” he mumbles against my skin.

“It’s one of the few things I can remember from that day. Now that you have it, let me go deal with this loser.”

He nods as he releases me. I make it to the turn back to the hallway when I collide with the doorframe.

“My goddamned depth perception is off.”

Rin chuckles and covers his mouth before advising, “Use your hand against the wall.”

In the kitchen, Gen Miyazawa is strapped to a table and chair. His hair is a mess, his right eye is black and blue, and his shirt is torn, but that doesn’t stop him from acting like he owns the place. Kengo stands at the kitchen sink, cutting an apple with a combat knife.

“I can’t believe you didn’t gag him, Kengo. I don’t know how you can stand his whiny voice.”

Kengo shrugs. “It’s no worse than my youngest child whining for ice cream.”

I fold my arms and lean against the wall. “How’s the family?”

“My wife left me two months ago,” he says, shrugging again. “I see the kids all the time, though. No big loss.” He crunches an apple slice between his teeth. “New haircut?” He bobs his head side to side. “I’m not really feeling it. You looked better with long hair.”

Everything he says grates on my nerves. Should I be thankful an asshole joined the ranks in my favor? Hard to say.

“I did look better with longer hair, thanks. It’s a temporary set back.”

Gen snorts. “I didn’t think you could look any uglier, but lo and behold, you can.” He smirks as he tries to sit back, but the handcuffs stop him. He yanks on them, and Kengo winks at Gen while cutting off another piece of apple.

“Insults about my looks never bothered me before, and they don’t now.” I deliberately sigh and examine my nails. “I’m just here to grab a bite to eat before we get on the road.”

“We’re leaving?” Gen’s voice climbs half an octave.

I open the fridge and peruse the contents. Rin walks up behind me and stares over my shoulder. “I bought the rice balls for you.”

“Thanks,” I say, grabbing two. Rice balls don’t fill me up, but Rin wouldn’t know that. How long have we been dating? Not long enough to know what we like to snack on.

I close the refrigerator door and lean back against it, unwrapping the rice ball, and watching Rin fill up a glass of water at the sink. I think the best way to deal with Gen is to ignore him.

“What’s your favorite snack?” I ask Rin.

He thinks about it seriously, and it brings a smile to my worn-out and bruised face.

“Potato chips. I like the ones with seaweed and salt.”

I remember seeing those in his apartment back in Shin-Osaka. “Those are tasty. We have a similar kind on our world.”

“You?” he asks, and Kengo glances between us.

“Nuts and dried fruit.”

“Really? How did I not know this?” He smiles at me over the top of his glass. “Mara likes nuts too.”

Gen groans, rolls his eyes, and smacks his forehead on the table. “Stop! Dear God, you people are a joke. You know what I’ve been doing the last couple of months? Work, real work. I’m not just another pretty face.”

He’s a face that’ll be busted in two if he doesn’t shut his trap soon.

“You think you’re the only one who’s been working since we landed here?” I challenge him before biting off a chunk of the rice ball. Oh, it’s filled with fish! This will do.

“I know I’m the only one. Just wait till you see the work I’ve been doing with Aoi Uma.”

I pause my chewing, remembering the things Gen was brought along to study here. If we had cruised into the Hikoboshi system and found only uninhabited planets, our teams of scientists would’ve gone to work studying the ecosystems so we could use the planets for ourselves. Ayamé had been in plant biology. My brother was in the same group, but his specialty has always been genetics. He enjoys animal genomes, and that’s what he’s best at.

Gen, on the other hand, specialized in human genomes. If we had found uninhabited planets, he would’ve taken samples to see if humans had ever lived here, assuming we didn’t find other artifacts to prove as much.

Gen’s smirk grows as my brain gnaws on this important piece of data. Gnawing on data hurts, unfortunately. I cringe at the pain in my head.

“What? Don’t believe me? If you think her androids are fearsome, just wait till you see what’s next in line.”

This is why I punched Gen, and why I’ve always hated him. He believes that what he’s doing is the best and brightest work humankind will ever do. He’s arrogant and self-righteous. He’s also dangerously smart, even if he’s stupid in pretty much every other way that counts.

“Oh yeah? You’re totally into whatever world domination and immortality plans Narumi Ogawa has cooked up?”

If he could move, he’d lean back and fold his hands behind his head, rogue-style. “And she’s a hell of a lay.”

“Ugh,” Kengo says, turning to spit out a piece of apple into the sink.

“I think I’m going to be sick.” I clench my stomach. “How desperate do you have to be to sleep with that woman? She’s at least a decade older than you!”

Gen tries to hold in another triumphant smile. “She’s a lot older than that. But you wouldn’t know it to look at her.”

I guess Narumi has already found the fountain of youth. I didn’t think she was any older than thirty-five, tops. One more thing to add to my list of items not to forget. My tiny notebook, though, is in my bag.

“Even with this” — Gen holds up his bound hands — “I’m doing a hell of a lot better than you. That place you lived in Kitakyushu was disgusting.”

I pause again, waiting for him to keep going.

He doesn’t disappoint me.

“My, how the mighty have fallen,” he says, shaking his head. “Owned by the yakuza. Living in a drug den. Working at a noodle shop. And poor as shit. Maybe you should’ve saved your money instead of blowing it at the fights and on fancy coffees.”

The last of my rice ball slips from my fingers and hits the floor.

“What did you just say?” My voice feels light years away, and the room buzzes as my ears try to grasp onto that last bit of boasting from Gen.

Fancy coffees.

“What did you just say?” I demand again, this time rushing forward to face Gen at the table.

Gen’s lips work back and forth, but he’s so smug, he can’t hide the smile he really wants to let loose.

“Feeling a bit, dare I say, betrayed?”

Why, Yumi? Why didn’t I listen to my gut?

I turn and walk straight out of the kitchen, through the hallway to the front entrance, and wait for Rin to join me. Ninjin trots up with Rin at his side.

“What’s going on, Yumi?” he hisses at me.

“The fancy coffees. I only ever went to that coffee shop with Saki.” I close my eyes and shake my head, trying to rid myself of the guilt. “It was around the corner from her place, so I found it when we first met.”

Rin stares off into space for a moment.

“Don’t you see? The only way Gen would know about that is if he’s been spying on me for months. How do you think he did that?”

Put two and two together!

Rin nods, grasping my shoulder. “Saki has been an Aoi Uma spy from the beginning.” He pulls back and turns away, rubbing his face with his hands. “Samurai Seven was just a cover, a story. The whole thing was a ruse.” He lets his arms fall to his sides. “I knew we were being played. I didn’t realize their plans ran so deeply.”

It’s the only thing that makes sense, despite Saki’s constant insistence to get rid of the Fukusha Model Eights. It was all a lie, bait. Narumi Ogawa knows I’m opposed to her androids. She would use my hatred of them to entice me into a fight against them.

My hands shake as I realize how close I came to getting myself killed. After our meeting at the Nomura estate, Saki and Shun tried one last time to convince me to help them destroy the Model Eights. It was their last-ditch effort to lure me away from Rin and the protection he affords. When I didn’t budge, they used the yakuza to try to kill us. I briefly saw Saki and Shun the morning of the ambush. I’ll never forget the cold look in her eyes as I ran to save myself.

My lips tremble. “I’m so sorry.”

Rin snaps out of his thoughts and pulls me in for a quick hug. “Don’t be. They went further than I ever dreamed they would. Even the intelligence from Kiiroi Yama didn’t anticipate this kind of deception. This means they all could be spies, including Shun, who I got to know before I was kidnapped. Remember? You’re not the only one who fell for these lies.”

“Does this mean the Nomuras work for Aoi Uma too? Did I give Aoi Uma the nanotechnology?” If my stomach sinks any further, it’ll be in my shoes.

“I don’t know.”

Rin and I are both silent as we work through the consequences of this information. There are too many gaps in my memory to put together a logical step-by-step timeline of what happened. I can identify now all the places in our conversations where Saki was trying to worm her way into my affections and appeal to my better nature. But there are a few moments which stand out as uncharacteristic of Narumi Ogawa too. Narumi would never have saved the man who was about to be crushed by the collapsing shrine. Would she? She would’ve preferred to stay undercover as an android, I’m sure of it.

Nothing makes sense.

“We have to go,” Rin insists. “We need to get out of here and get far, far away from this place. Every moment we spend in Susami is another moment they get closer to us.”

“Mara and I could see all the way to the harbor from the hospital. Aoi Uma is coming, and I don’t know what Kiiroi Yama or even Shiroi Nami is doing to stop them.”

“Me neither. I’m out of the Kiiroi Yama loop, and Shiroi Nami?” He shrugs. “When you were in surgery, I went to the café to talk to the waitress, and she said she’d pass on our message to Shiroi Nami, but I haven’t heard from them since. Are they mobilizing? Or have they abandoned the continent? I can’t tell. You said they have an army. It must be all underground. I’ve never seen it.”

A low boom rolls up the street, shakes the windows in their casings, and jiggles the glasses in the kitchen cupboards.

Aoi Uma is coming.

Rin lifts his chin and raises his voice. “Time to go, everyone!”