The Fate of Shin-Osaka – Chapter 23

“We’ll be out of your hair soon. Another two to three hours at most.” I turn to Rikki and offer him my hand to shake. “Thank you for your hospitality. I’ve enjoyed spending time here in your club.”

I tip my head back to look at the cavernous space. The ceiling is at least fifteen meters high. The metal beams are blackened like they’ve been dipped in tar. Pillars with lamps mounted on their sides cast light and shadows throughout the space. The bar, separating the two halves of the club, is almost complete. Soon, bartenders will mix up the cocktail of the day and serve customers there. To the right of the central part of the club are stairs leading to the VIP section, a balcony overlooking the dance floor. Rin and I were once in a similar place, drinking, talking, and flirting. In a few more weeks, this place will be open far into the night, filled with dancers, musicians pumping out beats, and people trying to forget their worries.

“It’s an amazing space. I’m sure you’ll be quite successful.”

He shakes my hand and lets it go. “Well, it’s tough to say how successful this place will be with half the city on fire.” His somber mood washes over me. “I was really hoping you’d be able to do something about Aoi Uma killing off some of my more wealthy and loyal clientele.”

“I’m sorry to have disappointed you,” I say, covering my heart with my hand. “I did not intend to get this far and give up. We’re just… outnumbered.” Outgunned and outclassed. Aoi Uma had too many resources, and we had nothing but a can-do attitude and homemade bombs. Even now, with Kiiroi Yama’s assets, we don’t have the people to fight with the armory they’ve handed over.

But if we can get rid of Gen and expose the fact that Narumi Ogawa is dead, Aoi Uma will crumble. Then we can come in and pick up the pieces.

Rikki nods, his head bobbing slowly. “I know. It’s not your fault. It’s our fault, the fault of the people living here.” He shrugs. “We were all too complacent to stop Aoi Uma from taking over.”

He’s not wrong. But he’s also oversimplifying the situation.

“Sometimes you don’t know something’s a dangerous idea until it actually happens,” I say with a shrug. “As humans, we have little forethought or knowledge of what to expect. Young people regularly do stupid things and don’t think forward to their later lives when they’ll pay the price for their terrible decisions. Hell, I was making terrible decisions less than a year ago. But the entire human race is like this. So don’t feel too bad. We’re not mystics who can see the future.”

“I wish we were.”

“Me too. I could use some guidance right about now.”

Rikki is quiet as he gazes out over the open space of his club, the men and women working, and the supplies being delivered.

“If I could give you one piece of advice, it would be to listen to your gut,” he says, pushing his hands into his pockets. “Your instincts are there for a reason. My gut told me Rin would be one of the best friends I would ever have. It was right.”

Rin. Suddenly, I’m eager to run out of here and find out how he is. We’ve been packing up and moving out of here for the last three days, and I know he’s gone through another round of lung treatments. He should be out of the hospital soon.

“Got it,” I respond, touching my finger to my temple. “Instincts. I will definitely listen to them.” I bow to him. “See you soon.”

As I’m walking away, Rikki calls after me. “Tell Rin I said to come back here once the place is open. He always has a free pass at the door.”

I turn and walk backwards. “I will!”

Down the hall to Yoshi’s office, the rooms along the way are vacant now. The conference room and galley are quiet and dark, and the painters are working on the offices that we’ve already left. Paint, plaster, and new wood fill the air. The white walls and gray conference room table are blank and sterile, ready to be filled with people, activities, and ideas. The air is cool, the noise level low enough that you can still hear the whirring of the computers in Yoshi’s office.

I’ll miss this place. Sigh. I feel like I’ve done nothing but say goodbyes lately.

“She’s ready,” Yoshi says as I open the door.

“She?” I look over at Sanaa, and she makes eye contact with me. I pop back, and my heart races. Deep down, a part of me wants to throw myself at her feet and beg for mercy. I fucked up badly with the empress… the real empress. But this is not her.

“Hi.” I swallow my apologies. She was so good to me, and I betrayed her.

Not her, Yumi.

Not this person.

Not this android.

“Hi. It’s good to meet you. Yoshi said you’re Kara? A cousin of Yumi’s?”

Does she know it’s me in here? I glance at Yoshi, and he minutely shakes his head.

I swallow through my discomfort. “Hi. Yeah, Kara Minamoto.” I reach my hand out to her. “Nice to meet you.”

She stands and bows before taking my hand. “Same.” She takes a deep breath and looks around, tucking her hair behind her ears. My stomach turns over as I glance at Yoshi.

He lowers his voice. “You wanted her to be as close as possible, right? I went through all the archive footage you had.”

“Right.” I turn to Sanaa. “Have you met anyone else yet?”

“No. Just Yoshi and you.”

“Okay, well, Kazuo is going to be a little awkward with you for a bit. Just ignore him.”

She hesitates, biting her bottom lip lightly. “I see. I’ll do that.”

I turn to Yoshi. “Can I talk to you outside for a moment?”

“Yeah, sure.” We both look at Sanaa, and she sits back down.

“I’ll wait here.”

I pull Yoshi down the hall, far enough from the room that I can’t hear the machines anymore.

“So, Saki said yes.”

“She said yes,” he confirms. “And she seemed to think this was a great opportunity to start over.”

“But she knows she’s not starting over, correct? This android represents a living, breathing person who is very much alive right now.” I pause. “Well, at least, I hope she is.”

“I explained everything, and she decided this will be her last transfer. When her time in this body is up, she’s done.”

“Done?”

He nods. “Dead, essentially. She understands the precariousness of consciousness transfers. This will be her final body.”

I turn away from him, close my eyes, and take a long deep breath to stop any tears from forming. This is not what I wanted for her, but it’s what she chose. She had a choice.

“Okay.” Yoshi watches me warily for a moment, so I roll my eyes. “What am I going to say? Put her back? No. We gave her the option, and she agreed, no matter how tangled the ethics are.”

I wish I could say I was exhausted, go lie down, and shut the world out for a while, but I know I’m not. I’m rarely physically tired, and I only get into a bed when I have to keep up appearances. Still, I need the downtime. I’m sick of the constant fire drills.

I can’t wait to be human and fallible again. Honestly, it’s a lot better than this.

Glancing back at Yoshi’s office, I lean in to whisper to him. “How did you get her to act like the original Sanaa? The resemblance is more than striking.”

“A personality data program. I have a system I plug a ton of variables into, creating a personality program for androids to follow. For her, it’s a little different since her consciousness will try to override them. But I’ve taught her how to follow the instinctual lead until it becomes natural to her. A warning alert shows up if she tries to countermand it.”

“Genius,” I breathe out. Wow. This man was a hidden gem.

“I know,” he says without a speck of humility.

“Hey.”

Sanaa leaves Yoshi’s office to approach us.

“So, I’ve been giving some thought to your current situation,” she says, folding her arms over her chest. “And I think I have an answer to your problem.”

“Which problem?” I ask with a laugh. It could be any number of things.

“The Aka Matsuba problem. I heard you’re now looking at Buichi Tamura’s family and hoping to find some clues there?” When I nod, she smiles and continues, “I’ve been studying the data Shintaro and Atsumi have been gathering. Tamura’s daughter was a huge animal lover. It was always in the news when they were in power because she guided him on all the animal releases for at least ten years. It’s one reason why his corporation was so successful until Aoi Uma took over. Her favorite animal was the fox.”

“Wait.” I hold up my hand and search through all the records we’ve been pulling for the last few weeks. Foxes, foxes, foxes… I remember something about foxes. Yes. There. “Ah, there’s a fox sanctuary to the northeast of Shin-Osaka.”

Sanaa nods. “Because of the foxes’ ties to Shinto, we can never destroy them like some other breeds of animals. When a fox is retired or no longer wanted, they get sent to the sanctuary.”

“Live breeding takes place there?” I ask, looking at the records. “I didn’t think that was possible.”

Aka Matsuba manufactured their animal breeds for specific wants and needs, and those animals were never fertile. They couldn’t breed with each other. If they could, Aka Matsuba would have been out of business, and rampant breeding leads to genetic diversity and unexpected variations. Aka Matsuba did everything they could to keep that from happening.

Sanaa shrugs. “Nature always finds a way. Can I come with you?”

“Who says I’m going to go check it out?” I tilt my head to the side as her smile brightens.

“Oh, please. We both know Aka Matsuba is your only chance to get back in this planet’s game. Maybe they’re not the most powerful corporation, but they meant a lot more to the people here than Aoi Uma and their androids.”

She’s right about that.

I scan her from top to toe as she waits for my response. With Saki’s knowledge of Hikari and Sanaa’s appearance and mannerisms, she’s just the force we need to overthrow Aoi Uma and get this planet back on the path to prosperity.

She’s just missing one thing — divine intervention. Sanaa’s family, the original on Orihimé, are descended from the sun god Amaterasu. We will have to make this version just as sacred and awe-inspiring to the population, otherwise, she’s just an average person. Hikari is not average. It needs extraordinary.

“All right.”

She smiles, and it brings me a confidence I had lost somewhere along the way to this moment. I’m not alone. These people believe in me, believe in our mission.

“This is the best lead we have. Thank you,” I say, giving her the credit she’s due. “I’ll double-check it with Atsumi and Shintaro, and if they agree, we’ll go. And sure, you can come along.”

“Not without me, you’re not.”

I thought the sound of approaching footsteps was Kazuo.

No, it was Rin.