The Rise of Shiroi Nami – Chapter 1

“Let’s see what we have here.”

The light shining in my eye intensifies and dies away, leaving a sunspot behind to obscure the doctor sitting in front of me. I blink the tears from my eyes and close them long enough to make the spot disappear by half.

“Well, this is promising.” With a flick of his wrist, he shines the light in my eye again. “The surgery was a success. Your optic nerve has healed, your cornea is scratch-free, and the swelling is gone.” He swivels away from me on his chair and grabs his tablet. “All the scans look good too.”

I sigh and lean my shoulder against Rin, sitting next to me. He rests his hand on my knee, steady and strong.

“Excellent,” Isao says with a smile. I wince as I try to focus on him across the room. With his wings folded against his back and the dark skin of his arms and legs on full display, he cuts a sharp profile against the white walls. It took me a few weeks to get used to his clear blue eyes, but I still have shocks of surprise when I see emotion in them. His happiness at my diagnosis is all over his face.

But I can’t help the despair building in my chest.

“That’s great,” I mumble because I can feel the letdown coming. This is the good-news prelude to a bad-news main event.

The other surgeon in the room crosses her arms.

“So, Yumi, how do you feel?”

“How do I feel?”

Rin hears the irritation in my voice and rubs the stubble on his cheek.

“I look in the mirror, and I’m not sure it’s me. That’s how I feel.”

Her eyebrows draw inward, and she sucks in a quick breath. “Do you think you’re dissociative?”

I pause, and I’m careful not to roll my eyes. I just got this new eye, and I don’t want it rolling out of my head.

“Do you think I’d be able to tell if I was dissociative?”

She thinks for a long moment. “Maybe?”

Rin chuckles and shakes his head. “She’s fine… well, probably.”

“I’m still getting used to the fact you genetically engineered everything for me. Like it’s me, but not me.”

Rin holds my hand, though, and that feels real. His love radiates through our palms, and when I squeeze his hand back, I know I’m still in love with him. That’s not strange.

When we returned to Kurai after the battle on Hikari, Shiroi Nami assessed our injuries and determined who would need surgery and who could wait… or had to wait. In my case, they needed to grow a new eye for me — a new eye they would harvest for the cells to repair my current eye. Yes, that’s as creepy as it sounds. And when I look in the mirror, it seems the same as it did before. The ghost of the grown eye hangs over my head, though.

I just don’t understand this concept. They don’t have jump drives or long-range starflight, but they can grow people and animals from scratch. They can take consciousness and transfer it at will.

That sort of thing shouldn’t be allowed. But then again, I’d be half blind without this. I shouldn’t fight it.

The surgeon’s smile pushes the boundaries of her face. “I understand, and I think you’ll be fine. You’ll get used to this and all the other ways we do things here.” She shrugs as she gathers up her tablet. “This is the future for us.”

She means this is the future for everyone. Shiroi Nami does not buy into the android future Aoi Uma wants. They believe humanity’s future is, well… standing right next to us. Isao’s wings whisper as he adjusts them.

“Wait,” Rin says, holding up his hand to keep the surgeon in the room. “What about the other injuries?”

Rin’s voice is worried, and rightfully so. My migraines have gotten worse in the last few weeks, and so has my memory. I hold back a sigh. It’s Rin who’s the King of Weary Sighs, not me. Kazuo isn’t here, so he’s pulling double duty while Kazuo is out scouting the neighboring territories looking for allies.

“The other injuries…” The surgeon sits down, and my stomach drops. Whenever a doctor has to deliver bad news, they do a few different but distinct things. They sit down. They sigh and lean on a table or wall. They come to sit right in front of you and make eye contact.

“We’ve run into a problem with the other injuries.”

She pulls up the scan that was done in the hospital in Susami, back on Hikari. I wasn’t in that hospital for long, but it was long enough to pull data on everything that had happened to me.

“We’ve healed the broken ribs, bruises, and sprains. The damage to your leg? Well, we’ve done all we can with gene therapy. But your main problem is your brain.”

“My main problem has always been my brain.”

When no one laughs, I break the tension with an eye roll. I’m pleased to find the eye stays in my head after all.

The surgeon pulls up a new scan and places it next to the old one. I draw in a breath and hold it. Even I can tell my brain is more damaged than before. The shading and colored regions are more intense. Rin skates his hand over my shoulders, pulling me to him.

“The damage is significant now, Miss Minamoto. And one thing we can’t do here with therapy is repair brains.” She sits back in her chair. “Brains are so complex as a…” She pauses as she grasps for the right terms. “As an organ of cells, an organic structure. One thing affects another and then another.”

“But…” My eyes fall on Isao, and his chilling smile returns.

“My cousin wants to know more about how I was made.”

My regular doctor laughs. “Don’t we all.”

The surgeon looks from Isao to me. “I’m going to leave you to discuss specifics. My specialty is surgery.” She rests her hand on my shoulder. “I’ll ask the neurologist to come and speak with you.”

Great. Another doctor to discuss my failing brain with.

When the door closes on her, Isao steps away from the wall. “This is not my first body. This is my third.”

“What?” Rin’s face drains of color, and he pulls me a little closer.

Isao gestures to himself, a short wave to his chest. “This is my third body and probably my last. Did you know I’m over ninety years old?”

I press my fingers to my mouth. I’ve spent a lot of time with Isao over the last few weeks of recovery. I always assumed he was born and raised like this. That a mother gave birth to him, and this is the personality he developed from living as a bat-man for his entire life.

I need to stop assuming things around here.

I wish I didn’t need to ask.

“Over ninety? How?”

He tips his head to the side and looks to the doctor. The doctor nods his head once.

“The technology that Aoi Uma uses to steal consciousness from people and put them in Fukusha Model Eights is our technology, Yumi. They stole it from us.”

“Why am I not surprised?” Aoi Uma, run by the craziest bitch alive, Narumi Ogawa, is a corporation of thieves. They will buy, steal, and cheat their way to the top. No matter what. Treaties and laws? Those are for losers, as far as Narumi is concerned. The woman has no soul, I’m sure of it.

“It’s easier to imprint consciousness into an artificial system like the androids. They were able to retrofit everything to their own standards within a week or two.”

“How do you know all this?” Rin asks, his voice touched with awe. “No one outside of Aoi Uma knows what they do in there.”

Isao shrugs, and his wings shudder. “We have our spies.”

“So, let me get this straight,” I say, leaning forward and looking at both the doctor and Isao. “You’re saying you just” — I wave my hand in a circle — “grow up a body and transfer your consciousness into it whenever you’re ready?”

“That’s exactly what we do.”

The ethical roads my thoughts wander down are twisted and dark. I can only imagine how this could be used as a weapon. But it could be a salvation, too.

“I, um… I have a million questions.”

“Of course you do.” Rin leans over and gives the top of my head a kiss. My hair is a shaggy mess, just a few centimeters long. I can’t wait to grow my long hair back. I’m ready to buy a wig at this rate.

“But the real question is, would you be willing to do the same thing?” Isao asks.

I swallow, trying to force my throat to work.

“We could grow you a new body in three months. You wouldn’t be forced to live out the rest of your life with this broken one.”

I look down at my body, my arms, my hands. I think of the scars I’ve earned and the way this flesh feels to me. How different would that be?

Glancing over at Rin, he avoids my eyes and stares into a blank space past Isao. Whenever Rin is quiet with me, I know he’s contemplating something big.

I clasp my hands together and decide not to decide.

“I need more information. There’s no way I can jump into something like this.” I raise my finger. “And just so you know, my decision is most likely going to be a no.”

Because I may be the adventurous type, but not that adventurous.

Isao cocks his head to the side. “The offer will remain open.”