The Rise of Shiroi Nami – Chapter 22

Walking across the lobby at Kiiroi Yama feels like trudging through mud. My legs are a hundred kilos apiece, and my heart is racing like I’m running a marathon. It’s been almost an hour since I took the meds. Why aren’t they working?

People in the lobby move to the side as Okamoto walks in front of us, leading the way. Men and women stop to stare at me, and I do everything in my power to lift my head and walk with confidence. It’s hard to do when I feel like shit.

A hush falls over the room as we approach the elevator bank. I remember my first time here, riding up in the elevator with Rin before we were who we are now. We still had a long way to go in our relationship then. I hold back a sigh. Something about being here again, being here in Kadoma Ward, has made me maudlin and sappy. I need to stop.

Nostalgia is one thing. Pining for days that weren’t even good to begin with is another.

When we exit the elevator to a cold and quiet floor, I shiver. The room we enter is a lot like the data room Ryoko, Rin, and I infiltrated in Aoi Uma’s factory. It looks like the Kiiroi Yama engineers have been hard at work with the consciousness transfer equipment. The black case sits on a table, powered up and wired into ports on the wall. Two engineers hover over the device, touching the screens and adjusting things.

Okamoto introduces everyone and gestures for me to sit in a recliner to the side. Rin sits at the table next to the engineers.

“So, the way this thing works is that we place these sensors on you,” the woman says, holding up a handful of wireless sensors, “and then we scan you. The scanning may take an hour or longer. You can rest and relax during that time.”

I nod as I grab a bottle of water and chug down a few swallows. She watches me drink and says, “If you need to use the bathroom, you should do it now.”

“I’m fine.” I don’t have the heart to tell her I’ll sweat it all out while I’m sitting there.

“Then, when we start the consciousness mapping, you’ll need to be awake and alert. There will be a pattern on the wallscreen you should watch during the time we’re mapping. And that will be it. Nothing too strenuous. And if everything goes to plan, we should have all your memories and our first mapped consciousness. Well, Kiiroi Yama’s first.”

“How did you find out how to work all of this?” I ask, trying to get comfortable.

Okamoto smiles, and the reaction is rueful on his solemn face. “After we spoke to Atsumi, we sent in someone to Amagasaki to poach one of Aoi Uma’s engineers. We made him a very generous offer, and he’s our employee now. Granted, his life is in danger, but Aoi Uma will forget about him, eventually.”

“That’s ballsy,” I say, appreciating his candor. It’s not every day someone admits they stole something.

“I get the job done. And now, I’m going to leave you all to get this job done. I’ll check in later.”

With a short wave, the door closes behind him.

The woman holds up the sensors with a smile.

“Great! Let’s get started. I’m eager to make history.”

You and me both.

Sitting in the chair and relaxing, this turns into the calmest afternoon I’ve had in a long time. Throw in a manicure, pedicure, and facial massage, and I could be at the spa. The sensors warm to my skin, and my body melts into the recliner. The fever running rampant in my body dissipates under the medications, and I cool off a bit. Enough to not feel completely uncomfortable.

Only slightly uncomfortable.

The time spent in the chair gives me a chance to go over my upcoming plans, but all I can think about is Gen. Gen Miyazawa, that bastard. He could have been someone influential and impressive, but he chose the wrong path. So many people throughout history have done the same thing, so it’s not like this is a grand surprise or anything. I just never expected it to happen on this trip.

After this mapping is complete, Rin and I will head to First Hikari Bank, where we have an appointment for them to estimate my assets. If they approve a loan, the official declaration will happen for my corporation.

The Kazenoho Corporation of Hikari. Eventually, I’ll hand it over to Empress Itami’s oldest son, Koichi, and he’ll lead this world back to a thriving community. He was destined to lead, and he’s done his job back home despite several setbacks. I’m sure he’ll do an excellent job with this place.

Someday.

If they ever make it back here.

I know they will.

Have some faith, Yumi.

Mumbles rise in the room, bringing me out of my state of meditation. I pop my eyes open and look over at the engineers at the equipment. They’re pointing to the tablet with furrowed brows and frowns. We haven’t even gotten to the part in the process where I stare at the wallscreen and they finish the consciousness map, so something else must be causing a problem.

“What’s the matter?” Rin asks, putting his own tablet down, standing up from his chair across the room, and joining the engineers.

The woman sighs as she tilts the tablet so Rin can see it. “Several areas of her brain are producing errors in the code. She’s had a few concussions, right?”

Rin nods. “There’s been damage to her memories, especially short term.”

The woman presses her lips together. “Well, it looks like the equipment can’t read those sections. I think…” She accesses a new screen. “I think if we continue and skip those areas, we’ll only get eighty-five percent of her brain mapped.”

“That seems like it would be problematic,” Rin says, rubbing his hands together before taking my hand in his. His skin is ice cold.

“Eighty-five percent leaves a lot out,” she stresses. “I’m not sure what kind of gaping hole it would leave in her personality. The prefrontal cortex and hippocampus both have damage.” She sighs, and her ambivalence settles deep in my bones. I should walk around with a helmet on from now on. “We’ll do our best, but you should hope you won’t need this data at any point. It won’t be anything we’ll be able to use commercially, that’s for sure.”

Rin raises his eyebrows. “Is that a possibility? Kiiroi Yama using this for commercial purposes?”

She pops back in surprise. “Yes, of course. Miss Minamoto’s new corporation has promised us jump drives, nanobots, and quantum computing. We could make AIs from conscious thoughts and have a much better product offering for ships and weaponry.”

Rin stares at her, his face blank with shock. She returns to the tablet, not aware that her statement has caused us both immense concern.

It makes sense, though, right? This would be the way Kiiroi Yama could compete. They won’t make androids with consciousness. They’ll produce ships that can think and make decisions for the crew. They’ll manufacture smart weapons that can determine enemies without having a human choose.

My eyes meet Rin’s, and I shake my head minutely. No, don’t object. Leave it be.

We have to draw the line somewhere, but I won’t be drawing it here today.

When we move onto the part of this exercise where I stare at patterns on the wallscreen and the equipment does things like track my eye movement, breathing, and heart rate, I can tell the process is not going smoothly. Whispered arguments and jerky hand movements from across the table raise my blood pressure and my neck sweats.

Are we almost done?

I don’t think so.

“I’m sorry for the delay,” the engineer says, her voice full of apology. “I think we’re going to run the scan one more time and see if we can’t pick up any more of the damaged areas of your brain.”

I drop my voice. “Do we have time?” I ask Rin.

He nods. “We have time for one more pass.”

But even so, an hour later, we’re no better off than we were earlier.

“It looks like we’ll have to be happy with eighty-seven-point-six percent. We’ll rerun the mapping with our other test subjects and see if we can’t find better methods of mapping darker elements of the brain.”

“Darker elements — you make it sound like my brain is half evil,” I joke, smiling at her.

She returns the smile. “It’s the best we can do. Hopefully, you won’t need this any time soon.”

“I hope so, too. But please keep this available for my Shiroi Nami colleagues.”

She grimaces. “I can’t recommend you reuse this data, Miss Minamoto.”

“I may have no choice.”

On the way down to the lobby in the elevator, Rin holds my hand and squeezes tight.

“This is a bad omen, Yumi. I don’t like the path we’ve been forced down.” He tugs on my hand, and our eyes meet.

“Me neither. I don’t think we should use this backup plan unless it’s absolutely necessary.” I take a deep breath and let it all out. “It was a good idea, but it just didn’t pan out.”

He nods. “What if we have to put you in a new body and you’ve forgotten me? Forgotten everything you’ve fought for here? I think, sometimes, death is just inevitable, even if we don’t want it.”

I step to him, wrap my arms around his waist, and lay my head on his chest.

“Thank you for believing in me. Thank you for trusting me. I love you.”

“It’s not the end, Yumi. It’s not.” He pauses for a second before letting out one of his patented weary sighs. “I love you, too.”

We pull apart as the elevator opens, and Okamoto greets us with a smile.

“How did it go? I’m heading up to talk to the engineers now.”

“Well…” I’m about to give him the bad news when the crowd in the elevator lobby catches my attention. Everyone watches a nearby wallscreen, and my lungs freeze on an inhale, hearing that familiar and dreaded voice.

“We’ve restored fifty percent of our data banks in Amagasaki, and we hope to be back up and running at one-hundred percent within the next three days. It was a systems malfunction, nothing more.”

Gen Miyazawa is addressing a faceless Aoi Uma News Network reporter, his smug grin lighting up the screen.

“We caught someone snooping in the factory, though, and she was dealt with by our new product offering.” He turns on the charm of a salesperson. “Just wait until you meet our super intelligent neo-cats. After we acquired Aka Matsuba, we upgraded their animal offerings, and the neo-cats are just the beginning. They are born and bred for ingenuity, agility, security, and most importantly, loyalty. The neo-cats that were spotted in the Amagasaki Bright Days Theme Park were specially bred for protection. And I bet they’ve already taught the woman who illegally entered our factory a valuable lesson.” He looks into the camera, straight into my soul. “She’s probably feeling pretty awful right about now. I hope she has her affairs in order. I doubt she’s long for this world.”

“No,” Rin whispers, his jaw dropping open.

My stomach hollows out, and my breathing slows almost to a stop.

“What do you mean by that?” the reporter asks.

Gen smiles at him, and it’s sickly sweet, synthetic, like he doesn’t really exist anymore. “I have a feeling she thinks she has a bacterial infection, but these neo-cats can be bred with a virus that will incapacitate and kill. At Aoi Uma, we are dedicated to the safety of Hikari citizens, and we can’t wait to show you all we’ve accomplished. That’s it for now.”

Gen dismisses the reporters, and the screen switches to the footage of local protests happening in Shin-Osaka.

A few people in the lobby shake their heads and walk away. Okamoto’s face has turned pale, and Rin’s hand tightens around mine.

Fuck. I was just sitting in the bathroom a few hours ago wondering why I wasn’t getting any better, wondering why the antibiotics weren’t working.

It’s not some random infection. It’s a viral weapon, made by Gen, to kill me off without him having to lay his hands on me.

I utter a short laugh that dissolves into a sob before I slap my free hand over my mouth. Shit. I’m going to die, and soon, and there’s nothing I can do about it.

I’m sure Gen thinks he’s had the last laugh.

He’s not entirely wrong.