The Rise of Shiroi Nami – Chapter 26

Tumbling through the raging water, there’s a moment when I’m transported back to the lake on Kurai. My life was in danger then, too. The frigid cold water and towing Shintaro to shore stand out against the roaring of this wave. I am fighting for my life again, one more time, what little is left of it. I used to love to swim, and this trip has ruined it for me now.

Aimi and I tumble together, and the only thing saving us from a significant injury is the softness of the butsu and its field. It may be trying to kill us with the tsunami, but it’s just doing its job, propelling objects (and water) along its surface. Still, it handles everything with the gentleness of a down comforter in winter.

I’m struggling to hold my breath. My lungs want to let go. Just let go. Might as well, right? But some lingering sense of self-preservation keeps me from breathing in the rainwater. I must really be a glutton for punishment.

The rush of water around me dissipates, and I’m thrown into the open air. Aimi clutches the back of my shirt and hauls me up.

We both double over, sucking air in and out, trying to breathe, hands on our knees.

“Ran…” She pants and throws her arm out. “All the way… Here. More… Waves…”

Down the butsu, there are marginally smaller, yet still very deadly, waves incoming.

“Butsu… not supposed… to be… on!” She laughs as she catches her breath.

“My fault.” I’m panting and wheezing, and the rain still falls on us, falling on the butsu and fueling more waves. “Didn’t know.”

She stands up and pats her shoulder. “Oh, no. My sword.”

We search around, and I spot it moving slowly in a small puddle near a butsu exit. I force myself forward and lunge for it before it tries to go any farther. Aimi nods her thanks as she places it over one shoulder. I’ve lost my family knife. It was one of the last things I had from home. Under the circumstances, I suppose that’s fitting.

Dozens of people have gathered on the butsu exit ramp ahead, their mouths open and staring at the incoming tsunami waves. From up there, they can see the waves coming for kilometers. Aimi and I both look like drowned rats, but now is not the time to delay and dry off. Incoming in the purple lane, skirting the side of another wave, more androids are on their way.

I pull Aimi along towards the exit.

“Can we call for help?” I ask, pushing her along. She coughs and hacks before taking in another shaky breath.

“I saw Rin and Kazuo fighting androids as I passed them. Shintaro and your people are on the networks trying to calm the crowds. Shiroi Nami is in the air. But…” She nods to the people watching from the exit. “Something tells me the city is out in numbers, despite the weather.”

“Maybe we can get lost in them? I think the thunderstorm is almost done.”

“Let’s go,” she says, gesturing to run.

The raging water of the butsu calms as we make it up the off-ramp. The roaring lessens, becoming a soft purr, and when Aimi and I stop to look back, the wave peaks flatten out and lose momentum. Gutters along the side of the butsu open, and the rainwater drains away.

I guess that’s what was supposed to happen.

I tap at my watch and sigh in dismay. The face is cracked, and I can only see half the display. They might be able to still hear me.

“Help! We need assistance. Exit A8. Send reinforcements!” A searing, knife-hot pain rips through my stomach. “Shit,” I gasp, wheezing as I bend forward.

“Are you okay?” Aimi’s hand is on my back.

“No. I…” A shock of nausea squeezes my stomach, and up comes all the water I’ve been drinking, voluntarily and involuntarily, in the last few hours.

Except it’s red with blood. That’s not good.

Several people who were walking by, trying to see the commotion on the butsu, sidestep us. The revulsion on their faces is unmistakable. They don’t want to help or be near anyone displaying symptoms like mine.

“Yumi, we should get you to the hospital.”

“They can’t cure me. Can’t help me. Gen said he engineered the virus to infect people from my world. I doubt the doctors here will be any more successful than Doctor…” I grasp for his name. What was his name?

“Dr. Jimmy?” she asks.

“Yeah, him.”

She pulls me up and gets me walking. “At the very least, we could purchase more meds to help you be more comfortable.”

“No. Maybe. Let’s try to accomplish something before I’m rendered useless.” I straighten up. “I have a corporation now, despite everyone trying to take it away from me. And I want to help transition this world over to a peaceful democracy if it’s at all possible.” I look over my shoulder. “But I can’t do any of that with Aoi Uma on my tail at all times. What can we do about them?”

Aimi picks up her pace as we shift through the crowds. She’s aiming for a shopping arcade about three blocks away.

“We sick our people on them is what.”

“How?” I gesture to my waterlogged outfit, the broken watch, and the lack of any amenities.

“Come on,” she insists. “We’ll use a public comm point.”

I keep looking over my shoulder as we weave through the crowds and approach the shopping arcade. Androids can survive underwater. They can withstand fire too. I’m sure some survived the multiple tsunamis. They’re on my tail; I can feel it.

“Aimi…” I tug at her arm as our feet squish-squish-squish along the pavement. “I don’t want to put you in harm’s way if I don’t have to.”

She whirls around to face me, and her face is a picture of rage, her lips squished together in a violent X. She brings her finger up to me.

“Don’t you dare start that shit.”

I jerk back in surprise.

“Look at you,” she says, gesturing to me. I glance down at myself. There’s a smear of blood across my pants. “You’re puking up blood. You’ve been feverish for days. You’re on death’s doorstep, Yumi. I saw the broadcast. You’re going to die. You need all the help you can get.”

My body first heats with anger before a wash of tingles falls over me.

“I will not let them take you so easily.” She turns and continues on, stomping along. “That was a cowardly move from Gen, infecting the claws of those cats. He couldn’t face you with a sword, eh? Couldn’t fight you face to face? Fuck him. No, actually, we’re going to fuck him over.”

She rips through the shopping arcade until we reach a series of public comm booths. An individual room opens for her at the wave of her wrist, and we enter side by side. The booth’s floor looks clean and warm, and as stupid as it is, I kind of want to curl up there and sleep for a million years. I’m sure if homelessness were a problem on Hikari, these booths wouldn’t even exist.

The screen lights up after she types something into it, and Reina Hirohata answers our call.

“Aunt Reina, where are you? Where’s our army of people?”

“Aimi,” Reina says, deflating in relief. “Thank goodness you’re alive and well. Do you need backup?” She looks off to the side, consulting someone in a low voice.

“Do we need backup?” Aimi’s sarcastic side has come out. “Yumi and I just nearly drowned in a giant tidal wave on the butsu. There are still killer androids out there that our updates missed, and Narumi Ogawa herself has taken to the streets to rile up the crowds and attack our people. We need backup, like yesterday.”

Reina nods. “Understood, and sorry. We’ve been running out of Kiiroi Yama headquarters, and the storm took out several communications facilities. Lightning hit a crucial relay. It’s been madness here. What do you want to do?”

Aimi thinks for a moment. I lose any last energy I have and sink to the floor, letting the booth’s wall guide me down.

“I want to eliminate Narumi Ogawa and her fuck-boy, Gen, in the most public way possible.”

“Oooookay…?”

“There’s a giant crowd outside. Not far from where we exited the butsu. Find out where Narumi and Gen are and dispatch Hidéki and Wataru to grab them. Then we’ll drop them in the crowd and execute them in front of all the cameras.”

Reina winces. “Aimi, dear, that could start a revolution for their supporters. It could make them martyrs.”

Aimi lifts her chin. “There’s enough evidence out there to support killing them outright. Let’s do it publicly, so there’s never any doubt about moving on.”

A soft tap at the booth’s door pops my eyes open. Is it Rin?

Aimi opens the door, and Saki enters. She takes in the situation quickly before squatting down at my side.

“Not feeling so good?” she asks.

I can only shake my head.

“That wave on the butsu was something, wasn’t it?”

I laugh weakly, more of a huff than anything else. “Help me?” I ask, tears forming in my eyes.

“Of course,” she replies, and her smile is so warm and soft I forget for a moment that she’s an android. “You helped me. You brought me back to life. Gave me a new purpose. I’d do anything for you.” She takes my hand and holds it while we wait for Aimi.

“Kiiroi Yama has drones in the air,” Reina reports. “They’ve located Narumi and Gen and their team not far from you. I’ll send Hidéki, Wataru, and anything else I can. Stay where you are for a few minutes, and I’ll dispatch you from there.”

Aimi looks down at me, and her body wavers before my eyes.

“Yumi needs a medic if she’s going to join us. This virus has her totally wiped.” Aimi’s sandwiched her bottom lip between her teeth.

“There’s a hospital nearby. Would that work?”

I shake my head. “Can’t be admitted. They’ll never let me out again.”

Aimi crouches down next to Saki. “Yumi, you’re going to die if you don’t get help. Trust me. Isao has told me how much dying hurts. He said coming back isn’t that great either.”

I shake my head again. “No choice. I would rather die doing something than lying in a hospital bed doing nothing.”

I’ve burned through enough pain killers and steroids today to put a small animal in its grave. But I had no choice, and I still have very few options left. My body is going to give out one way or another. Gen forced my hand. Maybe if I had addressed the crowd earlier and then rested, I would’ve been able to gather my strength. I could have gotten things running for my corporation and then ridden off into the sunset once my new body was ready for me.

Not going to happen now.

Now we have to improvise.

Aimi shrugs. “What can I do then?”

“Pharmacy,” is all I say.

“Right.” She nods to Saki, and Saki stands up.

Returning to the console, Aimi says, “We need meds, that’s it. Find a pharmacy nearby that will dispense what we need right now, and Saki will go get it.”

“Are you sure?” Reina’s doubt is apparent in the timber of her voice. “She could live days, even weeks with transfusions and anti-viral therapy.”

Aimi clutches the console, her knuckles turning white. “I’m telling you, she won’t make it that long.”

“Okay. Fine. We’ll get you set up.”

When Saki returns with the meds, she sits cross-legged next to me and draws out the shots. “Are you ready? Your body is so fatigued that this is going to hit you a lot harder than the last time, and it will wear off faster too.”

I nod and present my arm to her. “I want to see Rin before it’s over.”

“I know.” She soothes my shaking voice with gentle strokes down my arm. “I’m sure he’ll be here soon enough. Nothing could keep him away from you. Nothing.”

I sink back against the wall and keep myself from crying.

Nothing could keep him away.

So where is he?