by Satoshi Hase
“Well, I just didn’t want her to stand out too much,” Arato said.
“So you’re that kind of owner, huh?” she commented. “I was going to tell you not to release any of your erotic images of Lacia to the net, but I suppose that’s not necessary.”
“Just because I’m her owner doesn’t mean I can do whatever I want with her.” Arato blushed at the way she’d seen right through his horny teenage heart.
“I know, I know. Sorry for doubting you. But, serious talk, if fans see you two being a little too friendly once she becomes an hIE model, you might catch some hate from them,” Asuna cautioned. “Obviously, hIE model owners should be free to do whatever they want. But from the consumer’s viewpoint, they see the model owners and their hIEs as having a romantic human relationship.”
She fixed Arato with a steady gaze. “I glanced at your parent’s signature. Your father is Dr. Endo, isn’t he? Lacia’s actually his, right? I’m surprised he’s letting her model.”
“You seem to know a lot about this stuff,” said Arato, whose father was a celebrity in the world of hIEs, and popped up on TV or the net every now and then.
“Despite what I’m doing right now, I actually majored in Psuedo-Human Engineering,” Asuna told him. “We talked about Matsuri during the class, obviously, and I did a paper on your dad’s work.”
“I’m sorry,” Arato apologized. “Dad didn’t really talk to us about that whole thing.” He didn’t really like talking about his dad’s work, since it kept him from ever coming home.
Fabion MG was a media group mainly devoted to fashion ads. They produced many human and hIE models, and also published magazines about fashion and local flavor. Since one of the strengths of hIE models was that they didn’t feel cold (which helped when doing shoots of thin summer clothing on chill, cloudy days), Lacia’s first job would be promoting this summer’s trends.
Arato walked about fifty meters behind the shoot, heading down Meiji-dori Street toward Shibuya. He kept his eyes on Lacia’s back the whole time. She was wearing a short skirt and a top that seemed to go through gradations of material, with textures from leather to cotton, and a cute 3D image was displayed at her feet.
Seven cylindrical machines were floating in the air around Lacia, each of them only the size of three sugar cubes. These were ultra-lightweight cameras. Together they were able to capture Lacia from every angle, and upload the data to the network in real time.
Lacia looked like she was in a flock of butterflies with the cameras floating around her, and the shooting started while she walked along Meiji-dori Street.
Asuna, who had tagged along to watch Lacia’s first job, murmured in admiration. “Looking good, Lacia.”
Arato couldn’t take his eyes off Lacia’s back, either.
“Look, everyone’s turning to look at you,” Asuna pointed out. “When you’re doing hIE model work, you don’t want to do it all cooped up in a static setting like a studio. Best to do it out where there’s some scenery, and turn it into a real event; that’s what gets people talking. It’s easier to buy clothes once you’ve seen them walking around the city. Models like Lacia, who can make even walking an art, are the most successful.”
Lacia had a refined manner of walking that fit a model. Between stretches of rhythmical steps, she would pause naturally to pose now and then without seeming too obvious. With her there, the scenery became a stage for her performance.
“Incredible,” Arato said. “She really does look like a model.”
“The Fabion MG’s custom behavior cloud she’s connected to is basically a huge collection of actions that properly show off our clothing,” Asuna told him. “That way, even your average hIE can become a pro model instantly when they access it. But please, feel free to keep saying nice things about it.”
hIEs only acted based on recorded data of human behaviors. Even knowing that, Arato couldn’t help but feel that Lacia was something special.
“hIEs are more agile than humans, so we can give them more difficult directions on timing and such,” Asuna went on. “I think a lot of our directors are going to request these event-style shoots for Lacia, so you should get used to it, Arato.”
Meiji-dori, which had become a major six-lane street, was being kept free of the city’s normal chaos by the Shibuya Police Department. This area was mostly taken up by business offices, but there were still plenty of people around who were photographing Lacia with their pocket terminals.
Arato felt like she was so far away, even though he could easily catch up to her.
Camera drones flew like butterflies from the camera crew, who were all carrying packs that looked like mini-coolers on their backs. The drones were ultra-lightweight, but even without wind to fight against, they could only last about fifteen minutes in the air. The units that were running low would limp back to their containers, to be replaced by fully charged ones.
“This event allows for folks to take their own pictures,” Asuna told him. “It’s probably going to be nuts once we hit Shibuya.”
A huge image of Lacia was being displayed on the monitor-type billboards on one of the nearby buildings. It was a real time video of her walking against the clean city backdrop. The price of the clothes she was wearing, along with information like the materials and style, were displayed with perfect timing on the video.
Arato was caught up in the sudden rush of information he was seeing, when Asuna caught his attention. “Arato,” she urged, “check out your pocket terminal.”
After taking it out of his pocket, Arato saw that Lacia was displayed on the screen, and he zoomed in. “Huh,” he said, “it’s not showing any GPS information.”
“Why do you think we walked all the way from Ebisu to Shibuya?” Asuna asked, letting out a pleased laugh. “If we don’t give all the nearby customers a chance to gather, there won’t be any party.”
“More people are coming?” Arato looked around. He realized there was a line forming behind them, and that across Meiji-dori Street, many more people were stopping.
“It was your sister that recommended Lacia to us, right?” Asuna said. “Fabion MG is very talented at aiming for places where we can get between three thousand and ten thousand people together.”
Before Arato could ask just how amazing getting ten thousand people together was, Asuna continued. “Now, compared to the selling power of the cloud itself, ten thousand people may seem like small peanuts. But the number of folks here with us physically is only about 1/20th of the people watching this broadcast on the net.”
In the cloud-based world, a huge amount of people were all linked up to the same service. So, even if a company’s product wasn’t especially unique, they could secure great sales simply by controlling the flow of information to their customers with precision. Meaning, the cloud controlled a huge portion of economic trends. Arato had heard about it in the news.
Asuna shot him one of her characteristic grins. “Gonna come see? It’s pretty incredible when you get ten thousand people in the same place.”
“By the way, where’s Kasumi?” he asked. “The hIE from earlier.”
“Kasumi’s in the liveliest spot of the show,” Asuna told him. “She’s with the director.”
“It’s nice having dedicated soldiers at our company who can work twenty-four hours, never leave to join another company, and whose bodies don’t break down,” she went on, frowning in mock jealousy under her pink-dyed hair. “But honestly, she’s my rival. To get anywhere in the company as a human, I have to gain more trust from the clients than she has.”
As an hIE model, could Lacia’s joining the company edge other people out of a job? Since he couldn’t do anything about it now, Arato swallowed back the question that had come to mind. He decided to blame the sudden guilt on Yuka, for having kicked off this whole modeling thing in the first place.
“Well, none of that matters,” said Asuna, chiding herself and lifting her gaze. “I’ve just got to do my best for this job today!”
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sp; The closer they got to Shibuya, the more folks gathered around to watch. Lacia was moving crowds, and Arato felt like she was also moving hearts.
In Shibuya, Meiji-dori Street ran into the two layers of the Shuto Expressway and Route 246, and the region around Shibuya Station had been remodeled numerous times due to the area’s complicated logistics. Currently there was a large mezzanine that provided access to Meiji-dori Street, the bus terminals between the street, and the escalator-type foot bridge that led to Shibuya Subway Station.
Lacia adjusted the bag hanging from her shoulders. She then tapped at her bracelet-style pocket terminal, and Arato’s own device started ringing.
〈Are you watching me, owner?〉 Arato heard Lacia’s voice as it came through his terminal. From the top of a big footbridge, She turned to look at him with a brilliant smile.
Arato unconsciously started to wave back, but Asuna stopped him. “The natural pose of turning to look back at someone is one of Fabion’s custom cloud specialties,” she said. “Watch, next she’ll turn.”
Lacia spun smoothly on one foot, which set her pale violet hair dancing. For an instant, the everyday world around her seemed to become something extraordinary. Even the act of getting her hair back into place seemed choreographed, as if she was a ballet dancer or an actress in a musical.
“If she takes off as a star, we’ll actually put together a specialized program just for Lacia in the cloud. You should definitely look forward to seeing that,” Asuna said.
Pedestrians walking out of the Shibuya Station building complex raised a commotion when they encountered Lacia. It was only natural that they were surprised, suddenly running into a live modeling event like this.
Lacia continued to play the perfect model, not missing a beat. Hundreds of people were now snapping photos of her with their pocket terminals.
Arato felt crushed by the heat and the presence of the crowd.
In the decades since the network had become a part of everyone’s lives, there wasn’t much that could draw people out of doors anymore. Anything that could move that many people in this day and age was huge, powerful. It was clear this was a special event, for the simple fact that it moved people who were used to not being moved. And, just as people find it easier to spend money on a trip, coming outside to see the event gave these people a whole new mindset.
Every single digital display Arato could see had been jacked to show Lacia’s debut.
Chimes from hundreds of terminals, all of which were receiving data, resounded like raindrops on dry land. They were receiving a bombardment of coupons for local shops, good for that day only. With these coupons showing Lacia’s image, customers could spend a day in Shibuya for less, or take advantage of certain shopping strips that were offering select bargains.
This was the power of Fabion MG. The group that had chosen Lacia. The group that could move ten thousand people.
“Is she going to be all right walking straight into the crowd like that?” Arato asked.
“If you’re obviously getting in the way of a model in Shibuya, the police will get after you, so everyone keeps walking. Once she’s past the station and over on the side with the Hachiko statue, she’ll be meeting up with the winner from last year’s Grand Prix — Angela — and Yuri, our top hIE model.”
Arato heard a commotion from the other side of Shibuya Station, and guessed that the top model Asuna had mentioned was at the heart of it. Surrounded by the noise of the crowd, he was growing a little light headed, but his attention snapped back to the present when Asuna elbowed him lightly.
“We’ve got something real special set up at the scramble crossing by the Hachiko exit,” she said slyly. “That’ll be the climax of our show.”
Not wanting to miss whatever was coming, Arato hurried down the foot bridge. Asuna also lowered the adjustable heel height of her pumps and followed him down the stairs.
“Excuse me, I’m just passing through,” he said. Watching the bus terminal out of the corner of his eye, Arato cut across the station building. Thanks to the growing crowd, he had drifted quite a ways away from Lacia. If he didn’t hurry, he was going to miss the best part of the show.
The posters wrapped around the station’s pillars all showed a girl with dark green hair, which had been cut into a bob. Arato had seen her before on TV; she was Fabion MG’s top model, Yuri.
On the other side of the station was the statue of Hachiko, which had been destroyed once and resculpted. A blonde girl was leaning against the statue’s pedestal, and she waved when she saw Lacia. She was an energetic girl with a clean, cute look. Her whole vibe was that of a child, raised with lots of love. Arato guessed that she must be Angela, the winner of the Grand Prix from last year.
The instant Lacia stepped into the area, a girl standing at one corner of the diagonal road crossing turned to look with perfect timing, her green hair shining and dancing as she spun. Though the girl’s outfit showed a lot of skin, she made it look refined; there was something almost supernatural about her beauty that drew all eyes to her. This was Yuri.
All around Yuri were other human girls, each of them in middle or high school. They all had healthy bodies that couldn’t hope to match her unrealistically sleek proportions. However, they all seemed to be enjoying themselves, and each wore accessories that matched with Yuri’s.
Lacia headed toward Fabion MG’s top models, as if meeting up with them had been her destination all along.
In perfect synch, the pedestrian walk signals of the diagonal crossing all turned green. The traffic lights for the streets in all four directions went red, and there just happened to be trailers wearing the Fabion MG logo parked at the stop line for each street. Music began to swell loudly, taking advantage of the dramatic moment, and the wall displays on the surrounding buildings switched to Fabion broadcasts. For a moment, that little piece of the city became a stage.
As if under a hypnotic spell, the three hIEs walked slowly out into the middle of the suddenly supernatural scene.
Three-dimensional sound announced the leading actors of the show.
Then, even though no signal or direction was given, everyone at the crossing stopped walking.
Lacia followed the pedestrian crossing out into the street. Along the way, Angela joined her, and the two met up with Yuri, who was humming to herself and waving to all the guests.
The trailers at the intersection began to project regularly-spaced 3D images in the air. Perhaps at the request of guests watching through the network, images of the girls from seconds prior were projected large, burning themselves into everyone’s memories. As the girls’ impression grew on everyone, the viewers felt more strongly connected to them. They began to feel like they had been fans of these models since long before; everyone was fascinated by the oddly appealing mismatch that existed between the three of them.
When the music climaxed, the three hIE models synchronized their individual movements to execute a miraculously harmonious turn in the rest between one note and the next. After a ninety second chorus of the music ended, Lacia again started leading the procession toward the old Seibu building side.
Lacia was just another pedestrian again, but a moving crowd of people and cheers formed up around her. Left behind, Arato could only watch from the station side of the crossing.
Yuri headed into the Fashion building with a natural walk; her whole outfit for the day had been arranged by the companies in that building. Camera drones chased after her elfin back. The expressions and actions of each model were so entrancing that they made Arato forget his nerves, and he wanted to get closer to them. The people following Yuri turned naturally into just another line of customers at the Fashion building.
But the festival mood of the place hadn’t died down; all the shops around, small and large, were still throwing around coupons. Mini-events ran outward from the crossing, like branches spreading out from a trunk. It was a party for separating customers from their cash, like a net spreading to catch a school of fish.
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br /> Looking around, Arato remembered that Lacia’s target consumers were girls from high school age up to around twenty-five. It came to mind because he was completely surrounded by exactly that demographic at the moment.
“What the heck?” he said, realizing what had been bothering him just then. The oddity that he couldn’t quite put his finger on was that no one there at that moment cared in the least that Yuri, Angela, and Lacia weren’t human.
Asuna, who, Arato remembered, had majored in Pseudo-Human Engineering, murmured in his ear. “Ever heard of ‘Analock’?”
“What?!” Arato could barely hear her over the sound of the crowd still remaining from the show.
“Analog hack!” Asuna yelled. “It uses the idea that hIE don’t have the same meaning to their actions that humans do, even though they look like us. Humans are always looking for patterns and meaning, so we get stuck in this gap of convincing ourselves that hIE actions have meaning! So folks build hIE, then program them so humans will like them and let their guard down. Then, they use that opening to manipulate people.”
For example: just then, many people had been ‘hacked’ into spending their money.
“Arato, your girl Lacia uses her form to get people to move of their own accord,” Asuna finished. “She hacks society itself.”
Arato, who had been left behind at the crossing, noticed many couples in the crowd around him. There were plenty of customer service shops around, so the couples could share a discounted date until evening, thanks to the coupons. He knew that what Asuna was saying was a lie which Fabion used to shield itself.
“Lacia wasn’t the one who hacked these people,” he said. “That was you and your company.”
“That’s true,” Asuna said, without any malice. “That’s just what models do. But I do get a feeling of accomplishment when everyone follows our lead so easily.”
In the end, Lacia headed up Bunkamura-dori Street to the main branch of the Tokyu department store chain. Arato was exhausted from being tossed around in the waves of humanity following her.