Beatless: Volume 1

by Satoshi Hase

  “I am the machine that will extend humanity,” Methode said. “I wasn’t made to process information. I expect you to take in these more trivial matters.”

  “I need to use you for this,” Ryo replied. “This is life or death to me.” Ever since Watarai’s murder, two detectives had been showing up frequently to question him. According to Methode, they belonged to the Public Safety Police 2nd Cyber Security Department. It made sense that they would be digging into this case; the lead researcher at MemeFrame, one of the largest AI brands in the world, had died under mysterious circumstances. And it had happened in the experimental city, which housed the largest number of AIs in Japan. The aftershocks from the event had already spread throughout the world, with organizations like the Antibody Network intensifying their activities.

  “I trust you aren’t just using me for convenience. But remember: without me, MemeFrame would be finished,” Methode said, tooting her own horn.

  “I’ll put some pressure on the police to make sure their investigation doesn’t lead back to the company,” she added. “I’m taking the way Watarai used to do things into account for this plan. Are you fine with that?”

  “I’ve got respect for Watarai, but I don’t want to leave any holes in the authority and responsibilities passed on to me for insects to crawl into and make their nests,” Ryo said. The human mind is often the most creative when placed under restrictions. For this reason, poets often write within the confines of strictly regulated styles. Ryo chose to see the insane situation around him as an opportunity to draw out his own potential.

  MemeFrame was one of the big players supporting the foundation of the hIE industry. And Methode was the only one with all the information about the conspiracy that was sending waves throughout the industry. She was the strongest possible escort and operative he could have asked for. Through this Red Box, Ryo had gotten his hands on the massive power Watarai had accumulated for his own ends, whatever those may have been.

  “You’re Watarai’s successor,” Methode said. “It’s your responsibility to take care of all of the authority related to myself.” If she hadn’t betrayed Watarai, the man would have won the conflict at the experimental city; that was the level of power he wielded. At the very least, he would have been able to use Lacia as bait to draw out Snowdrop, after which Methode could have destroyed her. Ryo’s sins for stealing away Methode at the critical moment were dark and deep; because of his actions, things could never go back to the way they were before. If Methode ever decided he was no longer suitable for her, she would betray him and see him killed, just like Watarai.

  “Things just never work out the way I want them to,” Ryo mused. “I thought things would get better with him gone, but now I have to fill in the hole he left behind.” Work requests continued to pile up in his terminal while they were talking, with no sign of abating. Normally, Ryo would have left some of it up to someone else, but there was too much information being shared that he would never get his hands on again if he delegated. He dutifully checked each and every notice, even if it meant taking time off school.

  When Watarai was alive, he had been able to keep the incidents that occurred under wraps, which kept the police from snooping around. Things were kept in order, and Ryo and the others were able to enjoy a month of ordinary high school life. Ryo didn’t regret entering the world of stakeholding adults if doing so meant protecting the lifestyle he used to enjoy so naively. Plus, his inability to simply slip back to his carefree days was fair recompense for the sin he had committed.

  The limo pulled up in front of the hospital in front of Ochanomizu Station. It was the hospital where Ryo’s sister, Shiori, was being treated. It was the first time in the two weeks since she had been hospitalized that she had been available for family visits.

  Methode watched as he stepped down from the limo. “I can read the mood,” she smirked. “I won’t be following you in.”

  In Methode’s place, the hIE driver from the limo accompanied Ryo as a bodyguard. Ryo’s drivers were always hIEs those days. It was impossible to erase information a human driver overheard. It was much easier to use machines.

  Shiori was in a private room on the 8th floor of the hospital. As soon as Ryo entered the facility, the internal system automatically sent guidance information to his terminal and hIE, based on his level of clearance. Since the number of human nurses had continued to decline, the only ‘people’ he saw on his way were hIE doctors and nurses.

  Ryo walked down the clean corridors, with his bodyguard hIE taking point in front of him. It had been a decade since he had been hospitalized after the explosion, but he still couldn’t get himself to calm down when surrounded by the antiseptic smell of the place.

  “Lady Shiori has just finished her afternoon meal and is currently resting,” the bodyguard explained, politely, from behind an armored mask. The door to Shiori’s room checked Ryo’s ID tage0 and slid open for him.

  Shiori Kaidai, his little sister, was sitting up in bed near a window. She probably didn’t want anyone to see her looking worn, so her long hair had been properly tied up and fastened with a comb. “It’s been a while, Ryo,” she murmured. “I was sorry to hear about what happened to Director Watarai.” Even in her pajamas, and with a whole network of IV tubes running out of her, she looked like the same strong woman she had always been.

  “Sorry I couldn’t come to see you before,” Ryo said.

  “I am aware that you make your own interests a priority, Ryo,” Shiori said with a sigh. “You’ve always been that way.”

  Ryo hadn’t been hoping that this disaster would bridge the gap that had formed between him and his sister, but he was still surprised by how harsh Shiori’s attitude toward him was.

  “I know you only have time to visit briefly,” she continued. “So, may I ask you a question?” Her eyes as she gazed at him were full of emotion.

  “Did Arato ask you to help him as well, that time at the airport?” she asked. “I’ve had nothing but time to think these past two weeks, and my thoughts keep getting drawn back to that moment.” The day Shiori had been hospitalized, Arato had tried to call Ryo multiple times; Shiori must have known. That was the relationship he and Arato had shared for ten years. “You must have known what the outcome would be,” she continued. “Were you already planning to become Methode’s owner at that point?”

  “Are you seriously asking me if I planned to throw my own family away just to get my hands on Methode?” Ryo asked, incredulous.

  Shiori didn’t nod. But nodding may have been too hard, considering the state her body was in. In place of a nod, she held his gaze steadily.

  He knew he should say something nice to deny it, but couldn’t. At that moment, Shiori was the same as he had been right after the explosion. She couldn’t trust anyone; she was a bundle of doubt and fear. Ryo had hoped he would be able to save her from that himself. But Methode and the situation he was caught up in wouldn’t allow for any leaks of information.

  “Sorry, I don’t think I’m in a good position to tell the truth right now,” he muttered, unable to tell it to her straight. The hIE nurse taking care of Shiori’s needs was standing by at her bedside, and Ryo couldn’t risk anything he had to say being recorded.

  “Then just tell me this,” Shiori said. “Whose decision was it to kill me? Was it Watarai? Or Methode?”

  Ryo didn’t have an answer for her. He himself had wrestled with that question numerous times since that day. The only clear thing was that the only reason Shiori was still alive was thanks to Arato.

  It was true that Watarai had given Methode the order to eliminate Shiori; as Methode’s owner, one of Ryo’s first actions had been to order her to act as his bodyguard, in order to overwrite any of the remaining orders Watarai had given her. As Methode’s owner, the most dangerous thing in the world was sharing ownership of this hIE, this lifeline, with anyone else. Obviously, Watarai wouldn’t have left that situation alone. If Watarai had successfully gotten his hands on Lacia in th
e experimental city, he would have tried to kill Arato, too.

  But Methode had wanted to kill Shiori just as much as Watarai. There was no way she could accept a girl who clearly wanted to seal her away in the future as her sole owner. Methode had made Ryo sign a statement saying that, if he couldn’t remain as her owner, she was free to take Shiori’s life as well, as part of the contract between them. Having Methode watching her constantly, looking for an opening, had definitely pushed Shiori into the mental corner she was in at that moment.

  “As your brother, let me just give you a warning,” Ryo said. “Don’t ever try to give Methode any orders again. You need to walk away from this whole thing.” In order to obtain the highest level of freedom she could, and expand her area of operations as widely as possible, Methode had already gone through three different owners. The only reason Shiori was still breathing was that Methode thought she had value due to her connection with Arato. But Methode was also supremely logical. If Shiori’s existence got in her way too many times, Methode would come for her life as many times as it took.

  “It’s a little late to do anything as my brother,” Shiori snapped. “You’ve avoided that particular role for far too long.” Shiori had no reason to trust Ryo. Their relationship was tenuous enough that it did nothing to clarify the misunderstanding between them.

  “Then forget about me and just stay by Arato’s side,” Ryo said. The ties that bound them as siblings were painful for Ryo in that moment. Shiori seemed to be in much better control of her own feelings than he was.

  She showed him a smile he had never seen on her face before. “Ryo, the relationship I have with Arato has no space for you to slide in between us,” she said.

  “I see,” he said. “Time really does change things. I guess some of this mess was caused by me not noticing my little sister was all grown up.” The only time Ryo could share a moment of calm with his own little sister was when they were talking about the boy who they had both grown up with. Ryo didn’t know how his sister felt about Arato being Lacia’s owner; what he did know was that, following the incident at the airport, Shiori’s statement to the police had been instrumental in Arato’s quick release from custody.

  His sister, still worn and weary in her hospital bed, looked radiant in the light of the sun shining through her window. “I can look after my own feelings, thank you very much,” Shiori said. “I’m a proud woman.” A refined girl like Shiori could see no wrong in the man who had saved her life; she was an excellent contrast to the dark path he himself was walking down.

  When Ryo left the hospital and returned to the limo, Methode was waiting for him in front of the door. He realized that Shiori probably could have seen Methode from her window, and it was frustrating that he was no longer in any position to try to explain to Shiori that he hadn’t put Methode there on purpose.

  Methode curled the corner of her lips. “What a kind brother you are,” she said, her voice dripping sarcasm.

  “I’m trying to clean up my personal relationships to make it easier for me to read your expressions,” Ryo growled back.

  “Putting together an environment in which it’s easier to use me optimally is a wonderful idea,” Methode said. “That earns you a good owner point.” As if to prevent him from running off anywhere else, Methode opened the limo door and insisted he get in before her. He stepped into the dimly-lit interior.

  “How else can I get points?” Ryo asked. He had no intention of just being another Watarai.

  “I suppose I could award you ten points for each Lacia-class you can get your hands on,” Methode mused.

  “I became your owner to try to take control of this situation,” Ryo said. “My intent was to have you collect the other hIEs, under my direction.”

  “If that’s your plan,” Methode said, “I have something I think you’ll like.” She handed him a white envelope that had some kind of message card inside; it was obvious she hadn’t received it while he was inside the hospital. Rather, she had simply been sitting on it until he was done visiting with his sister. Methode may have been a monster who regularly attempted to kill her owners, but she was still an hIE at her core.

  “An envelope? These days?” Ryo muttered, flicking open the red wax seal on the envelope with a fingernail. “I can already tell this person is going to be a headache.” The letter inside was an invitation. After running his eyes over the contents, Ryo understood what Methode had said, and the ancient feel of the whole thing made sense once he knew who had sent it. It was from a VIP who had shown up in the news frequently the previous year.

  “So I got an invite from Sleeping Beauty, huh?” he commented.

  ***

  When Arato finally got home from his interrogation, there was an invitation waiting for him. It was from Erika Burroughs, the CEO of Fabion MG.

  “I’m home,” he said, picking up the envelope that had been left in the entryway’s shoe closet and going into the living room. Opening the seal, he pulled out a beautifully made message card with the Fabion MG logo stamped in silver foil. It was an invitation to a party two days from then.

  “Welcome back,” Yuka said without moving from where she was lounging on the sofa.

  Lacia looked up from the wok she was cooking over the stove. “Welcome home,” she said.

  Arato could smell some delicious fried food cooking. Apparently, they would be having vegetable tempura that night. Ever since the zombie incident, the thought of eating meat had made Arato’s stomach turn.

  “Ms. Yuka, could I ask for your help grating this daikon radish?” Lacia asked.

  “Sure,” Yuka said agreeably. Yuka, who always used to be enjoying life, went to the sink without a single glance at Arato’s face. There was no 24-hour restriction on him while he was being investigated so, after his interrogation, he was allowed to go home. Still, it was a bit of a journey coming home from Tsukuba every day, which didn’t leave him much time to talk with her.

  It wasn’t like he was avoiding his sister. But the fact was that Yuka had been kidnapped as a result of being caught up in the relationship between Arato and Lacia; this wasn’t something she would be able to forget easily.

  Arato watched his sister as she walked to the kitchen. Luckily, the blows to her face during the kidnapping hadn’t left any permanent damage, and she would be returning to school the next day. But Arato knew that things weren’t really over; there were people out there willing to commit murder in order to steal Lacia. That was how valuable she was, and that was also why he didn’t want to let her go.

  “I’m sorry, Yuka. I’m sorry I got you involved,” Arato murmured.

  “What?” Yuka turned to him with a confused look on her face. She must not have heard him over the sound of the frying vegetables.

  Arato felt a sudden rush of fear when he looked at her face. Things were awkward between them because he was a coward who could only apologize to her back. So he mustered his courage. “Just wait a minute,” he said. “Give me a minute to get myself together. One minute. No, actually, thirty seconds.”

  Yuka appeared to consider for a second, then started counting out loud. “Thirty, twenty-nine, twenty-eight, twenty-seven, twenty-five.”

  “You skipped twenty-six,” Arato pointed out.

  “Twenty-six, twenty-four, twenty-three, twenty... Uh-oh, Arato, I’m bored of counting,” Yuka said. Suddenly, all the unvoiced worries that Arato was struggling with started to seem ridiculous. The power of his little sister’s idiocy was truly a marvel.

  “I’m sorry you got caught up in something weird because of me,” he said, bowing his head to her.

  Lacia also switched off the fire under the wok and gave Yuka a little bow. This was a problem between Lacia and Arato, but even if Yuka got away from them, Arato doubted she would be safe. Methode had kidnapped her when Arato wasn’t around to protect her.

  Yuka waved a hand dismissively, looking troubled. “Woah, cut that out. If you go around apologizing like that, it makes me look like the bad guy he
re,” she said.

  When Arato raised his head to look at her, he saw she was blushing red.

  “I mean, you confessed your love to Lacia! And she said okay! If I tried to split you two up, I’d be the bad guy, trying to ruin your true love,” Yuka said, suddenly rambling.

  “I’m still mad about being kidnapped,” she went on, “but I know that’s not your fault! That’s something for the police to worry about. I’m more worried about us right now. My problem is how it feels being here with you two.”

  Arato’s mouth flapped open a few times, but he couldn’t find any words.

  “I can’t stop imagining you two doing all sorts of things, like her feeding you breakfast and you being all like, ‘Ahhhh,’ and then some night I’ll hear you two giggling from the bath and stuff,” Yuka continued, getting progressively more flustered, “Just a while ago she let you lay your head in her lap, right? It’s stressing me out! It’s super stressful! I feel like the third wheel getting dragged along on your honeymoon!”

  When Arato looked at Lacia, she blushed and averted her eyes. The dark, heavy atmosphere from just moments earlier had been completely blown away. Yuka’s panic was so childish, it seemed like everything had returned to how it was before. She was back to the adorable creature she was before the incident.

  “I don’t believe your brother will give me those kinds of orders,” Lacia said mildly.

  “Oh, he will,” Yuka countered, jabbing her pointer finger at Arato. “He’s a monkey, a monster!” Yuka was acting like a kid, but Arato himself wasn’t exactly proud of how easily he was sucked in by Lacia’s looks.

  Lacia gave a little laugh at it all and started dishing tempura out onto their plates. “Well then, I suppose we shall just have to conduct such activities somewhere you will not notice us,” she said. The sudden rush of excitement Arato felt at this statement sent all other thoughts flying out of his head.