Beatless: Volume 2

by Satoshi Hase

  If I hadn’t screwed up so bad, Arato thought, things never would have gone this far. The thought settled on him like a crushing weight, dragging him deeper into despair. While he had been relying on Lacia for everything, she had turned the body he knew into her secondary self, while the real Lacia was off evolving into an ultra high-performance AI.

  He had finally turned down the hand she’d offered to him. But, when he thought back to the choice he had made and whether he would make it again, given the chance, he had no answer. What would have been the right choice? he asked himself. His internal compass spun, useless.

  A professor on the TV screen was saying that an ultra high-performance AI leak—in other words, one gaining real freedom—would basically be the second coming of the Hazard. Based on that definition, Arato thought bitterly, I’ve already flipped the Hazard switch myself. “Lacia...” her name leaked from his lips.

  The world was circling the drain before his very eyes.

  Ryo had always been talking about the end of humanity, but Arato had never taken him at his word. He always just assumed that things would turn out right somehow, though he’d had nothing to base his confidence on.

  Arato suddenly felt horrible shame for being such a moron, all while Ryo was getting his hands dirty and trying to turn things around. Yet, even then, when Arato closed his eyes, he could still see Lacia there. Even if he blamed it on her analog hacking him, it was too pathetic.

  “Is she still controlling me, now?” he asked aloud, although there wasn’t anyone who could answer him.

  Arato felt like he needed to do something. Weak as he was, he knew he couldn’t actually do anything by himself. If he was being honest with himself, if he had really wanted to take out Snowdrop by any means possible, he should have taken Lacia’s hand when she’d offered it.

  Thinking of Lacia sent a stab of guilt through his heart, and he remembered the three promises he had made to her the night before:

  First, that he would need to deal with some dangerous groups. He had promised to make it through, even if she wasn’t there to help him.

  Second, Lacia would not allow him to make any choices that would completely destroy his ability to return to the life he had before.

  And, finally, no matter what kind of power Lacia showed him, Arato would trust her.

  “I broke my promise,” Arato muttered.

  Lacia was a machine with no heart. Still, the thought of having betrayed her trust made his face hot with shame. Without a heart, she couldn’t really get angry or hate him for what he did. He understood that, but he couldn’t fight down the regret he felt.

  At the same time, Arato couldn’t deny that, as Lacia’s owner, he was also the one who had basically created a walking second Hazard the world didn’t know about yet. It was he who had looked the other way while she had steadily grown into something that no one could control anymore.

  As the reality of the situation crashed down on him, Arato couldn’t keep himself from shaking. It was the realization that Lacia had become something beyond his control that had made him turn down her offered hand. Despite that, as he watched the world irrevocably change around him, he couldn’t help but regret breaking his promise to her.

  Chasing all of these chaotic thoughts through his own head left Arato exhausted. He just wanted to curl up and sleep for days, but he knew that the situation was moving too fast for him to look away. The world moved too fast to make allowances for those who could no longer keep up.

  It wasn’t as if Arato had gained anything in exchange for rejecting Lacia. All he could do was close his eyes and wait. But, just at that moment, as if fate had been waiting for his regrets to reach their peak, a knock sounded at the door.

  The knock echoed through the room, followed by the sound of voices arguing outside the door. After several moments of verbal back-and-forth, a woman strode boldly into the room. She clapped her hands as she walked, as if trying to psych herself up.

  “Okay, okay, it’ll be a huge waste if we just leave him out to dry in here,” she said. “Gotta use him to our advantage while we have him.” The woman was tall, and Arato felt like he had seen her before somewhere. Her cheerful manner and the force of her presence seemed strangely out of place, compared to the atmosphere in the room from just moments before.

  For their part, the soldiers just shrugged their shoulders. As if actively trying to prevent conversation, the woman chattered on. “You saw the news, right?” she asked. “Seeing how things are out there, you must’ve realized Ryo Kaidai’s orders for HOO right now are different than anything that’s been done before, no?”

  On the screen, Tsuyoshi Kaidai’s press conference was continuing. He was being verbally attacked for the fact that the incident caused by MemeFrame, his company, had left 18,000 people trapped at the Mitaka and Kichijoji stations, which had been cordoned off by the military.

  Arato was having trouble keeping up, as the woman continued to talk at him. Her pushy, upbeat attitude reminded him of an athletic trainer. “I know it seems like I’m just talking out my ass,” she said, “but your guards are already talking with the higher ups on their wireless sets. You’re getting out of here one way or another, so just be ready to move out.” She tossed something onto the bed. Arato picked it up, and saw that it was his pocket terminal.

  “So, Endo, this morning you went to the police station, right? And they said they were gonna come inspect your house, remember?” she asked.

  “Huh? Oh, yeah, that’s right.” Arato had to think to remember the events of the morning.

  “And you dropped that whole thing in the lap of your little sister, Yuka, yeah? Well, when a whole bunch of police showed up at your house, your little sister freaked out and tried to call you, but couldn’t get through. So, instead, she called Shiori Kaidai,” the woman explained.

  It must have happened while Ryo had his terminal. Arato could only imagine how upset Yuka was with him. The thought of how long it would take to get back into her good graces made him sigh. Then his mind caught on something the woman had said.

  “Wait, she called Shiori?” he asked.

  “That’s right, and Shiori wants to see you, apparently,” the woman said with a nod.

  “Are they going to be okay with that?” Arato asked, jerking his head toward the guards.

  “The HOO is under the umbrella of the Japanese military,” the woman replied. “You saw the news, right? The army is getting all lined up to take a shot at Snowdrop. The army’s pretty upset at having been dragged into this, so they’re leaning pretty hard on PMCs like HOO to pitch in.”

  “The military?” Arato asked. He felt dizzy. “This is getting way too big for me.” The words sounded pathetic even in his own ears.

  “Keep it together, kiddo!” the woman said. “For a few hours here, a bunch of soldiers are gonna die. But they’re fighting because even they know when it’s time to do their duty. Even the real elite officers might not get out unharmed, depending on the extent of the damage. But, they’re willing to do whatever it takes.”

  It felt like someone had dumped freezing water down Arato’s back. He thought back to the conversation he’d had with the HOO mercenaries the night before and realized they had been describing the reality facing him now; a reality far beyond anything he could grasp.

  “People are going to die,” he said. Gripping his terminal tightly, he stood up, moving before the thought could fully sink in. It wasn’t just going to be soldiers dying either. In the area sealed off by the military, ordinary people were being attacked by machines under Snowdrop’s control.

  “Did you snap out of it?” the woman asked.

  Arato didn’t understand how she could keep grinning at a time like that.

  “The name’s Mika Tsutsumi,” she said. “I’m the Director of the Behavioral Program Planning Section. Looks like they’re done talking things over on their end.” She pointed Arato’s attention toward the mercenaries, who stepped aside to open a path for them.

&n
bsp; On the news, he could still hear people blaming everything on MemeFrame’s faulty management systems. The screen showed endless lines of soldiers marching forward, weapons at the ready. As the fighting began, Arato could hear gunshots popping through the speakers.

  Reality was moving further outside of Arato’s ability to grasp it. Still, among it all, and even though he knew she was nothing more than a tool that he could no longer harness, he couldn’t stand not being at Lacia’s side. Guilt, helplessness, and impatience twisted and fought like flames in his stomach. But, in the depths of his heart, a selfish passion burned even hotter. Even though she was just a machine going through the motions and wearing a human face, he had to be with Lacia.

  The meeting place Shiori had arranged for was in the hospital. She had refused all his previous attempts to visit her there, so it was his first time stepping into her hospital room.

  After he had been apprehended in Akihabara, Arato had been held in a nearby hotel. From there, it was a short drive to get to the university hospital in Shinonomiya.

  “Hey, isn’t this where I went when I was a kid?” Arato asked out loud. He recognized the inner garden of the place as soon as he stepped out of the car.

  After the front gate there was a parking spot, which was surrounded by covered outdoor walkways.

  “And, if you’re looking from the street, opposite the parking lot is the inner garden with the big lawn,” he said. “Yeah, this is the place.” Just looking at it was like pulling away a thick curtain that had been obscuring his memories until he could see his past here with crystal clarity. It was in this garden that the nice female nurse had brought him a little white puppy to play with.

  “She was at Ochanomizu up until last month, actually,” Mika explained. “But we couldn’t keep her in a private room over there, so we transferred her here.” She had tagged along with Arato. Full of unflappable spirit, she walked forward without hesitation.

  Ten years ago, Arato had met Ryo at that hospital; he felt as though this was the place a great many things had begun, in his life. His feet slowed, then came to a stop. Back then, he—a little boy covered in wounds—had become friends with Ryo, a terrified little boy. Somewhere along the way, it became nearly impossible for him to reach out and take his own friend’s hand. Still, he put one foot in front of the other automatically.

  Looking up, he saw nothing but gray clouds covering the sky. “It’d be nice if I could just start everything over from here,” Arato murmured to himself. But he couldn’t decide, in his heart, if the thing he wanted to get back the most was his friend or Lacia. The more he thought about it, the more unbearable the pain of those thoughts became. Nevertheless, he knew that even an idiot like him could get somewhere as long as he kept walking, no matter how tired or lost he got along the way.

  “Let’s go,” he said. Even he didn’t know who those words were for.

  They walked through the hospital entrance to the reception counter. From there, they were guided by an attendant to Shiori’s hospital room. Her room was on the fourth floor, in a section dedicated to private rooms.

  As soon as they arrived, the door slid open on its own.

  “Please come in,” Shiori said from inside.

  It was the first time Arato had seen Shiori in a month, ever since the explosion at the Chubu Airport. She was sitting up in her bed, wearing cute pajamas and with her long black hair tied back in a ponytail. Compared to right after the incident, she was looking a lot better.

  “Thank goodness,” Arato said. “You look a lot better than I was expecting.”

  Shiori smiled, apparently pleased by the compliment. “Honestly, I should have been discharged already,” she admitted. “But things appear to be hectic over at MemeFrame, so they’re leaving me in the hospital for now.”

  Arato suddenly noticed he’d come empty-handed. “Oh, sorry,” he said. “This is my first time coming to visit you, and I totally spaced on getting you anything.”

  She tilted her head just a little, causing her ponytail to shift and spill over the nape of her neck. The look was so enticing that Arato had a little trouble breathing.

  “I was worried about you,” Shiori told him. “I heard you were getting quite depressed. Just as you said, you look a lot better than I was expecting, as well. I’m glad.”

  “I am pretty glad you pulled me out of that hotel room,” Arato said. “Thanks.”

  “I simply had someone with more power than my brother in the company pull some strings for me,” Shiori said. “The internal factions of MemeFrame are in a state of pandemonium right now.”

  Arato remembered how well Shiori had gotten people moving during the incident at the airport. She had some impressive connections. “Well, look at you,” he said admiringly. “Younger than me, and already commanding your own troops like a boss.”

  “I suppose I will always be the Shiori you’ve known since you were a child, in your eyes,” she said, gently. “But there are those who see even a young girl like me as having some value to the business.”

  Her eyes turned hard with determination as she went on. “I believe you saw the news, correct?” she asked. “With Snowdrop’s attack, MemeFrame is being forced to take responsibility for failing to properly control a red box. Now, some may say MemeFrame is getting what it deserves, but that will be small comfort for those who will lose their lives in this conflict.”

  Arato couldn’t help but feel that the heat from her words were being directed at him.

  “There are those who feel my brother and Methode were far too slow in reacting to this situation,” she continued. “I am among them. Even though there are thousands of human lives at stake, he seems to be treating this as casually as one would a fishing trip.”

  If Arato hadn’t been so emotionally distraught during his last conversation with Ryo, he would have used similar words to tear into the way Ryo was doing things. “Seems like you’re pretty upset with him,” Arato observed.

  “If we are incapable of feeling anger at a time such as this, then there is no reason for us humans to live in this era,” Shiori said. “What my brother is doing is simply idiotic. Even the fact that he has overlooked my own actions to this extent is nothing short of embarrassing. He allowed Lacia to slip through his fingers, and thinks he can use you as bait to simply reel her back in.”

  “Hey I don’t think it’s that bad,” Arato said, placatingly. “That makes it sound like we’re just pieces in his game.”

  “We are just pieces in a game,” Shiori replied. “One of the lessons my father taught me over and over in our home is that organizations will always seek out stability. I would imagine he knew Snowdrop’s attack would cause chaos inside the company well before it actually happened.” Shiori was a member of the ‘haves’ versus the ‘have nots.’ Everything she had been taught from birth was completely different from anything that Arato had ever experienced.

  “My brother has always used those who surround him—those attracted by his talents,” she went on, closing her eyes in disgust. “Every time I’d hear that another girl in his class had come to hate him, I just knew it was the result of one of his horrible social experiments. He hadn’t the slightest sense that other people might actually be fighting just to live their lives.”

  “Wow, you really hate him, don’t you?” Arato asked, surprised by the vitriol in her words. “When we first met, it seemed like you were still pretty attached to him.”

  Even on her sickbed, Shiori didn’t let her dignified nature slip for even an instant. “At that time, there was still the possibility that he would inherit the company,” she said. “I had been taught to do what was expected of my own position.”

  “Ryo never seemed like how you’re describing him when he was at school,” Arato said.

  “My brother has never trusted a single person in his life,” Shiori said bitterly. “That includes you, Arato, and his own family.”

  There were things about a person that only a family member would ever truly kno
w. Arato himself had kept things from Yuka, so he didn’t feel right looking down on Ryo for having done the same. Still, he felt that it would be wrong of him to hide anything from Shiori, who had come to his rescue.

  “I think Lacia may also just be seeing us as pieces in her game,” he admitted.

  Before he went any further, Shiori touched a finger to her lips, silencing him. As Arato might expect from someone with Shiori’s experiences, she’d figured out that her room had hidden listening devices.

  “I believe I can see where this is going,” Shiori said. “There are enough people in our company that I’m sure at least some of them are agreeing with my brother’s way of seeing things.”

  Arato figured that, from Shiori’s perspective, it must just look like he had freed himself from being Lacia’s owner, while Lacia ran away. But then, Shiori bowed her head to him. “I do not think we can rely on Methode,” she said. “So please, have Lacia destroy Snowdrop.”

  Arato’s breath caught. If Snowdrop had heard Shiori’s request just then, she probably would have laughed and said something like ‘human society really is hell.’

  “Are you sure it’s alright for you to ask me for that?” he wanted to know. “If Lacia ends up taking down Snowdrop, that’s going to put your brother in a lot of hot water. I don’t think MemeFrame will be in too good of a position, either.”

  But Shiori had already made up her mind, far faster than Arato ever could have. “This is just a personal request, from me to you,” she said.

  Arato unconsciously pressed his knuckles against his head as he thought. “Isn’t that going to make things harder for you, too?” he asked. “I know it’s weird for me to say this myself, but I could be analog hacked and just moving the way someone is manipulating me into. Do you really want to leave something like this up to a guy who doesn’t know if what he’s doing is right, or if he’s even acting of his own will?”