“I was busy,” he says a bit too fiercely.
“Playing your stupid games again?”
“Like I said, I was busy. Isogashii desu.”
Kodai jerks forward with a cocked fist and stops just in time. Ryuk flinches as his older brother bellows with laughter, long and loud and hard, just barely holding onto his whiskey. “Don’t be such a little bitch, Ryuk, I was just joking with you. I’m not going to hit you. The hour you left me waiting gave me time to see how the business was running and to check on a few things over iNet. Water under the bridge, as they say in America. Hey, are you paying attention to me?”
Ryuk blinks rapidly, feels anger and fear rise and quickly settle. “Yes, sorry.”
There hasn’t been a moment in Ryuk’s life that he wasn’t connected to iNet, the retina-based internet service so necessary and ubiquitous that it has become a basic human right.
Even as they speak, he is viewing his avatar auto-level through the Proxima in-game view, which allows him to watch his avatar battle in the lower left hand corner of his field of vision. It is quite common for just about everyone to have multiple real-life occurrences directly in front of them and some iNet feed streaming in their field of vision. The Internet of Things and the human brain were laced together in the middle of the century. Now they’ve become stitched and soon, they’ll become an amalgam.
“What’s the matter?” Kodai asks his little brother. “Did I say something wrong?”
Ryuk clenches his fists together under the table. “A lot has happened today,” he finally says. Tamana. He gets the urge to tell his brother what he witnessed but bites his lip instead. He knows Kodai won’t care, he’s that heartless.
His brother takes another sip from his whiskey. “Let’s discuss what I called you here to discuss.”
Hitomi the hostess returns and sets a glass down on the table. She opens a Tundra water bottle, quickly fills the glass, and quietly retreats.
An obese patron at the dimly lit table across from Kodai laughs drunkenly and lays a ten thousand Yen note on the table. The hostess sitting next to him nods and obediently removes her top. He presses his face to her remarkably oversized breasts, and with a snort of appreciation, snuffles and slobbers as she gathers up the price of her self-respect. Ryuk’s stomach churns; Kodai hardly notices.
“You haven’t enrolled for fall classes yet.”
“It isn’t even February yet.” Ryuk glances down at his hands. “And besides, I told you, I don’t want to go there. There’s a Proxima-based technical school … ”
Again, Kodai laughs long and hard. “A Proxima-based school? Fuck me if you aren’t just about the biggest loser I’ve met all day!”
“You called me here to tell me that? You could have just told me over iNet and saved us both the trouble.”
Ryuk steels himself not to react when Kodai grinds his heel into his foot. Kodai grins, bears down, and suddenly releases the pressure as he turns to watch the patron slobbering on the topless shōjo.
“Mother isn’t happy.”
Ryuk grimaces at the pain radiating off his toes. “And when is she ever happy?”
“Aren’t you going to eat something?” Kodai asks. “Come on, we own the place; sit back and have whatever you’d like, including one of the girls.” He scoots closer to his brother and nudges him. “We have a gaijin now, from Australia. Sarah, she’s fierce. At first I didn’t like her, but she’s growing on me.”
“Can I go?” Ryuk asks. “I have other shit to do.”
“Like play in your little fantasy world with Tamana? That is what you were doing right?”
Ryuk bares his teeth at his brother. “Damare!”
Kodai’s eye twitches. “You should know better than to speak to me like that in my club!” He points a finger at Ryuk and spittle flies from his lips as he shouts, “I will NOT be disrespected!”
The club comes to a halt.
The music keeps playing, but everyone cuts eyes to Kodai’s booth, even the inebriated moistener of schoolgirl funbags in the booth across the way. Kodai immediately notices and immediately reasserts control. “Where were we? School. Yes, you need to enroll. I’ve told you before, my four years at NYU were difficult, but look at me now.”
You’re a Yakuza crime lord. Is there a major for that?
“Well?”
“I’m looking,” Ryuk says.
“You know what,” Kodai finishes his drink and squeezes his glass for a moment. “I actually have something I want to show you. Something mother told me to give you, to remind you of family and tradition.” He sets the glass down. “Please, join me in the back. That’s why I called you here.”
(0)__(x)
Ryuk steps out into the bitter January night, and stuffs his hands in the front of his black hoodie. The fragrance of grilled chicken skewers from the back-alley izakaya behind the hostess bar hits his nostrils. His mouth waters as he tries to remember the last time that he ate.
“Where are you taking me?” he asks his brother.
“I thought you might be hungry.” Kodai turns to Ryuk and smiles. Several meters past the izakaya stands Gorira, one of Kodai’s most massive security escorts, whose bulk effectively blocks the alley from that direction. Gorira’s parka is too tight across his shoulders; it forces him to hunch over and hold his arms slightly away from his body.
Mmmm … that smell.
Ryuk considers ordering yakatori when Kodai’s fist flattens his nose.
His vision pane jump-cuts and he sees stars and planets. His head snaps back, he stumbles into the back wall of the hostess club and slides down.
Hands on hips, Kodai looks down at him, shaking his head in disgust as he waits for Ryuk to stand. Once he does, Kodai feints with a right and Ryuk flinches into a solid left that throws him flat. His older brother then steps in with a series of short, punishing kicks.
He pulls Ryuk up by the back of his hair. “Fight back, pussy-boy!” Kodai screams in his face. “You dishonor yourself and our family with your cowardice! Stand and fight!” He drops his younger sibling to the ground and gives him another kick.
“Stop,” Ryuk sobs, “please stop hitting me!”
“DEFEND YOURSELF!”
Ryuk closes his eyes, wraps his arms around his head and turtles up as he braces for Kodai’s next kick. MedStar warnings flash across his iNet screen and catalog his injuries; he is advised to seek immediate medical assistance.
He winces as he hears several thuds in rapid succession, a violent whoof of forcefully expelled breath and the sound of a slab of beef hitting the pavement.
“Hey!” Kodai shouts. “You aren’t supposed to do that!”
Ryuk opens his eyes to the most beautiful sight in the world – Hajime, stands over the gasping, twitching form of Gorira the bodyguard.
“A wise man would stay down,” Hajime advises the fallen man-mountain. He turns to Kodai and bows. “With respect, your organization hired me to protect Ryuk, and my contract is surprisingly non-specific. If you cease and desist now, I need not provide any further protection and the matter ends here.”
“Like hell I will!” Kodai reaches into his jacket pocket and pulls a small, black handgun. “I’ll shoot you.” Confidence returns as he flips the safety off.
“Don’t shoot him!” Ryuk tastes blood as soon as he opens his mouth.
Hajime keeps his eyes trained on Kodai’s weapon as he says, “If that is your response then I suggest you do it now.”
Kodai glances left and right. After a quick breath, he slowly lowers his weapon. “Get your shit together,” he tells his younger brother, “I expect you to be enrolled by the next time we meet and you … ” He points a shaky finger at Hajime. “I’ll see to your contract.”