Tamana: Help me! Near you! Going to Shinsen Station.
Ryuk: What’s happening!?
Tamana: Please! It’s coming!
Ryuk: What’s coming!?
Tamana: Please. Please. Be there in five minutes. PLEASE!
Ryuk: What is going on? Are you okay?
Ryuk: I’m here. Where are you? Are you okay?
Nothing, he thinks, there’s nothing there.
Ryuk staggers to his feet. Police have already begun to arrive he knows better than to get involved with them, not with his family ties to the Yakuza.
He turns away from the crowd.
Each step feels weighted, as if he is trying to climb up a sand dune. He can hardly keep it together, hardly keep himself together. The numbing pain is debilitating. He can’t believe this actually happened.
It can’t be …
The stairs that lead out of the subway seem so far away. Eons away. He envisions Tamana at the top as he climbs.
This can’t be true.
More tears come and he wipes them away. He pulls the hood of his sweatshirt up, and takes another weighted step.
Just need to get home, he thinks.
Chapter 2: Home is where the killer droid is
Ryuk doesn’t say a single word to the two thugs in the lobby of his apartment building, nor does he make eye contact with the two on his floor. His guards are ever-present, stereotypical Yakuza muscle from the latest Jollywood flick. Clean-cut suits with the top two buttons open, shiny materials, polished Italian boots, thin gold chains around their necks, the works. The fucking thugs.
And that’s not the scary part.
The scary part is inside, Hajime, his humandroid bodyguard.
Ryuk has been around these types of droids his entire life and nothing really bothers him about them, aside from the fact that Hajime could kill him in more ways than Ryuk can count.
“That was fast,” Hajime the humandroid says instead of hello. He wears a traditional Japanese robe and his hair is tied back into a manbun. “Did you happen to meet Tamana? I wouldn’t worry about the guards below; they won’t tell your brother that you snuck out.”
Is he reading my iNet messages again? Ryuk stares the humandroid down for a moment. He wipes his face and tries to cover the fact that he’s been sobbing.
“Your vitals indicate that you’ve experienced a recent trauma. There are comfort foods good for hyperstress. Would you care for something?”
Ryuk feels tears come and he sucks them down.
Hajime’s eyebrows lift. “What happened?”
“Not now, Hajime, please, not now.” Ryuk suddenly feels faint. He stretches his hand out to the wall to catch his balance. Hajime is at his side moments later. The droid helps Ryuk stabilize himself long enough for Ryuk to get his shoes off. He slips into his slippers and Hajime helps him to his bedroom.
Ryuk sobs and swallows again.
Tamana’s image keeps coming to him. The vision of her leaping into the coming train keeps replaying in his mind’s eye over and over again. Why Tamana, he thinks, why did you do it?
He suddenly feels incredibly stupid for trying to ask her out, he then feels stupid for feeling stupid for trying to ask her out after watching her die. The emotions are overwhelming, confusing. The urge to vomit again comes to him.
She didn’t deserve this.
Hajime leads him to his bed and Ryuk lies down. “I’ll get you some water.”
“Tamana’s dead.” Ryuk grabs Hajime’s arm.
“What?”
“I watched her jump in front of the train. I saw her do it with my own two eyes!” he sobs again, chokes it down. “She did it … ” He’s beside himself again. “The sound … the train. I saw it all!”
“She killed herself?” Hajime’s cadence and inflection sounds like any other Japanese man but he hasn’t quite mastered the art of human empathy.
Ryuk nods; he presses his blankets away and glances around his room. His room is clean, minimal, aside from a different black hooded sweater tossed onto his haptic chair. He wipes his runny nose.
“Just relax here,” Hajime turns to the door. “I’ll get you some tissue.”
Chapter 3: Digital hallucinations
A clawed hand tears Ryuk’s door from its hinges.
“Hajime!”
Ryuk scrambles to the ground and he sees a Thulean warrior – a dragon-descended humanoid – grab Hajime by the back of the neck. The image twitches and Hajime is suddenly standing there, normal as ever, staring curiously at Ryuk.
It cuts back and now the droid is being choked again. “Hajime!”
A hand presses over Ryuk’s eyes; a dazzling burst of light flickers across the inside of his eyelids. He kicks his feet and struggles to free himself from the steely grip. He tucks his chin into the crook of the elbow that encircles his neck; his teeth find purchase and he bears down hard. The arm tastes like …
Nothing. Cloth maybe, or some sort of skin-like plastic, but that’s about it.
“Relax.”
Why is Hajime’s voice behind me now!?
Ryuk swallows hard and struggles to master the overwhelming terror that surges through him. The realization strikes him – he’s sitting on the floor and someone is behind him, holding him as a mother would comfort her child. He tries to stand, but the arms restrain him.
“You’re hallucinating something,” the voice says into his ear.
“Hajime?”
“Open your eyes slowly. Remember, whatever you see is not real.”
Hajime’s voice.
“Hallucinating?” Ryuk asks.
“I’m here, nothing can hurt you. I’m removing my hand now.”
After a trembling breath, Ryuk opens his eyes. The Thulean’s stats appear on his iNet screen:
Thulean Warrior Level ??
HP: 5309/5309
ATK: 867
DEF: 2960
MATK: 131
MDF: 2116
LUCK: 311
Ryuk stares in horror as the Thulean brandishes a pointed spear and tests the weapon’s balance with a flashy whirl-parry-thrust. The dragon-descended humanoid’s grin is all pointed teeth and forked tongue. Painted on his forehead are three blood-red lines under a crescent moon.
“What do you see?” Hajime whispers in Ryuk’s ear.
“He’s … he’s … ”
Coming for me!
The Thulean casts a fanged grin and steps into a ready position.
His armor clinks as he charges at Ryuk.
(0)__(0)
The Thulean warrior’s spear passes through Ryuk’s body, followed by his hand, his arm, his shoulder, and his chest. All of him seemingly disappears right into Ryuk’s chest.
He blinks his eyes rapidly as he tries to comprehend it all.
The Thulean is suddenly gone, vanished completely. Ryuk’s in his room on the ground with Hajime behind him, who still holds tightly onto him.
“It’s over.” Hajime relaxes his grip on Ryuk’s body. “Relax.”
“What … was that?” He breathes heavily for a moment as he rubs his eyes. Suddenly visible on his pane of vision are a few minimized chat boxes, including Tamana’s final real world message.
“I’m going to let go now.”
“Fine,” Ryuk says, suddenly ashamed by his actions.
“I’ve scanned your vitals, and they are all within normal limits. Tox scan is negative, and I can find no cause for the hallucinatory episode you’ve just endured. May I tap your feed?”