Second Shot
Chapter 21:
Yata's Search
Kenji stumbles and narrowly catches himself before he falls into one of the passenger rails in the train. He blinks and shakes his head vigorously to keep himself awake. He doesn't often have back-to-back shifts at Pascal's Service, but when Osamu called in sick at the last minute, Takeda didn't give any other options but to stay on from setup to takedown. Steel squeals as the train brakes activate, causing a rumble to shake through the interior. Despite the jammed conditions, passengers throughout the cab stumble and one falls into Kenji, throwing him to a floor sticky from hundreds of people tracking snow, street mud, and other things he'd really rather not consider.
When he feels resistance from the press of people at just trying to stand up, he looses his tenuous grip on his temper. He snarls and throws himself up through the other passengers, knocking several of them over. The dozen passengers immediately around Kenji press into the walls to get away from the rider who just bellowed like a lion. He takes one of the hand-straps and glares, and the other passengers quickly turn their attention away from Kenji.
By the time the train pulls into the station, he's packed in like a sardine and has to fight like a rat to get out of the train before the pushers move in and crush more humanity into the cars like garbage into a compactor. Kenji wrinkles his nose at the stale smell of too much snow and mud being tracked into a lukewarm station, adjusts the bag over his shoulder and shoulders onward through the tide of humanity to get to the surface. Only eight more blocks to walk . . .
A snowflake hits Kenji in the cheek and the sharp cold stings, making him flinch away. His threadbare coat doesn't do a very good job of keeping out the winter chill, and he can feel his elbows and sides start to go numb.
He doesn't even get to the end of the block when a man in a bright orange jacket comes up alongside him, thrusting a book at him. "You look like a man who is in conflict with the world. Have you ever considered the path of truth, the only way that you can break free from the cycle of suffering and lies?"
Kenji looks down to the Bhagavad Gita. The wind blows and he shivers as he walks over the snow-encrusted sidewalk. "I'm not interested in southern religions," he states as he tries to push the book back into the orange-garbed man who's still walking uncomfortably close.
He refuses to take it, and also keeps walking along so close that his elbow is bumping into Kenji's, the fog of his breath washing over the fatigued cook. "This life will always be hard until we come into the truth and set ourselves free. This story is the first step of a journey to overcoming the web of lies that this hollow world ensnares us with."
"You sound like this is going to give me magic that will poof all my problems away," Kenji snaps as he tries again to thrust the book back at the sidewalk peddler. "Life just sucks, get used to it."
Somehow, the proselytizer manages to avoid taking the book. The failure only makes Kenji's blood pressure rise more. The peddler spreads his orange-jacketed arms wide. "But with knowledge that this world hides from you, you can overcome—"
The unwanted proselytizer comes too close and breathes on Kenji one final time. Kenji hits him in the gut with the book, letting it fall to the snow piled up at the side of the sidewalk as he pushes the peddler into the wall. "I am so sick of you people! You think you're so smart and rich, and better in every way. You want to stop living in a world full of lies? Stop spewing them."
Kenji drops the peddler to the snow and stomps home. Snow begins to fall again and the wind picks up just before he gets to the high-rise residential building. He grimaces at the chill weaving through his winter jacket and the wet seeping through his shoes. The moaning wind carries flurries of snow at him and the key for the building door clacks against the lock. Kenji curses and fumbles with the lock for a couple more seconds before a shadow falls across the door.
"Hey, Ken-kun. You look like you could use a hand."
Kenji looks up and squints against the blowing snow. Shinichi's soothing voice is unmistakable. That confident posture is the same as ten years ago in Kyoto. It's just the same as when they fled through the rain and sleet on the run from the cops. It was cold just like now, they were desperate just like now, but they were all together. They stood with each other, through thick and thin.
"Here, let me get the door for you." Shinichi adjusts the duffel bag on his shoulders, takes the keys from Kenji's hands and opens the building's front door. "Come on. I'll help you and you help me."
…
Maekawa Sei spins around in his office desk chair. He catches the lip of the desk and spins himself around again and again, speeding himself up. The high schooler stares up at the ceiling, letting out a long breath. Even with what happened last time, I wish my brothers would call and invite me to the arena or something. The sound of the bell jingling gives Sei enough time to jerk upright and catch the desk to halt his spinning. The clinic's front door opens for a familiar father and his young son.
Sei minimizes The World wiki and gives his patented receptionist smile. "Nakanishi-san, I hope you have been having a good month. It's been a cold winter so far. Iori-kun, the doctor is waiting for you."
He stands up and opens the door between the narrow hallway connecting the reception area to the psychologists' offices. After returning to the desk, he notices Iori's father sitting down with a book. "How have things been, sir?"
Nakanishi puts his finger in the book to mark his place and looks up. "Oh, Iori's doing much better. He threw one of his quiet fits when I forbid him from playing The World, but I think that game was having a bad influence on him. Some days he would be angry and others he would be frightfully depressed. He's been much better lately, though."
Sei nods. Who'd have thought? Another player in The World. I wonder how everybody's doing there.
…
The elevator gives a faint ding and slides open, revealing a stretch of cubicles. Hushed tapping and clicking floats out from the rows of men and women all dressed the same, all working on the same network and security tasks for Altimit. Sanada adjusts his black business suit and pats his coat pocket to reassure himself that the badge and documents are all still in place.
After navigating through a section of cubicleville, he comes to a secretary at a desk in front of an office against the east side of the high-rise building. A small name plate identifies the secretary with dyed-blonde hair as an Akane Hinamori under network administrator Saeki Reiko. Sanada comes to a stop in front of the desk and smothers a smirk when the secretary startles and looks up at him.
"Oh! I'm sorry, can I help you?"
Sanada reaches into his coat and draws the thick billfold containing his ID. "Agent Sanada of the Network Analysis Bureau. I am here to speak with administrator Saeki."
Akane flips a length of dyed-blonde hair off her shoulder, then glances down into a new window on her screen. The secretary glances up at Sanada and his stark business suit, back down at the window, then takes a moment to type. "She can see you now, agent Sanada."
Sanada nods and enters the office, closing the pine door behind him. Saeki Reiko leans back in her chair and steeples her hands together. "It's about time one of you sat down to get something done. I've been seeing you people snooping around for months."
The agent sits down in the worn leather chair before the desk. "The NAB is investigating a series of neurological injuries all linked to a project you have considerable experience in."
The woman once behind Pi lowers her hands to her lap. "You know that I can't go into the details of Project R.A. due to my non-disclosure agreement."
Agent Sanada nods. "However, we know that you were still involved in a number of incidents of import to the stability of computer networks in Japan. 2020 was a particularly busy year for you, even before the Third Network Crisis." He reaches into his coat and draws a brown paper folder, then sets it in front of Reiko. "While comas have dropped sharply after the sudden awakenings in October 2020, these and other conditions classified as Doll Syndrome have still been popping up here and there."
Saeki Reiko flips another page in the paper folder. "Honda's youngest son? How is it that this hasn't been all over the news? Even one of these people is well-connected enough in either politics or the Japanese economy that red flags should have been going up."
Sanada leans forward and folds his hands together on the edge of Reiko's desk. "I am glad that you recognize the potential serious implications of so many people close to those in our industry and government. Unfortunately, we do not have personnel with extensive experience of the one common thread between all of them. We would like to recruit you into a new task force being assembled to keep watch on The World and try to find some answers. You have knowledge, experience, and have rather undisputedly declared where your loyalties lie with CyberConnect. We are aware that you have been maintaining contact with multiple accounts, so you are well positioned to assist us."
Reiko turns another page and skims through the profile, then flips to a thin section printed on a different weight of paper and stamped with the NAB logo. As she scans, she says, "I don't have nearly the manpower or resources to keep an eye on all of The World. If there's one thing I learned from Project R.A. and G.U., it's that there's too much going on in The World to track everything. I don't have nearly the manpower or resources."
Sanada nods. "Our pool is not unlimited, but I think most of your concerns can be taken care of."
…
Hachi taps away at his holographic keyboard in the Serpent of Lore when the long shadow of a tall PC falls over the doorway of light leading to Raven's innocuous guild meeting room. Reynart puts his hands on his hips and looks straight at the cleric in bright robes. "Message Yata. I've got a promise to keep."