Rubbing Elbows with the Rich and Famous

Before she can leave, I grab Saionji’s shoulder. “Hold on. You’re just gonna run away when things get a bit scary? If you can’t handle a little heat, you never should have become a xyronin in the first place.”

“You don’t get it.” She pulls herself free of my grip. “I became a xyronin to leave that kind of life behind. I don’t want to waste my life on empty pleasantries and boardroom backstabbing. I want to make something of myself.”

“Then you picked the wrong gig,” I snarl. “No one becomes a xyronin by choice: They do it because it’s the only way they know to survive.”

“So did I, in my own way. Not that I expect you to understand, but in every other career, my family name pulls me to the top of the corporate ladder. Becoming a xyronin was the only way I could earn my place with my own hands.”

“Your own hands? Ha! You bought all your equipment with your parents’ money. Some of us had to really earn it on our own.” She tries to slap me, but I grab her wrist. “And now you’re showing your true colors. Go ahead, run away. You’ll never be anything but a rich girl.”

“Let her go,” the younger Hosokawa says. “She’s from a different family anyway. Her presence will only complicate things.”

“You were right, Hosokawa,” Saionji says. “Maybe implants do make people cold-hearted.” She storms out of the room and down the hallway.

“So, did you two just break up?” Chiyo asks. “Don’t worry, Big Bro. I’m always here for you.”

I ignore her and turn back to the kid. “Put some clothes on. We’ll sneak you out.”

⁂

“Nephew, how good to see you. I must say, you gave us all quite a fight when you disappeared like that.” An older, monocle-clad woman laden with a dozen jeweled necklaces and multiple rings on each finger throws her arms wide as she enters the room.

The study we’re in is larger than all the apartments in my building combined, and this is just one room of the giant mansion. It’s decorated in Western style, with immaculate velvet sofas, and the walls are covered with dozens of paintings, all poor replicas of well-known masterpieces.

“Auntie,” the kid stands up and gives her the briefest of hugs. “I’m truly sorry to have worried you, but opportunity struck, and I couldn’t let it get away.”

“At the hospital?” She glares glares at him through her monocle.

The kid doesn’t miss a beat though. “I overheard some of the other patients talking—employees from Fujisaki Heavy Industries. After enough bribes, I managed to get them to sneak me into their workshop, where I absconded with this.” He gestures to Chiyo. “I knew you would appreciate the possibilities better than anyone, auntie. You’ve always had such splendid taste.”

That was maybe laying it on a bit too thick, but the woman doesn’t seem to mind. She does, however, look Chiyo up and down with an expression of pure contempt on her face. “You brought me a couple of shady-looking commoners?”

“Show her,” the kid orders, and Chiyo drops the projection. The woman steps close to her and examines her through the monocle. “An impressively built robot, but…”

“She used to be human,” the kid says. “They injected Xyrite into her head and it copied her brain perfectly. Don’t you see, auntie?”

The woman gasps. “Immortality.” I can almost see all the evil calculations she’s running through her head. “You were right to bring this to me. Have you told anyone else?”

“I made backup plans. Why else would I bring a highly capable bodyguard for a visit to my loving aunt?”

“Clever child.” She pinches his cheeks. “I can see your implants did you good, and to think you were so opposed.”

“I was a scared child, but now I’m an adult and smart enough to realize I need allies. Allies like you.”

The woman chuckles. “And here I thought you were gifting me immortality out of love for your dear old aunt. Very well, what’s the price?”

“I want control of Hosaka Group.”

“And so you’ll have it, in time.”

“We can’t wait that long. By the time father retires, Fujisaki will have already turned himself and his allies immortal. They’ll have no use for any of us, but right now, they’re desperate for money to continue development, only father’s too proud to cooperate with his sworn enemy. But the Saionji Group already has an inkling that FHA is on to something big, and they’re considering investment. We need to move before they do.”

The woman smiles and puts a finger to her cheek. “And let me guess, nephew, you want me to act as your regent once you take over the company?”

“If only I could, Auntie, but Father is wary of you. He’d see it coming a mile away. Instead, I believe we should back my cousin, Daichi.”

“But he’s barely an adult himself… And barely a Hosokawa at that.”

“And that’s why he’s perfect. Father won’t see it coming, and he has no bad blood with anyone on the board. We’ll avoid a lot of fighting that might delay our plans.”

“Well… Are you sure he’ll be allowed?”

“I checked the corporate bylaws, and he can act as regent, but he can’t inherit the company himself. Besides, just as he doesn’t have any enemies, he doesn’t have any allies either. That puts him in a weak position and makes it easy for the board to control him.”

Her eyes narrow, and she looks the kid up and down. “You really have gotten clever, haven’t you? I’ll think about it—on the condition that you can convince a majority of the board to do the same.”

“Oh, thank you, Auntie! I knew I could count on you.” He hugs the woman again, for longer this time, and honestly, I want to give him a senshou badge for taking one for the team. “This is going to be great. We will all live forever!”

My stomach turns after hearing those words. It’s bad enough these rich sleazes exist at all, but I’ll be damned if I help them gain immortality.

Then again, if it means Chiyo and I can get out of this alive and keep our freedom, then maybe I don’t care if I’m damned. Not that I plan on giving these blue bloods what they want if I can help it.

“Nice job, kid.” I nudge him with my elbow as we leave the mansion. “That’s one down. Only eleven more to go.”

“Twelve,” the kid corrects me. “We still haven’t convinced Fujisaki to go along with this. If it looks like he won’t share the technology rights with The Hosokawa Group, none of them will back me.”

“They’d give up on immortality just like that?”

“Don’t underestimate their pride. Now that they know the technology exists, they’ll use whatever underhanded tactics they can to get their hands on it, but they’d rather die than bend the knee to someone like Fujisaki.”

“Because he’s their competition?”

Chiyo lets out a deep sigh, an impressive feat since she doesn’t have lungs. “They’re probably jealous because he’s so dreamy. When he held out his hand to me and offered to make me into a living crystal, his touch was so gentle. I nearly dropped my panties right then and there, but rest assured, Big Bro, I’m still pure.”

The young Hosokawa shakes his head. “It’s because the Fujisaki family is lower on the hierarchy. For decades, Hosokawa Heavy Industries was teetering on bankruptcy, and it only survived on predatory loans from the other big families. The current head of the Fujisaki family is a highly competent man who not only managed to pay off those debts, but he’s rapidly gaining on the families who once looked down on him.”

“I’m starting to see why Saionji didn’t want anything to do with this,” I say. “Let’s just hope Fujisaki’s willing to play ball.”

⁂

“No,” Fujisaki says. “Get out.”