Grace in my Head

Ryuji reeled as flashes of each girl whirled around his mind.

The demure character of Miyabi.

The bombastic flare of Grace.

Ryuji’s mind fought hard to make the connections, but the contrast between the two hurt his brain. He simply couldn’t see any relation between them, but on the other hand, his memories of Ojou were from over thirteen years ago.

A hand patted Ryuji on the shoulder, bringing his thoughts back to the doctor.

“Honjou-san told me a bit about the infamous Yama Ryu and his motivations, so I can tell that was a tough blow. That’s why I waited until we were somewhere safe. Didn’t want my protector to be frozen with his pants down.”

Ryuji swatted at the doctor in annoyance, only to see him slip away before standing even closer.

“It sure doesn’t seem like you need any protection from me, given all the moves you showed. Or does that have something to do with Grace too?”

“Very true. I’m just a normal human without her help. As I said before, her skills are very useful to many parties. A human’s capacity to think and rationale, combined with the processing power of computers – it leads to all sorts of possibilities.”

Doctor Higashi fired off a few jabs, instantly making Ryuji shift to defense. Ryuji arched a brow as some of the blows snaked through his guard and penetrated. Yet, he hardly flinched from the resulting hits themselves.

“You don’t have much bite. Do you, Doc?”

“I’m not a trained thug like you who can take some hits after all.”

“Yet, every one of them was targeting a weak point. If I had been any slower, you might have inflicted some pain.”

The discrepancy of strength and ability felt off to Ryuji. The way that the doctor moved was anything but an amateur, but the result gave off more danger than it actually was. Like a gun loaded with rubber bullets, the threat of his movements made Ryuji pause only until he realized he could endure them. That wasn’t to say that they wouldn’t take down a normal thug, but the Yama Ryu had incomparable toughness.

“The fact that you can see that much from our brief scuffles tells me that Honjou-san was right about you.”

“Right about what?”

Instead of answering, Dr. Higashi pulled off his headgear and offered it to Ryuji, who tilted his head in confusion. After a moment of hesitation, Ryuji slowly reached out and grabbed it, eyeing the piece skeptically.

“Put it on already. She’s waiting for you. I had her calibrated to your brainwaves while you were in a coma. And before you come at me about signing off on tapping into your thoughts, let’s just say that experimental procedures don’t always come with waivers,” Dr. Higashi said with a chuckle.

Gritting his teeth, Ryuji plopped the device on his head, which turned out to be less cumbersome than he initially thought. A whirring noise fired up before his vision went hazy, causing him to shut his eyes. But when he opened them again, a pink-hair girl was staring right at him.

“WAHHH!!!”

Ryuji toppled back as Grace waved at him. But then, Dr. Higashi passed right through her like she wasn’t there.

“Scared you, didn’t she? Don’t worry, Grace is just a projection in this form. She’s actually residing inside your head through the device. It allows her to jump from her home server to a living person’s brain. Hope you have enough smarts to serve as her processor.”

“What do you mean she’s in my head?! What kind of crack job science is this?!”

“A useful one. Right now, you’re the only one who can see her. Think of Grace as another set of eyes for your surroundings. Not to mention…”

Dr. Higashi kicked a random bucket at Ryuji, which instantly lit up in his vision. Guidelines formed before his eyes that measured the bucket’s trajectory, but rather than dodge, Ryuji gawked dumbly as the highlighted object collided right into him.

“Ahem, you were supposed to dodge that. Let’s try again.”

Dr. Higashi picked up a brick and threw it this time. The brick lit up again with its flight path, causing Ryuji to sidestep way before the brick reached him. Looking around the room, other objects glowed with a faint outline.

“What is this? Some game?”

“Ha, that’s probably my fault as the lead designer, but yes, you can see it that way if it makes things easier. You see, Grace has gathered quite a bit of data over the years, enough to make predictive simulations in real time. As such, she is quite the handy helper for anything imaginable. Like say, the perfect kick to smash some unruly yakuza barging into my hospital.”

Ryuji looked down at the bucket on the ground that hit him. His eyes darted to the emergency light fifty meters behind. As if his intention was made clear, a glowing trajectory extended from the bucket to that light.

His foot shot forward, his mind questioning if he could actually make that shot. But then, he felt his toes tingle. Ever so slightly, the movement of his muscles shifted from their initial aim, until his foot connected squarely upon a brighter spot on the bucket.

The launched projectile flew in a perfect arc matching the guidelines, crashing right into the emergency light. The hallway instantly became darker as glass exploded from the impact and showered the ground.

Awkwardly, Ryuji put his foot down, shaking off the momentary disconnect with his own body. It felt like a poltergeist in his leg, to which he spun around to Grace, who was flashing him a V sign.

“I can’t see what she’s doing right now,” Dr. Higashi said, “but I imagine that she added a tweak to your movements to give the proper result.”

Rather than appear like some babbling low-level grunt, Ryuji shut up and listened to what the doctor had to say next.

“With this device, Grace lives in your mind. As such, she can augment your natural abilities. Honjou-san believed that the secret would come out some day. And with it, a slew of trouble. He could think of no better person than the Yama Ryu to be his daughter’s protector.”

Ryuji looked back over to Grace. She had the same ignorant, blissful smile of Ojou’s younger days. The childish longing that Miyabi possessed was still there.

He knelt before her, thirteen years late.

“Ojou, I will fulfill the promise I made to you back then.”

Ryuji stared forward, waiting for her response. Seconds passed in silence, enough that he was starting to feel silly. To Dr. Higashi, he was kneeling before nothing, like a man possessed.

“What promise was that?” Grace finally said, cocking her head in wonder.

Pain. Piercing, bloody pain right through the heart.

Ryuji felt only trauma as he nearly doubled over, propped up only by Dr. Higashi’s hand.

“Yamaoka-san, I forgot to mention. She doesn’t really have memories of her time as Honjou Miyabi. At best, she only retains flickers of that life.”

Ryuji recovered in an instant.

“Huh? How come?”

“That’s something that I don’t know. Grace doesn’t seem to be aware of her past identity, so maybe it’s some kind of mental block. In any case, you’re better off regarding her as a different person.”

Dr. Higashi motioned for them to keep moving. Eventually, the Azumito Alliance would figure out this escape route, so they had to make their getaway before they noticed. Along the way, Ryuji couldn’t help but stare as Grace popped all around the area, examining every little detail.

Objects lighting up with a moment’s focus in his peripheral took a bit of getting used to as well. It was incredibly distracting unless he fully relaxed to make them disappear. He wondered if the Doctor had grown used to such things over time, but then again, he appeared no different in his own skin as when he was sharing his consciousness.

“We’re here.”

Dr. Higashi pointed to a ladder leading up to a manhole. With a gesture of ‘after you’, Ryuji took that as a sign to climb up and scope out the situation above ground. He tipped up the cover and peeked all around, seeing no sign of pursuers. Lifting the cover higher, bushes and trees greeted him, likely a nearby park as the sound of traffic echoed in the distance.

“Hey Doc, all clear… Doc?”

Ryuji looked down when he was met with silence. Leaping back down to the tunnel, he found no sign of the doctor. He looked left and right, hoping to see where he went, until Grace floated over and patted him on the breast pocket.

Curious, Ryuji reached in and found a note tucked there.

Ø

If you’re wondering, I have to part ways with you, Yamaoka-san. Those trying to get their hands on Grace will undoubtedly be tracking me, so what better way to give you time to grow accustomed to her abilities than by keeping them off your back?

Don’t worry about me. I have ways of laying low. Best to keep your efforts guarding only one thing at a time. I’ll get in touch with you when the time is right.

If you need some info, I have a friend that could lend a hand. Just ask around for the ‘Server of Rye’. Grace knows the secret password when the time comes.

Good luck!

Ø

“Server of Rye? What is this? Some kind of dumb title?”

Grace popped right in front of Ryuji, all smiles.

“The Server of Rye is a well-known underground informant. We’ll have to make a trip to the ‘Road of Gold’ as Haru-kun suggested.”

“Haru-kun? Ah, the Doc. Why the hell is he involved with some shady info dealer anyways?”

“They go way back.”

Grace said it like she was reminiscing on the past. But besides that-

“Oy, how are you talking to me? I thought you were just a projection.”

“I can speak directly to you because I’m living in your head,” Grace brought a hand to her lips and gave Ryuji a wink, “rent-free.”

“Great. Good thing no one is around me to see the crazy person talking to thin air.”

Ryuji climbed back up the ladder and exited the manhole, placing the cover back afterward. He let out a sigh.

“It’s enough that I’m already feeling like I’m losing my mind.”

He wondered how a simple crackdown on rival gang activity could have led to this. Certainly, he didn’t expect to carry the burden of guarding Ojou once again, as strange of a form that she was in now.

“At least, I’m more useful than an imaginary friend.”

A chuckle escaped Ryuji’s lips as he looked back at the girl that no one else could see. If only he didn’t have this weird device on his head, no one would be able to tell. It was too awkward to hide, but when he took it off, Grace fizzled out of existence. He quickly placed it back on to bring her back.

“Guess I have to settle on looking like a techno idiot.”

Ryuji’s stomach let out a fierce rumble as he stretched to take in his surroundings, checking once to make sure no one conspicuous had noticed his emergence from the ground.

He couldn’t very well fight on an empty stomach. And after being bedridden for days, his energy reserves felt like they were at the bottom of an endless pit. But then Ryuji realized that he had none of his stuff on hand. His phone had been lost at some point, so now, he had no way of finding his bearings.

“You wouldn’t happen to double as a city guide, would you, Grace?”