Returning Home

A heavy iron gate opened before Ryuji, Shirokawa, and Samukawa, leading to a lush Japanese garden that was still impeccably maintained. Ryuji recalled walking under Japanese maples, red petals littering the walkway. Walls of purple wisteria lined the path on the approach up to the front door. The sound of a bamboo fountain clacked in the distance every twenty steps.

Everything before him was virtually the same as his memories, so much so that he felt a tickle around his eyes.

A sound of girlish giggling struck a chill down his back, until he spotted pink hair above the flowering bushes. A deep sigh escaped Ryuji’s lips as present day sunk in.

“You haven’t been back since the incident, have you, Ryuji?” Shirokawa looked back at him.

“I couldn’t. It was hard enough to look the boss in the eye after I failed to do the one thing I declared to him back then.”

“And the whole time, I’ve been telling you that there was nothing you could do. We were still neck deep in color gang business. Our saké cups hadn’t been filled yet. Our oaths were to no one but ourselves.”

“That’s just you trying to cheer me up, Shiroyan.” Ryuji sighed. “And I get that we were dumbass brats with no reason to stick our necks in the business. But regardless, we’re here. We took our doubts and anger and made this life for ourselves. I just had to be a bit prouder of that path before I could come back.”

“It took being a legend for thirteen years?”

“Might have taken some detours that kept me distracted.”

“Yamaoka Ryuji – a man setting out to 100% his sidequests before hitting the climax of the story.”

“Hey, it makes the ending all the more fulfilling.”

The two friends laughed as they strolled through the garden, Samukawa continuing to walk briskly ahead. He maintained the look of a proper secretary, even having a clipboard in hand like he was guiding the two of them to their next appointment. Reaching the door, he pulled it open for them with a gesture.

“The Chairman is waiting inside.”

Ryuji stepped through and a mirage of Miyabi appeared just inside. Likewise, one of his younger self ran up to greet her, fresh treats in hand. A pit weighed on his stomach, the dread of how such a scene would no longer exist.

But then, Grace walked forward and turned around, beckoning him to come forward. His eyes widened as a wave of relief spread. He could move once again, the prickly numbness of cold feet having been thawed by her warm smile.

Ryuji took off his shoes and walked down the familiar halls, taking in the traditional Japanese artwork that adorned the walls. He passed by a single closed door until Grace became curious and passed right through it like a ghost. Swallowing his hesitation, he swung it open, revealing a large, empty music room. Even without stepping in, Ryuji could see that no one had set foot in it for years. A layer of thick dust blurred the finish of the grand piano inside. The air smelled musty and stale. Awards that decorated the walls seemed to have lost their shine. It had been left alone since its resident never came back.

Yet, seeing Grace look around with a sense of awe made it seem like Ojou had come back. She moved immediately to the piano, her fingers gingerly stroking atop the cover where the keys were. Next, she danced across the ballroom floor, looking around at the mirrors to check for a reflection that wasn’t there. And finally, she craned her head around the lone window, as if recalling the scenery from that spot.

“I see all this in my dreams. This is a place dear to me once before, isn’t it?”

If she had been a ghost, her soul would most likely have been tethered here.

Regardless, Ryuji felt the need to wordlessly bow towards the empty room. If anything, he wanted to pay respects for how long he had pushed himself away from it all. But finally, Grace had moved the mountain of bad resolve that he held. Finally, he could move on with his regrets.

Quickly, he joined back up with Shirokawa and Samukawa, who merely nodded in understanding. They continued forward to the Chairman’s bedroom, where a faint beep could be heard.

Sliding open the door, they walked around a decorative screen. Chairman Honjou laid on a futon, wires running from his body up to a machine that measured his vitals.

“It’s been months since the boss has become bedridden, no longer fit to serve the Tenjou Clan. There were hopes that rest would bring back his energy, but old age has settled in,” Samukawa said.

Hearing visitors, Honjou shifted slightly, turning his head toward them and weakly opening his eyes. Ryuji could tell just how difficult it was for him to remain awake.

“Fortunately, technology has advanced so far that we can meet with him in a dreamlike state, where the fatigue of his body matters far less. He had continued to watch over and direct the Tenjou Clan, even under this state.”

“No rest even for those at the top. I guess that’s something to be expected as I’m about to step into that role.” Ryuji got into seiza position and then knelt forward, greeting the patriarch of the clan with a bow. “I have finally found my resolve and returned to your side.”

A thin hand reached out and clutched his wrist, and for a moment, Honjou’s gaze held a fire as he stared at Ryuji. A thin smile tugged at the corner of his lips while he brought his other hand up to tap his forehead before pointing to Ryuji.

“The Chairman thanks you for keeping the technology that he developed safe and for protecting the data of the young miss inside of it.”

“I thought I was going crazy at first, but hearing all about how the young mistress’s soul was preserved in some fancy device came as a shock. But the gears all clicked with me at that moment as to what the Chairman had been doing. Given how much it weighed on your shoulders, Ryuji, I had to preserve that hope somehow. When I was entrusted with this information in exchange for helping you shoot for the top seat, all I could think of was how bat shit crazy it all was.”

Ryuji looked over at Shirokawa, the guilt of a man spilling his secrets written all over his face. His eyes then darted to Samukawa, who had likely known from the start what future the Tenjou Clan had invested itself in.

“Let’s not keep the Chairman waiting. I’m sure that you two have a lot to catch up on.” Samukawa pointed to Ryuji’s headpiece and extended his palm.

Taking that cue, Ryuji looked over to a nervously gawking Grace before taking it off and handing it over. Samukawa took it over to the large machine and connected some wires to it. He returned with a different headpiece that he slipped onto Ryuji’s head.

“Please sit in this chair. I will proceed to connect your mind with the Chairman.”

It all felt so weird to Ryuji, but he nodded, recalling how similar it was with the Server of Rye. As the darkness settled in, he wondered briefly what kind of tongue lashing he would get after avoiding the boss for several months. Even before that, he kept his meetings with him brief and business-like. An urgency to part ways kept their lips from talking of ‘old times’.

v

“Did you protect what you wished for?”

Ryuji woke up to find himself before Chairman Honjou at his desk. He looked around the office, and then, down at himself. Small hands were attached to a short body, thin like before he started training. He was not the Yama Ryu, but the young Ryuji that had first displayed his resolve.

“No,” Ryuji said, clenching his fist.

“Then, do you plan to give up? You failed in your promise. Why put so much effort in making up for that which can’t be undone?”

Ryuji looked down at his arms, which started to fill out and turn muscular. The resolve in his heart matured along with it until he could feel that he was his current self again.

“Because Ojou would have wanted me to hold onto the place which I dedicated my life to, to take pride in the decisions and people I come across, and to have fun in her place. She wanted to see the world. Not for her own reasons, but to see the impact it had on the people she knew. So I’ll do whatever it takes to carry on that grace that she carried herself with.”

Honjou cracked a smile. He let out a sigh and looked at Ryuji with softened eyes.

“Grace. That was the name that I came up with when I hoped to save Miyabi from her accident. It was a wish that she would carry on with her beliefs, no matter what happened. She could no longer play the piano or dance through the gardens. Yet, I didn’t want that spirit in her to die. Despite how much of a gray area it is, I wanted her to be free.”

Suddenly, Grace materialized before them, looking unsure as she stared at Chairman Honjou, her father. Even now, her memories of being Miyabi were like the dreams people had, fleeting and easily forgotten.

“My dear, would you not rather continue as Grace? There is no need for you to recall that tragic past. There is no need to associate yourself with some crime lord on his deathbed. I have long since entrusted you to Dr. Higashi and his friends.”

Grace walked forward, taking a long look at the man that barely tickled her memories. They had been locked up, inaccessible, to ensure that little interference would happen as science worked to preserve her consciousness in other people’s dreams. Due to her own failing body, her existence had been digitized to live in other people’s minds for quite some time, moving back and forth between them through a single cloud server.

But Kazuhito Honjou refused to be one of them. He couldn’t risk the interference his memories would have on her. As such, he had only observed Grace from a distance. This was the first time that he directly connected with her.

“My dreams often take me back to a place like this. Familiar rooms, familiar scenery, but faces blurred beyond recognition. I once told myself that it didn’t matter, since they were dreams anyways. But… but then, I saw how people’s dreams could come true. Dr. Higashi, his friends, and even Ryuji – they all had dreams that I could help with. It became a blessing that I could do so much that wasn’t thought possible before. And now, I’m looking at the creator of it all, and I can’t help but think, what is his dream?”

Grace’s pink hair receded and turned to black. Her body and face shifted until they were just like how Ryuji remembered seeing Ojou last. She wore a formal yukata that was fitting for the daughter of Japan’s largest yakuza organization.

“I am Grace, but also Honjou Miyabi. I am proud of the person that I am now. And just like Ryuji, I will not deny the path that I took to arrive here!”

Honjou looked on with an awestruck expression. Slowly, tears trickled down his face. He placed a hand over his eyes in an ill attempt to hide it, but a glow had returned to him. He choked through a few sobs with a wide grin on his face before calming down.

“Very well. Let’s catch up. There is a lot for us to discuss while I still have my vitality.” Honjou looked over to Ryuji who got the hint. But before he could leave the room, Honjou called for him again. “Yamaoka, please watch over Miyabi for me.”

“I swear on my crest.”

“Then, the Tenjou Clan will heed your call.”

“Thanks, Oyabun.”