Polynya

Ryuk sees his brother’s aerosSUV, which is black with sleek chrome features. Already inside, he thinks as he walks towards a door on the rooftop. A man steps out, nearly the size of Gorira with the center of his hair slicked back and the sides shaved.

This gets Ryuk wondering, where exactly is Gorira?

Whenever he’s seen his brother’s aerosSUV at his mother’s office before, Gorira would wait outside, keeping the vehicle running. The man nods and Hajime nods back.

Ryuk doesn’t have much time to consider where Gorira is, as they take a flight of stairs down to the top floor.

After Ryuk’s retina is scanned, a door slides open and he’s greeted by a remote sentry attached to the ceiling. The red light on a clear lens between two short barrels blinks as it takes in Ryuk and Hajime.

As the two pass under it, the barrels swivel and follow them towards the reception area, which definitely makes Ryuk uneasy, as it has in the past.

What if it malfunctioned … ?

Up ahead, they see his mother’s personal assistant, Satomi. She’s a clean-cut Japanese woman with impeccable skin, her bangs cut at a sharp angle. She nods for Hajime to move to the reception area, and instructs Ryuk to enter.

It’s then that Ryuk sees a woman sitting in reception, a beautiful brunette with high cheekbones and a dark bodysuit. Hajime steps in front of Ryuk as messages appear on Ryuk’s iNet screen.

Hajime: She’s a MercSecure humandroid, like me. This must be the reason for the absence of Gorira.

Ryuk: Are you saying Kodai got a humandroid?

Hajime: That appears to be the case.

Ryuk takes a step back and peeks over Hajime’s shoulder at the droid. Her eyes flash as a curt smile paints across her face.

“Go in,” Hajime says, “I’ll keep my eye on her.”

“You can sit in reception,” Satomi tells Hajime.

“I’ll stand.”

The tension in the room palpable, Ryuk slips past Kodai and stops before a large door made of bulletproof motoglass. After a decompression sound, the door opens, and after one more sidelong glance at the mysterious female humandroid, Ryuk steps in.

“You’re late,” his mother says instead of hello.

Ryuk gets the sense that she’s had some work done. He doesn’t remember his mother’s eyes being so wide, nor does he recall her ever having a large chest. The next emotion is one of shame – did I just check out my own mom? He chastises himself, but then again, she’s wearing a low-cut blouse and clear, clearly, she’s had work done.

Kodai turns to him, and when his face is clearly out of his mother’s pane of vision, he gives Ryuk a sinister grin.

“Yeah? Fuck you too,” Ryuk says, surprising even himself. He feels adrenaline burst through him and quickly subside once Kodai doesn’t say anything back.

“Ryuk!” His mother snaps her fingers, something she did when he was a child that always got his attention. “What is going on between you and your brother?”

“He attacked me,” Kodai says as Ryuk approaches them. “He pushed me through a glass table.”

Their mother narrows her eyes at Ryuk as he steps up to her big mahogany desk. “You did what?”

“He came over to intimidate me,” Ryuk explains, “and I did what I had to do.”

His mother looks in horror from her youngest to her oldest son. Her face hardens. “Kodai, you weak, stupid boy.”

Kodai gulps, and runs his hands along the front of his suit.

“You let your brother, practically ten years younger than you, push you through a table? You’ve had training! Your father paid for that training and to hear that you’re … ” She steels herself. “I can’t believe that you are as weak as you are. I have one son who is an utter failure, one who is a weakling, and I don’t know which is which at times!”

She returns her focus to Ryuk. Next to him, Kodai fumes, his head bowed and his fists clenched tightly together. “Why would you push your brother through a glass coffee table?”

“Like I said, he attacked me first. He beat me up outside the hostess bar in Shinjuku. Hajime saved me.”

“Oh, that,” she says flatly. “I’m aware that he roughed you up a bit. I told him to beat some sense into you and, apparently, he took this literally.”

“You told him that was okay!?”

Their mother ignores him. “But now that you’ve both gotten your revenge, petty as it is, it is time for you to bury your aggression towards each other. What is done is done. There is no need for this matter to continue any longer and what I need you both to do, Kodai, Ryuk, is to realize that this family business hinges on three people, you,” she points to Kodai, “me and you,” she nods to Ryuk.

“I don’t want any part in it,” Ryuk grits.

She exhales audibly. “You’ve told me that before, and I’ve told you before that it isn’t really a choice. But I believe you’ll understand this with time. For now, I need to make it crystal clear to you that you will enroll in university this summer.”

“No.” Ryuk stands defiant, his chest slightly puffed out.