The rice paddies of Jashi Farms extend no more than a hundred meters before the fog claims them. Alone, the way Queen Bee is hanging out might cause any passerby--or intruder--to mistake her passivity for laziness as she monitors the fields for any unusual activity or potential exponential growth opportunities. As the morning sparkle rolls over the thin bed of water atop the dead soil like a kaleidoscope of harsh light, a bird lands on a dead branch just above Bee's shoulder...which is also a part of Emi's sleeping body.
From the speaker in her neck, Bee lets out a high pitched scream that shakes the bird off her strung-up arm before it can paint her arm whiter than it already is. The creature screams back...and then tips backward as if playing dead. Not far below, a snake sits in wait with an unlocked jaw and a slithering tongue. The bird disappears, too petrified to do anything but accept its fate.
Behind the scene, Queen Bee types a message to her partner: [Soil quality remains low. Increase fertility protocols by an additional 10%.]
Jashi's response comes within seconds via the sprinkler system dispersing chemicals into the water like rain that has been conditioned to aid in the rebirth of the dormant soil. Only, in this case, the soil has been dormant for many years. [Jashi: Done. Any higher and the water will be diluted to toxic levels. Are you certain the research is valid?]
[Doctor Camila is the 10th best biological researcher imprisoned here. Her research is as good as advertised.]
Emi twitches, which annoys Bee enough to pause her valuable work and emit an audible sigh.
Emi awakens, her thoughts groggy and incoherent. なぜ見えないのでしょうか?
"What was that?"
After a dry cough that wets with blood, Emi's mind clears. Why can't I see?
[VISION: SYSTEMS ACTIVE]
Where are my arms?
[ARMS (2): SYSTEMS ACTIVE]
Why aren't you answering me?
[BCI: OPERATING OPTIMALLY]
Baka! I know you can hear me!
Bee clicks the speaker like it's her tongue. "I'm busy."
Doing what? I can't see or feel anything.
"I don't work for you."
Oh, I work for you, then? Is that it?
Somewhere in the steaming fog, a frog leaps from the water just in time for a large-billed crow to take it by the hand and lead it into the nearest tree line.
[Jashi: Do you have the processing power for another job?]
Another job? What are we doing for him now?
[She's awake.]
At least you acknowledged my presence at all.
[Jashi: Ok.]
Queen Bee emits another high pitched scream, sending the remaining long-beaked scavengers flying for cover. "'Ok'....that's all he could bother typing? What a dick."
Takes one to know one.
[GENETIC FALLACY DETECTED]
Glad to see your phantom hands are still working. Now, why aren't mine...and why can't I see?
Bee answers nonchalantly, "We put a bag over your head."
Emi rolls her head around like a newborn baby, trying to use her unseen shoulders to free her eyes. The motion does little more than to make her dizzy; the anticipation of sharing a space with a barf bag nearly makes her vomit. And why did you put a bag over my head?
"I didn't."
YOU JUST SAID--
"Jashi put the bag in place...for your own good. You will just freak out again if we let you see."
And if I swear I will freak out harder if you don't take it off? Emi starts to wriggle around on the wooden crossbeam that's propping her up. The jerky movements send what remains of the Hachijo Prison Uniform hanging from her pale body waving like the frayed edges of a ghost. Unphased, the black rice-sack covering her head blows calmly in the wind.
Somewhere nearby, inmates gather in warehouse windows and watch the pale figure wriggling in the somewhat distant fields. They point and laugh at what they feel is a just punishment--though it's no punishment at all--for her escaping the farm.
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"Then I'll have no choice but to do this."
[ODOR DETECTION: ACTIVATED]
Why was it deactiv--
The smell of the burnt wood at her back mixing with the rags of her uniform and her puss-oozing stomach wound answer her question. She tries to feel her skin, as if expecting to find it's on fire.
"If you calm down, I will explain everything."
Eventually, Emi stops squirming and obeys.
"Ok...like I said, I'm working."
What does that mean? And how is it related to my not being able to see or feel anything?
[CURRENT BALANCE: -￥244,287,298]
Wait, that's almost a million yen less...what did you do?
"I already told you. And it's OVER a million yen."
Right, you're working...but what are we doing for him now?
[CURRENT OBJECTIVE: CONSULTING]
If working off our debt was that simple, why did you sell off my organs to Unit 731?
Queen Bee laughs erratically, "Relax, I got you a new liver free of charge." Her laughter vibrates outward like a cawing raven. "And there was nothing simple about the work I've done. In fact, the only simple thing I've dealt with in the past 48 hours is you."
Then explain...using specifics please.
"All the consulting I do for you...I should charge you double."
I didn't hire you.
"I was being facetious."
Emi fakes a laugh, "HA...HA...HA."
A snake with a lump in its belly circles Emi's stake in the ground.
"What's so funny?" Jashi asks at their back.
Emi responds first, because Bee allows her to. "Where did you...never mind. Why can't I see? She refuses to answer me."
The black rice-sack is yanked free, the rice-paddy suddenly coming into full view beneath her suspended foot. She looks to her hips, crying out with a squawk when she doesn't see arms resting at her side.
Bee sighs. "A little higher."
Emi finds both arms tied to the crossbeam outstretched at shoulder height like she is a cheerleader putting the 'T' in 'TEAM'.
"If Jashi put the bag over my head, I assume it was him who crucified me too?"
Jashi looks at his feet while Bee answers, "Technically, yes, he did."
"But it was her idea," Jashi adds semi-guiltily like most men who are still getting rich off of the suffering of others.
"Damn right it was my idea. You wouldn't stop scratching your incision in your sleep, we needed to tie your arms down."
Oh, well of course. Who needs a soft bed to recover in when you can just be hung up in a field where the birds can have their way with you. Thanks for looking out for me, Bee.
"Fun fact: Birds are afraid of scarecrows."
Jashi interrupts their deteriorating thought processes: "She needed to be able to observe the field while you slept. We took good care of you."
Run diagnostics.
The sensors moving through her body make her shiver on her cross: [HEALTH: 95%; HEART RATE: 90 BPM; BODY TEMPERATURE: 38.9° CELSIUS]
"And what's your excuse for tying me to the worst smelling pieces of wood of all time?" Emi asks.
Jashi looks again at his feet where a fish is infinitely circling them as if his boots offer protection from snakes, "The smell isn't coming from the tree."
"Then what is it coming f--" Emi looks down at the filthy rags of her uniform. Oh...I see.
Bee can't help herself, "Technically, you smell."
"What's mine is yours, bitch."
Jashi looks up at her, his eyes hard behind his deep-set brow. "I didn't feel it was appropriate to disrobe you while you slept."
"Your right, that would be just a step too far. Hanging me up in a field as if I am drying on a clothes-line on the other hand--at least you have a well defined line you won't cross."
Bee speaks to Jashi, "See?!" Then to Emi, "I tried to tell him you wouldn't mind."
Emi screams, "I do mind you psycho! I was being FACETIOUS."
Queen Bee types a message, pretending Emi can't see it: [Why don't you come back after she has calmed down? You're interfering with my work.]
Command: Delete message.
[MESSAGE DELETED]
Too late; Jashi's out-of-place ankle-length trench coat is already folding into the fading fog as it skims the surface of the water.
Emi stares at the trail of footprints his boots left behind in the soil, her anger somehow calming as she watches the tracks slowly wash away like the man was never there at all. When the gluttonous black snake slithers after a local mouse who appears to be attempting to drown itself, Emi wonders: Command. Companion Status.
[COMPANION: FUTAKUCHI-ONNA; STATUS: ACCESS DENIED]
Denied!? By who? They're my systems.
[OSAKA TUNNEL: UNLOCKED]
Wait, how did you just do that?
"I didn't; we did. They're finally starting to watch."
Who?
[FOLLOWERS: 100]
[FOLLOWERS: +3]
[FOLLOWERS: +8]
[FOLLOWERS: 111]
Command. Add waypoint to Osaka Tunnel.
"You don't even know where it leads."
Command. Add waypoint.
"You aren't ready."
Command. Add waypoint.
[WAYPOINT ADDED]
A tiny red triangle flashes pink in the fog.
Command. Let me down.
"You aren't ready."
Ready for what?
"The next dungeon."
Oh, come on. The first one wasn't even that bad.
Bee laughs, "You mean the tutorial level? What kind of protagonist dies in the tutorial by the way? Trust me, you aren't ready."
Prompted by Queen Bee's unseen--and unheard--command, the hard cords holding up her arms suddenly loosen. "On your way then, I can't wait to see this." Bee looks up at the sky, where she knows the cameras are live: "You all got here just in time...wait until you see this."
Emi, moves to her knees, her left side covered in soil from her falling limp into the ground.
Just then, as Emi rips off her soiled outfit and begins to bathe in the water, Jashi appears with a spare trench coat in hand. He doesn't look anywhere but at her eyes, then at the rags that were her hard-won uniform. He takes his time picking up each scrap, as if clearing trash on a highway. Like Nygil, this man couldn't care any less about the naked female bathing on her knees before him--he never mixes business with pleasure...and he's always doing business.
[NO SHAME DETECTED]
Bee switches off her Australian accent, choosing another that is closer to Emi's mother: "You're learning. I'm proud of you."
Emi crosses her arms over her chest.
Rags in hand, Jashi leaves the long coat on the crossbeam where Emi most recently hung. Only after he is long gone, and her stench is mostly replaced by the smell of the chemicals fertilizing the earth, does she stand and cover herself with the wool coat. At once, she starts to itch. So, careful to avoid the stitches where her stomach was sewed back together and is presently leaking, she scratches until her skin would be raw if it wasn't mostly synthetic.
Should Emi head to the next dungeon or continue to level up as a Jashi Farms partner?
