Déjà Vu

Chapter 3: And So Say All Of Us

***

The sun was a beautiful thing. Too beautiful to be wasted on his eyes…it should be saved for more deserving people – beautiful people.

Kazuya’s dark eyes watched idly as the crimson orb slowly peeked its head above the mountain range in the distance, spreading its warm, red love over the world around it. The crystalline towers of the city luminesced with the growing orange from the glowing ball. As it rose calmly before his eyes, his view shielded from the true beauty behind a thick window and fake skin, the sky changed with it in artistic gradients across the horizon. From dark blue, to lilac, to pink, orange…and after an hour of standing before the magic…blue again, only in a gentle pastel hue.

Kazuya found himself so mesmerised by the beauty of the sunrise that he didn’t notice the young woman from last night had joined him some time ago…and was admiring the view alongside him.

“It’s a beautiful sight to behold from this window…”

At the sound of her voice, his attention quickly snapped toward her. Oh…just her. Again. He didn’t have the energy to force a smile, so he simply turned back to the window again, stony-faced as ever. “Sight is an empty concept on its own.” He knew he wanted to feel the rays of sunshine burn against his skin, warm his body…he loved the sun, even in the darkest moods.

He could tell she was biting her lip. He’d only known her for a few hours, yet already he’d picked up on her habit of biting her lower lip when she was uneasy or nervous. “Well…we hadn’t intended to wake you up this early…though it’s actually allowed us to do something a little different…”

“What, like install a third arm on my chest?” The cold sneer of sarcasm was so evident in his voice.

She shook her head and sighed. “No…believe it or not it’s going to be a good improvement. Consider it a birthday present.”

One of his dark brows rose. “Birthday?”

It was his birthday, wasn’t it? Yes…it was the 1st of August today. “Well…it is your birthday, isn’t it? You ought to get a gift. This one’s from G-Corporation…”

His eyes still stayed with the rising sun and the glittering, bustling city below. “I never remember my birthdays. They’re unimportant.”

She sighed. “Just come along, will you?”

He held no objections, and merely followed her down the corridor to the same room he woke up in, hours ago.

*

Black, again. Blackness for seemingly endless hours. Yet this time he knew exactly what was going on…they had partially deactivated him so they could complete upgrades…he was in almost a dream state, half conscious, unable to move. He could still hear, but he could no longer see; he couldn’t open his eyes. Or move anything else for that matter – not even his lips, so he couldn’t complain about the fact that they’d been doing whatever it was for hours.

Finally, they decided they’d finished the three-hour ‘upgrade’ they’d been performing. Like all machines, even androids, Kazuya had an activation point…only his, since he was so advanced, was in the form of a set of four tiny buttons, rather than one, located at the one single point on his back he couldn’t properly reach. The correct combination had to be entered to deactivate him, but activation was simply pressing four all at once. They were so tiny, thankfully, that they could be hidden behind a panel, and had to be pressed with a thin, sharp object.

His eyes snapped open as soon as he was granted freedom of movement. He found himself to be sitting up on the bench rather than lying as he was when he was partially deactivated. After a moment of staring from one face to another, he realised they wanted him to look for himself. The automatic reaction was, of course, to look down at his hands.

When he did so, he knew that if he could feel the artificial heart deep in his chest it would be in his throat right now. He wasn’t looking down at the hands he’d fallen asleep with. He was looking down at a pair of youthful, slender hands…with the exact same long, thin fingers he was used to seeing…even the details of the lines on his hands were exactly the same as the ones he’d been born with.

Fascinated beyond speech, he turned one hand over, slowly opening and closing the fist. The details of the skin were perfect…the patterns of the creases, the way it clung to the bones of his knuckles and finger joints, the slight appearance of the bones on the back of his palm. He had quickly realised he couldn’t feel, still…but the hands were perfect.

By now he was in a state of awe at the sheer realistic appearance of what seemed to be fake skin. It went all the way up his arm, too…both arms. At this point he realised he was stark naked…and completely covered by tanned flesh. Out of one single moment of vanity, he quickly glanced down at his naked crotch…and was immensely pleased to find that they’d endowed him with his original impressive size...and it looked exactly the same, right down to the pattern of the fine layer of hair that lay down there.

After another final moment of inspection, he looked back up at the scientists. The surprise, and, for once, very slight, very subtle look of happiness was evident in his obsidian eyes. He’d noted the fact that there was not one scar on his body, and every detail, from what he could see, was identical to that on his real body…except for the fact that he even looked a little younger than he’d expected.

“So…this was the ‘big surprise’?” For once, that was an honest, humble question…not an acidic, snide, sarcastic remark.

The young woman that seemed to have acquainted herself with him was grinning from ear to ear. “Yes…this is what we wanted to do. The technology was completed just as you walked out last night…this is the first opportunity we’ve had so far to install it.”

He looked down at those beautiful, slender hands again. They were exactly as his real hands were when he was younger. “It’s so real…”

Again, she smiled. “That’s not the best part…”

Normally, it would have been the head of the department that would have spoken to Kazuya…but so far, it seemed he only trusted that scientist woman who’d shown him the truth. She handed him a small, rectangular mirror, which he took, glancing at her for a moment of confirmation…then hesitantly looked into it.

Up until then he’d expected they’d leave his face as it was. He was wrong. When he looked into the reflective glass, he saw the visage of a young Kazuya Mishima, staring back at him with a startled expression. His free hand rose to touch his cheek instinctively…as the digits pressed against the flesh, the soft skin indented perfectly…it was completely realistic. Everything about the young-looking face was delightfully realistic. He never thought of himself as attractive…but since he never experienced his youth, since he was dead for most of it, seeing this was something he couldn’t help but smile at. And he did…one of those very rare, very slight smiles crept across his face.

The head scientist finally spoke up. “Underneath all that is where the real technology lies. Yes, this is the most realistic artificial skin you will ever have the pleasure of seeing – and you now own all there is of it – but beneath it lies even more impressive feats of science…”

Kazuya gave him a glare that would cut anyone short…especially the mildly nervous middle-aged lab-coat-laden man. “Don’t bother with the techno-babble; just spit it out before we all fall asleep…”

He gulped, nodded, and continued. He considered himself warned; indeed, Kazuya Mishima was not a man to be crossed in the wrong way. “Y-yes, of course…” He took a breath. “Well, to put it simply, we’ve also installed systems within your skin and inside your body; the most impressive upgrade is a complete artificial gland network…you now have tear glands, a sinus system, sweat glands…and further inside, you have many more functional systems, not limited to a fully functional digestive system, networks installed for a nervous system later on, an entire circulatory system – you may notice later that the coolant we’ve used within it is now red – the same shade as blood.” He took a deep breath again, since he said all of that in almost one breath. “Basically…you’re about ten steps closer to being completely human.”

Kazuya was silent. Somehow, with all of this, he still didn’t feel human. Because he couldn’t feel. But nevertheless, he knew that it would come with time. They’d even set up the pathways. And to add to that, he no longer hat that hideous old face of his…or at least, a face he considered to be hideous. He could never look at himself straight in the mirror, and could never understand why people only took an effort to avoid his temper, not his visage. If anything, perhaps this renewed youth would pay off…compared to what he used to look like…he had to admit…he didn’t look too bad.

The young woman stepped in front of the old man, and reached down to give Kazuya a firm hug around the shoulders and a peck on the cheek. “Happy Birthday, Mr Mishima…”

He submitted, and offered her a soft smile. No point in trying to put forth a stoic façade. “Domo arigatou.”