Jakunen Mirai
Chapter 9: To Be Lost
In One’s Mind
***
No glistening black limousines, no expensive, sleek sports cars…in
fact, it was an old taxi. The whole trip, Kazuya didn’t say a word, only that
he needed to get to G-Corporation’s rebuilt
After the half an hour trip in rush hour traffic, he paid the
driver and stepped out into the crisp morning air, and headed in the glass
doors of the imposing skyscraper. As soon as he’d stepped into the lobby, there
were faces that recognised him immediately; most of them wore smiles at the
sight of him. To their disappointment, however, he didn’t return the smiles,
just a polite nod. He barely recognised them for a start, and why would they
smile at him anyway?
“What do you mean, lost cause? I am not a lost cause!”
“It’s been six years, K,
there’s just about impossible for anything to happen any further at this
point.”
He scowled. “It doesn’t
mean there’s not a slim chance something might come of it! It may have been six
whole years since you finished with me…but I refuse to accept that the
experiment was a failure!”
Taking a deep breath,
the scientist before him steeled himself, counting to ten, refusing to shout at
his ‘patient’…who had, over the last few years, been more of a test subject
than anything. He didn’t care about him, only his research. He knew who this
man once was, but he didn’t care. His Caucasian superiority granted him the
right to do whatever he pleased to the Japanese test subject. Though, he’d
found, not everyone agreed. “Look, the human mind is only capable of so much.
Even if we told you who you once were, you’d still not remember. Besides, you won’t
like it.”
K-chan used all of his
inner strength and self control to hold his fists down by his side, rather than
lash out and break the bastard’s neck. “I don’t fuckin’ care if I’ll like it or
not, I’m tired of this worthless existence in this hell-hole! If I had a life
out there, somewhere, surely I’d appreciate knowing what I once was!” He felt
one of his lower eyelids twitch slightly, and he knew he’d have to do better in
controlling his rage. What he’d found, over this last year in particular, was
that he had something inside him, some sort of second consciousness, that fed
his rage like fresh wood to dwindling flames. He paused a moment, and forced
his voice down in tone and volume. “Listen Greg, I’m not ready to give up with
the little work you’ve done to try and regain my memory. With all the
technology at your disposal, you’d be better off using it for the better of the
company than using it as Tinkertoys for your pet
hamsters.”
The middle-aged American
didn’t say anything for a moment. He knew if he aroused the Japanese man’s
temper too far, he would really be in for it. After all, his martial arts
ability was mind-numbing. Heck, he’d been a fantastic fighter when he was alive
the first time. And now, with this regeneration of his body, he was even more
fearsome. And looks are deceiving. K-chan, as he was affectionately known as by
the nurses around, looked thin and scarred at first glance, but he had
deceivingly powerful muscle, despite its lack of bulk. He was stronger than the
G-Corporation thought humanly possible for his size and build…not to mention,
he had a frighteningly potent temper.
With a sigh, he finally
gave in. “Alright, we’ll see what we can do. For now, look up this on the
intranet.” He handed him a small piece of paper with a long string of numbers
and letters, which he by now recognised as an information file on
G-Corporation’s highly secured intranet.
Without saying a word,
K-chan turned and exited the small lab, and headed for the nearest computer
terminal. The desire to recover his identity – a name, his real self – was too
much to resist.
He approached the front desk, as unsmilingly as ever. The
receptionist, vaguely familiar, smiled when she saw his face, and clearly had a
hard time resisting the urge to give him a tight hug around the neck. Had it
really been that long since he’d been in this place he’d once called his home?
“I’m here to see Yasashiku Jiro. He’s still here, isn’t he?”
She smiled a little more – if it were possible – and nodded. “Yes,
he’s upstairs…three floors up from his usual place. Can’t miss his office, it’s
about as fancy as they get.”
Three floors up…oh yes, he used to be on the 41st floor. Kazuya
nodded once, and headed off in that direction, after a quick note of thanks.
The receptionist continued to smile.