The rubble shook and a few pieces came loose and landed where Maxi had been. Daisuke instinctively held her close and shielded her from the cave in. There was a moment after the debris stopped shifting when their bodies were pressed together that it felt… nice. He was strong and attractive. She normally didn’t go for pretty boys preferring someone more rough around the edges. But there was something in the way that he held her that felt safe.

  Once they were sure nothing else was coming down, he relaxed his grip and didn’t let go. They looked each other in the eyes.

  “So what did your father say?” Maxi asked, and he went back down into a sitting position next to her.

  “Only that man with jet black eyes offered him company technology. Told him that it was helping raise money for fighting monsters and that Kaze could take all the credit for the discovery.”

  “But I thought NPCs weren’t allowed to know about our business.”

  “That doesn’t mean they don’t. There are many ways to control information. The low hanging fruit is propaganda and disinformation. Tell a story people want to hear, and they’ll start telling it for you. The next tactic is finding the right incentives. Recruiting believers, and developing an alternate story who don’t want to believe the truth works well for some. Death is alway a good motivation for people keeping their mouths shut. But what about all the people who are too visible to kill? Or can’t be recruited because they already own many businesses across the globe?”

  “Are you saying that they tried to hire your dad?”

  “No, but I’m sure knowing people like my dad can make keeping the secret easier.”

  “So there is really is a secret cabal ruling the world, and I thought that was just television.” Maxi snarked. “So why didn’t your dad tell you, earlier before meeting Yancy or whoever offered him grutomaton infected chips?”

  “I don’t think he knew. At least not until he saw my reaction to the commercial. It’s not like I’m invited to the holiday party, and wouldn’t have been surprised if he learned about my death when someone was asking him about what he was wearing to the funeral.”

  “Ouch.”

  “I’ve come to terms with it.”

  “So why was he so shaken up?”

  “He realized what he had done after he was in too deep.” Daisuke said. “Yancy, or whoever it was led him to believe that the grutomatons were docile creatures.”

  “Some of them are,” Maxi said, thinking of Dalek.

  “And that’s the only ones he encountered. Yancy or whoever, carefully manipulated him into believing it was a good idea until he got this.”

  Daisuke pulled out a flier with a shadowy figure with a tophat.

  “Wait,” Maxi said and grabbed the flier. It was identical to the one she had found with the QR code and everything. Maxi turned it over back and forth and even tried to scan the QR code with her glasses. The link was still a dead link, but it was hard to tell if it was because the site didn’t exist anymore or because they were buried under rubble.

  “I thought these were from whoever was fucking with the company,” Maxi said. “Or part of that group who wanted to throw the raids and be a Power Twelve in another dimension. Are you saying that these guys are on our side?”

  “The man who made this flier is on his own side.”

  “You know what I mean. The company isn’t perfect, you know it. I know it so we do something about it.” Maxi said and held up the flier. “Seems like he is doing it too in his own way. And how do you know it’s man?”

  “Because my father met him. We don’t know what he’s doing, or what he told my father.”

  “So why don’t you ask your dad?”

  “Because he's dead,” Daisuke yelled. His words came out with more force than Maxi had ever seen with her ex-office mate. She could tell that he was at a breaking point. This time, she reached out to him. He didn’t spurn her advances. They just locked eyes.

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  “I killed him, Maxi.” He said. “I’m the reason my father is dead.”

  ***

  “You need to kill me,” Akihiko said to Daisuke, the hard wood office that had taken on more sinister overtones since they had first sat by the fire.

  “I can’t do that,” Daisuke said.

  “You must,” his father barked like he did when Daisuke was a child when he wanted him to comply.

  “There has to be another way.”

  “There isn’t, and as a man of honor. I must own up to my mistakes.”

  “This isn’t feudal fucking Japan!” Daisuke yelled. “You don’t have to fall on your sword.”

  “Death is the only way.”

  “I can take you to a resurrection chair. There is a guy in IT who owes me a favor.”

  “It won’t work. You and I both know that. The only way is for me to die. Arisu will control the company.”

  “How do I know she won’t make the same mistake as you?”

  “You will stop her. You will protect the family.”

  “What is that supposed to mean? You ignore me most of my life and now I’m the guardian of the family trust?”

  “You did not need attention from me. Tadanobu has no business sense and Arisu needs guidance still, but will one day be what Kaze needs. I always knew that you would do great things, but you needed to carve your own path.”

  “So you ignored me?”

  “I gave you freedom to choose your own way.”

  Daisuke scoffed. He didn’t expect perfection from his parents. His mom had made a fair share of mistakes but had done it out of love. But he had a hard time believing that his father had ignored him out of love. He knew that Akihiko was a self made man, the fifth of seven kids from a working class family that was in the lowest social strata.

  His father’s disgust of criminal elements was less upper class snobbery and more because a lot of his brothers had no better options than joining gangs. Perhaps the fact that he had to drag himself up to the top every step of the way with little to no family support made him treat Daisuke the way he did. It still didn’t excuse his absenteeism, but at least explained it.

  Akihiko had made the mistake of parents everywhere, thinking what was good for them must also be good for their children. Had his father been more engaged he would have seen the damage he caused, the way Daisuke never fully trusted anyone, and the fact that he never had a healthy relationship. He didn’t know what a healthy relationship looked like.

  He supposed his mom and dad had one, but sometimes it felt like they were two different people living in the same house. He was always working. How much in love could two people be if they didn’t spend time together?

  Daisuke eyed his father. “Does it have to be in front of everyone?”

  “Yes,” Akihiko said firmly. “They will only come after you and your mother, and your siblings otherwise.”

  “I’ll do it.” Daisuke said after a moment’s consideration.

  “Good,” his father relaxed. “Now, I must tell your mother and prepare the family.”

  “God help us all.”

  “There is no god where I’m going.”

  ***

  “Couldn’t he get out of the contract in other ways?” Maxi said. “I mean I’m not an expert in multidimensional law, but your father must have armies of lawyers combing every inch of the fine print.”

  “He did,” Daisuke said. “He knew the terms of his contract backwards and forwards.”

  “And he still signed it anyway?”

  “He was being given a chance to change the world. It’s an age old tale. A struggling musician is offered everything they could ever want, the price is their soul.”

  “Your dad doesn’t play music and I’m pretty sure he has everything he ever wanted.”

  “You know what I mean! And there still was one thing, he hadn’t changed the world. Sure, he built a better car and made a lot of money doing it, but everyone remembers Henry Ford, not the president of a car company. People will remember Steve Jobs because of the smartphone.”

  “But not all those nameless people who did the real work of inventing the smartphone.” Maxi snarked.

  “I’m being serious, Maxi.” Daisuke said.

  “So am I. It sounds like your dad wanted to take the credit for somebody else’s hard work and signed a shitty contract. I still don’t see why you had to kill him for it.”

  “My father is not a thief!”

  “So you’re defending him now? I thought you hated him?”

  “He may not have been perfect but at least he was honorable. Which is more than I can say about your family, running away from their problems, leaving their daughter to the grutomatons.”

  Maxi slapped Daisuke so hard that it made a red mark on his face. He looked her in the eye and she stared back with an almost animal like intensity. She grabbed him by the collar and kissed him. He pulled her back and reciprocated the embrace. It was passionate and primal.

  They were both almost to the point of tearing each other’s clothes off when there was a clatter of the rubble, and a few large chunks were rolled aside. Farhad poked his head into the pocket that was keeping them alive. He saw them in the throws of their passion.

  “Maxi?” Farhad said.