Trial

The dark-eyed girl with the flaming hair was on trial for mass murder.

Not that she cared. Aoi Hanada was Japan's most beloved game programmer - a young genius who's creations have never before failed to delight. And that meant a lot in a country that had, over the years, become reliant on gaming. This trial was just for drama, just to rouse the bored country for a while. After all, if anyone ever jailed Aoi Hanada, her fans would revolt. So though she glared at her prosecutors, sarcastic wit honed to a fine edge and an arsenal of words at her command, the two sides of the case were hardly adversaries - rather, co-conspirators in the business of entertainment. Their setup was cinematic in itself: four dark-suited men, set up as the pompous antagonists, versus an unconventionally fierce heroine. Cue the cameras.

"It wasn't my fault," she said coldly. Concise, detached - perfect. "The people of Japan enjoy being fat lazy idiots. My games do nothing but help."

"Help?" The third lawyer slammed his hand into the table, producing a loud boom that echoed around the stone chamber. Then he winced, rubbing the red welt that appeared. An intentional comedic moment. His aggression returned in a matter of seconds, though. "Do you realize what you've done here?"

"Of course. You remind me every three seconds."

Now, in a real court of law, the judge would have slammed down the gavel at this point and call for order. But somewhere out there, someone was watching them, howling with laughter as this young upstart seemed to effortlessly take down experienced seniors with just a few bladed words. Even if it involved insulting Japan - it was classic Aoi Hanada.

And that meant money for everyone.

*    *    *    *    *

"No logic," Misora Hanada sighed, eying the television with some disdain. Real arguing didn't get you far in court these days. It was easier just to get everyone on your side. And who could do that better than Aoi? She manipulated their feelings so expertly, garnered just the right amounts of sympathy and admiration...then used them again and again, showing off her apathy and coldheartedness. Somehow, everyone loved her for it.

And me...?

When the twins - yes, the great Aoi was Misora's twin - were young, it had been Misora who excelled. Gentle, motherly, and genuinely friendly, she drew in new friends like the magnet in their third grade classroom had attracted iron fillings in the experiments that fascinated her so much. Aoi had stood on the outside, brilliant and incomprehensible as ever, but her flashes of insight were constantly dulled by the teasing of her classmates. Misora stood up for her again and again, pressing the weight of her popularity against their cruel words. And her precious sister, Aoi, had shed so many tears. She remembered drying them, time after time.

But over the years, the sensitive Aoi fled, harsh cynicism and snarkiness rushing in to fill the places she had left. And once she abandoned those "weaknesses," she soared. At twelve, she won the Miyazaki-Graham Awards of X396 - the highest distinction a programmer could receive. A year later, she had been shocked to find that the math needed to code her games did not exist. It didn't stop her: she went off to invent a new number system by herself. Her game shot to number one, worldwide. And the twins' history vanished, buried under those cold, embittered eyes.

Misora had been secretly delighted - though she hated herself for it - when the Wingle scandal first broke out. Aoi's newest game, a special-edition version of bestselling Wingle for the centennial celebration of X400, had been received with such enthusiasm that a police force was sent to guard the first few copies of the game. But Wingle 2 had included Aoi's untested "perfect immersion" simulator - a seamless recreation of a fake world, in which even your real-world identity became erased. Of course, their memories would return upon game completion. Not that completion ever happened. As months passed, players remained trapped in the game, unaware that their physical bodies were dehydrating and starving. The hospital ran out of IVs. And when they tried to remove patients from the simulation by force, many died. The one survivor, a Hiro Nagawa, remained in a coma for four months before waking up to an amnesic existence.

And so Aoi was arrested.

Somehow, that had made Misora's spirits rise. She had grieved for the dead, but some part of her wanted to play "big sister" again, drive the vulnerable Aoi back into her arms. Always, she had striven to be a guardian, a protector for her friends, but after they had left her for the games, she had been alone. It was a sick feeling, wanting the pleasure of comforting another at the cost of their pain - she knew that much. But when she visited Aoi in that jail cell, she still managed to be shocked by the following rejection.

"Thank you for your concern, Hanada-san, but I can care for myself."

Hanada-san? The polite and formal gesture with which you would call a stranger. Misora bit her lip, remembering the moment. Aoi hadn't even looked at her. No one looked at her anymore...

I'm lonely...

Sighing, she pushed off of the couch and tugged the old refrigerator door open. Instant noodles - boiled in hot water before she had chilled them - made her dinner. An odd quirk, perhaps a sign of her growing stress. But their parents were rarely home, and Aoi didn't care what her sister ate as long as she ate something. A cold puff of steam rose from the nearly frosted cup as it met the warm air, misting Misora's face with a soft wheeze of ice. She smiled at the way it tickled her, the first warm, genuine, smile she wore for weeks.

Come home soon.

*    *    *    *    *

"We're letting you go," Judge Sakamiya told Aoi, as soon as the cameras had left, "But in a court of law, your reasoning would never have held up." Aoi didn't say anything, but gave him an even stare. He sighed. The girl was intelligent, but perhaps she overestimated her own genius. "Trust me. But before you go back, Hanada-san, I would like to ask something of you."

"...Continue."

"Hanada-san, would you please delay your next project to fix this one game?" 

Aoi blinked. "Why?" she asked, "I'll withdraw it from the market. Delete all my copies. I promise no one can get to it ever again."

"For one thing, I am morally obliged to punish you, if not legally so. For another..." The judge trailed off, then shook his head. "Hanada-san, we're taking a bus trip."

Apathetic as ever, Aoi gave him a blank look and refused to budge.

"You are still in judicial custody, Aoi, I have a right to do this."

Reluctantly, she stood up and followed the judge out an underground entrance - designed years ago to sneak the famous in and out, shielded from paparazzi. Judge Sakamiya wrenched a cap from the rack just inches above their heads and forced it over Aoi's distinctive red hair. It was uncomfortable, but she refused to complain. Never show weakness.

The bus ride took fifteen minutes, and the judge pulled Aoi towards a flashy, tower-like building at the road's end. Her heart sank - she knew where they were going now.

"Your security card, Hanada-san?"

Scowling, she handed it over and let the judge guide her into the glass-enclosed Centerroom of Hanada Industries. Small white booths lined the edges, surrounded by white-coated scientists and doctors. Even the clerk's desk was white - and the clerk herself wore a white headband. Aoi grimaced. If only she had been allowed to design this room. Judge Sakamiya strode past her quickly, plugging her card into one of the simulation booths. The scanner beeped and flashed its green light, opening to let the pair in.

Aoi had designed the booths herself, inspected the prototypes, but still she was unprepared for the real thing in all its operational glory. She noticed its smell first - the dull smell of disease. Like the breath of an old man, it was revolting and damp, and she begged Judge Sakamiya to leave the door open. He obliged (though not without so belligerence), then crossed to the shadowed body in the machine. A young boy, probably no older than ten years old, stood motionless in the capsule, wires crisscrossing his forehead and buzzing with electric signals. Occasionally, a pulse would run through more wires attached to his arms and legs, pacifying any of his involuntary movement. Squinting, Aoi red the letters that blinked across his helmet-

DAIKI HINO

GAME NAME: GLACIER

Perhaps Daiki had once been healthy-looking, but his skin had shriveled during his time in the game, and his fingernails grew long and yellow. Judge Sakamiya cautiously opened the capsule, lifting one arm, and a few flakes of skin drifted, disturbed, to the ground. A row of needles had been struck through the arm, feeding nutrients into the decaying body. The thick air he breathed made a rushing sound as it passed through his dry windpipe - a sound that Aoi had only heard from the very sick or very elderly.

The judge wheeled the boy and his capsule over, placing his hand in Aoi's so that she could feel the rough skin. She shuddered away, indignant, but her eyes remained fixed on the tragic figure, tracing every horrid famished line.

Judge Sakamiya broke her gaze, easing himself so that their eyes met.

"If you can't fix it quickly, he'll be gone within two weeks."

Aoi shut her eyes, nauseated. Daiki's eyes were dry, unblinking as they stared at the wall behind her - almost inhuman.

"You act cold, Hanada-san, but could you really just let someone die? You could still withdraw the game from the market, but you can't undo what has already been done..."

I could let him die, Aoi tried to think, He's just another dumb gamer. Probably came in here, threw his life away even with the news reports. But the stench of decay seeped through, unsettling her thoughts. He deserves to die, she told herself again, more desperately. With the judge as puppeteer, the corpse-like hand brushed against Aoi's shoulder, tickling the sensitive nerves of her skin...and finally, she cried out.

"No! S-s-top...just...please.." Judge Sakamiya placed a hand on her shoulder, ignoring her attempts to slap him as he guided her gently out of the room, a heavy regret on his mind and a ready tissue in hand. He had achieved what he wanted, but his methods had been far too extreme.

"...I'll fix it." Aoi finally answered him as they made their way unsteadily towards the bus stop. She could walk home on her own, but the judge needed to return for another hearing - fortunately, a relatively minor one. "But not on your terms. In other words, no court-provided 'assistance,' please."

The judge frowned at her, but nodded heavily before disappearing into the arriving bus. Still on the brink of collapse, Aoi stumbled back to her apartment, blind and deaf to the sounds of metropolitan life. The smell stuck with her, that horrible rotting stench. Did all dying people smell like that? Somehow, she had remembered her grandmother with the fond scent of lilies...

"Oh, Aoi-chan!"

"Landlady Hirano," Aoi nodded, "Don't call me 'chan.'"

"My apologies," the landlady said, but she was grinning, unaffected by Aoi's dismissal. "They let you out, then?"

She received a look of complete disdain before the programmer opened the door to her simple room and disappeared. Geniuses. Such attitude. In the absence of Aoi's obsessive organization schemes, the house had fallen into complete chaos - papers had fallen from the desk, dappling the floor with a sheet of white. Or grey. They were so filthy, she couldn't tell the difference. Surely it wasn't elegant, clean Misora who would be blamed for it. No, it would be their brother, Akihito.

"Tadaima," she sighed softly, the first hint of emotion she had shown all day. Her siblings turned towards her, a combination of suspicion and delight visible in their expressions. "I'm back."

Author's Note

Heroic characters = too difficult to write. Villians = fun to write, but easy to cliche. :D So almost everyone is morally ambiguous. Please critique.

Reviews

[Domenic Luciani]

hasn't this Aoi ever heard of Beta testers, lol? I feel like this game that traps people inside it would trigger some kind of media frenzy before many people got on, and why was it even released if it caused those symptoms anyway?
You have a lot of places where a semicolon would do you good, as well as some places where you have unnecessary commas.
"No! S-s-just st-stop it.." (I think you messed up the stutter)
"Hanada-san, would you please delay your next project to fix this one game?" Aoi blinked. "Why?" she asked, "I'll withdraw it from the market, delete all my copies. I promise no one can get to it ever again." (split the dialogue up in this paragraph. I think you did this one or two other times.)
"...I'll fix it."

Aoi finally answered him as they made their way unsteadily towards the bus stop. (This shouldn't be separated. I think you did this more than once, as well.)
A few more things, I don't think the judge would be the one leading her through all this. Perhaps an attorney or cop. At the very least there should be a security team folowing her around if she is indeed suspected of crime.
When you introduce the twin sister, the time lapse between the court and then is a bit confusing. And I think the explanation of the sister's personality would be better served after we meet her character.
Lastly, the major thing that I found missing from this piece was description. You did a good job on describing the characters, but when it comes to setting and scenery, there was practically nothing there; a blank canvas. I think if you added more description about the setting, it would make everything flow much better and ultimately make this already decent story into something really incredible.

oh, P.S.
I would mention something about them speaking japanese, just because without that thought in mind, the perfect english seems a little bit unrealistic. just say something like (his japanese had a hint of american accent from frequent visits, but otherwise was perfect.)
cool write though.

[Mathesaurus Rex]

Thanks for reviewing, Domenic~
I have plot reasons for some of the things you pointed out, but I found your review extremely constructive. :) Especially the part about setting and scenery - I will make sure to pay more attention to that in the future. The sentence separation, as well.

I didn't notice the language thing at all and presumed them all Japanese. XD It's pretty futuristic, so I was kinda loose with conventional logic.

Anyways, thanks a lot! (I'll send you a copy of this thing when I can, right now I can't figure out how to send a message unless its a reply. n00bness. XD)

[jumbie's #1 fan]

You're a great writer. The descriptions are well written and whatnot. The only complaint i have is it seems you get hyphen happy. There sometimes is like four in a paragraphs. Periods are your friend and so are semicolons. Great writing though...