Ryuji Kaneda couldn’t sleep the night before. The way his father spoke at him shattered his confidence. He was now sitting at the airport, waiting for the flight that would take him straight to Lallanta. He kept staring at a blank space, reminiscing about his life up until that point. My sheltered existence doesn’t feel like life at all, he thought, I feel like an empty vessel.

As he was boarding the plane someone tapped on his right shoulder. He turned back and saw a familiar face. This beautiful, tall, blonde girl kept smiling at him, and just when he was about to say something, she said:

“It’s Chelsea, you dummy”, the girl grinned, “don’t tell me you’ve already forgotten all about me…”.

“Chelsea!”, Ryuji’s eyes lit up, “I can’t believe it’s you! You look even more beautiful than ever. What were you doing here in Tokyo?”.

“Business trip! I’m a camgirl, and I’m the hottest product in the Degen Block. I attended a cosplayer event, the Aidoru Matsuri. I seriously thought I’d see you there at the Kaneda booth”.

“I didn’t know we had a booth there”, Ryuji looked clueless, then sighed, “Well, that says a lot about me, doesn’t it?”.

“Don’t sweat it, Ryu-chan”, Chelsea smiled, “Hey! We’re flying together to Lallanta, that’s so cool!”.

“I’ll get you into first class so we can keep talking, Chelsea”, Ryuji said flamboyantly, “hey, stewardess!”.

“Hey, sweetie”, Chelsea said, addressing the stewardess, “this little boy is trying to impress me, isn’t he cute? I’m already flying first class, silly! I told you, I’m the hottest product right now”.

They sat next to each other and ordered some drinks. Ryuji was beaming, meeting with his college sweetheart was exactly the thing he needed to distract himself. Chelsea was beaming too.

“After college, I worked my ass off to get rich. I started as a streamer, but I figured I needed something that would really stand out, you know? So I took to sky-dancing and branded myself as the Ape Girl. This, of course, quickly landed me a shot at entertaining over at the Degen Block. You haven’t been to the DB? That’s okay, you’ll visit it soon, you’ll see. So, anyway, I kept working there and eventually became the hottest product in the DB, as I told you earlier”.

“That’s so cool, Chel…”.

“It’s funny, you know”, Chelsea continued talking, “I was thinking about you just the other day, remembering our time together in college. Remember that day we stole one of your father’s cars and went driving around the KM Headquarters? The Tsuchiya Circuit is so fucking rad. Ah, Ryu-chan! There’s so much to tell you and so little time. So tell me, how have you been?”.

“Doing great, you know. I’m now the CEO of our Western branch”.

“I did hear about that!”, Chelsea said with the sultry voice that got Ryuji to fall in love with her ten years ago, “congratulations! How’s it feel to be the CEO? I bet you’re on top of the world now, being your own man and all”.

“Sure, that’s exactly it”, Ryuji said nervously, “It’s exactly how I dreamed it”.

They kept talking for two hours, catching up. Finally, when there was an awkward silence, Chelsea bluntly said:

“So, Ryu-chan, I heard about the problem at Lallanta’s factory. What are you going to do?”.

Ryuji’s mood went from euphoric to gloomy in a split second. He was back in reality.

“It’s under control”, Ryuji said, “I’ll have Lallanta’s authorities and a task force set in no time”.

“Wow”, Chelsea said as she burst out laughing, “you really are clueless, huh? Listen, we’re going to land in a couple of hours, and I need to sleep a little. I’m going to give you this invitation card, so you can go visit my VIP lounge over at the Degen Block. There we’ll keep talking, and then we’ll see if we can do something about it”.

“What do you mean?”, Ryuji was confused, “I don’t need anybody’s help”.

“Aww, you haven’t changed at all, sweetie”, Chelsea said tauntingly, “You still think you do things on your own, huh? It must be a bliss having a sheltered life, even if it’s a fake one”.

Ryuji was furious. He called her all sorts of names, but Chelsea just shrugged, waved goodbye, and said: see you there. He did not see her again after the landing, and he felt helpless again. Maybe she’s right. My sheltered life doesn’t feel real at all.

Ryuji quickly headed to Dowtown Lallanta, where he was going to meet with the governor of the state. This meeting, of course, was arranged by his father. He felt like he was walking straight into the slaughterhouse. These experienced men hated millionaires’ kids, especially bratty heirs to an industry catering to rich people. He represented everything the locals hated, even if the whole of Lallanta’s economy depended on Kaneda Motors. To them, Kaneda and the government were two cancers trying to eradicate the few things that were left on the planet. When the Lallantians saw that huge spaceship shine its lights on the top of the Mountains of the Fifth Kind, then named Sierra Madre, they knew it was a bad omen. Ryuji was now going to meet with the governor of this resentful group of people.

The State Capitol building had a statue of Valentino Cortazar, the governor serving back in 1980, shaking the hand of another human, who in reality was the leader of the alien incursion that arrived that year. “I would have loved to meet the aliens”, Ryuji thought, “shapeshifter, benevolent, genius creatures, and they’re all gone… driven away by our own fault”. Ryuji knew that much, but he was not in the clear like his father, who frequently participated in classified reunions with the WOSAGI.

He felt the stares from the Lallantians as he entered the Capitol. Their eyes said it all: here’s the fucking Jap kid again. This resentment grew larger by the day, and he had to endure it. Even so, he was more scared of his father. He registered in the visitors’ log, and some guards escorted him to the governor’s office. The whole building had photographs of the aliens. They were shaking hands, grinning coldly, and staring directly at the camera with their penetrating green eyes. They apparently had a sense of humor because they chose to have their skin appear greenish, so as to be easily identified. The guards opened the door and ushered him inside.

“Ah, it’s little Kaneda”, the governor said, “sit down, let’s have a talk! You know the mayor, don’t you?”.

“Yes. Hello, Mr. Mayor”, Ryuji said as he bowed his head, “It is an honor to be here”.

“Lighten up, Ryuji”, the mayor laughed, “you don’t need to go all Japanese on us. Relax, sit down”.

Ryuji grinned uncomfortably and sat down.

“So, tell us now, Ree-uh-yee”, the governor said, “how’s the situation with these Crashin’ Puppets of yours?”.

“Crashin’ Puppets? Do you mean our crash test dummies?”.

“Yes. Just last night one of them was seen by a child over at the Metropolitan Memorial Park… called one of them a Crashin’ Puppet. A red one, to be exact. The mother was scared out of her mind”.

Ryuji glanced at the mayor, then looked at the governor, and said: “That’s why I’m here. We want to ask for your cooperation in retrieving these dummies. We are going to need the army to secure the perimeter of Lallanta’s limits before it’s too late, and a task force as well”.

The two politicians burst out laughing.

“All my life, ever since I was fresh out of high school”, the governor said, “I kept waiting for this moment, where the precious Ka-Nee-Da family would finally fuck up. I guess I won the bet, huh, Phil?”.

“I’m afraid so”, the mayor chortled, “I owe you a goddamned Ka-Nee-Da sportscar”.

Ryuji’s neutral face turned into a grimace.

“I told ya! I fucking told ya that it would be the dumbass son the one to make the first huge mistake”, the governor laughed for a minute straight. He abruptly stopped, and said, “Listen, you little shit, the WOSAGI is now on the case, helping out our government to catch these dummies. You don’t know the shit your company caused. You were told multiple times to not play around with Artificial Intelligence, and you shoved that warning right up your ass. You’re done, you screwed your own family”.

“You’re done, kid”, the mayor said.

“Get the fuck out of here”, the governor smashed his fist down on the desk, “a huge shitstorm’s coming thanks to your little fucking cars”.

Ryuji was escorted out of the Capitol. Without a second thought, he got into a cab and headed straight to the Degen Block.

To get to the Degen Block you first need to be invited. To do something fun inside the district, you need to be someone. Ryuji Kaneda had been invited by Chelsea, so that was covered. Being able to do something inside, though, was impossible for a sheltered Japanese kid that had everything accomplished for him. Many of his old college friends were living in the DB, having the lavish life his father scorned. Ryuji was jealous of these people, having the freedom of doing whatever they liked.

When the cab reached the district’s limits, the cab driver told him that this was as far as he could take him. He paid the fare and started walking into the DB. This place was a real jungle. The two more important buildings were right in the middle of the district. One had a sign at the top that read Degen, and the building right next to it had a sign that read Block. It had a cartoon-like font, and they were surrounded by a forest of tropical trees and palm trees. Okay, Ryuji thought, those are the buildings that everyone raves about. They don’t look that cool in person. I can’t wait to see them on the inside, though.

As he was striding down the strip, he saw many signs alluding to the hottest product of the DB, Chelsea the Ape Girl. Everywhere you looked there was something related to primates, especially apes. Banana-peel decals on the walls, on the pavement, and on stop signs. But there were barely any people walking in the streets. The few who were walking were walking leisurely, so Ryuji deducted that they were tourists. He hurried his pace and went straight to the Block building.

He entered the lobby and showed the invitation to the receptionist. She laughed and said that without the invitation itself he couldn’t have entered the district. Go on, she said, Chelsea’s waiting for you, you lucky dog.

The building looked like your average apartment building. Ryuji looked disappointed. He walked toward the elevator and saw three flamboyant people exiting it. One was wearing a tuxedo with a furry, white ape mask. There was also a girl walking around completely naked, but she had her head shaped like an owl. She even had real feathers. The last one was an athletic guy wearing an undershirt and trousers. All of them were barefoot, and they said as they passed by Ryuji: “Look, it’s the Japanese boy. You can tell he’s such a prude”. Ryuji stared at them but they acted like he wasn’t there and kept on walking through the hall. Okay, I stand corrected. This place is everything but average. He entered the elevator and went up to the fiftieth floor.

He was greeted by a red dummy. Ryuji’s eyes widened. He just stood there, shocked, and the dummy ushered him inside. The room was round, and at the very center, Chelsea was hanging from a vine, seductively looking at a camera. There was a woman staring at Chelsea as if evaluating her. This plump woman was taller than Chelsea, even, and her skin was almost transparent. She noticed Ryuji and pointed at a chair. Chelsea was still dancing, hanging from vine to vine, never taking her eyes away from the camera. This rehearsal kept going for about five minutes more when finally the plump woman clapped and yelled: BRAVO!

Chelsea, soaking wet with sweat, came down and sat on a couch. She didn’t acknowledge Ryuji, but the tall woman did and said:

“Hello there, Ryuji Kaneda. My name is Catalina”, and she sat down on an executive, leather chair, “and I’m the owner of this building known as the Block. As you may have guessed, this building is where the whole district comes to have some fun. Every apartment is a little paradise of its own, inhabited regularly by streamers. Your friend Chelsea here is my top star and my lover. She lives right here with me, in this aptly named Ape Floor”.

Ryuji was pensive, carefully thinking about his next words. He mustered up the courage to finally say: “I see that you have one of my dummies. I think I can infer what comes next… you want the shapeshifter types to be streamers, don’t you?”. Catalina chortled and gleefully said: “He’s not as dumb as you said, Chelsea. Hey Azazel, come here!”. The red dummy that was standing right next to the elevator ran quickly toward Catalina. “This guy says you’re one of his dummies. What do you have to say about that?”.

“I think”, the dummy said, with a natural, human-sounding voice, “that he has mistaken me for a regular crash test dummy. I’m my own being, and a superior being while we’re at it”.

“Hehe, that’s right”, Catalina muttered, “Ryuji, you’re here thanks to Chelsea, who really cares for you. Now, you may be wondering why Azazel here is with us, and most importantly, why he, and yes, he’s a he, claims that he’s a superior being. It’s all thanks to those bright, but reckless cute, little hackers. This enlightened robot will lead us to become real players in the game of power”.

Chelsea took a deep breath and said:

“Ryuji, we’re about to witness a major international affair, and it’s all thanks to you! You, after all, were the ideal piece in this strategic game called power. It’s time for Lil’ Kaneda to stand up for himself”.

Ryuji started blinking involuntarily, lost control of his body, and fainted.

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