26

Osanai could enter any apartment he liked, having surreptitiously borrowed the master key about a week earlier to make a copy. But before visiting Atsuko’s apartment that night, he took the trouble to phone in advance. He would say he had something to discuss, knowing she couldn’t possibly refuse.

At ten that evening, he called from his own apartment to find Atsuko already at home. She agreed to his visit without question; he imagined it was because she wasn’t expecting anyone else that night. He immediately went up the single flight to her floor.

Three nights earlier, when he and Inui were using the DC Mini to share each other’s dreams and search for the true essence of sex, they’d suddenly realized that Atsuko was using PT devices to treat someone in her apartment. At the frantic command of the startled Inui, Osanai had woken up immediately. But he’d left the DC Mini on his head, and had secretly continued to observe the “dream detective” at work. Inui had also continued to access the patient’s dream, concealing his identity to ensure his presence went unnoticed.

“You must rape her,” Inui had told Osanai at the Institute that day.

An order from Seijiro Inui was absolute. His commands always gave Osanai a perverse moral justification for acts he himself sought to commit; they converted his desires into firm action.

Osanai knew perfectly well that Atsuko and Paprika were one and the same. He also knew that the middle-aged man he’d seen in the elevator was the patient she was currently treating. Osanai and Inui felt threatened, as the man appeared to be a high-ranking police officer. Both they and Atsuko were engaged in an activity that violated social mores and could be deemed illegal. But if their rivalry with Atsuko were to be made public, she would obviously hold the upper hand if she had an ally in the police.

Osanai had witnessed Atsuko having virtual sex with her patient in his dream, as part of his treatment. During the dream, the point of view kept shifting from the patient to Atsuko and back again. Both had been a big turn-on for Osanai, who so suffered with lust for Atsuko. Inui was aware of Osanai’s burgeoning passion, and had judged that the time was right to execute his plan. Osanai would have his way with Atsuko, and violently. Inui’s view, a product of empire mentality, was that a man only need rape a woman to put her under his dominion. This view was fully endorsed by Osanai, who had every confidence in his own desirability. His passion was now ignited and ready to burn. Its energy would lend force to the deed, give him unswerving resolve and help him to overpower Atsuko. In doing so, it would enslave her to him.

He stood at the door to Atsuko’s apartment and rang the bell.

Atsuko had just come home.

“There’s something we really need to discuss,” Osanai had said on the phone. Atsuko hadn’t understood Osanai’s true intentions at the time. She’d been preoccupied with her concern for Tokita. He hadn’t been seen at the Institute for the past two days, and Atsuko was thinking of calling him in his apartment that evening. Instinct told her that Osanai’s call might have some connection with Tokita, and she therefore felt obliged to meet him.

At the same time, she’d already anticipated that Osanai, as Inui’s mouthpiece, would have to contact her sooner or later. She had an inkling that Inui and Osanai had used the DC Mini while she was investigating Konakawa’s dreams. They surely wouldn’t want their theft of the DC Minis to be made public. Their ultimate objective, meanwhile, must have been to gain complete control of the Institute for Psychiatric Research. As such, Atsuko felt it conceivable that they would attempt to reach some kind of conciliation. She was still unaware that Himuro and Shima had suffered the same inhuman treatment as Tsumura and Kakimoto.

“Sorry it’s so late,” Osanai said as he walked in, bowing with a duplicitous smile.

He praised the interior of Atsuko’s living room, gushed at the furnishings, and swooned at the decor as she showed him through. Then he settled into an armchair with a swagger of supreme confidence. This was not the Osanai she knew at the Institute; this Osanai wore a loose sweater adorned with garish patterns. The atmosphere was mellow. It was enough to make Atsuko lower her guard.

“You’ll have some coffee?”

“Don’t mind if I do.”

Osanai had been eyeing the drinks trolley, but Atsuko didn’t consider him worth the alcohol.

“I’ve been thinking we need to talk,” she ventured.

“Me too,” he agreed.

They continued their pleasantries, she in the kitchen, he in the living room. For both of them, that was the best way of sounding the other out. The discussion would proceed more smoothly if they could agree on a subject before looking each other in the face.

“You’re here at the Vice President’s bidding?”

“Partly so.”

While Atsuko wasn’t looking, Osanai checked that the DC Mini was still embedded in his hair and attached to his scalp. He and Inui had contrived to remain in some form of contact by using the device. Its range had expanded so much that they could access each other’s waking consciousness, albeit in fragmentary snatches. Inui lacked the physical strength to ravish Atsuko himself, but he could now enjoy Osanai’s experience effortlessly, by remote control.

“And what,” Atsuko asked as she made the coffee, “is this ‘something’ you need to discuss?”

“Well, it’s about Doctor Tokita, naturally …”

Himuro’s disappearance was starting to raise eyebrows at the Institute, and that would have seemed the more pressing issue. But Osanai evidently had bigger fish to fry. Atsuko brought coffee cups into the living room and placed them on the glass table, then sat in the middle of the sofa opposite her visitor.

“Are you saying all the Institute’s problems are related to Tokita?”

“Cheers.” Osanai took his coffee and sipped a leisurely mouthful before fixing his eyes on Atsuko. “Doctor Tokita is a genius. There’s no doubt about that. But he’s a very dangerous genius.”

“I’d say there are others who are more dangerous.”

Osanai decided to ignore Atsuko’s irony. “The most dangerous thing about him is that he has no malice at all. He knows nothing of the world; he’s naive, like a child. Unfortunately, when someone like that also happens to be a genius – well, it may be precisely because he’s that kind of person – he keeps coming out with more and more crazy inventions. I’m sure you’ll understand just how dangerous that can be.”

“Now that’s not quite true, is it. It’s not Tokita himself who’s dangerous, but the people around him who exploit his naivete and abuse his inventions.”

“You’re absolutely right,” Osanai said, feigning wholehearted endorsement. He pretended to interpret people around him as society in general. “Tokita has no understanding of the society around him. His inventions will make a contribution to society, sure, but the larger reality is that they’ll poison society. Anyone could abuse his inventions if they wanted to.”

“There is that danger. It’s a very big danger. That’s why we need to protect him and his inventions.”

“Good. So we’re in agreement on that, at least.” Osanai smiled in a way that he obviously thought terribly attractive. “But the thing that bothers me is that Doctor Shima doesn’t seem to share our view. Don’t you find it vexing that he, as Institute Administrator and President of the Foundation, is no less naive than our good friend Tokita?”

“At least he doesn’t want to take advantage of Tokita. I find that quite reassuring.” Atsuko smiled. “But I agree, we do need to be wary of Shima’s naivete. That’s why I haven’t told him about the missing DC Minis. You know, the ones you stole from Tokita’s research lab.”

“Is that what you call them? DC Minis?” Osanai nodded calmly, making no attempt to dodge the sudden barb that flew his way. “To be exact, it was Himuro who ‘stole’ them, as you call it. I’m merely looking after them, since we can’t trust Tokita with anything half so dangerous.”

This was not the time to show anger. Atsuko smiled grimly. “But you’re not ‘merely looking after them,’ are you. You and the Vice President are using them every night. Aren’t you?”

Osanai blushed and momentarily lost his composure. Atsuko knew her imagination was beginning to run away with her, but had no intention of being sidetracked now.

“Well, it doesn’t matter,” she continued. “Are you going to tell me your conditions for giving them back? That’s why you’re here, isn’t it?”

“I’m sorry, but I’ll need to look after them a little longer. If that’s OK with you. You see, it would be unspeakably dangerous to let Tokita have them, not to mention yourself.”

“No. The most dangerous thing would be for you and the Vice President to keep them,” Atsuko said with a laugh. “What are you using them for, anyway? Games?”

Osanai mumbled something about developing functions, then fixed Atsuko with a stare. “They don’t have a protective code, do they. There’s no way of preventing unauthorized access.” Mentioning Tokita’s design fault was his way of regaining control.

“That’s right. They’re still being developed. That’s why you must give them back quickly. Tokita will be the one to develop those functions. Not you. You wouldn’t know how to begin.”

Osanai started to look annoyed. He puffed out his cheeks like a sulking child. “All right. You just mentioned conditions. Let’s put some on the table.”

“Go ahead.”

“First, when Doctor Inui is nominated for President, you will give him your unconditional support. Second, the functions of the DC Mini will be developed jointly, fairly, by all of us.”

“All of us except Tokita, I suppose you mean. Totally unacceptable. Both proposals show your utter contempt for him.”

Osanai narrowed his eyes and smiled faintly. “You love Tokita, don’t you.”

“Yes. I do.”

The calm manner of Atsuko’s reply fueled Osanai’s rising anger. He’d obviously expected her to be ashamed of her feelings for Tokita, to try to hide them. “What, that ugly lump of lard? A man with the mind of a child? I just don’t believe it. How can you say you love him and not die of embarrassment? You’re Atsuko Chiba, for God’s sake! Stop this nonsense! Even I’m embarrassed now!” Osanai had lost all semblance of self-control. He hammered on the arms of his chair with clenched fists.

“What are you getting so angry about?” Atsuko asked merrily.

Osanai’s chest was heaving. He lowered his voice. “I’m getting angry for you!” He lifted his face and glared at Atsuko, then stood up. “Think about it for a minute! Do you really think Tokita is the man for you?” He walked around the table and went to sit next to her. “You probably haven’t even noticed. I’m in love with you. Yes, me! I have been for a long time!”

“Stop it,” said Atsuko, moving to the end of the sofa. “That’s a brazen lie. You wouldn’t have done all those awful things if you loved me.”

“You’re wrong. I do those things because I love you.”

He put an arm around her shoulder. She tried to brush him off. But Osanai had the strength of a man who’d been restraining his lust for too long. He went to put both arms around her.

“Wait a minute! I don’t want this. You can’t force yourself on me!” Now Atsuko was getting annoyed.

“I will if I need to!”

“What do you mean, if you need to? Do you need to make me angry?!”

They struggled.

“Yes, to make you love me!” He tried to push her down onto the sofa while thrusting a hand under her skirt.

“Right! Now you have made me angry!” Atsuko yelled, using both arms and legs to hoist Osanai away.

Atsuko’s rejection drove Osanai into a blind rage. A single blue vein stood throbbing on his forehead as he found himself dumped at the end of the sofa.

“I didn’t want to do this!” he bellowed, then stood and punched Atsuko hard on the jaw with his clenched fist. A mist descended before her eyes as she passed out.