Vicissitude: Yang Side (Lost Earth Series) Read online

  Megumi groans from the backseat. “Gods, it plays ads more around this time.”

  “I wouldn’t be surprised if they do,” Heaven says, peering in her rear-view mirror. “There are chi-readers on the freeway too. They know we’re all here.”

  They do know. But it’s not the “they” you’re probably thinking. If there’s anything that Showguns has taught me it’s that the government is less interested in every day activities than people think and underground organizations are more interested than people expect. A government official may not be able to tell you much beyond your basic identity information. But anyone in Showguns who works in IT can tell you where you now, where you last were, who you were with, what you said, some are even so good that they can predict with fair accuracy where you’re going to be. Rightness of time and place. Mandate of Exactness, we call it. Kill too early as an assassin and your Data Erasure support team at PoleControl won’t be ready to erase your presence from the chi-towers recording. Arrive too late and you’ll be out of position for the kill, and possibly caught by law enforcement. And the margin for error is never kind. Nor tolerated. “Have you played against Malicious before, Heaven?”

  “Not their whole team. Just a few members,” Heaven says, changing the radio station. A piano trill crosses into a light percussion. Fingers snap. It’s crisp like a chip snap. The sax resonates with the male voice.

  Notes pour into my skin like a vibrational relaxer. I sink a little deeper in my chair. “You know what to expect then, right? Have you played against Brazzers?”

  “No. But he tried to recruit me as a sub for TofuAres, I think during one of my streams,” Heaven says. “I said no.”

  Megumi sniffs. “Good. Brazzers is such a fucking ass. He brought his stream followers onto my stream once and did nothing but spam and troll.”

  “Really? He seemed friendly when I talked to him.”

  I put a hand over my mouth, sniggering. “We’ll see if he stays like that when he sees you playing for us.”

  “Mute him if you go on tilt easily,” Megumi says.

  The rest of the car ride is quiet with the exception of jazz wafting from the radio. We hit a small patch of traffic a mile before our off-ramp: drivers slowing down just to see a portly man getting pulled over by highway patrol. Heaven gets off at the next off-ramp.

  Now I’ll say this: Tokaido doesn’t have a fucking pulse during the day. But at night?

  Neon signs flash from the lit streets. Moonlight-kissed limos and sports cars cruise beside us down the ocean-flanked boulevards. Sidewalks teem with girls in tall heels, halter tops, and haute couture dresses and skirts that show off their waxed legs. Their guy-friends follow in suits, crisply-ironed polos and nice dress pants. Muscular bouncers guard crowded club entrances. We pass jazz clubs, casinos, clean-walled hotels, thinly-veiled strip clubs, bars, diners, pizzerias. The street runs on and on toward a swollen white moon dusting light like a glittery powder across an obsidian sea.

  The cliff-topped, double-storied gaming house flanks the ocean’s boardwalk. Seraphim’s beat-up cherry SUV is in front of the open gates already, a giant next to Hiro’s mousy two-door.

  I step out the car door. Cool coastline air brings the tang of salt to us. Dark as shadows, gulls glide over the dim streetlights to pick and squabble over scraps of food that for some reason didn’t make the cut for The Boardwalk’s Next Top Garbage Can.

  Heaven comes around the front of the car, checking her silver and onyx fossil watch. “We’ve still got an hour before the game, in case either of you want to get food or something.”

  “Nah. Hiro and Ash take care of food before the game,” I say, stuffing my hands in my hoodie pockets.

  We trudge up the sandy slope, crunching gravel under our shoes.

  “Are we doing any kind of briefing for the game?” Heaven asks.

  “A little. Mostly picks and bans, since you haven’t really played against Malicious as a team,” I say, stepping onto the porch. “They’re kinda meh in Solo Queue, but teams are on a whole different level.”

  Megumi presses the doorbell, nose wrinkling. “They run a real mean poke comp. Don’t ever let Brazzers pick Banjo or you’ll eat spears to the face all game. It’s a nightmare when we have to siege.”

  The white door slides open and Hiro greets us with his nasally, “Heeeeeeeey ladies.” He’s got an apron on. “You’re just in time. All the cooking is done. I hope you all like beef with rice, and salad.”

  “Sweet. I’ve been craving some.” Megumi steps inside. “Can you believe that there’s no Tokaido food places around us anymore?”

  Hiro’s brow creases. “None? What about Nakamura’s on the corner?”

  I step in after Megumi and sniff. Beef and onion floods my nose at once. My stomach gives a muffled growl. “Nope. They tore it down for a pho place a while back.”

  “Wow, and I thought they were doing well,” Hiro mutters. “Just the other day, I thought about having a club after-event there. Where are we gonna go for Tokaido food now?”

  “I was going to ask you that,” Heaven chuckles. “When I came here I looked forward to trying food from your culture.”

  Hiro rubs the back of his neck. “Well we’re gonna eat some, but restaurant-wise there really isn’t much anymore.”

  “We only eat other people’s food now,” Megumi jokes. “No one buys our food.”

  We gather around the granite-topped island where the food, drinks, and dishes are set: A giant mound of sinewy beef, a pristine rice cooker holding six cups of jasmine rice, crinkled leafy greens in a blue plastic bowl next to three-cheese salad dressing and bonito flakes, bottled green tea, clean porcelain bowls, saucers, and chopsticks.

  I load my plate with a small bed of rice, then meat, and finally build my salad. Hiro cuts on the tv. Another Devil’s Disease news story is on. The case is in Yamamura again this time, same place where the Pua Moana man was shot at his liquor store.

  “Damn,” Hiro says. “Seems like every case of Devil’s Disease they’ve reported is from Yamamura.”

  Seraphim chews his food and swallows. “Isn’t that usually where all the Pua Moana live?”

  Ash elbows him in the rib and gives him the stink eye.

  Seraphim rubs his flank. “What?” Then his gaze slides to me. “Oh. Sorry, Jun.”

  Megumi clears her throat loudly and jerks her head in Heaven’s direction.

  “Sorry…erm—”

  “Heaven.” Heaven skewers salad onto her fork. “And by the way, Devil’s Disease is a Tokaido disease. We don’t have it in Pua’alowhe.”

  Hiro scrunches his eyebrows. “Then why are they talking about banning flights and everything? Pua Moana are the only ones they show with it.”

  Heaven shrugs. “Ignorance. The problem is that genetically we’re more prone to the disease so we show symptoms quicker in the early stages, but that doesn’t mean that other people don’t have the disease already.”

  I poke my beef tendon and caramelized onion noncommittally. I hope no one in Showguns has it. Our headquarters is in Yamamura. Not to mention that we do have the disease-causing gene there for testing, under very tight watch. I doubt it could’ve found its way out in the public by accident. But releasing the gene on purpose is even more ridiculous. No one in their right mind would release something that could infect and wipe out the whole country.

  Right?

  We head upstairs to the five-man gaming room. A row of black and white Daoware desktops and gaming headsets rest underneath gaudy Lords of Earth posters featuring balloon-chested female champions from the game roster.

  "Alright, hang-on…” Hiro leans forward in his swivel chair, peering at the desktop screen. “This is you, right…iSoFine?”

  Heaven approaches the back of his chair. “Yeah that’s me."

  "Cool." He clicks. "You're in."

  I scroll through my champion build guides and mastery pages. There’s one for every jungle champion in the game. I’m familiar with all their skill
sets, but honestly I only use the one for Thunder God, the hammer-wielding boar-rider, but I’ll be surprised if Malicious don’t ban or pick him. Everyone knows that he’s my favorite.

  Beside me, Megumi twists wantonly in her chair. She sips her bottled green tea. “Who do you think they’re gonna target for bans?”

  “Hard to say,” Ash mutters, propping his head with his palm. “They always used to have it out for Jun and Akemi. But some of them have been snooping on my stream.”

  I exit from the build menu. "Do they know Akemi is gone?”

  Slow shrugs and averted gazes pass all around. I frown.

  “I didn’t mention anything about joining iSo,” Heaven says. “But someone asked about my name change on stream. I don't know if anyone from Malicious watched then.”

  “Might change their ban strategy.” Megumi cracks her knuckles. “Or at least I hope so. I wanna nail them with our CC comp at least once, you know?”

  “Oh my gata.” Ash tips his head back against his chair. “That’ll be the day.”

  Hiro groans. “They know better to give us anything with stuns, freezes, or knock-ups.”

  Megumi crosses her fingers together. “Shut up and let me dream.”

  A tiny window appears on my screen.

  Your 5v5 Ranked match vs. Malicious will begin in ten minutes. Would you like to invite iSo members now?

  >>>Yes

  My mouse hovers over the yes button. “Everyone’s account is open? I’m sending the invite now.”

  Heaven takes her seat beside me. “Go for it. It'll go through to me right?”

  "You show up on my roster, so, yeah. It's fine," Hiro says.

  I click “yes”.

  A gong's clang resonates in my headset. Then a new window pops up.

  Searching all iSo members. Please stand by…

  Match found!

  Begin match with: iSoHigh, iSoFine, iSoRatchet, iSoNotF2P?

  >>>Yes

  Please stand by…

  Malicious found! Match will begin in 3… 2… 1…

  The final gong tolls.

  Megumi takes another sip of green tea. “This is it.”

  Hiro puts his head in his hands. “I feel like we should’ve made a sacrifice to the almighty Fedora god or something.”

  The game client takes us to a new screen with our jumbled names lined up in pick order on the left from top to bottom: iSoRatchet (Megumi), iSoHigh (Ash), iSoFine(Heaven), iSoNotF2P (Hiro), and finally iSoFly (me). And on the other side fills with Malicious names: Brazzers, TofuAres, Mjolnir, Snoke, and Quiet.

  My lips pull into a pressed frown. “Eww, Brazzers is first pick.”

  Ash snickers. “You’re always last pick against Malicious.”

  “Anything special you want to ban right off the bat?” Megumi asks. “I’ve got first ban priority.”

  “Banjo,” Hiro and I say in unison.

  Hiro adds, “I’m not eating spears this game.”

  “Fair enough.” Megumi bans the spear wielding lion-man god. “Anyone else?”

  “Banjo is the main piece of their poke comp, so let’s ban out their stampede comp," I say.

  "So then we’ll do Grouse.” The bird-headed bowman appears in the ban pick list. “Who else?”

  “Kiting comp?” Hiro asks.

  "Are we running a hard engage team?" Heaven asks.

  “Depends on bans,” I say. "If they ban out Thunder God, then we’re screwed. There’s not that many other jungles with crowd control.”

  “One more guys,” Megumi says. “A minute to pick.”

  “I don’t know.” Ash pushes his hair back. “Who do we hate most right now?”

  We look among ourselves and the answer is instant. “Brazzers.”

  “Ban his precious Bard,” Hiro sneers.

  “Death to Bard!” Ash chimes in.

  Megumi submits the last ban and sits back. “Bard it is. Their turn now.”

  My heart patters against my ribs. The other team’s ban is the most nerve-wracking part of the game with the actual team picks at a close second. Getting pushed out of your favorite pick could make or break your entire game.

  Silence falls over the room. Everyone’s eyes fix on the Malicious ban window in the bottom right of the match-up screen. We’ve all probably got the same thing on our mind: Who’s getting that dreaded ban-hammer?

  Brazzers’s window lights up. The first icon box in the ban window flashes to Thunder God.

  My chest squeezes. Fuck.

  But Brazzers doesn’t lock it in. Instead he opts for Prison Warden.

  I quirk my brow. “Since when did Akemi play Prison Warden?”

  “She never did,” Megumi says.

  “I play a lot of Prison Warden. They’ve been following my games,” Heaven says.

  Enough for them to think you’re a big threat. A brief warmth surges through me, but it deflates. Even if it’s not my champion getting banned, it still hurts the team when anyone’s favorite gets banned out.

  The next ban comes out almost immediately: Aphrodite, the newest mid-lane mage that came out last game update, which elicits a theatrical groan from Megumi.

  “Brazzers can go eat a bag of dicks,” she mumbles. “I bet he’s been spying on my stream when we duo-queue.”

  “We’re not out of the woods yet,” Ash says. “One more ban.”

  C’mon, Brazzers, just ban Thunder God if you’re gonna do it. Just rip the band-aid off already.

  But the last ban is equally puzzling: Haku, a tank panda monk played in top-lane.

  “You play Haku too Heaven?” Hiro asks, voicing my thoughts.

  Heaven shrugs. “Yeah. But I’ve only been play testing him. I don’t know why they’d ban him.”

  Megumi winks at me. “Hey, you actually get to play Thunder God this game.” She locks him in for me right away. The window turns the picks over to Malicious. “Blessings are upon you.”

  Ash sings a sweet over the top, “Halleu-juah-ah-aaaahhhhh!”

  Hiro bangs his keyboard in a mock-church organ riff.

  Praise Fedora.

  Brazzers and Snoke get the next two picks: Skye the bounty hunter as their damage carry, and Flynn, a tanky top lane chimera-man that I figure is for TofuAres. Then the next two picks roll over to Ash and Heaven. Ash goes on and picks his favorite support champion: Egypt, a spotted half-koi mermaid. Heaven chooses Tora, the leopard-headed beast monk that my doll is based on. TofuAres snatches away my archnemesis Yuki: a deadly fox-woman.

  Now it makes sense why they let me have Thunder God this game: Brazzers is going to harass the shit out of me.

  “Red flag guys,” I say. “They might be planning a Level One invade.”

  “You’re sure?” Heaven asks.

  “Right now, we have the comp for a late-game team.” My nails drum on my mouse. “They're not building for that far into the game. And even if it’s not an invade, it’s gonna be counterjungling.”

  “I’m kinda with Jun on this one,” Megumi says. “They’ve already got a strong level one. And it is Brazzers jungling.”

  The pick screen turns control over to Hiro and me. Hiro picks Shi Nee, a bow-wielding archangel for our damage carry. And I scroll through the champion roster for Megumi’s favorite Roan the inugami mage. Quiet picks Stag—which pretty much sums him up: a golden stag. And lastly Mjolnir picks Ace, a hooded assassin mage to be Megumi’s match-up.

  The team select screen gives Megumi and me a minute to swap our picks. Then it switches to the loading screen.

  “Alright, iSo. Leggo!” Ash cheers.

  All of our characters are teleported to a cobblestone platform beside a pudgy merchant NPC. I click on him.

  Potions, weapons, magic staffs, and torches for lighting the fog of war that’s sprawled over much of the map. All I can see right now is our base in the bottom left corner, the immediate area around the nine turrets divided equally among our half of the three lanes. Our jungle, is completely covered by the fog of war.

  “Yo
ur call, Jun,” Hiro Hiro says. “Do you want to try and invade them back?”

  “We’ll invade their Yin buff,” I say, clicking through the store inventory for one map torch, then for three potions, and finally my starting weapon a hunter’s dagger. “Take an upgraded ward and drop it in the bush near my Yin buff on your way to lane Heaven. I bet you they’ll put vision there. Ash, drop a torch near our Yang buff just in case.”

  We move quickly. Being the tankiest of the whole team, Heaven and I lead the invade, piercing the fog of war first. Megumi and Ash file in behind us and Hiro keeps a safe distance behind us. Tall computer-generated pines and shrubs flank the winding paths, parting only for the currently-empty monster camps. Ash drops an orange torch in the bush next to a large alcove, lighting up a small circular cloud on our side of the map.

  So far so good. No sign of them.

  A ravine parts our forest from the enemy forest. Nothing is here at the moment besides a few bushes and the empty White Tiger camp near the bottom lane. The bigger Azure Dragon camp is farther up the ravine towards the top lane, but neither camp will spawn anything of value until the nine-minute mark. We fan out into the dusty gulch before we file into the Malicious jungle again.

  It’s so quiet in the room that we can hear Seraphim running the sink downstairs in the kitchen.

  Megumi drops her torch in a triangular-shaped brush that leads down the midlane. We huddle around the oxbow-shaped pool around the Yin-buff and wait. My gaze flicks up to the clock in the upper-right corner. 1:20. Ten more seconds and we can take it.

  “I guess they really did go the invade route,” Ash mutters.

  “Think it’s torched here?” Megumi asks.

  “If there’s a torch, it’s on the Yang-buff,” Heaven says. “Yin-buff isn’t that valuable on Yuki.”

  “The Tubefoxes have spawned!” The announcer calls.

  An onyx turtle spawns in the Yin-buff camp. I start hacking away at the turtle. Megumi and Hiro throw in a few auto attacks before they disperse. Heaven takes one of the huge vultures from a neighboring camp, then she accompanies Megumi up the ravine towards top lane. Hiro and Ash pair up and head down through the ravine for bottom lane.