Confrontation

Later, in the silence of Takumi’s private office, the ice cracked. They had barely entered the room, before Rei spoke. “Can you tell me exactly what,” her voice impossibly calm, “was in that Synapse Dive.” Takumi looked up from his data slate, his expression one of mild curiosity. “A tailored fantasy – a perfect day, an encounter with a detailed digital construct”, he explained studying her with infuriating serenity.

“Those details are me, right?” Rei snapped, the control in her voice fraying, “They were moaning my name, Takumi. You should have told me, you should have asked for my permission. What exactly did you have that… that thing do?” A slow, maliciously entertained smile spread across Takumi’s face, “I see your fire burning. Good. It will make further development of the product more compelling.” He set the slate down, moving to the seating area, pouring them sake.

“Product?” Rei whispered, the word was a curse. “Yes, Rei. A product. You are the face of the product. A remarkably successful one, judging by tonight’s reactions”, his tone was chillingly reasonable, “I legally own the rights to your services. This arrangement…,” he gestured vaguely, encompassing them and their context, “…is a service. A far more lucrative and less… degrading one than having clients grope you under a sticky table in Chochin. Your digital copy does the work. You get to stand on the sidelines, pristine and famous. It’s a promotion.”

He leaned forward, his grey eyes boring into hers, not with anger, but with a patronizing, absolute certainty, “That avatar can do things the real you should never dare. It can be everything to everyone, it can generate revenue while you sleep. It is, in every measurable way, a superior asset – to you as well as me.” His logic was a perfectly constructed trap; clean, efficient and utterly inhuman. He wasn’t threatening her; he was simply stating facts from his position atop the pyramid. She was an asset, the asset and its copy was performing exceptionally.

Rei felt a violation deeper than any groping hand could ever achieve. He hadn’t just touched her body; he had copied her essence and put it up for rent. The most terrifying part was that a fragment of her wondered if he was right. The room felt like a vault, sealing them in a bubble of oppressive peace. Rei’s heart set a frantic internal drumbeat against the hollow quietness of the pristine room. The impassive logic of Takumi’s words hung in the air, a disguised birdcage more effective than any ball and chain.

He sat down on the nearest suede couch, holding a drink out to her. His posture and smile more relaxed than she had ever seen him. Shock and outrage warred with a terrifying, grudging admiration. In a single argument, he had showcased everything he was: a visionary businessman, a masterful negotiator and an utterly ruthless pragmatist. He saw her as an appreciating resource, and he was frankly brilliant at managing his portfolio. She hated it; and the part of her that had clawed its way out of the gutter, was horrifyingly impressed. She walked over, accepting the drink, settling in the armchair in front of him.

The silence stretched. Rei could feel the spectral weight of men moaning her name, the violation absolute. Meanwhile, Takumi’s point about it being ‘cleaner’ than the Den was a poison pill that was already dissolving in her mind.

“Why?”, the word tore from her throat, raw and unpolished. All hostess training banked, “Why not just tell me? You liked the idea of me finding out like that? Surrounded by those… those sweaty perverts lost in a fantasy of me? Was it a test… to see if I’d crack in front of your investors?”

Takumi’s smile was a slow, wicked thing in the dim light. He looked genuinely pleased, like a professor whose star pupil had just deduced a theorem. “There she is,” he murmured, his voice a caress, “That spirit. That quick mind.” He finally set his drink aside, the action deliberate, signaling she had earned his full attention. Unhurriedly he leaned in, placing a hand on the armrest of her chair, closing the charged space between them. He didn’t touch her, he didn’t need to. The heat of his body, the intensity of his focus, sent a jolt straight through her core.

“The digital construct is a masterpiece of programming,” he said, his voice sincere, “It can replicate your smile, the cadence of your voice, the arch of your back. It can be programmed with a thousand seductive algorithms”, his gaze dropped to her lips for a heartbeat, then back to her eyes, “But it cannot be infuriating. It cannot look at me with the sheer, breathtaking gall to demand an explanation after I have just handed it the world on a silver platter.”

He was so close she could see the flecks of silver in his grey irises, smell the crisp scent of his cologne. It was intoxicating. “That is what keeps you alive, Rei. That is what makes you infinitely more valuable than any copy,” his words were a compliment wrapped around a naked threat. A reminder of her unique worth, and the fact that her continued existence depended on maintaining his fascination.

“You have so much potential,” he whispered, the words a promise and a verdict, “Don’t squander it by being difficult. Play the game. Be the brilliant, sensual, utterly maddening creature you are. But remember…”, he leaned closer still , “…I make the rules.”

Rei could feel the warmth of his breath on her lips, the heat of his body a furnace in the sterile air of the office. Her heart raced like a frantic bird trapped between the cage of his logic and the terrifying allure of his proximity. His hand came up, fingers tracing the line of her jaw with a touch light as air. His thumb brushed beside her lip. The contact was a jolt that bypassed her anger and went straight to a primal part of her that recognized his dominance not only as a threat, but as a promise.

“You were magnificent tonight, composed and unattainable…” he murmured, his voice a low vibration that she felt in her bones, “Every man in that room wanted you, but now here we are, while a phantom of your soul does the dirty work.” His thumb pressed down, a subtle, claiming pressure. Rei’s breath hitched. She wanted to pull away, to slap his hand aside and reclaim the outrage that felt so righteous still. But his words, his touch, were a masterful counter-attack. He wasn’t dismissing her anger; he was reframing it, turning her violation into a testament to her power, a power that only he could appreciate and control.

“You asked why I didn’t tell you,” he continued, his grey eyes holding hers captive, “Because a rehearsed reaction is worthless. The unfiltered flame in your eyes – that’s the variable Doctor Sato cannot simulate yet. It’s the proof that my… investment is sound.” He leaned even closer, until his lips a hair’s breadth from hers. She could feel the whisper of them as he spoke, “Your emotions are ability, Rei, your pride a rare commodity. Let me hone them, and in return I will give you a stage much more worthwhile than the Den”.

The space between them screamed for contact. Every fiber of her being was drawn to the magnetic pull of him, warring with the terrifying, rational that lay behind his every word. Her body betrayed her mind, her lips parting in a reluctant, aching gasp for air she couldn’t seem to find, and then he finally leaned back, breaking the electric connection, his expression cooling back to its default state of calculated amusement.

His hand fell from her face, the heat of his body receding. The sudden absence was a shock, leaving her unmoored, her pulse thundering in her ears. He stood, straightening his suit jacket, the perfect, unruffled executive once more. Leaving her there, sitting in the armchair, breathless and stunned, the traces of his touch burning on her skin and the echo of his voice reframing the story of her own rebellion.

He picked up his drink again, draining it slowly while walking to his desk, the conversation clearly over. The message was delivered. She was special, she was unique, and she was utterly, completely under his thumb. Any deviation from the path he’d set would not be met with anger, but with dispassionate, efficient disposal. The ultimate carrot and stick, delivered with the chilling precision of a surgeon’s scalpel. Rei sat back against the suede, her body humming with a terrifying mix of terror, fury, attraction and unwanted admiration.