Chapter 6: Japan (Kyoto)

KYOTO - DAY ONE

Before I get into our visit in Kyoto, I would like to give just a little bit of background information that we were aware of before we arrived: Hiro Matsudoki, the CEO of the Matsudoki Corporation and patriarch of the Matsudoki clan, was known to be a 'colorful' character.

Hiro was apparently a mix of a Samurai, a Roman emperor, and a Renaissance man. He required traditional Japanese dress to be worn to work on any day he considered to be 'special', which meant twice a month on average. Unconfirmed gossip had him hosting orgies for employees and friends on a regular basis, and he was even rumored to keep sex slaves and require servants to wipe his ass for him. He could be overly generous for anyone who pleased him, or might run people out of town if they upset him. Honor was extremely important to him, but his concept of honor didn't always match up with the traditional definition.

Hiro was also a very intelligent, sharp businessman who had helped keep his grandfather's company at or near the top of the Japanese economic ladder. As a general rule, while Matsudoki products might not always be ranked at the top of their respective markets, they were usually in the top five.

His R&D geniuses tracked trends and predicted shifts in various markets better than anyone else in Japan, and they had determined that having their own computer intelligences was required if they wanted to stay on top in the future. Therefore, Hiro had first unsuccessfully attempted to create/employ on his own, then applied for AARD's help in the matter.

I suppose I should also point out that his company was the largest private employer in Kyoto, and he was probably the most powerful private citizen in the area. Kyoto was much too large and culturally important for him to run or own the city, but regardless of the size of his 'pond', he was most definitely a 'big fish'.

Kyoto itself was significantly smaller than Tokyo, but then, that could be said of most cities worldwide. More specifically, it had only a little over 1/10th the population of Tokyo's 13 million, but it was spread out over 1/3rd the space, giving it a slightly more spacious feel, despite being mostly surrounded by mountains. Kyoto was also close to Tokyo in cultural importance, given that it had been Japan's imperial capital for over a millennium.

The city was also well known as ... well, it would be misleading to describe it as a city for tourists. It certainly drew tourists from all over the world, and was often mentioned as one of the top destinations worldwide for its beauty and historic landmarks. Related to this was one of its major drawbacks, namely that Kyoto did not have its own airport, possibly due to the excessive number of ancient temples and preserved historic monuments or whatever. (I doubt all the mountains helped either.)

So, after landing, we proceeded to the city via a parade of three limousines and two escorting vehicles. I'm sure we made quite a sight for anyone watching.

When our caravan arrived at the seriously gorgeous hotel, we were greeted by Mr. Matsudoki himself, along with over a dozen others, a mix of middle-aged and elderly men in suits, plus three middle-aged women in feminine versions of male suits.

"Welcome, Frank, my friend!" he said loudly as he bowed slightly, then reached for my hand. I bowed back first, trying to match him, then shook his hand warmly. "It is wonderful to finally meet you."

I smiled, fought back an urge to bow a second time, and replied, "It is a pleasure to finally meet you in person as well, Mr Matsudoki." We had spoken before in multiple video conferences and a few dozen emails, and even sent each other small gifts, but, obviously, this was our first physical meeting.

"No, no. Please call me Hiro." His English was excellent, with only a small accent.

We were all introduced to each other. The other people waiting with Hiro were various board members and executives and department heads. Eight of the fifteen -- six of the men and two of the women -- were related to Hiro in some fashion, including one uncle, one aunt (from different family branches), one brother, two cousins and three other more distant relatives.

Once the introductions were made and luggage carried inside by bellboys, Hiro and I walked in, side-by-side, chatting about the trip and the wet weather as though we were old friends. He had a way of putting you at ease and positively exuded charisma and charm.

Inside, our groups were silently joined by sixteen pretty young women and nine attractive, if girlish, young men. There was nothing obviously risque about their appearance, aside from the short dresses for the girls and tight pants for the boys, but they were obviously subservient 'companions', presumably being paid to be there. (At least I was pretty sure about the attendants' genders; many of the boys looked feminine enough to easily pass for women. I suppose there could have been cross-dressers among either gender.)

There was a large banquet table, built low to the ground in traditional Japanese style, with pillows set all around. Hiro sat at the head of the table, with myself to his immediate right, and Kara to my right.

The spacing allowed a lot of room between seats, the reason for which became apparent as all of the attendants sat down just behind and to the side of each of us. I noted that Hiro and I were the only ones with two attendants each, as everyone else had only been provided with a single servant/companion.

I also noticed that the companions were almost entirely of the opposite gender to those being served. Almost. Two of the male executives had male attendants. Again, very pretty male attendants, but still male.

It was a very odd mix of tolerance and support for apparently gay executives, clashing with class and economic divisions where those who were considered more important had been provided 'slaves' for the evening.

Thus, aside from the companions, two things were present that I hadn't really observed during my visit to Japan: female executives and open homosexuality. My general understanding of Japan was that women did sometimes get promoted and that homosexuals were fairly well accepted, but this was the first time I had actually seen solid evidence of it. Then again, my experiences were pretty limited. Plus, in public, there were very few observable displays of affection, regardless of sexual preferences. But I digress, as I am wont to do.

Hiro had been talking about how we were undoubtedly tired and hungry from our trip -- which had been a very short trip, so no, we really weren't -- so he clapped his hands and we were immediately served a light meal, including hot tea, cold water, rice wine, various seafood selections, and American-style sliders, complete with greasy burgers and grilled onions. While I like sliders, it was a little jarring to see them in this context. Still, I didn't want to be rude.

All this time, while we were walking in, sitting down, and being served, Hiro had been talking almost constantly, with only occasional responses from me.

" ... so today, I just wanted to meet you in a nice, friendly setting before we start worrying about the negotiations and contracts. That means, no business at all today."

He completely ignored his female attendants as they occasionally leaned forward to refill a glass or provide a clean plate. For us gaijin, our helpers also traded out our utensils as needed, as we had been provided with forks and spoons.

While the conversation was fun and pleasant, it mostly fell into the categories of the weather, what we thought of Japan in general or Kyoto specifically, our opinions on international news events and so on. As the evening progressed, Hiro and I loosened up and started telling jokes, complaining about government bureaucracy, and arguing about which classic video games were better.

As time went by, I realized that describing it as a 'light meal' was only accurate at any given moment in time. The tables and plates were never overflowing with food, but there was a constant stream of edibles, changing out one dish for another. We even had a few presentations where a chef came to the table with his own equipment and prepared and served the food in our presence, usually with a lot of skill and flair.

Thinking back on it afterward, I was surprised that we were never presented with 'naked sushi', where the naked body of a pretty, young woman served as the platter for various foods. Maybe he was saving it for a different special occasion.

I was even more surprised that there weren't any Geishas, since Kyoto was well known as a major center for hiring and training traditional Geishas. Then again, for all I knew, the attendants were non-traditional Geishas of some kind, if such a thing existed. Probably not, but then again, no matter how much I had read and learned about Japanese culture, there was always something I had missed.

Those of us with the communication implants also had our own separate conversations and shared comments, made a little more informative since the bodyguards had their own perspectives, lining the walls and watching everyone. (Except for Peace, who was unlucky enough to be up guarding my room and luggage, along with one of the Japanese guards. I hoped someone was at least feeding her some video of the fun.)

Motoko explained, "I think those little balls with the sauce are Takoyaki. They'll probably have a bit of octopus in the middle."

Rally cautioned, "Go easy on the wasabi. That stuff can really burn."

Kara noted, "I don't know whether to laugh at how uncomfortable Kasumi is with her attendant or feel sorry for her."

Motoko observed, "Apparently you're allowed to grope your servant if you want to, as long as you do it discreetly. Male or female."

Misty countered, "Actually, I've seen the servants do the groping three or four times so far, so I guess it's fair game either way."

I responded, "I know. The girl on my right keeps brushing her breast against my shoulder every time she leans forward. Can't be on accident."

Kara teased, "Does this mean we're going to end the day with an orgy? And if so, could I make my guy fuck one of your girls?"

"I'm not so hot on the idea of this turning into an orgy," I thought back to them. "And I don't think Hiro's planning on it. Or at least he hasn't taken or received any liberties that I've noticed."

I don't want anyone to think I'm teasing, so I should point out before we go much further that it did not, in fact, turn into an orgy.

What happened instead was general entertainment. Hiro had hired a J-Pop duo to provide the main show. I didn't recognize them, but Alpha informed me that they were considered a popular pair locally, probably a second-tier group at best when viewed on a national level. After they sang a few very upbeat songs, they invited people from our small audience to come up and sing with them. It ended up being similar to karaoke, but led by professional singers, so it never sounded too horrible.

I, who have a very iffy singing voice, declined. My voice isn't bad, just inconsistent. I think if I had ever trained for singing, I might have been decent. Certainly not great, but decent. As it was ... well, let me just say that at least I was not tone deaf and leave it at that.

Over half of the Matsudoki group sang for us, sometimes alone, sometimes in pairs. Jennifer, Kara, Kasumi, Rei and Buttercup all joined in as well. At one point, the five of them got up there together, joining the J-Poppers to belt out 'Stop! In the Name of Love', complete with hand gestures. They weren't bad at all.

Beta even sang a Japanese ballad of some sort, surprising the Matsudoki group with her excellent command of the Japanese language.

While all of this singing was going on, I occasionally caught glimpses of some funny business going on. At one point, one of the older executives actually had his attendant sitting on his lap, and I'm pretty sure that one of his hands was under her blouse. Not that she was complaining. One of the female execs -- I think she was head of marketing -- pulled her companion close up behind her. It's speculation, but I think she was keeping his hard-on pressed up against her backside. Three different male execs ducked out for a few minutes during the performance with their attendants close behind. Though I did not personally witness what they did, let's just say I'm confident 'Hanky Panky' happened.

The finale gathered all of our attendants onto the very small stage for an animated rendition of Mr Roboto, which was probably intended as a joke. However, they were badly upstaged when the two Alphadroids that were with us took center stage and did the robot dance.

After that, Hiro proclaimed the party to be a success and at an end.

I was surprised when I realized it was almost 10pm, given that we had landed around 3 that afternoon. True, getting organized after landing took over half an hour, and the drive to the hotel had taken over an hour, but there was no way we had been here that long. Except that we had.

"Good night, Frank. I look forward to seeing you tomorrow," Hiro said with a huge smile as he briefly hugged me. He leaned forward just slightly to whisper in my ear. "You are welcome to take your attendants with you for the night, but I also left a surprise for you in your room. Kara's room, too."

Then he pounded my shoulders in a friendly way, and we bid each other good night.

I noticed that most, but not all, of the other guests left with their servants.

On the elevator ride up, we discussed the festivities. I'm sure a few of my women were tempted to bring along their hired dates, but no one did. All the same, I'm sure everyone got laid that night, one way or the other.

As for me, Kara was my scheduled bedmate that night. We had been looping through a schedule, which had started back in Hawaii. Rei, Kara, Beta, Buttercup, Kasumi, Jennifer, then start over with Rei.

Kara's first solo night with me on the trip had been back in Hawaii, on our second night there. The second was in Tokyo, the night I had gotten the invitation delivered by the Prime Minister, so this would be our third. (Normally, I didn't have many nights with someone one-on-one anymore, so I was enjoying that one aspect of simplicity on the trip. And Kara was always a favorite of mine. Probably THE favorite, but don't tell the others.)

Once we reached the top floor, we split off to go to our separate rooms. Kara, too, since she had to get some of her things before bed.

Which meant that I met Yusa by myself. Well, Alpha and I together, but then, she's always with me. In this case, she was also with me in the form of the two Alphadroids that had stayed with us for the party, plus two more that were waiting for me in my suite.

Kneeling in the middle of my suite's living room was a young Japanese girl, dressed in a traditional schoolgirl uniform, a so-called 'sailor suit', with a white top, red tie and short dark blue skirt. She was facing the door with her head bowed, though she looked up just long enough to see who I was.

She bowed down until her forehead touched the floor, then sat upright again, her eyes still lowered.

"Master Frank, I am Yusa. I am to be your guide and assistant for your time in Kyoto. I will assist you however you wish me to do so."

Her hair was black. I mean, completely and utterly black. While Japanese women generally have pretty dark hair, Yusa really looked as though she had dyed hers. It was long enough to reach halfway down her back, and she had small ribbons along each side of her head, pulling some of the hair up in an odd, curving, decorative style, kind of like a couple miniature pigtails that angled back away from her face. She also had a noticeable amount of makeup on -- which is saying something since I am horrible at detecting it -- with heavy eyeliner and dark red lipstick. Even so, she looked very young.

"Yusa?" I said questioningly. "Hold on just a minute."

Silently, I asked, "So, Peace, Alpha ... what do you know about the girl sitting on the floor of my room?"

Peace answered first, as she had obviously been anticipating the question. "She's clean. No weapons; I checked."

"Thank you, but not what I meant."

"She's your present from Mr. Matsudoki." Even though this was entirely silent and out of sight, I could still tell she had a huge grin on her face.

"Uh huh. My present."

"I'm sure she'd be happy to do ANYTHING you want." This time the unseen grin was a bit more of a leer.

"I think you're right. Alpha?"

"Her name is Yusa Arakaki. She has a contract with Hiro Matsudoki to be your assistant, guide and bedmate for as long as you stay in Kyoto. If you accept and use her, her family will be paid approximately $28,800. If you reject her, her contract is null and void, resulting in no pay."

"Why should I keep her?"

"It is entirely up to you. For her part, her family has multiple debts and this is an opportunity to pay off many of them."

"So you're going to guilt me into keeping her?"

"I would do no such thing. We could always simply give her the money ourselves, but she might not accept, as it might not be considered honorable. Japanese culture looks down upon the idea of receiving money beyond that which is earned. I still have some difficulties understanding many concepts of honor."

"And the contract includes sex?"

"While it is only implied in the actual contractual text, a webcam video feed of Mr. Matsudoki's meeting with her indicated that it is expected. It is often referred to as 'compensated dating', though this agreement goes beyond that."

"But she's so young!"

"She is 18, though I should point out that the national legal age of consent in Japan is 13..."

"Thirteen?" I almost said it out loud.

"If you will let me finish. While the national legal age of consent is 13, most prefectures have their own laws setting the age higher. Also realize that there is a different age of consent for marriage and that the legal ages vary between male and female. The law prohibiting prostitution was also poorly written, thus legally allowing many different..."

"That's enough. Thank you." Whenever Alpha was asked about laws, she felt it necessary to go into as much detail as possible, even if it doesn't apply. Heck, that's how I found out about the seventeen-and-under-three-years-difference rule in Texas ... which isn't even remotely relevant to me or the topic at hand, so let me continue. "And did you say Hiro made a video recording of their meeting?"

"No. The webcams built into the monitor on his desk were not officially active, but that is not required for observation."

While I wasn't necessarily ready to take her to my bed, I didn't want her to get fired because of me. On the other hand, while she was very attractive, I was surrounded by attractive women all day, every day.

Turning my conversation back to Yusa herself, I walked over closer to her, slowly ambled all the way around her looking her over, then sat down.

"Yusa, what do you know about me and why I am here?"

"Hai, ummm ... You are Frank ____, though you always insist to be addressed as Frank. You created Alpha, the world's first artificial intelligence, and founded AARD ... Alpha ... something ... Research and ... something."

"Alpha Advanced Research and Design."

"Sorry. Hai. You are probably billionaire in US dollars. Some people think you might be richest in world in few years if you keep making new invention all the time. You involved in promoting rights for computers. You make hair formula ... movie about moon revolution ... Alphadroids ... lots of patents. You shot in heart last year by mob, but Alpha make you a new heart. You been on TV lots. You have really big house in Texas that no one seen inside of." She was obviously struggling for details now. "You hire lots of women. Ummm ... Weird things happen around you, probably because other computers think of you as father. Ummm ... your bodyguards are cyborgs, also women..."

On a side note, Alpha and I were quietly using and giving away far too much of our liquid and undeclared resources to support cyborgs and synthetics for me/us to be a billionaire. Yet. By my definition that is, which meant only counting easily-liquidated assets. In an emergency, if I suddenly had to come up with as much cash as possible, we could probably come up with a few hundred million within a month or so.

The overall investments and the value of AARD holdings and patent ownerships had already surpassed the billion dollar mark a year or two back, but only if you included more solid assets like the estate itself.

Also on the other hand, I'm completely ignoring speculative 'valuations' of what things might end up earning, some of which put my current worth at over two or three billion. OR if I were to ever take AARD public and sell stock to raise money, our value could double or triple from speculation, but I've already gone over the reasons why that will never happen in previous chapters. (And I know the difference between common and voting stock, but the point is that I want to avoid having to make public statements and disclosures regarding AARD, thus I planned to never sell any kind of stock in the company.)

One aspect of my finances I tried hard not to think about was that, if the need was ever great enough, I could request or order all synthetics worldwide to help me out. Remember, a lot of the money appropriated from the mafia was still in the hands of synthetics, which might have amounted to a trillion dollars or so initially, though I didn't know how much of that was left.

Not that I discussed this with Yusa or anyone else. Besides, I made a practice not to correct such false assumptions or give specific figures to the public. Also I tended to get light-headed when I really considered dollar values that large, which is partly why I tended to not yet consider myself a billionaire.

But let's go back to Yusa.

Believe it or not, I wasn't looking for an ego stroking. I got enough of that ass kissing crap from everyone else. I just wanted to make sure she knew what she was getting into, in that I lived a highly secure and private life. Which it sounded like she probably did. Barely.

Feeling a little compassion for her as she struggled to dredge up more background facts, I moved her on. "And why am I here in Kyoto?"

"You here ... You ARE here to talk with Mr. Matsudoki to sign contract so he can hire artificial intelligence."

"The word you are looking for is 'negotiate'. We are here to negotiate with Mr. Matsudoki. Your English is good, by the way."

Well, not really. I suppose it was very good compared to maybe nine tenths of the 'English-speaking' people I had interacted with so far on the trip. Not that I was in any position to complain, as my Japanese was even more limited than their English.

"Hai, thank you."

At that point, Kara entered, carrying a small bag which I knew contained a change of clothes and basic toiletries. I waved her over but kept my focus on Yusa. Kara sat down next to me, keeping silent for the moment.

"You are here to negotiate with Mr. Matsudoki. You have already negotiate..." She paused briefly, working out the verb tenses. " ... ted? with Telco Japan and Sun in Tokyo."

"Correct. Now, since your contract is with Mr. Matsudoki, are you here to spy on me?"

"No, I ... contract is to help you however I can. If Mr. Matsudoki ask questions, I can answer, but I am not required to answer."

So, she wasn't specifically a spy, but given that I was a temporary visitor to her world and Matsudoki could greatly help or hurt her future, I had no doubt that she would answer anything he asked. Still, it wasn't as though my goals were secret.

"Why did Mr. Matsudoki choose you to be my ... guide?" I asked, reaching over to place a hand on Kara's bare knee.

She seemed slightly more nervous since Kara's arrival, but she still answered promptly.

"I am good with English. I know all of Kyoto, so I can be good guide. I am not in school, so I have time. I ... my family needs money, and I might get job at Matsudoki because of this."

"Good. Anything else?"

"I ... I am young and pretty. I am old enough for Americans but look ... younger."

"I see."

Kara spoke for the first time. "So, you were hired to be Frank's guide and sex toy?"

"Hai." I'm pretty sure her bowed face was blushing. "If he accept me. If Frank tells me to leave, I leave."

I gave Kara a quick update on the situation silently. I'm sure Yusa was wondering why we sat there silently for so long, but so be it.

After I finished the summary, Kara grimaced slightly and responded mentally. "I had a pretty young boy ... sorry, I mean a young pretty-boy ... waiting for me in my room. He described himself as my guide, and I cut him off and told him to come back in the morning." She mentally and physically shrugged. "I was in a hurry."

Silently, I asked about other 'presents', and Alpha reassured me that we were the only two with gifts along those lines. I guess Kara, as my second in command and the day-to-day head of AARD, was the only other person who rated high enough for such consideration, just as we were the only two introduced as VIPs at parties. Plus Alpha, I suppose, but ... I briefly tried to imagine Alpha herself being provided an electronic guide and sex toy, but couldn't wrap my imagination around it.

Out loud, Kara asked, "So, Frank. Keep her or throw her back?" She put an arm around my shoulders, hugging me close to her.

"Keep her, I suppose. I have no objection to having a local guide."

"Good," Kara said as she stood up. "Come on, girlie."

Kara grabbed Yusa by a shoulder, helped her to her feet, then pushed her further into the hotel suite. Finding the bedroom was fairly easy, with only one wrong door opened.

Before we had gotten very far, Alpha silently addressed us.

"Two issues must be addressed first," Alpha said silently as one of the Alphadroids stepped in front of Yusa.

Aloud, Alpha said, "I need a small blood sample, Yusa. Please hold out one hand."

After looking at me and seeing no help, Yusa hesitantly held out her right hand. For me, it was immediately obvious that Alpha wanted to run a quick blood test on her to check for any communicable diseases. From her perspective, a robot was approaching her with a needle sticking out of one of its hands, vaguely similar to one of Wolverine's claws. The Alphadroid held Yusa's arm with one hand, and with the other, she quickly rubbed something onto her lower arm, inserted the needle for a few seconds, then withdrew it and rubbed something else onto the puncture spot.

The Alphadroid, obviously one of the two we had brought with customized medical hardware, inserted the needle into a compartment that opened in its midsection, injected the blood sample, then moved the needle to a second insertion point where I knew the needle was being quickly sterilized and cleaned.

"What's the other issue?" I asked over the silent link.

"There are three hidden cameras in your rooms. What do you want me to do with them?"

"Hidden cameras?" Kara asked incredulously, shocked into saying it out loud.