1
 
Eight Days until the Warcross Closing Ceremony  
 
 
Someone is watching me.
I can feel it--the eerie sensation of being followed, an invisible gaze locked on my back. It prickles my skin, and as I make my way through Tokyo's rain-soaked streets to meet up with the Phoenix Riders, I keep looking over my shoulder. People hurry by in a steady stream of colorful umbrellas and business suits, heels and oversize coats. I can't stop imagining their downcast faces all turned in my direction, no matter which way I go.
Maybe it's the paranoia that comes with years of being a bounty hunter. You're on a crowded street, I tell myself. No one's following you.
It's been three days since Hideo's algorithm was triggered. Technically, the world should now be the safest it's ever been. Every single person who has used the new Henka Games contact lenses--even just once--should now be completely under Hideo's control, rendered unable to break the law or harm another person.
Only the few who still use the beta lenses, like me, are unaffected.
So, in theory, I shouldn't be worried about someone following me. The algorithm won't let them do anything to hurt me.
But even as I think this, I slow down to stare at the long line wrapping around a local police station. There must be hundreds of people. They're all turning themselves in to the authorities for anything and everything unlawful they've ever done, from unpaid parking tickets to petty theft--even murder. It's been like this for the past three days.
My attention shifts to a police barricade at the end of the street. They're directing us to detour down a different block. Ambulance lights flash against the walls, illuminating a covered gurney being lifted into the vehicle. I only need to catch a glimpse of officers pointing up at the roof of a nearby building before I figure out what occurred here. Another criminal must have jumped to their death. Suicides like this have been peppering the news.
And I helped make all of this happen.
I swallow my unease and turn away. There's a subtle but significant blankness in everyone's eyes. They don't know an artificial hand is inside their minds, bending their free will.
Hideo's hand.
The reminder is enough to make me pause in the middle of the street and close my eyes. My fists clench and unclench, even as my heart lurches at his name. I'm such an idiot.
How can the thought of him fill me with disgust and desire at the same time? How can I stare in horror at this line of people waiting in the rain outside a police station--but still blush at my dream of being in Hideo's bed, running my hands along his back?
We're over. Forget him. I open my eyes again and continue on, trying to contain the anger beating in my chest.
By the time I duck into the heated halls of a Shinjuku shopping center, rain is coming down in wavy sheets, smearing the reflections of neon lights against the slick pavement.
Not that the storm is stopping preparations for the upcoming Warcross closing ceremony, which will mark the end of this year's games. With my beta lenses on, I can see the roads and sidewalks color-coded in hues of scarlet and gold. Each Tokyo district is highlighted like this right now, the streets shaded the colors of the most popular team in that neighborhood. Overhead, a lavish display of virtual fireworks is going off, piercing the dark sky with bursts of colored light. Shinjuku district's favorite team is the Phoenix Riders, so the fireworks here are currently forming the shape of a rising phoenix, arching its flaming neck in a cry of victory.
Every day over the next week or so, the top ten players of this year's championships will be announced worldwide after a vote by all Warcross fans. Those ten players will compete in a final, all-star tournament during the closing ceremony, and then spend a year as the biggest celebrities in the world before they play again next spring, in the opening ceremony's game. Like the one I once hacked into and disrupted, that upended my entire life and landed me here.
People on the streets are proudly dressed up as their top-ten vote this year. I see a few Asher lookalikes sporting his outfit from our championship game in the White World; someone's decked out as Jena, another as Roshan. Still others are arguing heatedly about the Final. There had obviously been a cheat--power-ups that shouldn't have been in play.
Of course, I had done that.
I adjust my face mask, letting my rainbow hair tumble out from underneath my red raincoat's hood. My rain boots squelch against the sidewalk. I have a randomized virtual face laid over my own, so at least people who are wearing their NeuroLink glasses or contacts will look at me and see a complete stranger. For the rare person who isn't, the face mask should cover enough to make me blend in with everyone else wearing masks on the street.
"Sugoi!" someone passing me exclaims, and when I turn, I see a pair of wide-eyed girls grinning at my hair. Their Japanese words translate into English in my view. "Wow! Good Emika Chen costume!"
They make a gesture like they want to take a photo of me, and I play along, putting up my hands in V-for-victory signs. Are you both under Hideo's control, too? I wonder.
The girls bob their heads in thanks and move along. I adjust my electric skateboard strapped over my shoulder. It's a good temporary disguise, pretending to be myself, but for someone used to stalking others, I still feel weirdly exposed.
 
Emi! Almost here?
 
Hammie's message appears before me as translucent white text, cutting through my tension. I smile instinctively and quicken my steps.
 
Almost.
 
It would've been easier, you know, if you'd just come with us.
 
I cast a glance over my shoulder again. It would've definitely been easier--but the last time I stayed in the same space as my teammates, Zero nearly killed us in an explosion.
 
I'm not an official Rider anymore. People would ask questions if they saw us heading out as a group tonight.
 
But you'd be safer if you did.
 
It's safer if I didn't.
 
I can practically hear her sigh. She sends the address of the bar again.
 
See you soon.
 
I pass through the mall and out the other side. Here, the colorful blocks of Shinjuku shift into the seedy streets of Kabukichō, Tokyo's red-light district. I tense my shoulders. It's not an unsafe area--certainly not compared to where I came from in New York--but the walls are covered with glowing screens featuring the services of beautiful girls and handsome, spiky-haired boys, along with shadier banners I don't want to understand.
Virtual models dressed in scanty outfits stand outside bars, beckoning visitors to enter. They ignore me when they realize my profile marks me as a foreigner and turn their attention to the more lucrative Japanese locals navigating the streets.
Still, I pick up my pace. No red-light district in the world is safe.
I duck into a narrow street on the border of Kabukichō. Piss Alley, so this cluster of little walkways is called. The Riders picked it for tonight because it's closed to tourists during the Warcross championship season. Scowling bodyguards in suits stand at the entrances and exits of the alleys, shooing away curious passersby.
I take down my disguise for a second so they can see my real identity. One bodyguard bows his head and lets me in.
Both sides of the alleys are lined with tiny sake bars and yakitori stands. Through each of their fogged glass doors, I can see the backs of other teams huddled in front of smoking grills, arguing loudly at virtual projections on the walls showing interviews with players. The scent of fresh rain mixes with aromas of garlic, miso, and fried meat.
I pull off my raincoat, shake it out, and fold it inside out into my backpack. Then I head to the last stall. This bar is a little bigger than the others, facing a quiet alley blocked off on either side. Its doorway is lit by a row of cheery red lanterns, and men in suits stand in strategic positions around it. One of them notices me and moves aside, ushering me forward.
I walk under the lanterns and enter through the sliding glass door. A curtain of warm air envelops me.
 
Checked into Midnight Sense Bar!
+500 Points. Daily Score: +950
Level 36 ;  N120,064
 
I find myself standing in a cozy room with a handful of filled seats arranged around a bar, where a chef is busy putting out bowls of ramen. He pauses to call out my arrival.
A round of greetings hits me as everyone turns in my direction.
There's Hammie, our Thief, and Roshan, our Shield. Asher, our Captain, is sitting on one of the stools with his stylish wheelchair folded behind him. Even Tremaine, who technically plays for the Demon Brigade, is here. He keeps his elbows propped up on the bar as he nods at me through the steam rising from his bowl. He's sitting away from Roshan, who's fiddling with a bracelet of prayer beads on his wrist and making a point of ignoring his former boyfriend.
My team. My friends. The eerie feeling of being watched subsides as I take in their faces.
Hammie waves me over. I slide gratefully into the empty stool beside her. The chef puts down a bowl of ramen before me and steps out to give us privacy. "The whole city's celebrating," I mutter. "People have no idea what Hideo's done."
She starts pulling her curls tight into a thick pouf high on her head. Then she juts her chin at a virtual screen playing footage from the Final against the wall. "You're just in time," she replies. "Hideo's about to make his announcement."
We stare at the screen as Hammie pours me a cup of tea. It now shows a room of reporters with their faces turned toward a massive stage, all waiting impatiently for Hideo to arrive. Kenn, the Warcross creative director, and Mari Nakamura, Henka Games' chief operating officer, are already there, whispering to each other.
The room on the screen suddenly bursts into commotion as Hideo walks onstage. He straightens the lapels of his suit jacket once as he strides over to join his companions, shaking hands as he goes with his usual cool, careful grace.
Even the sight of him onscreen feels as overwhelming as if he'd walked right into this bar. All I see is the same boy I've watched my whole life, the face I'd stop to look for at newsstands and take in on TV. I dig my nails into the counter, trying not to show how embarrassingly weak it makes me feel.
Hammie notices. She casts me a sympathetic glance. "No one expects you to be over him already," she says. "I know he's trying to take over the world and all, but he still rocks a suit harder than a Balmain catwalk."
Asher scowls. "I'm right here."
"I didn't say I wanted to date him," Hammie replies, reaching over to pat Asher's cheek once.
I look on as Hideo and Kenn talk in low voices and wonder how much Kenn and Mari know about Hideo's plans. Has the entire company been in on this all along? Is it possible to keep such a thing secret? Would that many people take part in something so awful?
"As you all know," Hideo begins, "a cheat was activated during the Final of this year's championship that benefited one team--the Phoenix Riders--over the other--Team Andromeda. After reviewing the matter with our creative team"--he pauses to glance at Kenn--"it seems the cheat was activated not by one of the players, but by an outside party. We've decided the best way to resolve this, then, is to hold an official rematch between Team Andromeda and the Phoenix Riders, four days from today. This will be followed by the closing ceremony four days later."
An instant buzz of conversation fills the room at Hideo's words. Asher leans back and frowns at the screen. "Well, it's happening," he says to us all. "An official rematch. We've got three days to get ready."
Hammie slurps up a mouthful of noodles. "An official rematch," she echoes, although there's no enthusiasm in her voice. "Never happened in the history of the championships."
"Gonna be a lot of Phoenix Rider haters out there," Tremaine adds. Already, a few shouts of "Cheaters!" can be clearly heard from the other bars outside.
Asher shrugs. "Nothing we haven't faced before. Isn't that right, Blackbourne?"
Tremaine's expression is blank. The excitement of the new game is lost on all of us as we continue to stare at the screen. A rematch isn't the big news. If only those reporters knew what Hideo was really doing with the NeuroLink.
I'm tired of the horror in the world, he'd said to me. So I will force it to end.
"Well," Roshan begins, rubbing a hand across his face, "if Hideo's bothered by anything that's happened in the last few days, he's not showing it."
Tremaine's concentrating on something invisible in his view and tapping rapidly against the bar. A few weeks ago, I would've bristled at being in the same room as him. He still isn't my favorite person, and I keep waiting for him to sneer and call me Princess Peach again, but for now he's on our side. And we can use all the help we can get.
"Find anything?" I ask him.
"I dug up some solid numbers on how many people have the new lenses." Tremaine sits back and huffs out a sigh. "Ninety-eight percent."
I could cut the silence in here like a cake. Ninety-eight percent of all users are now controlled by Hideo's algorithm. I think of the long lines, the police tape. The sheer scale of it makes me dizzy.
"And the other two percent?" Asher manages to ask.
"Is made up of anybody still using the beta test lenses," Tremaine replies, "and who haven't switched over yet. Those folks are safe for now." He peers around the bar. "Us, of course, and a number of the official players, since we got the beta lenses before the full version went out. A lot of people in the Dark World, I bet. And the tiny number of people worldwide who don't use the NeuroLink at all. That's it. Everybody else is locked in."
No one wants to add anything to that. I don't say it out loud, but I know we can't stay on the beta lenses forever. Word on the street is that those lenses will download a patch that converts them into algorithm lenses on the day of the Warcross closing ceremony.
That's happening in eight days.
"Seven days of freedom left," Asher finally says, voicing what we're all thinking. "If you want to rob a bank, now's your chance."
I glance at Tremaine. "Any luck digging up more info about the algorithm itself?"
He shakes his head and pulls up a screen for all of us to see. It's a maze of glowing letters. "I can't even find the faintest trace of it. See this?" He stops to point at a block of code. "The main log-on sequence? Something should be here."
"You're saying it's impossible that there's an algorithm here," I reply.
"I'm saying it's impossible, yes. It's like watching a chair float in midair without any wires."
It's the same conclusion I came up with over the past few sleepless nights. I'd spent them searching every crevice of the NeuroLink. Nothing. However Hideo is implementing his algorithm, I can't find it.
I sigh. "The only way to access it might be through Hideo himself."
On the screen, Hideo is answering questions from the press now. His face is serious, his stance easy, and his hair perfectly tousled. As put together as ever. How does he stay so calm? I lean forward, as if the few moments we'd had together in our brief relationship were enough for me to see what he's thinking.
My dream from last night flashes through my mind again, and I can almost feel his hands running down my bare arms, his expression undone. I'm sorry, he'd whispered. Then, the dark silhouette watching me from the corner of the room. The glass all around us shattering.
"And what about you?" Tremaine says, snapping me out of my reverie. "Heard anything new from Zero? Have you contacted Hideo?"
I take a deep breath and shake my head. "I haven't reached out to anyone. Not yet, anyway."
"You're not still seriously thinking about Zero's offer, are you?" Asher has his head propped against one hand, and he's looking warily at me. It's the same expression he used to give me as a Captain, whenever he thought I wasn't going to listen to his commands. "Don't do it. It's obviously a trap."
"Hideo was a trap, too, Ash," Hammie says. "And none of us saw that coming."
"Yeah, well, Hideo never tried to blow up our dorm," Asher mutters. "Look--even if Zero is serious about wanting Emi to join him in stopping Hideo, there's got to be some strings attached. He's not exactly a model citizen. His help might come with more problems than it's worth."
Tremaine rests his elbows against the counter. I'm still not used to seeing genuine concern on his face, but it's comforting. A reminder that I'm not alone. "If you and I work together, Em, we can try to avoid Zero's help. There have got to be hints about Sasuke Tanaka out there somewhere."
"Sasuke Tanaka vanished without a trace," Roshan says. His quiet voice is cool and cutting as he wraps a length of noodle around his chopsticks.
Tremaine glances at him. "There is always a trace," he replies.
Asher speaks up before things turn more awkward between Roshan and Tremaine. "What if you contact Hideo first? Tell him you found out that his brother's alive. You said he created all of this--Warcross, the algorithm--because of his brother, right? Wouldn't he do anything for him?"
In my mind, I see Hideo look at me. Everything I do is because of him. He'd said that to me only a couple of weeks ago, in the steam of a hot spring, as we watched the stars wink into existence.
Even then, he'd been planning his algorithm. His words take on new meaning now, and I shrink inward, the warmth of that memory hardening into ice.
"If Zero really is his brother," I reply.
"Are you saying he isn't? We all saw it."
"I'm saying I can't be sure." I stir the noodles around my bowl, unable to work up an appetite.
Hammie tilts her head thoughtfully, and I can see the cogs of her chess mind working. "It could be someone who stole Sasuke's identity. It could be someone trying to throw people off his trail by using a dead boy's name."
"Ghosting," I murmur in agreement. I know the term for it because I've done it before.
"Emi can't tell Hideo something this big if it might not even be true," Hammie continues. "It could make him do something unpredictable. We need proof first."
Roshan suddenly gets up. His chair scoots back with a grating clatter against the floor. I glance abruptly up to see him turning his back to us and heading out of the bar through the sliding door.
"Hey," Hammie calls out. "You okay?"
He pauses to look back at us. "Okay with what? That we're all sitting here, talking about the technicalities of how Emi should throw herself into a situation that might kill her?"
The rest of us halt in our conversation, words hanging unspoken in the air. I've never heard real anger in Roshan's voice before, and the sound seems wrong.
He looks around at his teammates before letting his eyes settle on me. "You don't owe Hideo anything," he says softly. "You did what you were hired to do. It's not your responsibility to dig deeper into this--into Zero's past or what happened between him and Hideo or even what he plans on doing to Hideo."
"Emi's the only one who--" Asher begins.
"Like you've always looked out for what she needs," Roshan snaps back. My eyebrow raises in surprise.
"Roshan," Asher says, watching him carefully.
But Roshan tightens his lips. "Look--if Zero's team is still set on stopping Hideo, then let him do it. Let the two of them go at each other. Step back and remove yourself from this. You don't have to do it. And none of us should be convincing you of anything different."
Before I can respond, Roshan turns away and heads out into the night air. The door slides shut behind him with a sharp bang. Around me, the others let out an inaudible breath.
Hammie shakes her head when I look at her. "It's because he's here," she mutters, nodding to Tremaine. "He throws Roshan off."
Tremaine clears his throat uncomfortably. "He's not wrong," he finally says. "About the danger, I mean."
I stare at the space where Roshan had been and picture his prayer beads sliding against his wrist. In my view, I can still see the last message from Zero sitting in my archives, the letters small and white and waiting.
 
My offer to you still stands.
 
Hammie sits back and crosses her arms. "Why are you going on with this?" she asks me.
"Is the fate of the world not enough of a reason?"
"No, there's more to it than that."
Irritation rises in my chest. "This is all happening because of me--I was directly involved."
Hammie doesn't back down from the edge in my words. "But you know it's not your fault. Tell me--why?"
I hesitate, not wanting to say it. In the corner of my view, I see Hideo's profile haloed in green. He's awake and online. It's enough to make me want to reach out and Link with him.
I hate that he still has this pull on me. After all, everyone has had that one person they can't help but obsess over. It's not like I haven't enjoyed flings that came and went in the span of a few weeks. And yet . . .
He's more than a fling or a bounty or a mark. He's forever bound to my history. The Hideo who has stolen the world's free will is still the same Hideo who grieved his brother so deeply that it left a permanent thread of silver in his dark hair. The same Hideo who loves his mother and father. The same Hideo who once lifted me out of my darkness and dared me to dream of better things.
I refuse to believe that he's nothing more than a monster. I can't watch him sink like this. I keep going because I need to find that boy again, the beating heart buried underneath his lie. I have to stop him in order to save him.
He was once the hand that pulled me up. Now I have to be his.
 
***
 
By  the  time  we  leave  the  bar,  it's  well  past  midnight,  and  the pouring rain has dwindled to a fine mist. Some people still dot the streets. The first two all-star players have just been announced, and virtual figures of them now hover under every streetlight in the city.
 
HAMILTON JIMÉNEZ of USA ; PHOENIX RIDERS
PARK JIMIN of SOUTH KOREA ; BLOODHOUNDS
 
Hammie barely glances at the images of her best in-game moves now dancing below the light posts. "You should head back with us," she says, eyeing the neighborhood.
"I'll be fine," I reassure her. If someone really is following me, best not to make it so that they're following my teammates, too.
"It's Kabukichō, Em."
I give her a wry smile. "So? Hideo's algorithm is running on most of these people now. What's there to be afraid of?"
"Very funny," Hammie responds with an exasperated lift of her eyebrow.
"Look, we shouldn't all be traveling together. You know that makes us too tempting a target, regardless of the algorithm. I'll call you when I'm in back in my hotel."
Hammie hears the note of finality in my voice. Her lips twist in frustration, but then she nods and starts to walk away. "Yeah, you better," she says over her shoulder, waving her hand at me as she hurries off.
I watch her join the others as they head toward the subway station, where a private car waits for them. I try to picture each of them before they were famous, the first times they arrived in Tokyo, whether or not they felt invisible enough to take the subway. Whether they felt alone.
When my teammates disappear into the haze of rain, I turn away.
I'm used to traveling by myself. Still, my solitude feels sharper now, and the space around me seems emptier without my teammates. I shove my hands back into my pockets and try to ignore the virtual male model that now saunters up to me with a smile, inviting me in English into one of the host clubs that line the street.
"Nope," I reply to him. He vanishes immediately, then resets at the entrance of the club and looks for another potential customer.
I tuck the rest of my hair completely under my hood and keep going. Just a week ago, I probably would've been walking with Hideo beside me. His arm wrapped around my waist, his coat over my shoulders. He might've been laughing at something I said.
But I'm on my own here, listening to the lonely splash of my boots in the dirty street puddles. The echo of water dripping from signs and overhangs keeps distracting me. It sounds like someone else's footsteps. The feeling of being watched has returned.
A static buzz vibrates in my ears. I pause for a moment at an intersection, tilting my head this way and that until it stops.
I glance again at Hideo's green-haloed icon in my view. Where is he now, and what is he doing? I imagine contacting him, his virtual form appearing before me, as Asher's question rings in my ears. What if I did tell him about Zero's connection to his brother? Would it be so bad to see what happens, even without being entirely sure?
I clench my teeth, annoyed with myself for thinking of excuses to hear his voice. If I just give myself enough distance from him and focus on this whole thing like it's a job, then maybe I'll stop wanting to be near him so much.
The static buzzes in my ear again. This time I halt and listen carefully. Nothing. Only a few people are on the street with me now, each a nondescript silhouette. Maybe someone's trying to hack me. I start an inspection of my NeuroLink system to make sure everything's in order. Green text floats past my view, the scan looking normal.
Until it skips over running a diagnostic on my messages.
I frown, but before I can examine it closer, all the text vanishes from my view. It's replaced by a single sentence.
 
I'm still waiting, Emika.
 
Every hair on the back of my neck rises. It's Zero.

---

Excerpted from Wildcard by Marie Lu
All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.