2079--MÖRK TIDLINJE, SIMULERAD AV VITA LOFGREN

Junji tapped his fingers against the table space in front of him as he tried not to think about his life too hard.

He pulled his phone out of his bag. The council was still only half seated and talking amongst themselves, so Junji figured he had enough time to make a request even though he knew it would likely make the grey stripes on the sides of his head even wider.

To Gamer Gril

Hello.

Tala replied almost immediately, as she always did.

From Gamer Gril

what do you want

Junji frowned.

To Gamer Gril

I'm sorry.

From Gamer Gril

look, i'm not mad that you like, enslaved everyone

From Gamer Gril

its just that since you left and tex went on that missionary trip and barton died in the war trying to overthrow you and stuff, i had to replace you with randos

Junji winced at the stab of pain between his ribs that Tex's name brought him.

To Gamer Gril

I'm sorry.

From Gamer Gril

just tell me what you want. is this a booty call?

To Gamer Gril

I haven't had an orgasm since 2074

From Gamer Gril

oof

From Gamer Gril

then I'm assuming you want to see the screen of the pain finder thing

To Gamer Gril

Yes.

From Gamer Gril

i can send it to you, but I can tell you now it probably won't be super inspiring to you or anything

Junji exhaled and ran his thumb between his eyebrows.

To Gamer Gril

How bad is it?

From Gamer Gril

there’s more pink than there was the last time you asked

To Gamer Gril

Be specific.

From Gamer Gril

if I measured discomfort in paper cuts, the amount of discomfort felt yearly per person would be about

From Gamer Gril

712000+10950x^(1+.0001x)

From Gamer Gril

with ‘x’ being the number of years since 2073

From Gamer Gril

and yes i accounted for population growth

To Gamer Gril

Hmm...

From Gamer Gril

if it makes you feel better it was already getting worse at a similar rate since waaaay before you took over

From Gamer Gril

and it's not like all those horrible things you profited off of that you haven't been able to fully eliminate weren't already there before

"Mr. Tagawa, would you please stop texting in the center of your own courtroom?" a woman's voice asked.

Junji looked over to the judge to see she was giving him a patronizing glare.

"Yes. My apologies." Junji replied as he put his phone back in his bag and placed his bare elbows on the table space in front of him.

It had been a while since he'd been in court, and he recognized almost no one in the room. He'd gotten in the habit of demoting his direct underlings, as he could never take their horrendous drives to suck-up.

"Mr. Tagawa." the judge said with a sigh, and the council stopped talking amongst themselves. "We have gathered here today to address the claim you've made against David Herman, your Chief Financial Advisor."

Junji had been given a view of the entrance to the hallway and his opponent David Herman, who was sitting on a lower platform next to the judge.

Herman looked as bored as he was confused to be there.

"Yes." Junji stated.

"Would you, for the purpose of clarity," the judge continued, "like to restate that claim?"

Junji nodded.

"David Herman has broken regulation twenty-three ten in only the most egregious way imaginable." he answered. "I wish to have him removed from office at once."

"Mr. Herman." the judge replied. "Will you please present your qualifications?"

Herman reached halfway to where his front pocket would have been before remembering he, like everyone else in the room, was naked. A moment later, he pulled his wallet out of the bag on the table in front of him.

"Here's my ID, and my Lofgrenian compass results." Herman answered, turning his cards so that the room could see.

Although Junji was a good twenty feet away, he was interested enough in the Lofgrenian compass results to squint until he could see them.

Dr. Lofgren had not approved of the Lofgrenian compass.

"Thank you, Mr. Herman." said the judge. "Tell me, do you believe you've broken regulation twenty-three ten?"

"No." Herman replied.

The judge wrote something down on a paper in front of her and hit it with a few stamps. Junji doubted that Herman truly wasn't aware of the rules he'd broken, but he kept his hands folded together.

"Tagawa." the judge pushed. "What evidence can you provide for Herman having broken regulation twenty-three ten?"

"This financial report." Junji answered as he pulled the paper packet from his bag. "I received it from Herman several days ago to discover an unauthorized profit of seventeen trillion credits. Upon further examination, I found that the profits came from an overcharge of fines."

"Regulation twenty-three ten states that in the case of an accidental or otherwise illegal pregnancy, both parents will be fined twenty percent of their yearly earnings with ten percent yearly interest. Is this correct?"

"Yes."

"Herman, do you believe you've fined anyone unlawfully?"

"No." Herman repeated.

Junji did his best not to scoff. An assistant took the paper report from him and brought it over to the judge, who put on a tiny pair of glasses to examine it.

"If what you're saying is true, how do you explain where these seventeen trillion credits came from?" asked the judge.

Herman returned the judge's stare with a sort of half-hearted shrug.

"I...invented a regulation loophole?" he replied.

Along with everyone else in the room, the judge nodded and let out a breath of new understanding.

"For the purpose of legalities, could you please tell us which regulations you've exploited for your loophole?" the judge continued.

"Regulations twenty-three fourteen and twenty-three ten." answered Herman.

"And will you explain how your loophole functions? If your loophole passes the loophole requirements, we will add it to the list of acceptable loopholes."

"Of course. May I use the board?"

"Very well."

'List of accepted loopholes?' Junji mouthed.

An assistant quickly wheeled a vertical whiteboard over to Herman and handed him a black marker. Herman took a seat on the side of his table and began to write.

"Regulation twenty-three fourteen states that if the combined income of two parents is less than a hundred thousand credits per year," he started, raising his voice, "they will be given a zero interest loan to reach one hundred thousand credits each year until their child is old enough to attend federally provided schooling. Is this correct?"

The judge looked at Junji.

"Yes." Junji replied.

"And as we've established," Herman continued, "regulation twenty-three ten states that in the case of an accidental or otherwise illegal pregnancy, both parents will be fined twenty percent of their yearly earnings with ten percent yearly interest."

"Yes, I remember writing it."

"Now. Let's say the combined income of a family is fifteen thousand credits a year.”

Herman turned away from the board, giving the room a good view of what he'd written.

1) 15,000 credits a year

2) +loan of 85,000 credits brings yearly earnings to 100,000 credits

3) 20% of 100,000 is 20,000, giving us an initial 5,000 credit profit in addition to interest made

The council began to whisper to each other and compare papers. A man near the end of the room left his seat to mutter something to the judge, who listened to his words with interest.

"After consulting the regulation loophole regulations, we've concluded that your loophole passes the loophole validity requirements and will be added to the list of approved under-the-table loopholes." the judge announced.

The judge grabbed an official piece of parchment from under her table and began to stamp it.

“The fine that citizens pay for accidental pregnancies should be calculated before the loan is applied.” Junji said through his teeth.

More whispering was passed around the room, louder this time.

"The regulation never specifies that." the judge replied.

"Why would my regulation specify that?" asked Junji. "Why would you think to define a flat loan as an earning?"

Junji's question was met with unanimous laughter.

"It's within our best interest." the judge explained.

"I think that Tagawa just might not understand the potential of the situation." Herman said with a jab of his thumb. "Calculating the fine rates after the loan is counted towards their yearly earnings significantly increases the amount of compound interest--"

"Compound?" Junji spat. "You're using compound interest!?"

A few council members in the front row flinched, but everyone else just looked amused.

"Do you have a problem with that?" the judge asked blankly.

"Regulation ten fifteen specifies a ban on compound interest." Junji replied.

"Ten fifteen specifies a ban on interest compounding weekly, monthly, or yearly. Which is why we've been compounding interest bimonthly."

Junji had to give a few empty coughs before he felt able to speak.

"Why would you do this?" he managed.

"We thought it was what you wanted." the judge replied.

"Do you think me a demon spawn? Why would I want you to create an underclass of debt slaves!?"

Herman let out an amused hum and gave each side of the room a cocky glance.

"Look at it this way." he started. "We're only in charge of one planet right now. But the more we monetize the system we have now, the sooner we can expand our influence to other plan--what are you writing?"

"Regulation twenty-three ten point five." Junji read aloud as he scribbled. "In the case of an accidental or otherwise illegal pregnancy, the calculation of yearly income in regards to twenty-three fourteen's twenty percent fine cannot include any government mandated--."

"Excuse me, Tagawa," the judge cut in, "but regulation twelve thirteen states that any proposed new regulations must be first approved by the Grand Overseer--"

"I am the Grand Overseer."

"--as well as approved by the Grand Council."

Junji found himself unable to speak. In his wildest thoughts, he'd never imagined that a human being could even be capable of doing something as bizarre or revolting as using bureaucracy for bad things.

"How do you think he's going to take it when he learns about Operation Distribute Intentionally Faulty Contraceptives?" Herman muttered to the judge.

The judge let out a tiny snicker and looked back down at her podium.

Junji reached into his bag. The moment he'd gotten his hand around a dagger, he whipped it out and sent it flying towards Herman, where it embedded itself squarely in his chest.

Simultaneously, every member of the council grabbed the gun strapped to their hip and pointed it in Junji's direction.

"Mr. Tagawa, are you aware that you've committed violation knife stab?" the judge asked as she pushed her glasses up her nose.

Junji squared his jaw as he considered his options. He would escape the building and the country and create a new establishment to tear the last one down, that much was obvious. But he wasn't sure how to leave. He had his own security team willing to help him, but all the members who were currently present had guns aimed at his head. And there was an escape tunnel in his office, but his office was heavily monitored for his protection.

He had no one but himself. Underneath his table, Junji flexed the muscles in his abdomen with as much force as he could manage until the thin tube he was searching for exited his vaginal cavity and entered his hand.

"Put your hands in view, Tagawa." the judge ordered.

Junji let his hands slowly rise, but not before he'd dropped the miniature flashbang onto his foot and rolled it out onto the floor with a barely noticeable scratching sound.

"Duck!" a council member yelled.

Junji was on his feet and headed in a frantic line for the door a quarter second after the bang went off. He felt what might perhaps be the last bit of amusement he would ever experience as the council's positioning crumbled.

"Requesting back-up." the judge said into a small black box. "Seal all the exits, don't let Tagawa through.....Yes, you heard me."

About two thirds of the council decided to put down their guns in the chaos, but the others chose to wildly fire. A few screams told Junji that some friendly fire had been exchanged, although it wasn't until he was already through the opening.

There was still a hallway he had to get through. He could see two armed and clothed guards rush out from the adjacent hall, both of them settling squarely in front of the double doors. Junji briefly considered making a one eighty when two more guns were pulled on him, although he was probably going to end up getting shot either way. So after tensing his abdomen into his hand once again, he braced himself and continued to close the distance to the door.

There were two more bangs. Junji found himself concerned for his ears.

The bullet on the left missed him, but the bullet on the right embedded itself in his shoulder. For once in his life, Junji let adrenaline overtake him so he could keep his stride steady enough to intimidate both the guards.

His intimidation was successful, moreso on the left guard than the right. Junji baited the right guard upon his arrival into tackling him.

All the air left Junji's lungs when he landed on his back with two hundred pounds on top of him. Still, Junji managed to stick the miniature blade in his hand through the guard's leg armor.

The guard shouted in pain after just a moment. It would take a while for the poison to kill, but it weakened him immediately.

Junji frowned as he twisted the guard's gun out of his grasp. He felt a note of regret that he'd had to kill the guard, although he hadn't been able to acquire a non lethal substance that acted quickly enough.

Perhaps the guard would be attended to.

The other guard was examining the situation with uncertainty. He aimed a stomp at Junji's arm, but Junji managed to shoot him in the thigh before his foot could come down.

"Damn it!" the guard shouted.

Junji shot again, this time into his chest. Once the second guard had crumpled to the ground, Junji was left only with the issues of his own wound and the two hundred pounds of guard still pinning him to the ground.

"...nonlethal for questioning." he heard the judge say. "There, he's by the door."

While it was true that Junji had nearly forgotten about the council still coming after him from the courtroom, he was able to adapt to the situation by using all his strength to prop the guard on top of him up as a human shield.

There was a bang and a shattering sound as one of the council members fired on the glass door. The judge appeared to be shouting, but Junji's eardrums were ringing too loudly for him to hear.

Junji looked down to see that more than one shard of glass had entered his body. He might have taken his chances jumping through the sharp hole in the door, had he not noticed that what might as well have been his entire police force was waiting for him on the other side.

The council had advanced on him by the time he'd turned his attention back to them. Junji crumpled to the ground in a painful twitching ball when the judge shot a taser at his chest, although it only seemed like overkill at that point.

It took a few long seconds until Junji realized she was speaking.

"...and a friendly fire violation." the judge continued. "I daresay that's enough to remove you from office."

Junji had to cough up several mouthfuls of saliva and blood before he was able to speak.

"I've been--here for six years." Junji stammered, spitting as much blood as he could manage while ignoring the mixture of pain across several points in his body. "You owe--your very creation to me."

"And for that, we're thankful." she replied.

The judge motioned for everyone but herself to put down her gun, but by the time she'd looked back, Junji had already completed the sequence of thought commands necessary to rip himself down to the cubic millimeter.

|

Dr. Lofgren had also sent a text file by the time the video had ended. Tex opened it to see she'd left a reminder that her machine wasn't always accurate, but that it was probably accurate enough. She'd also found it amusing that, in a way, her machine had been able to predict its own inaccuracy, although she seemed more concerned for Junji than anything else.

Tex only realized after he'd finished reading that he'd been biting his lip hard enough to make it bleed.

Part of him wanted to wait to share the simulation with Junji. He also found himself tempted to simply send Junji the video file instead of showing it to him directly, but he was too nervous to leave Junji alone and knew in his heart it would be worse the longer he waited.

He only stopped at his own room for a moment to put the video file on a flash drive. Once he'd finished, he went straight back to Junji's apartment.

It wasn't a fun walk.

Junji's apartment door was still unlocked. Tex closed it behind him as quietly as possible, but Junji was stirring by the time Tex had gotten back to the living room.

"Did you leave?" Junji muttered, pulling his face out of Pikachu's stomach.

"For a minute." Tex replied. "Thought you were asleep."

"Yes, but I shouldn't be. I need to keep my sleep schedule in order."

Junji unfolded himself into a seated position and stretched his arms above his head.

"You look like you have something to tell me." he said, his eyes catching against Tex's face.

"Um."

"What's that in your hand?"

Tex looked at his right hand to see he was holding the flashdrive out at an awkward angle. Junji stood up from the couch.

"I--got something for you to watch." Tex managed.

There was no sign of suspicion in Junji as he took the flashdrive from Tex's hand.

"What is it?" asked Junji.

"It's a surprise."

Tex winced to himself the moment he'd finished his sentence.

“I asked that Swedish doctor we met to send her--machine’s prediction of you finishing your plans.” he followed. “You know, the--breeding ones.”

“Oh. I did not know you knew about those.”

Tex wasn’t able to reply.

“But yes, I should consult the simulation.” Junji continued. “Perhaps it will allow me to fine tune my ideas. Have you seen it?”

“Uh, no.”

Junji brought the flashdrive over to his computer. Tex found himself hit with a wave of nausea.

"I'm gonna--go to the bathroom." Tex muttered as he left.

"Are you alright?"

Tex didn't answer until he'd shut the door.

"Yeah." he replied. "Just--start without me."

"...Alright."

Tex could just barely hear the click of Junji's mouse as he stared at himself in the mirror.

"This one?" he heard Junji ask. "The one called--frowney face dot mp5?"

"Uhuh."

Tex turned the faucet on low the second the muffled sound of the court scene began to seep through the door.

The video was about fifteen minutes long, if Tex remembered correctly. Which was why Tex spent the next quarter hour with his hand in his sweaty bangs, anxiously counting the amount of grey hairs he had on the sides of his head.

Specifically, he found fifty seven grey hairs. This was nine more than he'd had the year before. Furthermore, nine was a twenty-two percent higher increase than the seven he'd gained in 2068.

At least his hairline was intact.

It was only after Tex was finished scribbling his math down on a sheet of toilet paper that he realized he couldn't hear anything from the other room anymore. So after cracking open the bathroom door as quietly as he could, Tex peered out into Junji's living room.

Junji was nowhere to be seen.

"Junji?" Tex asked as he stepped out.

Junji wasn't in the living room, and he wasn't in the sidespace he slept in either.

Tex whirled around to see that the front door was locked. Tex hadn't done anything to it when he'd entered, so he could only assume that Junji had bolted.

With his phone in his hand, Tex checked the window's limited view to see no one in the street.

To Spoodge King

you good?

Several minutes passed with no response in sight. Tex paced the room with his hand still in his bangs, unintentionally pulling a few of his hairs out.

Tex called Junji three times to no avail. On the third time, he noticed a faint buzzing coming from one of the couch cushions.

He lifted it in horror to see that Junji had left his phone.

Tex could see from the time on his own phone that about ten minutes had passed since he'd left the bathroom. Junji was a fast enough runner to have gotten more than a mile away, and Tex had no way to know what direction he'd gone.

Panic creeped into Tex's brain as he considered what to do. His first instinct was to call someone for help, although he quickly decided to save the plan for a last resort after considering that more people learning about the situation would likely hurt Junji more.

His mind felt too clouded for him to calm down. He'd never been good at thinking straight when he knew someone was in pain--

It was at that moment Tex remembered he still had Tala's things.

Tex bolted to his bag and opened the compartment that he'd put Tala's laptop in. With shaking hands, he found the pain radar in a zippered pocket.

He zoomed in until he could only see a three mile radius.

There were several pink dots, each a slightly different shade. Tex's eyes were immediately drawn to one in particular, due to the fact that it was in the street rather than a house and was on the move.

It was traveling about twenty-five feet per second, so Tex assumed Junji had gotten a cab.

Tex rushed out the door without putting his jacket on and bolted down the stairs to the lobby. He began to worry on his way down that the dot could be something else, although he knew it was still his only lead.

The air outside was warmer than Tex would have expected it to be so late. He ran from his apartment to his parking space in about six minutes, weaving through traffic and ignoring both his burning lungs and the angry shouts from passerbys. He kept the radar in his hand and ended up fumbling with his car for a moment as he mixed it up with his key.

After twisting the key in the ignition and mounting the Pain Finder Thing to his air vent with a shoelace, Tex took off in the same direction as the dot.

The dot was still moving East. Tex wasn't nearly close enough to see the car, but he could see on the radar that when it merged onto the freeway. Tex turned to follow it and ran a red light to avoid getting spaced out further.

He did his best not to speed when he got on the freeway.

The road was as busy as always, but it was dark enough that Tex felt safe sneaking into the carpool lane. He couldn't remember the last time he'd driven without music. He would've thought the silence would have left him stewing in his own thoughts, but he found there wasn't much to listen to.

Exits began to pass at what felt like an exponential rate. Tex drove long enough to make it through the entire city.

The dot eventually took an exit for Roosevelt. Tex was still too far behind to see which car Junji was in, but he was happy enough to get off the freeway.

The dot continued onto the highway.

By one in the morning, Tex was reminded that he'd been tired before he'd started driving.

By three in the morning, Tex found himself wishing he'd brought a coffee.

He ended up doing a quick stop at the gas station to fill up his car and buy a cup to pee in. He would've hoped that the cold air would wake him up, but it only did so temporarily.

The sun was starting to rise by five in the morning. But when Tex found himself starting to drift, the threat of killing himself and possibly a stranger began to creep up on him.

Tex sighed in defeat and pulled into the parking lot of a Motel 6.

He stayed in his car, having no intentions of actually getting a room. He examined the pain radar to see that the dot was still moving.

Tex set an alarm on his phone for three hours forward. After zooming out to a wide radius on the radar, he used a glasses case and his last ounce of brain power to rig up his phone so he could record the dot's movement on the screen while he slept.

He wasn't sure if he ever ended up falling completely unconscious. It was more like he was in a half-awake fever dream, and by the time his alarm went off, he didn't feel like much time had passed at all.

After pausing the recording on his phone, Tex watched it over at twenty times speed to track the movements of the dot. He found that it had continued about a mile north before stopping at a highway bridge linking two halves of a forestry reserve.

He checked the pain radar to see that the dot still hadn't moved.

With growing nerves, Tex turned his car back on and set off towards the reserve. A few flares of panic did their best to shake him on the drive over, although he was too exhausted to humor them for very long.

The bridge was a concrete arch that was propped up about fifty feet over a crevice with a river. Tex could only see other cars as he drove over it, and nothing seemed out of the ordinary even when he passed over the exact spot on the pain radar where Junji's dot was.

It seemed most likely that Junji was at a different altitude. Once he'd passed over the bridge, Tex parked his car in the bike lane and hopped out onto sore feet.

It was an inconspicuously nice day outside, with early sun and an onslaught of chirping birds. Tex ignored the looks he got from passing cars as he jumped the fence and began to make his way down the hill.

The way down was all dirt and sandstone, at about a sixty degree angle. Tex found himself sliding more than walking. By the time he'd gotten to the bottom, his jeans were coated in a tan layer of dust.

According to the pain radar, Junji was about twenty feet in front of him.

Tex did a scan of the area to see nothing besides unkempt plant life and the shallow river. He considered calling out Junji's name, but he knew it would probably backfire.

He walked in the center of the ravine for more coverage, the icy river water washing over his shoes and soaking his socks. When he got on top of the spot the radar had brought him to, his eyes were drawn to a half trampled bush directly to his right.

Tex was slow and silent as he approached the bush. When he lifted a large branch, he was greeted to a confusing sight.

Junji was lying in a small square hole about three feet deep. He was in the fetal position, facing away from Tex, and the finger tracks in the dirt implied that he'd dug the hole himself.

It was almost funny.

"Jesus Christ." Tex whispered.

Junji flinched weakly at Tex's words. A moment later, he shoved his face into the side of his hole.

Tex unzipped his coat and knelt down next to Junji's body.

"Dō yatte watashi o mitsuketa no." Junji muttered as he used his hand to dump a small pile of dirt onto himself.

"What are you doing here?" asked Tex.

"Let me die."

With a grunt, Tex reached into the hole and used his last smidgen of energy to pull Junji's body out. Junji stayed curled up as Tex fell into a sitting position and wrapped the sides of his coat around the both of them.

"Please come back with me." Tex coughed, choking on the cloud of dirt that filled the air. "Please."

"I don't want to go."

"I miss you."

Junji coughed out a tiny noise of bewilderment into Tex's shirt.

"How could you miss me after this?" he whispered.

"Why wouldn't I?"

It took Junji a moment to reply. Tex pulled his coat tighter around the two of them.

"I've done horrible things to get where I am." he explained.

"I know."

"And I have nothing--"

Junji's entire body tensed in Tex's arms.

"--to show for it." he finished.

"I don't care. You were the best thing to happen to me in years."

Junji shook his head, burrowing his face further into Tex's chest.

"That is an unbelievably depressing notion." said Junji.

"Had me shocked, too. Never thought I'd love a tankie."

Junji's body shook violently as he started to sob. Tex had never experienced the sound before, although he wasn't surprised to hear it.

"You don't understand.” Junji managed. “There is no going back for me.”

"What else are you gonna do?" Tex replied.

"I can't deal with the guilt. I'll live under this bridge until I die--"

"Christ."

"--and throw my feces at passerbys--"

"Seems a little over the top."

For just a few seconds, Junji's cries were overtaken by shrill laughter. Tex exhaled in relief at the sound.

"How foolish of you to forgive me." Junji muttered. "I suppose it's only because you can't comprehend the ramifications of what I've done."

"I understand plenty."

"I've exploited every market beyond repair. And I've killed so many people."

"Uhuh."

Junji paused for a moment to suck in a breath.

"Society will crumble. Food production and electricity will become scarce, and the Amish will come into rule." he continued, placing his fist on Tex's chest. "Their reign will be just until they become corrupted by power."

Tex replied with a laugh of his own.

"Let it happen." he replied. "We were due for a restart."

"But not like this. The previous politicians will be rightfully overthrown but then will be pointlessly tortured by the angry citizens."

Junji let out a sudden gasp.

"I've just realized." he followed as he unfolded himself. "Because we know this will happen, it's now our duty to mercy kill all the politicians as soon as possible."

Once he’d gotten out of Tex’s grasp, Junji got to his feet and began to make a beeline for the hill.

"How bout this." Tex stated, grabbing Junji by the collar before he could get too far. "I take you home, you take a--shower, then we both watch one of them Japanese movies with subtitles you never shut up about."

Junji turned around. His face was filthy, but Tex knew he probably didn't look much better.

"...I may cry." Junji replied.

"That's alright."

As exhausted as Junji looked, he still managed to climb out of the ravine faster than Tex did. It might have bothered Tex on a different day, although all that was on his mind was getting back to the car.

Junji fell asleep and stayed asleep for the entire drive over. Tex felt weak from his lack of rest and emotional exhaustion, but the feeling of relief and the desire to make Junji happy again overpowered his mood.

Tex dropped Junji off at the front of their building before parking his car. They never ended up getting to the movie that day, as Junji was out like a rock again on his mattress by the time Tex got back. They did end up watching it when they woke up, and Tex found himself spending the next three nights on Junji's couch.

Junji had wanted the company. Tex had mostly just wanted to make sure Junji didn't kill himself.

There was still the question of what Junji was going to do with the money he'd made, but Tex didn't ask it even when Junji was well enough to live by himself. Although he didn't seem ready to come back to work, so Tex told the rest of the group that Junji had gotten a cold and they ended up taking Sean on their next job.

Tex didn't tell a single soul besides Dr. Lofgren what had happened.

By the time the fifth day passed, Tex realized there was something he'd been putting off for too long. Before he could forget yet again, Tex set himself down at his table with a piece of paper and a pen.

Dear Lida,

I know it shouldn’t have taken as long as it did for me to get around to writing this. Here it is anyway.

I've seen good relationships, and I've seen my parents' relationship. After spending eight years seeing the way my dad treated my mama, the idea that a bad relationship didn't have a victim and a villain seemed like a radical one.

Our relationship was bad, from our inability to communicate to our resentment to our sex life. Sex with you was always hate sex, although I couldn't figure out which one of us I hated. I had a tendency to go back and forth between the two of us, between being angry at you and angry at myself. But what I've recently realized is that my anger, along with my inability to cut my losses with us and instead dragging things out, is because somewhere along the way I got it into my head that one of us had to have been irredeemable for us to have been this bad. And I didn't want it to be me.

I guess that what I'm trying to say is that I think it would be better for both of us to be apart, but I don't blame you for that. It ain't that I don't think you're worth putting aside the time to fix our problems, it's that I recognize that the issues I have and the issues you have don't mesh well together. I don't hate you. I don't hate myself either, although there are a couple things I'm sorry for; number one being cutting you out without an explanation.

PS: Junji thinks we should still meet up sometimes to screw. Can't say I think that's a bad arrangement.

PS: Junji thinks we should still meet up sometimes to screw. I reckon he just wants to watch.

PS: You owe Tala a kidney.

PS: Still don't think you should've stabbed me in the kidney for sabotaging your run for mayor. Teaching chimpanzees to use guns to scare the North was a bad campaign and you know it.

Tex ended up not having a postage script.

After he'd finished with the letter, he slid it into an envelope with the address of Lida's office and the first stamp he'd used in a long time.

The mailboxes were all in the downstairs lobby. Tex barreled down the stairs quickly enough that he ended up exiting them with too much speed and nearly crashed into the glass exit door.

Junji was on the other side, looking confused. Tex opened the door for him.

"Oh." said Junji. "Hello, Dallas."

Junji's expression wasn't as hollow as it had been before, but his mouth was curved at a slightly harsher downwards angle and he still hadn’t shaved the incredibly patchy layer of stubble he’d grown.

At least he'd showered.

"Howdy." Tex greeted. "You holding up?"

"Apparently. Were you going somewhere?"

"Mail. Care to join me?"

Junji's mouth twisted in consideration.

"Yes." he answered. "There's something I wish to speak to you about."

"Yeah?" Tex replied as he took off, motioning for Junji to follow.

Junji fully examined their surroundings before giving a response.

"As you know, I'm currently worth a large amount of money." he started once he saw they were alone.

"Really." Tex stated.

"And I've decided to buy an island."

"...Can't say I was expecting that. What are you, selling out?"

"I am doing it primarily for my safety, although I was also considering using it as a research facility."

"Researching what?"

"Various things. Ying and I have always been interested in the ways many genres of...unsponsored scientific studies could help the public."

Although Tex was happy to hear that Junji had managed to apply himself, a new sinking feeling took over him.

"You ever gonna come back?" Tex asked.

"When this all blows over, yes. I suspect the assassination attempts will falter now that I've pulled myself out of every market."

Tex breathed out a silent sigh of relief.

"And you are welcome to visit me in the meantime." followed Junji.

"Be my pleasure."

"I will be wanting your input on the ethics of my experiments, as at this point I trust your judgement more than mine."

Tex was unsure how to reply. Junji let out a long exhale and drifted his eyes towards Tex's shoes.

"I can also try to expose the industries I've profited off of, although I can't promise they'll never reappear." he continued.

"Hey, I understand. Gotta say though, at least society ain't collapsed yet."

"Yes. Everything seems to be--running on steam for the time being."

"...Maybe it already was."

The conversation felt incomplete. Although Junji's departure made sense, Tex felt a tiny anti-climactic drop. And it was true that he didn't know what would happen to the economy. He wasn't sure how much Junji had changed, but it seemed unlikely that things could continue on as normal.

Tex wasn't that worried about it. He'd felt change was due for a while.

He was sure that his next few days would be busy, considering he'd have to tell the others something and get a temporary replacement for Junji. But in the meantime, Tex found himself with something more pressing on his mind.

The thing was, he'd always thought that Junji's tendency to value the potential for net goodness over more present, interpersonal goodness was what would lead to his hypothetical downfall. But interestingly enough, Tex knew his choice to inform Junji of his hypothetical downfall was inspired by the potential of net goodness.

Tex shook his head with an empty chuckle. He'd given up on expecting things to be simple.