Free Tokyo Love by Diana Jean Page A

window in the night, hoping for a breeze to cut the humidity. The room was pleasantly cool and she lay in her bed, appreciating that she could just relax. It was Sunday and, barring a total meltdown at the factory, she had the day off.
    She stretched and buried herself a little further into her duvet. She was perfectly content to lie around until noon.
    Her doorbell rang.
    Yuriko frowned. If that was Fujioka-
san
asking her to watch her dogs because she was going on another sudden business trip, then Yuriko was going to pretend to be asleep. Fujioka-
san
’s dogs drooled about a bucket of saliva a day and tried to pull her arm from her socket when they went for walks.
    The doorbell kept ringing and Yuriko found herself getting into a rather foul mood. Her phone-bracelet buzzed on the bed stand. She reached over and tapped it, reading the text projected in the morning light.
    Sorry! I’m having a crisis! Are you home?
    It was from Kathleen Schmitt.
    Yuriko sat up, slipping on the bracelet to see the display better.
    What is wrong?
    Surely she couldn’t have gotten lost so early in the morning. Perhaps she was at the supermarket and freaking out over which
nikuman
to get. The thought almost made Yuriko smile. Probably with any other person, Yuriko would have been annoyed by such a show of helplessness. But Kathleen was, well, she made it look kind of cute.
    Please, answer the door. It’s hard to explain.
    Yuriko stood up and threw on some sweatpants, not bothering to change her pajama shirt. If Kathleen required her to get properly dressed, then she could find someone else. Yuriko opened the door.
    Kathleen was in the midst of tapping out another text on her wrist. But she looked up, pale and wide-eyed. “I’m so sorry, but I wasn’t sure who to call.”
    Yuriko folded her arms. “What exactly is the problem?
    Kathleen made an odd gesture with her hands. “It’s … can you come over to my place?”
    “Can you not explain it here?”
    “More like I can’t bring it here.” Kathleen reached out, gripping her elbow. “Please, you’ll understand when you see.”
    Her hand was shaking where it touched Yuriko. “All right, but this better be worth it.”
    Kathleen tugged her down to her door, stumbling to unlock it. But as she opened the door, she hesitated. “Also, this totally isn’t what it looks like.”
    Yuriko was about to ask, but Kathleen opened the door and she could see into the small apartment.
    A woman lay there, wearing no clothes and twitching slightly on the floor. She was lying face down, long black hair fanned around her. Yuriko took a step forward, a little stunned. Who was she? What was wrong? Had Kathleen called an ambulance? Did she know how?
    Kathleen rushed forward. “She’s not … it’s not … it’s a PLC!” She knelt beside the woman, holding up a wrist.
    Yuriko approached slowly. “But the PLC hasn’t even gone beta yet.”
    Kathleen shook her head as she tapped the wrist. Yuriko could see now that it was transmitting to Kathleen’s computer, where lines of code were being displayed. “This is … something of a pre-beta. I was given a PLC to run some field tests. It’s only been a couple days, but now she’s having some sort of breakdown and I can’t figure it out.” As she spoke, her eyes were locked to the computer display. She turned to Yuriko, pleading. “I think I broke her and I’m totally going to get fired. You have to help me.”
    Yuriko looking back to the body. “Your PLC is a woman?” she asked without thinking. She stared at Kathleen, feeling like her entire perception of the woman was tilting slightly. She hadn’t even considered that Kathleen was …
    Kathleen’s face went from white to a deep red. “Well, yes … but it’s not what it seems. It’s actually a mistake! She was supposed to be male. There must have been sort of problem that we haven’t figured out. She, uh, actually has quite a few physical … problems. But that’s not important! I