Chap 5

Riki dreamed. He hadn't experienced such vivid dreams in a long time. Perhaps seeing Katze after four years had aroused a sense of foreboding that blackened his thoughts—or perhaps, shaken loose by truths he couldn't consciously contemplate, locked-away memories tore free from the vault of his mind. Either way, he dreamed of things he didn't want to remember.

Palace Tower, adorned with the name of the ancient goddess Eos. Iason's private room. The luxurious, spare-no-expense quarters befitted the most powerful person in Tanagura. While Riki didn't appreciate the quality of the furnishings, he did understand that they were high-class goods that didn't uselessly flaunt their existence. It was a kind of casual splendor, although a bit richer than popular taste allowed. Riki didn't know what the rooms of other elites looked like, but Iason's room didn't grate on him.

Not that he felt at home there. He was being fed and housed in a place where his own will was completely ignored. He was an eagle with clipped wings. Unable to do anything of his own accord, the mind-numbing conditions frayed at his nerves. Being shut up in Iason's rooms frustrated and irritated him until he was ready to explode.

"Why the hell won't this door open?" he growled to himself in exasperation. He pounded on the door with both hands, but nothing ever happened. Over the past several months, he'd learned the same lesson. He knew he should control himself, handle things coolly, and properly assess the situation, but he instead carried on like a stubborn child unable to cope. He knew what he was doing was useless, but he couldn't stop.

"I don't get it, Daryl!" he snapped. With no one else to release his smoldering emotions on, Riki glared at the only being in the room. "Didn't you say that after my coming-out party, I could go to the rec center or the salon whenever I wanted to? Why won't the door open?"

"I think that's because you still aren't wearing a pet ring."

Daryl's demeanor—his calm, contained, logical tone of voice—didn't change whether he was being screamed at by Riki or if he was going down on Riki. Daryl precisely answered only the questions Riki asked, perhaps because he was forbidden to talk about anything that went unsaid.

"A pet ring?"

"Yes. A ring with your registration number imprinted on it. You can't set foot outside this room if you're not wearing it."

It was the first time Riki heard of such a thing. It had been four months since he'd been waylaid in the underground dome in Sasan—Area 8 in Midas—and taken to Eos. Four months since Iason had told him, "From this day forth, you are my pet. We'll dispatch you to a party once I'm certain you won't embarrass me. I intend to ferret out whatever redeeming quality you have buried beneath your impertinence."

Though Iason had claimed undeniable ownership over Riki, Riki still had no idea what it meant to be a pet raised in Eos. His "training," rather, had pounded into the marrow of his bones every possible vulgar and humiliating meaning of the word.

"All pets wear them?"

"A necklace or earring or bracelet. There are various types and styles of rings, but every registered pet will always have one. They're the only form of personal ID permitted for pets."

"So if you've got a ring, you can go wherever you want?"

"If your master allows it."

Iason had taken Riki to a coming-out party held for new pets. He'd led him there by a leash attached to a collar around his neck. When Riki had found out that was the "uniform" in which pets made their debut, he'd nearly died from the humiliation. He'd still made his extreme displeasure obvious at the party, separating himself from the other smiling pets there. But lacking a ring of his own, Riki wasn't even considered an "official" pet.

According to Daryl, a pet didn't usually make its debut until after the ring had been attached. Riki wasn't sure how to interpret that. Did that mean he wasn't recognized as Iason's pet? Did that mean if he continued to defy Iason, he would eventually be expelled from Eos?

Such hopes were soon dashed. He was kept in Iason's room for half a year without a pet ring. The more Riki refused to submit, the more intense Iason's daily training became.

"How long are you going to keep me cooped up in here?"

"Until you've had enough, I suppose."

"No matter what you do, I'm not going to become the pet of some arrogant Master Blondy," Riki challenged, spitting out the honorific disdainfully. "Even you should have figured that out at the debut party."

Riki had swiftly gotten into trouble at that party. Parading around with a chip on his shoulder, a brawl had broken out. It left the participants convinced that slum mongrels were crude, ferocious, untamable animals.

But however brazen and embarrassing a display it was, Iason wasn't moved, even in private. Riki soon came to realize it was a facet of unshakable Blondy pride.

"Every party needs a little entertainment on the side. I hardly expected a slum mongrel to deport himself with gentlemanly manners. In any case, your debut as a pet is over and done with for the time being. That makes you my official pet, Riki."

"If that's so," Riki growled, "then hurry up and hand over my pet ring."

Iason made a cold smile, "Well, well. Asking for the leash of his own accord. This is a great step forward."

Riki caught his breath. The manipulative games—the sarcasm and derisive laughter—were part of his daily routine, but the thought of becoming a pet willingly was an abhorrent one.

"That's not it. Stuck in this room all day is driving me fucking crazy. If I had a pet ring, I could go somewhere else, right? So quit making a big deal out of the whole thing and hand the damned thing over."

Riki still couldn't leave the room without Iason leading him on a leash. Being deprived of a pet ring in the highly security-conscious Eos was an obvious punishment.

And the other pets made their feelings perfectly clear. They took pride in the freedom their rings gave them, and articulated that inbred sense of superiority. Though it was barbaric to make a slum mongrel a pet, at least he was being treated properly and kept to his quarters. They took comfort in that small detail.

Riki didn't care if they looked down at him. All he wanted was his freedom, too; not because of pride, but because going around bound by leash and collar wasn't something he could put up with for much longer. The oppressive feeling that came from being trapped every minute of the day rubbed him raw. With a pet ring, he could at least roam the interior of Eos.

"If that's the only way I can get out of these rooms, then I'll have to put up with it." Riki spoke the words in a more transparent manner than he'd intended. He bit his tongue, but it was already too late.

"I see... the mongrel is as stubborn as I expected. Fine, then. If you want a pet ring so much, I shall give you one."

Riki reflexively shrank away, sensing something ominous in Iason's voice—which was several degrees cooler than usual. Iason cast off his jacket. He strode nonchalantly up to Riki and grabbed his arm.

"Hey, ow! Let go!"

Iason dragged Riki into the bedroom and casually tossed him on the bed. The evident differences in their strength made Riki's head spin.

"I keep telling you!" Riki barked. "I'm not some kind of toy!" He was confused and concerned by Iason's unusual actions. When he wasn't careful, and didn't keep a close eye on the Blondy, he knew bad things were bound to happen.

"Take your clothes off."

Riki bit his lip. With an air of resignation, be stripped himself naked.

Don't ever make me tell you a second time.

If he dawdled, bitched, and moaned, Iason would give him twice the torment. Riki had learn that well. The humiliation of having Daryl wringing the come out of him with his mouth as Iason's finger dug deep inside him was the usual punishment. Decidedly not wanting that, Riki disrobed and turned to Iason.

And gawked in amazement.

Up until then, Iason hadn't even loosened collar of his shirt. Now he was calmly and elegantly removing his clothing.

What the... hell?

Completely confused, Riki stared in mute amazement. Iason, in turn, flashed a seductive smile. "What do you find so surprising? That the master wishes to sleep with his own pet? What could be wrong with that?"

At that moment, Riki regretted asking for the ring from the bottom of his heart.

Z-107M.

Riki's D-type pet ring was a custom-made unit, unlike the rings worn by other pets that were typically fashioned into jewelry. The ring Iason had made for Riki was, to his everlasting shame, a cock ring.

"Look at the mongrel. Look at those hickies he's got.

"They say Iason's sleeping with him."

"Impossible. Why would a master sleep with his pet?"

"It's been a year since his debut, and he hasn't shown up once at a sex soiree."

"Please! The thought of mating with that mongrel makes me sick."

"Then he must be doing it with the furniture."

"Idiot. They'd know better than that."

"Even an Academy-manufactured virgin gets broken in before being paired off. He hasn't been with anybody, right?"

"Word is that Iason's keeping him all to himself."

"Ugh. But it's not like the thing could refuse Iason Mink."

The backbiting, the sarcasm, the scorn—it was all on display in the salons. The leisure center where pets spent their free time overflowed with gossip, traded by the self-satisfied pets tended to by their fans and the ones satiating desires in secret back rooms.

But when Riki walked in, every pet stopped what it was doing. They stared at him, radiating undeniable rejection.

Except one. Among all the salon pets, there was one that wasn't intimidated and chose to speak to him.

"Hi. My name's Mimea—do you mind if I sit here?"

"Over here, Riki! Hurry!"

Mimea grasped Riki's hand. Without a moment's hesitation, the two of them ducked into one of the salon's private rooms and shoved the door closed behind them. Mimea turned around, placed her hands on Riki's cheeks, and sighed in relief.

"I'm glad it's not too bad."

"What?"

"Didn't your face get bruised during that fight yesterday?"

"Oh, that? It's nothing."

Daryl's reprimands for acting recklessly weren't enough to keep Riki grounded. Still, Riki knew he needed to be more careful or Iason would punish him. Even if Riki did pick a fight, he made sure word of it didn't leak outside the salon.

"But... you were bleeding. I was really afraid you wouldn't be able to leave your room."

"It wasn't enough to get me shut up in there."

"But doesn't Master Iason dote on you, Riki?"

Riki didn't know what could have possibly given rise to such a misunderstanding. He was momentarily at a loss for words.

"It's nothing like that," he said, vehemence coloring his words.

"Of course it is," Mimea stated emphatically. "You're the only one that's remained so beautiful for all this time."

Riki drew his eyebrows together, remembering the circumstances of his life that were the farthest things from "beautiful." If anybody but Mimea had uttered that line, the slightest whiff of sarcasm or derision would have sent him into a rage.

"The parties are so much fun, but as long as my master never says no, I can't refuse even the worst of partners. I can't make my master look bad, right?"

Oh—that's what she's talking about. At last understanding her point, Riki dropped his frame into the sofa. It's because Iason doesn't make me pair off.

Obedience and lasciviousness were a pet's primary charms, as they sought to increase their resale value through repeated sexual encounters. The exhibitionism and narcissism made Riki's flesh crawl, but that was the definition of a proper pet in Eos. A formal appearance like a debut meant the pets were the stars of the show from beginning to end. Aside from his debut party, Riki hardly ever made "formal" appearances—and Riki couldn't have made a worse impression at his debut. He was reminded all over again how loathed and despised a slum mongrel truly was, and he further understood the criminally inhuman heart of the Blondy who had made him a pet.

A sex soiree followed his debut, but he couldn't appear without a designated partner. Consequently, Riki had never appeared at a sex soiree. He wasn't sure he wanted to. The only other parties Riki knew anything about were the dress-up raves the pets flocked to afterward. No one gossiped about the soirees in front of him, so he had no idea what went on. He was at a loss even trying to imagine what they were like.

Until he started talking to Mimea, Riki couldn't even say what passed as common sense among the Eos pets. No matter what kind of party was being held, Riki was treated as an outsider. But he had no inclination to make friends with the other pets. No matter how lonely he might be, all he felt toward them was irritation. In a certain sense, Riki was the perfect loner.

"Even I can't help being a little jealous of you," Mimea told him. "Until you came around, nobody paid any mind to the way things were, because that was just the way things were. A pet having a master who actually cared about her..."

Iason doesn't care about me, Riki thought. Iason toyed with him like a cat with a mouse. But Riki didn't voice his thoughts; grumbling about it to Mimea—a girl that placed quite a different value on sex than he did—wouldn't accomplish anything.

"Nobody dares say so, but they all envy you, Riki, I can understand how Luther and Stein feel, the way they're always throwing your slum background in your face and treating you like an enemy."

"Who are they?"

"Luther is still here, but not Stein. The rumors were true. He went to the Jalan harem."

Jalan was a famous male brothel in Midas—famous enough that even Riki knew about it. Their best workers were all booked a month in advance.

"As a pureblood Silurean, he's got confidence to spare. Even if he and Master Aisha ever part company, he says he'll still probably hold onto his seed rights."

"Seed rights?"

"Yes. When you obtain seed rights, your gametes are registered. You can transfer those rights to the Academy later on."

In other words, the authority to become a breeding stallion.

Riki didn't know how that was different from the pairing that went on in Eos. But he understood that, generally speaking, even when put out to pasture, some pets retained a choice in the matter. In a sense, that was a pureblood's last and final safe harbor, especially since women would always be more valuable due to their ability to bear children.

But Riki was startled for completely different reasons. Ignorance and naiveté were an Eos pet's prime selling points. Their nymphomania focused the sum of their interests on sex alone; they knew no other way of raising self-worth other than by ridiculing each other. Riki considered them all numbskulls with thin vocabularies to match.

So he never would have imagined words like "seed rights" and "gametes registration" falling so easily from Mimea's lips. Perhaps if they were educated properly, even pets could live their lives in a different way,

As soon as that thought sprang to his mind, though, he had to laugh at himself. Stir too much intelligence into the mix and the dilemmas only increased—just as they had for Riki. In that light, for the pets in Eos, ignorance was probably bliss.

"Has he ever had sex with a guy, then?"

"Of course not, Riki! He's a pureblood. His only mating partners are women, and he only mates with the best. Why would you ask such a thing?"

A pureblood male who'd never had a same-sex encounter. That was probably Jalan's feature attraction. For Stein, no doubt proud of his number one pairing ranking, sex with a man would be an intolerable humiliation.

Riki paused. "Are you sure you're all right hanging out with a guy like me, Mimea?" he asked. "Your master hates my guts. If he ever found out, we'd be in deep shit."

Mimea's owner was Raoul Hamm. He was, in a way, even more of a Blondy elite than Iason. His cold, severe eyes said more than any caustic word.

"It's OK. Nobody's going to talk. If anybody said anything, they'd be in trouble, too. But... do you love me, Riki?"

In that instant, Riki had no idea how to respond. Had he heard her right? His cheeks twitched nervously. Mimea was probably the only person in his entire life capable of asking such a direct question so easily. He wasn't sure if she really understood what she was saying.

"You Academy-manufactured types sure are strange."

Mimea giggled. It was sweet, soft, pretty laughter. Bewitched by her smiling face, for a brief moment he was taken in by her charms. Before he knew it, her body was pressing against his.

"Kiss me."

"What?"

"Kiss me."

Riki stiffened noticeably.

"I'm in love with you, Riki. I'm always happy when I'm with you."

Why did Mimea say such things to him? An Academy-manufactured love doll and a slum mongrel. It was almost laughable; they had nothing in common.

"I love you, Riki."

No, he wanted to tell her. You're in some kind of dream. We aren't free, Mimea. Not in any way.

"I'll be betrothed any day now. Once the pairing begins, we'll never be able to meet like this again. I can't stand the thought of that. Please, Riki..."

The kisses they exchanged became more than mere flirtations. Once he slept with her, there'd be no going back. If Iason found out, Riki and Mimea would pay dearly. At best, they'd be sent to some low-grade Midas brothel—at worst, that would be the end of them.

On the other hand, what if Iason did find out? Riki figured that if he slept with Mimea, Iason would become the laughingstock of Eos. A slum mongrel could never have his way with an Academy-manufactured love doll—the scandal would shake Eos to the core. By allowing Riki to toy with her and even mount her—the slum mongrel who hadn't appeared once at a sex soiree—she was betraying her master. It would shatter Iason's pride and diminish his power as a Blondy.

For some reason, the suppressed laughter wouldn't stop. Riki had nothing to lose. Nothing at all. As the pet ring bit into his loins, Riki's warped thoughts convulsed his face with silent laughter. The head of Bison had sunk lower than a common street hustler. He was turning into a mere pet.

"You're all qanging up on us, trying to destroy our relationship!"

Mimea cried out with pleasure, her voice penetrating him like a primal scream. To the core of his brain... to the center of his heart.

"You're different from other people, aren't you? You love only me, don't you?"

Her heartrending affection was so painful. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

Coward!

With that came a rending, tearing sensation in his back, like being flogged with a nail-studded whip.

But the true fear was still to come.

"You enjoyed Mimea's pleasure without my leave. Did you really believe that you could wrap up everything so cleanly after it was made known, just like that?

"You are my pet. Know this to the marrow of your bones."

Pulsing pleasure set every hair on end, drove every nerve beyond the limits of reason. Every inch of him was swallowed up by the ripe and throbbing rapture. His body convulsed, paroxysms of electric numbness spasming his muscles. His brains roiled in his skull. A narcotic shock ran across the insides of his eyelids. His body burned and melted into a puddle of flesh.

"Enough... no more... won't... do... it... again... mercy!"

Incandescent.

Incandescent pains...

Incandescent fear...

In the end, he had no idea what he was saying at all.

Riki was woken from the nightmare by his own screams.

He felt like shit. His throat was dry as sand, his joints creaked painfully like rusty hinges, his head rattled and ached. He was on the verge of vomiting.

The three-year bad dream had ended, and he'd returned to the slums. He'd intended to finally remake himself.

That part of my life is over, he reminded himself. There was nothing to constrain him now. And yet... why?

Riki wiped the drenching sweat from his face and grit his teeth.

That day, running for dear life, he'd gotten as far as Prage. After spending all his will and energy, the security guards had grabbed him before he could head underground.

"Finally! He can have a few scrapes and bruises, but don't overdo it."

"These slum mongrels are stubborn as hell!"

"With that tracer on him, there's no way he could've gotten away."

They beat the shit out of him, dragged him back to a holding cell, tossed him inside, and shot him full of sedatives. His thoughts grew muddled and dim. The inside of his head deflated like a leaky balloon until he finally lost consciousness.

The next time he opened his eyes, Iason was there.

"Well, you certainly caught a beating. And I told them not to damage the merchandise." Iason grabbed Riki by the jaw and stared straight into his eyes.

Riki slapped his hand away, "Don't touch me!"

But Iason's frigid gaze didn't waver. "It's been some time since I've seen that fight in your eyes, Riki. Did brawling with the security guards get your dormant slum mongrel blood flowing again?" His tone of voice was eerily calm and quiet—possibly even gentle.

"Shut up already and get on with it."

A cold smile creased the corners of Iason's mouth. "Then you're resigning yourself to your fate? How admirable. But shouldn't you see the error of your ways first?"

In that instant, piercing pain slammed into his groin. Riki moaned and contorted his body, but his arms could only clumsily bend in their shackles, leaving him to endure the stabbing arrows. It was a purity of pain that hadn't consumed him in a long time. With all pleasure held at bay, this hard, writhing agony was a world apart. Faced again with the sensation he'd put completely from his mind, Riki twisted his face as the groans spilled from his throat.

"You remember now, Riki? As long as you wear my pet ring, there's no place you can run, no place you can hide. So why behave in such a foolish manner?"

Iason's cool appeal to rationality infuriated Riki. He wrenched open his eyes and spat a reply, his breath wheezing hoarsely out of his lungs.

"Pet's—life—isn't—worth—shit!"

A moment later, all that emerged from his mouth was a scream rising to a trembling falsetto as the tortuous electric shocks assaulted his body.

"You dislike being a pet so much?"

"Makes—me—sick—"

Iason grabbed Riki by the scruff of his neck. "That's quite the mouth you have. I wouldn't have believed you could come this far and still find the words."

The electric pain diminished somewhat. Riki gasped for breath, clinging to the new feeling desperately. He drew his eyebrows tightly together, hit his trembling lips, and managed to calm his racing pulse.

Iason's voice echoed in his ear. "The ring can deliver much more than pain. Shall I introduce you to something different?"

Right then, a unique kind of tingling numbness emerged from the gaps between the slackening pain. Riki felt Iason's fingers coiling around the terribly tormented part of his body, Riki's limbs locked up, but for an entirely new reason.

"What, nothing sassy to say?" It was hardly a question that needed asking, but Iason was unrelenting. Riki moaned and writhed. "Or do you like here better?"

Something seemed to break and rush outward deep inside of Riki. His cries rose toward a scream. The hot throbbing filled his loins with a scorching heat.

"Without drugs or aphrodisiacs, this alone can sexually stimulate any part of your body. Still insist you're not a pet?"

"Goddamned—fucking—" But no matter how he fought, the pleasures being applied to his nervous system climbed his spine. Riki hit back the tears.

"Who is your master?"

"I'm—nobody's—bitch!" Riki spat. All that remained was his pride.

Riki didn't care to remember the past. But nightmares didn't feast on reason. Memories only repeated themselves. Even Iason's words back then—You should go back to where you belong, back to your slums—were like a dream to him now. If he knew then where he'd end up now...

Riki caught his breath, as if he'd suddenly lost all his bearings.