Baroque Pearl
Ao no Kiseki Volume Four
Sanshirou and Kai search the main cargo bay, which had originally been intended as a recreation deck. Sanshirou grew up in space, so he's naturally skilled at navigating in zero gravity, but he's surprised at Kai's excellent ability. Kai reveals that as a youth he spent a great deal of time enjoying himself at Chaos Dome, a zero-g facility on the moon dedicated to freeing inhibitions. The atmosphere of the dome is filled with pleasure-enhancing drugs and everything is masked with 3D holograms so that people can float around, have sex at random, and not even really see anyone else.
After hearing that, Sanshirou draws him close and begins kissing him, suggesting a short break for zero-g relaxation. Just as Kai starts becoming aroused, however, Sanshirou finishes with a crude joke and ruins the mood. Sandra contacts them to say they found the missing capsule, so the gravity will be turned back on and they should return to the floor in preparation.
As they listen to the countdown, Kai notices something above him. He shoots up into the air, nearly reaching the ceiling when the gravity comes on and he crashes. Sanshirou does his best to catch his partner, but Kai hits his head and blacks out.
Though the med computer shows no serious injury, he awakens confused. He believes that he is thirteen years old and that his name is Isis. Sanshirou immediately runs to revive his twin brother from coldsleep to handle the crisis.
Gai does his best to question Isis and find out what caused his strange amnesia, but the "boy" would rather try to seduce him. Gai concludes that their best course is to treat Isis like a completely separate person, wary of the danger a full-blooded Lunan Empath could pose to them. Lord understands his peril right away and asks to bunk with Sandra for the duration. Sanshirou, on the other hand, sees absolutely no difference. He stubbornly insists that Isis *is* Kai, only younger.
Gai tries to forbid Sanshirou from having any contact with Isis, for fear he will only make things worse. The plan goes awry within moments, as Isis sneaks out of the med center and visits Sanshirou in his quarters. He tries to seduce the mercenary, then gets annoyed when his efforts yield no results.
Isis has little interest in Gai's attempts at counseling. Instead, he devotes all his energy to enjoying himself in any way he can imagine--including trying to seduce all three men. He doesn't turn his wiles on Sandra because his taste in women is very limited; the only woman he ever slept with was his first lover, his mother. He practically terrorizes Lord, and Gai finds it difficult to concentrate on maintaining a strictly professional relationship. Sanshirou simply treats him like a kid, which prompts him to strike back with childish pranks.
Gai, who is temporarily taking Kai's place as a crew member, concludes that he is making no progress with counseling and needs to try more drastic measures. He believes that the memory loss is a result of Kai's mental therapy session with Sanshirou. The first wave of sexual desire was too much for him to handle alone and so he turned to his partner for release. Gai hypothesizes that a second wave struck him later, but it wasn't as strong, and he tried to suppress it because he didn't want to go through the "humiliation" of being so desperate. Since Kai wasn't allowing his body what it needed, the blow to the head caused him to bring out a personality that would have no problem with seducing someone.
Gai thinks Sanshirou should sleep with Isis as "treatment," predicting that once his body's needs are satisfied he will begin returning to normal. Sanshirou refuses, on the grounds that he has no interest in having sex with a child, particularly not for such a contrived reason as medical treatment.
Isis is upset that Sanshirou continues to rebuff his advances. He guesses that Sanshirou must be madly in love with Kai to make him so immune, which provokes a strong feeling of jealousy. Everyone keeps telling him that Kai is so incredibly different, he can't believe they could possibly be the same person, and he determines to find out what it is about Kai that Sanshirou loves.
When he confronts the mercenary, however, Sanshirou explains that his feelings for his partner are more along the lines of a strong fondness than the romantic love Isis envisioned. In fact, Sanshirou likes Isis' personality better, because there is no hint of the self-destructive darkness that Kai carries inside. Isis can't understand how he could turn into someone as emotionally cold as Kai, unless he were using it as an act to seduce people more effectively.
Isis decides to strike back at Kai by doing what would make him most embarrassed. He uses his hypnotic eyes to command Sanshirou to tie him to the bed and take him roughly. He intends to show Sanshirou that--no matter how hard Kai tries to deny it--his body is built for pleasure. Anything his partner does will arouse him to ecstasy. Sanshirou breaks the trance and insists that Isis is interpreting Kai all wrong. The boy has no sense of the pain and suffering Kai feels.
Sanshirou knows that a little of Kai's essence is left in him from the mental therapy session. He suggests that Isis synchronize with him and see for himself what Kai is really like. Since the quickest method to achieve that end is through sex, he tries to make love to Isis, but his body won't respond. He uses his hands to stimulate Kai's body instead, and the brief glimpse of self-hatred that Isis receives knocks him unconscious.
Later, Sanshirou goes to consult with his brother. He is certain that Isis should never have grown up to be like Kai. He begs Gai to take Isis and raise him to be the positive, pleasure-seeking Lunan he should be. Gai refuses, sticking to the belief that he has to "cure" Isis by any means necessary. Isis had come to him for rest, and he sent the boy to sleep in the next room, never thinking that the ensuing conversation would wake him. Isis hears the whole thing and runs away.
Sanshirou tracks him to the cargo bay. Isis is confused because the mercenary--the only one who never treated him nicely or gently--is the only one who acknowledges his right to exist. The others all want to cure him, make him into the stranger Kai again, and he doesn't want to "die." It's that very attitude of self-preservation that Sanshirou likes about him.
When Sanshirou points out that Isis ran to the very spot where the accident happened, he looks up at the place that distracted Kai. Suddenly, to Sanshirou's consternation, he changes his mind and decides that he will accept treatment. He realizes that he won't die, he will always be inside of Kai. He says that if Kai explains what caused him to fly up when the gravity came back on, that will be proof of his existence. He also remarks that Sanshirou doesn't want him to stay Isis for Isis' sake; Sanshirou is trying to protect Kai from any more suffering. They go to the med center, and Gai puts him to sleep to try a type of hypnotic therapy.
He slips unexpectedly into a deep sleep before Gai can do anything, then doesn't wake up for a very long time. When he opens his eyes, he uses Kai's speech pattern. He tries to remember what happened, but Sanshirou hurriedly tells him that he's been sleeping ever since the accident. The mercenary promptly scoops up his partner and carries him back to his quarters, announcing that they'll be spending the next two days there. During that time, the others busy themselves removing all traces of Isis' presence from the ship.
Sanshirou's only explanation for his actions is that he's been starving for Kai, and he won't take no for an answer. After they're both satisfied, Kai talks about what he saw in the cargo bay. Because it was intended as a recreation deck, it was decorated with mood lights. One of the lights is slightly bent out of shape. When he spotted himself reflected in it, the warped image and pearly light made him think he was looking at his mother. They always had a tradition that if their eyes met, they would kiss. He had thought he'd forgotten all about her along with his hated past, but when he saw that image he couldn't help wanting to go kiss her.
He asks Sanshirou to remove the light, but the mercenary balks at the idea. He insists that he doesn't care if it's warped out of the shape it was supposed to be, it's still pretty. It should be accepted just the way it is.
End Volume Four