Bigger Brother. Matthew Vandenberg
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says.
'How you know?' Sayuri says. ‘You smell bleahf of ev'ly woman you meet. You careless. Like man with AIDS [6.].'
'Wait, you're assuming that every guy with osmolagnia is infectious?' Matt asks. 'Isn't that like assuming every gay guy has AIDS?'
Sayuri shrugs.
'Mask stays on,' Sayuri says.
'I'm not pressuring you to remove it, by the way,' Matt says. 'I'm just defending myself. You enjoy wearing your mask. We can still talk, right? With eyes[5.]?'
'Yes, fine,' Sayuri says. 'No one else here.'
'It's like a niqab,' Matt says, touching his chin, smiling.
'You look like a c'leep when you smile,' Sayuri says. 'And yes, it is like niqab. Religious. I don't want you becoming a'loused alound me. So I cover up my mouth, and communicate with eyes like a Muslim teacher. Even s'ough I want to sing.' - Sayuri raises her eyebrows like they're hands. Perhaps that's high-class attentiveness if Matt cares to teach here. 'Plus, one in s'wee people has TB [7.].'
'It can't be that bad,' Matt says.
'Latent TB [7.],' Sayuri says. 'Like your so-called latent talent.'
'You can't equate my rise to fame with the fall of humanity,' Matt says. 'That statement's a little alarmist.'
'I'm just here as an 'ahem',' Sayuri states. 'For getting attention, and expressing doubt and warning. But all you s'ink I am is a couf. Is that what you like? You want me to take my mask off and couf? You want me to be hot to sweat to lose weight to be weak and horny so we can be fast friends? You like coffing, like the smell of bloody gums if I blush my tee's too hard, and you'd like me to fast so I have morning bleahf all day. But that's a lot like having TB [8.]. Then you'll want to weawee see my chest. Nice diagnostic [8.] excuse. And to touch me, physically [8.].'
Matt shakes his head.
'How long have you been thinking about me?' Matt asks.
'You answer my questions first,' Sayuri says.
'I thought they were rhetorical,' Matt says. 'I don't know where to start. I like bad breath. That's all. I don't care about touching people and chests.'
'Oh, so you don't care about making sure I don't get TB?' Sayuri asks. 'As I s'ought.'
'You're seeking TB?' Matt asks.
'S'ought!' Sayuri repeats, tapping her head.
Matt smiles.
'You're so cute,' Matt says.
'Fuck you!' Sayuri says, holding up a middle finger, like she needs a pointer. 'I hate kawaii. Fuck kawaii.'
'Fuck away?' Matt asks.
'No,' Sayuri says. 'Learn Japanese. Kawaii is cute culture in Japan. That is ploblem. Stupid Lolita girls. You plobably like s'em. For perverted pedophiles.'
'Wow,' Matt says. 'You really love dramatization, don't you?'
'I hate men like you,' Sayuri says.
'I'm not spreading TB,' Matt says. 'If anything, women - that's women, not girls by the way - are giving ME TB. I smell THEIR breath, they don't smell mine.'
'I'm sure many women smell your stinky bleahf when you are so close to s'em,' Sayuri states.
Suddenly slightly discomforted, Matt shifts his gaze away from Sayuri's eyes, and into his seat, like he's mentally searching for lines, words, statistics, and the odds that they'll come to mind even now. There's an entire virtual reality to navigate: prospective research that rests on the trafficking of hot air, like it's a stolen bed for getting carried away by. Room service? Does discomfort help those by major players in world affairs push guilt? Who here is more pushy with feeling? Pushing passion with feeling for hurt feelings leading to a trade war somewhat against the situation between the two housemates and associated averse feelings at large. (Who can own that line, Matt or Sayuri?) Matt started it. This discomfort is disconnection from a homely environment and every move Matt makes is his feeling for books like a loner, and that's not helping with the war effort. He has to find her eyes again. He mentally flicks through pages like they're sheets he made his bed with to lie in. It's not up to her to win this war, but the pressure's surely on him.
'I'm not OFF every second,' Matt says. 'I think a lot about things. Discomfort helps, but - even though I don't quite know you yet - in this connection (like you), seemingly advantageously being used, I always hope there's no feeling of discomfort. I don't think it's crazy to crave intimacy and try to extract it from a mundane existence as much and carefully as possible. But here I don't pretend to be lost. Outside, I think I always am, now that I think about it.'
'I'm not context,' Sayuri says. 'I'm a human being. This show will not be about you, Matt.'
Matt nods, solemnly.
_____________________
*Japanese speakers: 'th' as 's'; 'r' as 'l'; no 'of'
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References
1 "Sanketsu-girl" Sayuri, https://www.sayuri-official.com/en/profile/
2 Parasitic Mind Control | National Geographic, https://youtu.be/lGSUU3E9ZoM
3 Australian Government, The Department of Health, The Strategic Plan for Control of Tuberculosis in Australia, 2016–2020: Towards Disease Elimination1. Executive Summary, https://www1.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/Content/ohp-ntac-tb-strat-plan.htm, ["Together with a relatively small number of other countries where TB incidence is <10 per 100,000, Australia is in a position where TB elimination, defined as <1 case per million population, may be feasible by 2050, noting that there is an ongoing risk of imported cases from countries with high TB incidence."]
4 The Japan Times, Tuberculosis remains a threat, https://www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/2009/05/05/editorials/tuberculosis-remains-a-threat/, ["Japan’s TB incidence — 19.8 cases per 100,000 people in 2007 — is the highest among developed countries: 4.5 times more than in Canada, 4.4 times more than in the United States and 3.7 times more than in Sweden."]
5 Kerala Muslim Education Group Bans Face Veils On Campuses, https://youtu.be/rA7dlL9SLkQ
6 How South Africa, the nation hardest-hit by HIV, plans to 'end AIDS', https://youtu.be/-ix841dJBmc
7 Tuberculosis (TB): Progression of the Disease, Latent and Active Infections., https://youtu.be/202hkf43HXQ
8 Tuberculosis: What You and Your Family Should Know (Navajo), https://youtu.be/E_4XiONzJ8U
9 What's at the Bottom of the Mariana Trench?, https://youtu.be/LSHekQpyZ7w
10 Sayuri - Anonymous (Full ver.), https://youtu.be/HcChnZtWVaw
Extract
'Release,' a voice says: the mysterious speaker of the house.
Matt and Sayuri look up and, incidentally, unbeknown to the two, at their fans.
'Release of insulin into the bloodstream should be celebrated, rather than the release of a new clothing line,' the voice continues. 'Imagine watching people make their own clothes, and manufacturer insulin. Imagine losing weight by losing clothes as much as sugar. Full transparency [4.] is necessary. That's why - if this house is a factory in Ethiopia [3.] - people are paying attention. Imagine teaching Ethiopians how to produce insulin. Why can't objects of desire be regulatory bodies for the independent production of insulin? Empower!'
'You want us to manufacturer insulin?' Matt asks.
'I'm not taking off my clo's*,' Sayuri says.
'Not at all,' the voice says. 'Clothes are necessary as banners, and insulin can come from pigs and cows. But human insulin is arguably better because it's cheaper [1.] [5.] and better absorbed into the human body [6.]. In short, you will all be ovo-lacto vegetarians while in the house. We need more suitable insulin [2.] in the world.'
'Japanese