Her corporate comfort had been due to her brother. She had often wondered what would have happened to them after their parents were killed if Sam hadn’t caught the eye of old Inazo Aneki. the master of Renraku Corporation. Sam was five years older than she was, and he was only eighteen at the time. There had been no money and few prospects, but Aneki had taken an interest in Sam and seen to it that her brother finished his education. Under the distant but benevolent patronage of Aneki, Sam had gotten started on the fast track at Renraku. Aneki’s charity had been like a gift from God, an offering of a long, comfortable life. They certainly wouldn’t have been able to make it on their own. Her brother’s position was exalted, for a gaijin, and she had been proud of him. His salary and position should have ensured congenial accommodations for both of them for life.