Iason Mink

Iason Mink (イアソン・ミンク, Iason Minku) is one of the central characters of Ai no Kusabi. He is a Blondy who functions as the head of the Market Intelligence Department and rules the Syndicate behind the Black Market.

The most eccentric of all Elites, he shocked all of Tanagura when he introduced a mongrel to Eos as his pet. Deaf to all the criticism and warnings thrown his way, he went above and beyond to make this arrangement work, to both his, and his pet, Riki’s detriment.

His known furniture were Katze, Daryl and Cal, and his pet before Riki was Aaron. Katze, who was now a broker at the Black Market thanks to Iason’s decision to spare his life and utilise his capabilities, functioned as the Blondy’s right hand.

## Description

### Appearance

Like other blondies, Iason was considered the pinnacle of beauty, dignity and grace. His luxuriant golden hair that reached his waist symbolized his supreme authority that was reflected in his piercing blue eyes which could put others in their place with one glance.

His god-like visage engendered about him an unapproachable sense of dignity. It displayed a kind of deeply chiseled beauty so exceeding that by itself it invited feelings of awe. On the rare occasions that he smiled, it was a fetching smile that dimpled his cheek.

Iason was around 2m tall, but his artificial body was perfectly proportional and symmetrical and this balance coupled with the grace of his movements gave him an air of intimidating, arrogant elegance. It was made to be the perfected version of a human male and as such, he possessed unnatural strength and all attributes of a high-class sexaroid. Even his skin was warm to the touch like that of an organic human.

Known as the Ice Noble, in addition to his physical appearance, this apt title was accentuated by his calm, cool, low voice which was described as unique and easily recognisable.

### Functionality

Iason’s body possessed numerous gimmicks that were common to all Blondies (and potentially all elites) but he stood out as the only one who used them regularly.

He was presumably the only Blondy who himself engaged in sexual activity. His genitalia was fully functional and even able to change size at will, however, he was unable to feel true pleasure through it, and thus he couldn’t climax or ejaculate. This apparatus was also not intended for procreation and he, like all elites, being mostly inorganic, was infertile.

Another known mechanism was his ability to change the shape and colour of his hair. Considering that a Blondy’s long, golden hair was the symbol of their powerful status and pride, it is not a function they used lightly. However Iason, due to the nature of his work as well as his personal proclivities, used this function extensively in order to disguise himself and avoid attention.

For example, he was known to wear it short and brown when his job demanded his presence at the Black Market or shoulder-length and purple-blue when trying to pass off as a civilian in Apatia.

In the English translation of volume 8 silver hair is mentioned, but this is a mistranslation.

### Clothes

Iason wore a variety of outfits depending on the occasion. He had a formal suit which he wore when he represented Tanagura as one of its elites. It was a particular type of bodysuit which was simple and functional, yet at the same time it radiated power and drew attention even in the midst of the most extravagantly clad crowds. He often wore wraparound datavisors that somewhat obscured his face.

When attending Black Market auctions where he tried not to advertise the fact that he was a Blondy, Iason was known to wear a dark blue suit that even from a distance looked convincingly custom-made, paired with cobalt blue eyeshades.

In his private life he often wore a white, silk robe that glistened in the light. He would pair it with wraparound datavisors that completely hid his face when he didn’t want to be recognised. and wear white gloves

At home, he had a casual robe he would change into for comfort.

## Position

*wip*

"Iason. You're the pivot of the syndicate that rules Tanagura. And your head is not easily replaced. If you are removed, it means Tanagura's Framework is shaken." *(OVA 2)*

The most powerful man in Tanagura, of all the elites, Iason is the foremost of all Blondies. (V3 p131, V7 p103)

Iason holds the title of Lord of the Underworld (also called the Head of the Tanagura Syndicate), and Chief of Information. (V7 p49)

*"I just take things as they come. If I couldn't manage that, I wouldn't be qualified to run the markets."* (V3 p60)

### **Reputation in the Black Market**

*"Don't ask too many questions; pledge absolute loyalty."*

As the 'Ice Man' of the underworld, Iason Mink has a fearsome reputation in the Black Market.

Iason ruled the syndicate governing the underworld with an ice-cold fist. (V8 p116, 125)

### **Iason's Work Ethic**

The feared Blondie who ran the black market hated incompetence and carelessness. (V6 p17)

[The workers] knew to the marrow of their bones that Iason, the emperor of the black market, was a ruthless meritocrat whose feelings never clouded his judgement. The past wasn't part of the picture. Ability was all that mattered. (V4 p111)

Success was duly rewarded. Betrayal exacted its costs. Results, and not excuses, were all that interested him. But that didn't mean Iason's trust was absolute and guaranteed.... Carrot and stick. That was how Iason sought...undying loyalty. (V4 p111)

### **Katze, Iason's Rationale**

*"Raoul, when I see someone with talent I make it a point not to concern myself with whatever their background might be. Whether it be one of your experiments or a slum mongrel, I'll use whoever I can as long as I can."* Iason shrugged, knowing that Raoul still didn't support this decision. *"I'm only saying thar brainless ordinary grunts with only their pride and no abilities are unnecessary in the market."* (Dark Erogenous, Track 3)

*"Don't misunderstand me,"* Raoul replied, taking note of Iason's edginess towards him. *"I have no intention of challenging your way of doing things. There's no one l see here in Tanagura who can keep the market as perfectly organised as you. Only, it's not quite favorable that you have to involve Eos in it as well."*

*"That's why I said I'm sick of fools."* (Dark Erogenous, Track 3)

see Katze: Subzero Scarface

### **Enemies**

    While Iason himself was not in the habit of making enemies, he had uncountable numbers of enemies. Even those who wanted to do away with the Blondies in Tanagura. But other than during the foundation of Tanagura, there had never been any attempt at assassinating a Blondie. Not in the last hundred years at least. (V8 p115)

see Hazall: Assassination Attempt

For humans, death is permanent, but for an augmented immortal like a Blondie replacement bodies were simply manufactured. Even personality and memory could be duplicated and housed in an AI. And thus it was pointless to even think about assassinating a Blondie. (V8 p115)

## Relationship with Riki

Iason's relationship with Riki is the driving force of Ai no Kusabi and is its central subject. Their often irrational actions and everchanging feelings for one another were a thorn in everyone's side, but Iason was unwilling, or perhaps unable, to ignore these feelings he wasn't even supposed to be capable of. A rational and proud Blondy had taken a slum mongrel as a partner and lost himself.

### The Meeting

> "Zero points for style. I'm not impressed."
>
>

On the streets of the Pleasure Quarters, Iason’s keen eyes caught a thief in the act. He was out, walking the streets of Lhassa with two more Blondies, one of which was presumably Raoul, when he caught Riki trying to pilfer someone’s pocket.

It is possible that his fascination with Riki’s defiant spirit started already at that point. Compared to the parting crowds that venerated him and his companions, the scrawny kid showed absolutely no respect, throwing profanities at him in his Ceres slang. It is entirely possible that Iason had never experienced anything like this before. Amused, he let the mongrel go free, but then the kid came at him, demanding to know the reason and an opportunity to pay back for the favour. That this irreverent mongrel, surrounded by a shocked crowd, dared not only talk back to a Blondy, but even lay his hands on him, it was unthinkable, and yet, it was happening right in front of Iason’s eyes.

Fascinated, but above all, curious, Iason followed the boy, as prompted, all the way to the Minos brothel. Iason had always rationalised this decision by calling it whimsy, but in truth, he became entranced by this strange creature, and his curiosity was piqued to a degree quite unlike himself.

Unwilling to sleep with the mongrel, or even touch him without his gloves on, Iason nevertheless indulged in the behaviour quite unexpected of a Blondy. He treated Riki as a sexual plaything, knowing exactly where and how to touch him in order to get the desired reaction out of the boy.

After he had his fun humiliating the stubborn mongrel, he tossed him an Aurora coin, a pet currency, on a whim, an unlikely harbinger of what’s to come.

> “You're right. Neither a borrower nor a lender be."
>
>

Unable to get the mongrel out of his head, he instructed Katze to keep his eyes open for an Aurora coin that might show up in the slums. However, it never did, so Iason tasked Katze with finding out who the boy was and giving him an opportunity to work at the Black Market.
Katze did as instructed and hired Riki as one of his couriers. It wasn’t exactly clear what plans Iason had for Riki at this stage but he observed from above the evolution of this kid from the slums into Katze’s capable and smart underling.

> "Riki the Black," eh? If fed properly perhaps this mangy alley cat could become a tiger.
>
>

Entirely oblivious to the connection between his boss and Iason, and to the fact that his entire career on the Black Market was enabled by the Blondy, Riki was shocked when he saw him again, after almost a year, at the auction at Rosas market. He pursued and confronted Iason, who in turn, came up with an idea no one could have ever predicted.

### Taking Riki as a Pet

Iason had recently disposed of his latest pet, Aaron, and had been reluctant to get a new one. He was incredibly bored of the immature, predictable Academy pets and showed clear disinterest in keeping up with the pet trends.

It was this mix of boredom and fascination with the mongrel along with their unexpected second meeting that gave Iason the idea to bring Riki to Eos. This act itself showed a brazen disregard for unspoken precedents and was the first major scandal in their society.

He deflected the shock and criticism of his decision by insisting that the mongrel can be trained and turned into a most interesting pet. And if such a plan were to fail, they could always mindwipe him and turn him into a placid sex doll used to entertain valuable guests, or simply dispose of him in the Black Market. The very fact that he had been a Blondy pet would increase his value immeasurably. The bottom line was that he didn’t see any harm in this decision.

But training Riki proved to be much more difficult than he could have imagined. Iason had initially planned to present Riki at a debut party as usual, and then have him copulate with females. He was curious to see how someone that had so far only engaged in sex with other males would mount a female. He knew that any owner and pet would be repulsed to have to deal with a slum mongrel, but he also knew that they wouldn’t be able to refuse someone of his position.

But all these plans fell through when Iason realised that Riki was nowhere near ready to debut. All eyes being on them, Iason couldn’t fail. In order to train Riki in a way befitting a Bloody pet, Iason left him without any clothes for the first month, after Riki’s continuous refusal to expose himself to his master.

Surprised that he even had to resort to something like this due to the mongrel’s bashfulness, Iason slowly started to realise that Riki did not fit the image he had of the slum denizens, as sex crazed primitives with no standards.

> I may have stumbled across a diamond in the rough here.
>
>

In the end, Iason escorted Riki to the debut to show off his new pet, but then didn't send Riki to a single sex soiree.

This gave rise to wild speculation and scandalous rumors spread far and wide. But Iason didn't react in the slightest.

Riki didn't attend the sex soirees because he wasn't asked. Far from it, Iason threw all such invitations in the trash. When this became clear, the astonishment was universal. Riki never showed up for the parties, and yet his body was covered with the evidence of lovemaking.

> It's almost enough to make you believe that Iason is the one sleeping with him.
>
>

### Feeling Lust

After half a year since he brought him to Eos, Iason took Riki for the first time.

Up until that point, Iason had always faced Riki with his cold, calm demeanor while Daryl was the one who “trained” Riki through (oral) sex.

Iason himself wasn’t really sure what changed. He didn’t know if it was just a whim, or curiosity, or perhaps even a wish to sample the fruits of his own labour. But underneath all these reasons was a fact – that Iason felt things he couldn’t explain.

A Blondy was giving his slum mongrel special treatment. He wouldn't mate it with any of the pets. He kept his pet to himself and wouldn't let it go.

Nothing could be more degrading than coupling with a slum mongrel, yet he simply didn’t seem to care. Intoxicated by these new sensations and urges, and by the one who elicited them, Iason explored them without hesitation. But out of it grew a strange type of attachment, completely unbecoming for a Tanagura Blondy.

However, Iason wasn't about to throw away his identity as a Blondy. That seemed to be the one remaining brake on his behavior. And yet he had not the slightest inclination to cast Riki aside, even to save face among the elites.

Iason had first become aware of his attachment to Riki when he had chanced upon his pet pleasuring himself to the images of a female. By this time, even Daryl wasn’t allowed to touch Riki in a sexual way, and naturally neither were the other pets. It was supposed to be only Iason. But seeing Riki at the pinnacle of pleasure because of someone else, even if it was simply a fantasy, caused a strange, unfamiliar, unpleasant sensation to well up in Iason’s chest, and there was no way he could withstand it. Seeing Riki like that drove a spike through the heart of his pride as a Blondy, a spike of burning, sexual desire. In a fit of, what he couldn’t even recognise as jealous rage, he struck Riki like never before.

Finding out about the relations between Riki and Mimea only confirmed the reality of those emotions. His wrath towards Riki was absolute. Whether it was the fury of his wounded pride, or a manifestation of his uncontrollable obsession, at the base of it swirled a dark whirlpool of twisted jealousy towards Mimea. If he couldn't bear to call it "jealousy" specifically, he could at least acknowledge the wickedness and disgust suffusing his heart—and the knowledge that Riki's existence was something special to him. His desire to monopolize Riki, his helpless sexual attraction toward the mongrel, clung to Iason like a wet garment.

The Tanagura Blondies were known for their cool judgment and abundant knowledge; that was what cultivated their unwavering pride and self-confidence. Standing at the pinnacle, Iason had taken a slum mongrel as a partner and lost himself.

### The Daryl Incident and the Year of Freedom

Three years after Riki’s arrival to Eos, Iason's furniture, Daryl, had hacked the security network and allowed him to escape. Riki was apprehended shortly after and Iason had reacted to the agitated state of affairs in Eos with his customary cool. Though accepting responsibility for his role in the matter, he squared things away as logically and dispassionately as possible.

From the eyes of onlookers, it looked like Iason, as promised, sentenced his furniture to death and disposed of Riki for good. But for Iason, this was a turning point.

Failing to understand the actions of his furniture, he summoned Daryl for a conversation. Daryl, who had been working for him for 5 years at that point, had proven himself to be capable and intelligent, and Iason felt every bit upset at this seemingly out-of-character betrayal as he did at the prospect of losing a good piece of furniture.

Upon learning about Daryl’s shared history with Riki in Guardian, and the furniture's view of the situation as an implicated bystander, something in Iason changed. Hearing Daryl describe Riki’s unhappiness in Eos, as well as admiration for his unbroken pride made Iason realise that a lot of the things he cherished in Riki were fading away due to his incarceration in Eos.

Surrounded by nothing but vapid, illiterate pets, with barely any access to anything that could keep his spirits up and stimulate his mind, it was understandable why Riki was suffocating.

Despite showing a face of a merciless taskmaster to the rest of Eos, in truth, Iason felt a twinge of compassion for Daryl and even went so far as to instruct him to put some blame on Riki so he would have an excuse to spare him, like he had Katze before. But Daryl refused and was disposed of and even this fact Iason hid from Riki, jealous that someone else would be embedded in Riki’s heart.

> "He threatened you and you were helpless to resist. Say that and things will go easier for you."
>
>

Riki too was punished but shortly after, to Riki’s own shock, Iason returned him to the slums.
Iason’s feelings on the topic were complicated. His official line was that he gave Riki a one year breather from Eos, a chance to run around free in Ceres in order to “regrow his dulled fangs”. He was curious to see how Riki would fare among his friends and with his pairing partner after everything he’d been through. But he never planned to really let him go.

> "He's a stubbornly rebellious slum mongrel; keeping him shackled day and night would only suffocate him."
>
>

In an unprecedented move, even though he removed Riki’s ring, he didn’t purge his registration data. He was himself aware that at some point, what started off as a whim now became something much deeper. At what point he recognised his feelings for what they were even he probably didn’t know, but it was when Raoul confronted him about the fact that he plans to return Riki to Eos, that Iason confided in him.

> "If I said that I—that I loved Riki, would you laugh, Raoul?"
>
>

See also: Iason and Daryl, The Daryl Incident

### Awareness of his own Feelings

> “Only my brain is organic, but that still makes me merely human in the end.”
>
>

Iason used to have an unwavering conviction that his existence surpassed that of other mortals. Before he met Riki, he never doubted that his mind remained uncontaminated by the human emotions that haunted those beings of flesh and blood.

The breeding and disposing of human beings as pets was a reflection of the dignity and majesty of the elite. They were only doing their duty. But then he met Riki, and those convictions crumbled.

Before Riki, Iason felt that breeds like the slum mongrels were trash with no hope of a respectable future. But seeing the effects of flesh and blood firsthand had a profound impact on him. On top of that, Riki had a sense of insubordinate pride that didn't waver no matter the consequences, and his expressive eyes revealed every emotion without compromise. Iason felt the full impact of what it meant to grow up without behavioral conditioning or educational programming.

As a cyborg whose only human component was a biological brain, Iason knew that he shouldn't be experiencing this. But the faint pulse of something called "emotion" would not disappear. It throbbed like a phantom pain.

The emotions were so raw that they aroused a feeling of disgust in him. It made him question his reason for being a member of the Tanagura elite, and he doubted his pride as a Blondy.

Roaring with anger and denying everything was easy—but Iason had opened a door he could no longer shut. His impulses killed reason. Iason was already aware that somewhere within him, however faintly, he had been endowed with the instincts of an ordinary human.

### ...

For a moment, Katze's eyes opened wide. He had the feeling he was hearing Iason say something he'd never heard before or would again. A second later he wasn't even sure he'd heard it at all. Iason raised an eyebrow. *"You find that strange?" "What?" "My use of the word love." "Well, not really,"* the flustered Katze stammered. His heart pounded in his chest. (V6 p104)

Katze was startled. Never did Katze ever expect Iason to ask for his advice on anything. Usually, such questions were confirmation of intent on the part of Iason. This was different: Iason was actually asking for Katze's opinion. (V7 p103)

As Iason's furniture, Katze remembered his imperative: *Pets should be unseen and unheard, unless I will it otherwise*. This was the Iason that Katze remembered. But that was before Iason met Riki. Before Iason became obsessed with the defiant slumdog. But this... this went beyond what Katze could even imagine. (V7 p104-5)

Riki nodded. *"Iason could have... escaped... alone. But he... saved Guy, me... that's enough for me to go back."* Iason's first and last act of compassion. (V8 p157-8)

## Dealings with Kirie

Kirie boldly pursued Iason after seeing him at an auction in Mistral Park. Perhaps reminded of his first encounter with Riki, and because Kirie was part of Riki’s clique, Iason indulged the boy in giving him some level of attention. It is unclear how exactly they met and what transpired in the meanwhile, but it became evident that Iason decided to use the young mongrel in order to manipulate Riki.

Iason devised a plan to capture Guy and used Kirie to reach this goal, which the other happily obliged. It was obvious to Iason that, unlike Riki, the kid had absolutely no scruples and pride and was willing to do whatever it took to get ahead.

> Running errands is about all this one is good for.
>
>

Iason treated Kirie cordially, even indulging in small talk, undoubtedly curious to learn more about the society from which Riki came. Ultimately however, Iason had no use for him once he delivered Guy, and the contact between them was over.

**Spoiler Warning**

The next time Iason saw the boy was in Eos after he was apprehended from Riki’s apartment and brought to Raoul for memory retrieval and mindwiping. Of interest to Iason was a retrieved memory of Kirie and Riki engaged in passionate sex. Iason immediately knew the memory was not real, as he was intimately familiar with Riki’s display and behaviour during such moments, something Kirie, based on the memory, clearly wasn’t. He would see Kirie a few more times, this time implanted with a personality of a pet used to entertain foreign dignitaries and other important guests.

> It would seem a little polish goes a long way.
>
>

See also: Kirie and Iason

## **Gallery**

Crystal Bunko edition (2001-07) – Katsumi MichiharaCrystal Bunko edition (2001-07) – Katsumi MichiharaTokuma Shoten edition (2009-10) – Saichi NagatoIason - http://www.ainokusabi.net/gallery/iason/image.php?i=images/iason06.jpgIason, in the 1992 OVAIason, in the 1992 OVAIason, in the 1992 OVAIason, in the 1992 OVAIason, in the 2012 anime seriesIason, in the 2012 anime series