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(let’s. make. reality. fictitious.)

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Tomoyo yawned. So far, not terrorist attacks or anything of the like. Though Tomoyo remained on edge for some reason. She didn’t know why, but she felt as though someone was watching her. Tomoyo shook her head. She was probably tired from overworking. That had to be it. Maybe it was an overactive imagination or something of the sort. Then again, Tomoyo knew better than to not trust her woman's intuition. After all, it was intuition that told her to save Kazuo and got them out bot alive, didn’t it?

Tomoyo voiced her concerns.

“I think someone is following me,” Tomoyo said, while Rikyu frowned.

“That is not a superstitious concern,” Rikyu said while he furrowed his brows. “I suppose that I can hack the computer networks and overlook Tokoyo’s grid for any suspicious movement. Or…bettter that I teach you this technique yourself.”

“You trust me enough to share this with me?” Tomoyo said while Rikyu gave her a solemn stare.

“You saved Kazuo, after all,” Rikyu said. “I will not let a good deed such as that got unmerited. Now…concentrate. Let your mind go blank. Cna you sense the will and activity of the machines in this room?”

“Concentrate,” Tomoyo said before she closed her eyes and tried to remember the feeling of activating and short-circuiting the machines in the room that scanned for her abilities. After she thought for a few seconds, trying to recognize the emotions that triggered her powers, Tomoyo strived as hard as she could to emulate that feeling. However, feelings of distraction washed over her. She wanted to go to school! She wanted to have a normal life! She wished that she didn’t have these powers, to begin with! AS convenient as they may seem, they seemed to be a burden more than anything else. She wouldn’t have wished for these powers if it meant being tracked down by enemy organizations that wanted to dissect her brain or worse!

“Urgh,” Tomoyo said as she clenched her fists. “It’s no use. I can’t feel the ‘will’ of the machines.”

“Your feelings of negativity are very powerful indeed,’ Rikyu mused before he put a hand on Tomoyo’s shoulder.’ It’s a burden that we both share. We’ll go through this together. Okay?”

“Tomoyo smiled slightly at Rikyu. “You’re actually pretty kind, aren’t you?”

Rikyu crossed his arms and turned his back on Tomoyo. “Hmph. Well, regardless, you need training for your own protection.”

“I know,” Tomoyo said with a softened smile towards the child. She wanted to protect him, and Kazuo. They were her friends…just like Kokoro-chan.

Rikyu grinned.

“Well, the sentiment is appreciated of course,” Rikyu said, before he frowned. “What to do with this android, though.”

Tomoyo frowned as well. “Yes. She doesn’t seem to be like the rest of the killer androids that I’ve encountered before.”

Rikyu looked towards the Android, whom was dubbed Echo, and he asked her, “Whose side re you on, anyway?”

“I…” the android, Echo asid. “I’m not sure. I feel that there is something more important than just retrieving Tomoyo to the Mistress. I feel like, I must understand this feeling, these bonds, between people. Mistress often told me that she had a bond with a boy named Rikyu. Whatever happened to that bond? Can ti be repaired?”

Rikyu looked a little sad for a moment, before he said. “I’m not so sure.”

“I would like for you to make some changes to my data,” the android requested to Rikyu. “You’re like Mistress, aren’t you? I know tthat you will be able to give me what I desire. To understand the human heart. I wish to have a human heart.”

“I hope you mean that figurativlely instead of literally,” Rikyy muttered, before he shook his head. “You are definitely an anomaly, that is for sure. You’re defying your programming and this hack within you has evolved beyond the programming that Shizuha intended for you. She must’ve done one of her experiments again.”

“Experiments?” Echo asked.

Rikyu nodded.

“She got along with her androids better than she did with people. Beacuse androids would do things that she told them to do. But eventually, she yearned for something more, something for her androids to become more human-like, I suppose. She’s done a good job of creating a lifelike android that is perfect in every conceivable way.”

Tomoyo sensed someone watched her again. Rikyu looked tense.

“Do you sense that?” Rikyu said.

“Y-Yeah,” Tomoyo said while looking around the room frantically. Have they followed her here too? Stupid! SHe shouldn’t have led the enemy right where her precious people were hiding!

“Don’t blame yourself,” Rikyu said. “We’ve got her where we want her.”

“Her?” Tomoyo said as Rikyu activated the mother brain of the base. “You mean…?”

“Yes…” Rikyu said, as a scream resonated in Tomoyo’s head. “Hello, Shizuha. I thought I told you I had no interest in seeing you again?”

Shizuha projected herself on a screen, where they could see her. Her face clenched in agony, and Rikyu had a feral grin on his face.

“Otouto…” Shizuha said. “We meet at last.”

Rikyu frowned.

“I thought I specified that I never wanted to see your face.”

“Please, Rikky…” Shizuha said. “I’m disobeying my master’s order to give you a warning.”

“Pray tell, whatever information could you have that I didn’t know myself?” Rikyu said with a snarl. “You’re not welcome here. I will shut down the machines and cut off your brain to your real body where you will be nothing more than a vegetable if you don’t tell me this: Why did you decide to become my enemy? Why are you working with them? I thought that you were more honorable than that.”

“Rikyu…” Shizuha said, a solemnity in her eyes now. “I want to save you. Honestly, I do. Even if it means that I’m working with a despicable man that we both hate, I’m closer to finding the answer.”

“Shizuha…,” Rikyu said while closing his eyes and clenching his fists. Tomoyo saw that he trembled. “We all know that I’m the fake. You’re the human. But I will become human one day without your help. That’s all that I wished for. Because of you, I’m…”

He paused. Tomoyo saw sorrow in his eyes as well. “I’m becoming less human because of you…”

Shizuha looked solemn. Tomoyo stepped forth, before saying, “I don’t know what happened between the two of you, but you need to resolve your differences. Maybe you’ve wronged him in the past, but Rikyu, you need to learn to forgive your sister. She honestly wants to rescue you. I can tell sincerity in another person’s voice.”

Rikyu gave a sharp look towards Tomoyo. “Stay out of this.”

“I won’t,” Tomyo said while she put her hands on her hips. “Because it pains me to see two siblings fighting one another when they should be on the same side. Open up to me, Rikyu. What is it that is making you reluctant to open up to us? Kazuo senses that you’re growing distant as well, more moody. It’s not because of your sister, is it?”

Rikyu’s shoulder shook with laughter. “Oh, you think you’ve got me all figured out, don’t you, Tomoyo? Always butting in your nose where it doesn’t belong. God, I hate that about you, you know? But I’m sure that you will keep on pestering me until I give you some sort of answer. That’s just like you, Tomoyo. Getting into other’s business and trying to help, even when it’s impossible.”

“How do you know it’s impossible?” Tomoyo said, standing towards Rikyu and putting her hands on his shoulders. “You’re frustrating as well, you know? Thinking that you can handle everything by yourself. You may be super smart Rikyu, but sometimes you can be dumb about the simplest things. Learn to rely on others more. That’s why I’m here, aren’t I? You have some use for me, right? Let me be useful!”

Rikyu stood in silence for a few moments. She thought he saw a glimmer of tears in his eyes, which was the most emotion that she saw the young unexpressive boy show for the longest time. He was just a child after all; he was just as scared and vulnerable as Tomoyo was. He thought that everything was unraveling at the seams and became desperate like a cornered fox in a trap.

“There’s no need to concern yourself with me,” Rikyu said with a resigned finality. “I’m becoming less and less human…and I’m using everyone around me out of selfishness. I guess it’s for survival reasons, but still; I let my animal brain get the better out of me over the friendship of my companions. I really am the worst, aren’t I?”

“Rikyu Kazuhiko,” Tomoyo said after taking a deep breath and shouting at the top of her lungs. “If you put yourself down again, God help me, I’m going to do something that both of us really regret. You’re not a bad person, Rikyu—you’ve been through so much, I can tell. Even if you won’t open up about the reason why you're acting this way, but don't’ worry about ‘becoming human’ or ‘real’. You’re already human to me, you know? You’re a child. You’re Rikyu. You’re more than the child genius that everyone commands and respects, you’re a kind, gentle-hearted boy that would see through to saving everyone if you could. That’s human, isn't it? You’re real, aren’t you? You can feel emotions, don’t you? Then you are real, you are human! So goddamnit, Rikyu, let your sister and I help you!!!”

Rikyu looked towards Tomoyo before he smiled sadly. “You’re really the worst, you know that?”

“I don’t care,” Tomoyo said. “Even if I have to play the role of the villain to drag you out of Hell, I will. So listen, Rikyu, and listen good. We’ll go through this together, right? Didn’t you say that this was a burden that we both share?”

Rikyu nodded with a downcast gaze. “I did say that, didn’t I?”

Rikyu took a deep breath, before bowing towards his sister. “Shizuha…I have been avoiding my responsibilities as your brother and haven’t come to your rescue. You were suffering as much as I was. So I will one day rescue you from your captivity. I may be a horrid brother, but Tomoyo is right; we should both be fighting on the same side.”

Shizuha smiled before the connection cut off. Rikyu looked startled before he went to the computer console and desperately tried to reconnect with his sister again. “Shizuha? Shizuha!!!”

“It’s no use,” Tomoyo said. “Something must be happening to her.”

Rikyu put his trembling hands to his face.

“Hang on, Shizuha. I will definitely come to rescue you. I will, I swear it!”

—x—

Shizuha recoiled from a face rippling slap from her handler. She clutched her cheek, tears streaming from her eyes. If only she wasn't so weak! She shouldn’t have desperately called to Rikyu to come rescue her. Now he’d get involved too, and it was her selfishness that endangered Tomoyo as well, who promised to help her and get back together with Rikyu again.

“Foolish girl,” the blond-haired man said before her. “Did you think that I would actually let you escape? You are mine, little girl, and I won’t let anyone else possess you or your brain. You may wish to be together with your beloved brother, but I won’t allow it to happen. I absolutely won’t.”

He raised his hand as though to strike her again. Shizuha flinched. Seeing the power that he held over the helpless child made the man smile. “I have full control over you, you know? And one day you will become a ripe young woman that I could possibly sell off as a slave somewhere in the world. I have the authority to do that, you know. It doesn’t matter how much brains you have, you are nothing more than an object to me.”

“You will one day pay for this,” Shizuha whispered, clenching her hands into fists. “

“Did I say that you could backtalk me?” The man said while he raised his hand again. Shizuha flinched. Though instead, he simply let his hand run through her long black tresses of hair. She reviled his gentle touches even more than the slaps he inflicted upon her. “Shizuha. The only reason why you’re alive is that you have some use. If you no longer have any use tome, then you’re good as dead. Understood?”

Shizuha said nothing. He tiled her head so that she looked into his violet eyes.

“You understand, don’t you? That you’re disposable. There are many more of you. But ah, I’ve found a perfect copy of you somewhere…my lovely Tomoyo Aburame… Her lovely black hair has turned purple, but she’s definitely you, all right. Or an idealized version of what you could be. You and your brother are just disposables and furniture that will help me reach my goal…of possessing Tomoyo Aburame for myself.”

“I won’t let you have her…” Shizuha said, clenching her hands into fists.

The man appeared amused.

“Oh? I’m starting to like this little defiant streak in you. I love watching people uselessly struggle against the inevitable. But in all seriousness…Tomoyo is perfect. In fact, she might be the one who inherited most of Prometheus’s cells…and she’s mutating into something far stronger.”

“Please…” Shizuha said as her hand stretched out towards the blond-haired man. “Leave them alone. They have nothing to do with this. I made the androids that I promised you, didn’t I? And you use them to cause despair and warfare among other people.”

“Isn’t that what the human species is about?” the man said with a patient smile towards her. “They are a self-destructive species, after all. Even with their intelligence, they do nothing but try to gain more power through their greed and inferiority. But they are also like cockroaches, after all. Even as they destroy themselves, some part of them remains no matter how horrid things get. I want to do an experiment, girl, and I want to see whether the race you’re descended from was right to spur on evolution on this planet.”

“There are people like you,” Shizuha said. “That only want to see the destruction for destruction’s sake. But there are those who plant seeds of hope into the Earth, and the will sprout and blossom into something that will make our planet flourish. Earth is my home…I don’t care about the race that I’m descended from. I was born with fond memories of this planet, and even if my genetic memories of ancestors are stored in my brain, I will protect Earth first and foremost. Because that’s the planet that Rikyu grew to love.”

“You certainly would do anything for your younger brother, wouldn’t you?” The man said with a feral smile. “How sweet. A touching sibling relationship. But alas, it only ends in torment for you. You will be forced to watch Rikyu die…over and over again, as that is his genetic destiny. You and he represent humanity, don’t you? Well, I’m representing the ancient race that you descend from.”

“It’s from my ancestor’s arrogance that they destroyed themselves,” Shizuha said. “I don’t want humanity to suffer the same fate.”

“Well, that’s just too bad, isn’t it?” the man said. “This world is destined to die, in one beautiful explosion. Once Earth is destroyed, the remnants of people’s despair and futility will be harvested to sustain this spaceship. After all, your people died to maintain this ship, which was a precious relic of their achievements.”

“I will…” Shizuha said while gripping her hands into fists. “Never forgive you.”

“You may hate and revile me all you want,” The man said gently towards her. “Still, it’s Prometheus’s punishment in the past. He brought fire to humanity, and the gods have despised him for it.”

“You can’t punish all of humanity just based on your whims!” Shizuha said whlie she gritted her teeth through tears.

“Ah, but you got inovlved with me all the same,” the man said. “Because you wanted to save your brother, Rikyu. When you gave me the data to the spaceship that you two worked on together and relinquished control to me, I spared your brother, didn’t I? Perhaps I should give you a little taste of freedom so you know who the one in control is reallly here.”

“Freedom?” Shizuha whispered.

The man chuckled.

“Of course. But you’re so tethered to me that you will come running back, won’t you?”

“My freedom,” Shizuha said with a gasp as she knetl down on her knees and wept. “You’re cruel, aren’t you?”

The man smirked. “That’s just what I am.”

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