The world is in total chaos.
People are running around, screaming, dodging bullets and laser beams from the grey metallic robots. However, their cries for help fall on deaf ears, resulting them to be eliminated by the robots. Buildings are falling down, cars are on fire, heads are being blown off.
As a man is trying to run away in the fiery city, a robot aimed his blaster arm at the human's leg and shot laser beams through the man's legs. He fell down instantly and groaned in pain.
While he is trying to crawl away, the robot advanced towards him and took out a gun to shoot his head.
Some people took stuff like baseball bats, metal poles, and tables to fight against the robots. Even the military employed soldiers, tanks, and planes to bring them down. Their efforts, however, were all futile. The robots shot the vehicles with no difficulty.
The people started attacking the robots by whacking them with whatever they can carry. Some bots went down, while the others lifted the mortals up and tore their heads off. It seemed like the humans are on the losing side of this war.
A young boy and his parents are running through the streets, trying to find shelter. They looked around for intact houses, but instead all they see is people getting gunned down, or people getting killed by laser beams shooting through their body, or people getting their heads cut off.
The mother carried her child on her back and ran faster. Robots stared at them with their menacing eyes. A few seconds later, they start chasing the trio.
"Get the car here!" The mother screamed at her husband. He took out a car key and pressed the button on it. A Nissan IDS Concept appeared a few seconds later. The family got into the car and the father started driving.
One of the robots looked at the car before swiping his hand to the left. Sure enough, the car turned to the left and is now going straight for a burning building.
"I didn't steer it to the left!" The father exclaimed worriedly, "The steering wheel turned by itself!"
Before anyone else could jump out of the car, it crashed through the building. Debris of all sizes fell onto the car, which caused the driver to be stuck as a few heavy cement blocks crushed his leg down.
"Shit." He cursed as he tried to get himself out, but to no avail. He looked at his wife and his son, the former shaking her head.
"Kana..." He said.
"No, Atsuo. I'm not leaving you." Kana cried, "I can't leave you here! We're a damn family!"
"That's why I place family over myself." He smiled, "By the time I take all these heavy stuff out, those machines would've already wipe me off the surface of this Earth."
"I can help you!" She tried lifting the blocks, but she wasn't strong enough. Atsuo patted Kana's shoulder, "It's okay, Kana. It's more important to save Hideki. He's our son after all. He needs to carry on this generation."
"Carry on what generation?" She screamed, "The robots are about to take over the whole world! Do you want our son to become a robot!?"
"I have a feeling he can do something to impact the world." Atsuo replied, "Trust my instincts, please. And leave here."
"I...I can't..." Her lips started to quiver as her voice turned shaky, "...l...leave you here..." He shook her body, "Kana. Please. I don't want all three of us to die."
Kana placed her head against his head, sobbing in between tears, "I'm really gonna miss you."
Kana looked at Atsuo one last time with tears in her eyes, then she kissed him on the lips before carrying Hideki out and running away. He grinned at her, "Such a cute woman after all these years." He leaned against the seat and cleared his tears as the sounds of the robots walking got louder and louder.
As Kana ran for her life, Hideki looked at her with confusion, "Mama, why are we running? Can't we just talk to them? Ms Honoka taught us that when we have a misunderstanding, we should sit down and have a chat."
"Your teacher must be nuts." Kana sighed, "At a time like this, sitting down will get you killed!"
"What about Papa?" He asked, "Why is Papa not following us?"
She looked at her son with a sad expression before looking away, "He's...gone. We need to get out of here."
"But we can't leave Papa behind!" Hideki gave his mother a sad expression.
"Like I said, Hideki, we need to leave." Kana replied sternly. Robots then appeared in front of her. She stopped and turned back, but more robots can be seen running to the mother and son.
"Damn! We're cornered!" Kana hugged Hideki as closely as she could as the robots came closer and closer to them.
"Please don't hurt my son!" She screamed in agony, "Take me instead if you want!" The robots took her and let her child fall onto the floor.
The robots took out their guns and continuously shot Kana. Hideki, unable to take the destruction, gunshots, and dead bodies anymore, started crying out loud.
As the robots aimed their guns at the kid, one robot held his hand up high, signaling them to stop. He is reminded of his time with a human family. The masters of the house have taught him how to do chores and take care of the child. When the kid grew up, he played with the robot and treated him with patience, respect, and kindness. Both of them had a good time together back then. Seeing the young boy made the bot very guilty.
"Leader, why are you not killing the kid?" One robot asked.
"I used to live with a family." The leader robot replied, "They had a small boy, and I had to take care of him. The boy was really good to me."
He then carried Hideki in his arms, "This might be the same. I want to adopt him. Tell the rest to stop the destruction."
He looked at Hideki, "What's your name, child?"
"H...Hideki."
"Hideki..." The robot replied, "...interesting name. From now on, you'll be under Bot 577's care."
In the year 3020, humans and robots are living in the same world. However, this time, instead of fighting, they are working hand in hand. in workplaces, robots take the calls of customers and clients while the humans write the important points in the call on paper and arrange a day and time to meet them.
In homes, robots are like maids. One robot is given to each family when they're built. They do household chores such as ironing clothes, putting them in washing machines and taking them out to dry, and do grocery shopping to cook for the family. In turn, humans provide meals for the robot and would bring them to the Robot Gathering Centre every Sunday, a place where robots gather to get repairs or talk to each other. They are then allowed to have the whole day to themselves before returning to their owner's home by midnight.
Cars are now flying and driverless, which means that the car can move on its own with directions given by humans. They can also request for a taxi by just whipping out their phones and tapping the taxi function in it. Maglev trains are operating to bring anyone from one place to another in just a few minutes, hours, or even seconds. They can also just ride a bicycle by paying for one online. It will then be delivered straight to their doorstep.
In school, humans and robots study together. There are no robotic teachers; only human teachers. In a class, three-quarter of the students are humans, while the remaining are robots.
A student is sleeping, lying his head on the table. He is tired from the morning. It all happened because he overslept and did not hear his alarm. When he woke up, he saw the time and freaked out. It was eight thirty two in the morning, and he had to reach school by nine.
He went into the toilet and washed himself with shampoo while brushing his teeth at the same time. He quickly put on a casual shirt and jeans before running down the stairs to the living room. He wore his socks and bolted for the exit, grabbing a slice of bread.
He rode on his bicycle to school as fast and hard as he could. He couldn't be late again. If he's late again today, it would be the third time in the week. Disciplinary action would be taken by then.
He kept looking at his watch as he cycled. Along the way, he almost crashed into other people and robots. On the zebra crossing, a flying car has to stop abruptly because he is riding on the road. The driver peeked out of his window and shouted, "Watch where you're going!"
"I'm sorry, sir." The man apologized and then continued to cycle viciously. He managed to reach his school just three minutes before class starts. He locked his bicycle and ran into the university, gaining stares from others.
Finally, he made it to the classroom, huffing and panting. One of his classmates pointed at him and started laughing. The whole class then joined in the laughter. The teacher stared at him before pointing his ruler at his shoes, "Why are you wearing those to school, Thomas Springfield?"
He looked down and gasped in horror. He realized that in his rush to school, he had worn flip flops instead of the required white shoes.
"And why do you look like you went for morning exercise before coming here?" The teacher asked, "All those sweat."
"I'm sorry, Mr Benson." Thomas bowed down, "I was rushing to school because I overslept. There are so many things to see like the traffic and walkway, so I wore flip flops..."
"Wait, so your excuse this time is that you overslept and you're rushing?" Mr Benson questioned his student, "What about your mother? Doesn't she need help with farming? Or your cat took a dump on your bed and you had to clean it up?"
"Mr Benson, all those reasons are true..."
"No, they're excuses. You're 22 years old. In your senior and final year, yet you still can give so many excuses. After school, you shall meet me here. Then you shall await your punishment."
Thomas nodded quietly and walked to his seat. Back to the present, he is dozing off peacefully. The teacher, a different one this time, walked to him and slammed his table with her hand. He got up immediately.
"Thomas Springfield!" She screamed, "Why are you sleeping in my class for today and the past two days? Usually, you'll be the most attentive one. It seems like this week, you lost focus on your studies."
"It's not like that, Ms Holland..." Thomas tried to talk back, but she just continued on.
"You'd better stop playing video games and watching movies late in the night." She nagged, "They rot your brains. Have an early sleep and study more so that you can do well for your final examination papers." She then walked back to the front and continued teaching. Thomas sighed as he leaned against his seat.
"As I was saying, there's more history of this world besides the collapsing of Robot Gathering Centre in 2998 ." Ms Holland stated, "You guys must have heard of the war between humans and robots a hundred and forty five years ago. A robot, named Bot 215, wasn't happy that humans are still taking more control over the world even when they're super advanced. Talking to the president then was useless. Thus, the war happened, and it went on to be the biggest war of all time. Almost the whole population of the humans were wiped out. However, Bot 577, one of the three leaders of the robots, decided not to kill a young child, who was known as Hideki. He was then raised by Bot 577 and some other robots. In turn, when Hideki grew up, he helped them build buildings, vehicles, weapons, and many more. It's like the humans and robots are working for once. Soon, the human population increased again, and they started working hand in hand with robots. The world was such a joyful place."
"Ms Holland," One student asked, "How did the robots determine who the leaders are?"
"Good question." She replied, "They have this place where they meet up called the Robot Gathering Centre, which is still up to today. They determine the leaders by having a public vote among themselves on the best robots to take the role, according to Hideki's biography book."
"Ms Holland, you used 'was' in your last sentence when you're talking about the world." Thomas said, "Why did you use a past tense?"
"Finally, Thomas! You're concentrating!" Ms Holland answered happily, "There were crimes happening back then. Robbery, murder, embezzling. These are the common crimes back then. Some robots and humans formed a police department team to hunt those criminals down. However, even after catching them, the jail time given to them was considered unreasonable to some. Therefore, a Master position was created. To take care of the well being of the world, as well as to punish the bad guys fair and square. Hideki volunteered to be one, and he did give fair punishments. Some humans and robots were initially unable to get along, so Hideki organized a few events. It took as long as sixty years, but eventually the unhappiness between the two races had lessened tremendously. Everyone liked that, so everyone liked him. So, from then on, the world is in an almost happy state."
"Almost?" One robotic student asked.
"Have you heard of the news? A person named Charlie Lee is found guilty for pickpocketing. He is going to get the death sentence. Because of it, protests started happening." Immediately, the class went into an uproar. Ms Holland cleared her throat and told the class to quiet down.
"However, we can't judge this Master's actions." She said, "Maybe he has a reason to do this. Let's not question it. Remember, if you don't do any crime, nothing will happen to you. And, be kind to each other, be it a human or a robot. Class dismissed."
The class started murmuring as Thomas thought about the war.
After school, he is tasked by Mr Benson to write "I shall not wear flip flops to school again" five hundred times on the chalkboard.
"What an old-fashioned man." Thomas grumbled as he started writing with chalk. After a long two and a half hours of writing, he is finally done with the writing. He wearily dragged himself out of the classroom.
"This has to be the most tiring day in my life," He thought, "Maybe I should go and buy a drink to perk me up."
He walked to the supermarket and went into the drinks section. He took a bottle of iced green tea and went to the check-out section. He took out his credit card and tapped it on the scanner.
After he paid for his drink, he turned around and started walking. However, he felt a little dizzy and leaned all the way to the right, making him bump into someone. He fell down onto the ground with a loud thud. He then heard a few things dropping onto the ground. He rubbed his eyes and saw a female face staring at him, smiling.
"Whoa!" He got scared and moved back. The girl just laughed. She has long flowing hair combined with a futuristic gradient hair dye of pink. She places a pink wobbly hairband with a butterfly knot on her head, and wears a sleeveless top, a white-and-black shorts, laced arm sleeves, and laced thigh highs.
He quickly got back up and saw that the eggs that the girl bought have broken thanks to him crashing onto her earlier.
"Oh shit! I'm so sorry!" He apologized, "I broke the eggs you bought! I'm terribly sorry! Please forgive me!"
She looked at him, "It's okay. I'll get another one."
"Let me pay for it." Thomas said.
"But..."
"No buts." Thomas declared, "I'll pay for the eggs."
After paying for the eggs, Thomas is walking with the girl, each carrying a bag of groceries.
"I already told you, I can manage, mister." She uttered, "I would like to thank you for your kindness, but you need not help me all the way."
"It's okay. I feel bad about it." Thomas retorted, "I'm so tired today that I didn't have the energy to walk properly. I apologize for what happened earlier."
"I understand." She explained, "I know when humans are tired, they tend to not concentrate. Daddy always tell me to think about human emotions and trained me to have emotions too. Like, when I get praised or commended, I should feel happy."
"Wow, your dad must have been a good father to you to teach you such things." Thomas replied, "Oh yeah, by the way, what's your name? I'm Thomas Springfield. University student." He then stick his hand out to her.
"I'm Kizuna AI, super intelligent artificial intelligence." She shook his hand, "Just call me Ai-chan."
"You're a robot?"
"Mmhmm." Kizuna nodded, "I'm still training to have human emotions, so forgive me if I make any mistake."
"Take your time. You'll eventually get it."
"Oh yeah, wanna come to my house to have dinner? These groceries are for me to prepare dinner. Usually, it'd be me and Daddy eating everything. You wanna join us today?"
"Sure." Thomas took out his phone, "Let me give a call to my mother first."
A few minutes later, they went into her house. She looked left and right before calling out, "Daddy, I'm home!"
A man in his forties came out of the kitchen.
"Oh, you're back." He smiled, "I see you've brought a friend, Kizuna."
"Yea, Daddy. We met in the supermarket and he is so helpful. Can he join us for dinner?"
"Sure, why not?" The man then looked at Thomas, "Take a seat, boy. Make yourself feel comfortable."
Thomas sat on the sofa while the man sat beside him. Kizuna went to prepare dinner.
"Just call me Mr Jason." The man said to Thomas.
"Hey, Mr Jason, I'm Thomas." He introduced himself, "I'm a university student who is about to graduate soon."
"Oh, you're smart, aren't you?"
"Not really. You do have a cute robot who knows human emotions though."
"You mean Kizuna? She's my daughter. I mean, not my biological one, but I call her my daughter. She is specially built by me and my professor friend. As for the emotions part, I taught it to her since young. I want her to learn it so that she can communicate with humans more easily. So, tell me. How did you meet her?"
"I bumped into her and dropped her eggs. I paid for a new carton, and I helped brought some of her groceries back. We talked along the way, and I get to know about her."
"I see..." Jason is interrupted by his phone ringing. He sighed, "I'll take this call. Meanwhile, can you help Kizuna set up the dinner?"
"Sure." Thomas stood up and went into the kitchen. Jason let out a sigh of relief as he answered the call.
He ended the call a minute later and stood up from the sofa as Kizuna and Thomas placed the dishes on the dinner table.
"Kizuna, leave some food for me." He told her, "I need to rush back to work. Urgent matters had popped up."
"Sure, Daddy." She smiled, "See you later."
"I'll see you later." Jason replied, "Thomas, enjoy your dinner with her."
"Yes, I will." Thomas said. Jason then ran out of the house.
In a park, a few robots and humans gathered in the middle of it. They are holding up signboards that read "Justice must be served!" and screaming the same sentence.
At the front of the pack of protestors, a man with robotic arms and legs clenched his fists.
"It's time for the Master to pay his debts." He snarled.
