It is raining cats and dogs outside. Every once in a few seconds, there would be thunder sounds.
Jason sat on his bed while Kizuna sat on a chair beside his bed.
"So, Daddy, who's that woman you called out?" She asked curiously, "The woman named Chantelle?"
Jason looked at her, "She was my wife. We had a daughter named Alexia. We lived together happily for 2 years, before they were murdered." He sighed before continuing, "I guess I saw her in my dream earlier on. I miss her so much. I miss my daughter too. I miss them both."
Kizuna looked at him as he looked down and placed her hand on his shoulder.
"Daddy, I know I can't help you much with your personal matters." She said, "But, if you need someone to be by your side, to listen to your problems, to comfort you in bad times, you can come to me. I am a robot built by you, but you treat me like your own daughter, and a daughter is supposed to help her father. I'll try my best to understand your problem."
"Thanks, Kizuna." He smiled and hugged her. She then looked at him, "Daddy, do you need me to sleep with you for the night? The same thing might happen again, you know."
"I appreciate the good thought, but I don't think I need it." Jason patted her head, "Good girl. Go to sleep. I'll be fine on my own."
"Alright, then. Good night, Daddy,"
"Good night, Kizuna." He replied. She then went out of the room. Jason laid on his bed as he looked up at the sky and thought about his wife.
"She appears in my dreams today." He muttered to himself, "I do miss her, and I wish to see her. But is that just it? Why does she tell me what she told me?"
The next morning, Penny went to the living room to take her breakfast. She still found it strange that Thomas has a project to finish before his examinations. She knew him for a very long time. He will not start or do a project at the eleventh hour. He's always known to be punctual in his homework and project submissions, at least. In her life of studies, she knew there was no way a teacher would give a project just days before the examinations.
As she ate, she turned to her right and saw Mike outside the house again. She is convinced he is actually stalking them. She stopped eating and went out to see the man.
"What do yo want, mister?" She asked angrily, "You've been here a few days ago. I thought my boyfriend told you to scram off. Why are you here again?"
"I see." Mike nodded his head, "You're rude and especially loud. I've noted that down."
"Rude? Loud?" She raised her voice, "What do you mean by that? And what do you mean you've noted it down?"
"I shall get going, miss." Mike bowed, "I'll see you next time." He then turned around and walked away.
"Come back, you fiend!" She shouted, "Come back here so that I can stitch your mouth!" By the time she finished saying that, Mike had completely disappeared from her sight.
"Strange." She thought, "Did he just come here to note down that few lines?"
Mike hid behind the walls of another house and whipped his phone out. He called the contact named 'Master'.
"Hello?" The voice on the other line asked.
"Master, I found out about Thomas's girlfriend and what she's like. May I ask what's the point?"
"Well, you'll find out soon. Anyway, come to my office. I got things to talk to you. It's about shooting Thomas with a tranquilizer dart."
"Yes, Master. I'll be right over." Mike then ended the call and walked away from the house.
In Thomas's class, Ms Holland placed the students into groups of three. Thomas is grouped with a male and a female.
"Class, since we are learning about the history of this world, we also need to know people have different opinions about it." Ms Holland stated, "As such, today, you are going to interview some residents about the history of this world in your groups. Each group will be given the houses to go. Be back by five. Note that you can't switch to another group. If I find out, you'll get your marks deducted. Understood?"
"Yes, Miss Holland." The class replied in a sombre tone. Most of them aren't too happy with their groupings, and that includes Thomas. He is teamed up with the class's nerd, Jane, and the class's jock, Andrew.
Thomas disliked the both of them. For Jane, she's an extremely introverted person, and does not talk to anyone except her teachers. She's always either reading a textbook, storybook, or a dictionary. Ironically, her Science results are always pretty horrible.
For Andrew, he acts very arrogant in front of his peers. A cocky guy, he keeps showing off his muscles to anyone and everyone. They aren't that big anyways, but he still loves to flaunt like it's some humongous muscles. He's so bad at studies nobody in the class can beat his high score of getting a big, fat zero in an exam paper. Even the stupidest student, which is a robot, got at least a digit for his marks.
Thomas sighed. He is definitely going to be the one doing all the talking. Jane ain't saying a word, and Andrew will only talk about his masculinity.
A flying car is given by the school to each group to drive around the city to interview. They must return the car at the end of the day without any damages.
Thomas and Jane got onto the back seats while Andrew sat on the driver seat and drove the car.
"Yo, guys, look at those muscles while I'm driving." Andrew said.
"Ew." Thomas voiced out in disgust as he shook his head, "Can you stop showing off for once? We need to get to the houses and finish our job."
"Chill, Thomas. I know you're one of the smartest guys in our class, but this is not a competition to see who completes it fast. We don't need to rush. We can take out sweet time. We got until five in the evening, don't we?"
"But..." Thomas tried to talked back, but Andrew interrupted him, "Even if we finished it early, we're just going to sit in class and do nothing except looking like idiots. We might as well roam around before we complete our task."
"I like that idea." June uttered, "I don't mind roaming around. I didn't bring my books, so I have nothing to read anyways."
It became quiet for a while before Jane spoke up again, "I got an idea. Why not we do our job first, then we roam? We get the job done fast, we get more free time."
Andrew stopped the car at a corner, turned back, and looked at the class nerd, "Jane, I have never ever heard you talk so much before, much less give a good suggestion. Fine, we'll follow your plan, because I like it."
"The nerd and the jock agreeing." Thomas smirked, "Unbelievable."
Andrew drove to the first house and parked the car outside the gate. He then knocked on the gate as the other two students came out of the car.
"You're not supposed to knock the gate, Andrew." Thomas said, "You're supposed to press the doorbell."
"That's what normal citizens do." Andrew retorted, "But it's different from me. I'm buff, so I definitely need to show off my muscles. I need to show these people living in the house the capabilities of my muscles."
"You're really obsessed with your muscles, aren't you?" Jane asked.
"You know, nerd, no one can get such a perfect body shape like me." Andrew told her, "I need to flaunt it to let..."
"Okay, Andrew. We get it." Thomas then pressed the doorbell. A few seconds later, the owner came out.
"Hello, I am Thomas Springfield," Thomas introduced himself to the owner, "And these two are my group mates, Jane and Andrew. We are here today to interview you about the history of this world. Do you want to talk about it?"
"Sure, come on in." The owner pressed a button on the controller he is holding onto, and the gate opened inwards. The trio then went into the house.
They sat down on his sofa as he sat down on a chair.
"Jeremy Thompson." The man said, "Just call me Jeremy."
"Alright, Jeremy." Thomas nodded his head in response, "What do you know about the history of this world, and how do you feel about the world currently?"
"The history...I don't think I know much, but I shall just say what I learned back in third grade. My parents told me Hideki had allowed robots and humans to communicate together. Hideki had spent a few years trying to get both races to get together and be harmonious with each other. I heard it took a full sixty years, from an age of twenty two until eight years after he retired. By then, he was eighty. I heard the first Master position is decided by robots and not humans as humans will consider many things like their own well being, greediness, and selfishness. Robots are just straightforward that time, so it's more fair to let them vote. After that, Hideki announced that the Master position will be passed down to his son, and his son will pass it down to Hideki's grandson, and so on. Like, the person holding the position would pass it down to their son. Hideki was Master for fifty years. The second Master took over for forty years. The third Master took over for thirty six years before he died out of a sudden heart attack. The fourth Master, which is the Master now, took over for five years only. That's all I know about history. I'm feeling kinda indifferent about this new Master. I know all these controversies following him. Five death sentencing cases within five years sounds like a big deal. However, he does not concern me. I just live a normal life. I wake up, go to work from nine to five, come back home, take my dinner, do my own stuff, and sleep. Today's the exception, because today is my wife's death anniversary, so I didn't go to work. I don't really care about the Master now."
"Alright, thank you, Jeremy." Thomas shook hands with him, "Thank you for allowing us to interview you today. Hope you have a nice day."
"You too." Jeremy smiled as he led them out of the house.
Lucas and the group of protestors are inside the house where the protestors gather. They are thinking of ways to free Simon from jail.
"Some of us are going to drive some vehicles and break into the police station." One man said, "Then, the others will barge in and knock everyone done before we take the keys from the guards and get Simon out."
"That sounds like a bad idea." One robot uttered, "The police guards are armed with high end weapons. There's no way we can defeat them with our bare hands, even if we're robots."
"Do we have any good guns then?" One female questioned, "Sword? Knife?"
The robot shook his head, "We didn't create anything. We don't have a gunsmith or anyone who creates weapons."
"It's okay, guys." Lucas took out a bullet and placed it into the gun barrel before reloading it, "This is all we need. We can..."
"Hey, guys." A guy in a suit and tie walked in, "I heard the riot group that is working with Simon is here."
"Who the hell are you?" Jericho asked.
"Don't be so surprised." The man said, "My name is Aaron Powell. I'm a businessman who hates the Master. And I've overheard your conversation about breaking Mr Costner out of the police station. I can provide the vehicles and weapons needed."
"How can we trust you?" Lucas asked, "How can we be sure you're not from the police department?"
"Because I gain no benefits when I lie." Aaron replied, "If I'm working for the police, why would I provide you materials to destroy the city? The Master and the police don't want their buildings destroyed, don't they?"
Jericho went to Lucas and whispered in his ear, "You think this guy's reliable?"
"Let's try it." Lucas replied in a soft voice, "I got a way to get rid of him if he ever betrays us."
Jericho nodded his head and looked at Aaron, "You're in. You sure you can provide the materials?"
"Sure. Buses, cars, weapons, you name it." Aaron responded. Lucas then cleared his throat, "I shall continue to talk. Since we have vehicles and weapons sponsored by Aaron, the plan can go on. Listen carefully, because I'm sure that if everyone follows my plan, Simon would be able to get out safe and sound."
In the evening, Thomas, June, and Andrew finally got all the interviews done. Although the latter two had planned to relax after all the interviews, they had instead slacked in between them. The trio went to get some ice cream, played some arcade games, and Andrew even went to swimming for an hour and a half, while Thomas and Jane watched.
As Andrew is driving, he is still talking to his teammates about his muscles.
"Do you know that I've developed it during my younger days, just when I was eleven?" Andrew asked excitedly, "My father was this buff lord. He used to carry dumbbells weighing sixty kilograms! He looked so awesome, and that's when I decided to learn to lift weights!"
"Alright, but we're not really interested in your muscles, Andrew." Thomas said, "Would you just drive us back to the uni, then we can return the car and go home?"
"Now I'm known to be a professional driver!" Andrew ignored Thomas, "And I'm about to show you how skilled I am in drifting!"
Andrew pulled the parking brake lever and turned the steering wheel with force. Suddenly, the steering wheel broke.
"Holy shit...oh, no no no no!" Andrew threw it out of the car. The car then hit a lamp post and it immediately stopped.
Andrew rubbed his forehead and groaned in pain. The other two groaned in pain too, coming out of the car.
"Andrew, why did you have to do that?" Thomas asked, "You've just wrecked the damn car! Now we need to take taxis home!"
"Well, it's not my fault I'm strong!" Andrew retorted.
"You know what, Andrew?" Thomas asked angrily, "I'm done with you flexing your muscles. It's getting really annoying. I will be taking a taxi back home and you will explain what exactly happened to the car. Best of luck repaying for the car."
He then walked away. Jane decided to follow Thomas while Andrew leaned against the damaged car and scratch his hair in frustration.
Lucas slanted in Simon's sofa in the latter's home. Jericho had given Lucas the house key since Simon's not staying in anymore, and Lucas does not have a house to live in since he left Eddie's house.
He is still thinking of how to lead the group into killing the Master before taking the position. He needs to consider that the group wouldn't want to free Simon again even after he would be jailed for a century. Making Simon get caught is one problem. Getting him to stay in the probation room and await for death punishment is another. Thinking of how to kill the Master is one more.
Lucas had planned to free Simon two days later, when the prisoners would be having their breakfast in the canteen. He hoped his plan wouldn't fail. If it does, it is all over for him. He will get into the probation room, and he will see his brother. A person he hates to the core now. He'd rather die than to see Eddie again. He then sets an alarm on his phone and went to sleep.
The next morning, Thomas woke up from bed and stretched his arms before getting out of bed. He took a bath and went out of the room. Penny, who was asleep, opens her eyes immediately. She got out of bed and secretly followed Thomas from a distance.
Thomas grabbed two slices of bread and stuffed it into his mouth before chewing it. He then wore his sneakers and walked out of the house.
As he is walking, Penny followed her boyfriend. She is unsure of where he's going, but she's certain he's not going to do some project work. He didn't even bring a single pen or pencil with him. He brought nothing except his phone and himself. As for her clothes, she is wearing pajamas. She did not care, though. She is more interested in where Thomas is walking to.
He stopped in front of a house and knocked on the door. Penny hid behind a bush and peeked from there.
Kizuna opened the door and smiled at Thomas before letting him in and closing the door. Penny clenched her fists in anger.
"So, you've been seeing this robotic bitch behind my back?" She thought, "Thomas Springfield, you're going to get it." She then walked away from the house.
In Kizuna's room, she and Thomas sat down on her bed.
"It's been a long time since I've seen you, Thomas-chan." She smiled at him, "I'm glad I could meet you today."
"Me too." Thomas replied, "I'm sorry for not coming over lately, Ai-chan. I had lots of work to do, and my girlfriend has been holding me back."
"I understand."
"By the way, Ai-chan, I know you have a good relationship with your father. You're not his biological daughter, yet you two are very close. Most people aren't even close with their domestic robots. How are you and him have such a loving relationship?"
"You know, when Daddy first built me, I was supposed to be normal like the rest of the robots in this world." Kizuna explained, "But he told his friend to make me look like a human. I was supposed to call Daddy my Master, but he told me to cut the formalities and call him Daddy instead. He taught me how to have human emotions, how to understand humans, how to interact with humans and robots alike, and so on. He treated me like his own daughter. He treats me really well, and despite his busy work schedule, he never fails to spend time with me and take care of me. I really, really, really love him. He's such a good man."
"I see." Thomas nodded his head, "Ai-chan, I was wondering if you'd like to go to the amusement park. I don't know if you've been there before, but it's really fun. I want to make up for the time we did not meet."
"Sure." She beamed at him. For the rest of the day, they rode roller coasters, went into a haunted house, and eat candy floss. They didn't take so much attractions because of the long queues, but they enjoyed themselves.
In the evening, Thomas brought Kizuna back to her house.
"I guess I'll be going back soon." Thomas said to her, "I don't want her to complain again about how I always came back late."
"Sure." Kizuna opened the door to her house, "We'll meet next week, I guess?"
"Hopefully." Thomas then waved goodbye and walked off.
"Thomas-chan!" Kizuna called out. Thomas turned around and saw her running towards him. She then hugged him.
"Thank you for today." She uttered, "I really enjoyed myself today, and I enjoyed being with you. Can we do this more often when we meet up?"
"Alright." Thomas patted her head. They both smiled at each other and waved goodbye to each other before Thomas went off. Kizuna went into her house and sat on the sofa.
Although Thomas is not her boyfriend, he always made her feel happy, even when he is just talking to her. She enjoys being with Thomas, and spending time with her made her feel like the happiest robot in the world. She kept telling herself that she does not like Thomas romantically, and that she sees him as a good friend.
Someone then knocked on the door. Kizuna looked through the peephole and saw Penny standing outside.
Kizuna opened the door, "May I ask who are you?"
"I'm a friend of Thomas." Penny said, "May I know where he is?"
"He just left."
"You must be the female robot he visits often." Penny said, "May I talk to you for a while? About him?"
