With the sun casting a tired glow over the city, the limitless energy provided by coils seemed to transfer to the humans who used them. The streets flowed like blood veins, interconnecting a constantly flowing with people and cars alike. The gigantic structure of the tower sitting at the heart of it all, providing the life which coils had brought to the world, allowing endless possibilities and ever-changing technologies to grace society with its presence. Although technology evolves and innovates time and time again...
"You'll never catch me alive, suckers!"
… humans never seem to change their ways.
Kyouma had thought things were going well during tonight's bounty; most of the reported coils had been confiscated, and the perpetrators had been tied up and left for the authorities. Unfortunately, while he and his partner had been dealing with the front men, the leader had been hiding in the closet and used the commotion rush right through them out the front door.
Kyouma looked to his partner sprinting next to him, "Hey, bolts for brains, see if you can cut him off."
"Right!", Mira seemed to shift gears and leaped up to the rooftops like a bullet.
Kyouma turned back to the criminal. There was nothing special about him; dirty, clothes and a dirty smile seemed to be the only things these guys knew how to keep consistent. The guy was moving to fast for Kyouma to aim a good hit on him without losing too much ground in the process Normally his near-superhuman speed would be enough to catch anyone. Unfortunately, it seemed his opponent had the advantage this time.
"Hah! Looks like you shitty Collectors are getting outta breath," the escapist taunted sticking his tough out with an ugly look on his face, "I knew those guys were dumb for teasing me about my skates, LOOK WHOS LAUGHING NOW SUCKERS." The man was riding a pair of custom coil powered rollerblades, allowing him to outrun the Beast of Grendel.
Kyouma was getting irritated, the chase was leading them into a crowded area, people could get hurt. Kyouma hated guys who put others in unnecessary danger, he was gonna enjoy beating this dirtbag.
"Everyone get out of the way!" Kyouma yelled ahead at the civilians. People let out a few cries of surprise as the pair rushed by.
The criminal was having to slow down in order to avoid crashing into the civilians, unfortunately for him, this meant Kyouma was closing the gap between them. Luckily he saw his opportunity to slow the guy down. A restaurant was crowded with people on the front patio, normally the sidewalk would be clear, but it looked like a truck was unloading furniture, namely a huge antique closet, which was blocking the way, a smooth rail separated the people from the walkway.
"End of the road, Collector!" he jumped, onto the rail, grinding between the people and the huge piece of wood.
Kyouma didn't stop, instead, he chose to use the tables like stepping stone, rushing apologies as he rattled the people's dinners.
The rollerblader swore under his breath as he saw he only gained a foot or two ahead of his pursuer, "Wasn't there two in the beginning?" he muttered, but he shook his head thinking she must have been left behind.
The chase turned into an alley, away from the crowd, but it was getting hard for Kyouma to keep this pace, he had been running practically maxed out the whole time, his legs were starting to get hot. He saw the man look back and raise up his hand up, holding another illegal coil.
"This is where we part ways, shitty Collector," he crouched on his skates opening another hole on his skates, "Maybe if you used some of this awesome technology you would be so slow!"
Kyouma was shocked, not at the fact that he couldn't catch up, but the fact that this guy was stupid enough to think two coils in one current system was gonna make him faster.
"Stop! You're gonna kill yourself dumbass!" he warned with a yell.
Because of the way coils operate, the energy particles move in one rotation around the device when tapping into dimension W. If not properly built and calibrated by a professional coil craftsman to work with two coils on one device, the rotations of the dimensional energy could potentially collide and break down causing dimensions W to be released on an even more destructive level than a normal break down.
"MIRA, STOP HIM NOW!" Kyouma yelled.
Just as the man was going to place the coil in the slot. A flying knee can from one of the branching alleyways, straight into the face of the rollerblader. He has knocked off the ground and smashed hard into a waste container.
Mira popped up from her landing with a spring and a smile on her face, "Looks my prediction about him coming down this way was correct." She dusted her hands before resting them on her hips, she was wearing a red, button-up shirt underneath a short black jacket with a white skirt and black leggings, complete with a pair of black boots. A white beanie covered her signature antennas.
Kyouma came to a slow stop… and promptly began trying to catch his breath leaning on his knees to help keep him standing. "I… said to stop him… *huff huff*... not kill him…" he got out.
Mira stood smiling at attention, "I calculated the right amount of force I needed to kick him with in order to knock him unconscious. There was no harm." She leaned in closer to Kyouma studying him keenly. "Are you well Kyouma? Do you need some water? You seem to be breathing quite hard," the green-haired android inferred.
Mira let out a yelp as Kyouma pushed her face away with his hand, sitting up, "I can't breathe less you give me some room." He started doing some stretches to prevent his muscles from cramping up. "How'd he get through you back there? You starting to rust, piece of junk?"
Mira pouted cutely, "I'm not rusty." She then realized something and pointed her finger accusingly at Kyouma, "And I'm not a piece of junk! Besides, what about you mister! What's your excuse for letting him get by? In my memory footage, you were standing right in the path of the entrance the whole time."
Kyouma crossed his arms and looked away, having been seen through, the evidence stacked against him. He was distracted and didn't act as fast as usual when the guy popped out of the closet, too busy admiring the curious look on Mira's face - she probably heard the guy and was looking for him. "'Cause you're too damn cute for your own good…", he said quietly under his breath.
Mira picked up what he said with her sensitive hearing and promptly began blushing heavily. "W-W-W-W-What's that have to do with anything!" she questioned, antenna standing straight, lifting her beanie up off her head, in alarm.
Kyouma began walking toward the pile of trash inside the garbage, "Robots aren't supposed to blush. Stop it."
While he made quips about her robotic nature just as regularly as before the incident at Easter Island, there was no ill will behind them like before, instead, they were more along the lines of good-natured insults. And it wasn't Mira's fault that the guy had gotten past them, it was his.
Ever since he found out about her true beginnings a month or two ago, he had been catching himself gazing at her out of nowhere. The look she had today reminded him how Miyabi looked when she got wind of a new piece of antique technology. Kyouma scolded himself at that thought, Stop comparing them like that, Mira is her own person, no matter how much she may look like Miyabi.
Banishing the train of thought, he restrained the man, activating a beacon for police to come and pick him up and retrieved both of the illegal coils off of him, he got up and walked toward the still flustered android. He patted her head breaking her out of her trance, "Good job today, it seems that martial arts training is catching on," he began walking out of the alley, "Cmon, we got a long way to walk back to the car."
Mira, still blushing and trying to fix her hair, was surprised by being offered another rare moment of praise from her partner. She sighed tiredly, why did her partner always have to be so enigmatic, That's just Kyouma for you, I guess.
"Snap out of it metal head! I need my GPS with me to find out where I'm going!" Kyouma yelled back, now turning out of the alley onto the street.
"C-Coming, Kyouma." Mira rushed out to meet him, but then got mad as to what he referred to her as, "And I'm not a guidance device, I'M A PERSON!"
The 2000gt's rumbling straight 6 engine offered something pleasant to break the silence between the occupants of the car, just getting back from collecting the bounty reward from today. Kyouma, too busy enjoying driving his most prized possession, was oblivious to the inner conversation Mira was having her own mind.
She was thinking in her head what she could do to show her appreciation appropriately toward her partner. He had done so much for her: giving her a place to call her own, a fun job where she could do good for the world, and all around being a good person to her when no one expected him to.
Sure her partner ignored most of her pleas, physically assaulted her at times (in his defense he couldn't really hurt her), and insulted her more... 'artificial' side constantly, but that was just Kyouma. He spoke his mind when he was feeling something and wasn't afraid what other people thought of him, all the while she knew he cared deeply for those close to him, no matter how many times he denied it.
She had to do something to show she appreciated all that he did for her, normal social behaviors say appreciation is the one way to give someone the most happiness, and that's all Mira really wanted for Kyouma, to make him happy.
If only he wasn't so difficult a person to read, maybe she would have figured out something to do for him by now.
Suddenly, Mira came to an epiphany, Of course! She only had the biggest information resource in the world at her disposal. Mira loaded the web into her interface and searched up 'ways to show your appreciation'.
Appreciation in the workplace? No…. Appreciation toward parents… not that… Ah-ha! 'Appreciation toward that special someone in your life'. That perfectly described Kyouma, 'the special person in Mira's life'. She opened the link and was caught by the first thing on the list. That was perfect! Why didn't she think of that before?
A slap on the back of her head broke her out of her trance, "Hey, snap out of it, we're home."
"Oh sorry! I was… looking up something," Mira didn't want him to know what she was planning yet, it had to be a surprise.
Kyouma gave her a questioning look, "Uh-huh…" He turned, stepping out of the car, "You better not be short-circuiting on me, piece of junk."
Mira bristled at being called his favorite nickname for her, but let it go. She hopped out of the car and rushed passed him to behind her trailer.
"Hey what's the rush for?"
Mira pulled the cover off of the object behind her trailer, revealing a bright green colored scooter. She asked Kyouma if there was a way for her get around better without drawing unnecessary suspicion to herself, being able to leap up skyscrapers with ease and all. He asked one of his contacts and they gifted him the scooter free of charge. Of course, the scooter was mainly in pieces when it was delivered, and it took the combined effort of Kyouma's motor skills and her perfect painting skills, to make the little scooter near mint condition. She pays Kyouma for a bit of gas every now and then, and it's was up to her to keep it maintained. Needless to say, with the bonding her and Kyouma shared making it the way it is now, her attachment to the little scooter could rival Kyouma's attachment to his own car.
She popped on her red helmet, which had custom openings for her antennas, and hopped on, "I'm just going to run to the store for a few things. I'll be back soon!" She kickstarted the engine, and it sputtered to life. She revved it a few times to get the excess gas out of the engine, before remembering a crucial detail, "Oh, and Kyouma!"
"Yeah?"
"Don't order takeout tonight."
He was about to ask why, but she was already revving off out of the gas station, the engine slowly getting quieter by the second. He let out a long tired sigh, rubbing his face he could not understand that girl sometimes.
It still felt weird, thinking of something that was powered by a coil, the one thing he had despised with all his being for years, as a living person. The events at Easter Island had changed him, he still disliked coils and could live just fine without them for the rest of his life, but Mira had shown him that something coiled powered could have just as much humanity, if not more than most humans could be said to have. Seameyer's delusional outlook showed him that much.
Kyouma could live without coils, but he accepted in his mind he couldn't live without Mira. Were it not for her he wouldn't have been able to remember the last moments he had with Miyabi, and their agreement made with each other. Mira represented that; looking at her no longer brought painful memories of what he lost, but of happiness at what he gained from the loss of his first love.
He let out another sigh, That girl is going to be the end of me.
As quickly as Mira had zoomed off she arrived back from her trip to the store, carrying huge brown paper bags filled with groceries in her scooters basket. Before Kyouma could ask what all the groceries were for, she ran past him into the house shouting about how he couldn't come inside, or else she was gonna slap him again. Kyouma scoffed, "Can't go inside my own house, who does that metal brain think she is?"
He just shook his head and went back to working underneath his car, but slammed his head on the floor panel when a huge racket originated from the kitchen. He ran over to the door to check on the situation, but as soon as he pushed the door open it slammed back shut, and wouldn't budge.
"D-don't worry everything's fine," Mira affirmed unconvincingly.
"What the hell are you doing in there, bolt brain?" he tried pushing on the door but it still wouldn't budge, "Open the door, I'm not having any weird robot stuff going on in my house!"
"Kyouma, I know you want to come in, it's your house and everything, but I'm asking you just give me an hour or so alone in here. Please?" Mira pleaded.
Kyouma could just keep barging through, or go around the back, or even pull the 'I live here' card and Mira would just open up because she knows it's true and is too kind not to refuse. She was pleading him, for just this once, to let her do what she needs to do, and whatever she was doing seemed pretty important to her…
Kyouma just sighed, he lost this round, Damn this big heart!
"OK fine. Keep doing your weird robot stuff," he stepped back from the door to the garage, "but if I find one thing destroyed, you're walking to the next bounty call."
"Thank you, Kyouma~!" he heard the racket resume again.
I need a drink… thought the beast with a groan.
45 minutes later, he was starting to regret not going in earlier, and that good mood he was in had faded away. He couldn't hear himself think let alone focus on his car with the racket coming from his own kitchen. Least he remembered to keep a few beers in the garage's fridge. He sipped slowly at his salvation from a full-blown headache, relaxing in a lawn chair in front of his car.
Suddenly, the noises stopped, he looked over just in time to see the door open, releasing white clouds of powder out the front door. It looked like a scene in a horror movie, especially when the android stepped out among the cloud, looking white as a ghost.
Kyouma deadpanned, as Mira began dusting off her clothes, creating an even bigger cloud of what Kyouma guessed was flour. She patted her hands, then resting them on her hips, taking a big breath of fresh air. She looked over at Kyouma, smiled brightly and waved, "I finished Kyouma! Thank you for letting me use the kitchen!"
Kyouma was speechless, Why is there so much flour?
"I'm going to go get cleaned up, get the table set outside, OK!" she almost skipped to the inside of her trailer.
Kyouma blinked, then looked at the door of his house, which had a white sheet of powder at the foot of the door.
He was glad he had gotten into his casual clothes beforehand, he didn't think he would survive going inside to change and seeing what his kitchen had turned into.
Kyouma was lounging patiently at the set table outside, the setting sun casts a romantic glow over the checkered cloth table, however, you wouldn't hear it described like that from Kyouma's mouth. He was getting hungry and Mira was taking her sweet time it seemed, Least the kitchen's clean now.
Mira then appeared from the doorway, placing down a metal pot onto the table. She had changed out of her powdered clothes into her favorite dress. She poured some of the contents from the pot in a bowl for Kyouma, gracing him with a bright smile as she placed the bowl in front of him, "I hope you like it, Kyouma!".
"I'll like it when I don't wake up from food poisoning in the morning," he gruffed out, "I better not find any motor oil in there that you 'added for flavor'."
Truth be told it smelled absolutely heavenly to Kyouma, he looked down at the bowl, it seemed to be a type of udon with steamed vegetables and what looked pork belly scattered around. Not only did it smell delicious but it looked delicious.
Mira grabbed a bowl for herself and sat down across from Kyouma at the table, they both gave their thanks for the meal and dug in. With the first bite Kyouma was sold, it was the best bowl of udon he had ever eaten in his life, the blend of flavor in the broth acted like a medium for all the different flavors of the perfectly cooked vegetables and meat combining them together into a taste of perfection. Kyouma heard a giggle coming from across the table and broke out of his trance.
Mira was practically glowing, the look on Kyouma's face had practically screamed how he thought the meal was, still Mira asked anyway just to tease him for once, "Enjoying yourself?"
"Yeah, yeah. Not bad… ," he looked away from his new personal chef, he still had too much pride to admit the coil powered girl had cooked the best meal he ever ate, he gained a smirk on his face and just turned his eyes to her, "... for a 'piece of junk' anyway."
"Hey, that's not very nice," Mira pouted, "especially when I went through all that trouble to make it for you."
"The only trouble your gonna have is me when I find flour in places I would never have thought of in a million years."
Mira blushed in embarrassment at her blunder in the kitchen being brought up, "I-it wasn't my fault, some water had dripped off the counter and I slipped! Falling on my butt hurt you know!"
"Hey, Mira!"
"What?!"
"Thanks for the meal, you didn't have too," Kyouma said with a gentle smile.
Mira just blushed, "Y-y-you're welcome, Kyouma."
They quickly resumed eating their meal, the both of them wiping out the pot of udon completely, with Kyouma taking the majority, living up to the appetite of a Beast. They found themselves in a pleasant conversation for a while after, both their bellies full, until Mira remembered something,
"Oh, I almost forgot the dessert!" She ran inside the house.
Kyouma was a happy camper at the fact that now he was getting dessert, she must be trying to feed him into a coma. He put his hands behind his head and closed his eyes in relaxation, he was going to sleep good tonight.
He heard the sound of a plate dropped in front of him and smirked lightly, "What are you trying to stuff down my throat no…"
On the plate in front of him was a regular sized Dorayaki bun. It didn't look particularly special, but it was more the fact that he hadn't had fresh made Dorayaki like this since…
"I asked a couple of your friends what your favorite dessert was," Mira said smiling softly, "They said you liked Dorayaki so I went about trying to make it. I couldn't find any Anko, so I made some fresh fruit jelly to go in it." She opened her pastry to show the filling within.
Kyouma still couldn't say anything, he was almost on autopilot as he took the dessert up to his mouth to take a bite.
Mira was starting to get worried, he was staring straight forward looking off into nothing, Oh no! It must be terrible! She then went for a bite of her own to confirm her suspicion, but she was pleasantly surprised as well, It's Delicious!
Kyouma finally broke out of his stupor, that taste had brought him back to when Miyabi used to cook for him. "Mira…," his voice was more unsteady than normal, "When did you get the idea to start cooking."
Mira was a bit taken aback by the question and the somber tone in his voice. Her coil pounding at her chest, she answered honestly, "You've just been so good to me Kyouma! You took me in despite the fact that you despise coils, you gave me a home and a place to call my own, and you even go out of your way to help me when I need it." Mira felt her eyes getting watery, "I'm s-sorry I can't do things correctly sometimes, and I'm a klutz who needs to pay attention to her surroundings more," a few tears fell from her eyes, "but I h-hoped that I can at least do something to show you that I really am trying. I made this food because..."
Kyouma just silently stared, but when Mira, sadly tilted her head, eyes closed and tears on her cheeks, his heart clenched at what she said next.
"... I just want to make you happy, Kyouma."
Kyouma, for a split second, swore he say Miyabi sitting across from him, in all her innocent beauty, before fading back into the image of his green haired compa… friend.
"I hope I become dear to someone someday."
Mira, tears still slowly flowing, almost went into a reboot when she was pulled out of her chair and into the strong, safe arms of her partner.
Kyouma couldn't stand to see that horribly sad look on her face, so he just embraced her tighter trying to show his thanks in action rather than words. He felt though, with her in his arms still not sure what was happening, that he should say something, "Robots don't cry, Mira."
Mira felt her coil skip as he called her by his name once again, and though he used that phrase before in the past degradingly, she heard what he was trying to say, Don't cry, Mira.
She tried to do as he asked, but once again was going to disappoint him as began tears just couldn't stop flowing as she buried her head into his chest. He didn't push her away or smack her head, he just held her closer. The collector and the android stayed like that for a while silently thanking each other for showing them what they didn't know they wanted or needed in their lives, each other.
A/N:
I just felt this anime is underated and the category in FF needs some love.
If you watch this anime cool, if you don't. Watch it, but only if you have some free time.
Peace.