Upon entering the building, what Batou found inside was absolutely unexpected. He found himself standing in the middle of an empty school hallway. He looked behind himself and no longer saw the door he entered through; it was simply more hallway.

"What the hell…" He muttered.

Suddenly, the sound of running footsteps began to echo about the hall behind him. He turned and saw a girl turn the corner with books in her arms. She was running towards his direction until she tripped and dropped her reading materials. Batou's instant reaction was to see if she was okay and that's what he did.

"Hey, are you alright?" He asked with concern once he made it over to her.

The girl looked up at him with wide crimson eyes. It was none other than a young, frightened Motoko. Her violet hair was messy as it seemed like she had been running for quite a while.

"M-Motoko?..." Batou asked in shock.

She looked behind herself and saw a group of girls walking towards her. She quickly gathered up her books in a frantic manner before getting up and running through another hallway.

Batou was greatly confused by what he was witnessing so he decided to follow the girl himself. Where exactly was he? Is he experiencing the Major's memories? But how?

The girls who were following her looked like upperclassmen due to their different colored uniforms. They obviously had ill intentions and Batou had the greatest urge to intervene even though it seemed like he physically could not.

Young Motoko ran into a dead end as the classroom doors nearby were locked. She faced the group of girls and stood her ground though she was clearly afraid. Her short sleeve top exposed her jointed arms as her skirt did her jointed legs.

"Kusanagi, why are you running?" The "leader" of the group asked in a patronizing tone. She had long, wavy blonde hair and light blue eyes, "It's too early for gym class."

The posse giggled amongst themselves and Motoko looked down.

"Shouldn't you be outside for recess right now? What are you doing with all of those books? Class doesn't start until 13:00…"

"No one wanted to play with me…" Motoko said in a very quiet voice.

"Speak up!" The blondie demanded.

"No one wanted to play with me." Motoko spoke more clearly.

"Oh really?" The girl smirked and looked about her friends, "I think I know why…"

Motoko gave no response.

"Maybe it's because no one plays with dolls anymore…" The girl leaned forward with her hands on her hips, "They're pretty to look at but not fun to play with...they can break so easily and frankly...you look a little broken yourself." The girl pulled out a red screwdriver from her skirt pocket and began to stick it into one of Motoko's wrist joints. The other girls joined in to pin the cyborg back against the wall in order to assist in the assault.

Batou was practically horrified by the scene and he began to yell, "Are you all insane?! Stop hurting her!"

Motoko was trying her best to break free and the moment she tried to call for help, they covered her mouth. Batou tried to grab the assailants but his hands moved through their bodies as if they were phantoms.

The class bells rang and the girls stopped their actions. The pulled away from their victim and quickly scurried back to their own classrooms, leaving the young Motoko all alone. She slid down to the floor and covered her face. Her left wrist was now somewhat dislocated and the screwdriver was still lodged inside. She began to silently weep and Batou looked at her with great sympathy.

A female teacher exited one of the classroom's and gasped when she saw the weeping girl.

"Motoko! What happened?" She rushed over to her and dropped to her knees next to her despite wearing a dress, "Who did this?"

Motoko shook her head, perhaps afraid to give away the identities of the attackers.

"The president of the school must be notified about this immediately! Have you not been through enough, dear child?"

"I want to go home...I want my parents...I want my real parents…" Motoko finally responded.

The teacher frowned and wrapped an arm around the cyborg before pulling her close to her in a motherly fashion, "I know, Dear, I know…" She gently moved Motoko's hands out of her face and looked at her. Her face was wet from the oily tears but the teacher kindly began to dry them with a spare handkerchief. She then said, "I miss my parents too...and though I lost them years ago, I still feel the pain to this day...but there is something that keeps me going…"

"What?..."

"They told me to always look ahead. The person you are today will most likely not be the same person you are in 10 years...everything that happened today is a mere paragraph of your life story but it's your job to find out what comes next."

Motoko smiled and looked encouraged by her words. She hugged the teacher and said, "Thank you, Ms. Toriyama…"

Everything began to grow bright and Batou shielded his optics. The scene soon faded and now he seemed to be standing in what looked to be an antique shop. Behind the counter was Old Toriyama herself.

"Was that…" Batou began, speechless by what he witnessed.

"'A memory'? Of course." She finished his question, "This shop is full of projectors that are used to project a person's memory as if they were standing in it in third person...and for your next question, yes, that was one of your 'wife's' memories…"

Batou rubbed his forehead, looking quite stressed, and said, "I can't believe that happened to her...she was so young…"

"Motoko has had a very hard life growing up." The woman nodded, "Those events taught her that the world is unfair and in order to survive it, you must play unfairly...no wonder she joined Section 9 when she did." She suddenly tossed a small object to Batou which he was able to catch. It was Motoko's missing cellphone.

"So you did steal it...but why?"

"Neither one of you would have come if I didn't," Toriyama laughed in her elderly voice.

The small doorbell sounded and the Major entered the shop. She looked around and soon joined them asking, "Is everything okay? I didn't hear any gunshots so I assumed all was well."

"Motoko…." Batou said, almost in relief. He greeted her with a warm hug in which she was not expecting whatsoever.

"Batou...what are you-" She looked uncomfortable and had no idea what set him off like this. She looked around and noticed a familiar object on the counter next to the cash register. She patted Batou's back, gesturing for him to let go of her which he proceeded to do. She slowly made her way to the counter and picked up a red screwdriver. She looked at it silently for a moment before commenting, "Time sure does fly, doesn't it?…"

"Do you remember?" Batou asked while walking over to her.

"Now I do." She nodded, "I was around 12 when it happened...the attack itself didn't hurt but I suppose the thought of them wanting to hurt me did…Humans sure can be cruel."

"What do you suppose you should do?" Toriyama asked from behind the counter.

"Nothing. I've already moved on." Motoko shrugged, "That and amongst many other things…" She looked at her former teacher, "I appreciate you wanting to show me my memories but I assure you that I am just fine. Perhaps there are still a few personal things I have trouble with...but bullying isn't one of them...Maybe I'm the bully now." She chuckled before crushing the screwdriver with a single prosthetic hand and dropping the pieces.

Batou was a bit surprised by her actions and he didn't know what to make of it. He was actually hoping the Major would get emotional so he could be there for support but that was obviously not how this scene was going to go down.

Motoko grabbed her phone out of Batou's hand and stated while exiting, "Let's go...I'm ready for that coffee you promised me."

"I'll be there in a minute." Batou replied before directing his attention back to the old woman, "Mrs. Toriyama...Thank you so much for showing me that memory...I would like to see more in the future…I want to learn more about her past which can help explain some of her mannerisms now..."

"How about we see one of your memories next time?" She smiled.

"What?...No."

"Why not?"

"I'm just fine."

"Are you sure? I have a few memories that explain that temper of yours…"

"Alright, I'm leaving…" Batou replied in frustration. He finally trudged his way out of the building, catching up with his female superior.

Back in the shop, Toriyama Noriko stood smiling and giggling as she held Batou's now stolen cell phone in her hand.

The End