A steel arm pulled it's way free of Naota's forehead, grasping at the air, as if it were testing it. The arm was quickly followed by a colossal torso, with the other arm shouldered out soon after. If Naota could see the robot properly, he would see that it is double the height of a fully-grown, and especially tall, man. Coloured cold grey, the mechanical horror's hands sports sharpened claws, glinting shallow blue in the sunlight. It's head, disproportionately small in comparison with the rest of it, swivelled, a mechanical whirring following it. It seemed to be searching for something…

It looks down, and notices for the first time the small creature it is currently lodged in. Seemingly repulsed, it launches itself free of Naota's N.O channel. It spins, almost like a dog chasing it's tail, searching. The telltale sound of a Vespa engine can faintly be heard puttering in the distance. The mechanical soldier clicks and whirrs, ancient circuits straining to acknowledge the sound. The Vespa is coming closer…

Naota can hear the sound for the first time. His eyes widen, current events prove to be more than enough evidence to convince him that it could indeed be true. Haruko could be driving that Vespa…

The robot turns, looking into a mysteriously darkened alley, and waits. For several minutes it moves not a… well, the figure of speech demands the word muscle, but it IS a robot… Gear, perhaps? In any case, its mysterious metal workings do not cause it to move for a long while. Finally, a Vespa bursts forth from the narrow street, blasting into daylight almost triumphantly. The Medical Mechanica robot creaks to life, showing speed quite unexpected for a 400 pound 15 foot mechanical killing machine. It seems to blur around the edges, speeding towards the Vespa. With a single blow the metal monster throws the Vespa and it's rider in opposite directions. Almost in slow motion, the riding helmet and goggles fly off Harukos head, totally negating any use they might have otherwise had. Naota's face is the definition of shock:

" Haruko?! "

Haruhara looks up at the mention of her name, winded from the hard impact with the pavement:

" Oh. Hi, Takkun. "

" ' Hi Takkun'?! That's all you can say?! What the hell is going on, Haruko?"

" Well, if you hadn't noticed, I was just attacked by a robot… Hey, that one came out of you head, didn't it?" She already knew the answer.

" Yeah…"

" Well, we'll have to-"

The hulking robot chose that moment to launch another assault on Haruko. Its' sharpened claws scythe towards her face, whistling through the air. At the last moment, Haru-san throws herself out of the way, the sound of metal screeching into contact with concrete following her. She pulls herself to her feet, and dusts herself off. Pulling her double-necked Gibson, a memento from her previous time with Takkun, up from it' s landing spot, she watches with a bemused smile as the robot struggles to pull its' hand out of the road.

" So, Takkun, how've ya been? It's been a while, huh?"

" Well, yeah… Seriously, Haruko, you need to tell me what's going on."

" I can assume that new robot is from Medical Mechanica, and… No, she couldn't have… Sneaky little.."

" What is it, Haruko? What's wrong?"

" N-nothing, Takkun. Nothing at all… yet."

" That sounded more sinister than I think you meant it to. What did you- Whoop, watch out!" Naota ducks, and Haruko follows suit, as a massive claw whizzes by their heads. Naota can't help but break out into a grin as he hears Haruko:

" CHANCE!!!!"

The Gibson swings upward, smacking the wrist of the robot clean off. Haruko swings it around, taking hold of it neck out, the gun-guitars' barrel pointed into the monsters' chest. She fires one incredibly destructive round into the literal belly of the beast, revealing impossibly complex inner workings, which manage to continue to function around the fireball. Haruko has grabbed Naota by the arm and is hauling him behind a dumpster.

" Stay here, and don't make a sound."

" Well, actually, there is one sound I'd like to make: CANTI! " Naota screams the summons to the high heavens.

Elsewhere the robot with the television head looks up from its work. It looks around, searching for the source of the disturbance. After a while it shrugs, and returns to it's bread making duties.

Naota ad Haruko wait in silence for Canti. Naota checks his watch, looks to the sky, and begins to tap his feet impatiently. Canti does not make an appearance.

" Oh hell." Naota slumps dejectedly.

" Uh, don't worry about it." Haruko jumps the dumpster, ready to finish off the robot, who is currently occupied with jerking in a loop in the middle of the street, smoking gently.

Bass guitar raised above her head, Haruko launches at the robot with a slightly insane grin plastered on her face. With a comical ' CLONG!' her instrument makes contact with a steely forehead, causing a red tinted visor to shatter, the odd material clattering onto the pavement. The large dent, battered into the robots' skull, begins to crackle misdirected electricity, snapped power cables whipping inside the creased shell. The undamaged arm jerks and swings, a last attempt at separating Harukos' head from her shoulders. The dismembering blow instead catches a handful of guitar, before swinging limply to the ground, devoid of power. The hulking metal shell falls backwards, the road cracking under it's massive bulk.

Haruko lands calmly, gracefully, on the side of the road. Slowly, she walks around the metallic corpse, wary of any remaining artificial life within it. When it is apparent that it isn't getting back up, Haruhara strides confidently over to where Naota is standing, peeping over the top of the dumpster (replete with mountainous garbage pile).

" C'mon, Takkun. We need to leave. Fast." Haruko grabs the boy by the arm, pulling him along to her overturned Vespa.

" Haruko, what just happened? I need to know."

With a grunt, the pink-haired girl pulls her Vespa to its wheels, before clambering on and beckoning for Naota to do the same.

" I'm being chased" Haruko begins " My Senior and I had a little… disagreement. Now she's after me, and… And I figured I could hide out with you for a while?"

Haruko looks back at the boy, who's looking a little stunned. She gives her best attempt at a charismatic grin, and the boys' features soften.

" You want to stay with me? " The boy pauses momentarily "… Fine, but you need to tell me exactly what's going on. A lot of this makes no sense."

" Oh, Takkun, you're so generous!" Haruko claps playfully " C'mon, we'd better get out of here. Who knows what could be comin' next."

Naota joins her on the Vespa, and she speeds away.