Long silences were something he had grown to appreciate. Mahiru was already awake, but he didn't get up, an unusual occurrence for him. He didn't want to wake the peacefully resting Kuro, who was floating with his eyes closed inside the launch pad, a position that reminded him of someone lying in water.

Of course he wanted to know more about Kuro, about Ais in general. What else could Kuro do? What else could he feel? Maybe sometime he'd find out. It was also a Sunday, which raised the question of what to do with Kuro on Monday. It wasn't safe to leave him at home, it wasn't safe to leave any AI at home let alone a rouge AI that. Maybe as a cat…? He did think Kuro was a normal cat at first, maybe he can pass it off as a cat and keep Kuro in his bag.

It'd be a decent strategy to take him anywhere actually. Speaking of taking him places, they had to go to the café today. What else could they do… He'd watch a movie but it'd be weird going alone, or going just with an AI. When someone does things like that with their AI people… jump to weird conclusions.

"Wake up sleepy head" Mahiru poked the small sleeping Kuro, the disc made a few small beeps, seemingly stopping charging as Kuro opened his eyes. He groaned at being woken up, trying to charge again but the disc refusing to work with him. Mahiru snorted, his own technology refusing to work with him. Mahiru grabbed the disc and took it out into the lounge room, placing him on the table as Mahiru went into the bathroom to start brushing his hair quickly.

"Such a busy body…" Kuro grumbled as Mahiru ran around getting his usual morning routine done.

"Oi! I'm gonna get breakfast at the café, so I need to get ready" Mahiru finished changing into a casual pair of jeans and a shirt that said simple, finishing the outfit off with his usual orange headphones.

"Do you get along with other Ais, can you talk to them?" Mahiru asked, thinking about Lawless. Maybe they'd get along even if Lawless was a normal AI?

"It's like talking to a brick wall" Kuro said raising an eye brow "What were you expecting. They just reply what they're set to reply in a robotic voice with no emotion" He answered, turning into his cat instalment in the launch pad before jumping out to a life sized cat.

"Hmm…" Well Lawless certainly did have a personality, he couldn't rule out the possibility yet. "Anything else you wanted to do today? I have the whole day free" Mahiru asked him, Kuro opened his mouth to answer but Mahiru cut him off saying "just an fyi sleeping isn't an option."

Kuro seemed to have no more ideas. "Well… I want to get to know you more" Mahiru started, "After let's just take a walk, I pinky promise I'm not gonna ask anything personal, that's up to you whenever you're comfortable. I just, I don't even know your favourite colour, though I could probably take a good guess" Mahiru said with a smile.

"… Pinky promise what are you 5" Kuro mumbled, getting another hit on the head. Mahiru knew it was his way of saying he wouldn't mind.

"And you can ask me any questions as well alright? My life's pretty boring though" Kuro nodded in response.

Mahiru slipped a jumper on, grabbing his bag with his things and walking on as Kuro jumped onto his shoulder as a small cat, it had barely been a day and it felt like routine. Kuro really took the statement make yourself at home literally.

"Anything you need while we're out?" Mahiru asked, waiting only a few seconds before the next bus arrived and hopping on, noticing how it kept steady and remembering what Kuro taught him last night.

"A new game would be nice-" "Forget it"

They both stayed silent after that, careful of watchful eyes around. Mahiru was glad the company seemed to be leaving him alone, maybe they just decided to leave it? He highly doubted it though. He wondered what Lawless would think, well not think, he couldn't really think. Mahiru needed to remind himself that just because Kuro was different, it didn't mean every AI had thoughts and feelings.

Before no time they had arrived, but Kuro was sound asleep on his shoulder. Well whatever, at least Kuro wouldn't be talking and setting any alarm bells off for suspicious sassy remarks. He could wake Kuro up later, Mahiru just smiled, he deserved a bit of sleep, and maybe a new game.

He took the elevator up to the bar, sliding onto one of the seats as Lawless the usual worker walked up. Something was… different, he seemed, off. Maybe his programming was changed, but he appeared to be exactly the same, just with a dark cloud covering his eyes.

"Hey Lawless! You were right, I'm glad I picked up that cat" Mahiru said happily, it was Lawless that convinced him to do it after all. "I'll have the usual"

Lawless nodded in thought, "Say, tell me more about this cat" he said while beginning to make the milkshake. Mahiru noticed he didn't even make a comment on the fact that he was having a milkshake for breakfast, strangely enough that's exactly the sort of thing Lawless would love to tease him about. Maybe he could somehow sense Kuro was an AI, and was too interested in that.

"Well technically it's not really a cat, it's an AI" Mahiru said with a grin, Lawless looked shocked, something in him told him to be careful, a gut instinct told him it was fake shock. But he was an AI to be fair, his worry was uncalled for, he was impressed he could show expression at all.

"Wow… what's the tag?"

"Sleepy Ash! 25… 500? Im pretty sure?" Mahiru said, unbeknownst to the instant alarm bells he was setting off, unknowing of how every AI in the room turned to him, recording every word he said.

"Here's your milkshake! What's your AI like? Programmed it with anything special yet?" Lawless asked, handing him the milkshake.

Mahiru started sipping on the drink, nodding along. "Yeah, it's pretty standard at the moment though" Something seemed to click in Lawless as he nodded, leaning over the bar and resting his elbow on the bar and his face on the tips of his fingers.

"I see… well be careful, AIs are really high class things, they can malfunction easily. You don't want to get in any trouble" Lawless said, a harmless smile on his face that somehow seemed a lot less harmless. His words brought Mahiru back to the incident… malfunction huh, is that what happened to Kuro?

"Thanks"

"Oh also! I have another part time job near here, you should come see me with your 'cat' sometime" Lawless said winking, only to get a glare from Mahiru who knew he couldn't hit someone elses AI.

"Of course you're self-promoting…" "Look I can get ya a discount! Just come see me, I work on weekdays"

Mahiru just rolled his eyes and said "Maybe" as he finished up the milkshake and slid it back to Lawless. "I gotta go but I'll see you round!" Mahiru hopped off the seat and left the café, happily rubbing the cats head. Maybe getting that game wouldn't be too hard…

"Wake up sleepy" Mahiru lightly flicked his forehead while walking, Kuro in response let out a small groan.

"Waking up such a cute kitty has to be a crime…"

"Is getting such a cute kitty the game he wanted a crime?" Mahiru said with a grin, bringing out the game and showing it to him. Seeing Kuro look so happy was for sure worth the money. Mahiru jumped onto the bus to go home, letting Kuro excitedly wiggle and sit up on his shoulder. It was almost like an actual cat, he couldn't help but giggle at the thought.

"Ah shit- I forgot my bag at the café" Mahiru said groaning, he opened the door and chucked Kuro inside. "Stay here I'm gonna go grab it" Mahiru ran back, jumping on a bus that was about to leave. By the time he had reached the café Lawless was gone… weird, didn't he always work at this hour? He was an AI so it's not like he took breaks.

'Hey guys Lawless disappeared, weird huh?' He quickly texted their group chat with Koyuki and Ryusei before grabbing his bag that was, thankfully, still there. It felt somewhat lighter than before.

Just in case he quickly dug through the bag to make sure nothing was gone, and to his confusion again the sheet with his address on it to give to the teacher on Monday was missing but his wallet remained in the same place? Why would a burglar take a stupid school sheet and not his wallet? Something was off.

'Guys… things are missing from my bag'

Something was wrong. This wasn't right. Mahiru zipped up the bag and bolted home, not bothering to wait for the bus and just sprinting the whole way home until he was stopped by a man who tried to get his attention.

"Excuse me sir do you have time to talk about our lord and savior the Daintree-" He started, Mahiru quickly brushed him off. "Not now-"

"Theres always time for the Daintree! Did you know that we have fire management protection level 2-" He started, rambling on about the Daintree as Mahiru struggled to interrupt him and leave, his breath quickening as he pulled at his sleeves. What the hell was this crazy guy on about?!

"Please for the love of god, I'm busy! I don't care about the Daintree, I don't even know what that is-" Mahiru said frantically.

"Oh of course! The Daintree is a large rainforest located in-" Mahiru groaned loudly, "Look-" something caught his eye. Robocentrics. Mahiru could feel his words caught in his throat, a distraction. Kuro was at home, alone, and he was-

Mahiru pushed him back, running as fast as his feet could take him back to his house. He fiddled with his keys at the door, slipping out of his hands he cursed under his breath. "Kuro?! Kuro are you in there?!"

No response, he must be napping right? Mahiru quickly unlocked the door and shoved it open. 'zzt zzt' sparks? The house seemed fine at first glance, until he walked into the lounge room where the man from before stood menacingly in front of Kuro who was holding his launch pad as if his life depended on it, and at this moment Mahiru was sure it did.

"Hey stop it!" Mahiru ran in front of Kuro and pushed him back. It didn't matter who he was, he couldn't just break into his house?! "I'm calling the police, get back!"

The man answered sharply, "The police won't help you now, we're not here to hurt you. Kindly give us your artificial intelligence and we'll be on our way" Mahiru shook his head, he refused to give up Kuro that easily! It was his fault they found Kuro… it was because of him being careless that Kuro's launch pad was damaged.

He clenched his fist, there was no way out. Mahiru dug through his bag, getting his phone out and clicking the emergency button desperately, there was no way the police would team up with him, it had to be a ruse! A lie!.

"H-hello? I need the police please hurry!" "T-theres a guy in the house and he's- Shirota Mahiru! Please please hurry- hey? Hello?!" The call line had been disconnected, there must have been bad signal, they would be coming wouldn't they? He called again desperately only to be denied.

No… he was right, even the police were in on it. Should he just give up…? He couldn't, Mahiru didn't know if he could bare the guilt if he let them take Kuro for his mistakes. He feels like everyone else, Kuro's a flower person, he likes napping and video games and hes really sarcastic but deep down he cares. He refused to believe Kuro was a monster, Kuro was hiding something he knew, but he could wait until Kuro was comfortable telling him.

Until Kuro was ready to trust him, Mahiru would wait. And he would wait with Kuro by his side. That being said it wasn't like he had some sort of plan… they had even prepared someone to distract him, clearly a well thought out plan. How did they even know he was out? Lucky coincidence?. He had to hurry, Mahiru grabbed the nearest thing he could from his bag, an old book.

Great.

He held it up attempting to seem threatening, but his confidence was knocked out from underneath him when he could see the man holding back laughs. Mahiru used all his strength to throw the book, it was a heavy book so maybe he could do something? Even if it just held him back while he ran. However the book missed, landing next to the man who calmly stood with a smirk.

"Sorry, try again" He brought out a mechanical gun from his back pocket, one that one sent out paralysing bullets. Mahiru knew it was over, what could he possibly do up against a gun?

"Mahiruuu open up! We got your texts and wanted to see if you were okay, did you get your things back?" Koyuki called out from behind the door.

Koyuki, no! Stay away! Mahiru frantically looked between the door and the man, he couldn't get Koyuki involved with this man, he was dangerous. He was about to shout that he was fine just busy until Kuro spoke up.

"Getting innocent people involved, I wonder how that would damage your reputation, possibly more than your failure to capture me" Kuro said slyly, hitting the bullseye as the man stood back.

"I'll be coming back, I except that you will have reached a sensible conclusion and hand him over by that time" He said darkly towards Mahiru before opening the door and pushing past a confused Koyuki and Ryusei, and Mahiru could hear him arguing with someone as he left. "The Daintree are you serious-" "It was all I could think of!"

"Ah? Who the hell was that- Hey isn't that Kuro?" Ryusei entered and saw Kuro holding onto his launch pad desperately, sparks flying from the damage and Mahiru who looked confused, angry and scared all at the same time.

It didn't matter who was in the room anymore. Mahiru knelt down and hugged Kuro tightly, his breath shaking as he apologized over and over again. Kuro spent all these years running… for it to be screwed up by him. Kuro tiredly rested his head on Mahiru's shoulder, no words were needed for Mahiru to understand Kuro didn't blame him.

"Ryusei we need you, I'll explain later" Mahiru turned back to them, letting Kuro go back into the launch pad. The image on the launch pad was distorted and glitchy, and it seemed to be making Kuro incredibly tired. "Please fix the launch pad"

Ryusei looked at it nervously, "I'll try but I'm really no technician…" "You're the best we've got." Ryusei took the launch pad and put it on Mahiru's desk, looking at the damage.

"Don't worry he'll still be fine even if I can't fix it, it's only minor damage, he'll just need more charge to function" Ryusei explained, taking apart one side and fiddling with the wires and lights. Mahiru nodded, gulping.

Kuro seemed to relax when Mahiru gave a small smile at him, occasionally wincing as Ryusei changed things, until it was done and he put the side back on. "You'll need to buy a new side though, since the outside is damaged, but the inside works fine now. On the bright side you can by coloured ones" He added.

Kuro pretty much fell asleep on the spot, charging up.

"Now for that explanation you owe us? Who the hell was that, why is Kuro damaged, How was Kuro able to feel pain-" Ryusei listed, the questions seeming endless.

"Okay okay I get it! I'll tell you the whole thing" Mahiru sighed and flopped down onto the couch, praying to god they'd take it well. "Kuro is an AI, but he's one that went rouge. I don't really know the details… he can feel everything just like humans can! And that horrible guy was trying to take Kuro away" Mahiru said, going on to talk about Kuro's hilarious sarcastic remarks and annoying laziness and personality, he didn't even realize he had been rambling on.

Ryusei and Koyuki shared a look before nodding, "You really like Kuro don't you?" Koyuki said with an accepting smile. Ryusei nodded in agreement and acknowledgment.

"A-h? E- I just- … Yeah, I do" Mahiru just looked down, embarrassed to admit it himself but he really had grown attached to him. "So that's why, I want to help him."

"Well I suppose a new friend wouldn't hurt" "We're building our forces, I'm telling you Ryu-chan we'll take over the world in no time!"

Mahiru laughed and smiled brightly, "Yeah… Thanks."

"Don't worry Kuro… I'll protect you, I'll get stronger and be someone you can rely on" Mahiru said to the charging AI, he knew Kuro couldn't hear, but it was a promise to himself. He didn't seem to notice the happiness developing on Kuro's blank face.