There's a story poll on my page. It's about what I'll write after all the short OC stories have been written and uploaded. With that being said, your feedback on that would be greatly appreciated.

[Chapter 6]

After making my way through Lastation, I had made it back to Avenir's complex.

The giant doors slid open to the side, revealing the insides of the Avenir complex building. Standing there was Ganache as if he were expecting me.

I walked up to him. "You seem like you were waiting for me..."

Ganache nodded. "Well, I guess you could say that. Actually, we recently received word from our client and they had something that I needed to inform you about."

I stared at him, wondering what it could be. "What could the client possibly want with me? I haven't even met them before. Do they somehow know me?"

"Apparently so," Ganache confirmed. "Anyways, it looks like you'll have to stick around with us for a little while longer."

"Why?" I asked. "Could you tell me what this client wants with me?"

"I was getting to that," Ganache said. "You see, our client, as I said once before, wants to take all of the CPUs' powers. Right now, they're currently weakened from a recent battle against them. With that being said, they have come to us, seeking a weapon that is capable of destroying the CPUs."

I gave a nod. "Alright, sure. What's this have to do with me, though?"

Ganache let out a frustrated sigh. "Well, after hearing about you and your new capabilities, the client wanted to ask if you would attend the event with us. At the event, we were planning on using our machine to destroy the CPUs. But, I guess that wasn't enough to satisfy them."

I let out a sigh. "So, you want me to go fight the CPUs there?"

"Only as a fail-safe," Ganache quickly added. "You won't have to fight if our machine can manage to destroy them."

"Alright then..." I responded with as little emotion as I possibly could. "If it means getting another shot at killing Black Heart, then I'll accept. When is it, though?"

"It'll be in three days," he answered. "Once it comes the time, we'll contact you on it. Until then, you'll be free to do whatever you want."

"Alright," I nodded.

"By the way," Ganache changed the topic. "How did your mission go?"

"Hm? Oh, that," I shrugged, realizing what he was talking about. "I destroyed all the ore without the CPUs knowing."

"I see..." Ganache smiled. "That'll be a great help to us. Thank you."

I crossed my arms. "I don't care. As long as I can kill that damn CPU, it's fine."

"Well, until then, you're free to do what you want," Ganache said. "Once again, we'll contact you before the event begins."

"Sure," I nodded. "This better be the last request though."

"Don't worry, it will be," Ganache claimed. "I swear it will be. If by chance, another request pops up, you're free to leave."

"Well, until the event, I'll be off doing my own thing," I said, walking away from the Avenir building.

Until then, I wanted to just relax and get a better understanding of everything that was going on.

Getting a good distance from the Avenir building, I climbed up a building, scanning the nation to decide on where to go.

I sat on the rooftop. "Hmmm... What do I want to do...?"

Honestly, with three days to do whatever I wanted, I really just wanted to get my thoughts in order.

Noticing a café nearby, I hopped down from the building, landing in a narrow dark alley.

Looking around, I made sure nobody noticed what I had just done. Now that I thought about it, clothes probably would help.

Walking out into the streets, I received a few looks. But, nobody paid any real attention and just continued on with their business.

I smiled. "Alright, looks like this won't be so troublesome to just get some food."

Glad that I wouldn't cause any trouble, I began making my way towards the café.

But that's when I realized I technically didn't even need to eat. Still, I was already committed.

*Ding!*

"Hello, welcome to Café Noire!"

Upon arriving and entering the café, a bell rang and a waitress came to the door to greet me, smiling. "Are you going to be eating here today, ma'am?"

"U-Uh... Y-Yeah..." I was shocked at her kindness. "It's just me..."

She gave a nod. "Alright. This way then!"

She led me to a table and allowed me to take a seat there. As I did, she pulled out a notepad, clearing her throat. "Would you like to get something to drink?"

"Um..." I thought for a moment. "I'll just take a glass of water."

"Alright then!" She quickly scrawled it down on the pad and hurried away.

I let my thoughts process while I waited and looked through the menu in front of me.

The person who was serving me didn't seem to care that I was clearly a cyborg, while the people around me were casting me funny looks. Sure, I wasn't the only cyborg, but I was one of the only few out there.

"There you go," the waitress had returned, placing the glass of water by my side and pulling out her notepad again. "Are you ready to order or do you need some more time?"

I folded the menu back to what it was originally and looked up at her. "I'll just take a roast beef sandwich."

Scrawling my order down, the waitress took my menu and smiled. "Alright, we'll go get your order ready as fast as possible!"

I nodded. "Thank you."

As she turned and walked away again, I took a sip from the ice-cold water. Finally, I could finally sit down and think.

Even though I had a goal, I still wanted to relax and have some downtime. If I did nothing but chase down Black Heart, it would just be tiring.

So, I decided to relax in the café and have some time to myself.

But, there was something in the back of my mind that I kept thinking about.

Who was Avenir's client and what did they want with me?

If I ever met them, I would have to be cautious...

*Ding!*

"Thank you, and do come again!"

Finishing my food and paying with the money I had received from Avenir, I left the café.

"MEORW!"

"H-Hey! Come back!"

"A-Agh!"

Just as I stepped back out onto the streets, a cat pounced on me. Using me as a platform, the cat hopped from my head and landed on the edge of a nearby building as if it were a perch.

"…" I watched as it curled itself into a ball and began to nap. With the cat was a white shopping bag.

"H-Hey! C'mon!"

"Hm?"

Turning to face the way where the cat had come from, a girl came running towards me. She was probably after the cat.

She didn't seem to notice me yet, so I just watched her quietly.

She ran to the spot below the window of the cat, glaring at it. "Give me back my bag!"

"Meow!" Peeking its eyes open, the cat hissed at the girl and tightened its hold on the bag.

"Give me my bag back, now!"

"…" I looked around. Somehow, nobody was paying attention to what was going on besides me. Was this a normal occurrence or something?

"Hey," I walked up to the girl. "Would you like me to help you get the cat?"

"H-Huh?" Her attention turned to me. A pair of ruby red eyes stared back at me. "A-Are you sure? I-I can do it on my own..."

"… Well, are you sure?" I asked, looking at how high the cat had somehow gotten. "Are you really going to climb up four floors of an apartment building to risk getting some bag?"

"I could say the same about you," she snapped back. "What makes you think you're any better? Besides, I'm the CP—Urk!"

"Hm?" I had been half listening to what she had been saying. My focus had been on how to get up to the window without looking suspicious. "Could you say that again? I wasn't really listening."

"I-It was nothing!" She suddenly blurted out. "Anyways, can you get the cat down or not?"

"Hm..." I pondered my options. I mean, she must've realized I was a cyborg, so there was no harm in using my abilities. Though, I didn't really want to draw attention to myself.

I shrugged. "Yeah, I can get up there."

"Really?" Her voice had a tone that seemed to signal "I feel like you're just trying to sound cool."

"Yeah," I nodded, getting into a stance. "Watch..."

*Clang!*

Hopping onto a trash bin, I kicked off of it and managed to grab the ledge of the window of the lowest floor. For some reason, this apartment complex didn't have the first floor on ground level. Instead, it was where the second floor would normally be in other buildings. Meaning, every floor was moved up a level.

Swinging my body, I lunged myself up onto the next ledge. Now, I was on the second-floor windows. The floors went up to five. Though, the cat had somehow managed to hop onto the fourth floor.

I pulled myself to be able to stand on the thin window ledge. Looking around, I found the shortcut I needed to get to the fourth floor's windows faster.

I jumped and grabbed the bottom of a sewer pipe. Climbing up, I jumped off of it and managed to grab onto one of the ledges of the fourth floor.

"…" The cat was on the ledge right beside mine and it, somehow, hadn't seemed to notice me yet.

I held my breath and did my best to silence my movements.

"Mrrow..." The cat continued to nap there quietly.

Even though it was still napping, I knew not to let my guard down. Cats were pretty smart after all...

I waited for the right moment before lunging towards it.

"Meorw!?"

"Gotcha!"

Somehow, I had managed to grab the cat by its tail. Though, it probably wasn't the best place to grab it.

I hopped down and landed in a pile of cardboard boxes, cushioning my fall. Getting out of it, I did my best to keep my hold on the cat while it flailed and clawed at me.

The girl ran over to me and snatched the bag back from the cat. "Thank goodness I got that back! Thank you so much!"

"No problem," I said as I let go of the cat and set it free. I pointed at the bag that the girl now held. "But can I at least ask what was so important about that bag? What's in it?"

Her cheeks reddened as I asked the question, her eyes averting to the side. "I-It's just some...new clothes... It's not like it's for cosplay or anything!"

"R-Right…" Wow, way to make it obvious. "Well, whatever. You better hurry home so that you can actually have the clothes for yourself."

"B-But, can I ask you something?" She asked.

"I didn't get a proper answer to my request..." I muttered.

"Hey, I need an answer!" She said.

I let out a sigh. "Sure, what do you want to know?"

"U-Um," Even though she had wanted to ask a question, she was having a hard time finding the words. "W-What's your name?"

"Hm?" I cocked my head. "My name? Why do you want to know that?"

"J-Just because!" She blurted out. "Just tell me!"

Maybe she didn't have bad intentions, but she was still pretty bossy. "Well, my name's Hikari. What about you?"

"N-Noire," she answered. "My name's Noire."

Noire, as she said her name was, had red eyes, fair skin and raven black twintails tied by a pair of ribbons.

"Alright," I nodded, forming a smile. "Well, it was nice to meet you, Noire."

"Yeah, you too," she also formed a smile. "Maybe I'll see you again sometime."

"Maybe..." I shrugged before walking off in the opposite direction.

"Thanks again!"

I smiled. At least she didn't seem like a terrible person.

Though, something about her bothered me. It was as if something about her presence was so familiar. But, at the same time, completely different from what I was thinking of.

Whoever she was, something about her peaked my interest.

And I would figure out what it was...

A/N:

I'm gonna be quick on this one.

Basically, I'm writing the last two chapters of the second OC story and then I'll get to editing that, so it should be ready to upload sometime next week. After that, we've got one more short story and I'll REALLY be grinding those chapters out.

As much as I'd love to spend more time on it and write, I actually have to study for the ACT as soon as possible.

So, with that all being said, thanks for reading and I hope to see you all again next time!