November 22, 2054

It had to have been around 12 pm when Shota Aizawa's doorbell rang.

He had been in the process of throwing his long hair into a ponytail when the sound jolted him out of his reverie. His hand dropped down from the dark strands of hair he was toying with, and he pulled his jacket around himself.

He had not been expecting anyone at his home at all. Despite his job title as a businessman, Shota despised dealing with people outside of his social bubble. He only spoke to two people outside of his job: one being Toshinori Yagi, and the other Nemuri Kayama. He had known them since high school, watching as Toshinori got more sick as time passed, while Nemuri only seemed to get even more mature. The three of them together had been bustling with busyness since their first year of high school, and nothing had truly changed. However, both Toshinori and Nemuri were the only ones who truly knew of the kind of things Shota had been up to for five years, and he trusted them with a lot. And the fact that neither of them had spoken with him beforehand about seeing him made Shota even more annoyed.

Walking over to the sound of consistent doorbell chimes, clearing his throat to cover up his obvious distaste of dealing with strangers, he opened the door.

A man, who looked no older than his late twenties beamed up at him. His hair was spiked up to a tremendous height, and his eyes were covered by a large pair of sunglasses. Next to the spiky man stood a shorter individual, his spectacles glistening against his tired looking eyes.

Shota wished he hadn't answered the door. He sighed, rubbing one of his temples shortly. "May I help you?" he asked. Spiky-guy only seemed to smile even brighter, his hands wrung tight together. He spoke so quickly Shota had difficulty catching up, "Name's Hizashi, assistant to the chief of the National Police Agency. Nice to meet you dude!" he exclaimed, pulling out a badge for identification. He used one of his arms to wrangle in the smaller man next to him "and this here is Nezu." the smaller man smiled lightly, waving up at Shota.

Shota's eye twitched. He could already feel a headache coming and it had barely been a minute. "And you're here because...?" Shota gestured his hand as if saying 'go on'.

The smaller man, who Shota now knew as Nezu, took a step forward, his head tilting, "we are here to discuss something in private with you, Aizawa-san."

The dark haired man stopped and peered down at the small man. His eyes shined with unhidden interest behind his glasses, seeming to look straight through him. He clenched his fist together by his side, something that became a reflex after years of dealing with people he didn't like. "Look," he started, reaching into his jacket to pull at one of the sides, a fidget, "I understand the reason why the assistant is here, don't get me wrong, but I never got your position title. Are you another assistant of the chief's?"

Spiky guy's eyebrows shot up, and Shota caught the movement from the corner of his eye. He looked up from Nezu to cock an eyebrow of his own, and Hizashi responded, "hate to break it to you man, but uh...Nezu here is the chief."

The answer didn't register for a few seconds, and then Shota's eyes went wide. He bowed going to apologize, but Nezu raised a hand with a short smile. Shota stood up straight, and Nezu took on a more serious look, "we would like to discuss your er...android."

Shota felt his blood run cold. The thought that this scrawny man, the chief of police of one of the highest ranking police forces knew about this? It felt like blasphemy. Considering his own mother knew nothing of the sort about it made it even more of an issue. He slightly gritted his teeth, thinking about Toshinori or even Nemuri saying something-

"From the lack of response, I would assume you think someone told us." Nezu said, interrupting Shota's rushing thoughts. "But I can assure you, no one said anything to us. It took a lot of heads to come to this conclusion, you know."

Shota went to respond, but Nezu nudged him a bit into the warmth of his home. "Now if you don't mind Aizawa-san, it is chilly outside. Be a good samaritan and let us in, will you? We can discuss more once we get out of the cold."

Shota moved from the entrance and let spiky-guy (who Shota couldn't even remember the name of because his hair was so tall) and Nezu in, shutting the door quietly. He walked slowly behind them, making sure they were following the path that very obviously led to the main quarters. Once both of them had made themselves comfortable on the second couch Shota had, he grabbed his still warm cup of tea he made less than half an hour prior to noon and sat down as well.

Nezu clasped his hands together, looking at Shota. "I need to ask, but…" Nezu trailed off, looking at Hizashi with a side glance, "have you been watching the news recently?"

Shota shook his head. He could care less about anyone but the two people who actually cared about him. "Not really my thing." he responded, sipping his tea. Nezu nodded, "well that's what I figured, considering you don't seem to have a television in sight." he chuckled. "Hizashi, care to explain for him?"

Shota looked at Spiky guy, who had been extremely quiet since Nezu first started speaking. He seemed to perk up at the mention of his name, and immediately started talking. "For the last few months, police had been seeing bodies scattered across the area. Both human...and android."

Shota hummed. Sure, he really didn't pay much attention to a lot of what happened outside of his personal life, but for this to not be brought to his attention by his friends, nor colleagues was crazy. Hizashi continued, "due to the continuous deaths, we started sending out some officers to patrol the area. But it seems that whoever is doing this is extremely fast and very sneaky." he said.

"What do you mean by 'sneaky'? You mean they're just good at hiding from the police?" Shota questioned. He watched as Hizashi breathed, "no it's not just that, it's just…" he looked up "we take in the bodies to see the damage but...there aren't any fingerprints."

Androids were an everyday thing now. They were almost a commonplace object in every home. There was never any issue with them jumping out of protocol or attacking anyone. But androids did not leave traces like everyday humans did. While humans could leave sweat, fingerprints, or even blood on a crime scene, androids didn't have those things to worry about due to them being "mindless machines made from scrap metal and a very intelligent AI". Just the thought of an android going past its programming and being behind the killings threw a chill down Shota's spine.

"Regardless of fingerprints or not, we need your help." Nezu said.

Shota looked at him, his tea forgotten temporarily. He took his next words with precaution. "I understand, but how do you know about…" he gestured to the room they sat in, "...this?"

"Nezu has cameras like, everywhere." Hizashi interrupted, "we have seen you in and out of stores, buying wires, and connectors...among other things." he stated.

"And no one thought to tell me my privacy was being invaded?" Shota snapped, getting heated, "how many of your other officers know about my life? All of them? Because that honestly wouldn't surprise me."

Nezu frowned, "Aizawa-san, don't be ridiculous. No one but Hizashi and myself keep tabs on the videos. If something comes up as suspicious, we take a look at it. Simple as that."

Shota tsked, "-not what you said earlier when you first showed up on my doorstep. There's got to be others seeing as you made it very clear it 'took a lot of heads' to find who to talk to." he said, grabbing his tea forcefully from the table set in front of him. If it were scalding hot, he is pretty sure he wouldn't have even noticed he burned himself if it spilled on his hand.

Nezu sighed, rubbing his hands together. "I did say that, you're right. But this was for finding evidence on who to discuss matters with, not on video surveillance." He stared at Shota, his tone stern, "I am not one to lie. That is something you need to know directly."

Shota sighed, running a hand through his tangled hair. "And you just happened to stumble upon me ironically coming out of a store holding 'wires and other things' and just immediately came to a conclusion I had an android here?"

Nezu was silent for a few moments, tapping his finger against his pants. "Not necessarily. It isn't just you we have been watching, but we as a police force can't be too careful, especially with killings being involved." he responded. "We just want to know if you are willing to comply with us to help solve this case."

Shota pondered for a moment. He glanced shortly at the room that had a keypad on it, and then looked back at Nezu. "What is the deal exactly?" he questioned. Hizashi seemed to be looking at the door now, while Nezu did not stop his explanation.

"I understand your reasoning for being upset by having your privacy threatened," Nezu said, "but you have to see why we had to do it. Several businessmen have been under watch recently; names are not going to be used as it is against violation of privacy, as yours is to others." Shota nodded, understanding. Nezu continued, "Once looking into your past expenses, we, meaning several detectives in our unit, Hizashi, and myself, have come to the conclusion that you are either one: hiding an android here that is causing these killings, or two: are in the process of making one." Nezu smiled, "we chose to go with option two, it being the safer route with your job title."

Hizashi looked back at Shota, "look man, we're being honest here. We know you excelled in academics for robotics, and were the top of your class while in school." he replied, looking to the wall at the diplomas plastered in glass, "So why don't you show us the one you've been working on?"

Shota bristled. For them to ask a question so nonchalantly about something that should have been hidden irked him. He groaned lightly, rubbing his eye with the hand not holding his tea. "Why mine? Can't you use another one?" he asked.

"Unfortunately, we cannot." Nezu replied. "We have gone through several databases and even spoke to the top of the TechEasy association to help but they don't have any androids that are programmed to work with our force. So you see?" he said, pointedly looking at the door across the room "we need that one you have back there for the job."

He had heard how hard it was to work with TechEasy. Nemuri worked there for a few years in an intern study, and said that they were shut tight with information that even the highest powered people didn't get access to. Androids were used more commonly in homes, but they were being sent out to certain areas under TechEasy's watch. The police force had yet to be one of them.

Shota shook his head regardless, thinking of the store visit he was going out to make before he got interrupted. "Absolutely not." he stated, standing up and taking a large gulp of his tea. It was on the verge of cold now. "There are plenty others you can use; the one I have is not completed." He knew there weren't others, as what he was doing already was illegal in itself, but he was getting antsy.

"We understand that Shota-san, but we are running out of options." Nezu said, also taking a stand off the couch. "If this case cannot be solved, many others will die. The police force is doing all we can, but with this... we are stuck in a rut." he said quietly,

Hizashi suddenly stood alongside Nezu, snapping his fingers together. He made a move towards the keypad-locked door. "Now how about we see this android of yours?" he said.

Shota felt the headache hit him full force. It was supposed to be a normal Sunday where he would sit in his lounge room with a cup of tea and his cat, listening to nothing but white noise whilst reading a book (after working for a few hours on said unfinished product behind the key-padded door.)

From the insistent looks of the visitors in his home, he had no choice but to follow their directions and walked to the door, pressing the code in quickly, as to hurry them out to grab some medication for the pounding in his skull to stop.

The door opened with a hiss, and Shota watched as spiky guy nudged past him to get a look at the body suspended in air.

Like Shota had said, the body was nowhere near finished. The face of the android was completed, eyes shut as if asleep. The pseudo hair sat on top of its head down to the shoulders of the body, as dark as Shota's was. All limbs were accounted for, but nothing but a robe ran from the torso down to the legs and was covered since wires and other electrical tubing were exposed.

Hizashi's eyes were wide with wonder, looking at it like a kid would look at a present at Christmas. He looked over at Shota, whose face was emotionless. "You made this all on your own, dude?" he asked, cocking his head over to Nezu who was the last to walk in. Shota hummed and nodded, scanning the android's figure. He thought he had done fairly well considering it was his almost eighth attempt at making an android from scratch.

Nezu smiled, moving to stand next to Shota. "Does it have a name, Aizawa-san?" he questioned. Shota blinked, looking down at the smaller man. He shook his head, "yeah." he responded. He watched Nezu walk to the body, running a hand gently over the fabric of the robe.

Nezu pulled away, "care to elaborate?" he asked. Shota nodded once, moving up to where Nezu was. "...Kiri." he muttered, "I made him for personal purposes, but that very obviously needs to change now." he answered.

Nezu made a noise of agreement, and looked over to where Hizashi stood. "Any suggestions for an alias?" he asked, watching Hizashi's eyes widen a fraction. "We can't use the name he gave it?" he asked. Nezu paused, then looked over to Shota. "If you are alright with it, we can use that particular name. I figured giving an alias would be more beneficial for the case and your personal privacy, but I have no qualms with the name." he paused, awaiting a response.

Shota's eyes raked over Nezu, then trailed over to Kiri's nestled body, looking warm although he had yet to be activated. He shrugged, seeing as there was nothing else he could think of to really roll off the tongue like 'Kiri' did. Not for the face he gave the android. Not for the protocol he installed.

He shook his head in finality, "no." he said. "You can call him Kiri." As a second thought, he added, "his full name is Kirishima….for the records you're going to need in the precinct."

"Excellent!" Nezu exclaimed, clasping his hands together and moving to grasp Shota's open one. "You will be hearing from us in a week. Should that be enough time for you to activate this… Kirishima?" he asked. Shota thought for a moment, tallying off the things he needed to add before his first initial activation. He blinked, "make it two and you have a deal."

Nezu smiled, walking back towards the open door, and yanking gently on Hizashi's sleeve. "Two weeks it is, then, Aizawa-san. We'll let ourselves out." he said. Shota watched as Nezu and spiky-guy (he still couldn't take his eyes off the hair) walked to the main door, the wind catching against Nezu's tailcoat gently before the final click of the door was heard.

Shota had not moved from the spot, and his eyes panned over to the eyelashes fanned over the end of the android's eyelids ever so gently. He muttered under his breath, his cold tea forgotten.

A hand nestled above the pale chassis, where the artificial, not-yet-beating heart of the android lay.

Shota let a small content smile show on his face.

"We'll make you right, Kiri. I just know it."