Taro turned up the music playing on his car stereo and tapped his steering wheel with a wide smile on his face. It was 2AM. The Hasegawa Art Gallery had closed but not after Mr. Hasegawa had an hour long negotiation with his favorite client and friend. Though the exhibit was slated to go through Sunday, this man didn't want to wait.
"You know the rules, Yoshi," Mr. Hasegawa told his client. "The bidding ends on Sunday. But the artist informed me that he would entertain an offer of fifteen. Then they're all yours."
After some visibly tortured thought on the matter, Yoshi balked. "Let me sleep on that."
"Because of your loyal patronage throughout the years, I will certainly allow you to do that. However, the offer expires when the gallery re-opens tomorrow at noon."
Taro did his best to appear professional through all this - by remaining silent and letting Mr. Hasegawa do all the talking. In his mind, though, he couldn't believe what was happening! His dreams of being a professional artist were coming true! Taro didn't know what tomorrow would hold, but today he already had a confirmed offer of ten million Yen for all twenty pieces.
Ten million Yen!
It would have taken him years to earn that much at his parents' grocery store. Yet, he had managed to crank out these seventeen paintings and three drawings in less than three months.
Ten million Yen!
And it didn't even feel like work. He had been able to earn this money by doing what he loved to do most of all in the whole world...
… painting the girl that he loved most of all in the world.
The really great thing was that Taro totally knew the paintings were worth it. The professional critics had come. With their vast knowledge of art history and their magnifying glasses, they analyzed the gallery's offerings. And while the critics admired the texture and the brush strokes of those paintings made the right way, the crowds were gathering in the gallery's southwest wing - the wing that displayed Taro's Law and Order exhibit.
The wing that displayed Ryoko Asakura.
Taro sighed. Their situation was strange. Taro and Ryoko had now been roommates for three months. Those months had been interesting. Though they were close, they didn't sleep together. True, Ryoko had hijacked Taro's bed. But the sleeper sofa he'd been kicked off to was actually much more comfortable. He figured Ryoko could have changed his old mattress and sheets into something fabulous, but for some reason she was very content sleeping where she slept - in his old bed, just the way he left it.
In all this time, Taro didn't try push their relationship forward. Yes, he loved Ryoko Asakura. But he wasn't going to suggest moving forward until he had something to offer her. Ryoko was far too amazing a catch for a broke artist living in an old warehouse. No, Taro wasn't going to suggest moving on to the next stage until he felt himself worthy.
And Ryoko didn't seem to mind the arrangement at all. She was very content. Sometimes it bothered Taro that she was so content; never hinting that she wasn't happy; never intimating that she needed more.
Ten million Yen! It was going to change everything!
Taro parked his car in front of the warehouse and ran up the stairs. He opened the door quietly. Ryoko had waited up for him last night, on Friday, the first day of the exhibit. But tonight she was asleep. And the sofa bed was all set up and waiting for him.
Which was the way he hoped things would be. Because he wasn't sure how he was going to tell her… and what he was going to do.
Now he had the night to think it over.
Taro woke to the smell of steamed rice, miso soup and tamagoyaki (a rolled omelet). "Good morning!" she said with a happy laugh. "You did very well yesterday."
Taro sat up and yawned. "You hacked into Mr. Hasegawa's iPad again?" Taro shook his head. "Is that legal?"
"Your total is sitting at 6,250,000 Yen." Ryoko said this as if it was the most typical thing in the world.
Taro got up and walked toward the table. He smiled at his roommate. "Your hacking wasn't able to catch the most amazing offer," he said proudly. "One of Mr. Hasegawa's best clients offered ten million for the whole set!" He thought about telling her about the possible fifteen but decided against it. He wasn't going to say a word till it was in the bag.
Ryoko turned from the hot plates and gave Taro a pleased happy smile. "You deserve it."
Taro laughed. "That's why you're making us real food this morning… instead of just creating it?"
"Uh-huh!" Ryoko replied. "You deserve it."
Taro shrugged. "The stuff is good. People were flocking to see it. They couldn't turn away. They couldn't keep their eyes off of… you."
Ryoko didn't turn, but Taro could feel her blushing.
"You wouldn't believe it. There was one guy that actually flipped out when he saw you. He started shouting, wanting to know who you were, where you lived. The guards had to tase him and they dragged him out of the gallery. I thought it was overkill; he was just a little excited; but Mr. Hasegawa said people flip out all the time and destroy art."
Ryoko turned to Taro with a serious look in her eyes. "Please describe this guy."
"He was kind of tall. Dark hair. He looked like he could have been a high schooler. He was really emotional. Your pictures really made an impression on him."
"Was anybody with him?"
"No, I don't think so." Taro thought back to the incident. "Well there may have been. There was this strange short girl in her high school uniform. She gave me this creepy stare and then she followed the guy out."
Ryoko turned pale. "I'm sorry Taro. I have to leave immediately."
"That is no longer an option," a clear monotone voice came from the other end of the room. A small girl wearing a sailor style school uniform walked toward the living area. Taro recognized her instantly. "I have seized control of this data space."
Taro got up and started walking toward the girl. "Who are you? And how did you get in here?"
The strange girl did not answer Taro's question. Rather she reached forward, grabbed his wrist, and with superhuman strength, threw Taro onto the floor behind her. "Stay behind me. You are not safe."
Taro looked over at the kitchen table, but Ryoko was no longer there.
"You'll have to catch me first." The voice came from behind the concrete pillar.
"What's going on?" Taro complained.
"Ryoko Asakura is a malfunctioning humanoid interface. She has killed… and she will kill again."
"But -" Taro started to say. But he was knocked back seconds before his LCD color television flew toward Nagato on its own, threatening to smack the small girl down like a giant fly swatter. Nagato thrust her hands forward, forming an inverted "V". The television split in two when it hit the force field Nagato created six inches beyond the V's tip, and shot off to both sides of Taro in smoldering pieces.
Taro's mouth dropped open with disbelief. His eyes were drawn to a flash that streaked toward an open window. But the flash bounced off of an invisible wall of energy just beyond the pane that rippled after the impact. Taro looked down and saw Ryoko beneath the window; she was on her side and turning herself to a sitting position on the floor.
"You were very resourceful," Nagato said, "to come this far. But there is no point in delaying the inevitable. I have enclosed this space." Nagato drew her arm across her body, as if to remove a veil; the room darkened as the encapsulating force field materialized, blocking out the light entering from beyond the windows. Both exits were sealed off as well.
Nagato spoke several unintelligible words very rapidly while extending her arm toward Ryoko, palm forward; a blue laser-like energy beam streaked from this palm toward the stunned, sitting girl as Nagato said, "Initiating adversarial interface... hostile data entity Ryoko Asakura." But the beam hit the wall.
Ryoko had disappeared once again like a flash of light, re-appearing next in the center of the floor. Nagato turned quickly but was distracted when a huge sleeper sofa came hurdling her way; she ducked; the sofa slammed into the wall behind her, off to the side of Taro, its mattress ejected into the air like a giant piece of popcorn on impact.
"You can not prevail in here." Nagato took three quick sideways steps to get a clear shot - Ryoko was keeping the concrete pillar between them. She projected another energy beam toward Ryoko. It bounced harmlessly off of the concrete wall when Ryoko dodged it.
Ryoko was now standing in front of Taro's studio. She seemed to be cornered. "There is no place to run," Nagato said as a secondary force field appeared in the center of the room, shrinking the cage. "You are trapped."
"You haven't caught me yet," a defiant Ryoko replied.
Nagato shot another energy beam in Ryoko's direction, directly toward the studio. Ryoko dodged to her left a split second before the beam passed through her position. The energy beam continued on, striking Taro's marble sculpture slab now resting up against the wall.
Nagato reflexively shielded her eyes as the marble slab exploded with a bright blinding flash, tearing a huge gaping hole through the side wall - and Nagato's encapsulating force field. The communications building and the street below were now clearly visible. Feedback from the pulse flowed rapidly backwards along Nagato's energy beam, knocking the small girl on her back. The secondary force field collapsed.
"You rigged a detonation element in that object," Nagato said as she struggled to sit up. Though she spoke in an emotionless tone, Taro could hear the defeat in Nagato's voice.
Attempting to quickly compensate, Nagato focused her power on repairing the large breach in her data cage. The edges of the rift started to glow and congeal… but then a projectile came at Nagato like a shell shot from a cannon - the sledgehammer prop was now traveling toward her like a bullet.
Nagato quickly refocused her energy, creating a force field about herself. The sledgehammer ricocheted off of the force field and slammed into the concrete pillar in the living area with incredible force, causing it to buckle... and then collapse.
Ryoko inspected the large rift - her escape route was clear. She looked back at Nagato, still seated on the ground, maintaining her force field as the ceiling caved in on top of her.
She stole one final glance at Taro -
But he was no longer sitting up against the wall! He had walked out into the open, into the living area. He was staring at Ryoko with an expression of disbelief and sadness.
Ryoko glanced up. A huge concrete ceiling girder, no longer supported by the disintegrated pillar, was falling down directly toward him.
Ryoko didn't think. She acted, hurling herself toward him at the speed of light. She disappeared, then reappeared where Taro stood, slamming into him like a mallet; flinging him into the air toward the corner. His body bounced off of the side wall and fell limp onto his bed.
Ryoko tried to move toward him, to follow him out of harm's way - but it was too late. The large concrete girder crashed down upon her, crushing her body below the waist. Several other large chunks of concrete followed soon after, slamming into her chest and arms. The dust cleared, leaving a massive hole in the ceiling, revealing Nagato's encapsulating force field above.
Nagato walked slowly toward to her broken, bleeding adversary.
Ryoko looked up into the approaching girl's eyes. "Is he okay?" she asked.
Nagato looked over at Taro's unconscious crumpled form on the bed. "He has several bruises and a dislocated shoulder, but he will survive."
Once again Nagato put out her palm. "Commence deletion protocol. Data element Ryoko Asakura."
Ryoko sighed as she felt her body dissolving. "Goodbye, Taro," she whispered, as a tear rolled down her cheek. She closed her eyes and prepared for… nothingness.