"Tsk, tsk, tsk," Doctor Kuseno admonished as he looked over the fractured joint of my prosthetic.

I gulped. "S-sorry. I know I should be more careful, but—"

"Oh, poppycock, I'm just baffled you didn't toss this dumpy thing in the trash ages ago!"

I raised my brows in befuddlement, mouth hanging open like a chute door, watching from behind the protective curtain of my bangs as he did exactly that—directly into the trash.

"B-but—!"

"Tut, tut! Just think how much more useful it would be if you had, say, titanium plating, a pneumatic actuator, or ooh, maybe a few plasma blasters!"

I edged away uncomfortably. "Um… that sounds great, but can I just settle for a can opener instead?"

Doctor Kuseno laughed. "You have your mother's sense of humor, I see. Plasma blasters it is!"

"Er… on second thought, maybe I'll just build my own..."

"Ah, capital idea! After all, there's no substitute for custom engineering. Of course, you'll probably need something to use for the time being…"

I started to laugh awkwardly, but then I happened to spot Genos sitting stiffly on a nearby chair, looking at me with unnecessary intensity, and I was promptly silenced. I began to reach helplessly for the end of the cot where my sweater and scarf had been set aside, but it was too far and, as I stretched frantically with no counterweight, I ended up slipping over the edge of the cot with a yelp. I probably would have landed face first, but instead, a cold, rock-solid arm snaked around my waist and carefully straightened me out.

"Oh! Are you alright, Akane-chan? Nice catch, Genos!"

I made a miserable sound as my cheeks tinged. Alarmed and embarrassed, I squirmed away, quickly diving into my scarf and hoodie, wrapping them around myself like a suit of armor. My knees were shaking.

"Hmm? Oh, I suppose it is a bit chilly in here…" Kuseno said, reaching for the thermostat. How can the old man be so observant and so dense at the same time, I pretended not to wonder.

I turned my eyes up for a second, only to snap them away when my gaze met that of the oblivious Genos, who reached up to scratch his head. I wondered if it was actually itchy or if it was just a lingering human reflex.

"Well, then…" Doctor Kuseno hummed. "I suppose you should go and get your things while I break out the 3D printer, eh?"

"My… my things…?"

Kuseno smiled. "Well, of course! At the very least, a change of clothes. I'm sure you'll want to change eventually."

"W-wait a minute… Are you saying you expect me to stay here?"

Kuseno blinked. "Certainly. It would be a bit inconvenient if you were all the way across town when we needed you most, after all. Oh, but of course you can stay home on the weekends. A young lady needs personal time, after all."

My jaw flapped open. He had to be kidding. I couldn't stay here. I… I… Well, would that really be so bad, actually? After all, how well was I really faring at home? At least here, most of the cleaning was automated, and I certainly couldn't complain about having access to all of this incredible equipment. Instead of having to cook, I could just eat when Doctor Kuseno eats. And anyway, Kuseno himself wasn't so bad. He sort of reminded me of my dad, in fact. Blissfully absorbed in his work, too preoccupied to ever think a bad thought about anyone.

The problem was Genos. He was a cyborg, sure, and you would think that would make him a little easier to stomach, but… he kept making these completely unreadable facial expressions! I couldn't tell what he was thinking at all! How could I possibly work with that? Especially when he kept invading my personal space and calling me 'senpai' all the time! Well, I supposed that if I avoided him, it might not be too bad.

I sighed. "I…"

"Ah!" Kuseno interrupted, lifting his index finger in sudden realization. "I suppose since you're slightly handicapped, it wouldn't do to send you on your own. Genos, would you tag along and give Akane-chan a hand?"

My jaw flapped open. How could he! And right when I had just got done thinking that I needed to avoid Genos! I held my hand up to object, but Kuseno didn't seem to notice.

"Ahahaha, not literally, though, come to think of it; I don't think your arms would fit her," the Doctor chuckled. Really, doc? The 'give me a hand' joke? I pretended not to groan internally.

Yet, unable to find the courage to interject, I deflated.

As Kuseno had said, though my mother's house was in fact in City Z, it was quite literally across town from Kuseno's laboratory, which meant a pretty long commute… the entirety of which I now had to spend in awkward silence, anxiously avoiding eye contact with Genos. Two buses, a train ride, and soon enough, a ten-minute walk through suburban sprawl.

It didn't help at all that the majority of the journey was spent in the center of a bubble of curious onlookers, shooting wary glances at Genos, whispering conspiratorially amongst themselves. The area had always been kind of a hotbed of monster rampages, and Genos didn't exactly look non-threatening. But at least nobody was looking at me when they were preoccupied with him.

I spent a lot of time clutching the nub on my shoulder where my arm was supposed to be, trying to pretend I was alone, trying to drown out all of the activity around me, and trying to reflect rationally on the events of the day.

Was it really a good idea to accept Kuseno's job offer so hastily? I really did want to know more about my father, but…

"Senpai," Genos suddenly called.

"Huh!?" I snapped my head up, drawn out of a deep reverie. How long had I been zoning out?

"This is our stop, right?"

I looked up at the map over the door, and sure enough, there we were. City Z, Block 62. Fiddling with the end of my sleeve, I stepped meekly to the door, standing behind a couple of giggling high school girls. Genos followed stoically, and I wondered how he could stand so straight. I suppose when your body is made of metal plates and rubber gaskets, posture is less of a hassle, yet I couldn't help but feel that there was a mental aspect of it, too. I was sure that if I were a cyborg, I would still slouch.

The bus jerked to a standstill at the stop and I stumbled awkwardly into one of the girls in front of me. She let out a yelp and turned to me with a scoff.

"Hey, watch where you're—whoa."

I backed away in fright only to yelp when my back bumped into Genos' rock-solid frame. He seemed a little perplexed, but said nothing. Gulping, I turned back to the girls who were now nursing disbelieving smirks. What was up with that?

I sank into my scarf a bit and tried to pull my hood down. Why were they looking at me like that? Why weren't they looking at Genos? Hello, do you not see the super-hot cyborg behind me, I pretended not to have thought.

"Oh. My. God." The taller of girls whispered, flipping her bleached hair and obscuring a gleeful smile with one hand as she turned to the other girl scandalously.

The other girl, shorter and dark haired, returned her glance. "Is that…?"

"It totally is."

They both turned to the door, snickering quietly amongst themselves. "I thought she got sent to a mental institution," the taller one whispered. A pang of dread awakened in my chest. Were they… old schoolmates?

"Shush, she can hear us!" the short one cautioned. As the doors fell open with a pneumatic hiss, they hurried out of the bus and down the sidewalk, giggling like hyenas. Genos and I stepped out a moment after and as the bus sped away, I watched them, perplexed.

"They seemed to know you, senpai," Genos remarked.

Yeah. They definitely did. As I wrapped my arm around my torso, squeezing an empty sleeve to my side, I tried to contain myself. Now I remembered why the thought of stepping outside was so terrifying. There were still people out there who hadn't forgotten about… what I did.

"Senpai…?" Genos placed his hand on my shoulder and I tore away in surprise, stumbling back into a signpost.

I realized I was breathing heavily, and sweat dripped down my face. When I saw the confusion on my companion's face, it was all I could do to steady myself and mumble out an awkward apology. This wasn't the time for a panic attack. I took a deep breath.

"It's… it's this way…" I said, starting down the sidewalk in the opposite direction the girls had gone.

Soon enough, we made it to my mother's house, a little suburban townhome surrounded in front by a high stone wall, edged with slowly browning shrubs. Beside a metal gate was a small solar lamp and a plaque bearing the characters for pine tree and book—my mother's family name, Matsumoto.

I slipped a key into the lock and, after some fenagling, worked the gate open. It creaked for want of oil, and I cringed, but tried my best to ignore it. Inside of the walled-in yard was the shriveled remains of a small garden, and a discarded bag of trash. A broken wind chime hung over the porch, gathering rust.

As we stepped inside, I dropped my backpack by the door and started in—only to freeze in place as I stepped out of the mud room. I turned to Genos, who had just stepped over the threshold and was looking around curiously at everything; the coat hooks where my mother's blazers still hung, the umbrella rack where her umbrella still rested, the assortment of black heels in the corner that hadn't been touched since the day she walked through that door for the last time.

This, the most disused room in all the house, the only one that held no use for a fidgety, pathetic recluse like me, was the only room that wasn't… well, a complete disaster.

I cleared my throat. "Um… you can just stay right here," I said.

Genos quirked a brow. "Doctor Kuseno requested that I assist you in gathering your belongings."

I tugged at my scarf. Suddenly, it felt really hot in the room. I tried to back away from him. "I… I'm just getting a few clothes. No big deal."

"I don't mind helping, senpai. I know how difficult it can be to maneuver with only one hand."

"N-no, it's just—"

"Please, senpai, I insist. If the difficulty is so great that you can't even remove your own shoes upon entering your home, I would be remiss not to do everything in my power to ease your burden."

I found myself blinking. Slowly, I turned my gaze down to my feet, clad in muddy sneakers. If mother saw that, she'd murder me. It wasn't that I couldn't take them off, it just… literally did not occur to me. Meanwhile, Genos had already removed his and slipped into a pair of fluffy slippers.

"Uh…"

Gulping, I awkwardly kicked my sneakers off into the corner. "S-see?" I said. "No hands needed."

"With all due respect senpai, I'm sure packing your clothes won't be as easy."

He seemed determined to refuse my objections and was already making his way into the house. I could have stood firm, I could have insisted, but I just kept backing up as he delved further and further into the depths of my trash-encrusted home.

"W-wait… Stop… You shouldn't…!" I feebly cried.

When we came into the living room, he stopped in his tracks.

"Senpai…"

I gulped. Did I feel a fainting spell coming on? My heart was pounding. I could already hear my mother screaming bloody murder from the great beyond. How could I let her precious house fall into such calamitous disrepair? How could I allow a stranger to see it in such a state? I could almost feel the ground shaking as she thrashed in her grave.

"This place is a complete mess," he said factually. It was neither accusatory nor judgmental, and yet I felt as though I had been harpooned through the chest.

"I… I…"

He shut his eyes pensively. "Senpai, is this why you didn't want me to come into the house?"

I opened my mouth to answer but the only thing that came out was a whimper.

He sighed. "Please go back outside, senpai."

I knitted my brows in confusion. Go outside? Was the shocking state of the house so upsetting that he couldn't stand another second among the squalor and filth? I guess I didn't blame him. I wondered if he could smell the kitchen sink from here. I sure could.

If your B.O. wasn't a clue about your house, I doubt his olfactory senses are intact, some part of me cuttingly observed.

"I will take care of the rest," he added.

Wait, what?

"…Huh?"

Before I knew it, I was being bulldozed across the living room and toward the front door.

"No need to worry, senpai. It's the least I can do after hearing about your recent loss."

What? Was he serious? There was no way I could allow—

Thunk.

I found myself unceremoniously deposited on the porch, the door shut soundly behind me. My mouth fell open. I whirled around and grabbed hold of the doorknob, but it wouldn't budge. Had he locked the door? No way! I jiggled it frantically. If he was really going to clean my house, there was stuff in my room that he definitely should not see. Stuff that would have put my mother in her grave with shame if she weren't already there! I was already turning blue just thinking about it. Forget the piles of trash and soiled clothes. Forget the stacks upon stacks of dirty dishes. Forget the moldy sandwich by the bed! He was going to see my underwear! My doujins! My… my you-know-what!

I started to pound on the door. "Genos, please stop! This is crazy! I can do it myself! Please don't go in my room! Genos!? Genos…!"

After a solid five minutes of screaming into the void, I slid down the door, defeated. When I looked up, I met eyes with the next-door neighbor, gaping dumbfoundedly at me, a dribbling hose hanging limp in her hand. I sank into my scarf and dove for a corner, out of sight, cowering and sniveling pathetically.

"This isn't happening," I mumbled to myself. "This is just a bad dream. You're not locked out of the house, exposed to the world. There aren't any superhero cyborgs digging through your unmentionables. Just take a deep breath, Akane. Everything is going to be okay."

I said that, but I was actually not following my own advice as the words slipped out of my lips in rapid, shaky yelps.

"Oh, Mommy…" I eventually squeaked.

A/N: Sorry it's been a long time. I decided that in order to not feel like absolute poop about this story, I had to step away from it for a little bit, and, lo and behold, what I had written didn't seem so awful when I came back! Once again, I want to thank people who have reviewed, fave'd, and followed!

One person pointed out a few things that I think it wouldn't hurt to clarify:

Regarding the bathroom scene in the last chapter: the bathroom is handicap accessible (so pretty large), and the way I imagine it was set up, the door was directly across from the sink, and the toilet was on the wall to the right of the door. In theory, Genos should have been able to tell where in the bathroom she was from the sound of her voice, therefore, there would have been no danger of hitting Akane with the door. As for why he went in at all, I suspect Genos either assumed she was done or forgot what people who don't have iron crotches use the bathroom for and believing, thanks to her unnecessarily loud shrieking, that she was in trouble, burst through the door to her rescue. In other words, this fic is operating on the assumption that Genos is as much of a socially inept idiot as its protagonist.

Regarding Akane's hair: There was some confusion about Akane's hair being described as orange even though the girl in the title picture has brown hair. Well, the girl in the title picture isn't Akane so much as it is Mayhem, who will come up later in the story. Akane is half Japanese and half Irish, and she has red hair. You can see what she looks like here: sta . sh/011xfbo5u9il (just take out the spaces)

Anywho, the next chapter should be out soon. In the meantime, please enable me with your tasty, tasty reviews!