Chapter 1: Artificial Enemy [人造エネミー]

"...Why are you looking at me now with such a cold face?"

"And today's peak temperature is a sizzling 35 degrees! Make sure to wear pastel colors and breathable clothing as you go out, or you might fall victim of heatstroke like these delivery men-" A teenage girl all alone in her dark room turns off the radio and sighs.

"Mistress, why don't we buy this?" Well, maybe the alone part was a bit of a lie.

"We don't need that." Came the callous reply. This was status quo to her now, and a couple of years ago she thought she had been living a normal life. Ayano Tateyama, the daughter of a single father and teacher, was talking to the most annoying program she had ever encountered.

Not that she encounters annoying self-sufficient AIs on a daily basis.

"Oh, oh, how about these! They have cute little kitten prints on them!" There she went on again. Was it even really a she? It didn't really matter, as either way she was still absolutely annoying.

"I already told you, I do not want new underwear!" She bashed the keyboard of her laptop in annoyance, pressing the enter key by accident. A small tone of confirmation and bell chime indicated the least thing Ayano wanted to happen.

"Purchase has been completed. Thank you for your patronage." The message flashed on her screen complete with the cute drawing of a lady animatedly bowing to her.

"P-Purchase-" She stuttered as the sheer incredulity of the situation finally got to her.

"Oh~ Looks like mistress really did want kitty panties after all-"

"Ughh! Ene! I didn't need those! I was saving up for a pre-order special of the Big Super Sentai Anniversary Movie! It had a poster and a book and everything! Now I'm a few Yen short for it!"

"Ahh! But think of the possibilities, Mistress! I mean, what kind of girl wears Power Ranger underwear?" the AI nagged on, "Trust me, it's for the best!" Suddenly, her face twisted in a knowing smile. "Ohoho~ What if you accidentally soil your underwear while watching that movie you really like?" the cybernetic girl added, "what was it called again? Hen-"

"Don't even think about continuing that..." With a blush intact, Ayano stood up from her futon and slowly made her way to the bathroom to her left. Sighing, she grabbed a glass of water from the sink and started to head back when she suddenly heard that irritating voice once more.

"Mistress! I think you need to start deleting some files you don't need! Like, what's up with this folder? 'Hot Red Rangers Smut?' Yikes! Why do you even keep these?" The AI started nagging while it dragged the said folder. "Down it goes to the recycle bin~"

"W-Wait! Don't you dare touch those!" Her previously casual steps became frantic and rushed. However, the darkness of the girl's room was enough that she didn't notice the set of wires blocking her path. Her brain only registered the wires when it was all too late and the glass of water in her hand spilled all over her precious laptop.

If it wasn't for the gravity of the situation (pun intended), one might replay the entire fiasco in slow motion, complete with a slow and sad sounding music.

"Ahh! Mistress! Quick, the tissues! Use the tissues!" The voice in her phone woke her up from her shock-induced daze.

"R-Right! Okay, bathroom-" Ayano started but was quickly cut off as she tripped on the same set of wiring once again.

"You know, maybe you didn't need underwear after all," the robotic voice added, "Maybe you needed that new set of nightlights instead. Or a new laptop. Or those wires relocated."

"I. Hate. You."

"Are you sure you don't want a-"

"No, Ene. Just try and find me a new laptop. And no, I don't want a desktop. It takes up too much space." She argued as she cleaned up the mess that was once her laptop and the immediate area around that, including her futon.

"Too much space? It's a small and compact model! Maybe you're just too lazy to sit up in a chair because you'd rather lay down on your futon!"

"Look, just find a laptop with the same model as mine. You've already done enough damage."

"Fiiiiine... I'm on it, Mistress~" the cyber girl known as 'Ene' replied in a defeated tone.

"Ugh, I just can't stand her!" Ayano thought as she carefully picked up the pieces of the broken glass. "She just came barging into my life one day and started causing mayhem left and right!" The NEET sighed as she placed the half-soaked futon on the laundry basket while continuing her musings.

"Come to think of it, when did she arrive again?" After pausing a bit to let the question sink in, Ayano tried to recall the origin of the cyber girl.

It was hard to make out a specific date and time but she knew it was roughly around a year ago...

She remembered a nameless user sending her a message with an attached file that she downloaded out of sheer curiosity. The HikiNEET knew that she was breaking every single protocol known to netizens by disregarding all of the cautions and dangers she was subjecting her poor laptop into. If the file was a virus, it could easily delete all her important files and could even render her laptop unusable.

She could have stopped right there and then if she cared a bit more. Maybe it was the curiosity or the boredom but either way, she just went through with it.

Ahh well, she'll just cross the bridge when she gets there. Besides, if it were a virus, she is confident with her anti-virus system.

The moment she clicked [Download] and the program began setting up, she immediately realized that no anti-virus she has can fight back that thing that invaded her laptop screen.

"Ahh, hello there."

Ayano watched a cute, small girl with an over-sized white and blue jacket, black skirt and leggings wave in her screen.

She couldn't help but wave back.

"It's nice to meet you, Mistress! Thank you very much for opening that e-mail!" The blue girl smiled and used the customary greeting.

"From here on forth, let's get along! You can call me Ene!"

Ayano followed it up with the customary response.

"Ahh, the pleasure is all mine."

Soon enough she realized that this would result in the exact opposite of pleasure.

The energetic cyber girl was more than just a handful. Certain files and folders would get lost and programs she didn't want to execute began booting up. When she paused to glare at the source of these weird activities, she was only greeted with a cheeky grin and a mischievous glint in the AI's eyes as if telling her 'What are you gonna do about it?'

It didn't take long for the entire situation to be more than just a handful. Soon enough, she was close to tearing out all the strands of her hair. Ayano never regretted more than anything in her entire life than having to deal with more of the cyber girl's meddling with her daily activities. On more than one occasion, Ayano found herself executing her anti-virus hoping that it can detect and delete the AI. It didn't work, and not even directly attempting to delete her bore any fruit.

To put it basically, all attempts were a waste of effort or futile. Honestly it was even a miracle that she managed to drag the AI into the recycle bin on that one occasion.

Sighing with resignation, she decided to just deal with it and move on, maybe try to get along. Then again, it was really, really hard to get along with someone who just wont stop meddling with your life the way a certain AI would.

"Umm, Mistress?"

The shut-in's mind was dragged back to the current situation at hand; a situation that was once again prompted by her.

"What is it, Ene?"

"Ahh, we seem to have a little problem." Ene began slowly, "I've checked all of the possible stores but since it's the Obon Festival, no store would be available to ship for three days." As if to emphasize her point, she brought up the browser in Ayano's phone and began switching to different tabs all displaying the content the blue girl stated.

Ayano's mind started to race, and panic slowly made its way to her face.

"W-w-wait, what do you mean 'three days'? I can't wait that long!" Ayano clutched the device and brought it up to her face to read. "Come on! There must be something! Anything!" The shut-in pleaded, her voice laced with pure desperation.

"I'm really sorry Mistress, but it looks like you'll have to wait three days-"

"You can't be serious! I can't live without my laptop! It's my lifeline!"

"Well, you could-"

"Three days. Three. Whole. Days. How do you expect me to take it in? What about my Kamen Rider marathon? Or the newest update of Tiger & Bunny? I can still download the ones that got lost-"

"Calm down, mistress! There's another wa-"

"Aghhh! Don't talk like this is not all your fault, Ene! Why did you have to be so distracting and irritating and-"

"Mistress!" Ene shouted, full volume ringing in Ayano's earphones. "I actually have a solution!"

Forcing herself to calm down, Ayano decided to hear out the blue girl.

"You could always go out and bring your laptop to a repair shop-"

"No way!" Ayano cut her off as she looked at the fully-soaked laptop sitting by her small desk. "The entire thing is soaked and the repairman might tell me that it's better to buy a new one instead! Not only is it a waste of time and money but it also involves going outside!" Ayano countered while crossing her arms as if to say that no negotiations are acceptable.

"Well, there's a second option! You can get a new laptop in the nearby mall instead!" Ene brought out a map and placed a marker on the nearest one, which is conveniently a quarter-hour walk away.

"But Ene, that still involves going outside!"

"Sorry Mistress, but if you want your laptop, then it's the only way!" Ene's smirk was simply more than enough proof that she was right and no matter how unappealing the idea of it to Ayano, she knew she's cornered.

"Ugh, this is the worst..."

Grabbing an old red muffler from the back of the door, she had come to a decision.

"I knew this would be a bad idea..." With a heavy heart and feet heavier than a 10 ton lead bar, Ayano clutched her trusty muffler as she trudged through the searing heat of a bright summer day.

"Oh really? Tell me how going out and getting a new laptop so that you won't suffer boredom for three days is a bad idea." The cyber girl's voice retorted from her earphones, connected to her phone.

"Well it's ridiculously hot for one thing! Why is it so cloudless today? I think I'm going to die from this heat..."

"It's not like you have the right to complain, Mistress! You've had plenty to drink before leaving, and you were the one who insisted on wearing that impractically hot outfit!"

Ene was right about the outfit, seeing as Ayano was wearing a black hoodie with sleeves that went up to her wrists, her crimson muffler around her neck, a short black skirt over gray baggy pants, and black shoes. Given the predominance of dark colors and the apparent thickness of the outfit, one would assume that she intended to walk in a blizzard.

Surprisingly, none of the passersby she came across commented on her weird preference in clothing especially under the heat beating down.

"I think I'd rather risk basking myself in this heat than burning my poor skin, thank you!"

"Well, if someone did not shut themselves in their room for the past year and more..."

"Ugh, will you- please just- shut it?" Ayano panted as she finally reached the top of the flyover stairs. A moment later, she collapsed on the railings in a dramatic fashion while staring at the clear blue sky.

"I can't take this anymore. Please just go and launch that voice recorder app... I should go and record my last words while I can..." The HikiNEET pondered on as she clutched the end of her red muffler, making it seem like she was on the verge of death.

"I told you, no need to worry! We're already half-way there!" Ene's smile at this moment turned from the usual cheer to something more sinister.

"And you might actually want to delete a few things from this phone before you die, it might make things awkward for your grieving father if it were to come to light~" Ene, true to her playful and mischievous personality, pointed out potential black mail material.

Pregnant silence filled the atmosphere between the two and to Ayano, it was as if the world paused when Ene revealed this dark secret.

"YOU SAW THAT?!"

"Of course I did!"

"No way, you must be lying! Everything in my phone is password protected, and I made sure that you wouldn't be able to see me as I set it up!"

"You're adorable. It doesn't take a genius to find out that you changed all your passwords to a coded version of 'I love sentai'!" As if to prove that she was serious, the cyber girl showed Ayano the photos in question.

"W-what? Y-you figured that out? B-b-but.. so you saw..."

At this point, Ayano very well wanted to die. With an accomplished grin, Ene wondered whether the red tint across her Mistress' pale complexion is simply due to the over-bearing heat that her body can't take or an embarrassed blush.

For all Ene knew, it could be both.

"I saw every. Last. Inch. Of it."

Then, an idea struck Ayano. With a confident smirk, she began countering the AI's threat.

"T-then I'll just destroy this phone! I'll tell him 'Ahh! In order for me to preserve my modesty and purity, I vanquished the evil that is in my phone!' Such is a true self-less sacrifice that any of my heroes would be proud of!'" Ayano narrated in a voice full of emotion complete with over-dramatic gestures. It was her trump card after all and Ene has no way of actually beating her this time for sure!

"... Mistress, the people are staring-"

"Compared to the sacrifice I'm about to make, this kind of thing is nothing-"

"Well then, I do hope you also plan on 'vanquishing' your own and your father's e-mail addresses once I sent these~" The cyber girl stated in a mocking tone to the NEET's attempt at drama earlier.

"Not to mention some of your father's contacts, your social networking account, forum accounts, and the internet in general." Continuing on, the twin-tailed AI place a finger on her chin, an action that shows deep thought being considered. "By the way, Mistress, if you're dead, how do you plan on 'vanquishing' the rest of the stuff I mentioned?"

Now aware of her inescapable situation and the bystanders' stares, Ayano buried her face in her hands due to the sheer awkwardness and frustration she set upon herself.

Well, so much for beating her this time.

"P-Please just go and forget its e-existence! Y-You've already dug out my former laptop for my d-d-dirtiest secrets..." Ayano's muffled voice muttered, as she continue heading out to the mall.

"I don't think so! You see, I'm not the simple catch-and-release type of girl. When I hook a fish, I eat it, guts and all!"

"Did that have to be so graphic...?" The HikiNEET flinched at the surprisingly detailed description Ene gave out.

The walk continued in silence until the department store in question was now visible. All Ayano has to do now is cross this intersection safely and then walk a few more meters in the same direction. Ene chooses this moment to speak up again.

"Oh! Mistress, I have an idea! The department store we're going to has an amusement park on the rooftop! If you take me there, then I'll completely forget about that folder!"

"You're lying." Ayano walked briskly along with the crowd. When she finally made it to the front entrance of the store, she paused briefly to continue her earlier statement. "Plus, I can't really handle thrill rides..."

"No, no, no, I'm telling the truth! And all I'm asking for is for us to ride the big Ferris wheel at the top! Come on! What do you say?" Ene said in a cutesy manner complete with puppy dog eyes and over-the-top sparkles filling the screen with saccharine sound effects.

"...Will you really forget about it?" The HikiNEET looks at the cyber girl in her phone screen with suspicion.

After all, it wasn't the first time she got scammed by the AI.

"Yes! Ene will forget about that silly little folder!"

With a small sigh, as if giving up, Ayano declared "... Fine. But we get the new laptop first, and then we take a ride on that Ferris wheel."

"Yaaaay! Thank you very much Mistress! But I have to say though, you gave in very easily."

"Yeah, well," The black-clothed shut-in started as she scratched the back of her head, "it's just this once, so what the heck. It's not like I'm ever going to leave the house again if I have something to say about it."

She didn't know how wrong she was.

A few minutes later, she made it to the 7th floor of the department store via elevator. The floor in question contains the electronics department, and to Ayano's grief, a huge number of customers were hoarding the whole floor. Stepping out of the elevator with false confidence, she was so engrossed with not looking bad in front of people that she forgot the mischievous AI in her phone.

"Uwah! Mistress look at all the cool equipment!" The blue-haired AI suddenly pipped up making Ayano yelp in surprise. When the other customers stared at her weird display, she bowed in apology.

The snickering she heard from her earphones brought her back to her senses. Crimson once again forming on her cheeks, she glared at the cause of her misery.

"Ene! Why'd you scare me like that?" Looking apprehended while glancing at the people she bowed to, the NEET scurried off in embarrassment as she scolded the cyber girl as quietly as she could.

"Oh, it's all Mistress' fault for getting adorably scared like that!" Ene proceeded to mock Ayano once again as said AI proceeded to sit down in a recording studio of sorts. Where she got that in Ayano's phone, no one knows.

"This lack of social awareness is one of Mistress' biggest weaknesses! That's what you get for being incompetent at the basics of human interaction!" The AI made one of those loud buzzing sounds usually used when failing play and then added "You have zero social skills yet, you still go beyond your limits as a shut-in dork! Have you finally found your calling, Mistress?"

"H-Hey! Who're you calling a dork-"

"What a surprising turn of events, ladies and gentlemen!~ A NEET, that is my Mistress, is on her journey for self-discovery and survival! Will she be able to overcome the obstacles thrown in her way?" Ene exclaimed to an imaginary audience, pretending to be some sort of radio commentator.

"I-I get it Ene! Quit it! And who are you even talking to?"

"It's a log of your adventure, Mistress! I have to make this exciting somehow!"

"Who is even going to watch that? Wait, who even is watching that?"

"Oh, nobody, just your adoring fans~" Ene with a playful smirk turned around to face the readers of this particular fanfiction. After making sure that only she could see this hole in the fourth wall, she turns back to face Ayano.

"You know what, just do whatever you want." Having enough of the cyber girl's antics, the shut-in simply plodded on, focusing more on the original goal she had set up.

"Mistress!"

"Ack-! W-What is it this time?!" Ayano barely managed to hold in her emotions this time around.

"It's the legendary dual-bladed, razor sharp, self-cleaning, and battery-efficient, Scissor-loid! I've only heard about it in passing advertisements! I didn't know it actually existed!" Ene began gushing like a fangirl then proceeded to look at Ayano straight in the eye. After living with the annoying AI for so long, the shut-in knew what that particular action meant and it more often than not lead to dire consequences.

"Mistress, let's go get one!"

Really dire consequences.

"No, Ene. We don't need that! Aren't you forgetting our original goal?"

"But Mistress! It's a one of a kind innovation!" Ene defended and added, "Rumor has it that it's like a sentient being! The super-sharp, dual-bladed razors are also said to never rust and never go dull! Not even after cutting down a billion necks!" The AI continued, "Or was it a billion and five?"

"We. Do. Not. Need. That. Understand?"

"But I want it! I want it!" The AI began throwing a tantrum like a child.

"Honestly, I don't know what to do with-" She was interrupted, as she bumped into someone. This person was tall, had long flowing green hair, an unusual outfit, and was staring intensely at Ayano for some unknown reason.

"Ahhh! I'm so sorry! I wasn't looking where I was going!" She apologizes to this stranger, bowing. Her voice cracked and her pitch hitched more than necessary which made her self-esteem wan. Deciding that her attempt at apologizing was a bad job, Ayano stood straight immediately to look at the person she managed to disturb.

"Don't worry about it. It's my fault anyways." The person in front of Ayano pulls their hood back over their head. At this moment, their eyes glow an eerie scarlet color, and then they suddenly disappear from Ayano's vision. She blinks repeatedly, rubs her eyes, and even looks around for the missing person who was clearly just there in front of her.

"W-w-wait, was that even a person? B-but, they're not here and-" Ayano began frantically searching again.

"C-Could it be a-a-a-a g-g-g-ghost?!"

"Um, Mistress?"

"W-What is it?!"

"I hate to say this, but this is exactly what I was talking about earlier. Your lack of social ability was all to obvious to even the most uneducated onlooker! She was obviously bored of you and walked away!" Ene pointed out but then noticed something. "Wait, don't tell me you actually thought it was a ghost-"

A small voice relatively far away sounds, but only the AI can hear it. "I-I-I...a gh-ghost? No way..."

"U-Ugh! This is your fault, you know! I-If you hadn't disturbed me-"

"Yeah, yeah. Let's just go back to our original destination, Mistress. The amusement park!"

"New laptop."

"Right. I knew I forgot something important! Anyways, we still go after you buy that, right?"

"I did sort of promise you-"

The shut-in was cut off when suddenly the customers start screaming and running frantically, the crowd almost running her over. She looks behind her to what they were running from, and see a group of men wearing clown masks throwing canisters that began spewing out some unknown gas and chasing after the fleeing customers.

One however stays standing a small distance in front of the now terrified Ayano, bringing out a semi-automatic pistol.

"You've got guts, standing your ground like that. Or maybe you're too scared to even move?"

He was right about the latter though. Ayano wanted to run badly, but no matter how hard she tried her feet remained glued to the floor.

As the man prepares to shoot a hole through Ayano, time seems to slow down as the girl watches her soon-to-be killer agonizingly aim the pistol to her torso and pull the trigger.

"No!" A sudden shout comes from Ayano's right, and before the masked man has time to react, a small girl in a green overcoat jumps in front of her and takes the shot instead. Both Ayano and the masked man are surprised by this act, and the girl in green falls to her knees.

Ayano only feels a sharp blow to her head and everything fading to black as another voice spoke. "Hurry up, let's take them- Wait a minute, where'd the other one go?"

When Ayano opened her eyes, the first thing she noticed was that the lights were a dim red. After sitting up from her position, she saw that the people around her are also the same. "...I became a hostage?" she thought to herself after noticing that her thumbs are tied together with a zip tie.

Wearing an earphone on her right ear, Ayano looked around the place everyone is being held up. Surrounded by shelves of appliances, which is mostly composed of flat television sets, a group of 11 people, armed and wearing the same clown-motif masks, surrounded the group of hostages.

"That's everyone." One of the masked people assured his companions after tying up the last person.

"Hacks of security shutter control and video feed are all holding." Another one of them spoke up, confirming his success of hacking into the security system while typing something into the laptop.

"Okay. Good Work." The masked man wearing a sharp-looking blazer that indicated his leadership congratulated his lackeys' action. "All right, ladies and gentlemen who are shopping-No, that's not right... Who were shopping! Well, this really isn't your lucky day. You have my most sincere sympathies." He looked at the hostages behind him to confirm that each and everyone are accounted for and tied up. Other than the pesky one that was shot, who somehow disappeared, there seems to be no problem.

"Why is this happening to me of all people?! Why did I have to become a hostage for these low-lives the day I got out? All I wanted is to get a new laptop so that I can continue with my everyday life... I swear to the great Heroes of Olympus, when I get my new laptop I will absolutely not let anything harm it so that I would never go out of the house ever again!" Ayano's face conjured up a scowl, signaling her absolute distaste for her current situation.

"If only the Neo Featherman could come in and beat the crap out of these thugs! This is the absolute worst!" Ayano swore in her thoughts as she assessed the situation around her.

"Police officers, thank you for your service. Can you hear me?" The group leader spoke in his phone and his voice reverberated throughout the mall's PA system. "I'm only going to say this once, so please pay attention. Now, although I would love nothing better than to sit down for a nice leisurely chat, that would be a pain so I'll get right to the point. We have seized this floor. Its security system, main communication lines and so on are entirely under our control. Listen up, mall owner! I think it's crazy to completely hand over building maintenance to computers. I suggest you be more careful from now on."

The way the leader spoke irritated Ayano somehow. The NEET may not be the smartest girl alive but it was obvious what these thugs wanted from the police. It was, after all, a fairly common scenario that happens often in sentai-related shows and even police dramas. Being a fan of those kind of shows, Ayano, who's heart is thumping from the adrenaline and excitement, was half-expecting, half-wishing for a savior to come and save them, preferably a masked vigilante like Kamen Rider.

Then again, what were the odds of that happening? Despite the parallels in the scenario, this was real life and there are no masked vigilantes that appear out of nowhere to fight evil. Instead of wasting her time daydreaming, the NEET-turned-hostage looked back at the group leader instead to hear his demands from the police.

Even after convincing herself that, Ayano could still hear the fast thumps in her heart.

"Now with that said... Put together a billion yen in ransom money in the next 30 minutes. We'll make the exchange on the roof. Refusal is not an option. Don't be late. If you are..." The leader looked at the hostages as if scaring them with the words he was about to say, but stopped himself and continued with his speech. "Well, I'm sure you know what will happen. Well, I'll let you get to it." He puts away the phone and sits down in one of the chairs nearest to him, comfortably, albeit confidently, waiting for his ransom money.

Oh Kamen did she ever want to punch him in the face so badly right now.

"Ahh, we're caught in a bind aren't we?" A hooded boy with brown hair and fox-like eyes said to Ayano, showing his tied hands unusually in front of him and wiggling his fingers like a flapping bird.

Despite the dire situation right now, it was a strange sight to see.

"H-huh? And what do you want? Wait a minute, aren't you scared too?"

"What? Of course I'm scared! Oh dear, am I gonna die? There was this television show I wanted to see later too..."

"You're a real weirdo, you know. You're obviously faking it." Ayano hmphed in annoyance.

"This guy looks like something out of a villain's den! He has the perfect look of a sly ninja waiting at the right moment to ambush the prime minister or something!" Her lips twitched from that thought as she inwardly pat herself for the perfect description of the strange boy in front of her.

Somewhere near by, Ayano swore she heard someone choke, or perhaps someone attempting to hold the giggle in which resulted in muffled laughter. Either way, she can't tell.

"H-hey!" the hooded boy pouted, honest to God pouted, before it was replaced the the familiar grin Ayano was accustomed to. "Anyways, it seems to me like you're familiar with this kind of situation and you've probably been thinking of a way out. Maybe something like: 'I'm sure that this would work, but I need a distraction', eh?"

"Huh? How'd you figure that out?"

"Well? What do you say?" The boy placed his hands behind his head, separating his thumbs to do so. Ayano did not notice this action.

"I say it's impossible. There are armed men all around us and our hands are tied! How do you-"

"How about this. Let's assume that you got your hands free and all of our captors are distracted. How confident are you that you could get us out of this mess?"

"Well, given what you said... I'm a hundred percent confident!"

"A-a-a hundred percent?! You've got to be kidding me, right?"

"No! Do I look like I even have time to joke around?" The NEET glared at the boy who just shrugged her off.

"Alright then. Is that okay with you Seto?" The boy turned to face behind his right, where another boy in a green jumper (that for some reason also has a hood) was seated. He leaned forward to face the two with an oddly calm smile.

"Hmm, let me check." The boy in green, whose name she caught was Seto, stated. Ayano noticed that he doesn't seem particularly bothered by the dangers around them and even closed his eyes.

The NEET got the sneaking suspicion that the two can save them.

"M-maybe they're-"

"It's an all-clear! Looks like you're going to get your distraction soon." The dark-haired boy confirmed with a smile while he opens his eyes. The red eyes seem to stand out even if the surrounding area is dyed in the color already.

Ayano may not be as bright as him and she may not be the best at deduction skills but the circumstances surrounding her now is really bugging her instinct.

Something's just not right.

"W-who," Ayano began, getting the attention of her two fellow hostages, "who are you two?" She continued, her voice barely above a whisper. The fox-eyed boy simply smirked.

"Oh, we're just like you." He began. "We're just ordinary hostages A and B, except unlike you we actually enjoy these kinds of interesting events." Even if it was for a brief moment, the shut-in caught the flicker of the fox-eyed boy's eyes turn to a deep shade of red. It was the same red that she saw the other boy has.

Her observation was cut off from some commotion started by the leader.

"What the hell was that for, you asshole!" He began punching and kicking the poor member near his right as things escalated even further. The boy to her left started laughing hysterically at the poor man getting beaten up.

"Hahahaha! This is great! This is so much better than that TV show I missed!" The anxiety that once covered her developed into a keen sense of rage. She didn't even notice when she began to rant, quite loudly too.

"Hey! That's not funny! That poor guy over there is being beat up! I don't care if he is one of the people keeping me hostage, that's not nice! I knew it, you were a villain after all! And I can't believe you manipulated me into helping you!" She began her tirade. "I- ughh!" Before she could continue further, the leader of the crooks interrupted Ayano by dragging her muffler and at the same time strangling her.

"Oi! You what the hell are you up to!? Shut the hell up..." the leader trailed off before sizing her up. Afterwards, a malicious smirk made its way underneath the hideous disguise.

"Oh you're pretty light and what's with your clothes? You're wearing something pretty hot aren't you? Wonder what you look like underneath all that clothing..." he continued to try to loosen the clothing.

"Pervert..." Ayano whispered to herself.

"What was that?" the crook asked her although Ayano remained silent... "You had a lot of energy yelling at that guy a while ago, now tell me what you said or this won't end nicely for you!" the crook gripped Ayano's muffler harder choking her.

"I said," Ayano glared with as much hate as she can before she spat the next few words. "You pervert! How dare you threaten me! You know what they do to perverts in jail!? You think you got the balls to do that to me?"

As if some sort of cue, the appliances fell off the shelves and walls, monitors worth more than what the NEET could afford were crashing and cracking. Some fell on the leader, causing him to let go of Ayano's muffler. Ayano fell to the ground catching her breath, when the boy from before spoke up again.

"Alright, here's your big chance! Go make us proud, eh?"

Something clicked within Ayano's mind after hearing that. In her mind's eye, she briefly recalled what Ene had been telling her all this time.

"Mistress, I have a plan! If you could get me to one of those terminals, I could counter-hack them and let us escape!"

"Don't give up mistress! Don't let this perverted terrorist get what he wants! Be the hero!"

With the words still buzzing and ringing in her ears, she ran past the chaos towards the table of computers, grabbed a terminal cable from the mess of cables and plugged in her phone in the rush.

"Ene! I'll leave it to you!" As soon as the words left Ayano's mouth, Ene immediately began the hacking procedure and lifting the blinds from the windows. In that small window of time, the light shone through the glass and Ayano falls down to her knees and collapses to the ground right after hearing what appears to be a gun shot. Blood slowly pooled and accumulated around the part of the floor she fell on, staining her already crimson muffler and dark, baggy clothes.

"Mistress? Mistress? MISTRESS?! H-hey, this isn't funny! Come on, please answer!"

Her heart pounding and adrenaline still rushing, Ayano barely heard the AI's voice as her world slowly fades into a bleak black.

"When your dreams are gone-then why repeat the daily grind?"

A/N: Woohoo! Finally, after a bit of derping around, chapter 1's here! BTW, the girl with Ayano earlier is an OC that will appear soon BUT, don't worry! She's not going to overthrow the story! (She's kinda important though but shhh)

Chapter 2's gonna be done in a while if we somehow finally get down to writing the unedited parts. Anyway, feedback is loved and tell us our reactions, theories, and the like! We'll see you in a bit!

All mentioned shoutouts and references are (c) to their owners. Any brief mention of them is NOT bashing but HOMAGES. Same with this fanfic, it's a homage to Jin and the rest of the KagePro community!