The sun is so bright.

Rin shields her face with the back of her hand, the other tightly gripped to her purse. Trying to see the streetlight, she starts to take a step forward.

"Wait."

A soft hand places itself at her chest, and she halts instantly, just as a car comes barreling past where she would've been standing. A dash of fear rushes over her before she turns to the man beside her, offering him a small smile.

"Thanks, Len."

The blond nods his head. "Of course. We may walk now."

The two begin down the crosswalk, and Rin takes a moment to breathe in the city air. The hustle and bustle of cars and people to and fro, the scent of vehicle exhaust and fresh rainwater still littering the ground from the night before.

"I apologize for asking, but what are we in the city for again?" Len asks her, keeping pace with her easily.

"Grocery shopping," Rin responds with a small smile. "I haven't gone since before you arrived, and it's a bit overdue for me to get some regular food in the house instead of take-out."

"I see." Len nods his head understandingly, before glancing toward her. "If I may… I haven't noticed you leaving the house for a place of employment. Are you currently working?"

Rin's teeth grind a little but she takes a deep breath, focusing further on the sound of her feet on the cement. "No, I don't really need to work. I have a lot of money to my name and not enough time to… well, I'm not a heavy spender."

"I do notice you don't make many large purchases or leave the house often. Is there a reason for that?"

Len's really going at it with the hard-hitting questions today, it seems. Rin bites the inside of her cheek. "No real reason, Len. It's just not in my nature. Not a big fan of being a social butterfly."

She used to work in a little office cubicle on the southern side of town, but about two years ago, she stopped caring enough to attend. It really didn't matter much in the end anyway.

"Oh, here we are, Len!" she says, quickly changing the subject and pointing up at the storefront they had stopped at.

Moving up the worn stairs and stepping through the double doors, the market smell overwhelms her as soon as she wanders inside. It's a little store that's wedged between two much bigger ones, but she's frequented it since she moved to the area.

Rows of fresh produce are the first thing that greet her upon entering, leading to a section of foreign snacks and even more rows of noodles, soups, etc. As she makes a beeline for the fresh fruit section, she glances to Len.

To her surprise, he seems to be in a state of curiosity. He peeks at everything they pass with a sense of mild interest, and she raises a brow.

"...Len, are you able to eat human food?" she asks. It's not something she'd researched before she'd purchased him, and she'll start to feel bad if she finds out he's supposed to eat like everyone else.

He nods his head. "I am able to consume food like you, but unlike humans, I have no sense of taste. It would be the equivalent of eating the same texture of… bread, you could say," he says, struggling for an analogy that makes sense, and she can't help the small chuckle that escapes.

"Do you ever wish you could taste things like us?" she inquires.

Len stops in front of a stand of blueberries, pursing his lips.

"...Occasionally," he finally says. "I feel it is a fault of my programming that I am unable to. Like these… I feel as though I can surmise what they taste like, but I will never know."

Something pangs softly in Rin's chest, something akin to pity. Of course everything he's just said makes perfect sense, but it feels somehow sad that he can't ever know what certain things taste like. It's a key missing sense for a human being, but to him it's always been that way.

I guess Androids aren't perfect in every way. Even though they're interchangeable with human beings, they still lack so much that would make them human.

"...It's sweet."

Hmm?" His eyes turns on her.

"Blueberries. They're sweet, but mildly sweet, and they're very fragile in your mouth. They crush easily but taste wonderful." She finds herself describing them with fervor, even though they're not even a fruit of her choosing.

Len glances back at them, and she can almost see the gears turning in his head.

"...Sweet and fragile," he replies slowly. He points beside it, to strawberries. "And these?"

"Even sweeter. They're firmer and remind you of summer days."

"What about peaches? And grapes? Dragonfruit?"

For the next while, Rin finds herself explaining the tastes and textures of half the store to Len. From sweet to savory to spicy, she tells him to the best of her ability how everything tastes to her, and he nods his head along every time as if committing it to memory.

It doesn't change anything, or fix the fact he can't taste them, but there's something satisfying to her that she can at least give him this, the tiniest glimpse of what they're like. In a way, it almost feels like she's helping him. A funny concept, considering he's the Android.

She shops as she talks, and before she knows it, she's checking out with twice as many groceries as she'd initially planned to buy, her and Len both carrying armloads of bags. It seems as though describing the flavors of food to him had triggered her own tastes for them.

Stepping out of the store, loaded up and ready to go home, she starts down the stairs, and nearly misses a step. In a second, Len's arm is wrapped around her torso, holding her from the three stair fall. Her face burns, but she thanks him, and they continue down the sidewalk.

As they walk, she finds herself leaning closer to him, feeling different walking through the streets with someone beside her. When it was just herself before, the world really seemed a lot bigger and less welcoming. Now, it seems.. Less scary than it once was.

Is this the effect of having an android? This sense of security? She's only had Len a short while, but already she feels like he's making some kind of difference in her life.

"..nto… Ri… to…!"

Something seems to stick out of the calamity of the crowds around them walking, but Rin can't put her finger on it, until Len is suddenly jerked away from her violently. She drops a bag of her groceries, startled, spinning around to see what's going on.

"Rinto!"

A woman is standing there behind Len, a hand firmly placed on his wrist in an iron-tight grip. She has long blonde hair down to her thighs, and she's wearing a thick burgundy overcoat with cuffed sleeves, half buttoned over her chest. She looks a couple years older than Rin herself, with deep, shadowed blue eyes trained solely on Len.

Even scarier yet, there is a look of disbelief in her expression, and tears welling in her eyes. Rin is left agape in confusion, whilst Len blinks, processing the situation.

"..Rinto?" Rin breathes, and this finally draws the woman's gaze her way. She shrinks beneath the calculating, cold look she's given. "That.. His name…"

"Excuse me," Len says, looking down at the woman. "My title is Len. I am not this Rinto you're looking for."

"...What?"

The woman draws herself up to her full height, releasing Len's wrist suddenly as if it's on fire. Yet she continues to stare deep into his face, her jaw clenching visibly.

"...You're an android, aren't you?' she says suddenly, almost accusatory.

Len nods. "Yes."

"...Excuse me, but, who… are you?" Rin finally manages, realizing people have now stopped to stare at the commotion between the three of them. She hurries to pick up her bags from the ground, unable to keep her eyes from travelling to the young woman.

The lady seems to stop for a moment to consider something, before turning to Rin.

"Please. I apologize for scaring you. But… would you mind getting something to drink with me? I would… appreciate it."

Normally, Rin would turn down such an offer without a second thought, but there is something desperate and pleading in the way this blonde looks at her. She can't help the feeling of sadness emanating from her.

Rin exchanges a look with Len, before returning to the woman.

"...Okay."

.x.X.x.

Rin, Len, and the woman are all seated in a common, cozy cafe off the corner of the street they'd met on.

Rin's fingers play at the edge of the formica table, and she can't help cautiously looking between the woman, Len, and the window outside. A heavy silence reigns over the three of them.

The stranger's not said a word since they'd sat down other than to order a hot coffee, and she's done nothing but grip the steaming mug in both hands and stare at Len. Rin can't find it in herself to start a conversation, not even sure where to begin.

"...Lenka."

Rin blinks. "I'm sorry?"

"My name is Lenka." The blonde woman—Lenka— glances at her. "You have my… apologies for earlier."

"Oh, uh, it's fine," Rin manages, lowering her hands beneath the table to grip anxiously at the seat below. Accidentally finding Len's hand there, she tentatively lays a finger across his.

"So… why exactly did you want to come here, Miss Lenka?" Rin finally asks after another bout of silence. "I'm not really understanding."

Lenka lets out a deep, heavy breath, her hands tightening on her half-filled cup.

"...Rinto was the name of my older brother. Your… android looks exactly like him. Down to the hair, and the eyes, to the body build. It's… uncanny."

Rin's breath catches in her throat a bit painfully as the sadness increases tenfold over the older woman's face.

What she's saying isn't unheard of, but still rare. Actually, Rin never would've thought she'd run into someone who knew a 'Len' in real life. The way androids are mass-built so often, it was bound to happen that they'd start looking like existing people, but… there's something innately terrifying about the idea you'd run into a robot version of yourself out there.

"My brother... My Rinto died a few years ago," Lenka continues, drawing Rin back to the present. "He died overseas in a tragic accident. I knew this, but then I saw… I saw this android and I felt just the smallest sliver of hope that they were wrong. I never saw his body, I never went to his funeral, I never saw his body in the casket. For a moment I thought he was there before my eyes for the first time in ten years. If there was any chance at all, well... " She braces herself visibly, turning away. "I should've known. I know better. It's always those. Now, even my brother is…"

"You're saying that I look like your deceased brother?" Len asks, and Lenka's eyes darken as he speaks.

"Unfortunately," she spits. "The Androids are becoming so advanced that they're starting to take over for human beings. The fact that you look just like he did means they've progressed too far. I never could've imagined that one day he'd walk this earth again, but with his face plastered on an imposter. If he were alive today, he would've hated this. He would've loathed the idea."

There's an unbridled resentment pouring out of her words, and Rin can see the way she's hardened toward Len in the last few minutes.

It must hurt to be right in front of something that looks just like your loved one, but is nothing but machinery. Like being haunted by the past in the worst way imaginable.

It doesn't help that there's an innate hatred of androids pouring out of everything she says. It's far too readily apparent, especially in her body language; cringing away every time he moves, the flicker of her eyes toward exits as if waiting with baited breath for something to happen.

Rin's finger tightens just the slightest bit against Len's, flinching as the woman turns her steely eyes back on her.

"I just… Just for a moment…"

There's something else written behind her cold blues, an unfathomable sadness. It softens her for just a second.

"For a moment, I wanted to be face to face with him again. But he wouldn't have wanted me to seek solace from an android." She lets out a mirthless laugh, running a hand through her long tresses. "I can't believe I fell for such an obvious fakery. Androids are becoming more recognizable than even a human itself. What happens when there are more robots than people?"

She zeroes in on Rin, and she watches as Lenka's hand turns white against her cup.

"Are you going to live with yourself when your choice to run around with a piece of metal destroys humanity?"

Her words cut sharply into Rin, and she inhales painfully.

This isn't the first time she's heard this argument. This is the ugly side of android hatred. The side that isn't all wrong or invalid, either.

As much as media and the creators of AI want everyone to believe that they're just the new phase of the world's evolution, many people don't follow the same understanding. There is a large amount of people who refuse to accept androids into modernity, some for fear of an uprising and turning on the human race one day, others for the sake that they'll outlast humans and wipe them out once the population starts decreasing.

The bigger picture of owning an android, to many, is the understanding that your choice means you're willing to let humanity die off. You can't have children with a robot. You can't build a family that will carry on generations down the line. A life with a machine is a dead end path.

...Not that I'd ever have children anyway. I don't think I'd ever be able to care for a child.

It brings back wanted memories of her own parents, and she quickly squashes it back down into the recesses of her memory, biting into her lip hard.

"...If that's all we sat here to talk about, Miss Lenka, then I'm sorry. I don't have time to debate the morality of it, and you and I both know it's not worth it," Rin manages to say through clenched teeth, feeling herself becoming defensive.

Lenka pauses, before looking down into her coffee.

"You're right. I can't talk sense into you, or anyone else. Every day I see androids like this. There's more and more of them every time I open my eyes. I will never escape them. Not even my poor brother could escape being mimicked by one. One day, humanity will end, and they'll be all that's left. But I'm not strong enough to stop it, and we're rapidly approaching a point where it can't be stopped."

She stands up abruptly, startling Rin. Len, who has barely spoken a word during the entire encounter, seems to lean toward Rin protectively as if he thinks the other woman will strike her.

"I've wasted my time here," Lenka growls under her breath, pulling her coat tighter around her shoulders. "I've chased a phantom to this table, and I only have myself to blame for it."

"Miss Lenka—" Rin begins, but the woman shoots her down with one look. A sad, slight smile settles on her face as she acknowledges Rin.

"...I may not agree with your choices, but… Thank you, for granting me just a few minutes more with my brother. I haven't grasped his death too well even with as much time has passed, and I was weak. I won't trouble you any longer."

She turns without waiting for the younger woman to respond, and heads for the exit of the cafe. Rin softly grips onto Len's hand, watching her go.

That woman looks so devastated by the loss of her brother. I guess she can't help chasing after the thought that her brother could still be alive.

Len's hand suddenly rips away from her, and she gasps as he leaps to his feet in one smooth motion.

"Len-?"

He doesn't respond to her, instead heading with determination down the aisle and rushing out the door hot on Lenka's heels. Rin, dumbstruck, jumps up from the table and runs after them, heart suddenly pounding.

What is he doing? Is he malfunctioning? A cold shiver threads like a needle through her spine, and she grits her teeth. What happened?

Lenka has barely made it down the steps when Len has caught up to her.

"Lenka."

The woman freezes in place, and Rin stands at the top of the stairs with bated breath, terrified what will happen next.

Slowly, Lenka turns to face Len, the wind blowing her hair around her face like a halo.

"...Don't say my name like that," she warns. "You— you things aren't allowed to speak to me without formality, don't you dare—"

"I hope you will find your peace, Lenka," Len says softly.

Lenka's words seem to stop in her throat, and she gapes like a fish out of water, her cheeks tinging a violent red. Her eyes are wide, disbelieving, and even Rin herself can't believe what she's hearing.

The way he spoke, it felt as if it were from the heart, a true sentiment; as if channeling the woman's brother in that moment.

Lenka is quiet for a few moments, before looking away. Rin can see tears beginning to roll down her cheeks, though she hides it well.

"...Those words mean nothing coming from something like you," Lenka finally whispers. "You will never be Rinto. You will never be anything. You… have no right to be so real."

With that parting pierce, she flips on her heel, and takes off in a speed walk down the sidewalk, vanishing naturally into the throngs of pedestrians travelling. Len stands at the bottom of the stairwell, looking after her for a moment, before peering up at Rin.

Beside herself, Rin can only stare back, trying to process what she's just witnessed.

Len… What was that?

Not only was it a jarring experience altogether, but what had possessed him to speak so out of turn to a stranger? His AI is advanced, but catered to Rin; he shouldn't be able to do anything like that on his own without her orders. In fact, it seems strictly against what he's meant for to comfort another, especially without her say-so.

She approaches him slowly, not breaking eye contact for even a second.

"Len… why did you do that? Why did you say that to her?" she asks, strained. "What would make you go up to her like that and- and-"

"...I don't know."

She stops, and she realizes his expression seems… pained, a first for her. She's never seen him look so bewildered in the time she's owned him. It's actually a very… human display.

"I don't know why I did that," he continues slowly, peeking back in the direction she'd left. "To me, it felt like… the right thing to do."

The… right…?

A gust of wind blows her hair across her face, and she's left there astonished in the middle of the stairs, gazing at her android with nothing short of absolute confusion.

The right thing to do? How would Len know what the 'right thing to do' is? Is it a program in his software? Is it a calculated response to the situation? There are too many variables to correctly explain the way he's acted, and she can't help but feel something strange is going on. There's a niggling, nit-picking feeling at the back of her mind, telling her this isn't right.

Len shouldn't be able to do that, should he?

It goes against everything that makes sense. That outburst had been pure empathy, directed toward a complete stranger.

The way he had spoken out of turn, it felt as though… it was wrong. Yet it had happened so naturally, come to him as if the perfect choice, that there leaves no doubt in her mind that his words are true.

Len…

The two of them are left standing there in the cool sunset, left shaken by the twists of what had happened, and the mystery of the woman, Lenka, who had triggered something within Len.

...Just what exactly is going on inside your head, Len?

What are you…?