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“Your name…”
“Your face…”
“I can't… remember…”
The only light in Aoi’s room came from her laptop as she stared at its screen, watching, over and over, as the Earth Ignis was cut into pieces and disintegrated.
Why? How could they do such a thing? Her eyes occasionally flickered to the side of the video, where she could see her brother simply standing by, watching it happen.
How could he let this happen? Wasn't Earth on their side? Weren't they going to protect all of the Ignis?
Her throat was dry and her heart raced as all the thoughts span through her head. All her memories of Ai, Flame, and Earth came back to her, all at once.
They had expressions. Feelings. The way they interacted with the people around them. They didn't feel like AIs.
She realised what Earth had meant when he'd said he had free will.
Aside from the fact that they were AIs, they weren't much different from a human.
SOL had effectively taken apart a living creature, a sapient creature, just to figure out how it worked.
It made her sick.
She wasn't sure how many times she watched the short video, but eventually, she closed the laptop, plunging her room into total darkness.
She sat there, unmoving. From outside her room, she heard her brother arrive home. He was far later than he usually was. It was almost midnight.
No doubt he was busy at his job. Analysing the data they had gotten from Earth. The sooner, the better, after all.
She hoped he wouldn't check in on her, but she knew he would. He'd said to stay put, but instead she’d logged in and witnessed the duel.
It took a few minutes, but the knock at her own door finally came.
“Aoi? Are you awake?”
She didn't respond. She didn't want to talk to him. Not after what she'd watched.
She heard him sigh, and the doorknob jiggled as he tried to open the door. It didn't budge.
“You're awake? Why did you lock the door?”
She finally responded, her voice barely above a whisper. “Please leave me alone.”
“Are you okay?” Akira tried the door again.
Aoi moved her laptop carefully in the darkness, placing it on her desk, before bringing her legs up to meet her chest as she curled into a ball.
Of course she wasn't. Why would he even ask that question? She'd watched him be complicit in what was basically murder. Did he think she would want to talk to him about that?
Her eyes widened as she realised. He probably didn't know she knew. He might not have known she was watching.
“Aoi, please. I need to talk to you.”
She stood up, walking slowly to the door, but didn't open it, instead opting to lean against it.
“Go away.”
Now that she was closer, she heard him take a quick step back at her words.
“Aoi, are you… angry at me?” A pause. “Is this about Go Onizuka capturing the Earth Ignis?”
It seemed she was right. It certainly sounded as though he didn't know. She grit her teeth, deciding her next words carefully.
“Where is the Earth Ignis now?” In her heart, she pleaded for him to tell her the truth. For him to not lie to her.
There was silence for a moment, but she could hear his breathing as he thought about his response.
“The Earth Ignis is… in a containment cell at SOL Technologies. The other staff are running tests on him.”
Her heart clenched. “Liar.” The word came out suddenly, quietly. Too quiet for him to hear what it was.
“Aoi? Did you say something?”
She clenched her fists, tears threatening to spring from her eyes. One of her hands swept up, turning on the lights, and she walked across the room to pick up her bag, laptop and duel disk.
“Aoi? Are you going to talk to me?”
She reached for the lock on the door, twisting it to disengage it. Slowly, she opened the door.
Her brother had a sad smile on his face, raising his arms to meet her, but he froze upon seeing her expression.
“Liar!” She was furious. “A containment cell? You murdered him!”
His eyes went wide with shock as he stared at her. “You… you knew?”
“You all just took him apart, even as he was screaming for you to let him go!”
He raised a hand to stop her, panicking. “Aoi, I didn't-”
“You didn't do anything! What happened to wanting to know the true story? What happened to convincing them to be on our side? What happened to protecting them?!”
“Aoi, I couldn't do anything! I had to do my job!”
“I had to do my job!” She parroted back. “What, so that makes it okay? That means you don't have any responsibility? That means you’re allowed to kill somebody?”
Akira blinked. “What are you-”
“I realised it earlier. The Ignis are all their own living beings! They have thoughts! They have feelings! If it weren't for the fact that they're AIs, they would be humans! And you just… You just cut him up like he didn't matter!” She stepped in close to him. “Were you hiding that from me, as well?”
“I was just trying to keep you safe!” He yelled back at her.
She stopped, staring silently at him.
A few tense seconds passed, allowing Akira to breathe a sigh of relief as it seemed the conversation was finally calming down.
Then Aoi pushed past him, running down the hall.
“Where are you going?”
The front door answered him as Aoi slammed it loudly closed.
---
She ran far before she decided to stop and take a break under a street lamp. Leaning against it to catch her breath, she finally let her tears flow from her eyes, rolling down her face and then dripping to hit the pavement.
How could he lie to her like that, and then even go as far as trying to justify why he hadn't done anything?
She breathed slow, shuddering breaths for a minute, and then set off once again at a brisk walk.
She didn't really know where she was going. As she wandered aimlessly, she found herself at the plaza. She sat down under one of the trees near the edge, staring at what she could see of the night sky.
After a few minutes, her phone began to vibrate as she received a call. She looked at the screen, even though she knew full well who it would be.
As expected, her brother was calling her. She declined the call, shoving the phone roughly back into her pocket.
She didn't want to go back. Not after that. She thought about where she could go. Ema’s? After a silent moment, she shook her head. No, Ema would probably tell Akira.
Her best bet would be to stay in a hotel. Her face twisted into a frown as she realised that nowhere would probably be open this late, and she sighed.
Running away at that moment had been a terrible idea. If she was thinking straight, she would have at least waited until the morning.
What's done had been done, though. She couldn't go back now. Not after their fight.
She sighed again, then settled down and closed her eyes. Maybe she could try and get some sleep here.
---
The first traces of sunlight woke her. Still tired, she sat up, making sure that all her belongings were still present.
Her stomach grumbled in protest as she stood up, and she realised that she hadn't eaten dinner the night before, too caught up in trying to understand what she'd seen.
There was almost nobody in the plaza, but to her surprise, the hotdog truck - Cafe Nagi, she remembered - was present, lights on to provide some visibility in the dawn’s darkness. She could see the side opened, the man who usually ran it working away inside, occasionally yawning.
She lazily walked over to it, clutching her bag.
“Morning, Miss Zaizen.” The man said.
She gave a start at the greeting, then peered at him suspiciously. “How do you know my name?”
He shrugged. “Even if Yusaku would never admit it, you two are friends, right? I saw you sleeping, over there, and kept an eye on you just in case. Is something wrong?”
She looked down for a moment, then shook her head. “I don't want to talk about it.” ‘With you’ went unsaid, but the man seemed to have picked up on it, nodding and smiling at her.
“Sorry, I never introduced myself. I’m Shoichi Kusanagi. I own this humble cafe.” His hands flashed behind the counter, and he was suddenly holding a hotdog in his hands. “Hotdog?”
She blinked. “What?” She pulled her phone out again, checking the time. “It's 6am.”
The man - Shoichi - laughed. “It's always time for a hotdog.”
She could only stare at him in slight shock at the bizarre statement. Chuckling to himself, he set the hotdog down, turning to make a coffee as well.
By the time her mind refocused, the coffee sat beside the hotdog, waiting for her to take it.
“Oh, I…” She rummaged through her bag, hoping she'd remembered her wallet. She would need it later, as well.
“Don't worry about paying, it's on the house this time. You look like you need it.”
“Thanks, I suppose.” She took the items from the counter, sitting at the table that was furthest away from the truck.
The seat was abnormally comfortable. That was probably because she’d been sitting on the ground for the past seven hours.
She took small bites of the hotdog, washing it down with the coffee as she worked with the little appetite that she had. Placing her bag on the table, she brought her laptop back out, opening it.
The still image of the paused video gleamed back at her. Putting in some headphones, she pressed play again. To remind herself, even though she wouldn’t forget.
She stared blankly at the screen, not really focusing on the video after the first few moments. The scene didn't get easier to watch, even as she left it on to repeat multiple times.
She jumped as something tapped her shoulder, her hand reaching up and slamming the laptop shut.
Shoichi stood beside her, holding a box of tissues and another coffee. She stared at him, confused. He waved the box of tissues in her direction.
“You're crying.”
She blinked, and reached up to touch her face, feeling the tears there. Silently, she took the box, taking some tissues and wiping them against her face to try and dry up the tears.
Shoichi put the coffee down in front of her, before taking a seat across the table from her.
“Are you sure you don't want to talk about it?”
She nodded, preferring to stay silent. She didn't trust her own voice.
Half a minute later, she heard him draw breath again.
“Would you prefer to talk to Yusaku instead? I can call him.”
She thought about it. While she didn’t think it would be particularly fair to pull in someone who was completely unrelated, it wasn’t like he would be able to do anything. Tentatively, she nodded. It wouldn’t help her to just sit in her own thoughts, and at least she knew him to a small extent, unlike Shoichi.
“Alright.” Shoichi stood, walking a short distance away while dialing his phone.
She couldn’t hear the conversation that ensued, but after a few minutes, Shoichi returned.
“He’ll be here soon. I have to finish setting up for the day, so if you need anything, just ask.”
“Thank you.” She slumped down onto the table as the man returned to the truck, resting her head on it and closing her eyes. Nothing left to do but wait.
It felt like she waited a long time. As the minutes passed, she began to feel the warmth of the early morning sun on her back. Every now and again, she would hear footsteps and quiet chattering as someone ordered food from the truck.
After what she thought was at least an hour, she heard the chair across from her move.
“Zaizen.”
That was Yusaku's voice, alright. She groaned out a response, then twisted her head to look at him over her arms.
“Morning, Fujiki.” She didn't have the energy to smile with the greeting.
“Kusanagi said you wanted to talk about something.”
Why did he have to sound so impassive? She let her head fall back down, keeping her silence as she thought about what she wanted to say.
After a few minutes, she heard him sigh, and his chair scraped against the ground as he moved to stand up.
“I hate my brother.” Tears sprang from her eyes again as she finally said the words.
Yusaku stopped, sitting back down in the chair. A frown crossed his face for a moment, then he spoke. “What did he do?”
She couldn’t find the words to describe it. Instead, she simply reached for her laptop again, opening it and restarting the video. She spun it to face Yusaku, the now-familiar audio beginning to play as her head dropped back down to the table.
She didn’t notice the way his eyes widened slightly at the image.
Before long, she could hear the sound of the laser cutter as it began to cut through Earth’s body. She heard again, as Earth began to shout for them to let him go.
“My memories are vanishing…” The Ignis’ sad voice came from the speakers again.
“Earth!” The pained electronic shout startled her, and her head snapped up. Her eyes widened at what she saw.
Playmaker’s Ignis, Ai, was coming out of Yusaku’s duel disk. It was so sudden, so unexpected, that she didn’t know what to think.
The video continued. But she was no longer listening to it. Her eyes were glued to Ai’s form.
“Earth!” The Dark Ignis screamed again, louder this time, as the video came to an end, tears falling from his eyes. Now that she understood the Ignis more, it almost broke her heart to see him in despair.
Aoi began to breathe faster. This wasn’t what was supposed to happen. Yusaku was Playmaker? She sat up straight, hand covering her mouth.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean-”
“Don’t apologise.” Yusaku cut her off, shutting the laptop and moving it back across the table. “I was the one who took the risk of meeting you like this. Thank you for showing us this… They’re despicable.”
“My brother just stood there and watched as they did it! He didn’t even try to stop them! He just watched as they killed Earth.”
“Zaizen.”
She looked at him.
“Don’t hate your brother for what he can’t do. Sometimes, others aren’t able to do what you, or they, think is right.” He clenched his fist angrily. “The only thing you can do in that case, is take matters into your own hands. Like I did.”
They both fell silent as Aoi pondered over his words. She knew he was right. But she still felt hurt by the fact that her brother hadn’t even tried. Like Yusaku said, she had to do things her own way.
There was something that confused her, so she looked back at him. “Who was it? Who did Earth forget?”
“Probably… Aqua…” Ai’s saddened voice drifted from the duel disk, then he suddenly popped his head out. “That’s right! Aqua! She must be somewhere in Link VRAINS! She’ll definitely take our side!”
Aoi stared at the table, then made her decision. “I’ll find her. I won’t let anyone else die like Earth did. I’ll protect both humanity and the Ignis.” She looked up at Yusaku, glaring. “Don’t try and stop me this time. It’s not just your fight anymore.”
“I know.” He stood up from the table. “Are you going now? There are some rooms in the truck that you can use to isolate yourself. We still need to make our own preparations.”
He turned, walking towards the truck, and she gathered her belongings to follow him.
Shoichi watched them approach, nodding at her, then turned to Yusaku. “She knows now?”
“Unfortunately.”
The two of them joined Shoichi in the truck, and he smiled at her. “Welcome to the team, I guess.”
She nodded back at him. “Thank you. I’m going to look for Aqua. Fujiki said I could use one of the rooms?”
“Pick whichever one you like. Are you sure you want to go now? If you’re fine with waiting, we can set up a support system so we can stay in contact while you’re online.”
Aoi shook her head. “No, I’m fine. The sooner we start searching, the better. They may not have made their own moves yet.” She entered the blue room, then turned back towards them.
Shoichi shrugged. “Alright, then. Good luck. We’ll send some assistance if we get the chance.”
She nodded, then look at Yusaku. “Fuji-” She shook her head. “No. Yusaku.”
He avoided making eye contact with her. “What?”
She smiled at him. “Thanks.”
The door closed, cutting her off from the outside.
She stared at her duel disk, preparing herself. She wouldn’t fail this time.
“Into the VRAINS!”