It's 2141. Clones have taken over as the dominant species. Using brain nanochips to surveil thoughts and actions, they have pushed traditional humans down to a status of low-class workers in a discriminatory dystopia.
A nineteen-year-old aspiring me...
"So, Momo hurt you again," Taro said. Finally. After minutes and minutes in silence and wearing a deep, angry frown on his forehead.
"Yes, she got me. Again," I added as seriously as he.
He was finished putting a cast on my right ankle. It was broken. I was seated on the toilet in the bathroom down Amanita's basement, while my right leg rested horizontally on the bathtub.
He hadn't dared to look at my face while he had been putting the cast on my ankle, not even once, and then he was washing his hands in a taciturn mood as well.
"Agape is checking for other potential threats and malfunctioning tech, just in case," I went on, seeing that he wasn't in a talkative mood no matter how much time we spent together in that small bathroom.
"I'm sorry," he whispered in a genuinely remorseful tone of voice all of a sudden. He grabbed the edges of the sink until his knuckles turned white. "For everything. I shouldn't've belittled you. I shouldn't've believed Momo. I'm so fucking sorry."
I guessed that Momo had had a big influence on the group.
"Don't be," I replied with serenity. "Let's just work together the best way we can and make sure we can stop her... and Apollo. Soon. Before he finds out who we are and where we live."
"I will. I promise," he replied with vehemence as he stared with hatred at himself in the mirror.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"My conversation with Taro has been cold and brief, but we're beyond the senseless hatred phase," I told Sigi a few minutes later, right before lunch that Saturday.
I was sitting on my bed and had been reading a bit more on Martin Luther King until Sigi had come in to pay me a visit. He was sitting on the couch right beside me.
To be honest, I couldn't concentrate much on the text, since I had taken some painkillers which were also killing my will to stay awake and concentrated.
"You're doing it, bit by bit, but you're fitting into the group." He was smiling at me. "Take it easy, Daphne," he added with a sweet voice while taking the book from my hands and leaving it on the nightstand. "You look like you need some good-earned rest right now."
"I felt Taro's resolution, like, hitting me hard, you know. I felt how serious he was about putting a stop to this. His friendship might come later, although it might be too late," I went on with a sad voice while making myself comfortable with an extra pillow beneath my right ankle.
"Why?" he asked, raising an eyebrow at me.
"Agape has prepared a 'gift' for him for tonight, at the benefit. Besides that, she wants to invite Apollo to a boss fight next Monday night."
"What?!" he exclaimed, and the smile vanished from his gorgeous face.
"So, you don't know about it either," I concluded. I had a weird feeling about Agape's plans.
