Life After Doomsday

Chapter 20: Rebuilt

[START OF SEASON 2]

 Amane opened his eyes and rubbed his head. He noticed Tsukasa standing beside him.

"Where am I?" Amane asked.

Tsukasa smiled widely. "It's your room. Don't you remember?"

Of course Amane remembered. How could he forget what his own room looked like? Even so, it didn't look exactly the same– there were a few missing scratches in the paint or slightly off color furniture– but it was nonetheless surprisingly similar to how he remembered it.

He frowned. What felt so off? It should feel normal for Amane to be awoken in his room by Tsukasa– it's something that happened nearly every day, after all. But something still wasn't right.

It was then that he remembered: Japan blew up. Only him, Tsukasa, and androids were left. His room shouldn't look like this: it shouldn't even be here at all any more.

And there was something else wrong, too: Tsukasa. He had two android eyes. And Amane felt that his left eye socket was empty.

Thinking this, the rest of his memories rushed back to him. His eyes widened as he stumbled out of the bed. He tried to rush to the door, but his legs felt numb and he fell. He frowned and looked over at Tsukasa as he stepped over and helped him to stand.

"Be careful. You only just woke up," Tsukasa said.

After a few moments, feeling began to return to Amane's legs. "Where am I?" he asked, furrowing his eyebrows.

"I already told you," Tsukasa replied. "We're in your room."

Amane sighed. "We both know that's not possible. Our home was destroyed."

"Yes, I know, so I fixed it."

"You," Amane glanced around at the room, "seriously fixed it? But that would take years!"

"And it did," Tsukasa said, stepping out of the room. "You've been sleeping for a while, you know." With that, he left the room.

Amane stared at the empty space where Tsukasa had just been. Had he really been in a coma? Or was Tsukasa lying again? Before he could ponder this for too long, the door opened again and a vaguely familiar girl entered. Amane was sure he had met her before, but he couldn't quite recall her name.

The girl nodded politely to Amane. "Good morning," she said, stepping closer to him.

"Uh, hello–," Amane began to speak, but was cut off as the girl suddenly swung her fist and punched him in the face. Amane stumbled back and held his cheek. "What the hell?!"

"Oh dear!" the girl cried, shaking specks of blood off her fist. "I'm so sorry!"

Amane wiped at his bruised face. "What was that for?!"

"Uh, I'm really sorry, it's just..." the girl looked away, "you look so much like your brother. I can't punch him, so I guess I just couldn't hold myself back when I saw that I could punch you and you had the same face..."

Amane almost asked why she had a problem with Tsukasa before deciding that most people have a good reason to hate him, and settling for a different question: "Why can't you hit him? I mean, it's not that I want for him to be hit, but what's stopping you?"

"My programming," the girl replied. "I'm a worker android, so I'm built to be subservient. If I do something someone doesn't like, they can override my 'personality' and force me to comply. He's been forcing me to do all kinds of work for him."

"All kinds of work? Like what?"

The girl sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Anything Nanamine and Natsuhiko don't know how to do– which is essentially everything. You know, organizing, planning, etcetera. It's a nightmare."

Amane looked around at the room. Was she in charge of its reconstruction? Either way, he felt sympathetic. "What's your name?" he asked her, realizing he still didn't know it.

The girl seemed surprised. "I'm Akane Aoi. Don't you remember me? We met briefly a long time ago."

"Uh, I kind of remember," Amane answered, "but more importantly: you say we met a long time ago– how long ago? How much time has passed while I've slept?"

"Five years," Aoi replied, staring out a nearby window. "With the help of assorted brain-dead androids and machines Tsukasa's built, the entire city where you grew up has been rebuilt. Most buildings have been converted to labs on the inside, but on the outside everything's the same."

Amane stared at the girl in disbelief. "Has it really been five whole years? How could I have slept that long?"

"A medically-induced coma. Haven't you heard of it?"

"Obviously," Amane replied. "But is it really safe for me to be put into a coma for five years straight?"

"Don't ask me, ask Yako."

Amane frowned. "Who's that?"

"An android Tsukasa revived. Yako is a worker android who used to be a surgeon or nurse or something like that. She's the one who made sure your eye– or lack thereof– healed right and that you didn't die during those five years."

Amane wondered if Yako was working for Tsukasa for the same reason Aoi was. Either way, she might be able to help him somehow. "Where can I meet her?" he asked.

"Don't ask me," Aoi answered, opening the door. "I've never gotten to meet her directly."

Amane hesitated for a moment before stopping Aoi. "Just one more thing. What," he paused for a moment, almost afraid of the answer, "happened to everyone else?"

Aoi frowned. "Everyone's memory chips are intact, but Nene and Mitsuba are inactive and in repair; Minamoto Teru and Akane are in storage; Nanamine and Natsuhiko are doing whatever they usually do; and Minamoto Kou has been doing miscellaneous chores for Tsukasa– the same as I am."

"Kou's working for Tsukasa? Why?" Amane asked.

Aoi left without replying.

END OF CHAPTER 20