[OLD] Book 1: Densetsu.EXEcution

Chapter 17 - Kiss of a Liar

Chapter 17: Kiss of a Liar

Arashi looked on at Kiri, who stood on the edge of Marrow Peak. He expected her to be here, so he decided to pay her a visit. Akida had suggested he do so, anyway.

Her long pink hair blew behind her in the spring winds. She heard Arashi’s footsteps and turned to face him. “It’s been a long time,” Arashi said, smiling at his partner. She gave him her usual vacant look, greeted him with a nod and looked down. She wasn’t wearing her scarf, since the winter temperatures had died away.

When Arashi looked closer, he could see tears inside Kiri’s eyes. “What’s wrong?” he asked her. She shook her head nervously. When she shut her eyes, tears sprinkled off her eyelashes. “I’m okay now. I’m not going to die.”

“It isn’t that,” Kiri replied quietly. “We’ve lost the battle… Even during the six months you were asleep, the N-AI were inactive.”

“How does that mean we’ve lost?” Arashi asked, “Isn’t that a good thing?”

“We’d lost from the beginning,” Kiri said, “We shouldn’t have even tried…”

“Nothing is in vain,” Arashi told her, “We know more about their motives now than we did last year, right?”

“We know nothing!” Kiri suddenly burst out, “We’re no closer now than we ever were…” She covered her eyes with her arm.

“When I was little,” Arashi began, “My father always told me never to give up on the things you want the most.” He sighed, remembering his father’s face. “He never spent much time with me, but those words held the biggest impact on me. Mistakes will be made, and things may not always go as planned, but that doesn’t mean they need to change, does it?”

“I’m not sure,” Kiri said, calming down. “I never had a role model like your father. If I had, maybe I would be able to feel more than just pain.”

“Pain is a strong word,” Arashi said, reaching out to Kiri, “Yet we use it so openly. A simple cut is near the end of the world, isn’t it? Why do we need a bandage for something that’s only a small tear in our skin? A paper cut?”

“The same could be said for emotions,” Kiri added, “If we don’t know how we feel truly, we’ll only feel pain, won’t we? Because I’m an AI in a human’s world, I can’t experience the same feelings that everyone on the surface can. I can’t love. I can’t be happy. I can’t do anything you can. All I can do is feel pain.”

“Even humans feel pain,” Arashi said reassuring her, “The pain that humans feel is even stronger than the pain of something that was created only to feel pain.”

“Arashi,” Kiri said, trying to gather some form of strength. “I can say anything. I’m physically a human. I look like one, I act like one, I sound like one…”

“But you’re not,” Arashi told her, “You only truly feel pain. Suffering. Sadness. Regret.”

“But sometimes when you feel those things,” Kiri said, “They can be raised by other emotions. What about happiness? Can you be happy while still being sad?”

“What do you think?” Arashi asked.

“I believe it’s possible,” she answered, “You’re the only one who’s ever wanted me to see that.” Her eyes turned from their pink tints to a light green.

“The secrets of your past,” cracked a dark voice from the distance. Arashi and Kiri turned to see Dante Reznov standing in plain sight. His bright red scarf and black coat stood out in the cherry-blossom coated ground below him. He held a gun in one hand. “You’ll never know the truth because you can’t feel desire.” He pointed his pistol at Kiri. “Isn’t that right, K-141?”