Metanoia

05

Two decades ago
Project: Metanoia was merely half way till completion

"Must escape... Must escape..." A plump little girl dressed nicely in a building of those in rags spoke under her breath, running all over the place in search of an exit.

Guards roamed around, every adult was a supervisor. Running like this without a concrete plan was only a dead end.

She knew she'd get caught, so she surveyed the area as she ran, no detail was left behind. Every denture and crack in the walls was remembered.

Stopping in her tracks and gasping for air, the sound of a girl around her age screaming slurs at a much older woman catches her attention.

From what the little girl heard, the children in this part of the vicinity go through rough discipline. No child would dare say a word to the elders or a 'dire' punishment would await them.

"Saki!" A voice familiar to the exhausted girl called. "You know you're not supposed to be here!"

"Ugh, my caretaker." She groaned at the sound of the angry woman who approached her.

"If anything were to happen to you, your father would kill me. I'm not joking!" The woman continued, yanking Saki's arm and pulling her back to where she "belonged".

---

"Aaaand done!" Saki sighed in relief, taking off her gloves and Mask, John doing the same.

"I think we did a good job." The male commented.

It took them a week of constantly working. Little rest, little snack time. John didn't know exactly why Saki wanted it done as soon as possible, but if it's her orders then he would without hesitation, oblige.

"So... We boot her systems now, right?"

"Mhm!" The cyborg skips over to her computer and soon reboots the android, which slowly sat up and looked around the room.

"How do you feel?" John asks the rebooted android. Metanoia however just looks at him in silence, and moves her feet to the ground. "I don't feel anything in particular."

"Do you want anything to eat?"

"She's an android, John." Saki walks back over to the two. "And if anyone needs to eat, it's you." She points at the male. He was skinny, never ate much, but he was one to always make sure others were eating right.

"Hmm. Yeah. We should go over to Lobelia." He breaks the topic and proceeds up to the house's main floor before Saki had agreed to anything.

But the two quickly followed anyways. And there, Lobelia was seated on a cushion on the floor, with a sketchbook, and a pencil in her hand. She was drawing flowers.

"Is that all you've been doing the past week?" Saki asks her, taking a seat beside her to look at the drawings. Quickly, the white haired female closed her sketchbook and distanced herself from the cyborg.

"Oh~ hiding something from me?"

"No! What is there to hide from you anyway?" Lobelia responded, looking flustered. "The drawings are still in their early phase- I'll show you when I'm finished."

"Hmmm okaaaay..."

Meanwhile, Metanoia stood and watched their interaction. It was much unlike those in Hugo's building. The people were all gloomy, or just dead inside. You would never see a group of people laughing, teasing each other, or even having an engaging conversation.

All the android has heard of were chats about how the world used to be, and how the world will be in the future. None really 'lived' in the present.

"Metanoia, would you like me to take you around the village? A short tour, I guess." John, who was also watching the two girls banter asks.

Metanoia looks at him for about a minute, quite intently. She felt the urge to speak. She liked the company of the three, and found it refreshing. Maybe it was time for her to give herself a change.

"Yes." She responded very softly. Saki and Lobelia immediately dropped their topic and gasped.

"Bitch she just spoke!" The human girl slammed her fist against the ground. "I won't be living with an android staring creepily in silence all the time! Yahoo!!!" She cheered.

"Well I'm glad you've found the resolve to speak to us, Metanoia!" Saki stands back up and waltzes over to the android. "I hope you'll soon consider us as friends!"

"Yes."