Arc Cantos's Story

Arc Cantos woke up from his sleep, his heart beating quickly. He had just had another nightmare. Of course, it was that same dream every night. The dream was about the same man doing the same thing every night; the man he had killed in the fire, known only as Arc's master, was once again doing despicable things to Arc. He knew it was just a dream, but it always felt so real. Like he was living it again.

After awaking, Arc soon calmed down and changed in the old apartment building, far away from any windows. He had brought seven pairs of clothing from the house of terrors, plus a few towels he also packed into the suitcase. It had almost cost his life, but it was better than nothing. If he ever got dirty, luckily there was a public pool a few blocks away, complete with soap. No one seemed to notice him.

However, he shouldn't shower today, he showered yesterday and he still was clean. Maybe he should find a job somewhere, preferably somewhere no one will care about the scars. He was a good while away from the ruins of the house, and no one had reported anything about what happened, or at least, it hadn't spread here.

He had about 1,500 credits in his account. His master set one up who knows how long ago, and deposited every time Arc was "good", until the day the man had died. The man also left 1,000 in his card, and Arc was somehow able to transfer it into his own account left by his master. Someone had made the accounts virtually untraceable, so that's why master had chosen it.

After he changed and put his hood up on his sleeveless hoodie, he left through the back (where no one would see him) and began attempting to find a place that was hiring in the urban area.

Arriving at the shop, Hikaru was immediately called on by her manager regarding her chronic lateness. Hikaru tries to explain, providing makeshift alibis which only served to anger him even more.

"Anyway, the reason why I don't fire you is because you get the job done well. So, here's the thing: Someone ordered some high-end maintenance parts from us. And I'm not talking about a couple of them. The amount that he's ordered are enough to make a full-flown cyborg body, complete with munitions and everything. Shady deal but, we need the money. You getting at what I'm trying to--"

"Okay, Hikaru Aisahara taking off!!!" Before he can even finish his sermon, Hikaru got on the parts hauler, which resembled some sort of bicycle and drove off.

"Hey! Do you even know where it is? Oh well..." The manager walked back inside and saw that the order form was missing. "She probably took it as well..."

Despite having the coordinates already, Hikaru still cannot decipher which part of town do the parts go to. She tried asking but, people usually just ignore her or didn't know what she was talking about.

"Maybe it's upside-down--Oh!" She stepped on the brakes after seeing that she was about to collide with a man on the street. Good thing that the vehicles safety mechanism stopped her before she can even come close within twelve inches.

"Oh, I'm so sorry! But--anyway, do you know where this place is Mister?" Hikaru shows him the map, which has a spot encircled in red ink named Cygen.

Arc looked over just as a girl was about to run into him. Luckily, she stopped a few feet from him. He was about to apologize for being in the way, but she showed him a map and asked where a place was.

The seventeen year-old thought for a few seconds while looking at the place encircled in red with a label. Cygen sounded familiar... Wait, wasn't that the place a few doors down from the abandoned building? It probably was. Arc remembered the sign on the place. He nodded after thinking. "Yes ma'am. Be careful, though, it's in a fairly rough part of town. You want to go straight three blocks, then at the intersection before the fourth one, you'll want to turn left. It's past an abandoned apartment complex with a sign that says 'Sunny Suites'. It's pretty big, so you probably won't miss the building. After you get to Sunny Suites, it's next door."

"Anything else?" He asked politely. Typically he wasn't up for talking, but something made his feel obligated to talk right now.

"Anything else?"

Hikaru snapped out of her daydreaming and thanked the man, repeating her apology again. "A-ah! That would be all! Thank you! And--sorry for almost running you over!" Hikaru sped away at full throttle, fully prepared to meet the deadline for once, instead of almost always coming in late. Still, with her sense of direction, it maybe something a bit more difficult for her.

"L-let's see... next to Sunny Suites...Aha! There it is!" Hikaru enters the huge building, hauling the delivery via a trolley. She was immensely mesmerized by the components, upgrades and the various cyborgs that were walking around. Being mostly human, she began to wonder how she fit in within this institution.

"Amazing! You can come in a human and emerge as a Cyborg? This is quite awesome! If only dad--" Hikaru's voice go cut off once she recalled the incident she witnessed a while ago. Is full conversion an advancement--a milestone for mankind? Or is it a form of regression? A regression to a more primitive form of human who lacks any empathy for any life that they deem insignificant compared to theirs.

More confusion.

The price for immortality...

Hikaru walked up to the front desk, carrying the paperwork and showed it to the person in charge. "Umm...I've brought the ordered parts so, if the client would be so kind to fill it out, then the parts are all his? Hers?" Hikaru was obviously nervous. She had never been summoned to negotiate with corporations before.