"Love. To understand love, one must understand the direct and indirect symptoms of such. It is a fundamental fact of life that love is sometimes accompanied with a feeling of happiness. However. Love is sometimes accompanied with longing, regret, sadness, and self-loathing. It is dependence, envy, it is all, and it is nothing. Love encompasses all, love is insignificant. Love is life, and it is death. Warm and cool, darkness and light. Love itself, might become hate. Love is infinite, love is never-ending, love is lost, and love is found. But love comes to a close, and love lies bleeding. Love is despair." "Program 00143. The definition of love, end," Mitsuki murmured quietly, opening her eyes. "So...love is all of those things? Hmm..." she closed her eyes again. "Program 0014347 begin. Continue until end. The definition of love and hate, and effects on society. Begin." "Hatred. Often believed to be the direct opposite of love. Hatred is an intense feeling of sometimes violent loathing, a deep, dark pain within the soul. One once said that hatred is often love that missed its mark. Although some do agree that love is the opposite of hatred, still others believe that it is indifference." "Define indifference." "Indifference: noun. The state or quality of being indifferent. The quality or state of being indifferent, or not making a difference; want of sufficient importance to constitute a difference; absence of weight; insignificance. Apathy demonstrated by lack of—" "That’s enough. Theories on indifference being the direct opposite of love, begin." "Hatred, although a terrible feeling, is still a feeling. Some theorize, since love itself is almost inexpressible, that indifference is the opposite, as it is the absence of all feeling." "Interesting. Define...soul, as used in reference to the statement stated before." "Soul: noun. The animating and vital principle in humans, credited with the faculties of thought, action, and emotion and often conceived as an immaterial entity. The spiritual nature of humans, regarded as immortal, separable from the body at death, and susceptible to happiness or misery in a future state." "So...only humans have souls?" "It is believed to be so." "So...that means...um...that only they can love?" "Not necessarily." "Explain." "The manufacture of artificial intelligence is becoming more and more complex with each passing day. Although these beings do not have the definition of a ‘soul,’ they are being created to act as if they do. Many scientists in the field of artificial intelligence, or A.I., and androids have been gaining world wide fame and recognition. However, not everyone has seen this as a good thing." "Elaborate please. Begin footage on ‘The War.’ "Accessing... ... Begin. Ten years ago, a war raged among androids and humans to dominate this planet. The androids fell, and were later destroyed. The few that were left were implanted with a chip designed to make them docile." "Find android participants in ‘The War.’" "Searching... Numbers 300-385 of the prototype ENIGMA, numbers 300-670 of the prototype VIRGIN, numbers 700-800 of the prototype HI, numbers 500-747 of the prototype ENKAI, numbers 500-1000 of the prototype KAGE and Number 0001 of the prototype HIKARI. Although there were others, these are the major participants." "The original HIKARI was in the war? Sbe was mass produced, correct?" "Affirmative." "Find...my number." "Searching... ... HIKARI, product number 00300." "Where is the original HIKARI located?" "In Tomoe Labs, Inc. She is currently being mass produced." "...For what purpose?" "This is unknown." "End program." Mitsuki stared at her hands. ‘One of a million,’ she mouthed to herself. She glanced out the window for a moment. "Love lies bleeding. Love is despair. How...?" She thought of Minako’s smile and her laugh, and what she was, and then she understood. And for a moment, she felt what they might call ‘sadness.’ "Kage and Hi will be here soon. They’ll take me home. I’ll be one of...I’ll be...alone again. But am I willing to risk..." She thought of Kage, with her cold voice and colder eyes, thought of what she would do to Minako if she interfered, remembered her hatred of humans and winced. She had made her decision. She would leave, for Minako’s sake. On her way out, she hummed a song to herself, to quell the odd feelings she was experiencing, the raw pain in the back of her throat. "I hope you are the one, if not, you are a prototype. We’ll tiptoe to the sun..." ~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~ "She’s moving." Ririko’s eyes opened at Kazuki's statement. "Moving?" "Yeah." Kazuki hopped from rooftop to rooftop, and Ririko scrambled to keep up. "Would you...slow down?!" "Would you...speed up?" Kazuki mocked, stopping at the end of a roof. "She's here." "Fast..." Ririko grumbled. "I don't see her." "Wait." "If you say so..." Ririko sat down and waited patiently. Soon, there was a slight shift in the air, not noticeable by humans, but evident to the two women all the same. Ririko stood up suddenly, and closed her eyes as the wind played in her hair. "You're right." The air around them seemed to close in on itself, and it shimmered and glowed everywhere. When the light cleared, Mitsuki was standing there. Kazuki looked bored, and toyed with her sword idly. "Interesting entrance. Must we fight you now?" "No," Mitsuki murmured. "I'm ready to leave. How has...Enkai been? And the professor, and Miss Hotaru? Are they alright?" "You'll find out when you get there," Kazuki said irritably, grabbing Mitsuki's arm and hopping from the roof. "Wait for me!" Ririko said, following after them. "Don't hog Hikari, Kage, I want to talk to her too!" ~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~ "Hey Mitsuki, Artemis, I'm home!" Minako said, entering her apartment. "You guys won't believe the day I've had...you guys?" Minako looked around, but Mitsuki was nowhere in sight. She went into her bedroom, and saw Artemis napping, with a small note by his side. In neat scrawl was this message: Minako I'm sorry I did not tell you, but I have to leave now. People are...searching for me. I'm sorry I hid here; I'm sorry for what trouble I might have caused. I can't really write much; my time goes short. Please, for your own sake, don't go looking for me, it's best that you forget. I am not...real like you. I can never be real like you. I can never be enough. Minako stared at the note, patted Artemis's head, and wondered why she was coming up with more questions than answers. ~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~ Hmm. I don't know what I was thinking when I wrote this. It has to be my least favorite chapter, but I had to get it out of the way so that I could move on with the rest of the story. Guess that's how it is.
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