Hastin after walking in that tunnel filled with insects for almost a day. He looked back and the darkness laid behind him suddenly made his heart feel empty. The place where he was born and brought up, the only thing which he was attached to, he's actually running away from everything he knows into a total unknown.
Suddenly fear engulfed him as he was not sure what he would do from now on? He did not have any money with him. All the food he brought was almost half-over. For a second there, he felt like going back but as he knows that going back means killing innocent lives, he decided against that and moved forward.
Akemi brushed her dress and jumped up. She started to walk towards Hastin's mansion. The car looked like it was scrapped junk and cannot be used anymore. When she was about to take a turn, she heard a blast and turned around to look. The car burst out and the flames raised towards the sky along with the smoke. She ignored the shouts from the crowd and walked away with expressionless eyes.
"Fools! Idiots! Stupids! I can't even drive properly. Because of them, I lost my first car!"
By the time she finished cursing, a message popped up in front of her eyes,
'What happened? Why did I not receive a response?'
"I got into an accident! And the stupid car drove out into the traffic and burst into flames. I had to…"
'Nick will pick you up, I have sent your location to him.'
"Thank you!"
The screen went blank and she did not know what she should do until she was picked up. She thought she did not report Dan to the App. She walked a little further and found a kid's park. There were a couple of kids playing on the slide, when she looked at it a memory flashed in her mind.
"Mommy, I want ice cream." She called someone mommy in that flashback.
"Later, Akemi! And I am not your mommy. How many times do I have to repeat that? Your mother died when she was committing adultery with a foreign man." The lady pushed her and the kid fell down on the ground.
"What is adultery?" the innocent child asked while trying to get up from where she fell.
At that time someone came and pushed the lady away. He picked Akemi up and shouted at the lady,
"Shut up! Don't you know how to speak to a kid? Go and bring some food for the kid here."
She tried to recall who they were but no matter how hard she tried, she could not remember their faces. A system message popped up at that time,
'Reboot in progress. Detected some unwanted memory recall. The system would reinstall its program and everything will be deleted from your memory other than recent incidents. Severe pain is expected as per the order issued by the App, you have to remain silent.'
Akemi bit her teeth and laid down on the bench while holding the head with both her hands. She twisted in pain but tried her best to remain calm. An onlooker approached her and asked,
"Are you ok? Do you need any help?"
Through gritted teeth, Akemi muttered, "I am fine! Leave me alone."
"Are you sure, you are ok? It looks to me like you are shivering in some sort of pain." He poked at her and a group laughed behind him.
"Mind your own business" Akemi uttered and in seconds she was fine.
The system sent a message,
'Installation successful. New techniques have been added to improve your support process.'
Akemi opened her eyes which were now blood-red in color. Her face was pale and she felt more energetic than before.
"Who was the one disturbed my sleep before?" She pointed her finger at the group and asked.
"It's me! So what now?" a guy responded while poking at the pointed finger.
Akemi held his fingers and broke it without mercy. Then she lifted him up and threw him away. He fell down after hitting the garbage bin. Everyone else scattered around and ran away. She then went near the dustbin and pulled his leg. Then she turned around and twisted while breaking the bones.
"I am sorry, I am sorry… Let me go!" The guy begged but Akemi did not show any mercy.
She now held the other leg and broke it too. Now she sat on him and said,
"I wanted to do this to Hastin. But you came right at that time, you should never poke around as I am a bad woman. Now, what should I do with you?"
When she finished speaking, Nick's van reached that place. He opened the door for her to enter but she signaled him to open the back door. Once she dumped the guy behind, she climbed in the front door and dusted her hands.
"Rough day?" Nick asked.
"Nope! Everything is perfectly fine." Akemi replied and closed her eyes.
The guy behind started to scream loudly, Akemi lost her patience and shouted,
"If you don't keep your mouth shut, do you believe if I say, I would break that foot of yours and stuff it in your mouth?"
He kept quiet thereafter and not a single sound was heard.
The van traveled for a few minutes before Nick stopped suddenly.
"What happened?" Akemi opened her eyes and looked around.
It had started raining heavily and the road was covered with water. She could not see anything clearly in the rain.
"I think I saw Hastin!" Nick said.
"Where?" Akemi jumped down from the van within seconds and checked the perimeter.
"Where did you see him?" Akemi asked impatiently.
"Over there, under that weeping tree" Akemi turned around and saw him soaking in the rain while holding a backpack on his head.
"That bastard, I would teach him a lesson…" When she was about to go, Nick stopped her.
"What if he runs away seeing you? I will go and talk to him. You sit behind with the crippled dude." Nick got down from the van and walked towards Hastin.