When you go out to meet your friend downtown you never expect a riot to stop you. You never expect to step out in the world and see hate words on buildings and hear them be yelled right at your face. You never expect to see a group of people beating up someone who’s like you, someone who’s not doing anything bad. Someone who just wants to be allowed to live. But that’s exactly what Ezi sees the moment he steps out of the subway and into Akihabara. He’s desperate, he loses contact with his friend and runs around the area to find him — he’s lucky he knows the place well, and his android eyes do make things a little bit easier for him. It takes time, but eventually, he finds Leon.
He’s hit by the feeling of happiness when he finally sees the other android, takes him in his arms into a very tight hug and makes sure he’s well, makes sure he’s not hurt. And he hates the idea of parting ways with the other, but he understands why it would be better for the both of them — they could help more people if they went on separate ways, the field of contact would be much wider. And he won’t lie, being in that situation makes him feel more alive than ever.
After speaking with Leon, it feels like most of his worries and stress dissipate. Knowing that his friend is well amongst the chaos of the city brings an intense feeling of relief to Ezi as he makes his way into the mess of the riot, going against what almost everyone is doing — to run away from it. He knows how dangerous the city is at this point, but the idea of just going away and not helping anyone of his kind makes him feel sick. At least that’s what he calls it. Sickness.
He walks through the dense cloud of dust that was caused by the bombs the anti-android group had thrown and uses his mechanical vision to see through the blurriness, looking for other androids. He runs to them when he spots them. He lifts them off the ground, makes sure they’re okay and sends them off by telling them to look for a safe place, to look for the movement, and so they do. He doesn’t stop, he won’t stop until the center of Akihabara is cleared out and the situation is handled by the authorities. But he doesn’t trust them.
He has helped around four or six androids when he spots the one that looks the most lost in the confusion, a hat in his and a weird choice of clothing brings Ezi the idea that he’s trying not to be noticed. Failed. He’s already walking towards the android when he hears the piercing sound of yet another bomb, and this time he calculates its route to find out that it would land right between him and the post android — he can’t let that happen, he can’t allow one of them to be hurt. So he speeds up.
He runs as fast as he can and once he’s close enough to the other, he grabs the android by the wrist and drags him to hide behind the nearest dumpster. He hears the explosion behind them just a few seconds after he took them out of there, and without even noticing, Ezi just now sees that he’s been holding the other android tight in his arms as if they have known each other for years. He doesn’t pull away immediately though, he does it slow and gently as he tries to get a better look of the other’s face — as he tries to identify him. And for his surprise, the lost and confused small android is way more public than he’d expect. Now, all that hiding and disguising made sense.
“Aren’t you one of the idol androids?” Ezi asks as he blinks a few times, his hand going up to touch the few strands of pink hair that are no longer hidden under a cap ( the sudden movement to escape from the bomb probably flew it away ). His voice is gentle despite the high volume when he speaks to the other android, and his eyes are glazed on the soft features of the other’s face. He looks so fragile and so small. Ezi can’t help but feel a weird thing bubble up inside of him as he looks at the idol boy. He doesn’t know how to call that feeling, he might ask Leon later that night. “What are you doing out here, little one?”
Things were not going according to keikaku.
Kinam hadn’t counted on any of this to happen. How foolish. He rushed into things. Only watching the city from up above, Kinam was unable to account for any variables. Everything just looked so peaceful from up there... but that isn’t the case anymore. At least, not down here on the ground. After his initial introduction to Akihabara, Kinam proceeded to walk down the sidewalk as everyone else. Yet, unlike them, he really had no determined destination. He was just here to take it all in.
But instead of finding the muse for his next performance, he found himself in the midst of chaos. Within seconds the joyful hum of commuters turned into blaring screams of panic. The beautiful neon lights were blocked out by the haze of smoke. People and androids suddenly thrown into a frenzy as violence and confusion took hold without a moment’s hesitation. Kinam was terrified. This isn’t what was supposed to happen at all. But his mind couldn’t process everything that was happening, it was all too much. He doesn’t know what to do... his body frozen, legs trembling hearing the mantra from the voices above, “NO MORE ANDROIDS! NO MORE ANDROIDS!”
Did they know? Had Ishikawa found out that he left? Was it obvious he was an android? Panicked thoughts completely took over, being unable to run from the situation at hand, all Kinam could do was back up into the nearest flat surface. Eyes scanning the swarm of bodies. Ears ringing from the sounds of explosions. It was all too much. He felt tears well up in his eyes and at that moment he couldn’t bring himself to keep them from falling. He picks up the sound of an oncoming explosion, but he can’t will himself to move.
“I didn’t even get to perform my solo...” he thinks pathetically.
Curiosity killed the cat.
As Kinam is in the middle of mourning his very short existence, he feels something grip his wrist tightly. It pulls on him, leading him to cover. It all happened so quickly, Kinam wasn’t able to figure what had grabbed him. Suddenly being pressed against it tightly, he’s able to hear the bomb that was aiming towards him go off. He blinks, face still pressed into something warm, tears continuing to fall. Was he alive? Or did he really die and this is some hallucination his system is giving him just to ease him into death? In the midst of his thinking, he doesn’t notice that whatever has him is backing away, looking at him.
“Aren’t you one of the idol androids?”
Kinam’s attention snaps to focus. No. He wasn’t dead... not yet. This could be it though, death at the hands of those people who were chanting those horrible things... fear takes over again and he remembers something: Forbid yourself from making eye contact with anyone. That’s how they get you. Kinam is about to speak – about to give some weak excuse about how no, he isn’t one of the idol androids but thank you for thinking so. That is, until he feels a hand reach up and brush his hair. His body stiffens and he keeps his eyes looking down, staring at the dark fabric of the other’s clothing. From the little Kinam could see, they looked to be male... the voice also sounded pretty deep, it had to be a male.
“What are you doing out here, little one?”
But satisfaction brought it back.
Kinam’s ears pique at the gentle way the man addressed him. Other than his friend who comes to visit every now and then, no one really speaks to Kinam with such sweet names... little one... he can feel the heat rise up to his face, staining his cheeks with a cherry glow. He feels... smaller... wanting to relish in the pet name for a while longer. Having completely forgotten to avoid any and all eye contact, Kinam peeks up at the man holding him securely. Batting his long eye lashes, his doe eyes land on the man... and Kinam feels a surge of electricity run though his whole being.
He’s never seen this person before. Ever. In his entire life. Never-mind that it has only been a little over a year since his activation. And yet, gazing into the warm brown eyes of the other... Kinam feels as though he does know him. As if he’s always known him. He feels that surge of electricity rush through him again and he’s just about to say something when a thought intrudes his wistful thinking.
Forbid yourself from making eye contact with anyone.
Kinam gasps, and proceeds to break away from the gaze he shared with the other man. He presses himself back down, face against the other’s chest just as they were minutes before. The smaller shuts his eyes tight and curses his inability to follow even his own directions, a whine escaping his mouth. “Ohh, stupid! Stupid, stupid, stupid!” he scolds himself internally, hoping this situation will pass without trouble... but of course, Kinam can’t do anything without shedding more tears.
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