A look around Suzuka’s place told the story of a well-organized person, or soone who barely lived there. As they made their way through what he assud was the living room, an idea popped into Dante’s mind.
"Let guess. This is where your duplicate stays most of the ti?"
"Who said I’m the original?" The girl replied.
"You think I can’t tell?"
’She’s the original, right?’
[Indeed.] Volcan replied.
"I stay here whenever I have school, so..." Said Suzuka. "Yeah, this is where she spends most of her ti."
"Why here, though?" Dante asked. "This place costs a lot, right? Why spend that much just to turn it into a dollhouse?"
"Obviously to show off. You know the kind of people who go to Novagrad, right?"
Dante got the idea right away. Rather than attracting attention, the penthouse was ant to push it away from her. If the rich assholes who go to the sa college look her up and see where she lives, they would think she’s one of them and pay her no mind, unlike what would happen if they found out she ca from White Hill or Hollowgrid.
Arriving at one of the doors, Suzuka entered a number combination on the pad beside it, and the door slid aside. A grimace warped Dante’s face when he saw what lay beyond it.
The room on the other side was a sharp contrast to what he had seen so far. The floor was littered with electronics and chanical parts. Cables of various thicknesses twisted on the floor like vines in an overgrown forest. Most of the light in the room ca from the screens scattered around, each one displaying incomprehensible drawings and diagrams.
Dante found the scene familiar, especially when he looked in one corner and saw soone hunched over a desk with a lamp casting a cone of light over his head.
"Finn, your brother is here."
Both he and the boy were currently registered as Viktor’s children, so technically speaking, they were indeed brothers. That said, hearing her refer to him as such still drew a grimace out of Dante. Suzuka paid him no mind as she turned on the lights. Now that the room was bright, Dante got a better look at its contents and imdiately recognized so of them.
"Hm? Is it dinner ti already?"
With a tired voice, Finn spun around in his chair and lifted the goggles covering his eyes. If Suzuka looked tired, the boy appeared no different from a decaying corpse. His bloodshot eyes looked like they might fall out of their sockets at any mont. His cheeks had sunk, and he looked several tis thinner than he already was.
The boy was finally starting to put so at on his bones thanks to all the food he got from Nobara, but looking at him now, Dante got the impression that all the progress he had made was reset.
"Oh, you’re here..." Finn said in a disinterested tone, but a mont later, his eyes shot wide open. "You’re here!"
"Yes, I’m here." Dante drew his brows together. "I sent you a text an hour ago, rember?"
The boy’s eyes veered a little to the side with each word Dante spoke.
"I... didn’t see it, I guess..."
Dante’s frown deepened.
"So who sent the reply, then?"
"I..."
[Hey Rusty, why don’t you give him a damn break already?]
The annoyed voice shattered the brief silence, and Finn’s shoulders jumped up slightly. Dante stared at him for a mont then turned his gaze to one of the corners. There, a yellow capsule rested on a circular platform, a faint blue glow coloring it from below. It was about a ter tall, and a little on the wider side. And on its upper side-
[The kid has been busy. Can’t you tall?]
A few back pixels gathered on the yellow shell and ford a simplified angry face. Confused, Dante stared at it for a few monts, his head tilting on its own. A few seconds later, he raised an eyebrow.
"Jake?"
The pixelated face turned to one of surprise.
[Wha- how did you-]
Dante’s head whipped in Finn’s direction, and the boy turned to look at him with surprise. Clearly, neither he nor his AI friend expected him to figure it out right away.
[Bwahahaha! Look at your face!] The yellow capsule bood. [Hey Finn! We got him good!]
Lines spread over its polished yellow surface, creating rectangles on four different spots. Each popped out the next mont, revealing the chanical arms hidden behind each panel. The yellow capsule swayed back then forth, jumping off the small platform and onto what looked like short, stubby feet.
[Feast your eyes on my glorious new form!] The capsule, Jake, stood proudly. It seed like he was holding his head high, but having no neck made it look like he was leaning back. He had no waist either, so the way he placed his arms on his sides looked rather comical.
It didn’t take long for Dante to understand what was happening, but that did little to diminish his surprise.
"You... can talk now..."
[Now!? What’s that supposed to an?] The capsule shot back. [Didn’t we talk many tis already?]
"You only used text." Dante shifted his gaze to the boy. "You gave him a voice model?"
"Y-yeah."
Dante returned his gaze to the capsule.
"And you made him a new body." Observing it for a mont, his mouth curved in a half-smile. "Why is it so round, though? Got tired of all the spiders and scorpions?"
The previous bots the boy created always had an edge to them. Because of that, the smooth surface of the capsule struck him as quite an odd choice.
"Well, it’s just how I imagine it to be..." Finn spoke in a hushed tone. He still wasn’t looking in Dante’s direction as well, and that caused him to look awfully suspicious.
"... Is this what you have been working on for the past couple of weeks?" Dante asked. "What about the howork I gave you?"
"I... I finished that ages ago."
A tired sigh ca from the door. Looking behind him, Dante saw Suzuka leaning against the door fra, holding a hand to her forehead.
"He used your android to create it." She said. "Don’t be tricked by its appearance. That thing is a military grade weapon."
User Comments
0 comments from readers