Episode 12 · Beatless

Beatless

A quick trip to the store nearly kills him. Arato Endou has always treated androids like people, even though he can barely afford one, and that kindness does not matter when a hacked hIE jumps him in the street. He is bleeding out on the pavement. Then a girl in a coffin shows up. Her name is Lacia. She is one of five advanced units that walked out of the MemeFrame Corporation, and she just saved his life. There is a catch, of course. To keep breathing, Arato has to register as her owner and answer for everything she does. So he brings her home. She learns to fold laundry, to sit quietly at the table, to almost fit in. Then she looks at him and says she has no soul. Meanwhile, machines across the city are turning on their owners. But that is a problem for later. Right now Arato has to decide what Lacia actually is to him: a weapon, a roommate, or something he is not supposed to feel anything for. And if she really has no soul, why does he keep forgetting that?