5.

"It is a girl." Kitchener says surprised. His father's face darkens.

"Come to my workroom!" He says, and waves to his wife with a broad smile on his face.

Kitchener obediently follows him, and he expects to have a sweaty conversation. Cold drops of sweat has been already running down on his back. Although his father seems to be in a good mood: he friendly invites him to the room, closes the door, and pour two glass of brown alcohol. He offers one of the glass to his son, and takes a big sip from his.

"Are you a gay?" He asks directly.

"No." Kitchener answers surprised.

"You were never interested in girls. Just machines. You only love your cousin because of those damn machines."

Kitchener stays silent. He doesn't know where goes his father's saying.

"Am I right?"

His father looks to Kitchener, but the younger man just shrugs.

" You won't marry. You and Harper." He says, and drinks a big gulp from the liquid.

"Why?!"

"At last something could kick you out of your stoic mood. Do you plan to drink your bourbon?"

Kitchener shakes his head. He doesn't like those alcoholic drinks from the before times. His father pours the liquid into his own glass, and takes a sip.

"It is a great drink. It is also a great help, when the life becomes unbearable."

"Unbearable?"

Kitchener is unable to puzzle out where his father's life is unbearable. They are rich, and they live as rich people usually live. His father hasn't got a single problem in his life.

"Fortunately, you don't have a girlfriend, and you are not in lovey-dovey with your fiancee!" He starts laughing, but it is not from happiness, so scared Kitchener a bit. "I had one. I am still in love with her, but I had to marry your mother. I wish..."

His father is heavy drunk, Kitchener has remarked.

"Your brothers are tougher than you. But you are a sensitive one. You are just like me."

His father empties the glass, so Kitchener hopes he finish this bizarre talking.

"You saw that girl, didn't you?" Kitchener nods. "She will be your wife."

"NO!"

"She is one of the heirs of the Neyon company."

"But..."

"It is for the sake of our company!" The father firmly states. "So you must marry that girl. Moreover she is a local, so it will strengthen our positions, here, in Tokyo."

Kitchener opens his mouth, and takes a big breath, but his father lifts his index finger up.

"Your hobby costs a lot of money, and the company always pay the bills without a word. It is high time to pay this money back! So be kind to that girl, and convince her and her family, that marrying you is the biggest jackpot of the world." He doesn't wait for his son's answer, turns on his heels, and leaves the room.

Kitchener has waited for some time, before he is sneaking out of his family's home. He has planned it to avoid his family members, and the staff. He has managed somehow. It is a big relief for him, but the stone on his heart feels heavy again when he reach the university. A big crowd is found before his apartment, talking loud, and he could barely punch through them to reach the door. Before the door two older students, and the whole investigation comittee are standing.

"What's the problem?" He cries, and the whole crowd suddenly stop talking. Even a little fly could have been heard.

"Rence, Kitchener student! These two students has filed a formal complaint, that your roommate, Sato Runa student stole their invention."

"I don't know them, so how can Runa stole their invention?"

"Sato Runa is my sister." The male accuser says.

"Does Runa have a brother? I have never heard about her having one in the last two years!"

"She stole our invention's plans." The fair-haired female accuser insists.

"We three made the plans together, and all of us gave ideas to our machine. I could show you the bills and the development diary."

"All right. We all will meet tomorrow at 10 am in the office of the internal affairs. Everyone has to bring the documents of their invention." The professor hands over pieces of papers to the two accuser, and Kitchener.

The crowd slowly disintegrates, although a small group of girls stays. Kitchener wonders why they have stayed. He knows immediately, when he has wanted to enter his apartment. The door has been glued to the frame. That's why the committee couldn't enter to the apartment. The remaining crowd probably knew this fact, and wanted to have a big laugh. Cruel people, but they have been kind enough to lend him a saw, so he could enter the apartment. One of them has mentioned that the girls got an errand, and they should come back any time. So Kitchener put back the door's hinge and screws to the frame. He has smiled, the first time in that evening, to think how glad will be the girls, seeing the repaired door. They would be tired arriving home, and the already repaired door will be a pleasant surprise for them. Since he has been also tired, he locks the door, and goes to sleep.

He opens his eyes at seven o'clock in the morning, with a tight knot in his stomach. Kitchener doesn't wonder about the stomach-pain, he has a lot to worry about. He is going to the kitchen, to drink some caffeine. After the bad taste liquid he wakes up enough to notice a strange thing. The silence. There isn't a single noise in the apartment. Like he would be alone. Adrenaline flows into his brain, which makes his senses more sharp than the caffeine could. He runs to the room of Harper, but his cousin's bed is empty and cold. Harper definitely didn't sleep there. But where else could she sleep? Kitchener carefully knocks on Runa's door, which is ajar. No answer. He pushes the door fully open, just to find the same conditions of Harper's room.

Neither of the girls slept at home. Why? How? An icy ring starts to form around Kitchener's heart. Where are the girls? They should have come home, they wanted to finish their invention as soon as they could. Yeah, they had an errand, but that should have been finished by now. Or not? Where are the girls now? It is more important than where they spent the night. They all have to be at the internal affairs' office at ten o'clock, with all their documents! Kitchener starts to run.

His first stop is the errand bureau, where all the errands are registered. To his surprise, the officer doesn't find any errands for the previous evening. After that he – unusually – run to their assigned classroom, where their classmates are waiting for the lecture. Nobody has seen either of the girls since yesterday evening. Nobody. He takes a look at the classroom's clock. It is almost eight o'clock! Where are they? If they won't be present at the internal affairs' office at ten o'clock… The consequences will be hard.

Where are they? The solution calms him in a second. The girls went to the Wreck Quarter. They should have missed some parts of the machine, or they had a better idea, where they could improve their invention. Of course, they are there! His relief turns to rage: they have to attend in the audition at first. Kitchener hurries out of the building, grabs a school-bicycle, and he starts to turn the pedals. Faster, than he ever did in his whole life.

The Wreck Quarter is big. Kitchener furiously pedals around the place, but he doesn't see the girls. His last hope is the old Daisuke's store. The old-fashioned shutter is halfway down, and the advertisement aren't out, so the old man hasn't opened the shop yet. Damn! Kitchener knocks.

"What do the young master want?" Daisuke asks reservedly. He doesn't like the Caucasians, that's why always Runa is sent to shop. Another weakness of the old man and his sons is the young, beautiful women. So they really like Harper, despite her origin. But Kitchener is another matter.

"I...I...I am searching for Runa and Harper." Kitchener stutters.

The old man looks at him for a long time, then he nods, and invites him into the shop. After the young man enters the shop, the shutter is running down. The old man closes the shop, and motions the young man to follow him.

In the warehouse, three gloomy man is sitting around a big table. Well, one of them is a woman. Kitchener recognizes their neighbor. He would smile at her, but all of them looks sincere, and tense. It is a very frightening situation, and the two girls are nowhere to see.

"I am sorry, I just want to find my friends, so Uncle Daisuke, do you know where they are?"

"You don't want to know." The neighbor girl answers him in a very sad tone.

Harper slowly wakes up. She keeps her eyes closed for a while, and lazily enjoy the softness of her bed, the scent of the fabric cleaner, the warmth of the blankets. She plans to sleep a bit more, when she recognizes, that the scent is not familiar. Well, not foreign, but not that she uses. She also miss the smell of the mineral oil and the metal. Where is she?

Her eyes opens, and quickly sits up. White. White everywhere. Hospital. She is in hospital now. Why? She doesn't feel any pain. The hospital gown covers her body, but her hands. Her hands…. Her hands… There are something on her fingers. It seems like colorless plastic. It doesn't come off. Like claws, or nails. They are grown to her fingers. Harper's brain is still foggy a bit, but when her hospital gown's sleeve slips back, she notices that her arm is covers by white hair. Coarse hair. A lot of coarse hair.

She takes a big breath, and at that moment a hand slips to her mouth to suppress her scream.