1 Thieves and Hoarders.

| Year: 2025, Location: Shinjuku, Japan |

“… Hmm~ Hmm~ Hmmm~”

A young woman with long black hair wrapped in a ponytail busily cleans the dishes in the sink in front of her. The kitchen was quaint yet modern, with a rice cooker here and an oven at the far side of the room. However, one distinction was the fact that there was a large blue holographic screen showing the local news behind her on a table.

The woman wipes the white bubble suds off her hands with a cloth and takes a deep breath, looking outside the open window in front of her to the brimming wide sun casting rays down onto her. Her smile reflects into the clear water below her as she empties the drain and walks to the holographic screen, pressing a button on the side of the island table.

A ringing notification pops up on the screen with the face of a young man with short black hair. The woman’s eyes light up and her lips curl into a smile. She taps the air and another screen appears with a male in a navy business attire gripping a steering wheel with a nervous yet cool expression.

“Yasumura sweetheart! You’re going to get in trouble if you keep calling me while at work dear.” The woman jokes while turning back around to put the dishes into the dish rack.

The man laughs and nods his head. “You know I can’t stop thinking about you babe. I know you’re working hard with the new move-in and just wanted to see how things were progressing.”

“Weell, the bots did most of the work and I just told them where to go… Things really have changed when we were kids still in university, huh?” The woman reminisces.

Her husband laughs and takes a turn onto a nearby street. “Haha, yeah. But you’re still cleaning the dishes by hand, hm? You know we have bots to take care of that as well, right?”

The woman looks to her right, to a woman with long white hair wearing a pink apron that wrapped around her backside. Upon making eye contact, the human-looking android bows her head with closed eyes, to which the wife nods her head several times with a nervous smile.

“I-I don’t know… I just like doing it this way. Call me old-fashioned I guess…” The woman acknowledges with a chuckle.

“Uh, well, while I’d love to chat more I need you to do something for me. Something quite… Distressing has just happened and it hasn’t hit the mainstream media as of yet.”

The woman turns around to the hologram and nods her head. “Ah, I see. I guess being the Head of Stellar Security is still as demanding as ever. Tell me, what do you need?”

“Erm, yeah… Pack us some clothes, as if we were going on a long trip… And put some food and water near the door, I’ll help take them out to the shuttle once I land there.” Her husband instructs.

“Ah… Um… Okay… May I ask why?…” The woman inquires while waving her hand to the android that nods its head and strides through the doorway to the upstairs rooms.

The man sighs and shakes his head from side to side. He places a hand on his face and wipes a bead of sweat from his forehead.

“Honey is… Are you alright?… Please just tell me what’s going on!” The woman exclaims with worried eyes.

“Dammit… I don’t know what the hell is going on Miyura… All I know is that our Prime Minister and Chief of Spacial Assurance and Armaments made some type of… Deal… With the Ya’valt a few months ago. They stormed into a meeting with guns pointed at the PM along with the rest of the cabinet staff… Called us liars and thieves, then a gun fired and everything went to hell.”

“The Ya’Valt? Those migrant species of space aliens that came to earth a few years ago? I thought… I thought that we made peace with them with the Yokasang Treaty Act?… Why would they do something like that?”

The man sighs and sniffs, wiping underneath his nose. “Don’t know, Miyura, I really don’t know and I wish I did. All I know is that the PM and multiple cabinet members were either dead or in critical condition when we were evacuated from the sentinel. I don’t know what they’re planning to do, but all I know is that we need to get far away from here as possibl—“

A news bulletin with red and blue colors flashes above her screen. The woman then presses it and a camera circles above a burning city with beams of blue and red light descending onto the area, shattering buildings and causing large ruptures into the broken streets.

Earsplitting booms make the camera shutter as it pans up to a large black ship covered in spikes hovering in the air. Its massive cannons continue to create deafening echoes as its red beams spray onto the city below filled with screams of terror.

“… Miy… Yura… Miyura!”

The woman snaps back to reality with a blink of her eyes and continues looking at the devastation being captured in front of her. “W-what is all of this…”

“Turn the cast off dammit! I don’t want you to witness any of that!” The man shouts.

Another bulletin flashes over her screen, with a male waving his hand while holding a blue and green flag. His skin was white matching his hair, along with those distinct features he also had red eyes with golden flakes surrounding his pupils.

He adjusts the white spacesuit surrounding his body and smirks into the camera while throwing the flag behind him. “Citizens of Japan, and well, in fact, all of the world. The Ya’valt have been very considerate of you since we made contact all those years ago. We gave you advanced technologies and medicine in hopes that we can continue to build alliances and one day live in harmony for ions as the two best-equipped races in the cosmos…”

“… However, after your world leaders have taken advantage of our kindness, our Commander has ordered a swift excursion as well as a goodbye for you all… Meaning the eradication of all being lifeforms on Planet 4056-E, known as Earth. Thank you for you’re cooperation and goodbye.”

The message then blinks off the screen panning back to the newscast of the ship firing, now missiles onto the streets below it. The woman’s eyes widen as she lets out a gasp and leans her back onto the countertop behind her.

“H-Hey, Miyura! Talk to me! Don’t worry about that stuff, everything is going to be fine! You’re still packing for me right?”

The woman rests her hands on the table in front of her, looking down at her trembling fingers, and nods her head. “I told… I told Yui to do it now… She should… She should be finished…”

The white-haired android walks down the stairs with several metal suitcases in hand and stacks them near the front door along with a pack of water and a box labeled ‘Food Rations.’ The woman nods her head toward her husband.

“Good, good… I’ll be home shortly so please just stay safe until I do, okay? We’ll discuss this in detail and I’ll—“

—BANG BANG BANG

His statement is interrupted by a large metal bang protruding from the front door. The woman takes a step back with fearful eyes and huddles into the nearby corner of the kitchen.

“… Miyura? What was that? Hey!”

. . .

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