"..."

  Chouko seems visibly disgusted as she stares at the outside of the gas station - specifically, its washroom.

  Having driven aimlessly for the last 30 minutes, she and Shortcake needed to flee from Indianapolis. No time nor reason to stick around whatsoever, they drove out of the once grand Indianapolis and leave behind just another American city of industrial, technological, and societal dystopia.

  As dystopian as Indianapolis is nowadays, the city is still in sustainable condition and sufficient upkeep. Maintained and kept to a wonderful hygienic standard. Anything outside of the cities, anything that didn't count as the roads themselves, are left in the air if they're clean or working or not...

  ... including this very gas station.

  The gas facilities are functional. It's a self-serving gas station where you pay with a card and such. Android compatible, too, if a driving android detected a shortage of gas. By all means, this is a good gas station for its gas.

  No, the issue is the station part. This building is completely abandoned and unclean, with not a single person having come by in ages. At best, this place gets a routine check that the pumps work, and that's about it.

  So, the gas station washroom is utterly horrendous.

  A complete mess that Chouko dare not wish another soul to witness. Every gruesome detail simply too horrible to ever put to words.

  Chouko didn't have any other options, however. Any other place that had functioning water had actual people, and actual people are bound to see two bloodied individuals simply walking and minding their business. Then law enforcement will be called, and several- several problems will arise.

  "C... Chouko, if I may- have we considered maybe- washing in a river?" Shortcake asks.

  Chouko shakes her head. "No. Absolutely not."

  "Why? Using a river should be good... if we find somewhere with a lot of trees, then-"

  "Shortcake, that-" Chouko begins to speak, before- sighing, rubbing her eyes lightly with her index finger and thumb. "Right- I just remembered, you were a mint-condition android... do you have anything in your database about the Neo-Presidential Water Purification Bill?"

  "The... What-Presidential...?" Shortcake asks, tilting her head in- confusion? A bill?

  "Right, you don't know it," Chouko idly comments, before just bluntly tells Shortcake that every river in the country has the U.S. Military patrolling at all times.

  Ecologically, every single body of water that had nothing to do with direct human drinking water is abysmally polluted and hazardous to human skin. This was because, following the Artificial Revolution, companies had the grand idea to dump the excessive waste produced by various android and cybernetics factories in the country.

  This caused severe downsides that ultimately didn't come into mainstream attention until some news broadcast about a family of ten from Oklahoma being diagnosed with gruesome diseases following their Thanksgiving dinner. A whole investigation launched ended up discovering every turkey sold from a certain brand of grocery store had drunk from contaminated water near the Mississippi River, conveniently next to an android facility in Minnesota.

  "... oh... d-did I c-cause that...?" Shortcake asks, nervously staring at Chouko.

  "No, it was a Caliber Corporation facility," Chouko responds, shaking her head. "Sweet Bots is California, which- well, there's its own problems."

  "Oh..." Shortcake noises. "S... So, the bottom line is- no rivers? No lakes? No ponds or such...?"

  "By no means whatsoever do we go near one of those."

  Shortcake nods. "... I- I guess we need to use the restroom here then..."

  Chouko audibly gags. "R-Right, the history lesson made me forget about the- ugh..." Hand over her mouth, trying to cover her nose with the side of her finger, simply reminded of the lesser of two evils- by a minimal scale.

  Shortcake takes one look at the disgusted, visibly uncomfortable Chouko, fiddling her thumbs a little. "... i-if you'd like, I... I could, uhm, w-wash off the clothes at least... I-I'm not that bothered about smells and- such... so-"

  "No, Shouko, it's not something that you should do. I should just muster the courage to-" Chouko speaks up, stopping herself for a moment. Staring at Shortcake for a while, pausing for a moment.

  "...?" Shortcake tilts her head, blinking at Chouko. "Shouko?"

  Chouko seems visibly tense as she stares at Shouko, mouth still covered and- containing her embarrassment. "Shortcake. Shortcake-" Chouko blurts out. "I- I meant to say Shortcake. A mere slip of the tongue, I-"

  The android interrupts. "I- I like it," Shortcake speaks up, beaming and smiling. "Shouko sounds nice... i-if you want to call me that..."

  "..."

  Chouko silently side-eyes the washroom door, then looks back at Shortcake. A long pause of silence shared between the two, before Chouko reconsiders the android's plan.

  "... Shou- ... Shortcake. Are... are you sure that you're not bothered by smells...?"

  Shortcake rubs her chin for a moment. "W-Well, how I'm designed, I just process the smell... and identify it as bathroom waste and such. I have no aversion to it- in fact, I think it's in my design to identify messes so that they can be cleaned..."

  "... I see. Then, how good are you at checking water purity? As in- how clean the sink water is?"

  "Ah, well... I- I can see how clear it is... but- no percentages or anything like that..." Shortcake nervously responds, a little disappointed...

  "That's more than good enough, if you can at least confirm it's clear enough," Chouko instructs Shortcake, looking around. "For now, check if the sink has running water. If it does, clean your hair off and try to wash out the blood before coming out. I'm going to see if I can find anything to contain the water in-"

  Shortcake... nods. "O-Okay..." And then turns to-

  "Wait." Chouko walks over to Shortcake, retrieving the knapsack. Pulling it gently off of Shortcake's shoulders, not wanting their one means of storage to be- potentially stained. "Almost forgot about this... I'll keep it on me for now, until we clean off."

  Shortcake nods. "Sounds good-"

  "And one more thing," Chouko continues as she puts the knapsack on- wincing a little as the strap goes over the gunshot wound in her shoulder. "... while we're apart, if you spot anyone nearby that isn't me- scream. Scream like your life depended on it. Loudly wail and cry out and exhaust your sound systems, trying to get my attention. Anyone at all could be a threat."

  "U-Uhm- okay, and- do I run straight to you?" Shortcake asks.

  "If you can, yes..."

  Shortcake nods several times, before she then turns to the washroom and enters this wasteland for the two of them.

  "..."

  And... Chouko visibly grimaces as Shortcake enters the hellish nightmare of a washroom before them. The android has it... covered... so Chouko walks away and begins searching for a container. A bucket, a crate, something- anything that could hold water.

  She goes back around the corner, and approaches the front door of the gas station itself. Given its abandoned, self-serving nature, this building is purely for show. The shelves are empty, the freezers are inactive, not a soul behind the counter.

  Either this building is vacant, or it's owned by a neglectful land owner, and...

  ... ah. An electronic lock on the front door, the most active part of this entire gas station after the pumps.

  It's the latter.

  The lock itself is keycard activated, requiring a certain type of card be pressed against it in order to unlock. Once it's held close, it clicks open and the door is active until locked again.

  Usually, with these types of locks, Chouko could just use a hack from her phone, but- the severe limitations of not having Charon's support from here on out makes it utterly risky. Any sort of attempted hack will reveal her exact location to the man, to which several hitmen will converge on her location to...

  ...

  Chouko tensely, tensely sighs at this thought... as she has been repeating in her mind that Charon isn't on her side. Ever since the failure of the delivery job, she has - time and time again - reminded herself of the strictness that Charon enforced... the pure perfection he pretty much demanded.

  Follow every instruction. If he says to do something, she does it... and she's been able to meet this perfection because of Charon's guidance. The sheer luck she's held to... reach this far, to come so far from just following one man's instructions, it... it's astounding.

  But the luck's dried up. One single failure, one blot in her record, and- well, it's all over. That was the arrangement, the terms that she agreed to all those years ago. Chouko knows this- Chouko knows the cost of her failure.

  So she stands in front of this station... a dead woman.

  A dead woman stripped of her resources, under a metaphorical guillotine. No means to unlock this door, no safe place left in this country that she could rest without the risk of a gunman coming to shoot her...

  ... and no place to get the wound in her shoulder patched up and treated.

  No... no.

  Tonight has been a frantic mess, with highs and lows that Chouko juggles frantically, the highest of highs met with a jumbled of falling lows.

  Chouko hasn't read enough of The Count of Monte Cristo to understand where to go from here... and she doesn't even have the book on her anymore. That loose inspiration to enact her vengeance, gone... like the rest of her life.

  If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  So all Chouko has left, in the graveyard of a country she still roams, is this desperate ambition, and...

  "U-Uhm! I- I'm back-!"

  ...

  Chouko looks over to see an approaching Shortcake, back to being hairless as she holds her wig in her hand. The blood still faintly stains the hair itself, but- it's at least less noticeable. The blood cleans off quite well with just running sink water. "Ah... so the water in there is acceptable?"

  "Y-Yeah. It's- not exactly the cleanest, a-and I didn't find any buckets or anything, but it's pure enough to-"

  "Right... right," Chouko comments, taking the knapsack off of her back. "It can, at the very least, wash off some of the blood on us. And with your hair washed, that means there's one less mess to take care of. Good job."

  Shortcake's eyes light up as she widely smiles as Chouko. Responding to the praise with elated and giddy delight as she extends her other hand out to accept the knapsack.

  Chouko gives a faint smile in response as she holds the knapsack out... and Chouko winces, her arm- aching in pain, a trembling- aching pain that spreads throughout her arm.

  "A-Ah-!" Shortcake noises, noticing the wincing as she just snatches the knapsack back. "C-Chouko, your arm-"

  "It's- fine, I'll live... we don't exactly have the best resources to- take care of it..." Chouko tells Shortcake, groaning as she holds her shoulder.

  "C-Can't we go to a doctor?" Shortcake suggests, tilting her head.

  "We can't explain how I got shot," Chouko bluntly tells the android. "And the places that don't ask... aren't exactly options I can take anymore."

  "O-Oh..."

  Shortcake stares at Chouko- uneasily, before... she glances into the gas station itself, deciding to take a look for herself. Chouko didn't seem to open the doors yet, so the android acts under the assumption that the gas station hasn't been checked yet.

  Chouko watches the android doing this, nervously- looking around. This whole time, not a single car has passed by... fortunate for them. But that can change at any moment, and they- can't afford to stay at this station for too long.

  So Chouko walks over. "Shortcake, it- it really isn't a problem yet, we should-"

  "A-Ah!" The android interrupts Chouko, immediately pointing into the gas station through the window glass. "Chouko, look, the station has an emergency kit!"

  An emergency- what?!

  Chouko blinks at Shortcake in astonishment, before immediately looking for herself. Right in the corner, having eluded Chouko's gaze, she sees a bright white box hanging on the wall behind the gas station counter. One of the higher grade first-aid kits on the market.

  It perplexes Chouko why a station would have one of those, and- and she tempers her expectations a little, because the station itself is decrepit. But in the slightest chance the kit still contains any disinfectant, stitching thread, and bandages...

  ... tch. Right. It still leaves them with the problem that they can't get in.

  "W-We could patch you up with that!" Shortcake exclaims, having yet to understand this problem as she walks past Chouko and heads to the- "... o-oh... oh, the door's locked..."

  "Mhmm... yes. So if we're going to get that kit, then..."

  "..." Shortcake looks to Chouko, blinking. "W-We're going to have to- break in and steal it...?"

  Chouko nods. "Yes... that is the case."

  "... oh..."

  Shortcake seems a little apprehensive on doing this, and... just sulks a little. The android has quite the moral compass...

  ... so, Chouko just... thinks on this, prioritizing the ideas that will have Shortcake uninvolved. Ideas to break in that only Chouko needs to do, in order to get that kit out.

  Despite having a freezer, there are no other doors into the station itself. It's only the front door and the washroom door.

  Breaking the windows is absolutely off the table, as a working lock implies a working security system in response to property damage at the very least.

  And, as previously thought, they have no means of unlocking the front door.

  Ah, if only the butterfly could help with this.

  Chouko recalls the black and red butterfly that was crucial to surviving Indianapolis. The butterfly that spawned from her body, sending its hallucinatory dust out to the mercenaries in widespread effect.

  If only there was a way she could utilize that phenomenon here, make the door completely invisible so that she could just walk through, phase through like a specter.

  Of course, it's utter foolishness to think that to be possible...

  "..."

  ... but... what isn't foolish is sending the butterfly in, to pick up the kit.

  Chouko remembers that the butterfly kept affecting the mercenaries on the third floor while she went up above. The butterfly has a long range, so- in theory, Chouko could guide it to the first-aid kit.

  First, Chouko thinks of how to call it forward. Before Chouko even understood what the butterfly was, the trigger was a near death experience... which she's hopefully not replicating any time soon. After that, it was a matter of using her hand to control the illusions and such... so, it could possibly be created from her hand alone.

  So, Chouko tenses up her fingers, focusing her hand to hold an invisible ball. Then, she slowly and tightly clenches her hand into a fist... concentrating fully in her hand. Fingernails digging into her palm, her wrist feeling like it's swelling up- putting all of her focus into her hand, before...

  ... opening her fingers up, and watching as the butterfly forms in her palm. A small veil of dust floating around it, before it unfolds its wings and takes flight.

  Shortcake's eyes stare in wonder at the butterfly. "O-Oh! H-How pretty...!"

  Chouko stares at this butterfly as it flies in front of her. Its crimson wings flapping and fluttering right in front of her face, staring back at her. In theory, if Chouko focuses on the butterfly, she should be able to see through it. So she closes her eyes, and...

  ... ah! The image is faint and a little blurry, but Chouko still sees herself.

  Of course, Chouko is aware that this isn't permanent. But in the time she still has it out, she experiments a little to see how much she can control the butterfly...

  ... and thus, she brings her thoughts back to her hand. Moving her hand around, seeing how the butterfly reacts.

  In response, the butterfly fluidly moves and flies as per her hand's movements.

  Tilting her palm to the left makes it turn to the left, rotating counterclockwise. Tilting the palm to the right makes it turn right, rotating clockwise instead.

  Tilting her hand up and down moves the butterfly forward and backward, respectively-

  It's not just tilting- apparently, raising her hand up and down commands the butterfly to fly higher and lower. Moving her hand left and right, the butterfly subsequently slides left and right as it flies...

  ... mm. Moving her hand forward and back doesn't seem to do anything in particular, but... maybe...

  Now for the important part... can the butterfly pick up things?

  Chouko practices its flying further, as the butterfly flies closer to Shortcake, landing atop the knapsack itself. If moving her palm guides its flying, then would her fingers moving cause the butterfly to...?

  ... ah! Curling her fingers has the butterfly latch its legs onto the knapsack... and- as Chouko lifts her hand, she- feels a weight pushing down against it. Her fingers tensing up as the butterfly flaps its wings and... flies up, lifting the flap of the knapsack open.

  Chouko takes several deep breaths, focusing on this feeling- feeling the weight dissipate once the butterfly lets go of it. The weight of the object may be an issue, so... with the knapsack open, Chouko looks in the sack itself for an eligible item...

  ... ghk...

  Chouko has the butterfly grab onto a smartphone, the one belonging to the Executioner. It's heavier than a simple flap, with a solid case that adds a bit to it, but- the butterfly manages to hold it up. Phone dangling from its hands, its wings flapping aggressively to support the weight it holds, Chouko focusing intensely on her hand.

  "W... Woah..." Shortcake noises, applauding.

  "Woah, indeed..." Chouko responds. It's tight, but Chouko does note that the butterfly can lift and carry a phone. A good sign on this being the first attempt, really... the sheer fact that it can even lift this phone could possibly mean that the butterfly can carry heavier things with practice.

  For now, though, this fundamentally means that the butterfly can carry stitching needles at the very least. Disinfectant and bandage rolls may be a different matter, but-

  RING... RING... RING...

  ... a ringtone...?

  "...? Huh... someone's calling-" Shortcake speaks up, walking over and curiously reaching her hand out to-

  Chouko's eyes suddenly tense up and ache, the cracks forming over her eyes at this.

  Her gaze going completely red, a sharp and sudden pain that aggressively pumps pure agony into Chouko's body, her veins- simply just BURNING her again in this instant.

  Unable to- contain herself, to control and ease the pain, Chouko's voice- shouts, aggressively shouts at the top of her lungs, screaming out in that very moment: "D-DON'T ANSWER IT!" The girl just losing focus on the butterfly as- it drops the phone.

  Shortcake frantically panics and briefly freezes upon hearing the urgent shouting- as her pink eyes watch the butterfly let go of the phone.

  Acting quickly, Chouko sees Shortcake lunges her hands out to catch it.

  RING... RING... RING...

  "... G-GHHAAAAAH!" Chouko screams out in agony, covering her eyes with a hand and tensing up. Her breath turned to ragged hyperventilating, feeling the ever so familiar feeling of optical incineration.

  "W-What do I do, what do I do, what do I do?!" Shortcake shouts out, fear and terror in her voice.

  "J-JUST LET IT RING!"

  "O-Okay! O-Okay okay okay-!"

  The phone rings for only a few more seconds.

  Chouko's breath is left utterly tense as she slumps forward, hand almost covering the entirety of her face. After several moments, her... her eyes feel soothed, calm and back to... normal...

  ...

  A curious thing to note... as Chouko eases up, letting out a deep sigh to calm her nerves. Her face wincing a little in pain, but- it's still manageable.

  After this, Chouko looks at Shortcake, checking on her. Seeing the android remaining still, as stiff as a board... keeping the phone right between

  Once again... Chouko is a source of fear for this android, and... yeah.

  "Sorry- sorry for raising my voice..." Chouko calls out, just... walking closer. "It... it's- urgent that we do not answer any phone calls from that man's phone, no matter what. Answering is just too dangerous, and... yeah."

  There's truth to this. It's an informant tactic that Charon's used time and time again to pinpoint a person's location. Anyone with the same technological skill as Charon could do it in an instant, and anyone lesser in the same amount of time it takes for them to drive away.

  "O-Oh... I- I see! I-I'll try not to answer any ph-phones until you- you tell me to..." Shortcake responds, her voice... on the verge of sobbing and crying. "I- I'm glad I didn't mess up... I- I'm sorry, I'm-"

  Chouko... nods as she takes another exasperated breath, sighing the air out as the situation cools. "Shortcake, it's fine, I-"

  The phone rings again...

  Tch- the person calling it is persistent...!

  Chouko glares at the phone, and-

  Shortcake visibly freezes stiff again, panicked again. "A-Again?! W-What do we do with it, then?! Do I just throw it?! Do I throw the phone, Chouko?!"

  Chouko- picks up on this panic, and shakes her head. "Sho- Shortcake, we can just do nothing. If we let it ring, we just have the caller believe there's nobody to answer it..." Chouko explains, leaning to check the contact of the phone... seeing who this person could be.

  If the caller ID showed, by any chance, the real Kuroiwa, then...

  ...

  ... Dot?

  Who the hell is Dot?

  Chouko looks to Shortcake, and- nods slowly. "I'll take the phone out of your hands now... okay?"

  "O-Okay... okay-" Shortcake frantically responds, continuing to remain still. "O-Okay..."

  Chouko- pinches the corner of the phone, careful to not touch any part of it carelessly. It's a recent model of smartphone, which- knowing these, the call could be answered by accident if the slightest bit of skin touches the center of the screen itself...?

  Either way, Chouko just needed to be more cautious than if she had just used a flip phone. The phone continues to ring as Chouko holds it, examining the phone closely... gazing all over it.

  "... it- it stopped..." Shortcake weakly noises once the phone stops ringing.

  "Right... it did," Chouko responds, gently reaching out to hold it by the corner. A calm look at the screen, watching as it shows: Two missed calls from Dot.

  The name, Dot... could it be a family member? A potential wife? ... maybe a mercenary.

  If it's a mercenary, the name certainly rings no bells. Either it's someone on the Executioner's own payroll, or... maybe...

  ... and it's ringing again.

  "... another call..." Chouko mumbles. The phone's going to just keep ringing nonstop, so... probably best to muffle the ring tone. Moving to put the phone back into the knapsack. "This will have to do for now, Shortcake... come, let us find a way to-"

  "W-Wait! No, don't put it inside!" Shortcake shouts, looking to Chouko and shouting before the phone slips back into the bag. "W-What if I move and it accidentally answers?!"

  "Wha-" Chouko noises, blinking at Shortcake. "That- I don't think it will, Shortcake, the fabric on this knapsack won't do that."

  "B-But- but it might! T-The knapsack could answer it-!" Shortcake shouts. "W-What if I move and the screen touches the fabric and answers the call, and we just end up in call with someone that overhears us talking and..."

  Chouko- stares at Shortcake for a bit, caught off guard by this. "Shortcake, the fabric on this knapsack can't interact with the screen. You have nothing to worry about, it's-"

  The phone stops, then immediately rings again to interrupt Chouko.

  And when the phone rings again, Shortcake lets out a sudden shrieking cry, and covered her mouth immediately. Pressing its palms over her mouth as the stutters of her machinery significantly increase. A kind mixture between gears grinding together alongside the fluttering of paper in front of a fan.

  "D-Don't put it in the ba-a-g-!" Shortcake cries out, her voice stuttering incoherently. Every stutter distorting her voice and worsening it to the sound of malfunction. A voice that distorts beyond what it's designed to sound like. "I'm sc-caaa-r-e-ed, I don't kn-o-ow what to do and I just... I... I- I don't know, it... I... I- I don't- I... I don't..."

  It was this moment that Chouko's eyes grow wide, hearing it cry out in a constant state of sadness, Shortcake left staring at Chouko with a pleading gaze.

  "I- I don't wa-a-ant t-to kill us, Chouko..." it harrowingly calls out... "I don't want to..."

  Chouko...

  ... Ch... Chouko...

  ...

  .....

  .......

  ... Chouko doesn't say a single thing.