Chorong dashed to Gilbert so fast that the man barely saw her. In one swift motion, she snatched the remote from his hand using her humanlike hand. She slid into a stop a few meters away from him, creating a dust cloud that surrounded her. The scenery made her look like a hero emerging from a fog in a comic.

The robot squeezed on the remote, which crumbled into pieces.

The collapsed worker stopped shaking, and his face became more at ease.

James stared at her. He couldn’t help but see an image of the Knight of the Stars overlapping with Chorong’s figure.

Then, the logical part of his brain kicked in. “Frick,” he muttered.

Gilbert stood still. He didn’t seem surprised by Chorong’s action or by her inhuman speed. “What is the meaning of this, ma’am?”

Chorong didn’t say anything back.

The uniformed man grabbed a walkie-talkie from his belt. He murmured, “Suspected enemy in Section 2B, young short-cut female. Requesting backup.” He put the walkie-talkie back where it was and then said, “Ma’am, I recommend you to not move. Stay where you are, and don’t resist arrest. I will promise that if you comply, I will try my best to let you off with minimal sentence.”

Secretto tapped on James’s shoulder. He lowered himself to put his ear next to Secretto’s mouth.

“Once they find out she’s a robot, she will get executed. They will burn her in front of people. We can’t let her get arrested,” Secretto hissed.

“Do you guys execute people?” James asked.

“Not often. But, if you get arrested, you are going to rot in jail for sure.”

James gritted his teeth. Should he run and keep the promise he made to his father? Or should he help Chorong? But, even if he helped Chorong, both of them might get arrested.

An idea formed in his head.

He handed the guitar case to Secretto. “Miss Secretto, protect this with your life.”

Secretto grabbed the guitar. “What are you—”

He ran toward Gilbert. He ran past, stood next to Chorong, and then kneeled in front of Gilbert.

“I apologize, sir! She doesn’t know what she is doing!” he shouted.

Chorong and Gilbert stared at him. Both seemed surprised.

James reached inside his backpack and pulled out the lump of cash Chorong had given to him. He raised it above his head as if he was offering a sacrifice to a god.

“Take this, please let us go. We will leave at once and never cause trouble in Bulan again,” the busker pleaded.

Was this a good plan? No. Did this make him cool? No. Would it work? He didn’t know. But this was the only plan he could think of.

Gilbert scoffed. “If you wanted to bribe me, you should’ve done it faster.”

Faster? James thought.

Like a group of coordinated dancers, men in blue Yue uniforms streamed out from all the alleys and streets near them, surrounding Chorong, James, and Gilbert in a circle. The officers held batons and riot shields.

“Get down and stay still!” the officers shouted.

James cursed in his head.

He glanced at Chorong. He knew she had the capability to run away by herself. Still, she stood next to him. He felt glad by the fact that she was there to help him…unlike him. He wasn’t sure if he could act like her if she was in danger.

“…Why aren’t you running away?” he whispered in an attempt to get rid of some guilt.

“I told you. I chose my how,” she answered.

Honestly, she was not confident they could escape this together. Still, she tried her best to act calm. To somewhat threaten the officers from approaching the two, she went into her boxing stance, raising her two fists in front of her.

She immediately realized she made a mistake.

By raising her hands as guards, she had revealed her clunky arm that she had been hiding under her cloak. The officers, of course, recognized her new limb: a Bulan arm. Many officers pulled out their remotes and pointed them at Chorong. Before she could do anything, they pressed the buttons on the remote.

Chorong felt an immense amount of voltage shooting up from her new arm. All sorts of warnings went off in her logic module. She tried her best to resist the electrical current, but after a few seconds, the motor movement management module malfunctioned. Her knee motors stopped fighting gravity, making her entire body fall forward face-first.

“Chorong!” James called.

The robot did not respond. Her body just shook as electricity fried her.

James sensed footsteps approaching him. He moved his gaze from his boss to in front of him. He saw a glimpse of a baton and then heard a huge whack.

That was the last thing he remembered.

System rebooting...

Chorong opened her eyes.

She lay on a cold cement floor with dried weeds scattered on it. After blinking a few times and letting her system completely boot, she slowly sat up.

“Chorong!” a familiar voice shouted next to her.

She turned, finding James looking at her. He was behind metal bars.

She scanned her surroundings. She was in a rectangular cell. The back wall was made of concrete, which had a small opening near the top to allow air circulation and light. Metal bars divided adjacent cells and the hallway in front of the cells. The busker was in the cell next to hers. The bars were just wide enough for an adult to stick their arm through but too narrow for a body to go through.

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She shifted her body to sit properly. Her arms and legs buckled. She looked down. Heavy steel cuffs restrained her ankles together and wrists together. She looked at James. Unlike her, his arms and legs were free.

“Did we get arrested?” she asked.

“I’d assume so,” the busker said.

“…I’m sorry.”

“…”

James didn’t know what to say back.

Then, they heard footsteps echoing in the hallway. There was a staircase in front of Chorong’s cell, and the noise was coming from there. A Yue officer came down the stairs. Chorong assumed he was a guard.

He glanced at the robot. His expression reminded her of Master’s expression.

Disgust.

The officer approached the duo. He then walked to James’s cell.

“You have a visit,” he said.

James glanced at Chorong for a moment. Then he slowly stood up. The officer pulled out a key and opened his cell. He walked out to the hallway. The officer pushed him from behind, guiding him. They walked to the staircase.

Before going upstairs, James looked at Chorong. A small girl, restrained and alone, stared back at him. Hiding her fear, she smiled.

“Move!” the officer commanded, pushing the busker.

The busker started walking upstairs.

“What’s our sentences?” he asked softly.

“Yours will be judged tomorrow at a trial,” the officer answered.

“Hers?”

The guard smirked. “Her? You mean that thing? She will be…scrapped tomorrow. She will be burned at the village plaza.”

James’s eyes widened.

“What about a trial? I’m getting one; why not her?”

“Is that thing alive?”

James couldn’t answer to that.

The officer and the busker arrived at a visiting room. It looked like a small cell because of the bars that divided the prisoner side and the visitor side. Each side had a chair, and his visitor already occupied the one on the visitor's side.

“Miss Secretto,” James said.

He was quite surprised to see her. However, her expression was…mysterious. He felt like she was trying to tell him something. Thus, he acted calm, as if he expected her to come.

He sat down across the bars from her. She looked around. There was a guard on the busker’s side and another guard behind her.

She smiled. She knew them.

“Guys, I’d like some private time,” she said.

The guards exchanged looks with each other. Then, they motioned to step out from the visiting room.

“Secretto, you owe us drinks,” the officer behind her said.

“You bet.”

With that, the guards left the visiting room, shutting the doors behind them.

Secretto turned to the busker and hissed, “You know how much trouble I went through because of you and your partner? I almost ended up being in a cell myself!”

“…Sorry,” James said. He made a light smile. “I’m relieved you are okay, though. I was afraid that you would get arrested, too.”

Secretto stared into his face. Then she closed her eyes and pressed her forehead with a fist as if she had a headache.

She sighed. He reminded her too much of…her friend. In her head, an image of her old friend kept overlapping on top of James. They acted similarly. They even looked similar. It was shaking around her memories and emotions. She knew she couldn’t let her feelings control her, but that was exactly what was happening. Logically, she shouldn’t even be here. Yet, she had gone through so much trouble and pulled many strings to make the visit happen.

She needed assurance that James and her old friend were different.

“Miss Secretto?”

“Let me ask one thing,” Secretto said. “What are your thoughts on Chorong?”

“She’s a friend. And my boss.”

“Let me rephrase. Why did you try to save her?”

“…Because she would’ve done the same for me.”

“She’s a robot.”

“She is. She’s not a biological living thing. She’s not…human. She will never be one. But I define her as a person. A kind-hearted person who doesn’t want anyone to be hurt.”

Secretto gazed into his eyes. They were pure, clean orbs full of genuineness. He wasn’t lying.

Secretto made her decision. A decision that would change the fate of Bulan.

James was about to say something, but Secretto interrupted, “I don’t have much time.” She suddenly leaned forward and whispered, “I’m here to tell you: stay in the cell until tomorrow night. No matter what happens, you two must stay inside.”

“Huh?” the busker said.

Secretto suddenly reached her hands through the bars and grabbed his.

“Please, just trust me,” she said.

James stared at the two hands holding his. They were small, but he could feel rough, hard skin and scars from all the assembly and soldering she must’ve done. He looked up to see Secretto’s face, but she had dropped her gaze so he couldn’t see it.

Slowly, he rotated his hands inside her grip and grabbed her back. “I trust you.”

The locks on the doors slid open. Secretto suddenly yanked her hands out of his hands.

“Miss Secretto,” James called. “I don’t know what you are planning, but…thank you.”

Secretto smirked quietly. “Womanizer,” she muttered. Just like him, she thought.

The guards came into the room, signalling the visit was over. Secretto stood up and walked to the doorway.

“Oh, also, how’s the guitar?” the busker asked.

Secretto left the cell area without answering. The guard on the visitor's side left with her and closed the door behind them.

The same guard guided James back to his cell. James quietly sat down in the cell as the guard locked the gate and left.

Chorong tried to read the busker’s expression. It seemed…mixed.

“Is there a bad news?” Chorong asked.

After a brief moment of hesitation, James told her about their sentences: that she was going to be executed. She couldn’t help but feel a bit bitter when she heard she wasn’t getting a trial…because she’s a robot.

She raised her artificial limb and stared at it. Was she that different from humans? Was it wrong for her to try to become one?

She forced out a smile to show James. “It’s okay, James. From the looks of it, you are likely not going to be executed.”

James was about to say something when Chorong’s ears detected something: a piece of music played on a guitar. It was coming from the breathing hole at the top of the wall. It gave a calm, bright vibration throughout the air. She analyzed the sound pattern, compared it with the ones in her memories, and got a match. She had heard this guitar before.

“That’s my guitar,” James muttered.

A female voice sang along the guitar:

“

I see white snow dropping

Ponds contain the streetlights, and

your eyes contain me.”

James frowned like he was trying to remember something. Then he started singing, switching out with the female voice. The switch was smooth, as if the two had practiced before:

“

Hey, hey, do you hear me?

Are you still there?

I am searching the entire universe

Just to see your face.”

Then the two voices sang together:

“

Hey, hey! We see each other.

You are the one that complete me.

Hey, Hey, through the darkness

and the fog of the white snow,

We meet and find our answers.”

The guitar stopped. James and Chorong waited quietly to hear if the music would play again; it didn’t.

James smiled lightly. “I guess Miss Secretto is taking good care of my guitar.”

The busker and the robot did not know that the prison was next to a small cliff near the border of Bulan. Their cells were facing the edge of the cliff. Secretto was sitting at the bottom of the cliff. She put James’s guitar back into its case very carefully. Then, she stood up and put the guitar case on her back. The bottom of the guitar case nearly touched the ground because of her short height.

She looked up at the cliff, at the prison. She felt as if she could see James and Chorong through the wall.

“Please protect him, my cute robot,” she muttered. Then she walked away from the cliff, like a cowboy leaving a town at the end of a Western movie.

Back in the cells, Chorong and James were enjoying the lingering aftertaste of the music.

She turned to the busker and then realized there was light in his eyes.

“…Chorong. Maybe, just maybe, both of us might be able to survive,” he said.

He told him what happened during Secretto’s visit.

“I think Secretto is going to try to do something for us,” the busker said.

Chorong also felt a bit of hope. She might be able to get out of here alive. However, there was still a bit of uneasiness in her chest.

What is Secretto going to do? she wondered.

She remembered how the mechanic had said that violence is necessary to overthrow a system.

The robot suddenly felt nervous. She had a feeling what Secretto was planning to do to save the duo was also related to her plan to free Bulan…which meant it would involve some violence.

She was right.

The night fell, and then the sun rose again.

It was 9AM. Gilbert, the Yue officer, walked in the streets next to his group of workers, carrying materials to the processing facility. He kept stretching his fingers and wrist, trying to numb out the soreness. When the robot had snatched his remote the day before, it must’ve hit his hand.

Then he heard a scream. It came from near the border of Bulan.

“Halt!” he shouted to the workers. The workers did as instructed.

He ran to where the scream came from. He pulled out his baton as he did.

Then, he slid to a stop as a huge thing appeared out from an alley and stopped in front of him. It was a bear with red glowing eyes.

An Alpha.

“Oh, no,” Gilbert muttered.