Chapter 61

“Today you shall be named...”

[Layla]

The sun was setting behind the thick smog that hovered above the Metro making the rays of the sun look redder than what it usually looks like. The sidewalks around this place were narrow and often filled with filth but everyone else seemed to not mind as they continued to ignorantly smile and happily go about their days with full knowledge of their mundane lives being already the peak of their existence. Dense clouds of steam rise from the sewers as it mixes with the smoke coming from the local streetside skewer stands that litter the sidewalks near the residential tenements as the people who live there gather around the fire as the atmosphere around them turn from gray to red to purple as the sun slowly sets.

These are the everyday comings and goings of the people who live in the densely packed tenements around the Metro’s upper west side areas. With tall residential buildings shielding the streets from ever interacting with the sun and the martian like atmosphere that appears every twilight as the smog heavily influences the kind of “picturesque” tone of the area around these parts.

A single solitary figure walks amongst the peasants that inhabit these areas as he tightly clutches his backpack that he now wears on his chest, easily getting startled at the sudden loudness of the afternoon train that darts above him from its elevated rail.

He had been working on something for the past months since transferring here at the tenements, and tonight was the night he finally puts on the finishing touches.

‘Layla…’ He thought as he quickened his pace, excited to finally get home and get to do the thing that he had been working hard on achieving ever since he had ended up alone and afraid in a strange new land.

He rushes through the arcaded sidewalks and through the gates of the megabuilding he calls his recent home. Out of all the days he had spent here, it was tonight where he finally felt that the elevator was tardy, impatiently mashing the call button as he watches the floors counting down slowly and deliberately as if to mock him for his obvious excitement, making him speculate whether or not if the elevator was actually sentient, as a slight pinch of guilt struck him.

As to why it did.

It might have something to do with his degenerate plans.

The elevator ride itself was unbearably slow as he thought of mocking and spitting and cursing at the people who had stopped the elevator in between his ascent. Thinking of them as canon fodder and a waste of space because he feels they were conspiring against him and his sweet plans for the night. Sadly he cannot risk an outburst at this moment. Though he would love to shout his opinions openly and give these “canon fodder” a piece of his mind;

He cannot risk it.

He mustn't risk it.

And thus, through sheer will, he kept silent.

As finally, after what seemed to be an eternity of waiting;

He arrives at his floor.

Runs to his door.

And enters, breathing a sigh of relief.

…

….

…..

-Creek-

The cabinet door opens, and from the residual light coming from the single lightbulb he has inside his room, a silhouette of a female body can be traced as Neilsen smiles whilst touching something on the body.

He turns around and plugs in his backpack to his screen and once on it, he opens up a program to display his recent project on screen, plugging in a microphone to issue his commands he says:

‘Good Evening Layla.’

And at the moment he gives his greeting, the blank window suddenly spawns a beautiful, well crafted face.

A fairy.

A beautiful long eared fairy.

With long auburn hair and hazel eyes.

And a crown made of lavender.

‘Hello my master.’ It gleefully replied.

Neil looked like a doting father who had just seen his child graduate with honors on stage as he relished the success of his creation. But unlike a father, his smile had a different meaning.

‘Yes. Yes Layla! Finally I have come to take you to my home!’ He excitedly declared as Layla appeared to look around his surroundings from the screen.

‘How quaint my master. Finally after a long time in school I can come home and be of service.’ She replies with a captivating gentleness in her voice as Neil couldn’t help but sweat as he bit his lip after hearing her speak.

After all;

Her voice was directly captured from a certain someone.

Her features were derived closely from a certain someone.

In fact if he didn’t change the color of her eyes and hair, she would eerily look like a certain someone.

A certain girl, whom he has a certain craving.

‘And be of service you shall be…’ He purred.

‘Oh master…’

He quickly jumps up from sitting in front of the screen and retrieves the body from the closet. He sets it down on his narrow bed and takes a gander at its deformed mechanical face.

For some mysterious reason, he had gotten himself a peculiar find. A peculiar find that he got by being at the right place at the right time by meeting the right person who didn’t know any better.

Because what lies in front of him was a legitimate Carbine model four android.

The same model used in the raids.

And the first and only model, with a morph feature.

He pulls out a vial of liquid from his bag. The very vial he had been protecting on the way home, pours it inside a compartment near its belly, as he pressed hard with his thumbs on the ball of her palm until its exposed eyeballs glow a golden hue.

A beep was heard from the computer. On the screen it said: -Syncing complete- and as soon as the message popped, the synthetic liquid that he had poured into it, started to pool on the android’s face until it finally settled on the same shape and form as the face portrayed on the screen.

‘Hello again master.’ She speaks. But this time instead of the voice coming from the screen, it was now coming from her lips. Layla has now a body.

‘You look so beautiful in person…’ He hungrily said. Layla, upon hearing, appears to have blushed.

‘I’m glad, master. It is my duty to look appealing to your eyes. Because it is you who have molded me to be as such.’ She meekly replies.

His chest was pounding as he witnessed how meek and submissive the android was, as he started to feel certain parts of him throbbing in anticipation. He reached out his hand and lifted Layla’s face to look at him, as he gingerly brushed and caressed her hair.

‘Layla… Love me.’ He whispered to her ear and as if a spell had been activated, the android gently looks at his eyes, as her hunger shows in a form of hearts projecting from them, putting her hands on his chest;

And slowly dragging her fingers down to where he wants them to be.

‘Fuck!’

Val shouts loudly as her fists slam hard on her table, sending shockwaves throughout the office, immediately throwing her weight back on her seat, distraught, offended.

‘Why-why-why-why-why---’

‘It’s no use Val…’ Lorna said with a comforting tone while Val kept her delirious chanting. ‘Everything happened in such short notice that we didn’t even have the time to properly consult you. And umm yeah …

He had to pull your funding.’

…

…

Val slumps over her desk while she tries to pull her hair out in frustration. Lorna can only sit idly as there was nothing she could do to alleviate nor reverse the situation.

‘Can’t he just cut it by half?’ Val pleads, sounding off a muffled voice as she keeps her face down on the table.

‘I’m sorry Val but presidential campaigns need a lot of capital and since he had no initial plans of running… err… he’s now a bit late on the fund pooling… we only got a year left to get stuff done.’

‘WHY CAN’T MILES JUST FUND THE SHITSHOW SHE WANTS TO HAPPEN??!!’ Val protests.

‘Uhh…’ Lorna hesitates but decides to continue anyways. ‘Well… we did discuss that but unless you’re forgetting how this country does things, sooner or later--’

‘--They’ll dig up the fuckin paper trail yadayada then see whatever country Miles is using as a backer and cause problems for the pres-- Yea yea yea yeah fuck…

This is all fucked up.

Why do I always have to be screwed in the ass by things I don’t give a shit about.’

Lorna’s brow crumples for a moment after hearing her.

‘Hey. I’m on the same boat here Val.’

‘Lorna… I know. Okay?’ She replies, suddenly toning her aggression down. ‘I just wanna mald for a bit before I go and do business stuff again I mean… Seriously, this all happened with bad timing.’

Lorna slumps her shoulders knowing how her friend feels, at the back of her mind she could at least find comfort in being able to vent freely without consequences when the news had been delivered within the comfort of their home. But she and Val were at her office now in the middle of the workday with potential clients being escorted by Ash and J2 below.

As of this moment, she couldn’t afford to vent out. She had already shouted, letting her emotions slip and thankfully the noise from the karts currently running on track was enough to mask it.

‘Anywho… What are you gonna do about the financial situation? I’m sure just getting a handful of clients wouldn’t be enough.’ Lorna responds in concern.

‘I know….’ Val sighed. ‘I better think of another venture fast… and it needs to be small as well. I need to say bye bye to reviving J&B for now.’

‘Whatcha got in mind? And can I help?’ Lorna asked.

Val looks over to the people who are gathering below to see some of the cars that Val has on display, including her GTR as Ash and J2 entertain their company.

‘Those guys were looking to get some of their cars souped up for an upcoming car show.’

‘Oh cool! That could be a business model.’ Lorna gleefully responds.

‘Maybe… but I kinda lowballed them since my goal was to just promote the shop… I never knew they’re gonna turn out to be my main source of income.’ Val answered.

‘Yeesh… that bad?’

‘Bad.’ Val said, as her mind started to reflect on her past actions of closing operations because she was upset. She was now starting to regret the extra money they could’ve made no matter how small the amount was since her new situation now demands her to make every penny count. She deeply sighs and buries her face back into her arms as she continues to speak in a muffled voice. ‘Godammit… if I ever see Miles I’m gonna smack her in the face so hard.’

‘Same.’ Lorna concurs.

‘Just warn me if she ever wants to meet so I can fetch the suit she left me.’ She continues to speak with her face down. ‘So at least I could get a fair chance of pummeling her.’

‘Noted.’ Lorna replied. ‘Do you have any other ideas to add to the revenue pile?’

‘I dunno Lor. Do you?’ Val throws the question back.

‘Well you could…’

‘Don’t!’

‘I know…’

‘No way imma get a job. Scratch that Lor. Anything else?’ Val responds. Face still buried.

‘Uhh… marry a rich husband?’

‘The fuck?!’

The mere utterance of the word shook Val enough to lift herself and face Lorna.

Meanwhile the door opens.

…

…

‘Eh?’ Ash reacts as he stumbles upon a strangely quiet room.

‘Lor… He ain’t rich tho…’ Val muttered as Lorna gave her a sly smile.

‘SooOooOOooOo…. You confirm?’

Val looked puzzled for a moment as a good few seconds passed by before all the gears aligned inside her head, turning beet red at the moment it happened.

…

‘Uhh… anyways the clients were quite happy with the builds downstairs so umm… we got the job?’ Ash said looking unsure as the two women in front of him looked like they were about to strangle each other for some weird reason, where it was mostly Val who was the one most likely to do the strangling and Lorna readying herself to retaliate back.

‘Are you guys… arguing again?’ He cautiously asked.

‘Nope!’ Lorna quickly replied. ‘Val here was just telling--mpff’

‘Nothing! Well. Something…’ Val swiftly covers Lorna’s mouth before she could do any damage as she has some news to inform him.

‘What is it?’

‘Financial troubles.’

Ash was stunned for a moment but quickly snapped out of it. ‘Okay… that’s sudden… What happened? I thought everything was steadily going back under control?’ He asked.

‘Long story Ash. But for now we need ideas to get extra income.’ Val explains. Ash on the other hand took the remaining seat near Lorna and slouched back with his arms crossed. He sighed as he looked just as clueless as the other two.

…

…

‘D’you still have contact with the Tally kitchen crew?’ Ash said, breaking the silence.

‘Well some have already moved on but I dunno if we’re gonna have enough staff if you’re thinking of going down that path.’ Val replied.

‘Nononono not that… Well at least not to that extent.’

‘Why what do you have in mind?’ Lorna curiously asks.

‘Hmm… can we at least get two cooks to start?’ He inquired.

‘Yea.’ Val immediately answered and as soon as he got his confirmation, Ash quickly storms off his seat and out of the office, leaving the two looking confused at his actions.

A few minutes later, he comes back with a smile on his face.

‘Problem solved… I think…’ He said with pure confidence in his tone despite his unsure wording.

‘Huh? How? Whaddya mean?’ Val asks, continuing to be confused.

‘Oh I just managed to catch the clients just before they left. Asked them if we could interest them in our new venture.’

‘EHHH??’ The two ladies erupted in unison.

‘Told them we have a lunch delivery service we’d like them to sample and if they like it they’ll hire us.’

The two looked at each other with uncertainty before Lorna shrugged her shoulders, not really knowing what in the world Ash meant.

‘What lunch delivery? How? We don’t even have a menu! For crying out loud We haven’t even called the cooks yet!’ Val protested but Ash just held up his hand.

‘No need to fret, it’s just lunch, we’ll just serve ‘em some easily cooked fried food and the rest is history.’ He said whilst looking bulletproof with his idea.

‘No need to fret? Ash these guys might be our only source of income here! If we fuck up this lunch thing they might even back out of the car deal!’ Val complained.

‘True! But besides that since they agreed, did you already give them a lead time for all this?’ Lorna asked.

‘Yeah. Next monday.’ He answered as the two were wide eyed and shocked after hearing him.

‘Dude! It’s already the middle of the week! We haven’t even talked to the cooks yet!’ Lorna responds, greatly alarmed at how hasty everything had become.

‘It’s cooking guys! Let’s not think about the cooks yet, it’s just a simple lunch. We’ll do it ourselves and if they like it, THEN we’ll hire the people to do it.’ Ash said with a big smile on his face which made it harder for the two to counter his point.

‘Ugh fine, you committed already… So how we gonna do this? Any dish in mind?’ Val asked.

‘Bento.’

‘No.

‘Nope.’

‘What?! Bento’s the best dish to serve at lunchtime.’ Ash questions their rejection as the two raised their eyebrows at his suggestion.

‘You wanna serve bento on the first try? That’s a heck a lot of ingredients! And how many lunches do we have to even make? Did you even ask?’ Lorna responds.

‘A hundred and fifty.’ Ash confidently answered. As the two gasp.

‘And how much are they paying?’ Val asked with a worried face.

‘None yet since it’s a trial.’ He replies dryly, which irritates the two. Staring silently at him, shocked and in awe.

…

…

‘Fuck.’

-Bzzt- -Bzzt- -Bzzt- -Bzzt- -Bzzt- -Bzzt- -Bzzt-

The sound of the alarm reaches his ears as he struggles to open his groggy eyes. For some reason he feels more lethargic than he did the night before, and as his mind slowly wakes, he slowly realizes why.

He pulls himself out of bed and as he looks back, he smiles, admiring the frosty white complexion of his partner, whom he thoroughly indulged in before his slumber.

‘Oh.’

Neil suddenly realizes something and gingerly turns over the slender android body, revealing “Layla’s” attractive features, as he spreads her legs with care and pulls out her intimate regions with a push of a button that is somewhere cleverly hidden.

‘Ugh… maintenance.’ He muttered to himself as he tiptoes across his apartment, minding not to step on any of the things scattered on his floor as he made his way to his bathroom to clean what he needed to clean.

The rest of his morning was spent on cleaning certain parts of Layla and tidying up his room. He celebrates this completion by brewing a warm comforting cup of coffee as he breathes a sigh of relief after a tumultuous few months of flat out work.

Flat out work to create his magnum opus.

Who now lies on the bed in front of him.

He stares at her lovingly and notices something small but important. It is something that in order to further realize his efforts of taking her outside, he would have to acquire a certain set of items for her. Feeling so stupid that he had forgotten such a basic necessity. As Neil realizes that Layla lacked any pieces of clothing.

Taking notice of this, he immediately runs to the door to check if anyone was awake and about.

-There was none.

He runs towards his bed to peek out of the only window he has in his room.

-There was nothing to be worried about.

But he was not taking any chances.

He shuts the blinds and covers the peephole on his door. He opens his computer and plugs in a disk like device that he had purchased from a shady dealer. Neil brings up the activation window for the device on his screen, but before he could do anything to it, he also made sure that Layla was still cold asleep.

Once he was sure that everything was secure, he activated the device as it emits a glowing sphere of light that engulfs the whole room and fades once it gets to a reasonable size.

‘FUCK YOU!!! ALL OF YOU!!!’

Neil shouts, but no one seems to reply.

‘Good, noise canceling secure.’ he affirmed as he sat back on his work chair and labored away on his computer. As he goes around his different programs Neil starts to smile and reminisce at his master plan that he had executed to get to this point. He had seen the things that were happening around him and he immediately predicted his own social demise, and it all started when Denzo appeared.

Ever since he arrived he had seen things move away from his hands. He used to be the darling of Jack and Barry’s, always keeping friendly relations with the staff and it’s alumni patrons which had allowed him to feel like he owned the place, using this status to facilitate freshmen newcomers into the place to further manage his image of “the cool guy” and gain influence on the student body and in turn also help his political aspirations even though it wasn’t enough to trump Yukino out of her position.

Nonetheless he was more than content with his VP status just as long as he still gets to pick and choose who goes in the J&B. Which was a perk that comes with ulterior motives.

Half of those were to find suitable sheep. Those whom he can manipulate into becoming his loyal supporters as he still aims for the Presidential spot. The other half, was to single out the attractive students of the opposite sex. To make them into his loyal supporters and also to allow him complete monopoly in the romantic side of things.

But when Denzo had sneaked his way into their circle. It ruined things for him.

His existence was difficult to control.

To make it worse, compared to him, Denzo had a certain pull with people even if Denzo himself did his best to push away.

And when Neil saw this charismatic blackhole. He knew he had to prepare.

At first what he had in mind was mild. He believed in the fact that one should keep his friends close, and enemies closer. So he did just that, and allowed Denzo to be integrated into their circle. Looking back, Neil cringes and tightly curled his fists into a ball as in hindsight, he knew this was his first mistake.

But then again he already knew that if he took the other option and kept him away, he would still find a way to get close. He didn’t know why, but for some reason he and Pai had some connection he’s not aware of. A puzzle he wanted to solve but since his situation was the way it is currently, there was no point to solve it. But he did find it strange even though the two had nothing in common and were highly unlikely to be friends.

‘Another one bites the dust.’ He muttered to himself as he put another bundle of credits in his account, as if he was playing a game all this time while reminiscing. He resumes on his thoughts as it immediately jumps to his next mistake.

In his mind Neil has a little black book with a list of all the girls that he fancied. Three of them happened to be in the same circle as he was, with the third addition he worked hard on to have her integrate in that circle. That girl was Nica. The other two were Yukino and Aida. The rest were scattered in different classes in different years. Most of those would later on end up as victims of his video scheme.

Looking back he had closed his chapter with Yukino after he had deemed her as “defective”. Refusing his advances for the sake of her duty to the school. Which is one of the reasons why he wanted her position, thinking she would lose her “defect” once she was relieved of her duties. But nonetheless he was content with being a thorn at her side, since if he couldn’t have her, he’ll just have to make her life hell as retaliation.

Aida was supposed to be the next girl in line but since she was more naïve than what he thought she would be, he didn’t make any moves yet until he had run out of options.

And that’s when he stumbled upon Nica Robbie.

He doesn’t need to elaborate her in his mind as the world stopped when she appeared.

Sadly, he wasn’t the only one who had this experience when they first saw her.

Her effect on him had been so impactful that he had based his own creation on her image and likeness. Even long after he had last seen her, she was still ingrained in his fantasies. In his twisted machinations, if Nica was god herself, then the object sleeping on his bed was the messiah.

In his mind he openly admits that she had become a toxic obsession.

And that this obsession became his mistake.

He promised himself that the last time he did the video scheme would be the last;

Considering how close he was at being caught.

Thankfully he had a trump card during those times in the form of Yukino’s affection towards him, which he was well aware of and was ruined when Yukino refused him. But because his feelings towards Nica were already bursting at the seams and he had no way of getting closer to her without fumbling his words or tripping on his actions, he had to find another way to get his fix. And thus he reverted back to his old ways.

To add to the turmoil, for some strange reason, Aida also expressed her feelings for him when they went out that night at the races.

As much as he wanted to hide it. Neil “is” a virgin. And at that night, with her kiss, he thought it might've been the night. But Aida snapped back to her senses and pushed him away, as she gave him the most ridiculous excuse of mistaking him for someone else, which was something that drove him mad enough that he almost did something unspeakable to her that night with her only saving grace being her modest pepper spray that she kept near her bedside.

He walked away that night feeling confused and angry which motivated him more to push through with his plan.

He’d only know that Aida was telling the truth when she saw her and Denzo in a romantic pose a few weeks later, barely hiding behind the trees near Little Edgar’s, which angered him more, but by that time his plan was already in place.

He had already manipulated Nica to take his camera pen and distracted her enough in class so that she’d forget to return it to him after school and thus bringing it home to capture her intimate moments. He felt pride with his twisted accomplishments that in hindsight, he knew he got cocky when he decided to reveal it to the school. His overconfidence and hubris clouding his judgment as he forgot that he does not have Yukino’s graces this time around, which led to his downfall.

‘Another ten grand.’ He muttered again as he kept fiddling with the program, tuning his head to look back to see Layla still peacefully sleeping, sweetly smiling at her gentle face, knowing he had finally acquired the beauty that he wanted.

It was a painful realization for him when he saw everything that he worked so hard on, the relationships that he built around himself, crumbling from his grasp. And as he prepared to disappear from everyone’s lives, he thought of one last action to salvage the last laugh.

Since in his mind he figured; If he can’t have all, then no one can.

Denzo played him for a fool. Made a girl he had eyes for, fall for him. Befriended all of his friends and turned them against him. Made the places he called home away from his dreadful house as his own, stealing them away and leaving him homeless.

So he thought to get rid of it all.

And he did. He had successfully burnt down Jack and Barry’s. And with the way he had left messages in Nica’s inbox, he was sure they were fighting about it now. He knew how much they treated her like a princess and was sure they’d be dividing themselves over protecting her or not and in his mind that little group he built up to surround himself with will now wither in his absence, leaving Denzo with none.

But with all those plans having been accomplished there was still a single tidbit of his self proclaimed legacy that still remained. He remembered clearly how he had helped Tisha and Yukino in acquiring that place and sprucing it up to be their headquarters, though he knew he had already broken the spirits of those who reside in it, as the completionist that he is, he still yearned to destroy the physical representation of his time there.

He doesn’t have a plan yet, but he isn’t in a rush.

Because he was sure that it was inevitable. That the parochial will burn.

He stares at his screen with a smile as he sees the number displayed that indicates his bank account. He had only spent the morning on his computer, doing things that he shouldn’t be doing and already he had enough to buy Layla some clothes.

To put it specifically. The designer ones.

Enough to fill the other half of his closet.

He looks at his backpack computer and caresses the transmitter that he installed on it, still using the access codes that the detectives have given him to mine data. But ever since the street race chaos that happened some time ago, his connections to the police bureau and the school had been cut off. Luckily the access codes that were given to him were powerful enough to bypass any high level security firewalls, granting him access to different company accounts.

Bank accounts.

But even though the codes allow him unlimited access, there was a limitation.

It was an impressively smart limitation as the codes would only imitate a debit card when accessing databases and making transactions the only risky thing he had to so to set up his little piggy bank was to get a legitimate bank account himself to transfer funds into but nonetheless it was enough to get him through without getting work.

And now that he was done with the menial and tedious task of acquiring funds, he can finally get on with his day, as he activates Layla’s senses, and wakes her up. Sipping the last ounces of coffee from his mug as he caressed the sensor on her nape.

‘Mmm… Good Morning Master.’ She said as her groggy tone simulates her wake up procedure.

‘Good morning Layla. It’s time to get up. We’re going shopping today.’