In an unknown place, a girl rested in bed, just before awakening…

  “Uhmmm? Kana murmured when she awoke and looked around the place. She was in bed, pretty comfortable. The room was white and was full of all sorts of gadgets, tools, leads, and machines. Some of them were computer like, but others were unrecognizable for someone like her. She saw Paul, sitting asleep on a nearby chair. She tried to stand up, but an intense pain made her realize she had an IV in her arm, providing her with hospital serum.

  “Where... I am?” She mumbled while she continued scanning the place left and right.

  “In the medical wing of the Rescue team #01 aircraft” A soft, feminine childish boy replied as she asked.

  “I see…” Kana looked silently at the place again “Wait, who is talking?!” She shouted when she realized there was no one there. The voice in question was a bit monotonous yet clear, as if words were directly spoken to her mind.

  “That was Airis,” a new voice replied while opening the door. It was a middle-aged woman, wearing a lab coat and glasses resting in her long hair. “It’s the intelligence that controls the aircraft”, added without a hint of emotion.

  As she approached the bed, she hit sharply Paul in the back of his neck, awakening him abruptly.

  “Ahhhhh!” The just awakened one left a scared screech “Why did you do that, Eli? “He reproached.

  “I told you to call me Doctor Hopkins in front of strangers” She ordered him with forcefulness. Then, she sighed and pointed her finger to Kana.

  “Kana? Oh, you’re finally awake” He tried without success to act like he hadn’t been peacefully sleeping all this time. Doctor and Kana looked down in disappointment.

  “Excuse me, doctor. Why am I here? Kana asked curiously.

  “They brought you here because your Stigma had gotten out of control, and we’ve been stabilizing it again” She replied distracted while looked and scrolled a tablet.

  “I understand…” Kana tensed her hands and grabbed the sheets of the bed tightly. She finally remembered the events before she passed out. The masked guy, the Mark on her back and diffuse images of an unknown girl appearing in the middle of the battlefield before her sight was lost.

  “Do you see know? I told you I would rescue you again” Paul showed off with an out of place pride as he tapped his chest.

  “Look who is talking” The Doctor hit Paul again in the same place. Then, she looked at her tablet for a few seconds and turned back to the patient “Your vital signs are stable, but your Stigma still needs some more treatment” She said as she took the IV on Kana’s arm, letting her be free “You are going to need to stay here with us for a while”.

  “Alright…” Kana lost her sight on the floor. She thought about what that meant. She was going to be far away from her family, after all that had happened in the last few days, and that was already enough to be depressed. But it didn’t end there. Being Marked was going to irreversibly change her life forever. She still didn’t understand what it was exactly going to happen, neither she knew much about the Corruption stuff, but in a short time it had been evident that nothing was ever going to be the same for her. She raised her head again, seeing Paul warmly looking at her—At least I won’t be alone—she thought. Later, she smiled and turn back to the doctor again. “Thank you for everything you have done for me”

  “It’s my job” She gave her a warm smile, distinct from her previous cold behaviour. “Paul, escort her through the aircraft while Airis shows it to her” She ordered, changing the mood of the room.

  “At your command” replied Paul strongly, raising his arm like a soldier at duty would. When the doctor had already left the room, he looked at Kana and pinched his chin, thinking about something

  “Why does Airis have to show her around and not me?” He reluctantly wondered.

  Paul grabbed Kana hand to help her get off the bed, which was a bit high. She stood up without trouble and so they left the medical room. As she crossed the door, a giant window grabbed her attention. The views were not fantastic, since all she could see were clouds, clouds and more clouds, but she was surprised by the altitude they were flying at.

  “I hope you’re not afraid of heights” Airis said shortly after.

  “Don’t worry, I like them” Kana replied while she got her view engrossed into the scenery.

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  “Alright. [Updating user preferences. Keep windows open and visible]” Airis replied in a sudden burst of computational-like speech.

  “Huh? She stopped speaking like a human” Kana noticed.

  “She sometimes does that” Paul said without concern “I guess not even Elizabeth can make an unflawed machine”.

  “I’m not flawed. I was configurated by Doctor to stop displaying human language when configurating internal settings” Airis replied like if she had got a child huff. Then, a bunch of holograms in form of squares started to appear live on the aisle, taking Kana off guard.

  “[Updating user opinion. Opinion lowered by 1. Current score: 91 out of 100]”. Airis voice accompanied the flashy panels.

  “Hey, that’s not fair, but at least is still over 90” Paul joked while letting off a soft laugh.

  “Is that a good score?” Kana asked as she overheard the unusually odd talk.

  “Paul has the lowest rating on the aircraft. Including user Kana”

  “How is that possible? You didn’t even talk to her yet” Paul crossed his arms in disagreement.

  “She’s pretty and well behaved, unlike others. Cuteness score: 100 out 100” Airis returned to her usual childish voice.

  Kana felt flattered, but at the same time was confused about how her reaction should have been— “This is surely a strange robot…”—She kept to her mind.

  Paul sighed while closing his eyes. “Anyways, we should keep going”.

  They walked through a short aisle, no long before they arrived somewhere.

  “This is the next destination, the dining room.” Airis cheerfully announced. The doors open automatically when they were near enough. Kana saw someone that caught her attention. It was a girl. A little girl, sitting on a chair near to the dining table. She wasn’t doing anything other than staring mindlessly at some paintings that were displayed on the walls. She looked so little, yet her face completely expressionless. She noticed the pair and turned her hair to look at them, with the same blank face, not saying a single word. She reminded Kana of her sister, Alma. Even though the difference in behaviour would be abysmal, they both looked of a similar age, between 8 to 10 years she bet, and just irradiated the same pure innocence in their eyes.

  “Woah, Celine, didn’t know you were here” Paul claimed just when he got in.

  “Doctor sent Celine to dining room to greet new guest.” She replied without a hint of emotion, like how a soldier would report the progress of a welfare operation. Kana also noticed how she expressed herself, as if “Celine” was a different person, instead of using I.

  “That is certainly considerate from her” Paul laughed. “She is Kana, she’s going to be around for a while”.

  Celine nodded and disconnected from the conversation, returning to the fun and exciting activity of staring at the same picture uninterrupted. Kana looked at the painting. It depicted the figure of a woman wearing a dross and a straw hat, walking through a mountain. She tried her best to see what was so interesting about it, but couldn’t.

  “Is this little girl someone you also rescued?” Kana finally found the courage to ask.

  “Celine? No way. Don’t be deceived by her looks” Paul left out a soft laugh.

  “Celine is the most proficient member of the team” Airis added” She has successfully completed 21 out of the total 43 Rescue Team #01”.

  “What???” Kana was visibly on shock even after covering her mouth with her right hand.

  “Yeah, what? How can there be 43 missions if I just completed the number #42” Paul couldn’t believe Airis words but in a different way of Kana.

  “Celine completed mission number #43 while you were on duty”

  “It can’t be!” Paul got on her knees in resignation.

  “That’s an odd reaction for someone that couldn’t complete mission #42 on his own” A voice interrupted the conversation of the trio. She opened the door and walked stylishly until she was in front of Kana. “I’m Lariat Ehrenfest Nagelheim, the person who saved you... and this weakling’s ass” She stated rhythmically.

  “Uhmm, thank you miss…” Kana couldn’t remember the name Lena just had muttered.

  “We all call her Lena, including Eli and Airis, so just call her by that” Paul explained while he was standing up. “And I believe using surnames is a disrespect when neither Celine nor I have one.” He casually said as if it was something usual.

  “Hmpp” Lena grinded her teeth. “Do as you wish, peasant” She crossed her arms and left while mumbling some inaudible curses.

  Kana walked her leave until she remembered something “Wait!... Uhmm…I’m Kana, ehrmm” She tried to tell her. Lena waved a hand before disappearing into the aisle.

  “As lovely as usual” Paul sighed.

  Kana kept wondering for a moment…—Wait, how come the don’t have surnames? —she realized.

  Paul grabbed Kana’s wrist to prevent her from spacing out longer. “Hey, I still have to show you your room”.

  They walked a bit more through the aisle and reached what seemed like a conference room. There was a big round table, with some seats distributed over a half circumference, in front of a desktop with a huge screen behind. The room connected directly to a narrower aisle. At both of sides of the aisle, there was multiple doors with nameplates. As the walked past them, Kana read the names of the known crew members she had been meeting. She could see, in order, Celine and Lena on the left ones and Alice, Paul on the right ones.

  “Alice? Who is that” She thought but couldn’t find the courage to ask Paul.

  “This is yours, next to Celine” Airis said while making the doors emit some kind of light. It opened automatically.

  “Well, feel free to explore it. I’ll return to mine” Paul told her with a bit of exhaustion in his voice.

  “Thank you, Paul. See you later” Kana smiled at him. Paul waved goodbye and left, entering his close by room.

  Kana entered hers. It was a bit small, but it had everything she need. There was a desktop, a considerably big wardrobe, some drawers and a bed. She also could see that a big chunk of her things from home had already been put there, which relieved her in some way. Kana opened the wardrobe and got instantly on the nerves—What kind of monkey has ordered this? —she thought. She spent a while reorganizing her clothes, until it was exactly as she wanted.

  When she finished, Kana couldn’t do anything other than throwing herself into the bed. She stretched her legs and arms, looking at the ceiling. Countless thoughts started to wander her mind.

  “Mom. Dad. Alma. I’m okay. Just wait for me”

  “I will do my best”

  “I will work hard”

  “Kana Haruki never gives up”

  After that, she closed her eyes.

  Soon, she fell asleep.