Chapter 4: Training, Digging, And Thievery! Part One

Ai made her way to the supermarket only to find a group of teens out front causing a problem. "Hey, hey! What do we have here? Why is a pretty little thing like you with a pig like this?"

Ai frowned when she saw the five young men. They were all around seventeen to nineteen years old and they were actually harassing two of her classmates. Sighing Ai decided to help. She was only helping because they were blocking the shopping cart she needed. Ai looked around and found a brick on the ground. She picked it up and walked out from behind the tree. She was not confident that she would be able to defeat them all easily but if anything she could at least injure one or two and let the boy and girl escape while she had the young men's' attention. With her mask covering her face she had no need to worry about people finding out who she was.

Ai walked up as if it was the most normal thing to do. In her past life, she learned one thing. If you were going to take someone's life to gain the food that they had you act friendly at first so they will put their guard down a little and wait for an opening so you can attack. "Hey, guys what's going on! I told you to meet me at the restaurant!"

Ai stood behind the group of young men with her hands behind her back hiding the brick she was carrying. The young men all turned around to see the little girl standing there staring at them through the two cut out holes in her beanie. Seeing the black cloths and black mask pulled down over her head with only her hair sticking out caused the young men to burst out laughing. "Hahah! What is this!? Are you a fucking superhero!? Hey, little lady how about this. This big brother will teach you what it means to become a woman. How about it? From what I see you have a nice body. So even if your face is ugly, it doesn't matter, this big brother will do you right."

"Oh? Does big brother really wish to do me right? Then come here and teach this little sister what you mean. I do not understand." Ai spoke innocently causing the young man's eyes to brighten real quick. With a big smile on his face, he turned to his friends and said: "Sorry guys it seems I have a date tonight so pleas..."

*Bam!*

"Oops! My hand slipped! Did you really think I would let a fucker like you touch me? Ba~ka!" Ai sneered under her mask and charged at the closest stunned young man with her brick in hand. Before he could even react he felt a sharp pain in the side of his head and everything became hazy as he stumbled to the side and fell to the ground.

"And here I thought this would be a tough fight. It seems you guys are just all talk!" She was truly surprised to see that these young men were nothing much when it came to fighting. In her past life teens of this age became fierce to the point that it was very hard to fight some of them off unscathed. She remembered once when she was seventeen two young men around her age tried to r*pe her in a convenience store while she was searching for food. She had really taken a beating at that time. She was punched in the face so many times she had lost count. Her eyes were both swollen and blood dripped from the corner of her mouth. They had even managed to rip her shirt off her body during the struggle. If it wasn't for the fact that she grabbed a hold of a metal pipe from the rubble, she would have been done for right then and there and ended up like many girls her age at that time.

---

Life was not fair during that time. You had to count on luck to survive. The world was truly lawless. Dead bodies rotted away in the streets. The smell was horrid at first but slowly you got used to it. The city streets truly became a breeding ground for flies as they nested in the bodies of the dead. Some of these bodies were killed by Machina while others by humans.

Ai this time was truly lucky. She swung the metal pipe in her hand and smashed it into one of the teen's heads cracking his skull. He fell to the ground and didn't even move. Ai used the pointy end of the pipe in her hand and stabbed the young man through the eye to make sure he was dead. His friend was angered by Ai's actions and attacked her but Ai was quick and dodged his attack while at the same time stabbing her pipe into the young man's chest. After she made sure both young men were dead she stripped one of them of their shirt and took whatever they had on them that was useful.

---

On a night like tonight where she was fighting against multiple enemies, she was glad she had the experiences of her past life, no matter how bad they were, to deal with the situation at hand. At first, she thought she might be troubled by the numbers but with how stupid they were she found it a little bit disappointing. She made sure to hold back. It was not the future yet. She did not want to end up in jail for killing someone. If she did, she would never survive in the future. Nor would she be able to save her family and friends.

"I suggest that the rest of you not try to attack me. Take your two friends and leave. The same goes for you two. Get out of here." Ai was dumbfounded that the boy and girl were still standing there like idiots. Didn't people know that when the knight in shining armor shows up you need to run for it, so you do not get caught up in battle? Ai made sure to commit these two idiots' faces to memory so she knew to use them as human shields later on in life if she ever came across them.

"You! What did you just do!?" One of the young men was confused as to what was happening, asked.

"Huh? What did I just do? Are you a fucking idiot? Why is there nothing but fucking idiots here tonight?" Ai was starting to get mad! She turned to the duo who had yet to leave and yelled: "Hey you two! Why the fuck are you still here? Do you want me to hit the two of you as well? I do not mind! Hell if you wish for these guys to do something to your girl I do not mind that either just take it elsewhere! Your blocking my way and wasting my fucking time!"

The teen girl and boy who Ai had just saved finally came out of their shock of what was happening and yelled "Thank you!" before running off. Seeing them leave Ai let out a sigh as she turned to the last three young men. "Why are you three still here? Take your friends and go! They're not dead but if you want them to be dead, keep standing there like fucking idiots while they bleed to death."

As if lightning struck them the three remaining young men suddenly bowed: "Onee-san thank you for going lenient on us!"

"Who's your onee-san? Get the fuck out of here!" Ai was both angry and amused. What was this some kind of high school drama or manga?

"Yes!" The young men quickly grabbed their friends and ran off.

Now that it was peaceful Ai rolled up her sleeve to look at the time. "Twenty minutes wasted… Looks like I will get less sleep tonight… For now, I can at least secure my shopping cart."

Ai walked up and grabbed one of the shopping carts that were placed outside. She found the one that had the best wheels so she could easily push it around before heading back towards her neighborhood. She did not plan to begin going to the stores any time soon. She would start with the neighborhood. Her main goal tonight was to find shovels and pickaxes. They would be needed for digging the next day.

She quietly pushed her shopping cart to the first street she planned to steal from. After hiding her cart, she crept into the yard of the first house with brick in hand. She decided to take the brick in case of any dogs or people for that matter that might catch her. She would rather knock the dog or person out than go to jail.

Her first target was a rather large house. She sat crouched behind a bush looking around for any security cameras. After not seeing any she quickly made her way to the back yard. The night was very quiet which meant Ai had to be even quieter. She had learned to walk very softly in her past life. If she didn't she would have easily notified the Machina of her position. Scouting the yard Ai found a few tools leaning up against a shed. Unfortunately, the shed was locked and she did not have tools to open it. She had to make do with the hoe and shovel she found outside.

After one more quick look to make sure she did not miss anything, she left to head the next house. She raided house after house, in the end, her first night out was not too bad. She gained three shovels, one hoe, and a sledgehammer. Although it would work well for digging the bunker she still needed more tools and many other items. When she finally made it home she quietly stored the tools in the room in the basement and stashed her shopping cart behind the shed in her backyard.

The next morning when she woke up she felt dead tired. Ai had forgotten that her current body was not as strong and resilient as it was in her past life. When you add up the long work out yesterday, plus staying up for half the night, three hours of sleep was just not enough.

"Ai, are you awake yet?" A familiar voice came from her window.

Ai opened the curtain to see Mai leaning out her window in her pajamas. "I am awake albeit reluctantly. Get dressed I will meet you downstairs. In twenty minutes."

"Alright!" Mai answered before going to get changed.

Seeing how she left the curtain open Ai frowned as she yelled over, "Close your curtain! Don't show the world your naked body!"

"Ahh!" was all you could hear followed by some crashing sounds as Mai quickly closed her curtain.

Chuckling, Ai shook her head and muttered "Must be nice to be so innocent."

After getting dressed and heading downstairs Ai was met with her mother handing her an apple and a milk box. Ai looked at her mother a bit confused since normally she would make a hot breakfast. As if knowing what Ai was thinking her mother said: "I heard you yelling over to Mai upstairs. So I figured you wouldn't have time to eat a full breakfast. Tomorrow I will make some breakfast sandwiches. Remember you promised to go to school today. I don't want to receive another call at work from your teacher. Also, why is your hair still such a mess!? And your clothes?"

"It's fine mom. Like I said yesterday I do not care what I look like nor do I care what anyone thinks of me. I am not at school to impress anyone. Even if I were to go out to play, I am not there to look for boys to have fun with. I prefer to stay low key." Ai did not want to attract too much attention to herself. She was rather good looking if she did not say so herself. So it was easier to ward off unwanted attention by getting looked at with eyes of disgust instead.

After saying her goodbyes to her mother Ai left the house to find Mai waiting by the gate. "We will head to school first and get put on the attendance list. Then we will head to the forest during first class change."

"Alright. That would probably be for the best." Mai agreed she did not want the school calling her house.

"Then let's get going!"