"I've heard that you two have been extorting money from the people outside," a tall man with a cold expression glared at two cops who lowered their heads and hunched their backs in front of him. Their face was that of terrified men as if they were facing a monster that could swallow them whole.
"W—We are sorry, chief," they said in unison.
"I will give you two extra midnight patrol around Neo Yokto for the next five days as a punishment, but one more time I heard you two were extorting money from the citizen, then I will make sure to feed your body to wild mutt and let them mangle you alive," the man said.
These two cops were not stupid enough to ignore this warning. This man was well known to be the demon chief of the police department. He was as cruel to his subordinates as he was cruel to the criminals.
"Yes, Chief Ito! We are sorry!" the two cops lowered their back to a ninety-degree angle, and finally, Chief Mamoru Ito released them.
After that massacre that killed almost half of Neo Yokto population, the metropolis needed ten years to finally regained its former glory as of the country's capital city. The massacre created distrust towards machines and androids. People were scared that those robots and androids would go rampage one more and did the same thing again in the future.
However, there was one hero that stood above all. He was a man with a slender figure, long white hair, and rimless glasses. He was quite handsome but looked very weak. He was the hero of Neo Yokto, Sakuma Hoshino.
After Sakuma saved Neo Yokto, he used the rest of his androids to help the wounded get treated and helped the government rebuild the city. However, after the city had been successfully rebuilt, Sakuma disappeared for about one year.
Once he returned to Neo Yokto, he demanded the position of the police force's new commissioner. The government was a bit reluctant to give him such a powerful position, but the people in Neo Yokto hailed him as the hero of humanity. Thus the government had to yield and gave him the new role as police commissioner.
However, despite his lean stature and frail-looking body, Sakuma was not a lenient and generous commissioner. He controlled the city with an iron fist. He would deliver punishment justly to both criminals and cops.
Thus, Neo Yokto became a very secure yet somewhat monotonous city. There were no more dangerous alleys, gang members that would stop people, and no more vigilante in Neo Yokto. All due to Sakuma efficiently used all his androids to patrol the city. The case of police abusing their authority was almost non-existent after Sakuma became the commissioner.
After Mamoru sent his subordinate out, he got a call from his commissioner. Mamoru opened his phone, and the hologram of thirty-three years old Sakuma was in sitting in a familiar chair, "Did you handle those young cops well?"
"Yes, master, they have been disciplined. I will make sure this is the last time they would extort money from the citizen," Mamoru said obediently to Sakuma.
"Good, you must make sure that the police force stays clean," Sakuma commanded.
"Yes, master!"
Sakuma hung up the call, and he rested on the sofa where he and Amano-San would often spend their time together. Not long after he ended the call, a man came with a plate of miso soup and chicken for Sakuma.
"Sakuma, go drink this first. You are already thirty-three this year, don't overwork yourself."
Sakuma smiled at his loved one, and he sat on the sofa. His loved one gently spoon-feeding him, which warmed Sakuma's stomach, "Thank you so much, Amano-San."
"Sigh, now that Neo Yokto has been very secure, I've lost my job as a vigilante," Yukio untied his apron and let Sakuma snuggled in his chest. "Now, all I'm doing is being a good housewife or househusband in this case."
"At least we can spend more time, right?" Sakuma giggled, and he buried his face deep on Amano-San's warm chest.
But no matter how long he snuggled with this version of Amano-San, there was still something missing. No matter how much he tried to recreate Amano-San, he couldn't get the same warmth and comfort as the real Amano-San.
After Neo Yokto had been rebuild, Sakuma was holed up in his lab and tried to create another perfect android with all data of Amano-San's memory, emotion, behavior, and action. He also made a new version of Mamoru in the process.
The last thing, he created a new AI called L0-V3. This AI was tasked with maintaining his new lab and the androids that patrolled the city, but he tweaked it to make sure that it didn't act like W41-FU.
He stationed Mamoru as the new police chief in Neo Yokto, and he did his job with passion and integrity, just like what the real Mamoru Ito would do.
Meanwhile, he stationed Amano-San to stay with him… forever.
The perfect android Yukio Amano was so real that Even Sakuma couldn't differentiate this android from the long-gone Amano-San. But whenever he snuggled with this version of Amano-San, he still couldn't fill the emptiness in his heart.
He stared at Amano-San, who was smiling at him. His heart ached whenever he remembered that day he lost his loved one.
"This is not you, Amano-San. This android is not you…" Sakuma said.
Yukio looked puzzled, "What do you mean? I'm here."
Sakuma chuckled when Amano-San said that. He intentionally put Amano-San's setting to think that he was a real human and not an android.
"It's okay, Amano-San. I was just thinking about old memories… that I keep dearly," Sakuma said while continue snuggling with Amano-San's perfect replica.
***
Sakuma was on his deathbed at the age of eighty-five. He refused to use a bionic chip or turned himself into an android to prolong his life. Because he wanted to see whether heaven was real or not, he wanted to meet his loved one, the real Amano-San.
He already set the setting for Mamoru to be an immortal police chief. He already created a perfect android replica of himself, so he would be an immortal commissioner and maintained the justice in Neo Yokto forever.
L0-V3 circled around its master and asked, "Master, your heartbeat is slowing down. What task you want me to do after your death?"
"Maintain my lab and the justice in Neo Yokto… forever," Sakuma ordered in his last breath.
"Confirmed. Justice shall be maintained forever in Neo Yokto."
***
Sakuma opened his eyes, and he was floating in an infinite space with floating numbers around. It was like that vintage film he saw once, The Matrix.
He was stuck inside a sphere until a man appeared out of thin air in front of him. He was an exquisitely handsome man with long black hair but terribly pale skin as if he was a dead man.
"Welcome, Sakuma Hoshino," he said.
Sakuma didn't react. He just inspected the man with his peering gaze, then asked, "Where is this? And where is Amano-San?"
"We are inside my prison, the realm where Amano-San, or should I say… Bai Yunyu chained me forever," the man said, his lips perked up, "Yukio Amano's real name is Bai Yunyu, and he is alive. He is currently in another world."
The man opened his hand and created a sphere out of thin air. It showed a handsome man in a suit being tied up, but his face flushing, as if he was intoxicated.
"Do you want to meet him again?"
"Yes," Sakuma said. He knew that he was powerless against this person, knowing the kind of magic he could do in front of his eyes. As long as he could meet Amano-San again, he didn't care about anything else.
"Very cooperative, good," the man smiled as he turned Sakuma's sphere into a small bead, then swallowed them. The moment he ate Sakuma's soul, the man's skin got ruddier. He felt more alive.
"Until we meet again, Bai Yunyu."