Mekakucity: Well, hopefully it will get happier (probs won't, I don't know, I don't want to give too much away), but yeah Shintaro's dad did leave and we probably won't be seeing him again. I also viewed the Kisaragi's father as like someone who chose favorites and Momo was his. I'd like to think that Shintaro's dad didn't really give him the time of day. And I'm glad you liked the scene! I kind of figured people would be doing that to Momo, even at a funeral. Thanks so much!

And thanks to Chiyo Chou, RubyRedSpiderLily, KeykaElric1, Ayari81, YueHamachi, Pendraco, thesky448, LovelySora, SonSon45, animefreak1980, , and naruto qweqe, for all the follows and favorites! It means a lot, but please, please review. I really want to know if I'm doing bad/good.

I apologize for this chapter being so short, but I thought this would be a good place to end.

Anyway, I hope you and enjoy and don't forget to review!

Ch.2 Artificial Enemy

Mary's p.o.v

Thinking of what be fun, or might be dumb…

Why had it been so long? Hadn't Shintaro promised to come get me right after I reset time? Now it had been two years to the day I did so and I would've never thought that things would be so… different. I still spent my days in the cottage hidden in the woods where no one could find me. With the exception of Seto of course, but no matter how much I willed for either him or Shintaro to come, they didn't.

What if something happened to Shintaro? What if he was trapped somewhere? What if he… what if he….

Died?

I had to do something! I know I've told myself this everyday and my fear from going out alone always stopped me in my tracks to the door, but now it was two years to the day of August 15th. It was time I faced my silly fear!

I stomped my way over to the door where my hand rested on the doorknob. Last time I went alone, it cost my mother's life… but, this was something I had to do! Taking a deep breath, I slowly creaked opened the door.

Peeking my head out, bright sunlight met my eyes. I will admit, outside was beautiful; the summer air shimmered, the trees and grass were vibrant green, and the sky was so blue without a cloud in sight. Taking a deep breath of the clear air, I slowly made my way outside.

I had to find my friends!

…

Ayano's p.o.v

I was a big sister and tried my best to…

"Ayano-chan, Ayano-chan!" The loud, cheerful (obnoxious) voice entered my ears I scrolled through a shopping website for Takane.

"What?" I asked as my eyes lazily flicked towards the AI on my screen. His white hair moved with the erratic movements of his arms and disappearing legs in excitement.

"They're having a two for one sale on extra strength sunscreen, we have to get some!" His pink eyes also widened in excitement.

"You know we don't need that, Konoha." I responded. Ah yes, Konoha, the AI that had come to us two years ago when Takane and I decided to become shut ins. At first it was just me that decided this lifestyle, but Takane decided to stay with me. She said it was because she couldn't go back to school because my father was still her teacher, but I overheard her talking to Konoha one time saying that she didn't want to leave me alone all the time since my siblings still went to school. I remember thinking Konoha would be something fun to keep around, but he ended up being a pain.

Flashback

"Should I change my email too?" I wondered out loud as I leaned back in my char in from of the computer. Thanks to Takane's helpful parents, my siblings and I were able to change our phones, but did that mean we had to change our emails too?

While I was contemplating, a new message popped up that said "Test Subject" sent from Unknown. Not even thinking about it, I opened the message to see that it asked me if I wanted to become a test subject for a new AI system. Again, not even thinking about it, I clicked yes.

The screen flashed white and emerged a small figure. He had white hair that slightly covered his large, pink eyes; he wore a white hoodie with yellow lining with sleeves that were extremely huge and went well past his hands, and he had black clad legs that disappeared after the knee.

"Thank you for opening me," his small figure bowed respectfully, "I am Konoha, your new AI."

"U-uh, I'm Ayano." I managed to choke out from my surprise.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Ayano-chan!" But before I could get another word out, Takane walked into the room.

"Ayano, what shou- what is that?"

"Uh," I dragged out, my eyes darting between the screen and Takane, "Takane, this is Konoha, and AI I just downloaded. Konoha, this is Takane, a friend of mine."

"Nice to meet you Takane-chan!" He greeted cheerfully.

"Who're calling chan?" She practically yelled back at the computer.

"S-sorry, Takane-san." He whimpered out as he his behind a folder icon. Takane nodded, as is in approval, but said,

"Is this okay that we have this thing now?"

"Don't worry," I smiled broadly up at her, "I bet he'll be fun to have around!"

End Flashback

Ha, boy was I wrong.

Konoha was more annoying than anything. He always messed with my files, made Takane mess up in her video games, hacked our phones, etc. Basically, caused issues for all of us.

"But what about for Tsubomi, Shuuya, and Kousuke?" He asked, tilting his head to the side.

"You know that Kousuke doesn't do well with water." I grimaced back, but said nothing else because I really didn't want to talk about my sibling's past.

"But, Ayano-chaaannnnn." He complained. I shut my eyes in aggravation and I could practically feel a vein pop in my forehead. Eventually, I couldn't handle is tantrum; I stood up from my chair and slammed my hands down on desk where the computer was located. Although, before I could get any angry words out that was piling in my brain, the vibration from me slamming my hands down caused an open soda on the same desk to knock over and spill all over the keyboard.

"Ah!" I yelled out, my eyes widening and my hands quickly coming off the desk in shock.

"Hurry, Ayano-chan. Get tissues, tissues!" Konoha exclaimed, once again waving his arms around frantically.

"R-right," I muttered out, coming out of my initial shock and quickly grabbed some to start drying the now sticky keyboard, "Please work, please work." I tried out every key, but the only ones that typed anything out were P, T, and O. Groaning loudly, I covered my hands over my face and sank low into my seat.

"At least you can still type something," Konoha tried to comfort me, "Like pot, or top, or…" But his words fell deaf to my ears as only once sentence came out my mouth.

"Takane is going to kill me."

"Ayano, what's going on?" Well, speak of the devil.

"Ayano-chan broke the keyboard!" Konoha answered for me, causing my head to snap up and shout accusingly back,

"It's your fault that the drink spilled onto it in the first place!"

"The keyboard won't work?" Takane asked confused. Most likely because of the shouting match going on between Konoha and I.

"I'm so sorry Takane!" I cried out while clutching onto her.

"I-it's ok," she choked out from my death grip on her and awkwardly patted me on the head, "Konoha can just look for a new one, we needed a better one anyway, that one was getting old. You'll do that, right Konoha?"

"Aye, aye captain!" He cheered before beginning his search.

…

"No luck," Konoha sighed while closing out of the internet, "The fastest shipping will be three days because of the holiday."

"And Tsubomi, Kousuke, and Shuuya aren't answering their phones." I also groaned out.

"But, I need to start practicing for my next tournament as soon as possible!" Takane cried out while shooting up from her seat on the couch.

"You could always go out yourselves and buy it." Konoha offered.

"Out…"

"Ourselves?" Both Takane and I tilted our heads to the side, questioning the ridiculousness of the proposition. We hadn't been out for two years (except for the occasional times where Takane had to leave for a gaming tournament) and he expects us to leave to buy a new computer?

"Come on," he pleaded, "It will be fun! Plus you don't know when the others are going to be back."

So, there we were; Takane was wearing black leggings, shoes, and a black and yellow jacket (that strangely resembled the one from the videogame that she and our friend made two years ago for the school fair), with her black headphones hanging around her neck. I had on a black sweater, skirt, and shoes with my red scarf wrapped around my necks and an earbud stuck in my ear to hear Konoha who was now in my phone.

"It's so hot." Takane complained while wiping her forehead.

"That's what you get for wearing practically winter clothes." Konoha chided. Relaying the words to her, it started an all-out shouting match between her and the AI.

Maybe this wasn't such a good idea.

…

Momo's p.o.v

Hey guys, look her, a crimson muffler I wrapped around me…

Sighing, I tightened my orange and black streaked hair into a side ponytail while my black eyes blinked lazily back at me in the mirror. I should probably touch up my roots soon… or maybe all together again, but… my manager might get mad, again.

A few months after Shintaro died, Mother fell deathly ill, so to help pay for the bills, I took up one of the scouts offer to become an idol. I absolutely hated it, so after a while, to mess with them, I completely changed everything about myself. I dyed my hair with black streaks, changed my wardrobe to only black and orange, wore dark makeup, and I even wore red contacts for a time. Of course, the contacts plan kind of fell through due the fact that my eyes already appeared red in photos. Naturally, the paparazzi weren't phased by it at all and not too long after, Mother died. My manager took me in, saying she "couldn't afford to lose such a catch like me" and the media ate it up. Saying I changed my image to honor my family… My whole god damn family.

Shaking my head to clear the memories out of my mind, I flipped the hood of my shot sleeved jacket to cover my face, slipped on my shoes, and crept down the winding spiral staircase. If I got caught going out, especially since they just released a new album of mine, I would be in so much trouble, but come on, I need a day just for myself without anyone following me around every once in a while.

Sometimes I can help but think that life would be so much simpler if Shintaro hadn't died.

…

Kido's p.o.v

"Are you positive that she has an "eye power", Kano?" I asked the blonde while slightly sighing and rolling my eyes at the name. It was that idiot's idea that we call ourselves by our last names while we were out on missions. It adds to the allusion or something like that.

"I've been following her for a while now, Kido," Kano, usually known as Shuuya, smiled largely, "I'm absolutely positive that she has an eye power. I've even deducted that it's a captivating ability."

My (for the moment) red eyes flicked over to the large gate where we stood in front of. Due to my… eye power, we weren't able to be seen by others. We were outside the house (*ahem* mansion) of Momo Kisaragi; a famous idol and the younger sister to a friend of Nee-chan's. When she finally came out, she looked a lot different then what she did on stage. Rather than her tight black, leather skirt, extremely dark makeup, orange, ripped shirt, and ridiculous high heels, she had her dark eyes downcast, almost hidden by her black, short sleeved hoodie, and had on black shorts and orange tennis shoes.

"I wonder where she's going." Seto (Kousuke) asked as we watched her pass by us.

"Well, I guess we'll find out." I replied while following her down the street.

"I wonder why she isn't taking a limo or something." Kano stated while he and Seto caught up with me.

"She's still a normal person, Kano," Seto reminded him, "She probably doesn't want to be bombarded by fans where she's going."

We fell silent as we continued to walk on. It felt weird following someone (an idol no less) because we thought she was like us, but Shuuya swore that there were people like us out there with eye powers since Takane-san had been sent to the heat-haze and came back just like us. Apparently, Momo Kisaragi was one of those people. It made me wonder if we were just following her because Shuuya had an unhealthy obsession with her, and is using this as an excuse to cover it up.

As we continued, I noticed that she was heading towards a large mall. I had never been inside the one she was going towards, mostly because Nee-chan and Takane-san bought everything online. That's also when I heard two familiar voices.

"We're not going to the damn amusement park!"

"Takane, please keep your voice down, people are going to start staring."

My head, along with Kano's and Seto's, snapped towards the two voices to see a familiar red scarf and black haired girl,

"Is that… Takane-san and Nee-chan?" Kano asked while tilting his head.

"What are they doing out?" Seto also asked.

"You two follow them," I instructed, also confused as to why they weren't at the house, "I'll continue to follow Kisaragi." The two nodded before taking off after the other pair while I turned to catch up to the idol. While I was doing so, I got the feeling that today was going to be a very interesting day.

Die it in madder of roses, so we can begin…

…

If there is any confusion, Konoha is supposed to look like what Ene did, except with white and yellow, rather than blue and white. Takane has no fear of going outside, which is why she still competes in tournaments, but still hardly ever steps actually outside. When she arrives to the events, she rushes inside and stays there. Ayano acts a bit different then what she does in the anime due to the fact that she has lived with Takane for two years and sees her basically 24/7. Momo has also changed due to the fact that she has now grown up bitter because of not having a family (no father, mother, nor brother). Takane and Ayano are on a first name bases with no honorifics also because of living with each other for two years and feel close enough to not have honorifics in their names with each other.

I do not own Mekakucity Actors/Kagerou Project; that belongs to Jin. This story is for entertainment only. English lyrics from Ayano's Theory of Happiness by Jubyphonics. Please review!