Hi guys! Here's the new chapter!

I'm not sure if you guys have noticed in the last chapter, that Erika had a different last name. There is a reason for that and it will come up in the next 2-3 chapters! Enjoy.

Also another note. Erika started her year in SFIT during the summer. SO she's a bit ahead of some students.

Thank you for thoes who have began to follow and favorite this story! I really appreciate it! And hope I can get some comments and reviews on what I can fix and do to make this story better!

Enjoy!

-CTS TT-TT

Code 4: Another normal day

"Yossha, it's made." The red hair women told the maroon hair girl in her lap. The two stared at laptop screen showing the computer codings. "Now, Erika what are you going to name it?" she asked.

"hm…" The girl took a moment to think, then she turned to the women with a bright smile, "Hajime!" She told her, "She's Erika's first project, so Hajime!"

The woman smiled and patted her head, "Alright, Hajime it is." She leaned back on the couch and hugged the girl, "Erika, you have to take care of Hajime from now. She's still an egg, you have to raise her and help her grow," She explained, gently running her hand through the girl's hair, "Do you think you can do that?"

"Yeah!" The girl confidently replied with a grin. "Erika can do it!"

~*~ SFIT Erika's Lab

It was a week since Erika decided to work on a new project, and everything felt like a normal day. Erika walked around her lab sorting and cleaning through the bookshelves and desks that remained cluttered with a strawberry wafer stick in her mouth. Once she was done cleaning up all the clutter, she sat down on her chair and nibbled on a new wafer stick from the tin can beside her as she began going through some books and articles. She sighed as she reached for another wafer as she wrote notes, but her hand touched the bottom of the can. Pulling out her hand, she looked down only to see the empty void inside with a few crumbs.

Slowly getting up, she walked over to the closet in the corner. Opening the door, she revealed a collection of candies and sweet treats; but nowhere in sight was there a can of wafers. Letting out another a deep sigh, Erika took her wallet and coat, walking over to the door.

"I'm going to-"

"No!" Hajime yelled appearing before her with her hands stretched out to block her path, "You're eating too much, Mama! That was your ninth can this week and it's only Tuesday!" she exclaimed indicating the small pile of empty wafer cans behind them, "All this sugar consumption is not good for your health!"

"Eh? But sugar helps me think…"

"Then take an alternative like gum!" Hajime reprimanded.

"But I hate gum…" Erika muttered.

"You shouldn't complain! You also have other snacks."

"I'm in the mood for wafers!"

Hajime sighed, "You haven't even started your proposal for your new project, you should continue work!"

"It's fine, I won't be gone for long-" Erika tried to walk around Hajime but Hajime blocked her with the drones.

"No!"

"Why?!"

The two continued arguing, oblivious to Tadashi, who walked in to check in on Erika.

"It's my freedom!" Erika exclaimed.

"You need to watch your calories! Ritsu-san even told you if you continue eating this much every day, you'll get fat!" Hajime pointed out.

"I exercise!"

"Guys…" Tadashi called out. But the two girls continued to argue.

"You need to work!"

"Mou! I want my wafers!"

"Mama! Quite whining!" Hajime suddenly pointed towards Tadashi, "I'm sure Tadashi-san agrees as well!" she yelled dragging him in to the conversation.

"What?"

Erika pouted, "I need them to concentrate… so I just-"

"No!"

"Why…?" Erika slightly puffed her cheeks and crossed her arms, looking to the side. Hajime let out a deep sigh. Tadashi stood in the room completely confused.

"What's going on…?" He asked the AI.

"Mama is just having her tantrums," She told him, "She's been in a slump again, so she's just been mindlessly eating snacks the past few days…" Hajime glanced at the chalkboard left to the side of the room, the board completely blank besides the one word 'ideas' in capital letters, "and because of that she hasn't gotten anywhere on her new project…" Hajime muttered. Hajime turned to her creator to find her squatting, poking at the ground still pouting, "Curse her sugar addiction."

"Does this happen often?" Tadashi asked.

"Sadly, yes," Hajime told him, "But she'll get over it soon."

Hajime walked over to Erika and squatted down to her, "Come on, Mama. Sitting here all day won't get you anywhere."

Erika glanced at Hajime for a moment before letting out a sigh, "Fine," She muttered giving up.

Hajime smiled at her victory and got up, "Yay! Then let's get back to work. I know you have some lollipops somewhere," She told her. Erika nodded and got up stretching her arms and turned to Tadashi.

"Hey…" she greeted him with a slight blush. Tadashi smiled at her.

"Hey," He greeted, "I see you two get along well…"

"Haha… yeah… sorry. Did we bother you?" Erika asked slowly going back to her quiet self.

"No, don't worry about it." He glanced at the board, "Still haven't found an new angle?"

"Ah- yeah…" She replied, "I just haven't-" The two were cut off when a sudden ringing filled the room.

"It's Ritsu-san," Hajime told Erika.

"Oh," Erika turned to Tadashi, "Sorry, I need to take this." She turned to Hajime, "Answer."

Suddenly, the room slightly darkened and light gathered in the center of the room creating Ritsue to appear.

"Rika, Hajime-chan. How are you guys?" Ritsue asked with his usual smile. Erika smiled at her brother.

"Hi, Ritsu-nii. And you know, the usual." Erika replied walking over to clean up her desk, "Free and single, ready to mingle." She added.

"Hm… I see- no. no!" Ritsu exclaimed, "No mingling!" He told Erika.

"Come on, Ritsu-nii." Erika fake whined.

"No! I'm not giving away my baby sister anytime soon!"

Erika let out a laugh, "I'm joking, Ritsu-nii," She assured. "So why are you calling? Is Teito having problems?" she asked referring to Ritsue's holographic pet cat.

"No, just checking in on you. Haru told me you decided to start a new project. How's that going?"

Erika gave an uneasy shrug to her brother.

"Not so well, I see…" Ritsue glanced at then books and notes on her desk, and caught the pile of empty wafer cans, "Rika, what did I say about consuming too much sugar?"

"Eh- well…" Erika laughed uneasily.

"Geez, it's a miracle that you and Tatsuya are diabetic yet." Ritsue muttered, "Too much sugar will damage your brain you know."

"I know," Erika replied. "But I'm fine," Ritsu sighed and reached over to pat her head despite being a hologram.

"Take care of yourself more, Rika." Ritsue begged, "I'm just worried."

Erika smiled at her brother and nodded, "Alright, Ritsu-nii. I'll try to cut back on a few things." Ritsue smiled back at his sister.

"Okay, that's good enough." He told her, "Just make sure…." Ritsue's voice trailed off when he noticed Tadashi standing on the other side of him, "Rika… who this person-"

"Calm down-"

"I was serious about no mingling," He strictly told her.

"Ritsu-nii!" Erika yelled stopping him, "He's a friend! He's also the one who helped me." She told him pulling Tadashi over, "Tadashi, this is my brother, Ritsue. Ritsu-nii, this is Tadashi." She introduced the two praying Ritsue would behave. "There, now you know each other…" Erika stated hoping her brother would drop the overprotectiveness along with the awkward silence, but Tadashi beat him to it.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Tadashi Hamada." Tadashi introduced himself. Ritsue raised an eye at Tadashi and observed him.

"Ritsu-nii," Erika called in a warning tone. Ritsu looked at his sister, who raised an eye at him. Giving in, Ritsu stood up straight.

"Like wise." He told him with a smile, but his eyes were dark, telling Tadashi "I'm watching you…"

"Uh…"

"Well, I got to get back to work," Ritsue stated turning back to his sister, "Take care, Rika, Hajime-chan."

"Hai~!" Erika replied.

"Oh and Don't forget to keep your schedule open next Thursday!" Ritsue reminded. "Don't put anything in for that day!"

"I know, it's right here," Erika told him tapping on her calendar where the 18th was circled.

"Alright, bye."

"Bye!" Hajime waved.

Erika waved at her brother, "Bye, Ritsu-nii."

The call ended and the apparition of Ritsu vanished. One the room light up again, Erika let out a awkward laugh.

"Sorry about that…" she apologized, "Ritsu-nii isn't a bad person… he's just-"

"Overprotective?" Tadashi finished.

"Yup." Erika replied popping the p at the end. Again, the room was filled with awkward silence.

"Hey-" "Um-"

The two spoke at once, but quickly closed their mouths.

"Sorry, You go ahead." Tadashi told her.

"No, it's fine. You can go first."

"No-"

"But-"

Hajime cut in between the two, "How about your two just start heading to class?" She suggested, "That's why you came here in the first place, right?" She asked Tadashi. Tadashi blushed and scratched the back of his head trying to hide his embarrassment.

"Eh?"

"Well-"

"Just go," Hajime had the drones push out the two out of the room again and shut the door. She let out a huff and crossed her arms, "Mou, mama is too slow sometimes," she muttered.

Erika sighed as she walked down the hallway and dropped her head. She continued mumbling to herself about her project as she tilted side to side.

"You okay?" Tadashi asked.

"Somewhat…" she stretched her arms, "But It would be great if inspiration would hit me like a bus…" She added.

Just as she said that, a door flew open smacking Erika right in the face. Tadashi stared at the girl in shock as she stepped back slowly, holding her face.

The student who opened the door looked over to see what the door hit to find Tadashi slightly panicking as he asked if the maroon hair girl was alright, while she just stood in silence.

"Erika, are you okay?!"

"Oh- gosh- sorry!"

Erika put her hand out, "No… I'm okay…" She assured in a small voice, her other hand covering her face still. "I've been through worst…" she added, but let out a small "ow".

Despite the whole panic in the hallway, Erika managed to get away with just a bruise on her forehead and continued her way to class. She deeply sighed as she rubbed her head.

"Are you sure you don't need to see a doctor or go home?" Tadashi asked.

"I'm fine. Being hit by a door isn't as bad as having a titanium drone fly rammed in to the back of the head and crashing to the floor head first," She told him recalling the worse pain from a few weeks ago.

"Alright… if you say so." He glanced at Erika as she walked in deep thought. She began to mumble to herself again, talking about what her next project should be about. But none of the ideas seem to catch her attention. "Maybe you should take a breather," Tadashi suggested, "If you keep brooding over an idea, it'll never get one."

"Yeah… I guess…" Erika responded sounding a bit reluctant. She brushed back some of her bangs, still in deep thought.

"It's only the beginning of freshman year. You should ta?ke a moment to look around and take a breath." He told her.

"Yeah…" Erika responded before heading to classroom.

Class passed by quickly as Erika spent most of the time dozing in and out of the lecture, while she noted down some things that caught her attention. Once the professor dismissed the class, she packed up her notes and walked out to head back to her lab. But she stopped noticing the one person she wanted to see least.

In the halls, the woman stood with her usual frown and sharp blue glare directed towards Erika. Students went around her in fear, afraid to even look at her. Erika mentally sighed and approached her with a fake smile.

"… Mother," She began, "What brings you here?" she asked.

"I left a message on your phone stating I would be checking in," her mother responded coldly.

"Ah, I apologize. I haven't checked-"

"I didn't ask for your excuses," She cut Erika in a harsh tone. "I don't have all day, so take me to what you have to show."

Erika's fake smile didn't falter, but her grip on her bag strap tightened, "…yes."

Erika headed to her lab, leading the woman behind her hoping not many would be in the lab at the moment. She opened the door to her personal lab letting the woman in first. The woman took a few glances around the space and let out a deep sigh.

"For someone who hardly comes home from school, you have nothing done." She scoffed, "What have you been doing all summer?"

"I'm working on a new project, so my old project is right now on hold," Erika explained.

The woman huffed at her, "So you've wasted time and money." She looked over to Erika's desk, eyeing the photograph.

"Is that all you need?" Erika asked praying she would leave soon. She felt her patience wearing thinly.

"Why don't you give up already," The women suddenly said, "If you're just going to continue wasting time chasing after a childish dream, you-"

"I refuse," Erika stating letting some of her anger slip.

"What?"

"I would prefer it if you wouldn't decide my life." She stated, "If you're just here to but in my life, please leave."

The woman glared at the girl, "Erika, you-!"

Before the woman could say anything more, there was a knock on the door.

"Oi, Erika. Are you in here?" They heard Haru call. The woman dropped her glare and turned to the door.

"Go open the door," she commanded, "I'm going home."

Erika walked over to the door and opened it widely, hoping her mother would just vanish.

"Hey, Professor Awai…" Erika greeted. Before she could say any more, the woman walked past Erika.

"We'll finish this talk when you return home." She whispered bitterly and stormed off. Watching the woman quickly vanish from her sight, Erika let out a deep groan leaning against the door.

"Thanks for saving me, Haru." She said.

"What are you going to do when you go home? From the looks of it, it's going to be messy."

Erika smirked and walked back to her laptops. "Who said anything about going off." She dropped in to her desk chair and spun around. "This day couldn't get any worse…" she muttered.