Kaito held Jia tightly and closed his eyes. He rested his chin on top of her small head and muttered some nice words that made Jia giggle cutely. They cuddled for a few minutes and then, Kaito asked Jia to take a bath and rest since she was more likely tired after what she had been through. He gave Jia a smile before leaving her room. Then, the little girl went to the bathroom. She remained absolutely impressed. That was the biggest bathroom she had seen. The walls were pastel pink and the furniture was sparkling white. On a wall, Jia saw a big mirror with a very stylish, black frame and neon pink LED lights beneath it that were giving her that cool, cyberpunk vibe. She looked at her reflection and saw how dirty she actually was. She sighed. She decided to take a bath quickly and wash her outfit. It was her favorite and she just felt like she was cool wearing it. She still was that adorable, little girl, with a round, dumpling face and reddish cheeks that nobody thought could ever be anywhere close to giving cool vibes. Because she wasn’t giving any. Yet…

After her warm bath, Jia just left her outfit in the bathtub and chose to wear something else. She opened the huge wardrobe and saw lots of clothes. Yet her eyes fell on a suit that looked just like hers. She was surprised, but also contented. She picked that one up and decided to wear it.

Later, she walked downstairs at the ground floor and saw Kaito talking to a girl. She walked towards him slowly and hid behind him trying to avoid the other person.

Those red eyes of hers were quite creepy and her messy, brown hair was covering half of her face. She was wearing a short, tight shirt and a short skirt. She looked so tiny next to Kaito; only a little bit taller than Jia. As soon as her eyes fell on the little girl, she pushed Kaito away and approached her. Jia made a few steps back.

“Aww, she is adorable, Neo!” said the girl, with a forced smile on her face.

“Kaito.” he whispered. He cleared his throat.

Jia looked at Kaito. “Who is Neo…?” she asked. She had such a soft voice now. She became curious.

Kaito patted her head and smiled. “Ah, no one. Kanae here gave me this nickname.” he responded. He gave Kanae a forced smile. Jia noticed it and she began to be suspicious of him. Then, Kaito lifted her up and held her close.

“Now, I was planning to take you to Skynet, to have fun. Would you like?” he said.

Jia nodded. She looked at Kanae quickly and realized she didn’t seem to like the idea of having her around… She had that forced smile on her face when she was looking at Jia.

Kaito smiled at Kanae. “I need you to take care of the mansion, sis. We won’t return any sooner.” He giggled. Jia did too, just to try to interact.

Later, Kaito took Jia outside in the yard. He was still holding her in his arms. He then looked at her and told her to hold on tight. He closed his eyes and snapped his fingers quickly. A second, they were at his mansion, the next second and they disappeared.

After a few moments of being unable to see anything, Jia found herself in a totally different place. It was a modern city, with lots of tall, fancy buildings and wide roads. The grey clouds in the sky almost vanished. Now, Jia started to feel so excited. She wanted to try so many things. Kaito put her down slowly and grabbed her hand.

“So, where do you want to go?” he asked.

Jia looked at him, surprised. She somehow tried to hide her excitement. Yet Kaito realized how she felt, so he smirked at her. Jia blushed.

“I have more than enough money, don’t worry about that. Just say what you want to do and where you want to go.” he said.

Jia bit her lip and looked away. “I want to go to the mall…” she mumbled. She was trying not to smile. Then, Kaito carried her piggyback all the way to the mall. That was the biggest shopping center Jia had ever seen. As they reached the entrance, Jia climbed off his back and they both went inside. That place was absolutely next level. The space was enormous and so shiny. It had glass walls and crystal decorations all around. Jia was so amazed. She wanted to try out all the shops.

“This is so… Awesome!” she exclaimed. She jumped of happiness and she smiled big. Kaito sighed.

“Alright, go wherever you want. I will be right behind you. And you can buy everything you want!” He smiled at Jia.

After a few hours spent at the mall, Jia and Kaito stopped at a restaurant. Jia said she was hungry.

As they were sitting at their table, watching for the ten, huge bags full of stuff they bought from the mall, Jia spotted a strange figure in a dark corner. It had its whole body covered by a long, dark grey cloak. Only a pale light was illuminating its upper body, revealing its shiny, white eyes. She kept staring at it and realized the creep’s gaze had been on her ever since she came in the restaurant… That freaked her out. Kaito noticed something was off. He looked right at that corner, but he saw nothing. Jia then looked at him. It seemed like the creep vanished.

“Jia, are you okay?” asked Kaito. He looked quite worried. Jia nodded and looked down. Kaito put a hand on her shoulder. “Wait here a bit. I will be right back.” he whispered. He stood up and walked further, straight towards that dark corner. He saw the creep standing there with the back against the wall. It let out a short, scary giggle. It had a nice, soft, female voice. Kaito narrowed his eyes. He felt that something was off and he knew that woman was there for a reason. But he didn’t dare to get into details… He then headed back to his table. He sighed. He looked at Jia and gave her a reassuring smile.

“Hey, it’s okay now. I promise, I will not let anything bad happen to you.” he whispered.

Jia smiled. “Thank you…” she mumbled.

About one hour later, Jia and Kaito returned to the mansion. Kanae greeted them. She had that same forced smile on her face, like before.

“Hey, Kaito! Someone…!” She took a small break and cleared her throat. “... is looking for you…!” she said. She tried to sound calm and nice, but Jia realized she was actually talking about a serious situation. She looked at Kaito and nodded. She slowly walked to her room and let Kaito deal with Kanae.

It was quite late and it was dark outside too, so Jia decided to go to bed. She found some pyjamas and stuffed herself into the soft blanket and hugged her pillow. She was feeling so happy.

She closed her eyes and tried to fall asleep. At some point, strange images started spinning in her head. She began to feel terrified. She couldn’t wake up. All she had in her mind were dark, bloody images and the view of the ruins of NightCity. She could hear a maniac laughter and many demonic screeches in the background. She saw a creepy, shadow sitting on a pile of corpses. It only had its white eyes and that creepy smirk visible and its whole body was covered in a long, black robe. All around it was dark… Jia was terrified. She just couldn’t wake up… She was so deeply asleep…

[“Kill!” shouted the demonic voices. “We must kill! We have to bring back the chaos and evils of the old times! Kill! Kill them all!!”

There was nothing but a pitch-black room, so narrow, so empty… Just like a void. The only sounds were the demonic voices resounding in her head, tormenting her… And then, cuts were opened into the fabric of darkness, but there was not the light of the day entering… It was a red, flickering ray that was rather a glowing liquid. It was neon blood… It smelled so strongly and it was slowly filling the whole space… She felt like she was drowning. There was no escape… She screamed…]