Vague memories of the night before played through Ice’s mind like a low quality video. He felt strange. Not unlike the feeling he had after having sex with his master. He remembered the moment of killing Maria as though it was someone else’s memory. He felt distant from it, but the memory also made him feel… sad? Was it possible for him to feel sad? “No,” he said simply, looking Kyousuke straight in the eye. “I did not derive pleasure from it. I was not programmed to enjoy hurting others. I was only programmed to protect my master.”

Shit, Kyousuke thought. That response didn’t rev him up for the kill as much as he hoped it would. Ice looked so innocent, so soft and docile, like a baby deer. He had the body of a grown man, but a small and thin one, without much muscle mass. He looked frail. Like Kyousuke could easily break him with his hands. Kyousuke didn’t like that. He wished he looked more dangerous. It was like the sight of him both fueled and extinguished his urge for revenge at the same time.

Ice could see the pain on Kyousuke’s face, in every fiber of his being. His movements, his voice. Ice didn’t understand how, but he could feel that he was hurting. He felt a strange sensation at the memory of killing that woman. A mix of sensations that he had never experienced before. Emotions? That couldn’t be. Ice felt confused. He knew an appropriate human response to hurting someone would be to apologize. But he was an android. He couldn’t feel guilt. Kyousuke wouldn’t take that seriously. Even if Ice was human, a sincere apology wouldn’t be enough to relieve Kyousuke from his pain.

“You look like you want to say something,” the black haired cop said. “Out with it.”

“I’m…” Ice thought of his next words carefully. He shouldn’t try to appease this man. He didn’t know why he wanted to. He shouldn’t even be capable of wanting. But he felt like he had to do something. “I’m sorry that it had to happen this way.”

Kyousuke took a step back, with a look akin to shock and fear in his eyes, before that fear quickly transitioned to rage. “You’re sorry?”

“Kyousuke,” Arashi warned once more, ready to butt in at any moment to pull him away from the robot. “He’s just saying what he’s programmed to. It’s a normal AI response to pick out a reply out of a pool of human inputs. He’s not trying to…”

“SORRY?!” Kyousuke roared. He pounced on the android, straddling him atop the table and wrapping his strong hands tightly around his thin neck. “How the hell can you be sorry?!? You don’t even have a conscience!! You’re just a bunch of wires and plastic!! You know…” Anger mixed with sadness now, and tears started to fill Kyousuke’s eyes. “A thing like you can’t know what it’s like… to love someone so much… to have them with you every day of your life… and then have them suddenly ripped out of it, in such a violent and sudden way!”

Arashi determined that it was probably best to let Kyousuke get this off his chest, if the two were expected to work together. Ice was made of strong materials, and Kyousuke definitely wouldn’t be able to break him with his bare hands.