Awakening

March 22, year 2102

Since the year 2022, the technological advances regarding the complete immersion of people into various digital worlds has been a complete social impact, bringing with it many more possibilities in neuroscience research.

Subsequently, video games, computers and even cell phones could be synchronized through a chip located in the brain and be used in a much more efficient way.

As the years went by, these technologies were acquired by all countries, and it seemed that this would be the beginning of a new era, however...

In the year 2032, the massive incursion to Mars began, no matter what any human did to try to avoid this event, there was no way to avoid what became known as the first apocalypse.

The degree of contamination that humans produced in little more than 200 years was unstoppable... it took only 2 centuries for mankind to wipe out a planet that would last approximately 4000 years.

Approximately 50 years passed before humans returned to Earth once the atmospheric safety research was completed.

As for the terrestrial calendar and that of Mars, they remained the same, since they continued calculating the years according to the cycle of terrestrial translation.

It took 20 years for mankind to resume their normal lives since their return to the planet, between those years neural technology continued with its operations, and above all artificial intelligences began to become popular, ranging from singers through holograms, to those in charge of computer security.

Eventually the rumor of a N.A.I.A. or Neural Artificial Intelligence Algorithm arose, which was a neural artificial intelligence program, capable of seeing memories, speaking and even giving an opinion as if it were a human being with its own thoughts, in turn this intelligence was also capable of hacking a computer or a security company in less than 1 second and constantly acquiring new functions while obeying its bearer.

All the companies in charge of the development of artificial intelligences, strongly denied the existence of that algorithm, the companies were forced to this due to the insecurity of the citizens in front of this dangerous technology.

However, due to those statements, people believed it was just a rumor and eventually it was seen as an absurd idea and categorized as an urban legend among the society.

And finally in the area of robotic engineering, since 2020, there were already humanoid prototypes almost fully functional and without risk of failure in Isaac Asimov's 3 rules of robotics.

Currently humanoid robots are used in a variety of jobs, ranging from machine operators and day laborers in companies to simple household caretakers.

The price of these robots was around 690 USD, so not necessarily only the upper social classes could afford them.

Those robots had pre-programmed functions, such as greeting and answering simple basic questions, but only the owner could give the robot commands, as long as they were not too difficult to understand.

All this takes us back to the Anshin shite apartments in the new Japan, where Kuroshi Seito lay passed out.

In apartment 12, on the second floor, the room inside was a complete mess, and the previously unconscious Seito was rubbing his face and then holding his head with his right hand as if he had had a long, heavy sleep.

His vision was a little blurry as he rejoined the real world, he tried to think of what had happened before he fainted, but his memory just like his vision a moment ago, was blurry.

After checking the surroundings of his room, he decided to get up from his seat, although he had a slight muscle pain while doing that action, due to his precarious physical condition during the last months.

—Finally you woke up, you're pretty lazy, huh? —said a soft and feminine voice in an arrogant way.

Seito again looked around, searching for the origin of the voice, but to no avail.

—I must be hallucinating, I wonder what happened yesterday. —Seito said while scratching his head with his right hand and sighing tiredly.

—Hallucination! How rude! I can tell you're a rude man, and besides that, what is this room so disgusting, you should clean it, it's very disgusting to look at... —added the slightly annoyed voice with an arrogant and mocking tone.

Seito reflexively looked back quickly, but saw nothing.

—You're so cold, at this rate you'll be looking for me like a complete idiot all day. —said the voice again in a bored and mocking tone.

—Who's there, show yourself, if you want to rob me, I'm afraid I won't make it easy for you. —Seito replied nervously while taking a rather reproachful combat position.

—Pfff, seriously you are pathetic, do you really think that someone would enter this pigsty to steal from someone like you, anyway, this will go on forever if I don't give you at least a clue, let me think... well... I'm not a hallucination but I do come from the place that causes them. —said the voice in a mocking and playful tone.

—Are you in my subconscious? —Asked Seito a little confused.

—Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding... that's right, but to be more exact, I was recorded in your brain, through your retinas, my name is Naia, you should feel honored to be able to talk to me, by the way the acronym N.A.I.A stands for... —answered Naia cheerfully in a slightly less arrogant tone, before being interrupted by Seito's whispers.

—Neuronal artificial intelligence algorithm, huh, I thought it was just an urban legend... —interrupted Seito to Naia speaking to himself in a low voice, while thinking with his hand on his chin.

—Ho, Ho! I see you're not as stupid as you look, apparently I won't have to explain everything from the beginning, hey, are you listening to me? —said Naia in a slightly surprised tone that then changed to annoyed when she felt ignored by Seito.

—I see, now I remember it better, that glow from yesterday, just like N.A.I.A said it must have implanted its information in my brain through my retinas, although it's a bit doubtful, I think it makes sense that I fainted because of the information collapse or maybe the confinement finally drove me crazy. —Continued Seito talking to himself, saying his conclusions in a low voice while completely ignoring Naia.

Apparently after hearing Naia's response his shy personality transformed into a serious one and solely focused on his thoughts.

—Hey stop ignoring me, you fucking tech otaku, you shouldn't treat a lady like that, don't be so arrogant just because I'm in your subconscious, listen to me. —Naia shouted angrily.

The strange and radical change in Seito's attitude infuriated Naia, who in turn was perplexed by the ease with which he accepted his current condition.

—Ah, I'm sorry, once I get immersed in my thoughts, I lose track of time and what's around me, please continue... —Seito replied apologetically as he walked towards the bathroom.

—Just this once I'll let it go... for now I see that at least you have a slight idea of what I am... —said Naia accepting Seito's apology reluctantly.

Seito began to wash his face as he continued to listen to Naia's explanation.

—As my name says, I am an artificial intelligence algorithm designed to talk to the user from inside his head, this program was implanted in 20 different people in order to guide them during the S.S. project. —Naia explained in a serious tone.

—What is this project you are talking about? —asked Seito with curiosity.

—I can't give you many details, but basically it's a project to search for the strongest hero of the 22nd century. —answered Naia briefly.

—Hero? —asked Seito again as he returned to his room and sat down in his desk chair.

—I already told you that I can't give you many details yet, maybe you are deaf, the only thing I can tell you is about your ability and some information about the other participants, such as their name, location and other things. —Naia answered with a bored tone.

—That sounds very suspicious, what do you mean by skills and participants? —asked Seito seriously?

—As I already told you, there are 20 people involved in this project, each one of them has an ability for which they were chosen, and that ability was enhanced the moment N.A.I.A. was installed in their brains, in your case your ability would be analysis... one of the most useful for the development of the project, according to my opinion, you should feel fortunate. —Naia explained to the confused Seito after making a sound as if clearing his non-existent throat.

Each thing Naia said created new questions in Seito's mind, so for the moment he decided to ask her just one more question, so as not to overload himself with information.

—Assuming that what you say is true, then for now, could you tell me the basis of my ability and what the project consists of, the rest I will solve as I go along, if I decide to participate. —said Seito a little tired.

—It's okay, Mr. Rude, who thinks I've been spending my time telling lies... but before I continue, I'll also ask you something. —Naia added with a mixture of displeasure and curiosity at the end.

—All right, go ahead... —Seito answered with no intention of hiding anything, while ignoring what bothered Naia.

—Why did your attitude change so drastically? I understand that you were a disgusting fearful hermit, and now you talk to me normally, even before I told you who I was, you were acting repulsively like a coward, what's the reason for that change? —Naia asked curiously.

Seito kept silent for a few moments thinking of a satisfactory answer, but he still didn't know how to answer completely.

—The truth I'm not sure, when I woke up I felt much more revitalized and confident, and although I was a little scared when you talked to me at first, I think the main reason why I can talk to you normally now, is that I don't consider you as a living being, but more like an autonomous being, a simple implanted program, I am a programmer after all, so I understand how artificial intelligences work, although yours feels almost human, that's why I thought your existence was an urban legend, your main server must be something implausible. —Seito quickly explained with slight embarrassment as he scratched his cheek.

Hearing Seito's opinion of her, she was a bit annoyed, but still decided to ignore it and after a long sigh continued talking.

—Apparently the 2 weeks you spent unconscious helped you in revitalizing your body, it was to be expected, but I'm annoyed by your perception of me, don't ever call me just a program again, understood? —Naia said as if complaining and then with deep resentment.

—Okay, but... wait a minute, what do you mean two weeks, I thought I only passed out for one night, one day at most, how is it even possible that I'm still alive after such a long time without eating or drinking? —Saito asked a bit nervously with a tone of disbelief as he interrupted Naia.

—Stop mumbling so much, you're so loud, you make me regret helping you at that time... —Naia added with an irritated and reproachful voice.

—Helped? —Seito asked with a confused tone.

—That's right, you should be grateful, while you were unconscious, I took command of your body, I fed you and even did some stretching so that your muscles wouldn't atrophy when you woke up, it was a pretty unpleasant experience, so know your place and thank me... —Explained Naia in an arrogant and overbearing tone.

Seito was a bit annoyed by Naia's personality since he first heard her, at first he ignored her because he thought she was just pre-programmed to talk like that, but his constant interaction with her, made him feel like he was talking to a spoiled princess.

Right now he was doubting if she was really just an algorithm or if she was a replica of an existing person's brain, or even both, but he stopped thinking about that for the moment, as it would be a waste of time.

—Can you do that, I knew N.A.I.A possessed incredible abilities but this is on another level, it's amazing, how is that even possible? —Seito asked with excitement and surprise.

—Mphm, it was about time you recognized my enormous power, but even so, I can only control your body under certain circumstances and/or conditions, in this case I could do it because your body was in a state of coma induced by an external factor... since the brain controls the whole human body I only had to transfer myself for a certain period of time to it and in that way control all the systems of your organism, It's quite a complex task, but for me it's as easy as eating a cake. —Explained Naia in a serious tone but without leaving aside her conceited personality.

—I thank you, you saved my life, really thank you very much... —said Saito with complete honesty.

—Seriously... even to thank you you're a total failure, but I'll accept it for now. —Said Naia with a smug tone but with some embarrassment.

After that short conversation Naia explained as best she could about the project she was participating in, trying to clarify all her doubts.

Basically this project was a kind of battle royal, where the entire city of Tokyo was the scene of a fight to the death between the 20 participants, although there was also the possibility that it could be extended to other cities, so that limitation was just a way of saying that everyone was located in some area of the city.

Naia was in charge of supervising the progress of the participants during this battle, giving her advice and warning her in case any participant was within a radius of 2 kilometers or less.

As for what he could tell him about his opponent it was simply his basic information and the name of his skill, so winning or losing the encounter depended entirely on Seito.

Other than that Seito's skill, was analysis, which although weak in close combat without knowing it at all, was also one of the most versatile when it came to making a plan of action during battle.

His skill was divided into four parts: focus, collection, comprehension and execution, once he managed to perform those steps in less than a second, he would be an almost decent opponent, as Naia commented.

In order, focus was basically concentrating on a certain object or person, sometimes even the whole area surrounding the person.

Gathering consisted of getting as much information as possible about the area, object or person in question.

Understanding, allows you to understand the composition of the object and in the case of people manage to read their movements almost unconsciously and plan a counterattack.

Execution, is the performance of an action determined by the flow of information acquired previously, before, after or during a battle.

According to Naia, the skill activates practically by itself and even gives brief instructions sometimes, so Seito should simply concentrate on making it one with him.

After finishing her long yet simplified explanation, Naia gave a slight sigh of exhaustion.

—Do you understand now, your ability can make you almost untouchable, though of course you should train your physique, after all, it doesn't do you any good to know that you will be attacked from the right, if your body is not able to react in time. —Naia said with a warning tone.

Seito stood thinking for a moment, while nodding in understanding to what Naia said.

—What would happen if I refuse to participate? —Seito asked seriously and cautiously.

—It seems that your idiocy has no limits, in case you didn't understand, the project has already started, and you agreed to participate so you only have two options, kill or be killed, besides your life, it's not like it's a big deal, if you want to go back to your seat and go back to being a repulsive hikikomori for the rest of the little time you have left. —Said Naia with arrogance, anger and irreverence at Seito's careless question.

Seito was very annoyed by the word repulsive, as it is the worst insult you can say to an otaku or hikikomori, but still he could not deny it at all, as he had spent several months lamenting and depressing himself in that messy room, so after thinking about it for a minute, even if this was the same as accepting to be a guinea pig for a company of dubious provenance, it was still an opportunity to change his cruel fate, so he got up from his seat with determination, then shaved, quickly took a short shower, and then began to get dressed.

—Thank you for opening my eyes, this is a new opportunity to start, although it is somewhat unpleasant that you call me repulsive, I hope we can work well together. —Seito said with a smile as he put on a clean white shirt and black cloth pants with a brown belt.

—I can't help but say what I see, so you'll have to work hard, to stop being so repulsive... —Answered Naia with a defiant but cheerful tone.

—Yes, I'll do my best! —Seito said with a determined voice, after putting on a pair of black sneaker-like shoes.

Even though he was wearing his typical attire he worked with, his clothes were not uncomfortable for running or moving, but the reason why he wore these clothes instead of a sporty one, was out of habit and because he wanted to make a good impression to what awaited him.

Seito's physique, was not bad, as he used to exercise a lot when he was young and during his time at the university, during his time at work he also did morning jogs, so he had a marked abdomen, although not too much due to his months of confinement, and he also had a good looking face.

All these qualities made him look like a slightly sloppy looking model, adding his slightly unkempt black hair and his shirt out of his pants, he was any high school or college girl's dream.

This fact was unknown to Seito, since he never cared too much about her looks, however Naia who knew that fact, would definitely never let him know it, not for her, not for anyone.

—I guess it's time to go, according to what you said, I'll have to look for them all over Tokyo, won't I? —Seito asked while checking that he had his wallet, keys and cell phone in his pocket.

In reality, although Seito had accepted, he was not willing to kill or something similar, that's why what he had with him would not help him at all for the combat, but the only thing he wanted at this moment was to leave this room and try to see what the future would hold for him with this project.

—It's a clumsy way of saying it, but technically it is, I will warn you when someone is near, but what happens after that will depend only on you, so stay alert about your surroundings. —Naia said in a serious voice.

—I'll keep that in mind. —Seito replied after looking around, checking if anything was missing.

Seito walked to the front door, placed his hand on the knob and turned it cautiously, then opened the door almost halfway and a whisper made him stand on guard.

—Quickly jump back and turn. —said a kind and serene voice quickly in Seito's mind.

Seito quickly obeyed that voice, by instinct and turned to the bottom of his bed.

At the same time a thunderous sound similar to several machine guns, caused thousands of projectiles to shoot in the direction Seito was a moment ago.

After several rounds of bullets, the door and the walls of the apartment were full of holes in just a few seconds and then silence reigned in the apartment for a few moments.

—Didn't you tell me that you would let me know if one of the participants was nearby? —Seito asked a bit agitated as he calmed down and looked at his destroyed room from under his bed.

—I don't sense the presence of another N.A.I.A. so I deduce that it must be some device remote-controlled by one of the participants. —Naia explained with seriousness and a bit of concern.

—I see... What shall we do now? —Seito asked himself somewhat nervously.

—Obviously we must fight to survive this, so get ready. —Naia replied by way of warning to Seito.

As if waiting for Seito to finish his conversation, there was a sound of something metallic landing in front of what used to be the door of an apartment and subsequently a humanoid robot (droid) entered with a fast but mechanical walk, ignoring and destroying the remains of the door with only the force of its advance.

The robot measured one meter and eighty centimeters, which was the standard for robots currently created, had a silver-colored body, red eyes, and the area that would correspond to the scalp of a human, was bluish in color, it was a completely normal robot, like those designed by the company in which he worked.

But what stood out and was most intimidating about that droid was that it had an integrated minigun in its right arm, as if it were a simple pistol, since it did not affect its mobility in the least.

Normally these droid-type robots would have a serial number located on the left breastplate just below the manufacturer's company logo, but this one only had a logo that was a W and a D, which corresponded to a famous company that designed war droids, but they were strictly forbidden from urban combat without signs of war.

This event should have immediately caused the JIEITAI or by default the fire company and even the police to mobilize, but not even a single siren was heard in the distance.

As soon as the droid entered the room it quickly began to scan the room for a heat source, and as soon as it noticed Seito's presence under the bed, it pointed the minigun at him and began to prepare another round of shots, to later initiate another burst of projectiles... this only took a couple of seconds, but for Seito it felt like minutes.

At the same time that the projectiles were fired towards the bed, Seito quickly turned towards the droid's legs, and with the tip of the key of his apartment he hit hard the robot's calf, causing him to lose his balance momentarily, but the droid without even flinching grabbed Seito from the back of his neck and threw him towards the desk destroying it completely, as if he was throwing a simple stone.

Seito knew in a generalized way the parts of these robots, so the blow in the calf, although it was effective to destabilize the motor structure of a robot, was more of a desperate attack, since the combat robots had that weakness covered.

—Damn, it's too fast. —Seito whispered helplessly as he stood up with great effort.

Seito looked at his left arm, which was full of blood and clearly with a dislocated shoulder, and then turned his gaze to his surroundings.

—We have no other choice, we must retreat for now... —Naia said impatiently.

—«You say it like it's an easy thing to do.» —Seito thought as he analyzed the objects around him in search of a solution to this enormous problem.

Since shortly before the android entered his room, Seito began to see different types of data around him, such as height, distance, diameters and various characteristics in the objects he observed, and in turn he also saw many statistics and possibilities of actions to perform, that is, he saw the percentage of success of each action he could take.

At the moment he observed the droid he noticed that there was a 10% success rate, if he performed a certain action, however performing this action had as a consequence a varied and very detailed list of possible deaths, which made him smile at the thought that everything was against him.

—I guess it's all or nothing, huh? —Seito whispered as he kept his balance due to the dizziness caused by the loss of blood.

Seito bent down and picked up a flash drive, which was lying near him and then looked determinedly at the android that was blocking his way to the exit.

—Naia, if I die... will you cease to exist? —Seito asked with a sad expression.

—What kind of questions do you ask at a time like this? —Naia answered with a question in an annoyed tone.

—Just answer. —Said Seito raising his voice with slight impatience.

—How insolent, but well... the answer is no, my data will be returned to the main server, where I will then wait to be sent to someone else... —Naia answered honestly with a monotone voice but with some sadness.

—I'm glad, it would have been a pity if you died with me. —Said Seito with an honest smile and a much more relaxed expression.

Of course Seito knew that as a program, Naia had no concept of death as such, but at this point, Seito almost felt her as a person rather than an artificial intelligence, so he was happy to hear her answer.

—Why, wait... what are you going to...? —asked Naia quickly before being interrupted by Seito's actions.

Seito walked in the direction of the android and by reflex it began to prepare another round of bullets, and as soon as it started firing its projectile discharges, Seito ran around the room nimbly dodging the bullets, his speed was abnormally high when running, but Seito guessed it was because of the adrenaline so he didn't think too much about it.

But just as he got slightly closer to the exit, the droid released a small pistol with his left arm, which he immediately triggered to prevent Seito's advance.

Realizing that it was useless to approach the door, Seito continued to dodge the bullets by running around the android as it approached him.

And when he was close enough, the droid dropped the minigun that had run out of ammunition and tried to hit Seito, but he was surprisingly faster and managed to dodge it.

After a jump, Seito clung tightly to the droid's back, but the android in turn released some kind of thorns on its right forearm and stuck them deep into Seito's thigh.

After a couple of seconds the droid put the thorns away, grabbed Seito by his shirt with his left arm and threw him violently to the ground and pointed the gun at his head.

Seito could see how his survival rate dropped to a cruel 0.1%, while he watched his executioner with a strange smiling expression.

—It's my victory. —Seito said with a smile of victory to the droid standing over him as he coughed up blood.

The droid bowed its head in confusion as it analyzed Seito and at that very moment its operation stopped completely.

The only thing that could be seen in the destroyed room was a robot completely shut down with a flash drive in the neck area, standing over a very badly wounded and dying young man.

That flash drive contained a massive virus, with the function of completely eliminating an operating system, which Seito had designed for his former company.

A few minutes after Seito lost consciousness, a man wearing a trench coat and a hat that made it difficult to see his face, entered the destroyed room and approached Seito, and then looked down at him with a smile.

—Not bad boy, really, not bad... —said the man with a tone of surprise and effusiveness.

Then the man lifted Seito's body and carried him with his two arms half extended, while he left the room.