That specific night, when Tyl got insomnia while Rapima was asleep...

  "We got a lead on the target's whereabouts," Maya states, her posture ramrod straight. She's clad in a sharp, dark blue uniform bearing the insignia of a raven hugging a dark crystal ball symbol. Her short, neatly cut black hair frames a face that is all business, her expression unreadable. She raises a sleek, wrist-mounted communicator to her lips, her voice crisp and professional.

  A voice emerges from the wrist, "Good. Secure the target on sight. If possible, keep the head and torso intact."

  "Affirmative."

  "It looks like we got into the business, Maya," a man behind her observes. He's lean and athletic, clad in a practical, dark green combat suit that speaks of experience in hostile environments. His dark green hair is cropped short, a few strands falling across his forehead as he surveys the scene of carnage. His weary voice sighs as he pulls out an electric vape from one of his uniform pockets.

  "This time, he won't get away," Maya's dark blue eyes shimmer. Her determination and sense of revenge get the best of her, her eyes narrowing sharply like an eagle ready to prey. "Let's go, Sanchou."

  "Wait, we are supposed to sco-- ah damn it!" Sanchou, the man in dark green combat suits, grunts.

  A narrow space, filled with metal buildings, the floor glimmering with purple and blue light. The perfect dim light combinations for the beauty of the night in this large city.

  The glimpse of a black-cloaked figure in the back, his purple-reddish eyes peering from behind a black, Oni-carved mask. His hand holds a wooden totem shaped like a raven.

  Around him, dozens of 'guardroids' lie shattered and destroyed, not a scratch on him.

  Sancho begins by shooting a couple of plasma bullets from his large, one-handed pistol, a wide grin on his face.

  The unknown figure in the black cloak swiftly grabs one of the fallen guardroids, shielding himself from the impact, shattering the remains of the guardroid on the spot.

  Then, he leaps right into Sancho's direction.

  "Sancho!"

  Maya swiftly fires several round metal bullets from her classic gun, aiming at the shadow while pulling out a short, sturdy katana from her waist.

  Clang!

  An impact rings out as the figure's arm clashes with Maya's katana.

  The shadow then grabs her wrist and throws her right beside Sancho, before leaping backward.

  His glowing eyes are menacing, his form still, without any motion of breath.

  Sancho rushes toward Maya and pulls her from the debris of the broken metal on impact.

  "Are you alright?"

  Maya brushes Sancho's hands off, "Back off, old man."

  Gritting her teeth, she tries to aim her gun at the figure. Her hand trembles slightly, but her eyes are locked on the spot where the figure stood. However, in a blink of an eye, that figure mysteriously vanishes from sight, leaving behind only a faint ripple in the air.

  "W-what..."

  Maya looks at her surroundings swiftly, her head snapping from side to side, trying to locate the figure. The dim purple and blue lights of the city reflect in her wide, searching eyes. Then, she looks above her sharply, her gaze following an almost imperceptible shift in the shadows.

  The figure leaps high, under the bright, large moon, its light casting an eerie glow on the scene. He stares down at both Maya and Sancho with that menacing look, extending his bare hands towards them. A dark energy crackles around his fingertips.

  A wave of suffocating pressure can be felt by both of them, an invisible force tightening around their throats. They clutch at their necks, gasping for air, their faces turning red. It feels like an immense weight is crushing their chests, making it impossible to breathe.

  "Urgh!!"

  "AGH!!"

  As the black figure lands silently on the ground, his cloak billowing around him, both Maya and Sancho collapse at the same time. They lie there, unmoving, struggling to regain their breath.

  "... This is not either."

  He grabs the wooden raven totem in his hand, his grip tightening until the wood splinters and cracks. He crushes it, the sound echoing in the night, before leaping away into the unknown, disappearing into the labyrinthine city, leaving those two people unconscious.

  "Maya, Sancho, reporting in! I repeat, reporting in, dammit!!"

  ...

  Meanwhile, somewhere, a windowless place made of pitch-black metal, with a brief vignette of dim lights and a big monitor.

  "Blast it!"

  Kicking the floor, a tall, round-glasses guy with a pitch-black shirt and uniform lowers his communicating device in his right ear, "... Our scouts are wiped out, General,"

  "This could mean trouble. We need a stronger force in order to do that."

  A one-eyed old, bearded man in white, wearing a dark green military cap and white shirt attire, with the very same insignia as Maya had: The raven hugging the black ball, puts his hands behind him. His classic pipe cigar emits a trail of smoke. His other eye is replaced with a shining red, metal artificial eye.

  There is one more person behind him, a deadly calm and expressionless man, in his rectangle glasses, short black hair and wearing a set of white uniform, raising his glasses with his thumb. "Retrieve both of the subjects back, and we shall use another competent scouts to follow him around."

  "R-right away, sir!" The round-glasses man quickly taps his ears again, his voice trembling slightly as he relays the orders. The image on the monitor flickers, showing the aftermath of the encounter: the destroyed guardroids, the unconscious forms of Maya and Sanchou, and the faint image of the black-cloaked figure disappearing into the night. The weight of the failure hangs heavy in the air.

  Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

  The one-eyed general sighs, taking a long drag from his pipe. The red glow of his artificial eye intensifies as he stares at the monitor, a hint of frustration in his expression. He knows the implications of this setback.

  The man in the white uniform adjusts his glasses, his gaze sharp and calculating. He seems unfazed by the news, his mind already working on the next move. He turns and walks towards the exit at the side of the room, his footsteps echoing in the silent room.

  ...

  Four days later, Rapima has been taught almost everything. The house that I reside in with her is... somewhat surprisingly clean. Even though the things are looking old, the comfort, the cleanliness, and the warmth are somewhat reminiscent of my old home.

  A place of solace, but this time, there's no toxic behavior from anyone, just me and Rapima, my devoted, adorable, caring, and tinkered maid, filling each other with our presence.

  Rapima herself improves a lot. Her body calibration is even more natural, that people will be unable to distinguish between real or plain android models. However... She becomes way more active than she used to be? Like, a lass or a girl, shy at first, but then being adorably comfortable as time goes? Something like that. She likes to clean and provide me food as I am doing my work.

  Her battery issues seem not to be a problem anymore. It's been four days, and we notice that Rapima herself can recharge through sleeping. I was doing my research about SA Company's Android maid model, specifically the model I bought for Rapima, and here are some facts that really oppose Rapima's behavior.

  The first one, of course, right after the maid or butler android model wakes/boots up, they just greet and start asking for training input. But their movements are fixed, as I see in the compilation videos about the maid and butler android. Like, they can show some gestures, however, it looks noticeably pre-programmed, rigid and stiff; this limb moves, that hand moves, before the legs, something like that. Given that I am a techno-optimancer who has been working on AI models too, I notice significant robotic movement from them.

  Their bodies are made from special silicone and material, not the type of silicone which will be broken by a nail scratch. The elasticity and endurance are the real deal. Following by their internal organs: metal skeleton and bones, containing every possible circuit, sensors on the skin's interior, and complex mechanisms that can and will keep the android model standing without slipping. And, several intimate organs like the chest and their between legs are somewhat detailed, giving the immersiveness to the model itself.

  Their sensors are sensitive to touch, depending on the pressure of the touch. Like, if we push them too tight, they will simulate the "ouch" pain, and so on. However, it's all pre-programmed as I saw the video 'pain simulation of droids'.

  Their systems are operating wirelessly, meaning that they are not having any weird data cable holes in their entire body other than the spots like ears, nose, etc. They also have an internal security system that will prevent any hacking attempt on their core personality. Foods and drinks can be processed; however, there is a fixed amount and fixed type of thing that can be eaten by them. Any dry organics can get into them just fine, digested by a special mechanism in their belly, converting into extra energy. And the wet organics and excessive water can be recycled by them, leaving some 'fart' coming out from their behind, with the smell of the organics themselves, but not the bad smell. They can also study the smell and the flavors of the food mentioned, and how to make the food taste like one, with proper training.

  Then, at nighttime, they just sit down, in a sleep mode, in which they stop moving, their eyes are closed. Sometimes, Android models are taught to be sleeping on the bed too by more people. And usually people recharge them two or three times, by putting the "charging station" shaped like the flat black pillow with the charging cable, asking the android models to lay down on top of it, and they will automatically initialize charging mode. The charging mode lasts for around 4 hours, wirelessly.

  Then, commands. Android models tend to have fixed priorities. For example: They will prioritize their owner's commands first, before doing their automated tasks. Regardless of what it is, except several bad commands such as sneak into someone's house and kidnap them, etc.

  But for some reason, they can be taught for pleasure. Some rich people tend to purchase android models only for their lusting pleasure instead of helping with chores.

  This is normal, given the too-advanced technology and era. Nothing is shameful; almost barely humanity can be seen, only procedures, and business.

  But Rapima is different.

  She really feels like a real human, her gestures and so on. Unlike typical android maid models by that company at this era today, after calibrating, androids tend to be still stiff with some basic pre-programmed animations and gestures, but Rapima... Her movement becomes more agile. Her reflexes are faster; when I throw her some random clothes for the laundry, she catches them immediately without fail. Sometimes, she likes to approach me suddenly from behind as I am working. She scares me off a bit, but maybe I was too focused on my work, until I'm not noticing she was there. Then, the way she does the chores feels like I have a housewife with me. Her movement is natural; she's always pestering me with services, and sometimes she likes to just sit beside me, providing me some random inputs on my projects before doing her stuff again.

  Her skin feels somewhat different than when I bought her. It feels a bit softer and firmer at the same time, like fabricated human skin, and she responds to every touch I give her, and when something accidentally hits her or touches her. Like, the natural feeling, unexplainable why my android model can be this unique, given that I am not altering her sensors' behavior while I was tweaking her. Instead, I just tweak her to further reduce the negative thoughts within herself, and be more empathic and more helpful.

  Then, as previously mentioned, she recharges through sleep. I attempted to fix her broken charging station, and guess what? Even though it's repaired, haven't tested it on another droid, it still gives us that jolt of lightning, and she sometimes winces in pain due to the charging attempt. The second time we do it, I give up. I decide not to give her more 'pain' and throw that thing away, as she can recover just by sleeping. I've been sleeping on my sofa every night, giving Rapima my bed to sleep in. But sometimes, she insists I sleep in my own bed, while she just sits on the small chair there, waiting for me to fall asleep, before resting her head on the table in my room, adorably. I plan to purchase one extra bed for her later.

  And about her sense of taste, it's mostly similar to most droids, the digesting, the farts, the converting, etc. However, she can handle more food than usual. Given that she sometimes copies me eating teasingly. That makes me worry at first, but I think I am getting used to it by now.

  And, commands. Like human maids, she can listen and do what I tell her to. But sometimes, she can reject, or use other methods rather than I instructed, with the same or better outputs. That surprises me.

  Literally, she feels more alive than any android model I purchased.

  I give some assumption about the jolt of lightning before the program shutting down that somewhat triggered her until what she is today.

  ...

  As I am losing myself in thoughts in front of my laptop, my classic rectangle touchscreen phone rings. I pick it up and see the caller.

  On the other side of the phone, her name is Iyo, my close friend. She has a high pitched bassy voice, and tend to give adorable sighs.

  "Tyl, do you have some plans this evening? I was planning to bring everyone to the usual Ramen shop. You in?"

  Ramen shop, huh... It's been a while since I've been there... perhaps almost a year?

  Sighing, I open my mouth, "Sure, haven't been there for a while. Will everyone be there?"

  "Well, not everyone will be there, though, but I'll see if I can kidnap them there. After all, you haven't been there since forever already, don't you?" Iyo's high-pitched voice turns teasefully sharp. I can feel that she's pouting from the other side of the phone.

  "Fine... I'll bring someone there," I stammer.

  "Oh? You have another companion? Well, bring them over then!"

  "Alright, see you later then," I directly hang up the phone.

  "Who was it, Master Tyl?"

  I jump out of shock, looking at Rapima, who is standing right beside me. Her presence, like all of a sudden. And yes, she likes to do it sometimes. But every time I ask her about it, she just says that I am easily distracted.

  "A friend," I sigh firmly, "Get your other outfit ready, Rapima, I'll introduce you to my friends."

  "Alrighty~! To be introduced by my Master's friends, it'll be exciting!" Rapima jumps happily beside me, as I am worrying she might slip and fall on the floor.

  ...

  End of Chapter 4...