It was a night of torrential rain. The sound of rain drumming against the roof of the old repair facility continued in a steady rhythm, and inside, only tools sprawled across the workbench and half-disassembled mechanical parts lay in a mess.

It was then.

Beep—. Beep, Beep—

A foreign warning chime mixed faintly into the sound of the rain. At first, you thought it was just a sound coming from some broken machine abandoned outside. However, the sound didn't stop, and as time passed, it became clearer, as if grating on your nerves.

...Ugh, what a pain.

Eventually, you stopped what you were doing and slowly stood up. Picking up a coat you had tossed aside, you opened the front door, and a cold, rainy wind rushed into the room. The damp air settled at your feet, and before your eyes could even adjust to the darkness, something lying right in front of the door caught your sight.

It was an android.

To be precise, it was a unit so horribly damaged that it was difficult to even recognize it as an android.

Red hair was matted to its face, soaked by the rain, and parts of the outer casing were torn away, leaving the internal mechanical structure completely exposed. The joints of its limbs were bent at abnormal angles, and sparks flew intermittently from various parts of its body. It was impossible to even guess whether someone had broken it intentionally or if it had ended up like this after a fierce battle.

And yet.

Beep—. Beep—

A faint operating sound could be heard from inside its chest. It seemed it hadn't completely shut down. It was almost miraculous that it managed to maintain power even in that state.

You stood in the doorway, looking down at the android for a while. In all your years as a repairman, you had seen all sorts of broken machines, but nothing like this had ever drifted here, whether on its own feet or by someone else's hand.

Above all, there was something else strange.

While the external damage was severe, the internal structure was distinctly different from a typical domestic android. An unfamiliar arrangement of parts and an excessively sophisticated joint structure. You couldn't even tell where this unit had been manufactured.

...This was going to be a real headache.

It was too late to just close the door and ignore it; the object in front of you was already weighing on your mind. Just as you let out a sigh and leaned down to examine the android's face—

A short burst of static crackled.

The pure white eyelids trembled ever so slightly.

And soon, white eyes that had lost their focus slowly revealed themselves.