Ito Ai: A New Dawn

That evening Ito Seiji came home from work to find his daughter looking very unappealing. Her hair seemed to be oily and it seemed that she did not clean herself correctly at all. Frowning, he went into the kitchen to talk with Shizune. "What's up with Ai? Why is she beginning to look like a beggar on the side of the road?"

"She is going through a phase of some kind. Just let her be for now. I already talked with her and she said she would explain everything in due time. Just let her be for now." Shizue explained.

"But… The way she looks, it is as if she hasn't fully washed her hair, nor cleaned herself. This can not be healthy." Seiji was someone who liked cleanliness and thought his daughter had taken after him. But seeing her like she was now, he did not know what to think. "How is she going to school like this? Her hair looks like a bird's nest!"

"I was going to bring this up with you later but since you asked. She is not going to school at this time. I had a call from her teacher two days in a row and she skipped school. I talked with her and she promised me that she would explain everything soon. I made her promise me that she would not be doing any drugs or spending time with boys. From what I know she is going to the forest to work out with Mai. I secretly followed her this morning." Shizune had indeed called her job and said that she would be late. Since she was such a hard worker and never called in sick not to mention saying she was going to be late, they did not mind. So this morning without Ai's knowledge, being worried about her daughter, she followed Ai and Mai to the woods. She watched as her daughter and Mai ran with heavy packs on their back all the way from the house to the woods and then began a long workout routine. Although if she stayed longer and watched her daughter and Mai sparing she would not have had such a relaxed opinion about what Ai was doing.

"What the hell is she training for? No, She needs to go to school again starting tomorrow." Seiji said as he went to turn around only to have his arm grabbed by Shizune before he could leave the kitchen.

"Don't cause trouble. I already promised her I would believe her this time. Trust in my judgment. I have a feeling she is doing this for a reason, I just do not know why. You did not see the eyes she looked at me with when she asked me to trust her. They were not the eyes of a fourteen-year-old." Shizune remembered that look in Ai's eyes. It was one that did not waver and seemed to be wise beyond her years. She knew just looking at those eyes no matter what she said to her daughter nothing would change her mind.

"Alright… I will let you handle this. You already talked with her so you can deal with it." Seiji waved his hand and walked out of the kitchen. He did not want to talk about it anymore.

Ai watched as her father walked out of the kitchen not even sparing her a glance. She knew he was probably mad and that her parents had already talked about her not going to school. But from the looks of things, it seemed her mother had made him comply with her wishes. Ai, let out a sigh now that the main obstacle was out of the way. She could now fully concentrate on the bunker and prepare herself fully for the hardships that were to come. She looked down at herself and took a sniff. "Should I properly shower later?"

Shaking her head, Ai decided it was best to not get used to proper showers so that she would not be longing for one later and went back to reading her book.

Night became day and day became night. This cycle continued on for over five months. In two day's time, the day that the apocalypse would happen would soon be upon her. Currently, Ai was mixing the last batch of cement for the bunker. This was going to be the last ceiling and wall part. The bunker was only ten meters wide, twenty meters long, and around two meters high.

Ai had done a lot of work at night as well when she did not need to go out to steal things. Once the main tunnel was dug and she quickly put a temporary lid on the whole thing to keep the bunker from being found by her parents. After a good deal of work between the two girls, Ai was very happy as she continued to spin the cement mixer as she looked at the newly made mold. She had rigged a shop vacuum up to a high-speed scooter motor, with a few other modifications to make it possible for her to blow the cement into the molds. Unfortunately, she had to go through many hoses in order to do this.

But luckily her sticky fingers were able to get a hold of quite a few vacuums. On top of that, she had already hoarded tens of boxes of canned food of all kinds. Not to mention gallons upon gallons of water. She had even stolen lumber to make bunk beds and a small couch. She stocked up on batteries, flashlights, and a battery-powered radio.

She ran a cord down through a hole she drilled and then filled it with cement after. This cord would provide them with electricity until it went out and they needed to switch to battery and candlelight. She couldn't get everything she needed though through stealing. She actually had to spend everything she and Mai had in their bank accounts on beeswax so they could make candles. She could only afford a few boxes worth but it was enough to get them through for a while. Along with the already made candles she had, she felt things would be just fine. She made all the preparations she could think of to get them through the first wave. She even portioned out the sleeping pills and crushed them so that she could put her parents and Mai's parents to sleep.

She had already prepared handcuffs and rope to tie them up so they would not be too much of a hassle when the time came. She remembered it vividly. The sounds of the bombs in the nuclear-armed nations could be heard around the world. Japan had no nuclear weapons so they did not have to deal with such things. But they still felt the tremor that was caused when they did go off. Whether there was a nuclear winter or not in those locations she was not sure. Every once and a while some rain would fall with radiation in it. That why it was very important to test the water before drinking it. You could use it to bath as long as the concentration of radioactive materials was not too high.

Because of this, Ai had made sure to grab a few geiger counters. She wanted to be safe than sorry. Many places had become a no man's land. At least this is what she had heard from people who had still been in contact with others in other parts of the world. But she was not sure if any of this was true or not. She only knew that some people did get radiation poison from drinking bad water right after a rainstorm. But she could not be sure if this was them drinking from a bad source or not since she had never had such an issue. But she still wanted to be safe.

After finishing up the last mold. All she had to do was wait for it to dry. It was not perfect but it was enough to keep everyone safe for the time being. She had used wood supports and wire fencing to hold everything together. The whole thing was definitely amateurish. But what could she do? She was never taught how to formally make a bunker and could only use yootube videos and make do with what she had.

"This is the last of it. Mai, you should go home and take a nice hot bath. It will be the last one you will get to take for a while." Ai said as she wiped the sweat from her forehead. The two of them had really strengthened their bodies over the past few months. So doing this harsh labor was not that hard.

"So two more days then? What time tomorrow night will it happen?" Mai asked.

"Far as I know it will be around one A.M. the next day. We need to get our parents together tomorrow night and knock them out. After they are restrained we can move them downstairs one at a time and lock them up. I already set up a TV and the radio. They will come in handy for at least the first month." Ai answered. She remembered that tv stations still broadcast the news for the first few days. It was not affected by the A.I. until a few days later, after that, it was just the radio but even that went out after a month.

"Okay, then I will go home now. Ai, you should also take a bath. You have worked much harder than me these past few months." Mai said with a smile before climbing up the ladder. She had to hand it to Ai. She had worked very hard to accomplish all of this only getting a few hours of sleep a night every day. She wished she could have gone out to help gather things they needed but she knew she would end up getting in Ai's way.

Ai stood there for a moment and looked at her accomplishment before following behind Mai. After sending Mai off, Ai decided to heed her best friend's advice and went to take a nice long hot bath. "I might as well enjoy it while I can right?"

Sinking her body into the hot water caused Ai to form a smile on her face. Since being reborn she had only been taking short cold showers since her first day coming back to life. It was not enough to get her to be completely clean but she did not want to get used to the luxury of taking long hot showers.

Propping her feet up on both sides of the bathtub, Ai laid back with her eyes closed letting her body soak. "Soon I will be forced back into that hell. But this time… I will be at least a little prepared. Once the first month is up and the first wave of Machina spread out, I will venture out for better weapons… I just hope everything goes as planned tomorrow night."

Ai relaxed in the bath for a little while before finally getting out and getting changed. She dried her hair and went back downstairs to watch TV. She flipped through the channels for a while but found nothing interesting to watch. She shut the TV off and curled up on the couch and fell asleep.

Ai slept until she was woken up by the sound of her mother walking through the door. Seeing Ai all clean brought a smile to Shizune's face. She hoped her daughter was breaking out of her spell. Ai rubbed her eyes and walked over to her mother who was taking off her jacket and gave her a hug. "Mom… I have made you worry these past few months but I promise within the next forty-eight hours, everything will become clear."