Branch K-02, part 5 (after battle)

As a household rule, my family used to have breakfast at the same table every morning.

It was a pleasant time when our whole family would share stories and encouraging words.

I liked those mornings, that rule was ever so kind and gentle to my heart.

A natural and unchanging world that belonged to me. My world.

That world began to feel alienating one day…

The day when my sister sat at that table after her prosthetic transformation was complete.

My world had begun to change when my father's head was replaced with an unfamiliar contraption of steel, circuits, and wires.

Our family breakfast no longer provided warmth and connection. It became an occasion of detachment where I talked less and less.

Ah… I had started to feel an inherent abhorrence for prostheses.

"That's filthy…"

My heart couldn't accept the idea of replacing one's flesh and bones with something else, let alone the need for it.

Why do we use prosthetic bodies?

I carefully asked for an explanation, and the reply was simple.

The human body, in its unmodified state, is too "old-fashioned".

It needs to be sustained with food, revitalized with sleep lest it should fail from fatigue, and injuries take a long time to heal.

All this makes the human body incredibly inefficient.

He concluded that prostheses will grow more commonplace as time goes on, and ultimately become a regular part of our daily lives.

I thought to myself:

"Why don't I just fall behind the times then if that's what the mainstream will be?"

…Though that wasn't an argument rooted in logic.

Yo, Sinclair… You don't actually wanna take the replacement procedure, do you?

I nodded without a word.

But your parents sure wouldn't like it if you confessed that.

Isn't it frustrating that there's nothing you can do about it?

I nod again.

What if I helped you out? You could live a free life with no worries about any of that junk.

B-But, how?

That, you'll find out next time.

In exchange…

In return for helping you with your problem, you'll help me deal with a grudge of my own too.