first match | accidental voice → text

[mouthbreathing]

[The microphone rustles on to a light hiss of breeze and distant city sounds from an open window. One can just about hear fingers skidding across buttons, manipulating the NV. And then, almost from nowhere, it begins:

Ko… ho…

Ko… ho… ko… ho…

A slow, heavy, mechanical breathing- air forced across metal vents and through steely chambers, released in a guttural rush.

It’s difficult to imagine it coming from anything living, but there’s also something off-puttingly human about it in its steady regularity, like the pulse of a heart. The sound continues for around a minute before catching, just for a second, and then being suddenly and unceremoniously switched off mid-breath.

Around twenty minutes later, a text message appears on the network.]

Where would a robo-choujin go for repairs?

Comments

[mouthbreathing]

The odds- as in, probabilities? That sounds like it has the potential to be lethal. It might be a good thing that you haven't worked it out.

It seems almost as dangerous as home, from what I've heard. How dangerous is the night?

[underdogged]

[Kaiji hesitates; he's never thought of it that way before.] I don't know. It could be useful. Like... in a casino.

[As soon as the words leave his lips, he feels a pang of shame. Jesus, Kaiji, can't you leave it out of one, goddamn conversation? Just for once?

He's thankful for the distraction.]

I wouldn't last five minutes out there, man, but I'm just a human- you might have better luck than me. It pays better to work at night too, y'know?