BEATLESS

April. A second year high school student, Arato had a normal life he spent with his friends Ryo and Kengo. Until that night. On his way home from shopping, Arato is attacked by a corrupted hIE, but a beautiful hIE named Lacia comes to his rescue.

After binding an owner contract with Arato, Lacia has come to live with the Endo's. Arato's sister Yuka has completely accepted Lacia, and even enters her into an hIE modeling audition. Meanwhile, Arato can't hide his apprehension with living with someone who looks to be a beautiful girl his own age.

Despite his awareness of analog hacking, Arato can't help himself from being drawn to Lacia. Amid all of this, Lacia is “kidnapped” right in front of Yuka. Arato is upset with the police and their unwillingness to treat this as anything but property theft, so he gets the help of Ryo and Kengo to investigate on their own.

Kouka, the violent hIE who calls herself Lacia's first sister. With her control over the antibody network, she is planning to carry out a horrifying act of terrorism. When Arato learns that her scheme is putting Kengo in danger, Arato sets out to rescue Kengo with Lacia's help.

Arato arrives at the industrial promotion center which is the target for the antibody network's terrorist attack. He heads up the stairs and sees the android politician Mikoto his father developed, which leaves him with feelings of uneasiness. Soon after, the terrorist unit led by Kouka as well as another Lacia-class hIE arrive on the scene. A big battle is about to break out!

Arato's life has changed dramatically since meeting Lacia. There was the excitement of living together coupled with the experience of being the owner of a high-functioning hIE. While there were incidents such as her kidnapping, there were others in which he willingly dove into danger with Lacia's help. And now our story is about to progress to the next stage.

Arato manages to rescue Kengo from the calamity at the industrial promotion center. However, even after returning to normal life, he finds himself consumed by the ever deepening mysteries. Meanwhile at the Memeframe Corporation, a factional dispute becomes escalated. Within the upheaval, the Lacia-class hIE Methode is about to make her move.

Lacia has a new modeling gig. It is an image commercial to promote a new type of relationship between hIE's and human beings, one in which people view hIE's of the opposite sex as an equal partner. Calling the campaign “Boy meets Girl,” Arato is thrown for a loop by this bold advertising concept that is looking to challenge society itself.

Having made a contract with Shiori, Methode suddenly attacks Lacia while she is filming a commercial. As the circumstances surrounding Arato and Lacia are about to shift again dramatically, a new transfer student arrives at Arato's high school. Erica Burrows—the Sleeping Princess born in the 21st Century who just awoke from suspended animation, and Arato senses animosity from her.

Shiori puts her plan into motion. At this rate, Arato will lose ownership of Lacia. “Mr. Arato, please allow me to be with you.” This unexpected plea from Lacia moves Arato, and he heads to Chubu International Airport to stop Shiori.

Kouka, Snowdrop, Methode... Known collectively as Red Boxes, what did meeting these high-functioning Lacia-class hIE's bring to Arato and Lacia's relationship, and what is about to come? Slowly but surely, Arato's world is beginning to change.

Arato is given two weeks of suspension after the fight between Methode and Lacia leaves him with paying 4.5 million yen worth of damages they caused. In order to apologize to his father Kozo who offered to pay half of the damages, Arato takes Lacia, Yuka, and Ryo to Tsukuba where a large-scale hIE experiment is being conducted.

Methode abducts Yuka right in front of Lacia. Arato and Ryo head to rescue her, but standing in their way are all of the hIE's in the experimental city who have been infected by Ginga Watarai to act like zombies. In order to get the hIE's to regain control, Arato and Ryo head to the administration center, but...

Ginga Watarai's death puts an end to the incident at the experimental city. During all of the chaos, Arato had revealed his feelings to Lacia which she accepted. Yuka has mixed feelings about this sudden new coupling within her household. Meanwhile, the security police and Lacia-class masters begin to respond to the ever-changing situation.

After being summoned by Erika to the Burrows estate, the Lacia-class hIE's fight entered the next phase. As each of them contemplated their next move, Kouka felt her possibility for a future quickly closing as she was being pursued as a suspect in the Chubu Airport bombing by the security police.

Kouka carries out an antibody network terrorist attack against the Next-Gen Society Research Center on her own. Kouka's overwhelming destructive power is streamed around the globe, inspiring fear and zeal to the masses. This was Kouka's path to her future.

The world is changing. What exactly are the Lacia-class hIE's striving to accomplish? Future possibilities begin to slowly take shape. What is in store for humanity?

Kengo is arrested by the security police in connection to Kouka's terrorist activities. Arato decides to save Kengo and gives Lacia the order. Following the plan she has devised, Arato finds himself face to face with the PMC “HOO,” the military group responsible for destroying Kouka.

Affected by Kouka's destruction, Snowdrop moved up her own plans, taking over the Mitaka transformer substation to secure a steady energy supply and bringing disaster to the surroundings. Arato and Lacia try to stop her, but Methode and Ryo stand in their way.

What is Lacia? Will humanity ever be able to provide an answer? A new era brought on by highly intelligent AI. Caught in the middle of this turmoil, Arato takes Lacia's hand with some reservations. Will his decisions lead to the end of humanity? Or the start of a new beginning?

Lacia's secret is revealed. Arato is unable to handle it and steps away from Lacia. Defenseless on his own, he's captured by Ryo and Methode where he could do nothing but watch the monitor as Snowdrop spread her seeds of destruction.

Pushed by Shiori and Yuka, Arato decided to face Lacia once again. If his last order was still in place, Lacia should be trying to stop Snowdrop. With this thought, Arato heads towards Mitaka, a place which has transformed into an unrecognizable landscape by Snowdrop's power.

It has been two months since the tragic events in Mitaka. The world returned to some semblance of normalcy, and Arato and Lacia lay low as they prepare for whatever may come next. However, their brief period of happiness is disturbed after they are contacted by the super intelligent AI Astraia.

Super intelligent AI have spurred society to change. As the fight surrounding Arato and Lacia escalates, the leaders of the old guard discuss how they could maximize their own profits. Among the participants, only Erika Burrows expresses anger towards their foolishness.

The super intelligent AI Higgins. The core of Memeframe, one of the keys to humanity's future, and the creator of Lacia. Arato and Lacia traverse through a giant underground facility in order to contact Higgins. There they will find a future far beyond the human imagination...