Loveless © Yun Kouga

Nietzsche, Internet and Nanako-007

"Hey, Soubi… is it expensive? This cell phone…"

Ritsuka detached his Fighter's hands from his waist, pulled the phone out of his pocket and flipped it open. "Soni-Erichson-Z010, must be a new model." He frowned. "Do you always spend crazy sums of money on random stuff? And Seimei told me that undergrads were too poor for that!"

"Well, it certainly is not cheap, which is why I chose it, Ritsuka," Soubi smiled. "You deserve the best. Besides, I'm not immune to the charms of modern technology, so to say… Yes, it does have some absolutely useless functions, but overall it's a good little device, don't you think so? Look, there's a built-in camera. You can take pictures or even make short videos and send them to your friends." His purple eyes glinted mischievously. "Say, would Yuiko like to see some photos of us together – "

"No, Soubi, she wouldn't," the boy interrupted him quickly. "She wouldn't."

"I understand," Soubi nodded. "Fine, then we won't do it."

Ritsuka sighed and rubbed his temples. His Fighter was almost disturbingly obedient, vivacious and cheerful, not to mention impossible to offend, kind of like Nanako-007, the pink-haired android from Perfect Companion, a popular sci-fi comic. Unfortunately, Agatsuma Soubi was not a pretty bikini-clad robot girl and Ritsuka could not remove his batteries.

"Ritsuka? Is something wrong?"

"No, no," Ritsuka waved his hand absent-mindedly. "Um, Soubi… speaking of odd functions, there was this weird thing in your last SMS." The phone display flashed blue and a short text appeared next to the date. "Here, right after your signature."

"Oh, this?" Soubi laughed. "It's just an emoticon. These symbols, for example, are used for ears, Latin O's are eyes and the dot between them is a nose or a mouth. Very funny and great for online chats."

"Soubi, I'm not that dumb, I know what a smiley is," Ritsuka said coldly. "By the way, I hate chats – and the members of my favorite forum don't need smileys. I'm not sure about you, Soubi, but I can express my opinion on Nietzsche and Schopenhauer without extra dots or brackets," he added with a snort. "Normal Japanese words are enough."

"You're so mature, Ritsuka!" Soubi grinned. "Mature and serious. I admire – "

"Is that supposed to be a compliment?"

"But of course."

"Okay," the boy mumbled, still not completely convinced. "Anyway, what is this lovely… emoticon for? It doesn't seem to make your urgent message more meaningful," he pointed out in a rather sarcastic tone.

"It's cute," Soubi shrugged. "And it reminds me of you, Ritsuka."

Ritsuka turned slightly red. "Idiot. It's a freaking digital icon, not a portrait, and it doesn't resemble me at all – and did you have to show it to me?"

"I simply want you to be aware of my undying devotion."

"Shut up."

He turned away and started typing something. Soubi tilted his head to one side, studying Ritsuka as if he had just discovered an interesting rare species or a remarkable work of art. His Sacrifice's back and thin shoulders were an exceptionally pleasant sight.

"If you connect two O's with a hyphen, they look exactly like your glasses," Ritsuka muttered after a long pause. "Your stupid round glasses. See, my emoticons are more realistic than yours."

Much to his annoyance, he was promptly tackled into an enthusiastic hug.