She'd taken it. She knew doing so would start trouble at the academy again, but she couldn't just leave it. Uchiko had taken the cyborg bear, who she'd once known as her classmate Yurikawa Konomi, and run off with it. She had bundled the little thing in a blanket and run for home, doing her best to keep out of sight of prying eyes.

Now she sat on her bed, the door to her room locked in case her mother got home early. The cyborg bear sat on the blanket she had been wrapped up in and stared up at Uchiko blankly.

"Na... nasty?" it said, cocking its head to the side.

Uchiko smiled, and ran her hand over the metallic side of the bear's head. "You poor little thing... they left you to die there in that box. Or die again, I guess."

The little bear sniffled, one small tear falling down from the corner of her eye. "Nas... ty."

"But don't worry, I won't let you die. I'll take care of you now, and I won't let anyone hurt you!"

The little bear's face lit up. "Nasty!"

Uchiko giggled, and softly poked the bear's face. "And we should see if we can do something about that, too." The bear didn't seem to understand, but still looked very happy.

Stretching out her arm toward her beside dresser, Uchiko grabbed her small toolbox, and brought it to the bed. She flipped it open, grabbed a small screwdriver, and then pulled the little bear close and turned it around so that she could access the panel on the back of its head. Only one little screw held the panel in place, which she easily loosened before carefully taking the panel and setting it aside. Then she got to work. Once finished, she put the panel back in place, tightened the screw, and turned the bear around to look at her.

"Now just a soft reboot, and that should do the trick." Uchiko pressed the power button in the middle of the bear's forehead, then sat back and waited. The little bear's eyes went wide and its face went blank. It twitched a few times, its head hanging to the side, before the light came back into its eyes, and it happily looked up at Uchiko.

"Hello, little bear. Can you talk?"

"Na... nasty?"

"No, not just that word. Can you use others?"

The bear looked to the side, its face scrunched up as though it were going through a great effort. "Na.. nas... Nice." It looked back at Uchiko, a big smile on its face. "Nice girl!"

With a little squeal, Uchiko grinned and clapped her hands together in excitement. "Yay! You did it! And I did it! I fixed you!" She reached out and softly pet the furry side of the little bear's head, which it seemed to enjoy quite a bit. "Such a good little bear..."

"Kon... k-k... Na... Konomi," the bear managed to force out, stomping its little paw on the bed.

Uchiko's eyes widened. Then her face lit up in the warmest of smiles, and she scooped the little bear up into an embrace. "Yes, I'm sorry. Good job, Konomi."

Konomi's eyes closed, and she nuzzled her half-fuzzy head into Uchiko's neck. "U-U... Uchi."