Tonio wondered why everyone was celebrating. He couldn't help but stare into empty space. The computer technicians installed him along with all his friends in the main computer of the coffee shop. His friend Leon began to sing the jingle of the new café.
"Have a coffee cup filled with fun, a slice of cake or even a cream bun." Sang Leon
All the others practiced with him. Lola sang it in a sweeter tune than usual. Prima and Tonio sang it in harmonious unison whereas the newer Vocaloids sounded clean and pleasant.
This shop was tucked away in Los Angeles near the new manga store. The logo of "Zero-G" gleamed in the pouring sunlight. The sign was flipped to read as "closed". Next to the logo, there was "The Sweet Room" written in cursive font.
"That should be good until we get the remaining Voice Sequence files." Said Dex
On the 4th of May people lined up in front of the café. It wasn't too long of a queue. There were cosplayers outside the café, dressed as Dex and Daina. Most people took selfies with them.
Soon enough, people were ordering. The chairs were made of metal, with a round table. The interior had blue wallpaper. There was a fridge shelf with the variety of desserts. The first shelf had fruit and savory pies, blueberry muffins, and other classics like tiramisu.
The large interactive screens were on both sides of the café. Four screens were there in total.
Rather than sitting down to eat, many people were busy with the Vocaloids in the screens.
There was a girl with light brown hair cut into a bob. She was wearing a black cap with the Vocaloid logo embroidered. She was dressed in casual summer clothes. The girl waited for a long time to get to the screen.
The two ways to order were standing at the counter or ordering through the screen.
"SELECT VOCALOID"
It popped up on the screen. She didn't even bother looking through the list, as soon as she found Tonio, she clicked.
"What would you like to have?" said Tonio, in a choppy way
"Umm…" said the girl
She opened her purse.
She clicked on "ICED LATTE".
"Anything else?" said Tonio
She clicked on "VANILLA CUPCAKE".
She collected her token and paid the money.
Everyone had someone with them, she was alone.
The frosting was light and airy. The scent of vanilla was comforting. The cupcake itself was dense and soft. She sipped the latte little by little. The whipped cream was speckled with chocolate chips. The girl drank the latte until only ice remained.
"No wonder it's so expensive." She said softly
The Vocaloids didn't notice it at first. Lola was the first to realize a pattern.
"Tonio, did you notice?" said Lola
"What am I supposed to notice?" sang Tonio in his operatic voice
"That girl who comes here on every Saturday morning. She only chooses you. You can check the records to be sure."
"Alright, so?" said Tonio
Daina said, "It's true. And she always comes alone."
"Alright what are you all saying?" said Prima
"Does this mean that this girl likes Tonio?" burst out Avanna
"What? Why would she do that? I'm not even real." Said Tonio
"It's certainly happened before with many voice banks!" said Avanna
This Saturday was different. She came with three others. Two girls and one guy.
"Well Sophie, this is the place you can't stop talking about." Said one of them
"Yeah! The food here is amazing." Said Sophie
Tonio was spying through the screen. Sophie seemed a lot happier than usual.
"She's having fun with friends." Thought Tonio
They took forever to decide what to have.
Sophie said, "Argh let's all have cheesecake. It's the one thing I haven't tried yet here."
"I've never seen her like this before. So energetic." Thought Tonio
Sophie asked everyone to pay their shares in front of the screen.
"I want to select the girl with the fox ears." Said one
Sophie said, "I always choose this one. Isn't he cute?"
The guy burst out laughing.
"So that's your type eh?" he said
Tonio began to blush and it showed up on his three dimensional model.
The next couple of weekends, Tonio observed Sophie even though he didn't want to. He couldn't help himself.
Prima said, "I think Tonio is falling for her too."
Tonio said, "I'm afraid it's true."
"What?" they all cried, one after another
"That's impossible, right?" said Sonika
"Tell her!" said Avanna
"I don't have the vsq file for it." Said Tonio, with a heavy breath
They all quieted down.
For the next few days, Tonio was the one who sang the jingle.
"Have a coffee cup filled with fun…" he sang joyfully
When she came yet again, she ordered a hot tea and a pack of biscotti. She kept using her phone. After taking pictures of food, she even took a few selfies.
Then one day she came with the guy. Tonio watched as usual. So did every other Vocaloid.
Sophie was showing him the coupon she got for being a regular customer.
"Sophie, you come here so often. Let's go to an ice cream place next, just the two of us." He said
"But then everyone will think we're in a relationship." Said Sophie
"Yeah, about that. I was thinking we should be in relationship."
"What? Why?"
Tonio could only see the back of her head. He could clearly see the boy though. He was staring into her eyes. He got a hold of her hands.
"Please don't give me anymore nonsense about liking fictional characters."
"But…" said Sophie
"If you like a fictional character, will he or she ever like you back? Sophie, what does your common sense tell you?"
"No."
Right at that moment, the Vocaloid editor crashed.
"Tonio!" yelled Lola
"Tonio! Tonio?"
The screen showed an exclamation mark and the words underneath mentioned an error.
Tonio opened his eyes.
"Why did I even bother? I shall trust humans no more." He said
Day after day, as Sophie clicked the buttons Tonio still didn't know that she rejected that boy. Yet Tonio was glad to never see him with her again. He was full of hope but knew it was impossible for them to be together.