Chapter 1:
"How long will Hideki sleep?"
Chii looked out the small, dusty window briefly to see that the night has fallen over the city. Usually, she would hear cars whistling by and the occasional footsteps of someone walking back home after a long day of hard work.
However, not a single sound can be heard on this particular night. The city showed absolutely no signs of life. Not a single shred of light can be seen from any window and the definite silence can bring chills to a person's spine.
Chii glanced back down to the hands situated on her lap. Her eyes crinkled in worry and sadness. It has been three days since she had arrived at the hospital. Her gaze slowly moved from her open palms to the weak body in the bed a couple of feet away from her.
"Hideki…please wake up…"
The ivory-haired persocom reasoned that if her voice spoke his name every once in a while, he would wake up sooner from his silent state. Surely, Hideki will wake up if someone calls him.
Chii stared at Hideki's emotionless face with a tiny glimmer of hope in her eyes, but after a minute passed by, it was replaced with a hint of disappoint as she lowered them back to her lap.
A soft draft entered from the window and circulated in the empty ward. It gently caressed Chii's long and sleek hair away from her face and fluttered softly in the air. Chii turned her head to the window again and found that the stars tonight are much brighter than any other she had witnessed. There are many of them scattered across the blackened sky as if someone had thrown large amounts of glitter high in the air and they somehow got stuck. The deep vastness of the sky had always been an object of great fascination to Chii and it always seemed to relax her mentally. In a way, it reminded her of her sister, Freya. She had always given her great guidance and her presence gave off a sense of tranquility. Chii continued to sweep her eyes occasionally stopping from one star to another, her mind drifted off to the week before.
"Hideki, what are those?"
Hideki looked up from the humongous science textbook he was reading for the final that is conveniently held tomorrow.
"What is what?"
"Those." She pointed her finger innocently up in the night sky. "Those white dots up there. What are they called?" she asked.
"They're called stars." Hideki replied. "It's a self-luminous celestial body consisting of a mass of gas held together by its own gravity." Little does he realize that his brain is right now mouthing off the words written in his textbook.
"Chi?" Her head tilted slightly to the right in confusion to what Hideki unconsciously just said. Her eyes blinked a couple of times as if trying to comprehend this bit of information.
Okay Hideki, what the hell did you just say? Everyone KNOWS that schoolbooks cannot give a straight answer. Keep it up and you'll sound like a complete nerd.
Hideki shook his head from the absurdity of his answer.
"All right forget what I just said. Um…well, stars are, uh, these things in the sky that only appear at night." Nice one Hideki, that one sounds so much better. Hideki thought sarcastically.
Chii twisted her head back outside and stared in appreciation from the large myriad of stars above her. Her eyes gleamed with wonder and amazement.
"Stars are very pretty." Chii stated in a somewhat soft manner.
However, Hideki's eyes were not focused on the stars but the persocom standing out on the balcony of his apartment.
Yeah, Chii is very pretty...wait, WHAT did I just say? Get a grip on yourself! That is the cheesiest line I have ever said. Get your head out of the clouds and keep studying!
As he was mentally berating himself for thinking like a complete idiot, he briefly spotted a shooting star rocket across the sky.
"Hideki! Hideki, did you see it?" Chii squealed with glee. She was hopping up and down on the tips of her feet pointing at some random place in the sky, her face glowing with excitement.
Hideki smiled back at her. "Yes I did. That's a shooting star. Some people say if you see one and make a wish, it will come true."
Chii gave a questioning look.
"Any wish?" she asked curiously.
"Yeah, any wish you want." Hideki replied, smiling slightly in his thoughts. Yeah, I wish I have my own house and a fast internet connection to download the latest porn.
As Chii slowly digested this new piece of information, Hideki returned back to his textbook. Unfortunately, his brain had partially melted from the enormous number of pages he had to read and went into another one of his trademark frenzies.
"AAAARRRGGGHHH! I'll never be able to figure this out! Why does Ms. Shimizu have to give a test right now? I'm not ready for this!" he wailed as he threw his book to 'who knows where' and began to roll feverishly on the floor.
Chii snapped back from her contemplation and walked down from the balcony before she plopped down on the floor.
"Hideki?" Chii said.
Hideki stopped rotating momentarily and looked up at Chii sitting in front of him.
"Huh? What is it?"
"Will…Hideki love Chii forever?"
Hideki blinked in surprise and his face gave an expression of bewilderment. Why did she ask that all of a sudden?
"Er, w-why did you ask that?" he stammered nervously. No one has ever asked him a question like that before. How was he supposed to give a 'correct' answer?
Chii turned away slightly. Her face betrayed a sense of doubt and worry.
"Motoko says humans will lose interest and like other new things. Motoko says it is human nature and it will happen to Chii's owner too."
Chii had been thinking this for quite some time now, but she never had the courage to ask Hideki if he would ever lose interest in her. It is a possibility that Hideki could find another persocom and eventually forget about her. The image of seeing Hideki with someone else practically ripped Chii apart and she wasn't sure if she would be able to deal with that.
She crawled slowly over to where Hideki sat. Her legs moving gracefully like a cat and her imploring eyes met nervous ones.
"Will….Hideki lose interest in Chii?" she asked in an anxious tone.
Hideki stared back as if he was in a trance. Her face was the picture of apprehension. Minutes went by in silence as Hideki gradually reached to his final conclusion. "Yes," he said as he lowered his head slightly.
Chii was stunned. Someone had ripped away her radiant wings to let her fall helplessly in the air and crash into the ground of misery. She suddenly felt all alone as if she was stranded in a huge, darkened room with no light to guide her. The one person 'just for her' may forget about her as if she had never existed and may find someone that could possibly be much better than her. Her head slowly fell in sorrow.
"That is if I was your owner." Her eyes widened and shot back up to Hideki from his abrupt answer.
He had a small yet comforting smile on his face. "I don't consider myself to be your owner."
Now, Chii was completely confused. Wasn't he the one who saved her from the trash heap and took her home because he needed a computer? "But Hideki found me-,"
"That doesn't mean I'm your owner." Hideki said, cutting her off. "To me, you are not just some household appliance or convenience to have. You are so much more than that." Hideki reached and held Chii's hands in reassurance.
"I am not just 'interested' in you. I love you. No one will ever replace you, Chii." Hideki said with absolute resolution.
"H-hideki….," Chii was surprised, but then she broke out into a huge grin and tackled him to the ground, her arms clamped around his midsection.
"WHOOOAAA!" Hideki yelled as he landed with a loud thud on the wooden floor. Chii's loving eyes gazed deeply into his. "Thank you…" she spoke in a sincere and tender tone.
Hideki's face flushed from embarrassment at her strong reaction. His heartbeat rate was going twice as fast. He chuckled and stroked her back. His touch caused her body to curl and cuddle closer to his body like an adorable kitten. She relaxed and slowly melted in his arms like a fresh, ice cream sundae under the warm sun.
"I will always love you." Hideki spoke in a soothing voice. Chii let out a content sigh as she snuggled even closer to him. Her cheek rested on top of his chest and a serene smile covered her face.
A bright, shooting star flew swiftly above their two huddled bodies in the dark sky.
Chii saw the shooting star from the hospital window and it made her even more miserable than before. She turned her head back to the lying form in the hospital bed. Her movements slowly led her to his side like a ghost and picked up his hand. She held it for a moment and gently stroked it across her face, imagining that his cold fingers were warm with life and he was really caressing her cheek. She then lifted up the covers and drew close to Hideki's lifeless body and crushed herself into him. "Please come back soon," she whispered.