"It's here! It's finally here!"
He tore open the shipping box to reveal a box containing a personal home assistant unit. He spun around clutching the box against his chest before flopping down on his bed.
"It's so beautiful" he sighed as he lifted the package above his head, admiring the box at all angles.
In this day and age, all houses came with a home assistant, but the one outfitted in his room was used and laughably out of date. All his friends had ones with avatars and holos and SmartLearn tech, while his just adjusted things to verbal commands such as temperature and lighting. Boring.
"All those hours working as a math tutor finally is paying off!" He could hardly contain his excitement and laughed. "I'm 17 years old and I don't think I've been excited over getting something since when I was 6 at Christmas. Might as well set this up. I did my research and the average set up time is 1.5 hours, so I better get started"
Following the instructions carefully, he assembled the device, installed it in his room, and booted it up.
The holo system turned on and athe image of a long haired brunette OL appeared. "Thank you for installing the AroundHome Software's Personal Home Assistant. The Personal Assistant has many options and choices, would you like a digital tour of my features?"
He was in awe, and it took him a while before he remembered to respond. "Yes please."
"This particular model you have chosen is of the SF series, Model A2 , the serial code, AH-SF-A2-M2-1204-09. Please keep this 14 character code for when you need to contact our company for troubleshooting.
"This model is capable of managing climate, lighting, entertainment, and any electronic devices you wish to synch to this assistant. This assistant is also capable of giving verbal reminders and has SmartLearn to learn your habits and adjust things to your liking without direct input.
"This model is also capable of having the holo avatar customized to the appearance of your choice, additional premade outfits may be purchased from the AroundHome shop under the Holo Avatar Custom Options page. This, however should not be a deterrent to making custom clothing or appearances if you so wish."
"Do you… do you mind if I customize you now?"
"Most certainly."
It had taken him 15 minutes to customize her to his liking, and he opted more towards a pop idol look.
"Very good. Is there a specific way you wish for this unit to refer to you, user?"
"You could call me master if you'd like."
"Master?"
He was flooded with embarrassement and he quickly waved his hand "Nonono never mind don't call me master. Just Kiyoteru is fine."
"Kiyoteru?"
"Yes."
"Settings saved. Is there a specific way you would like to refer to this unit, Kiyoteru?"
"Uh… hmmm…" He racked his brains to think of a name that would be suitable, looking for various things for inspiration. He saw the box and read the , and decided on a variation of that: rearrangin into MIKI. "Miki?"
"Miki? Is this alright?"
"Yes."
"Thank you for the name, Kiyoteru. You have finished initializing this unit. Further settings can be accessed under Settings, or you can choose to allow SmartLearn to observe settings desireable to you."
"I look forward to working with you, Miki. Please take care of me"
"Please take care of me."
—–
A few years passed since then, and Miki's gentle reminders and urging kept him on point in his studies, and she wasn't adverse to completely disconnecting his internet to get him to work.
But at 20 years old, he brought a girl home.
Miki was none too pleased, and made it a priority to make this intruder uncomfortable as possible.
After the intruder left (in a huff mind you) she seemed fairly pleased with herself.
"Miki?"
"Yes Kiyoteru?"
"What the hell was that?"
"What do you mean?"
"Don't play dumb. You know what you did."
"I don't understand."
"Are you trying to make me look bad?"
"I have done nothing wrong."
"Miki, that girl is my girlfriend. Are you trying to make her hate me?"
"I am not."
"Are you… are you jealous?"
"[Program not responding]"
"Hey! Don't try to hide behind some technical error like that!"
"[Program not responding]"
He sighed. "Miki if you're jealous, please don't be."
"[Program not responding]"
He shrugged and went back to his normal routine.
—
"Are you planning on replacing me, Kiyoteru?"
"Maybe. I bought you 5 years ago, and you're outdated and no longer supported by your company."
"Please don't."
"Are you trying to make me feel bad?"
"I know you best."
"You sure do."
There was a silence between them, and her holo sat next to him.
"I remember how excited you were when you bought me. Youre 22 now, will you be that excited when you buy a replacement?"
"Probably not."
"Then?"
"Then what?"
"Then what do you plan to do? Do I mean something to you?"
"You are important to me, but that doesn't change the fact you're just a piece of technology that comes and goes."
"Really."
"Don't worry. I don't plan on replacing you."
"But your girlfriend keeps talking about it and you said you'd consider it…"
"When did you ever listen to what my girlfriend says?"
"You replaced me with your girlfriend, and if you replaced me for another assistant I'd never forgive you."
"Duly noted."
"Do you love me?"
"I do. Ever since you were mine, I always adored you. But I'm not cheating on you by pursuing happiness in another human being."
"I'm jealous."
"Don't blame you. I'll keep you until the day you stop working to make it up to you."
"Thanks. Do you think I'm too attached to you?"
"Completely. But I could hardly remember a time I could function without you, so please take care of me."
"… Please take care of me."
