Homura Takeru and the Wizard of Wash
Author's Note: Diverges from the plot of season 3. Enjoy the story and R&R.
Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to or of the Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS series.
Summary:
Life dumb Homura Takeru doesn't know how to work a washing machine. Lucky he has a certified cleaner in Roboppy to pick up the slack!
Homura Takeru scrutinized the washing machine and its daunting collection of archaic knobs and buttons, staring at the clunky appliance so fiercely his hair might catch fire.
Although he'd built a rash, confident screen presence, his real-world persona was considerably less remarkable. People stereotyped him as smart due to his glasses, but in truth, Takeru struggled with the most menial of tasks.
He shuddered to think what Frog and Pigeon would do with the dirt if they found out Soulburner, who courageously defended humanity against Lightning and Bohman, couldn't operate something as uncomplicated and pedestrian as a run-down washing machine.
Takeru briefly toyed with the idea of phoning Yusaku to request a hand, before realizing his friend was just as hopeless when it came to housework as he was.
The hotel usually saw to his clothes. Then, after Mirror LINK VRAINS fell, he wound up broke, squatting in the basic apartment Ai bought for himself and Roboppy using SOL Technologies' dirty money. It'd be even smaller, discounting Ai's "go big or go home" mentality, which compelled him to choose a pad more spacious than a maintenance closet.
Shirts were piling up, and Takeru was wearing the same wrinkled uniform for the third day in a row. Yusaku's solution since losing his maid was to turn to Kusanagi. Takeru, contrarily, was exceedingly embarrassed to ask the older man for a save.
To Takeru's advantage, androids have no sense of smell, so his slobby ways didn't impinge much on his unplanned yet accommodating roommates.
"Washer trouble? Is it broken, su?" Roboppy poked his head in.
"If by broken, you mean I'm clueless without Flame."
"Tut-tut, all your modern wizardry and you can't set a simple timer! Where would you humans be without us AIs, su? Get off LINK VRAINS for a while! That VR exposure will melt your mind!"
A child telling the near-adult how to behave? Was he living in an alternate universe?
Roboppy popped a joint. No, really. He popped it right off.
"Gross, Roboppy."
Sounding his signature tone, he stuck his detached finger into the front-loader's input socket.
"Are you hacking it?"
"I'm transmitting my Duel data through the microprocessor, su!"
"I understand you're proud of improving your ranking and everything, but how does your Duel data help? Couldn't you teach me how to work the machine instead?"
"I could. Only, you'll probably forget, su! This is more convenient!"
Delivering it a kick, the unit morphed its component parts into chickenlike talons, puny pincer arms, trifolded wings, and a corrugated drain hose neck and tail.
"There! Now whenever you need to clean your clothes, just throw in your wash, and Laundry Dragon here will take care of it for you! No fuss, no muss, su!" Roboppy loaded its drum.
His monster creaked.
"Is that normal?"
It gave an unbalanced, mechanical jerk.
"Woah, woah, definitely not normal!"
Laundry Dragon unsealed the door to its chest cavity, reached in, and flung a boomerang made from Takeru's socks and unmentionables, knocking him onto his back. Next, it fired the hydro cannons capping the alulae on each of its wings.
"Shut it – shut it down!" Takeru said between jets of water filling his mouth.
Triggering the breaker, Roboppy urgently pulled the plug.
At the aqueous aggression's adjournment, Takeru rose peevishly to his feet, opprobriously soaked.
"Had it set to Heavy Duty, su. Oops."
"You call that convenient? This is the last time I trust a sentient vacuum cleaner!"