Based off the Cocorobo talking vacuum. ( watch?v=04veXWhFo0o ) Creative liberty was taken with the Cocorobo's functionality and vocabulary, so it could exist in a modern BASARA AU. Posted for Komasa Week 2017.
"Where... exactly did you find this?" Kojuro finally broached the silence after watching Masamune pour over his new Cocorobo's instruction manual for a solid ten minutes.
"So Chosokabe, you know how he's really into machines and stuff right? So he shared a video of this thing in action on Facebook, and I saw it for sale yesterday and figured, why not?" Masamune answered without looking up.
"And it... talks?" Kojuro pressed again.
"Yeah!" Masamune finally put the manual down, pulling out his phone instead. "It syncs with this app, and you can tell it do stuff, and it'll talk while it's working. There's a bunch of pre-recorded voices for it, or you can record your own stuff. For example, when it starts up in the morning, it'll say," Masamune paused and fiddled with the app for a few moments, before loudly proclaiming: "Good morning!"
After a moment, there was a chime from his phone, then an identical chime from the Cocorobo, which echoed "Good morning!" in a slightly staticky tone.
Kojuro chuckled, and sat down beside Masamune on the couch. "I'm starting to understand why it appealed to you." He glanced over at Masamune's phone's screen, taking in some of the list of required phrases. "That's quite the selection. How many things does this vacuum say?"
"It's crazy." Masamune laughed, scrolling through the list. "This things tells you the weather, the time of day, how much battery it has. I'm going to be recording stuff for this all afternoon, but it'll be totally worth it when it's done. Hey," he turned to Kojuro, "do you want to record a few lines for it?"
Kojuro patted Masamune's thigh affectionately and stood up. "Thanks, but I'll leave the voice to you. Though, I am interested to see it in action." He stared to walk away, but called over his shoulder, "It'll be like you're actually vacuuming for once."
Kojuro grinned as he dodged the instruction manual Masamune threw at him.
"Hey, I do tones of housework around here! I just hate vacuuming!" Masamune called after him, before grinning himself and turning back to his phone.
The following day, Masamune and Kojuro both crouched, watching the new Cocorobo in its charging station.
"I set it to start cleaning automatically once a week. It should be any minute now," Masamune explained.
Sure enough, the Cocorobo flared to life with a blink of its lights and a whirr of its motors. It paused in the station for a moment, before declaring "Good morning! It's fine today. Let's clean!" in its staticky version of Masamune's voice, before slowly taking off towards the opposite wall.
Masamune stood up and clapped his hands in triumph. "Alright, it works! It even got the weather right!"
Kojuro stood up next to Masamune and put his arm around his waist, humming thoughtfully. "I still prefer the real thing."
"God damn, you are such a sap." Masamune teased, elbowing Kojuro lightly in the side. "Come on! Let's go see what happens if we put a chair in front of it!" Masamune said, pulling Kojuro after him.
Within a week, Kojuro had almost forgotten about the Cocorobo. It was on his day off, when he was lying down on the couch reading, that he almost jumped out his skin hearing Masamune's voice call out "Good morning! It's windy today. Let's clean!"
He sat up, looking around for Masamune, who was supposed to be at work, when the little vacuum rolled into the room. He relaxed and watched it slowly move around, noting that Masamune had decorated the vacuum's black outer case with lightning bolts, drawn in white permanent marker. It was almost silly how excited Masamune had gotten about his little vacuum, but Kojuro found it endearing. He was always glad when Masamune found something that made him happy.
After watching the Cocorobo run into walls for a few minutes, Kojuro remembered something Masamune had mentioned, and called out to the Cocorobo, "Hey! What time is it?"
A light on top of it flashed, before it responded "Hello! It's eleven fifteen! Time to clean! Yeah-ha!" to him, pausing slightly between the numbers.
"Thank you," Kojuro said as he laid back down.
"You're welcome," the Cocorobo replied as it headed slowly for the next room.
An hour later, Kojuro had made very little progress on his book, and was instead starting to doze off listening to the whirr of the Cocorobo, when a loud exclamation from the thing jolted him awake.
"Shit! I'm stuck!"
He got up quickly and followed the voice, listening as the Cocorobo gave a series of loud beeps and its motors ran desperately. He soon found it it the bedroom, halfway into the closet with a shirt tangled firmly in its suction intake. Its wheels pulled uselessly against the extra weight, and it declared again "Shit! I'm stuck!"
"Honestly, of all the things Masamune could have recorded, he had to include profanity?" Kojuro muttered to himself as he picked it up and flipped it over. A quick tug was all it took to free the shirt, and he set it back down again.
"Alright! Let's clean!" the Cocorobo called as it sped off.
As Kojuro fondly watched it go, he thought to himself that although he truly did prefer the real thing, the little robot with Masamune's voice was oddly endearing.
Kojuro stared blankly out the car window as Sasuke's car pulled to a stop in front of his building.
"Alright, here we are. Are you sure you don't want me to stick around for a bit?" Sasuke asked, watching with concern as Kojuro climbed out and onto the sidewalk.
"No, it's alright. I just need to rest right now." Kojuro said, keeping his voice level and controlled.
"Are you sure?" Sasuke hesitated, before saying, "It's probably not good to be alone right now."
"It's fine. Thank you for the ride."
"Okay, just... just text me later or something? We're all here for you. I know it's gotta be rough, losing Masamune so suddenly like that, but-"
Kojuro closed the door, cutting him off. Maybe that was too rude, but he could apologize later. Right now, he didn't want to hear it. He didn't want to hear anything. As he turned away, he heard Sasuke's car drive off, and he allowed his composure to fall a little.
Once he was inside his and Masamune's- no, he corrected himself, just mine now- apartment, he didn't even bother with his shoes or his coat, he just went straight for the couch and collapsed. Leaning back, he tried to focus on his breathing, but every sound seemed too loud. The apartment, which just a few days ago had felt warm and comfortable, now felt too big and too empty without Masamune in it. Everything felt too empty without Masamune in it.
Feeling a prickling in his eyes, Kojuro pressed the heels of his palms over his eyes and rubbed, trying to hold off the tears. He wasn't ready to grieve. He wasn't ready to accept that Masamune was gone. He didn't want to feel anything, he just wanted to pretend that this had never happened, and Masamune was still okay and was just at work, and would be home in a few hours.
Dammit, why?! Kojuro cursed himself, Why wasn't I out with him? He always gets so easily distracted when he's out with people, why wasn't I there to look out for him? If I was with them, then I would've seen that damn drunk run that light, and I could have stopped Masamune before he stepped into the crosswalk. I could have protected him! Why wasn't I there? Damn, if I ever get my hands on that driver, I'll...
Kojuro stopped that trail of thought before it could go any further. That was a path he didn't want to let himself go down. He leaned forward and ran his hands over his face, trying to focus on something else. He couldn't sit around berating himself, but he was at a compete loss for what to do. Normally he could figure out a strategy for any problem, but what was he supposed to do for a situation like this? Nothing would bring Masamune back, and nothing would ever fill this aching void in his life.
He thought briefly of killing himself, to follow Masamune, but years ago Masamune had made them both promise to never do that if something ever happened to either of them. Kojuro had easily promised him that, declaring that he would never let anything happen to Masamune, so it would never be a problem. How had he been so naive? To be so sure that nothing would ever go wrong. If only he hadn't made that promise. If only he'd kept his word to protect Masamune. If only...
Kojuro inhaled deeply, and let out a shaking breath. He could feel the tears coming again, but he still didn't want to let himself cry.
He was so absorbed in his thoughts that he almost didn't hear the familiar motor running, until the Cocorobo rolled into the room and called out "Good morning! It's cloudy today. Let's clean!"
Kojuro's head snapped up to stare at the thing, and for a moment he wanted desperately to break that stupid robot against the floor for daring to use Masamune's voice when Masamune himself was gone forever.
But, destroying it wouldn't do any good, would it? Kojuro closed his eyes for a moment to compose himself, then watched as the Cocorobo rolled slowly past his feet, on its way to the front hall.
"Hey," he called out softly, "how's your battery?"
"I'm fully charged! Alright!" it replied happily.
Kojuro felt himself smile, hearing Masamune's casual language coming from the little vacuum. It was almost like a part of him was still here. But as soon as Kojuro had the thought, he felt something inside him finally break, and the waterworks began. His pained sobs echoed through the apartment, accompanied by the Cocorobo's faint whirring, and he had never felt more alone.