Mahiru sighed, slipping his orange headphones around his neck, the weekends were always boring. As strange as many found it, he loved school, and he loved hanging out with his friends but it never changed the slight loneliness that his apartment brought. It wasn't his Uncle's fault that he was never there, he was working overseas at the Robocentenics (RC) company, the one that manufactured AI machines.

He had secretly been wanting one, but he had to remind himself it was just a stupid bot that helped with the cooking and cleaning, not to mention it was ridiculously expensive. Not that he needed any help, there was already automatic dusters and ovens that understood your commands and cooked your food for you, but sometimes Mahiru enjoyed to do things the old way by getting a broom out. He chuckled remembering how shocked his friends were that he still had a broom and used it, his thoughts always seemed to drift back to his friends, Mahiru ran a hand through his short brown hair.

Mahiru walked over to his desk, hopping on the blue floating chair and letting it bounce before sliding himself over to his touch screen. He pressed a small button for the display to appear, before looking up AI models out of pure curiosity. He never bothered to learn much about them, only the filthy rich had them so it wasn't like he was ever going to get one, but since his uncle worked there it was worth a shot to at least look. Besides, the bartender at his usual place was an unusual Ai, and it couldn't help but intrigue him.

The technology endlessly fascinated him, but of course he preferred things the simple way. He saw a sample image of a male and a female, of course they were very standard. The female had average length brown hair with neat bangs and brown eyes, while the male had an army cut with brown eyes. Their proportions were unrealistic although considering the target audience he could see why.

He opened one of the web pages and read through the information.

All AI models at first appear in a small holographic test size on their launch pad, this small version can do things such as alarms, games and very basic conversation but for more practical tasks they can be ordered to essentially jump off the launch pad and the hologram becomes life-size with more detailed features and the ability to interact with the environment around them if ordered. AI models range from 1 - 100 and there are different versions of our Ais to suit your needs. These Ais can be adapted with mods and installations such as hair colour, eye colour and even outfits. A new update to our system allows these modifications to go as far as animals and inanimate objects.

They looked just like humans.. Mahiru thought reading the site, It was amazing his Uncle worked for the place that made them, the only difference was that it's feet pixelated off making it hover just above the floor. There were so many things you could get for them, it was incredibly customizable. He scrolled through some of the designs people had come up with, they looked incredible…

Mahiru huffed in jealousy, giving up and turning off the display, lightly putting his feet on the ground to slide himself over to check his phone. He boredly flicked through his notifications, he had already gotten his hands on every single dirty part of the apartment until it was spotless, but he still found himself with nothing to do.. Maybe he would text Koyuki and Ryusei to ask if they wanted to hang out? He mused to himself before putting his earpiece in and asking it to call Annoying Duo (his contact name for the pair of them, so he could call and text the group at once. He figured it was fairly accurate) It was annoying he couldn't just call through the headphones.

"Ah.. What do you want" Ryusei answered the call bluntly, but Mahiru paid it no mind, he was always like that.

"Morning Mahiru!" Koyuki on the contrast enthusiastically greeted.

"Hey guys! Well, I was thinking since it's a weekend we should hang out, anywhere you wanna go?" Mahiru suggested in reply, a second passed as they thought about it.

"hm.. How about we reserve a VR room? Me and Koyuki have a project coming up soon so we can probably get some inspiration from that" Ryusei casually suggested, he and Koyuki studied VR designing. Koyuki worked on the visuals and 3D art, while Ryusei worked on the science behind it and the engineering. They were opposite jobs but they were always partnered together on tasks, since they worked perfectly together. They were lucky they figured out where they were going in life, Mahiru still had no clue.

"Ah and we can get milkshakes after!" Koyuki excitedly added on, and Mahiru grinned at the idea.

"Sounds good! I'll meet you guys at the town centre in 10?" to which he got small hums of agreement, "See you there!"

Mahiru grabbed his jumper off the back of the chair, sliding it on and running out the door, not needing anything else. Luckily he was just in time for the airbus, the hover technology was incredible, and super-fast too. Although poor Ryusei would have to walk.. In such a high functioning society how had they not found a temporary relief of car sickness?

He hopped on the bus and in almost no time he was at the busy centre, despite it still being daytime dazzling lights spun all around and 3D advertisement holograms flew in the sky while AI's handed out flyers for various different things to passing by strangers. Mahiru gave a large smile at the familiar environment, sure it wasn't simple, but it was fascinating none the less.

He noticed Koyuki and Ryusei waving him over and he lightly jogged his way over, passing by plenty of shops and businesses.

"You ready to go in?" Koyuki asked with a smile, they were waiting in front of the place. There was no need for small talk, they could talk inside. "I heard there's an underwater special today!" he said excitedly to which Ryusei gave a nod in confirmation.

"Well if it's special, thinking simply we should go in that one" Mahiru replied proudly using his motto as the other two chuckled.

As they walked in the door and rented out a room for three, the payment was sent to their accounts via their ID on their earpiece. The room was completely dark, aside from the blue glow coming from the VR beds. They all got into their own one, as a staff member enclosed it and pulled down the lid leaving them in the darkness.

It was as if he was being taken into a new universe, a feeling he could never quite get over or describe. He wasn't trapped in the small cocoon, it was as if he was in an endless environment with no physical boundaries. A little hover message appeared in front of them and as they read the basic rules pixels flew around them forming what looked like the sea.

: Welcome to the underwater virtual reality! Please remember the rules, do not attempt to interact with any of the objects here, do not go past the off-limits signs, and remember if you need to leave the simulation at any point please click the red button on your outfit. Happy exploring!

You currently have 01:30:00 left :

Mahiru started looking around, noticing Koyuki and Ryusei next to him doing the same. It was weird, it felt like it wasn't his body, of course, that was because it wasn't, but it all felt so real. The water around him seemed so realistic, almost like it could wash him away, but he couldn't feel anything on his skin apart from the light bubbly feeling of floating.

It was clear with a simple blue taint to it, and small yellow and red fish swam past his face. He giggled at the slight ticklish feeling, starting to run away from the message, but he couldn't even call it running, he was practically floating! Ryusei looked like he was studying the process and testing his senses, meanwhile, Koyuki was playing with the fish and having the time of his life. No wonder people said virtual reality environments reduce stress.

He started moving towards the big sunken ship on the sea floor, landing himself on the grainy pale sand and watching the massive old rusty structure in front of him. It was wooden and on an angle as if it was stuck on its point, holes, moss and faded wood littered the broken ship. Soon enough Ryusei and Koyuki joined him in the front.

"UwAHH, that looks super cool! Is there a way in?" Koyuki said skipping up to it and looking for an entrance, while Ryusei calmly followed.

"Look over here!" Mahiru shouted, the vibrations from his yell causing an old wood panel to break off the ship. He pushed open the entrance at the bottom, a swarm of fish burst out hitting him smack in the face. He yelped and jumped back slightly, those creators knew that would happen to someone…

He brushed it off and went inside, pushing his way through the old wood into what looked like the cabins quarters. Mahiru looked around, dazzled by the scenery. There was small fish swimming around him, and a broken mirror glazed over on the wall. He walked over to the broken and worn down bed frame, noticing small shining pearls littering the floor. Of course in real life, this wouldn't work, but he could certainly appreciate the aesthetic.

He kept walking through the ship, finding more weird and interesting things, and eventually Koyuki pulled them both out of the ship with a large happy smile as they floated in the middle. He pushed his arms forward and both Ryusei and Mahiru got splashed in the face with realistic feeling water, at first they both were about to complain about it but the realisation of how cool it was took over.

"wait what was that?! That's awesome!" Mahiru commented, trying it out for himself and splashing Koyuki, Koyuki sputtered and rolled his eyes.

"that was unnecessary!" He jokingly whined, but neither of them saw Ryusei join the competition and splash them both in the face with a proud smirk.

"Let me make this clear, this is all for research" He commented jokingly as he saw Mahiru and Koyuki getting ready to splash back.

"Well in the name of research.." Koyuki giggled splashing him back until all three of them were in an all-out splash fight. Mahiru was clearly losing by a large margin, but he wouldn't let them win that easily.

Mahiru quickly moved back to the ship, grabbing a wide looking log. He couldn't seem to feel the wood in his hands, of course, that was too advanced for a local centre, but he knew it was there. He used it to send a massive wave, bowling Koyuki and Ryusei over in shock.

"It's on!" they both shouted in sync.

Mahiru laughed bubbly and ran down back to the ship, pushing open the rusty door and jumping inside, quickly ducking under the old bed frame from before and without warning the bed frame was blown away by a large wave from Koyuki and Ryusei who were holding back laughs.

He splashed back pathetically, trying to run away giggling before letting out a small yelp as they cornered him. The three burst out in smiles and exhausted laughter, and before they knew it another message popped up in front of them.

: Thankyou for trying out the Virtual Reality experience! You currently have 00:10:00 left:

"Only 10 mins?! Aww…" Koyuki whined, slumping over slightly. Of course while it was fun, it had to come to an end eventually.

Mahiru let his laughs die down before sighing, he hadn't laughed so much in a long time. They would have to go to another one soon.. He wanted to hang out with his friends more, something pinched him whenever he was alone at home.

"Before we go.. We haven't seen the mermaids yet!" Mahiru said suddenly, grabbing them both and running or floating as fast as he could towards the other end of the simulation that still appeared endless.

"Mermaids?" Ryusei said with a raised eyebrow, he wondered if they were interactive.

They reached a wall, specifically a wall of a kingdom. It must be the wall of the simulation, but it was a creative way of stopping players from going any further. Past the wall they could see mermaids swimming around and talking to each other in muffled voices, they had long pretty hair and shiny pale scales. It was a 2D video, but it just looked so real, Mahiru himself wished he could go and talk to one. They watched the video play before eventually knowing their time was up.

"I'll see you guys on the outside!" Koyuki said with a smile, putting out his fist.

"Mm!" Mahiru put his in and eventually, Ryusei did too with a smirk on his face.

Then slowly as if it was only a dream it faded to black, as if they had blinked he opened his eyes back at the room to see a lady opening their pods. He let his eyes wander to the sides, seeing Ryusei and Koyuki starting to wake up too as Mahiru sat up in his pod, dizzily stepping out.

"That was awesome!" He said with a wide grin "I can't believe you guys make things like this.. It's incredible!" Mahiru finished looking over at the other two exiting the pods.

"Ah! I'm not this good!" Koyuki said sheepishly while Ryusei without hesitation said "Yeah it's pretty cool"

"Well, there are two kinds of people.." Mahiru said giving them a weird look, they really were opposites.

"Well anyway, let's get drinks!" Koyuki suggested with a smile as they started walking out, wobbling a little bit from side to side, still feeling the giddiness of floating.

They walked out back onto the busy street, and as much as the simulation feeling was thrilling it was nice to have his feet on the ground again with the busy familiar sounds. They all decided on their usual spot, up in the sky tower nearby. They strolled by on their way to the place, passing by a small black cat seemingly sleeping on the side of the street and it made Mahiru's heart hurt, but he kept up with his friends thinking about the cat the whole way.

"The usual?" their bartender, Lawless, said with a smirk, already moving to the milkshake area and shaking up the flavours.

The shop was pretty popular, it was entirely run by AI's, even the bartender was one. He seemed to have quite the personality, Mahiru could only imagine what his commands must have been, it was incredible how they were made these days. All three nodded at the question, and while Lawless put on the machines they started talking.

"What are you two planning for your project you guys mentioned? Koyuki have you decided on a theme?" Mahiru said leaning over in curiosity.

"I was thinking something from the past! Like a look into what life used to be like at an average town a couple hundred years ago, the research will also be marked so I think I can impress the teacher with that too!" He said excitedly, having already planned out designs in his head, although the buildings would be difficult to find references for.

"Mm.. I want to try more interactive things with it, maybe even adding moveable objects" Ryusei added, clearly both of them had their minds set on it being a good one.

"That's amazing you two! Good luck!" Mahiru said with a grin, giving them a thumbs up, his friends were so talented…

"Oh and Mahiru!, don't lie I saw you eyeing that cat back there" Ryusei started, giving Mahiru a nudge.

"eh-no! I just felt bad for it.." Mahiru said with a sigh, there's no way his uncle would agree to take care of a cat, even though he was never there… "It's too expensive anyway.."

"Get a job!" Lawless said, jumping in the conversation and leaning over the counter. "You were lonely because you live alone right? It's perfect" he added with a grin, "I can try to hook you up with someone"

"Lawless, you sound like a drug dealer…" Mahiru said giving him a small glare.

"Ah! That's a good idea Lawless! Mahiru, Mahiru let me get one with you!" Koyuki said, his shoulders rising with excitement.

"It's not a bad idea.. But schools too busy, I don't have time" he said giving another heavy sigh as he thought of the black cat again.

"Mahiru! Learn to live a little!" Lawless said giving him a light punch in the arm before giving him a wink, "Don't think about the consequences, just get it!" Mahiru could have forgotten he wasn't talking to a human.

"That's probably terrible advice but I think you're right! Thinking simply. If no one else will… it has to be me!" Mahiru said with new found determination.

"That's the spirit, take your milkshake on the go, I'm sure your friends can pay for your drink," He said handing Mahiru the simple medium vanilla milkshake.

"Hey?!" Ryusei and Koyuki both said as Mahiru grabbed the milkshake and ran, running back to the same spot he found the cat to see it hadn't moved an inch.

He smiled warmly at it, noticing it already had a little golden bell around its neck, how cute… he wrapped his hands around it's stomach and picked him up, "You're coming home with me buddy" he said happily as it opened its red confused eyes, looking around to see why it happened to be in the air.

He held the cat close to his chest and started to walk home, pets weren't allowed on transport of course, and he was sure it would terrify the poor cat.

"I think.. I think I made the right choice" he said contently, as the small cat in his arms curled up cutely, and the tugging loneliness seemed to drift away. But what would he name it.. He watched the cat as he walked, what was a simple name.. Well he was a black cat, so thinking simply,

"I'll name you Kuro!"