A/N: What used to be the prologue, now chapter one! I re-wrote it, so those who've already read it, READ AGAIN! Yaaay for the slacking author!

Chapter One: From the Layer

"You've seemed lonesome."

Ohjiro made a face, wrinkling his nose up at his older brother. As crazy as Ichiro Mihara— commonly known as Icchan— was, he sure could hit the mark every now and again. "For a harebrained scientist, you're pretty perceptive."

Icchan pinched Ohjiro's face, clicking his tongue irately. "Even my own flesh and blood is calling me a loony! I'm perfectly sane! Just as sane as you or anyone else in this fine world!"

The teen laughed fondly. "Really, brother, is this why you dragged me out of the Layer? To say that you've picked up on what no one else has noticed?"

"I removed you from your oh-so-precious practice so I could remedy your problem! You seem to have a problem with Wizard lately," Ichiro remarked, looking over his glasses at his rather uncomfortable-looking brother.

Ohjiro shifted on his feet. "Well… Kind of," he admitted. "That's why I've been practicing a lot; I don't want to let Wizard down."

"Angels move in tandem with your heart," Icchan warned, patting his younger brother on the shoulder. "You've been wishing something that's been interfering with the process."

Ohjiro laughed softly. "Is that all you have to say? Yeah, I know. I just think… sometimes… he'd be a good friend," he mumbled. "But…"

The boy stared blankly at the floor, reflecting on his latest problem: Lately, he had been distracted, and ended up staring at Wizard, rather than moving him. He kept wondering what it would be like if Wizard was human… what would be said? What would be done? It was captivating… But Ohjiro kept wondering whether the love he had for Angelic Layer and all the angels was different from the love he had for Wizard. Then he'd wonder about that. Then he'd wonder why he was lonely. He had plenty of friends. It was a circular thought pattern that was rather annoying when he was trying to practice.

"Well, little brother! Today is the day all of your problems end! Taaa-daaa!" With a rather over-flourished wave, Ichiro tapped a button, opening up a two-way connection to the room next door.

Inside were two people: A petite woman with curly hair pulled into a loose ponytail—Ohjiro acknowledged her immediately as his brother's wife—and a young teen.

The teen was a small, pleasantly skinny, boy with shockingly blue hair. His bangs fell forward into his eyes, and his face was set in a determined frown that Ohjiro instantly recognized from all his days in the Layer.

"Wha…What did you do?" Ohjiro whispered, stepping forward. He laid his hands on the glass, watching the boy struggle to pull a jacket on over his light blue tee-shirt. As he stared, Chitose stepped forward, helping the boy. She raised her eyes and smiled as she saw Ohjiro and Ichiro. She gently tapped the bluenett's shoulder, and he spun around, grinning up at the two.

As he turned, Ohjiro suddenly glimpsed the two box-like apparatuses that rested where normal human ears should be.

"Not human!" The prince of the Layer gasped. "Ichiro, is he a robot?"

Icchan pondered for a moment, then shook his head. "I prefer the term persocoms. But essentially, you could call him a robot, even though he's not technically…"

"What is he, then?"

"Hm… An AI."

"How many have you made?"

Ichiro gave a fond grin, flashing up two fingers. "My daughters, Freya and Elda. Very sweet dears, they are. You'll have to take Wizard there to see them; cousins, you see."

Ohjiro shook his head. "You… made… me a … Wizard robot?" he mumbled, dropping his head to his hands, trying desperately to process this information. Really, he shouldn't have been too surprised, seeing as he had dealt with his brother's crazy inventions all his life—in fact, he had almost always been the guinea pig for them.

"Persocom," Icchan insisted, clapping his hands. Ohjiro shrugged, and the scientist continued; "He'll learn whatever you teach him. If the program works correctly, he can even choose someone that he loves, and—"

"You've given him emotions?!" Oh, how Ohjiro's fans would love to see him freaking out like this!

Ichiro shook his head. "No," he said sternly. "Not emotions; a program that instills something mechanically similar. Oh, and never, under any circumstance, reboot him."

"I'm no computer genius, but aren't you supposed to restart computers?"

"Not him. It will completely re-write his programming, and anything he's ever learned will be deleted, as well as the program that allows him to 'fall in love', so to say. Just call me if you can't figure out to do with him."

The Wizard-persocom walked up to the glass, smiling goofily. He laid his hands against the glass where Ohjiro's were, pushing his forehead to the glass, blue locks spreading against the glass.

Ohjiro calmed at this sight, and shook his head. "You're a mechanical Frankenstein, you know that?"

Icchan brightened, grabbing the younger boy's arm. "Does that mean you'll keep him?"

"I guess so."

Ichiro waved at Chitose, and she gently led Wizard into the room. "Introduction time!" The man cried gleefully.

"Wizard, this is Ohjiro," Chitose said.

Wizard threw his arms around Ohjiro, hugging him tightly. "I've wanted to meet!"

Ohjiro hugged Wizard briefly back, noting just how human the Persocom felt. Not cold and bulky like a machine at all. Unsettling thing number one about this whole thing.

Unsettling thing number two: as Ohjiro walked home, leading Wizard by the hand, he couldn't help but notice an adoring, almost love-sick gaze directed at him by his new… uh… companion.