|| Loading... ||
programmed to do this, programmed to do that..
but i swear,
it was me who chose to care for you.
|| Loading... ||
'I Lowe Rodots'
He stares at the words, eyes narrowing. No, that's not it.
His brain is mean to him, and words are jumbled on the screen as he squints, piecing the words together. They said it's something like 'Dis-lexa' or whatever, he can't exactly remember.
"I... L-ov-e Ro-b-ots," sounds out the young boy. He blinks after a second, smiling widely, shark-like teeth shining. He turns to the lady by his side, climbing into her lap and humming.
"Ya' hear that Aimi-chan? I said it right!" The boy cheers, throwing his small hands into the air.
The chestnut haired lady smiles at the boy, pressing a kiss to his forehead. "Ahh... I did hear, Zuizui-chan, I'm so proud of you!" laughs the lady, nuzzling his nose with hers. The boy breaks into giggles, playing with her soft hair.
"They're just like us," the young boy says, pointing towards the paused commercial on their TV. On the screen there is a multitude of robots, some realistic, others large with silver bots and clearly made of metal. Since it is paused, many of them are frozen in their tasks, like one who is a car safety test robot has just collided into a wall and is in the midst of the explosion, face locked in a smile that feels a little odd for a robot who is being blown up currently.
There are others on the screen, besides the main sweeper bot there are construction bots in the background, helping create a new skyscraper and a miner bot beneath the main sweeper robot's feet. However, none of them is whom the boy points out, instead he points at the young toddler boy holding the hand of the nanny-bot, smiling with the words 'I love robots!' above his head.
The nanny-bot nods at the boy in her arms. "It sure is, Zuizui-chan," responds the lady, cuddling the boy against her plush body. For an AI bot she is rather chubby, her soft form comfortable to cuddle against.
She unpauses the commercial allowing the cartoon to play on. She frowns when she catches sight of the robot being torn apart. The boy in her lap whimpers, tugging the hat on his head over his eyes.
She pauses the commercial again, turning the boy to look at her. She tilts her head, lowering her head so she can stare underneath his hat and look into his magenta eyes.
"Is something wrong, Zuizui-chan?" she asks, hands gently caressing the sides of his head.
The boy peaks out from the hay. "I dun' like this part!" he sniffles, tears starting to trail out of his eyes.
The lady glances at the screen, the cartoon robot had just been dropped into the box of fire and metal was oozing from the facet off the side of the box.
"Mmmm... I don't like this part either, let's skip it, alright?" she replies, taking the control in her hand and pressing the forward button. As she does so, the boy continues to talk.
"Hey, Aimi-chan?"
"Hm?"
"Will that ever happen to you?"
The AI bot blinks, allowing her eyes to focus in on the child again. "What do you mean by that?" asks the lady, running her fingers through the child's hair soothingly and brushing the hat further backwards. She knows what he means, but she wants to make sure. Or maybe she's simply stalling the inevitable answer to this question.
"Will you ever get sent to that place? That... Spare parts foun-da-tion?" questions the little boy, holding to her hand tightly.
Aimi hesitates, but opens her mouth to tell him the truth. "Well... If I ever get a bad virus or a reboot doesn't work then-"
"N-No!" the boy cries instantly, slamming his tiny palms over her mouth. "N-no, lez stop talkin' 'bout this," the little boy interrupts, bringing his palms away from her lips.
"S-sorry for interupptin' ya' Aimi-chan," the boy apologizes right after.
"No, it's fine. Just don't do that to other people, alright?" the nanny-bot says, giving him a playful wink.
The boy nods in response. "O-Okay!" he cheers, smiling brightly.
"I won' do that to anyone, pr'mise!" The young boy swears, giggling beneath his stubby fingers.
"You better keep it," says the bot ominously. The boy blinks, surprised at her 'scary' tone.
"huh?"
"because if you don't..." there was a dramatic pause and the boy looks ready to pull down his hat again. "..I'll have to... TICKLE YOU!" the bot laughs, reaching between the boys sides and prodding gently.
The boy broke out into a fit of giggles, swatting her hands away. "Aimi-chan, Aimi-chan! I won't, I won't!" cries the young boy, laughing.
The nanny-bot laughs, running her hands through his hair again. "That's what I thought, Zuizui-chan," hums the bot, nuzzling her cheek in his black hair that peeks out of his hat.
Her lips thin, a feeling of horror at the thought of abandoning the young child now. "I won't go to the spare parts foundation, at least, not now, while you still need me," The robot says, closing her eyes and trying not to think about that. She places her head on his head, weary not to put her full weight on him.
"What if I need ya' forever?" asks the boy, leaning backwards to look at her without turning his head.
"Then I guess I'll just have to stay with you until 'forever' ends," replies the bot, smiling at the boy.
Giggling again, the boy snuggles against her more, arms wrapping around her side and face buried in the crook of her neck.
"I love Aimi-chan. I dun want Aimi-chan to ever leave," the little boy admits, laying his head on her shoulder.
"I don't want to ever leave either," the robot confesses, feeling emotional despite being a AI bot.
Hugging the child closer, she allows her oil ducts to be shut off and holds him close.
She isn't programmed to care, but she does anyways.
|| Loading... ||
Kazuichi looks up to the blue sky, sun beating against his back. He groans in exhaustion mixed with slight boredom, wiping sweat off his forehead as he leans down and scavenges through the newest dumping of Robot parts.
If his classmates saw him now, they'd probably make fun of him, but Kazuichi can care less. While he does have the money to by the robotic parts he needs, it's cheaper just to find usable, old part so he'll just pluck them from the seemingly useless piles of robotic waste.
Usually, people will think something of the robot is broken and throw it out, but Kazuichi knows better. Oh, those parts are still so useful. People just didn't know how to repair things with the simplest of tweaks, just a dab of super glue or some duct-tape could fix things people deemed useless.
"Score!" he cries to himself, reaching down to grab a full, rusted metal robot. He whistles to himself, throwing it onto his hovering wagon which he drags lightly behind him, knocking over all sorts of parts and basking in the echoing of ringing metals.
With his blue tracksuit on, the upper half tied around his waist to reveal his white muscle tee, he clambers through the metal, wary not to scrape himself on any of the rusty objects.
Trudging up a hill of metals, he reaches the top, wiping his brow again. It is a surprisingly nice day, hotter than Kazuichi expected, but other than that it was alright. Light reflects from the discarded metal blare through the clear skies like miniature suns. Scanning the land around him, his blood grows cold when he inspects the bottom of the metal pile.
On the other side, at the foot of the hill of metals, is a female body, curled in a fetal position. Long, purple hair is strewn about her body, covering her. A pair of glasses lay slanted on her nose, the only thing she is currently wearing. Her eyes are shut, cheeks stained with oil.
What has happened? Is she dead? Is she the body of a rape and murder? Kazuichi has heard that is isn't unusual to dump bodies in the metal parts waste but he's never had a run in with a body before.
Kazuichi bolts down the mountain of metal, panic searing through his veins. Frantically he turns her to fully face him. Long, purple hair drapes down her body like a dress, the oil on her cheeks dripping down her neck and smudging underneath her left eye. Kazuichi avoids shaking her, scared she may have a painfully injury that could be disturbed. He pushes her hair out of the way, turning to find a wound of any sort to prove she truly is dead or hurt. However, after her hair is brushed to the side, Kazuichi finally takes sight of the open hatch on her chest, a core pod empty. His panic melts into confusion.
It's an AI bot.
But why would someone throw out a whole AI bot?
AI bots are extremely expensive, since creating them requires prosthetic skin, a specific mold and special programming as well as safe energy created through prosthetic lung movements (mimicking breathing).
As if unable to believe she truly is an AI bot he turns her over again, exposing the unlocked technical hatch. Everything is in place, nothing has been touched. The wires are in prime condition, the motherboard untouched the only odd part is that her memory cards are missing. In fact, there doesn't even seem to be a place to lock memory cards into place. Kazuichi shrugs off the doubt, she's either an old AI bot, back when Memory cards were bulky things located farther into the bot or an extremely modern AI bot where memories could be wirelessly stored, or located within a power-core.
Now that he looked harder, she even has an application box for extra enhancements, things like night vision, but it's empty for her.
Kazuichi turns her back around once more, staring into her troubled face which looked utterly heartbroken. The world has always taught humans robots are beneath them but Kazuichi has always known better.
Robots are better than humans, in some circumstances. They are compassionate, sympathetic, loving and caring. Whoever seemed to inactivate this robot must've upset the bot so much it began to leak oil tears.
While it had been written in their countless textbooks that robots held no feelings what-so-ever, Kazuichi has always known better. The oil on this abandoned bots cheeks have to be there for a reason.
Sighing, Kazuichi strips off his muscle tee, sliding it over the AI's body to cover her. Thank god she is a small, petite thing because it covers her like a dress while her hair covers her even more. Turning to his wagon, he pushes out the metal robot and organizes the parts he'd raided before placing her inside the cart gently.
She looks as though she is sleeping, but her chest does not move and her eyelids do not twitch and suddenly she looks dead to Kazuichi. That thought makes Kazuichi's blood go cold.
His hand brushes on her cheek, smudging the oil. Her face fits into the palm of his cheek, prosthetic skin cold. He isn't going to leave her here, because not only is she an expensive AI bot, but no bot should be forced to have an ending as such.
He glances back at the metal bot on the ground, feeling guilty.
"I'll come back for ya' later," he says to the limp metal figure, as if it could still understand him. His lips purse, god, he really is going crazy-Almost as crazy as his occult classmate, Gundam. He grumbles to himself. Fucking Gundam.
Sighing, he turns to look at the female AI and he swears her eyelids twitch before he finally says to her "I'll put you back together again,"
Somehow, he feels she has heard this.
|| Loading... ||
Touko never really cared for darkness, but the current darkness she stands in feels threatening, like it shouldn't be around her. She's hasn't felt this kind of fear since the choosing, since she feared that Byakuya may not have actually became the heir.
And yet, it's too dark, impossibly dark and yet she can see every detail on her clear as day. Everything else is blackness, a shadowy chasm of nothingness.
"useless,"
the word rings clearly in the void of her mind. She's been shut down, hasn't she? Whimpering, she pulls her hands through her hair. Well, those AI bots back at the Togami Clan finally got their wish, she's gone, inactivated, probably getting melted down at this point, wires organized and memory cards ready to be cleared. And when they are, she'll be cleared too, along with the awful virus.
There is something else in the darkness that Touko refuses to acknowledge. It is not a light in front of her, not beside her or really around her, rather underneath her very own feet, a reflection.
But she knows it is not her. Touko is not programmed to have her tongue jutting out like a snake or for her rotatable teeth to sharpen to shark points. She is not programmed to have wavy, red eyes that seemingly quake in their sockets. She is not programmed to stand tall with a confidence only Byakuya-sama should have, rather to hunch over slightly, normally, to show that Byakuya-sama is better than she.
And yet, all of that lays in the reflection beneath her feet. Startling, isn't it? One moment she's living, praying to a god she doesn't believe in that he'll glance towards her, that'll he'll cherish her like she's always dreamed and the next there's a person who looks almost exactly like her, taking everything she'd dreamed, hoped, cared, loved away. They'd taken the things she'd never been programmed to do, but wanted to do. They'd taken away her only humane qualities, leaving her to fend for herself in a soon to be erased memory card, stuck with this 'Ge/no;;Syo' virus.
It feels a little too unreal to be true, but Touko knows it must, for the monster lies beneath her, cackling.
"useless,"
the word repeats itself and Touko finds she hates the word because it describes her. Togami-sama is always right, his decisions are always right, his opinions are always right. Whether this had been programmed into her or not doesn't matter, she'd grown up with such thoughts told to her everyday.
Togami-sama is right, Byakuya-sama is right, if your views counter theirs, you are wrong.
She's always been wrong, wrong to hope for his love and praise, wrong to dream she could ever be deemed human, wrong to love someone she never could.
The darkness seems to close in around her, billowing like mist around her timid figure. She's scared, oh, so scared. She's never been afraid of the dark, she'd always had her night-vision, but now she doesn't and her eyes are full of untrustworthy shadows.
"useless,"
She wants to cry but she knows she can't. She isn't built for crying. Wasn't programmed for that. (The only bot programmed to cry were pleasure bots, apparently it was some sick kink)
"Why do ya' reckon that fuckass voice keeps talkin'?" yaps Syo, glancing around as the word echos in their mindscape.
Touko doesn't reply, still staring fearfully at the billowing black smoke.
"Ugh, yer gonna haf'ta talk at some point, Gloomy!" yells Syo, annoyed.
"...Why'd you do it?" Touko responds, a few seconds after Syo had yelled.
"Eh? You say somethin', gloomy?"
"Why'd you attack Byakuya-sama?" Touko asks again, still sounding timid. The darkness is closing in, oh so slowly, creeping along the dark floors towards her bare body that is smoothed of feminine details like a doll's plastic body in this dreamscape.
"That? Gyahaha~! This By-a-ku-ya guy is real fuckin' hot, so I wanted to kill him!" laughs Syo in response, as if that is all the reason to attempt to murder him.
"...Because of that, we'll both by destroyed, and I won't ever get to tell him my feelings or see his face again. I won't..."
"Oi, quit yappin', if we're gonna end I don't wanna hear ya' blubber out yer missed out wishes, talkin' like 'I'm sooOOooOoo~ upset because I'll never get'ta be a fuckin' meat flesh-fuck, oopsies, I meant human~!'" mocks Syo, crossing her arms as she glares into nothing.
Touko finally dares to glance down at Syo, staring her straight into her red eyes.
"Was it wrong of me to wish so?" she asks, feeling bold against the virus within her.
Syo raises a brow, pursing her lips as if she hadn't been expecting that question. "Well, not really, but ya' should'a figured it'd never work out. I mean, we've got the parts ta 'do the do', if ya' know what I mean so it wouldn't be impossible ta get a ride before he got married off, ya' know!?" cackles Syo, clutching her stomach as she chuckles loudly.
"I am beneath him, a robot," Touko says suddenly, hands coming up to her bare chest. The ache... It hurts, why does it hurt? Usually there are statistics blaring, telling Touko the extent of her pain but there are none now, and she must hurt without knowing why.
"but when I was with him, he made me feel human," whispers Touko, as if it'd been forbidden to ever try and remotely feel humane. "I felt want, I felt need, desire, craving. I felt love and care and hope and worry. I felt so many things a robot should never feel because of him. I was happy, so.. so happy,"
Now Touko is crying, unable to hold back the oily tears streaming down her porcelain white cheeks.
"I.. I just wanted to feel like that forever, even if it meant he never loved me back. I just wanted to stay by his side," sobs Touko, trying to wipe away the tears staining her face.
Syo has gone silent, no longer looking at Touko but to something else on her side of the reflection.
"I miss him, I miss Byakuya-sama," Touko admits, thought it really isn't much of a confession since it was obvious from the start she'd missed him.
"I wanna go back, I wanna go back to Byakuya-sama and stay by his side, no matter what," she exclaims, sniffling now.
"useless,"
Syo huffs at the voice, eyebrows furrowing and nose scrunching up. "Dumb shit needa shut up. Just stop thinkin' about it, gloomy," grumbles Syo, looking annoyed.
There is a static-like noise after she speaks and muffled words blare through both of their little areas. More static until finally a soft, barely audible voice breaks through the rouch, uneven noises and into their mind, echoing.
"I'll put you back together again,"
Touko glances around frantically, looking hopefully. "Byakuya-sama?" she whispers, sniffling again.
"He... Did he come back for me?" she asks quietly to no one really, perhaps to herself.
Syo doesn't respond, simply staring into the nothingness, lolling tongue receding into her mouth. "I highly doubt it," she replies, her snake-like tongue flicking lazily in the air with every word.
"Point is, looks like we ain't gettin' trashed today, huh?" Syo says nonchalantly, but Touko isn't listening.
"No... It can't be Byakuya. It's probably just one of my delusional fantasies playing before we get erased. After all, who would want a mess up bot like me?"
She'd be surprised.
|| Loading... ||
The power-core cost a lot of money. But damn, Kazuichi wants to see her work, wants to know what type of bot she is, wants to met her, talk to her, see her skills.
He's been working on her for a while, making sure she is in pristine condition as he goes over her.
He finds out why she's so well kept, discovering she used to belong to the Togami Clan by the stamp of property on the back of her neck. However, the ownership card is missing from the card panels in her technical hatch, proving they really threw her out.
No worries for Kazuichi, he simply inserted his own ownership card into the bot (You had to be at least sixteen to own a bot, Eighteen to own a pleasure bot, so if she is a mistress bot, he'd have to take out the card or risk getting arrested). Then, he removed the stamp off her prosthetic skin. He cleaned the black stains off her cheeks as well as cleared the oily-gunk between her eyelids. She'd must've had a leaky oil hatch (Just like Aimi-chan), no wonder she cries oil tears.
The power-core glows bright blue on the small tool table beside him. He clears the dust and gunk collected in the core pod, replacing rusty screws that are in the core containment holder.
Finally she is ready. Kazuichi glances at her. He'd doesn't have anything that fit her feminine body, so he'd just let her wear one of his sweaters and a pair of his boxers. Since she was so small, it covers her (albeit, the boxers were slipping, but it was the smallest thing he had that worked as pants).
Taking a deep breath, Kazuichi grabs the power core off the side table and pops open the power-core hatch.
He glances back towards her troubled face, frozen in time.
He wants to make her smile and keep her happy because he never had the chance to do just that for another bot, out there, somewhere.
Sighing, he musters his courage and places the power-core into the slot.
The bulb of power sparks blue and the wires around it begin to glow. The lines of blue travel into the body of the bot and Kazuichi closes the hatch and pulls up the sweater more.
Now, he waits.
|| Loading... ||
Touko doesn't know how she feels when the shadowy darkness flashes into a glowy, blue land, burning bright. Text begins to glow brightly before her eyes and Syo's reflection beneath her disappears completely.
[POWER CORE INSERTED]
[RESETTING]
[POWERING UP]
[LOADING... LOADING... LOADING...]
Huh...?
Touko's heart (or whatever, her new power-core, possibly?) feels like it's speeding up, sending pulsing thrums through her body as she begins to awaken.
Had Byakuya-sama found her? Realized he hadn't wanted her thrown out? Maybe that's why Syo disappeared, they'd hired a programmer to delete the virus-
[CONTROL MODE: AI TOUKO]
[AI GE/NO;;SYO: SHUT DOWN]
Touko's throat closes up but she says nothing to the emptiness before her. The world around her begins to disappear in pixels, floating and disappearing. Then, like the just like the world, Touko begins to disappear, chunks of her skin and hair pixelating and floating away from her before disappearing altogether.
[ERROR, ERROR]
[NEW AUTHORIZED OWNER]
huh?
[SOUDA KAZUICHI, CURRENT OWNER]
what?
[FORMER AUTHORIZED BOT PRIVILEGES DELETED]
[CURRENTLY: ONE AUTHORIZED FIGURE]
[LOADING COMPLETE]
[WAKE UP PROCEDURE BEGIN]
The world glows blindingly before her, and she blinks away the glare of light. Her eyes begin to focus on the blurry figure staring down at her. Whoever it is has a giant hot-pink blob on their head.
Touko blinks rapidly and finally her eyes focus.
[FACE RECOGNITION: KAZUICHI SOUDA]
[NEW OWNER, MECHANIC, SEVENTEEN YEARS OLD]
She wants to scream, open her mouth and yell what the hell is going on but she doesn't because the words are lodged somewhere in her processing system, still loading and jamming her thoughts together.
She opens her mouth to finally ask what's going on but the only word that falls from her mouth is a timid, scared-
"By-a-ku-ya-sama?"
Her voice sounds scratchy and more loading stats appear in her vision.
[VOCAL CHORDS ERROR, VOICE RE-DOWNLOAD BEGIN]
She sits up, scooting away from this mysterious 'Kazuichi' figure.
"Bya-kuy-a?" sounds out the teen, nose scrunching together in confusion. "What'da mean by... Oh, ya' mean yer' old owner?" he asks.
[VOICE RECOGNITION SAVED: KAZUICHI SOUDA]
[VOICE FILE FOR 'KAZUICHI SOUDA' DOWNLOADING]
"o..Old owner?" asks Touko, not stammering but her voice still sounding scratchy. Hm, seemed the stammering had been washed away with the reset.
The guy nods, glancing away and rubbing the back of his neck.
"Err, yea. It seems yer' old owner, this Bya-kuya guy threw ya' out so I took you back to my house and fixed you up," explains Kazuichi, frowning as soon as the words came out of his mouth. That's a very direct answer, and maybe a little to bitter to take for a bot who'd just been shut down for who knows how long.
[VOICE RE-DOWNLOAD COMPLETE, VOCAL CHORDS FUNCTIONS OPERATING]
Touko feels her breath catch and her lungs stop operating.
Threw her out...?
he really had, she'd been useless this whole time. How wrong of her to hope that maybe... Maybe he'd actually cared over a stupid bot like her-
[LUNG MECHANISMS ERROR]
[LUNG ENERGY SHUT DOWN]
[EMERGENCY ENERGY; POWER-CORE TRANSFER]
[LUNG MECHANISMS RE-STARTING]
Touko shrinks into her form, realizing she isn't even in her normal uniform, rather in a soft sweater and a pair of colorful race-car boxers. She glances back up at the human, or rather, her new master.
"Oh, that, err.. Sorry, I don't really have any girl clothes or anythin' so I just..." he makes rapid gestures, as if Touko will somehow understand his idiotic fumbling.
"I-I see," Touko mumbles bitterly, still feeling utterly hopeless.
So Byakuya-sama really had thrown her out...? She really had been useless to him, nothing but an inconvenience. She feels sick, curling her arms around her figure as if to hug herself.
[LUNG MECHANISMS RE-STARTED SUCCESSFUL]
[ENERGY TRANSFER BACK TO LUNG MECHANISMS]
For once in her life, Touko wants to scratch out her own eyes with that cursed text, proving she is nothing but a programmed bot, nothing but beneath the feet of a human. That she is disposable if unwanted.
"So... What type of bot are ya'?" asks Kazuichi asks, looking at her.
"Wh-what does it ma-matter?" stammers Touko in response.
[VOICE ERROR]
[VIRUS DETECTED]
[UNABLE TO RESET CURRENTLY]
"I-I'm useless e-either way, j-just some me-metal trash pr-programmed to l-like everything m-my owner likes," she hisses, fingers digging into her prosthetic skin. Her pain sensors spout statistics of pain, and the level it has to be at before they can successfully shut down but Touko doesn't care, this pain makes her feel just a little human.
Lady Izumi had been right. She's nothing but a piece of metal garbage with a human mold and prosthetic skin, some sort of wannabe-human full of wires and programming instead of a heart.
Kazuichi frowns, standing. "I don't think that, I think every bot is useful in their own way," he proclaims, walking up in front of her and leaning against the table by pressing his elbow down and putting his chin in his palms.
Touko peaks out at him from between her knees where she has buried her face.
"A-and what d-do you know? Y-you're a me-mechanic! O-of course y-you'll think all ro-robots are useful, y-you're practically pr-programmed that way! Y-you're n-not like B-Byakuya-sama, y-you're not a h-heir to o-one of the m-most important c-clans in th-the world. B-Byakuya-sama k-knows trash when h-he sees it and c-clearly I must b-be g-garbage if he t-threw me out. Not even t-to the sp-spare part fo-foundation either, it seems. A-almost l-like he wanted me t-to suffer f-for being incompetent," rants Touko, tugging on her hair frantically.
"It's th-these stupid v-viruses. F-first t-this st-stutter virus, th-then that S-syo virus. Ugh, I-I'm so useless, j-just throw m-me out. I'm n-not even wo-worth it," Touko concludes, pressing her face back into her knees shamefully.
Kazuichi sighs, now bringing himself to sit on the table, legs dangling off the side as he turns to Touko.
"I'm not gettin' rid of you," he says sternly. Touko is slightly irritated how he keeps switching between 'You' and 'Ya' because it just.. Feels odd. Byakuya had never said that word 'you' as 'ya' and just hearing Kazuichi switch them out constantly feels awkwardly.
"Th-then why th-the hell are y-you keeping me? L-looking for s-some sort of pl-pleasure bot? Are y-you going t-to use me as so-some sort of twisted s-substitute? N-newsflash, I'm a companion bot," Touko accuses bluntly.
Kazuichi shrieks in embarrassment at the accusations, jumping about so quickly he falls off the table.
"N-no! I'm just sayin' that I'm not gonna get rid of ya! Look, I don't know what the hell this little Togami-Heir fuck did ta' ya', but I'm not gonna throw you out,"
Touko doesn't believe him, even though her processors say there is only a 23% chance he is lying.
"N-no you're t-trying to tr-trick me, aren't y-you? Build u-up my n-nonexistent h-hope and then cr-crush it. Th-this is some sort of prank, i-isn't it? D-do you f-find enjoyment i-in t-torturing bots?" Touko declares, shaking her head in disbelief as she uncoils from her former position.
"Wh-wha..?! No!" Kazuichi sputters, looking stricken. "No way. Here, lemme tell you something alright? I was raise by a nanny bot 'cause my father sure as hell wasn't gonna stick around and my mother is dead so it's not like she's gonna rise from the grave to watch after her child. Anyways, we had this nanny bot named Aimi-chan and she was the best bot in the entire world," Kazuichi says, eyes sparkling with a fondness.
"One day," Kazuichi's voice grows cold, "I came home from school expectin' to see Aimi-chan like always but there was no one but my dad and a wad of cash." Kazuichi growled at no one, hands clenching to fists.
"He'd sold her to one of those programmers, the ones that re-wire an entire bot. The programmer thought she was pretty, wanted to turn her into a pleasure bot." Kazuichi grits his teeth. "So my dad fuckin' sold her off, like she wasn't worth anythin' or..." Kazuichi shakes his head.
"Point is, Aimi-chan showed me bots can be humane, that bots aren't beneath human or anythin' like that. Yer' worth more than yer' programmed to believe," he states.
Touko's brow furrows. "A-and how? You just told m-me some s-sob story, y-you didn't give a-any evidence, th-therefore your ar-argument is invalid," responds Touko bitterly.
Kazuichi groans. This AI bot was proving harder to deal with than he'd thought.
"Urgh, I mean I grew up with a bot, and because of that, I know that yer' worth more than what you're told. I know that robots can have feelin's despite being a digital human,"
"We're p-programmed like that," Touko argues.
"Were ya' programmed to be upset about losing your former owner?" asks Kazuichi, crossing his arms.
Touko opens her mouth but falls silent.
"Or were ya' programmed to argue with yer' owner? Yer' a companion bot, are you not? Companion bots are suppose'ta pretty much agree with everythin' their owner says, and yet here you are, arguing with me,"
"You're n-not my o-owner," growls Touko, crossing her arms and looking away.
"Last time I checked, ya' have my ownership chip in your owner-ship slot. I found ya' without one, so technically I am your owner," Kazuichi answers, leaning against the table now. Touko feels even more annoyed. He does the same weird verbal tic of switching out 'Yer', Your' and 'You're' and she hates it.
Touko sits quietly, mouth closed.
"Tr-trust me, y-you're making a mi-mistake by keeping m-me here," Touko announces after a second of thought.
"I make a ton of mistakes everyday, one more isn't gonna hurt me," retorts Kazuichi, pushing loose hair out of Touko's face to look at her more clearly. Her eyes are a beautiful, entrancing lilac-grey and he finds himself going stiff in slight surprise.
He finds Touko cute, but not like he'd date her. Her personality is a little unsettling, due to how much she accuses without evidence. She definitely isn't Sonia.
She flinches away from his touch, mouth pressed together in a thin line and eyebrows furrowing.
"So y-you admit I-I'm a mistake?" she proclaims, curling back up again. She wishes she were still deactivated. It would be better than this.. Torture of knowing she truly had been thrown out instead of trying to make believe that she'd shut down unexpectedly.
"I only went along with what ya' said. And even if ya' were I wouldn't just dispose of you. It's like that shitty artistic sayin' or whatever... There's no such thing as a mistake? Eh, point is, a really cliche sayin' says what once was a mistake can turn out better than ya' originally thought," Kazuichi shrugs, really done caring at this point. Now that's she's calmed down, at least.
He glances at his watch and whistles. "Well, c'mon," he suddenly proclaims, standing up and beginning to leave the room.
"Wh-where are you g-going?" inquires Touko, scooting to the edge of the table and letting her legs dangle off the edge.
"Well, I was plannin' on goin' shoppin' for you 'cause I highly doubt you wanna go parading around in my clothes," Kazuichi responds, leaning against the door frame to look back at her.
"I-I didn't a-ask for y-you to b-be nice to m-me so y-you can s-stop your s-sick prank and j-just leave m-me like e-everyone else do-does!" Touko replies, hugging herself.
"I didn't ask if ya' wanted me ta' treat ya' nicely. I'm treating you nicely because I want to," Kazuichi clarifies, shrugging at her. She's testing his paitence but he reminds himself that this bot must've been through a lot to simply jump from constant conclusions to the next.
Touko glances down at herself again and sighs, standing off the table and nodding. She hunches over with lack of confidence as she makes his way over to him, bumbling about.
"F-fine, b-but if this i-is some s-sort of pr-prank-"
"It's not a prank,"
"..."
Sighing, Kazuichi walks towards his room, Touko following behind him. He'd moved out of his father's house ages ago so he'd be within Hope's Peak Academy's range, making it easier to get there. He could've gotten a dorm, but he decided against it, he wanted room to build all sorts of things and he didn't want a terrible roommate if lady luck wan't on his side. He also has his part-time job as a repair-man in his downstairs garage.
He isn't living the high-life, but it isn't like he's suffering or anything.
Finally reaching his room, he throws open the door and scours his messy room for something suitable for the robot.
He pauses.
What's her name?
He turns suddenly, startling Touko. She takes a step back, as if expecting to be back-handed for something she'd done, despite doing nothing at all. Her face is turned to the side, eyes clenched shut, hands clasped together and pressed against her collarbone.
Kazuichi blinks, standing there awkwardly as she comes to her senses and realizes she isn't going to be hit for her actions. Kazuichi clears his throat and asks the question.
"Eh, I totally forgot to ask, what's yer' name?"
"Your," she instantly corrects, before realizing he's just asked a question.
Kazuichi's nose wrinkles up. "That's a pretty stupid name,"
"N-No, I mean, m-my name is... Urgh, n-not like y-your gonna remember it, b-but it's T-Touko. J-just Touko," she says, twiddling with her fingers. "W-when I said 'Your' I was a-aiming to c-correct what you'd said earlier, b-because you s-slur the word i-into 'yer' and I just..." Touko shakes her head, dismissing the whole topic completely. What is she doing? Talking back to her owner like this? Byakuya-sama would never excuse this if she were still his AI bot.
"Well, whatever, let's just find you somethin' else to wear," Kazuichi finally responds, walking into his messy room fully.
Touko takes a step into his room and cringes. "What a-are you? A p-pig?" she grumbles, distastefully kicking a blue track-suit to the side.
"I've got the hair color for it," Kazuichi simply responds, going along with it.
Touko's lips purse together. "Y-your hair i-is h-hot p-pink," she points out.
"Yeah, but it's still pink," he replies.
"That d-doesn't r-really help y-your argument," Touko snorts.
"Hmm, okay here's my evidence. Pigs are pink, my hair is pink, there," he concludes nodding his head.
Touko chuckles into her fingers, rather childishly. Usually, Kazuichi would argue back, get mad, but he feels proud to make the bot, who'd been accusing him earlier giggle. The bot that seems convinced she isn't worth as much as she really is. Touko is like a turtle, hiding away in her shell and slowly-ever so slowly-coming back out.
Finally he finds an old-tracksuit of his, small enough to fit Touko paired with a white undershirt.
"Here ya' go," he says, turning back to her and tossing it into her arms.
She wrinkles her nose in aversion. "T-this color y-yellow is... Dis-disfavoring," she observes, folding the suit up nicely along with the undershirt. She sets the articles of clothing on his bed and easily strips off his sweater.
"W-wait!" screeches Kazuichi, diving out the door. "D-don't change in front of me!" he hisses through the door. Most times, Kazuichi would probably stare in interest, despite how rude that sounds, it's true. However, with Touko it feels slightly more embarrassing for some reason. It shouldn't even matter to him, he's already seen her naked.
Touko's eyebrows furrow together at Kazuichi's actions. She doesn't see why it matters, she'd changed in front of Byakuya-sama countless times and he didn't care.
"W-why d-do you c-care?" asks Touko, raising an eyebrow at the closed door.
"B-because... Ya' know.. Yer' a girl!" he points out, gesturing around in the hallway even though she can't even see him.
Touko's brows furrow more. "B..But I'm a r-robot. I d-don't see h-how that en-entirely matters...?"
Yes, Touko had been built with synthetic female genitalia and breasts but it isn't anything exciting. Flat chested with a butt that didn't exist. She doesn't get what makes it so embarrassing for Kazuichi. Besides, hadn't he dressed her in the clothing she had been wearing just moments earlier?
"S-so!?" screeches Kazuichi through the door, "Robot or human, there isn't much of a difference!" he exclaims.
Touko pauses, smile sliding off her face, realization hitting her in the face. He's treating her like a human, like she is his equal, like she is worth more than the power-core in her chest, than the wiring in her technical hatch and the programming in her memory cards.
[WARNING FACIAL FEATURE HEAT FUNCTIONS, CURRENTLY OVERHEATING]
She pats her face and sure enough, they are warm. She glances into the closest mirror to see her cheeks are aflame with color. She pats her cheeks harder, as if it'll make the blush go away.
The only time Touko has ever been considered human was when Byakuya-sama was still a child, and that was before he even knew she was a robot. Although, a little before his mother really pounded the idea that robot were beneath them he was rather kind still. She doesn't remember when that began to change and thinking about it makes her nostalgic. When did Byakuya-sama begin to truly believe she is beneath him?
Her cheeks cool down slightly after a few seconds and Touko continues with her task of changing. She decides to keep on the boxers and simply throws on the white under-shirt. Quickly she shoves on the yellow tracksuit before opening the door to exit the room. Kazuichi is leaning against the wall and he instantly turns to her but stops short.
She's cute. Insanely cute. Not quite beautiful, like Sonia, like a sort of air of innocence. The tracksuit is a little big on her, the sleeves drooping off and pants collecting around her feet as she walks forward.
"D-do you have a-any ha-hair ties? I-I want t-to braid m-my hair," Touko states.
Kazuichi snaps out of it and pulls off one of the spare hair-tires on his wrist. Usually he ties his hair when repairing things so it doesn't get in his face so he has some extra-hair ties on his wrist.
He hands her one without question.
"U-um.. Can I have one m-more?" she asks cautiously, as if she might've been asking for too much.
"Sure," he responds lightly, handing her the second one on his wrist.
She slips one onto her wrist, reaching back to part her hair and begin braiding one of her long, long braids. After a moment of staring at her, Kazuichi gestures for her to follow as she does her hair, and together the two leave the house.
|| Loading... ||
Touko's eyes linger on the sailor-school uniform with a long skirt, eyes glittering.
Usually she wore a maid's uniform, consisting of a Togami green skirt that puffed out with a white button down shirt. She'd wear mary-janes, coupled with a pair of white socks along with that. But this uniform took her interest.
Touko had never changed out of her maid outfit unless it was into her sleep-wear or something the traditional (still Togami Green and white) kimono for special events Byakuya threw. In fact, Touko has barely ever gone outside, and to see the inside of a clothing shop makes her feel blessed.
She hates the feeling inside her that is traitorously whispering 'Isn't this great? Aren't you happy? I'm so glad Byakuya threw us away,'. She hates herself. All she needs to do is play nice than find Byakuya-sama, not prance around with a boy who has bright pink hair, sharp, shark teeth who rummages through robot waste-lands and dresses AI bots in race-car boxers.
Kazuichi catches her mystified look. "You wanna try it on?" he asks, raising an eyebrow.
Touko squashes her hope, coughing slightly. "Uh, n-no, just... Caught m-my eye," she mumbles, glancing away from the clothing only to glance back every few seconds.
It's probably expensive, too expensive for someone as low as her. A robot? Parading in human clothes rather than servant wear? What a thought.
"Err... Ya' sure? Look, I know yer' still caught on this whole... 'Beneath man', or whatever but I wanna do this for ya',"
Okay, this has to be a joke. No one would wanna do this for her. Everyone wants her gone, she's trash. Utter garbage-
"Hm, yer' not listenin' are you? Well, then, uhh.. As yer' master I.. Uhh... Demand that you tell me what'cha like so you can.. Um.. try it on," Stammers Kazuichi, waving around his fingers as small gestures.
Touko feels stiff. He went to the point of even demanding her to look for stuff? Touko feels... Touko feels...
[WARNING OIL DUCTS LEAKING]
Touko blinks in surprise and quickly raises the tracksuit sleeve to wipe away the tears of happiness, hoping Kazuichi hadn't seen. Luckily for her, he's utterly clueless.
"I-I wanna try it on," admits Touko quietly, reaching out to touch the material underneath her skin. It felt soft, silky, smooth. Decorated with an orange neck-tie and minor white lines tracing around the edges of the skirt, Touko wants to wear it.
"C-can... Can I-I?" she asks softly, grasping the hem of the skirt.
Kazuichi gives her a smile, shrugging. "Do ya' wanna?"
She nods slowly, grabbing the skirt and the matching shirt and holding them against her chest. She turns to Kazuichi, smiling widely, innocently. Although it's a little crooked, she continues to smile. "Th-thank you!"
Kazuichi grins at her, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. She doesn't have to thank him, he doesn't understand why she does. Well, then again she'd seemingly served under a household that held strongly to the belief robots were beneath them so maybe she feels the need to thank him for everything he does for her.
They walk through the store some more, Touko picking out another similar outfit, consisting of black pencil skirt and black jacket top brandished with copper buttons and a white collar. There are a few other items tossed in along, a white sun dress as well as a small, pink dress. A short black skirt with a matching top. Another sailor school-uniform and a colorful, yellow and pink jersey jacket with matching shoes. A denim jacket. Several pairs of shoes were thrown in and Kazuichi became concerned for his wallet.
It's not like he's poor or anything, he's actually going well with money from his repair job as well as helping out his kohai, Mondo-san, and his gang with engine upgrades so it isn't like he can't spend all his money.
Still, though...
However, Touko looks so happy, definitely happier than she had this morning and despite just becoming friends with the bot, he wants to make her happy unlike her former owner.
"Uumm.. I've n-never really b-been good with f-fashion.." stammers Touko from inside the changing booth. "S-so don't la-laugh at me!" she adds quickly.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm not gonna laugh at ya'," retorts Kazuichi, smiling to himself.
Hesitantly, the door is pushed open and Touko steps out, wearing the first outfit she'd chosen. She giggles, playing with the neck-tie.
"I-I've never gone t-to school before, b-but it a-always seemed s-so nice..." coos Touko, twiddling with the skirt now as she twists her leg. "B-yakuya-sama h-had a uniform.. H-he never wo-wore it but... I a-always wo-wondered what i-it'd be l-like to go to high-school," admits Touko sullenly, clutching the fabric of the skirt as a sad aura billows around her. However, after a few seconds, Touko quickly snaps out of it, turning to Kazuichi.
"I-I don't l-look bad, right?!" she asks, startled.
"No, you look nice," responds Kazuichi, giving her a thumbs up.
Touko looks a bit taken aback, as though she'd never heard anyone say that.
"N-no! Y-you're lying, t-totally. S-something l-looking nice? O-on m-me?!" Touko mumbles, hands clenching the skirt tighter. Her voice sounds scandalized, like such a thought is impossible.
"U-ughh, what w-was I thinking? I-I probably l-look a-awful. Wh-what am I s-saying? I al-always look awful!" Touko mutters to herself
"N-no! Really, ya' look good," Kazuichi says, arms gesturing wildly. He pauses, turning bright red. "I-I mean that, not in a creepy way, I swear!" he adds, gesturing more.
"Besides, as long as yer' happy with it, no one should haf'ta tell ya' what you have ta wear,"
Touko seems hesitant and still looks uncertain, but she nods. "...O-okay, then I'm getting this.. If it's alright with you," She informs, smiling as she stares at the skirt.
She tries on everything, and every time Kazuichi tells her she looks cute she flusters and accuses him of lying. It seems they still have a long way to go before she can fully trust him.
And at the end of everything, Touko exits the shop wearing a yellow dress coupled with white socks and blue shoes.
"I thought ya' said yellow was 'Disfavoring'," teases Kazuichi holding the tracksuit and white undershirt. Touko had insisted upon holding the bags, apparently it's the least she could do for him.
In the end, Kazuichi also didn't have to pay much. The little old lady at the counter mistaken them for a couple and gave them a discount.
When they reached the counter, Touko grew nervous she became almost 100% sure Kazuichi would laugh and throw the clothes on the floor, yelling something about how she'd fallen for the prank. In fact she was preparing herself for the let-down, the crushed feelings of hope that had grown in her stomach. But no, Kazuichi walked straight up to the counter, smiling as he greeted the lady.
"Oh, you two are such a cute couple!" the lady had cooed, clapping her hands together. The two had tried to correct her but their argument fell upon deaf ears. Then she noticed Kazuichi was paying. "You're paying for her clothes? How sweet! My husband never did anything for me like that... Allow me to give you a discount!"
Well, neither of them seemed to argue with that.
"O-only your t-tracksuits yellow, this ye-yellow is... It's l-like the s-sun... Even th-though the s-sun is te-technically white but.. Y-ya' know?" Touko asks, seeming excited. "I-I've never seen the s-sun much, I m-mean, through windows, y-yeah.. But o-outside..." She looks up, turning towards the sun. Her sight sensors whir, focusing along the light of the sun as it begins to hide away. Since she's a robot, staring straight into the bright orb in the sky does not bother her.
"I... I t-think it ju-just... F-feels more right, l-like the su-sun should be ga-gazed at f-from the outside. I th-think it's b-better." Touko nods to herself after saying this.
"So yer' owner never let ya' out much?" Kazuichi asks, eyebrows furrowing. What an ass.
"N-no, Byakuya-sama c-couldn't let m-me out. I-it's just.. The T-togami Clan is s-so famous th-that p-people are af-after B-Byakuya-sama's head, i-if they h-had leverage..." Touko's brows furrow. "B-but then again, i-if they u-used me as le-leverage, B-Byakuya-sama w-would probably just l-let them d-deactivate me. I-I mean... I a-am a robot," grumbles Touko, sighing.
Kazuichi doesn't comment on such, opting instead to shove his free hand in his pocket and simply glance at the sun as well.
"Well, I can promise ya' no one's after yer' head here," Kazuichi finally says, breaking the silence.
"Mm," Touko hums, smiling at the yellow fabric in her hands.
After a few seconds, Touko speaks up again. "Th...Thank you," she mumbles, glancing at Kazuichi.
Kazuichi grins at her. "No problem!"
As they walk back home, the traitorous voice in Touko's head speaks once more.
'I'm so happy. I like it here, with him,'
Touko doesn't silence the voice.
|| Loading... ||
i... i am excited?
i really like this story so far? I WANT TO CONTINUE?
AhHHHHH hHHHhhhh!11!1
Toukazuichi beGINS. Touko tends to latch onto people quickly, like she gets crushes really quickly and for the shallowest of reasons? I mean she doesn't like Kazuichi yet, but she'll probably be warming up to him in the on-coming chapters.
Touko is probably warming up to him really quickly because she hasn't been treated this kindly since Byakuya was an innocent, untainted child but she still doesn't completely trust him.
Her trust problems stem from how Byakuya just threw her out when she knows he has the money to simply have a world-renounced programmer just get syo's virus out. She is completely unaware that Byakuya has nO IDEA that she's been thrown out, and we'll be going over this in the next chapter.
ALSO. IMPORTANT.
I'M GOING SOMEWHERE OVER THE WEEKEND SO IT MAY TAKE LONGER FOR THE NEW UPDATE TO BE OUT. WE'LL JUST HAVE TO WAIT AND SEE.
There is an example of the outfit touko was wearing when she left the store on the wattpad version of this sO yeAh.
ANyways, thank you for reading!
See ya'!
Writing-Fantasy
