"Aitsu? Aitsu!" Sam yelled, shaking the persecom by the shoulders roughly, fear evident in her wide brown eyes. Aitsu let out a low whimper, before her OS rebooted, and she opened her eyes.
Her owner's relief was instant- she threw her arms around the girl, burying her face in the girl's neck.
"Thank god you're awake. I thought you'd never turn on again!" She exclaimed, before releasing the dazed girl from her grasp. Aitsu nervously slid from her grasp, glancing around. Sam immedietly understood.
"He's still in the shower, so he won't see you naked. But you should definetly get dressed- we have school."
There was a pair of tiny hands slapping her calf, and Aitsu glanced down. An angry looking Uteki gazed up at her, wearing a school uniform. Her white t-shirt was clean and ironed, with a purple tie, and a school girl skirt. In her hands was a flash drive.
"You have a lot of learning to do, so I've gone ahead and registered you as her persecom, as well as printed out a schedual for you. For the sake of keeping Sam here on task, instead of drooling over you, you have different classes. She'll keep in contact with you through me."
Aitsu reached down for a folded up uniform, heart pounding. School.
She had never been to school.
"Alert! You are out of dress code, and have broken several violations! If not remedied within the next 30 seconds, you will be reported to the officials!" A white-haired boy said, who had two circular ears plastered on his head. His speech was robotic, as if he had just been turned on. Aitsu glanced down at her outfit- her tie was tied in the wrong knot, her laces of her shoes coming undone, her white shirt wrinkled. However, the persecom quickly became distracted by other rule breakers.
Aitsu was astonished by all of the persecoms and people. She heard snippets of conversations here and there, which contributed to the loud sounds in the hallway, people pushing past each other in order to reach their destination. Sam and Uteki didn't seem dazed, though. The laptop sized girl had a bored expression, sitting on her owner's shoulder, while Sam searched the crowd eagerly.
"Samantha! Over here!" A girl shouted over the crowd. A pale hand came up, and soon a girl came into view. She was short, maybe 5'1, with curly brown hair and bottle-cap glasses making her eyes seem huge. At her side was a persecom.
Samantha dashed over, dragging Aitsu along.
"Thank god you're here. It's absolute chaos. The entire school is in anarchy! I swear, I've gotten my books knocked out my hands 17 times today! I wish summer break was still going on..." She trailed off, before adjusting her glasses and looking up at Aitsu. "Who is this?"
Samantha wrapped her arm around Aitsu's shoulder in a friendly gesture, meant to comfort. "This is Aitsu- my new persecom. Say hey, Aitsu."
Aitsu smiled and nodded her head, trying to find her voice. "Hello. It's a pleasure to meet you," She said, holding out a hand.
"I'm Marilyn, and this is my persecom, Hokori."
Aitsu made eye contact with the persecom for the first time. He had a prideful disposition, and seemed to look down on Aitsu. His hair was a bright red and fell down his back in a single braid. Attached to his head were small, black ears, most attractive. They were shaped like upside down triangles. A constellation of freckles were splattered across his nose. He watched her with silver eyes, before sneering.
"Marilyn instructed me to be polite, so I will try my best. I am Hokori, one of the most prestigious models on the market today." The boy said.
Aitsu decided right away she didn't like him.
"Well, class starts in five minutes! Hokori, you have-"
"I have first period physics, I know. Which is infuriating, because I've graduated twice already," He interrupted his owner, tossing his braid behind his head, before adjusting his tie. "I swear, I am 100 percent certain I could teach the class far more efficiently than him." Without another word, the haughty persecom walked off, holding his head high.
Marylin offered the two an apologetic expression. "Sorry about Hokori. He gets like that when he's stressed." Seeing Aitsu's disgusted expression, she changed gears. "Honestly, that was him in a good mood! Maybe you should get to know him more; I'm sure he'll take a liking to you if you give him a chance."
Sam chuckled, shaking her head. Aitsu sighed- this day was already terrible. The bell rang suddenly, the warning bell, breaking them from their thoughts. Sam gave the lightskin a quick hug, before dashing off, with Marilyn yelling, trying to keep up. "Saa-aamm! Wait up! You know I have short legs!~"
Aitsu quickly brought up her schedule and the map of the school in her mind, and walked off, head spinning.
Slipping through the door, she cast her eyes downward, trying to avoid detection as she entered a busy class. Nobody paid her any mind- it was obvious she was invisible. Her eyes eagerly scanned the class for a familiar face, and saw, from behind, a lone student, at the front of the class, with bright red hair, in a braid.
Nope. I'd rather die, she quickly decided, and took a seat in the back of the class. The chattering died down as class began.
Ping!
Aitsu blinked, registering the fact she had received a message from an unknown source. Her ear ports lit up briefly green, before fading.
You're in Sunēku's seat. I'd move if I were you, before you get hurt.
Why? She sent back, glancing around for the sender.
You'll see why, if you don't move- fast.
Just then, the door opened, and a persecom entered. The class got silent quickly, and stared down at their desks. Aitsu's jaw dropped- she had never seen such a thing.
The persecom was broken. Terribly broken. He had a shuffling gate, and limped towards Aitsu, eyes dark and overcast. He was missing an arm, and Aitsu could see the many wires and contraptions inside the stump, cut just above the elbow. There was a long, deep cut across his nose, exposing the metal beneath, twitching and moving.
His hair was black like oil, and shaved to where only a slim Mohawk was visible, spilling over his face. He focused his gaze on the girl in his seat.
"Move. Now." He said in a deep, gravelly voice. Aitsu nervously glanced away from his wounds. This seemed to amuse the persecom, in a sick way. "You can look at Sunēku's shame if you'd like. The marks of my failure," As if to reinforce this, he offered his stump to Aitsu, and she gulped, moving her scarred wrists under the table.
"You have marks too- the only difference is, someone took the time to mend yours." Sunēku said. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Hokoru getting up from his seat.
He walked briskly over, and hovered around the pair. He gave Sunēku a disdainful glance.
"Are you done terrorizing the population? It's not proper for defective street-fighters like you to commune with those non-defective." He remarked softly, stepping between Aitsu and Sunēku. Aitsu looked up at him in confusion.
I told you to move. Now I've been caught having relations with you. People will start to get the wrong idea. And speaking of wrong ideas- don't look at me like that. It's quite embarrassing. I'm only doing this because Uteki told me to intervene.
How did she know this was going on? Aitsu sent back, mortified.
You and Sunēku's interactions are being broadcast from another persecom. Now please, get out of his seat. I don't have time for this.
Without another word, she got up from her seat and stepped away. Sunēku chuckled, as if listening to a funny joke, and sat down, wincing.
What's wrong with him?
See for yourself. And stop bothering me.
An attachment arrived a millisecond later, and she opened the link. A video began to play.
A crowd of people, yelling and placing bets. The camera was fuzzy, but she could make out Sunēku's form. In this video, he had all his limbs. A student stood behind him, and she could tell he was in command mode by Suneku's blank, vacant expression. His fists were raised. Before him was a boy, with the same glazed-over look in her eyes. Aitsu realized she recognized him- it was the same persecom who stopped her in the hall for violating school code.
And then suddenly, a flurry of blows. She realized with horror, that owners were subjecting their persecoms to brawls and fights, betting on the winner. Sunēku's blows were lightning fast, and he attacked with punches, kicks, and elbow strikes. However, the boy was faster, evading his blows, before finally, landing a knock out punch to his audio receptors. The effect was immediate- he began to lose his balance. Even so, Sunēku kept fighting. He landed a punch to his head and a kick to his stomach, sending her flying back, but she seemed unharmed. The persecom dashed forward and uppercut the taller male, earning shrieks of glee from the crowd, before finally reaching forward while he was disoriented and digging his hand into Suneku's right arm. There was the sound of grating metal, and oil splattered the ground.
Suneku's screams resonated in her ears.
The video ended, and Aitsu shuddered. How was this allowed? She hastily sat down in another seat and buried her head in her hands, disgusted. She prayed Sam would never take her will away like that. There was a touch on her shoulder, and Aitsu looked up.
"Ma'am? You're in my seat."
Marilyn lay her head in Hokori's lap, legs splayed out in the back of the library. The red-haired persecom ran his pale fingers through her hair, massaging her scalp. Marilyn sighed in relief.
"How was school today?" She asked, reaching out for- oh. Hokori handed her the magazine she was searching for. She liked how he knew what she wanted before she even had to ask.
"It was a waste of time, as usual. Why you choose to hang around this place just eludes me." He muttered, shaking his head. Marilyn rolled her eyes.
"You know we are investigating this school, Hokori." She said.
Hokori snorted. "It's not because you've grown attached to Sam these past few years, Miko?"
Marilyn glared at him.
"You know not to use my real name in public, Hokori. Headquarters won't be pleased."
The redhead sighed, shaking his head. "It's such a shame we have to pretend to be children. And why us? There's a hundred other agents who'd love to take this job."
Marilyn cast the persecom an annoyed look.
"None of the other agents have studied and have had direct contact with a Chobit before. Remember when the other agents were told to shut down Elda- oh, my bad. Chi, and failed? She's still alive, somewhere, actually. We should follow up on that."
Hokori pulled the girl's hair suddenly, making her wince.
"Leave that poor girl alone. We've already done enough to her family. We took out the creator, and programmed Freya to fall in love and have her heart broken, so she'd shut down by herself. Leave Chi alone."
Marilyn threw the magazine down.
"So now you suddenly have feelings? What happened to the jerk Hokori? You know, you can be so two-faced..." She trailed off, noticing that people were beginning to walk into the library. Lunch was now over.
Hokori pushed the girl's head from his lap and helped her gather her things, ignoring her angry looks. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Aitsu walking towards them, looking as docile and subdued as a lamb. He resisted the urge to gag. He had immediately decided he didn't like her- the 'com had no fight in her. And the way she looked at him with those eyes- it sent chills down his spine. They were so sad, so... Dark. As if she had seen horrible things. And it angered him- someone with a past like that had to have a backbone. And she didn't seem to have one. Not only this, she looked at him like... He was the hero, of all things.
The persecom brushed past her, never meeting her gaze. He would make sure she'd change her mind.
Annnd that's a wrap for this chapter. Thanks for reading! Which characters are your favorites? What do you wanna see deeper in the story?