Ch. 6 - A Good Day at Work
"So, heard you got a new persocom yesterday."
"Yep."
"Is she cute?"
"Yep."
"How much did you end up paying?"
"Nothing. She was free."
"How in the hell did you manage that?"
"It's a bit of a long story."
It didn't take long for all of Saburo's coworkers to find out about his persocom. Almost all of them owned persocoms themselves, so they didn't crowd around him and ask hundreds of questions like the kid at school that got the newest video game. He usually didn't like being the center of attention, so he didn't mention much about it. That didn't mean that she wasn't on his mind. He thought about how she acted scared over the smallest mistakes, about her past, and most importantly, what in the world was he going to do with her tonight. He thought about taking her out, but he hadn't the slightest clue where.
'She's a persocom, that rules out any type of dinner. Movies? Shopping? Just a walk around downtown?' He ran ideas through his mind as he moved shipping pallets in and out of the warehouse. Even human girls were all but foreign ground to him so he was at a total loss. He remembered the last date he was on and shuddered. 'She'd leave on her own if THAT ever happened again.' he thought.
"So what's her name?"
The voice startled him, almost causing him to drop the box he was carrying. Between work and his thoughts, he wasn't very focused on the world around him.
"Reia." he said, shifting his grip on the box and sliding it onto a shelf.
"Not bad. What's she look like."
"What in the..." He pointed to the pallet he had rolled in a few moments ago. "I've got to get all of those shelved and catalogged. Can it wait until lunch?"
"Fine, fine. But I wanna know."
"Why... Never mind." Saburo nodded and went back to work. His mind wandered back on Reia, still wondering what he was going to do tonight. He decided that shopping wasn't such a bad idea. Her dress was destroyed and she couldn't keep wearing the same jeans and shirt every day.
Saburo looked up and saw his boss coming in. "Lunch time, people!" He had lost complete track of time. He also hadn't noticed that he had taken care of almost all the pallets that came in that morning.
"Nice work, Saburo! I knew there was a reason I kept you around." his boss said with a slight smile.
"Thanks boss, I knew there was a reason I worked here."
Saburo put the last box on the shelf and clocked out for lunch. He headed outside where everyone hangs out and chats. It was a small area behind the warehouse with a few chairs and a table. Two of his coworkers are already outside and pull up a chair for him.
"Okay, start talking."
He sits down and kicks his feet up on the table. "Well, what do you want to know?"
"What's she like and how did you get her for free?" they ask.
"Well, her name is Reia. She was left at the local persocom shop by someone, the owner didn't even know how she got there. Said she was lying outside one morning. They were going to just scrap her, but he told me that if I could get her to leave that I could have her. Really strange."
"Get her to leave?" one of his coworkers asked with a look of confusion.
"Like I said, really strange."
"What's she look like?"
"She's a bit shorter than me." Saburo said, holding his hand up to his chest to show a size comparison. "Crystal purple eyes, short dark hair and small ears, kinda like..."
"Like this?" his boss interrupted.
"Huh?" Saburo said, turning around.
"Reia!" He jumped up. She waved and walked over to him. "What are you doing here? Is everything okay?" She nodded and held out a bowl covered in plastic wrap, filled with ramen. "What... how... but... did..." He was at a loss for words. "How did you get here?"
"Guilty as charged" a familiar voice said, coming from behind his boss.
"Daisuke? You too?"
"I stopped by your place to drop off a couple of cd's you let me borrow a while back. She let me in and asked if I could bring her by here. She was quite insistent, too. Since I didn't have anything else to do for the day, why not? She whipped up some lunch for you too."
"I noticed. This is definitely something else." He looked over at Reia, smiled and said "This is great, thanks a lot!"
He looked back at Daisuke. "You aren't trying to pick up my women, are you?" They both laughed for a minute. Reia looked at him and tipped her head to the side. Saburo shook his head with a barely controllable smile, trying not to start laughing again. "Don't mind us. Oh, that reminds me..." He turned to his coworkers. "Guys, this is Reia. Reia, these are the degenerates I work with."
"Hey, hey, hey!" they said, laughing and throwing things at him.
"Well, I'd better get Reia back to your place so you can eat and get back to work." Daisuke said. Saburo nodded. He leaned over to Reia and whispered "Want to go out tonight?" Her face lit up. "We can get you some new clothes and do whatever." She nodded and gave Saburo a big hug.
"Alright, I'll catch you two later. Hey Daisuke, you mind doing me a favor?"
"Sure, whatcha need?"
"Can you drive us out tonight? Got a couple of things to do."
"Sounds like fun, what time?"
"How about around six?"
"I'll be there."
Reia waved to Saburo's cowokers and left with Daisuke. Saburo sat back down and began munching on his ramen. He looked back up at his coworkers and said "That's Reia."
"Wow, she really is cute." one of them said.
Saburo smiled. "Yep."
