Ch. 10 - Reia's Story
He didn't care about us. He only bought us to serve him. If he broke one of us, he'd just go and buy another.
"He has more?"
Yes. There were five of us but don't know if they are still there.
"What do you mean?"
He did not stand for any imperfections. If we did not do something exactly as he wanted, we were... "dealt with".
"What about you? How did you wind up at the shop?"
I was his oldest persocom, I served him for many months. Most of my days were spent cleaning his home, dusting the same pieces of furniture over and over, picking up the messes from his night parties and preparing meals for him. The only times I wasn't serving him where the hours I spent recharging.
One evening while cleaning, I accidentally tipped over a crystal figurine. It was one of his favorites. I was not fast enough to catch it before it shattered on the floor. He came running into the room and noticed the pieces scattered all over.
I knew what was about to happen...
Before I could say anything, he had thrown me to the ground. He screamed as he kicked me. "Useless!" he yelled. "Worthless pile of scrap!" He just kept kicking. I curled up, trying to absorb the blows as best as I could. When he became tired, he dragged me across the house, opened the basement door and threw me down the stairs.
That's when I broke.
When I reached the bottom of the stairs, my head slammed on the last step as I hit the floor. My diagnostics showed that my speech circuitry was not operational. I tried speaking, but nothing happened. I knew if he discovered that I was damaged, that my fate would be even worse.
"How did you end up at the persocom store where I found you?"
I ran. I waited until late at night and I escaped. I heard his screams grow fainter as I ran away. I didn't stop, I couldn't stop. I knew if he caught me that I would end up like the others. I ran for two days until I reached the city. I wandered across the shop after searching for somewhere to stay. With nowhere else to go, I stood in front of that shop until the next morning. The owner took me inside, tried to get answers from me. He couldn't understand why I didn't say anything. I had no way of telling him why. He didn't know anything about us besides the best way to make money so he couldn't figure out what was wrong. He put me in the back stockroom where I stayed for two weeks, only coming out long enough to recharge. The other workers there would occasionally try to talk to me, but only wound up forgetting I was there.
Then you found me.
"Like the others? What happened to the others?"
They were torn apart or destroyed in whatever way entertained him and his friends.
"I thought you were abandoned. Why didn't you tell me?"
You may have given me back to him had you known. I didn't want to go back.
"sigh You don't need to tell me any more."
Saburo stood up and walked around for a moment. Confused, astounded, angry, he didn't know what to think or what to say. What could he say? What should he do? Reia approached him, holding out her PDA. Saburo took it and read what it said. "Are you upset?"
He handed it back to her. "Yes, but not at you."
She turned around to go sit on the bed. Saburo followed behind and sat next to her. "Look" he said. "You didn't have to worry. There's no way in hell I would have given you back. Not to a person like that." Reia looked up at him with a slight smile on her face. "He's just some spoiled kid that doesn't respect what he has. I expect he'll get his soon enough."
A few moments later, the phone rang. Saburo fell back on his bed and grabbed the phone off the nightstand. "Hello?" he answered.
"Hey, it's me. Just calling to see if you are alright."
"Yeah, no problem. He couldn't hit for crap." Daisuke started laughing.
"I just had to make sure."
"Hey, do you mind dropping by for a bit?" Saburo asked.
"Sure, what's up?"
"Just need to talk."
"I'll be over in a minute." Daisuke replied.
Saburo tossed the phone back on the charging stand and sat up. "I'm gonna talk with Daisuke for a bit. I'll be downstairs if you need me, okay?" Reia nodded, taking a few seconds to write. "Are you going to keep me?" she asked. "No doubt." he replied.
She wrote more. "I will enter standby while you are out."
"Bit early isn't it? You can if you want though."
"Is there something I can do?"
"Well, you can hang your clothes in the closet." Saburo walked over, opened his closet and slid his clothes to one side. "There, you can put them over here." She nodded. "You don't HAVE to, but if you feel energetic, go for it." She tipped her head at this.
There was a knock at the door. "I'll be out in a second" Saburo said. He walked over to Reia, still sitting on the bed. "I promised that you were staying here, right?" he said, running his fingers through her hair. She nodded. "Then there's no need to worry, right?" She nodded again. He bent over and kissed her lightly on the forehead. "I'll be back in a little bit."
"What's up?" Daisuke asked as Saburo opened the door. He stepped outside and pulled the door shut behind him. "Come on, let's sit outside." The two made their way down the stairs and sat on the curb outside the complex.
"Did you talk to Reia?" Daisuke asked.
"Yeah, and that's why I wanted to talk to you."
Daisuke nodded. "Sounds like I'm in for quite a story." He pulled out a pack of cigarettes from his shirt pocket and pulled one out. He then handed the pack to Saburo, who did the same. "I thought you quit." Saburo said.
Daisuke lit his smoke and tossed the lighter to Saburo. "I thought you did
too." he replied.
"Days like this man..." Saburo said, lighting his own.
"So, what's up?" he asked.
"That was in fact her last owner, but you already guessed that." Daisuke nodded again. "The reason she can't talk is because he beat the crap out of her."
"Are you serious?" Daisuke said, pulling on his cigarette.
"Kicked her and threw her down a flight of stairs."
"What in the... why would he do that?"
"Because he's abusive and rich. He can afford to buy new persocoms every time he breaks one. According to Reia, that's pretty common." Daisuke just stared at him. "Also, she didn't get dropped off at the shop, she ran."
"Huh?" he asked. Saburo just nodded, blowing out a stream of smoke.
"Yeah, she literally ran away. She found the shop and just waited there until the manager took her in. I don't know if that means he is legally still hers or what. I'm not going to give her back, but can they force me to?"
"I don't see how. You picked her up from a legitimate persocom shop and you are registered as her owner. She's yours now."
"I hope so. I knew something was up with her from the beginning. How she acted in the shop was my first sign, but she would act afraid whenever she thought she did something wrong. That's why she has that purple negligee... I didn't want to give her the impression that I was going to treat her like that guy did."
"Purple... negligee?" Daisuke asked with a half confused look.
"The black bag you pointed out. She went in that store thinking that it was a clothing store."
"Uh huh." he said trying not to laugh.
"What should I do about her? I know I'll eventually run into him again, and I can't keep getting into fistfights in public."
"Do what you're doing now. Take care of her. The rest will fall into place as it should."
"I suppose so. Hopefully the guy we're seeing tomorrow can help me out."
"I imagine he will." Daisuke said. "Anyway, it is getting a bit late and unlike you, I need sleep."
"Alright, thanks for stopping by to listen."
"You know it's never a problem."
Saburo stood up and walked back towards his apartment door. He turned back to Daisuke who was heading back home. "I'll get ahold of you tomorrow." he said. "I'll be home later in the afternoon, so call me then." Daisuke replied. Saburo made his way back up the stairs to his door.
Reia was laying on the bed, she had entered standby mode. 'It's been a long day, maybe she has the right idea.' he thought. Saburo took off his shirt and tossed it over his chair, as usual. He pulled back the sheets and slid into bed. For a few moments, he stayed up just looking at Reia. He lightly ran his fingers across the edge of her ear while she laid there motionless.
'I won't let him hurt you again.'
