Disclaimer: I wish.
Unkept
I'll take you to Canada one day.
According to Yuki's memory base (with a 99.999% accuracy rate), that was the first time Ryoko had ever broken a promise to her. It wasn't a big deal; she really didn't mind either way. But still, wasn't keeping them the proper thing to do? But still, it was human nature to forget a promise once in a while, right?
Yuki concluded that was affirmative.
So it really didn't bother her that much when Ryoko offhandedly tossed out another guarantee to take her somewhere or show her something.
I heard the maple trees are beautiful this time of the year.
It was human nature.
And Ryoko was as close to a human as a Data Entity could hope to get.
And we can go moose-sighting! And buy maple syrup!
So then, it wasn't a surprise that she malfunctioned.
Like a normal human.
After the whole POTENTIAL project is finished, I'll put in a request for us to be transferred to Canada.
In fact, Yuki had anticipated it. She had set up Barrier Data in the classroom (There was a 84% chance that that would be her ideal location). She had waited until her back-up lured the Subject's Chosen One to their classroom (she had estimated correctly).
Then she had waited until the last second before rushing to Kyon's rescue. Foolishly, she had hoped that Ryoko would come to her senses, realize the folly of her judgement.
But she didn't.
I've always wanted to go there.
Finally, she had no choice but to terminate her partner's link, watching as bit by bit of her disappeared, dissolving into little pixels before being swept away.
Ryoko was being deleted, like a malignant virus. But also the parts of her that made her uniquely her. She wished she could keep the part of Ryoko that made her uniquely Ryoko— the Canada-loving, gift-giving, ice cream-loving girl— in a little box, safe from the world.
But there were some things too broken to be fixed, and some things too important to not say.
As her outer shell was disintegrating, she could feel her thoughts and emotions, like tangible entities. Surprise was prominent, followed by relief, regret, and resignation.
Before she disappeared completely, Ryoko shot her one last mental message. Yuki accepted it without hesitation. Opening it, she almost wished it was a virus of some sort to wipe her newfound sadness away, to wipe her away.
Instead, she was treated to a recording of Ryoko's last three words:
I'll be back.
These weren't said with any malice; rather, they were quietly optimistic.
Due to her past trend of unkept promises, Yuki doubted it.
But still, she hoped.
---
The next day, Asakura Ryoko transferred to Canada.
A/N: This one took a little longer to write. It's difficult to portray what Yuki must have been thinking, transferring Ryoko to Canada. This was inspired by an unhealthy dose of French Vanilla ice cream, Taylor Swift, and Integrated Data Thought Entity's drabbles. LETHAL COMBINATION. x.x
Written for Aster Selene, who was getting tired of me dancing around the beginning of TMoHS. xD
Written: 4/24/09 Posted 4/45/09
ja ne!
mimi-chan
